The Karloff Compendium
Published by Unstoppable Cards Limited, 2023. 328 pages.
By Stephen Jacobs

Boris Karloff is my all-time favorite actor, not just because Frankenstein (1931) is one of my all-time favorite films either, but due to his huge work in the genre throughout his career. Because of that fact, I will buy any book that comes out that is on him. Without question. When the news of this new one was going to be released, I immediately ordered it when it was available. It also helped because it was by author Stephen Jacobs, who had previously written probably the best Karloff biography back in 2011 entitled Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster (click HERE to read our review of that title). Honestly, I didn’t even read what the book was about before ordering it, because it didn’t matter. When it arrived, I finally paged through it briefly seeing that it was really a historical look at Karloff’s career, starting at the very beginning when he was a stage actor, going through to the end.

I started at the beginning, getting to see news clippings of the plays he was in, little press releases of his work, with photos of playbills and ads, as well as photos of the young actor just about on every page! There were also comments from Karloff himself, as well as others, about that era and his work. Next thing I knew, I was a hundred pages in. It was like being transported to a different time, getting to see, and read things about my favorite actor, the hardships that he went through, all to keep feeding that passion to be an actor. You’ll read just how difficult it was back then just to make it through without starving. In this early part, it really did show me the strong need that Karloff had to continue to do what he loved, no matter how bad things got. Even when he had to get a job doing physical labor for a time to get on his feet, he never gave up on his dream, and always went back to acting.

The book also showed me that not only did Karloff have the passion to continue in this line of work, but in what they had to go through, which really gave him training on becoming the great actor he was. While acting on the stage in 1915 to 1916, Karloff states, “We did two new plays a week for 53 weeks. Three rehearsals and you were on! It was rugged, but good training, and it stood me in good stead. I was forced to become a fast study – or starve to death.” While I’m not an actor, I can’t imagine what that was like, having to memorize that much and so quickly, but you can see how that would help him become so good.

Right before the casting in Frankenstein, Karloff said “In those 20 years of struggle I had no sense of failure. I was completely happy just to be an actor. Success never entered my mind.”

I have loved reading through this historical document of Karloff’s work, getting to see an amazing array of clippings, reviews, ads, and plenty of poster art, from his stage days, film, and even radio and television. It is one of those books that even when you’re done reading, you’ll find yourself going back to, paging through it, and being entranced all over again and the amount of work that Karloff had accomplished in his career.

I ended up finishing this book over the Christmas holiday, thoroughly enjoying seeing this history all laid out before me. As many books that I have read on Karloff and his work, there is always more to learn. Plus, it even gave me more respect for this man, because of his humility and seeing his never-ending drive to continue to work in what he loved.

When he visited England for the first time since he’d left, he got to meet up with some of his brothers, who had all gone on to be civil servants for their country, while being somewhat embarrassed that he was just an actor. There is the below quote from him that I feel really shows his true feelings towards not just his brothers, but how he felt about a lot of people.

“I have often thought how absurd and lopsided it is that men like my brothers should spend their lives in the service of their country and be comparatively unknown. Whereas I, because of a series of lucky accidents, have been granted fame and some fortune. Anything I have achieved in life in no way compares to anything they or the hundreds of men like them have done.”

Jacobs has done another exceptional job here, giving Karloff fans something they can learn from, and still enjoy in years to come.