Every year the town of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania celebrates its annual BLOBFEST, a commemoration of that classic fright flick filmed in their area. The centerpiece of the celebration is the historic Colonial Theater, the building attacked by the Blob in the movie. They stage a “run out” wherein the scene of the patrons fleeing the theater is reenacted and a parade along the street in front of it in which participants carry fire extinguishers. (If you’ve seen the movie you’ll understand. If you haven’t, shame on you!) And every year they set the marquee of the theater to look exactly as it looked in the movie. You might recognize one of the names emblazoned on that marquee. Bela Lugosi did not, however, appear in the movie listed on the marquee, DAUGHTER OF HORROR, aka DEMENTIA (not to be confused with DEMENTIA 13, the first “legit” movie made by Francis Ford Coppola and the title of which appears on the theater marquee in the film AMERICAN GRAFFITI!).
I need to give credit to Chorus Photography, and in particular Rachel, Karen, Harrison, Patrick, Brianna & BP, one of whom took the featured photo I’m using in accompaniment with this article. You can see Bela’s name standing out right up top.