Whatever Happened To My Transylvania Twist?

When it was first written, The Monster Mash was entitled "The Monster Twist," but the twist was going out of style so the title was altered to reflect the newest dance craze as "The Monster Mashed Potato."

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In the process of shopping the song around to various record producers, the song title was almost changed to "The Mean Monster Mashed Potato" by producer Gary Paxton, famous for the novelty hit "Alley Oop."

However, just prior to pressing the single, the title was changed again to the one for which it became a 1962 "graveyard smash," The Monster Mash.

Bobby Pickett performed the song in a voice impersonating Boris Karloff, who played the lumbering monster in "Frankenstein" (1931). The physically demanding role made Karloff a star.

Karloff is pictured on two of a set of five 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued in 1997 as the title character in "The Mummy" (1932) and as the monster in "Frankenstein" (1931). He joins other great monster movie actors in the stamp set including Lon Chaney as "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925), Bela Lugosi as "Dracula" (1931) and Lon Chaney Jr. as "The Wolf Man" (1941).