Welcome to the third installment in
The Masks of Famous Monsters Series.
Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine was an absolute treasure trove of early mask history. By combing through the 191 issues published between 1958-1983, it's possible to gain a good understanding of the decades of evolution and history of Don Post Studios and Topstone monster masks. The eventual goal of this series is to catalog and archive each monster mask appearance in the pages Famous Monsters.
With the third installment we move to issue #3 which unlike both previous issues, did not greet readers with a monster mask on the cover. Rather, for the first time in the short history of the magazine, the cover featured a painting of monsters rather than a photo. This was a move that would define the image of the magazine for for decades to come.
Released in April 1959, issue 3 featured several Topstone monster mask goodies. The
Super Frankenstein Mask ad would make it's Famous Monsters debut on page 59...
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| Super Frankenstein Mask Ad |
In addition, the Topstone Gorilla Monster would make it's Famous Monsters of Filmland debut in issue #3. The Gorilla Monster would be the first of the many classic Keith Ward illustrations of Topstone masks that would become a trademark of Captain Company ads for decades.
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| Topstone Gorilla Monster Mask Ad |
If you weren't careful, you easily could flip right past the last monster mask to appear in the issue. The Topstone Caveman mask made a brief appearance on page 65, which was the final page of the Monster Club Members page in issue #3...
Check out the other posts in the
Masks of Famous Monsters Series:
Masks of FM 1
Masks of FM 2
Didn't the Screaming Skull debut in Issue 2?
ReplyDeleteGood eye Ray, it sure did! I made an update to this post.
ReplyDelete