Title: Test-Tube Frankenstein
Author: Wayne Robbins
Date of First Publication: 1940
Place of Publication: Terror Tales magazine
Type: Short Fiction
Characters: No Character
Themes: ANDROID; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER
Critical Summary: Mortimer Reed describes the friendship he shares with his strange, but brilliant friend, Chester Vermis. Chester is a small, timid man, but possesses the intelligence to create much more than anyone believes he is capable of. One day Chester asks Mortimer to join him in his laboratory, because he has created something magnificent. He shows him multiple jars filled with what appears to be just a glob. He has combined slimy gland extraction with the tissue of earthworms, and created living secretions. Among the dozens of jars of “glob” Chester has in his laboratory, he proudly shows Mortimer one that has been combined with the muscle of a chameleon lizard. The way this glob of life transforms into any object near it, completely scares Mortimer, giving him a fear that Chester has tampered with playing “God.” This frightens Mortimer, so he decides to avoid Chester for the next six months of his life. Mortimer, in these months becomes stationed in Europe and gets married to his love, June. He then becomes contacted by Chester Vermis’ land lady because she is afraid something is terribly wrong with Chester. Although greatly hesitant on seeing his experiment-crazed friend, Mortimer decides to see what has happened. He discovers that his friend is really no longer his friend, but an imitation made by the test-tube blob he had first feared six months prior. He knows deep down that Chester has been consumed by this creature and is no longer alive. Following this horrific, unbelievable incident, he hears of a criminal going crazy over the murder of a women he claims he did not commit. He claims the murderer was a man who had the same appearance as Chester, but changed form to a milky, gooey substance that melts the woman to death. Because Mortimer has seen this slimy creature before, he knows he has to put a stop to it. Once the creature knows Mortimer is after him, he decides to try to destroy him by becoming an imitation of his wife, June. Although the creature became a spitting image of his wife, Mortimer notices a slight strangeness to her and decides to kill the imposter. Although he believes the woman he lives with is truly his wife, Mortimer continues to live with the fear that maybe he killed the wrong June.
This pulp story undoubtedly connects to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein in the way that a mad genius creates a creature capable of deceiving and killing those around him. Although the creature has a creator and destroys him, this short story differs from Frankenstein in the way that the creature BECOMES the creator by taking the form and demeanor of Chester Vermis. Although one could say that Mortimer is like Henry Clerval, in the way that he is concerned for his friend’s madness, Mortimer also resembles Victor Frankenstein. He does because he is sought after by this slimy creature, to be guided and loved. He becomes so consumed by the fear that he has of this test-tube being, that he risks the life of his wife (just as Victor does with Elizabeth). But Mortimer escaped the creature, although he’ll live always wondering if he really had.
Administrative Notes: Jena Curtis, CSUF; Dr. David Sandner (editing)