I’m now part of the way through reading O Fortunate Floridian, Lovecraft’s letters to Barlow. Only a few surprises so far, but I’m only up to late summer 1933 and they’re just getting warmed up.

One of the surprises was Lovecraft’s seemingly rather extensive cinema-going circa summer 1933, probably triggered by his spending Christmas 1932/33 in New York and seeing a number of the new movies there.

For instance, who knew that aspects of “The Thing on the Doorstep” were inspired by Lovecraft’s viewing at the cinema of the notorious Madchen in Uniform — just a month before the story was written?