Episode 3: Two Sides to a Story

Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, published in 1886, was inspired by the life and deeds of William Brodie (1741-1788), who was a paragon of high society by day but a criminal by night. A highly renowned Scottish cabinetmaker and locksmith, Brodie would create and install locks for the houses of Edinburgh’s rich elite, while creating copies of the keys to break into their houses at night to steal money and valuables to fund his secret gambling habit and provide for the two mistresses and the five children he’d had with them.

• This isn’t the first adaptation of the story to film: the first was in 1908, with 25 versions produced before 1925. This version is actually the first version by Universal Studios (then the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated), making it one of the first Universal Studios monster movies, predating the famous Frederic March version of the story by 18 years.

• The original version of the story was a commentary on Victorian society, but what other interpretations have readers and viewers applied over the years?

• What other adaptations of the story have you seen?

• Some celebrities associated with various film versions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:

• John Barrymore, brother of Lionel Barrymore (Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life), and grandfather of Drew Barrymore, played the title character in 1920.

• FW Murnau, who was also responsible for 1922’s Nosferatu, also created a version of the film in 1920.

• Wally Westmore, uncle of longtime Star Trek makeup artist Michael Westmore Jr., created the iconic Mr. Hyde look for the 1931 version of the film.

• A fun, quick overview of the story and film is on YouTube at The Bizarre Truth of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.