A truly amazing package from Hawaii showed up at the Phantom's front door earlier this week. The contents were four Ellis Burman Sr. masks, complete with a stamp from Bert Wheeler's Magic Shop. Here's a few shots of the opening of the package. It was double boxed, and packaged with a tremendous amount of care. It felt like an archeological dig to finally get to the masks...
I've written about the history of these masks in a
previous post, so I won't go into that again here. But, I wanted to share some photos and make the promise that more will be on the way. In addition, I'm planning to start a small site documenting the story of how these guys came to me, their restoration, as well as info and past photos of Burman's amazing masks. More info on that coming soon.
If you're in search of more info in the meantime, please check out this thread on the
Monster Kid Classic Horror Forum. It's packed with some great photos and info.
Here are some beautiful photos of the set that were sent to me last week before the package was shipped...
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| Ellis Burman Sr. - Dracula Mask |
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| Ellis Burman Sr. - Frankenstein Mask |
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| Ellis Burman Sr. - Phantom Mask |
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| Ellis Burman Sr. - Were-Wolf Mask |
Here's a look at the inside of a few of the masks...
Now there's the look of a kid in a candy store! Congrats on your acquisitions...so very cool to find such relics! For their age they appear in quite remarkable condition. Looking forward to the story of their journey. Who will be doing the restoration?
ReplyDeleteThanks Arcane! I will be doing the restoration. It will probably be a much slower process that I originally thought. These will probably be my main project of 2012.
ReplyDeleteCool Phantom mask
ReplyDeleteThese are awesome! Never expected to see contemporary photos of these masks.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen these for many years.
ReplyDeleteMy father used to wear the "zombie mask" at halloween. Scared the daylights out of the trick-or-treaters.
I am one of Ellis Burman Sr.s grandsons, and proud to say he left quite a legacy of special effects artists including his two sons, Ellis II, Tom, grandsons, Ellis III, Barney, and Rob Burman.
Thanks for the posting.
So very cool to hear Mr. Burman! It must have been amazing growing up in such an artistic family. I can imagine how much much fun was had at the Burman household on Halloween. Thanks for sharing the memories :)
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