Herbert Tevos, a mysterious figure in Hollywood, is known for writing unused scripts and taking pride in omitting unnecessary subplots or deviations from the central idea. He is credited with one script, "Tarantula", which was filmed in 1951 but deemed unreleasable by the producers.
However, the film was picked up by producer/director Ron Ormond in 1952 and reworked into "Mesa of Lost Women", which is often considered one of the worst movies ever made. According to people who worked on the film, Tevos claimed to have been a major director in Germany and to have directed Marlene Dietrich in "The Blue Angel".
Tandra Quinn, who played the spider woman Tarantella, recalled that Tevos tried to make her a star, even coming up with part of her stage name. However, Tevos never made another film in Hollywood, nor is there any record of him working on anything in Germany.
Herbert Tevos' son revealed that his real name was Herbert von Schoellenbach, and that he had worked for the film manufacturer Agfa in Germany. According to the Rochester Institute of Technology, Schoellenbach was head of the paper testing department at Agfa Ansco in Binghampton, NY.
Professor emeritus Ira Current recalled that Schoellenbach regaled them with his biography, including his experiences as a motion picture cameraman, his expeditions to the Amazon, and his association with Manfred von Richthofen, the World War I German aviation ace.
The German National archives list him as one of the people having had correspondence with Karl Vollmöller, who wrote the screenplay for "The Blue Angel", which might be a grain of truth to Schoellenbach's involvement in that movie.
