Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Masks of Famous Monsters - Issue # 46


 Welcome to the twentieth 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.
 

Issue # 46 of Famous Monsters, released in September 1967, would feature some significant Don Post Studios debuts within it's pages. The issue showcased a number of monster masks in the form of photos, articles and ads. First up is this full page photo of the Don Post Studios Mole People Mask on page 39...


Up next is an article that has previously appeared here on the Blood Curdling Blog of Monster Masks, but is worth repeating in context with this post.  The article documents the saga of the Delgado white ape that was made for the Perils of Pauline, and it's transformation into the black ape that appeared on screen...


Page 70 would feature a rather significant ad as if would be the first time that the Karloff Frankenstein would appear in the pages of Famous Monsters replacing the Strange Frank in the deluxe Universal Monsters line...


The newly debuted Karloff Frank mask would also make an appearance on page 12 of issue 46 along with old Boris himself...


Having introduced the Ellis Burman as the Chief Lab Technician back in issue #43, Don Post Studios would waste no time releasing the Burman sculpted line-up which debuted atop page 82. In addition, the new Super & Deluxe Creepy and Eerie masks would also make their first appearance in Famous Monsters Magazine here...



Saturday, April 27, 2013

1970s Don Post Studios Catalog Sheets - 900 Line

Three of the coolest original designs in the history of Don Post Studios can be found a top this catalog sheet...

Not to mention this incredibly bad-ass Uncle Creepy mask which is my second all-time favorite DPS mask (right behind the Strange Frank mask)...

Don Post Studios - Uncle Creepy Mask

Friday, April 26, 2013

1970s Don Post Studios Catalog Sheets - Star Trek Masks

 The official Star Trek masks offered by Don Post Studios in the mid 70's, which included the Kirk mask which would unknowingly become the most sought after mask in the history of the DPS...


Catalog Photo of the Original Don Post Studios Kirk Mask

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

1970s Don Post Studios Catalog Sheets - 800 Line

Day two of the 1970s Don Post Studios catalog week brings us to two catalog sheets featuring the classic 800 Line...






Monday, April 22, 2013

1970s Don Post Studios Catalog Sheets

During the first half of the 1970's, Don Post Studios didn't release catalogs in the same familiar format that was followed from 1976 on. Rather, the catalogs were released in single sheets that were sent out to dealers. At some point in the 70's these sheets were bundled together and shipped in a gorgeous folder complete with photos and a brief company history.

Originally these catalogs sheets were posted over the course of a week, but for archival purposes through the Monster Mask Catalog Archives, this page will become the Table of Contents for the series of posts....

150 Line | 300 Line | 750 Line | 800 Line | 900 Line | Star Trek | Universal Monsters






Friday, April 19, 2013

1987 Collegeville Costumes Catalog

The juxtaposition of costume styles in 1987 Collegeville Catalog perfectly epitomizes the 1980's. On the one hand, there are some wonderful masks representing classic horror characters and Halloween costumes. And then, on the other hand, there are some costumes that really make you stop and scratch your head. For example, the Scratch and Sniff masks... or... the Lisa Frank masks come to mind.  These are just a few of many examples within these pages that point to the absurdity and hilarity that ran rampant in during the decade. Looking back at this catalog, just like the 80's as a whole, can be a lot of fun if you don't take it too seriously...














Thursday, April 18, 2013

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Monsterpalooza Photos - Part Three

This last set of photos from Monsterpalooza '13 were taken from my phone. And while they aren't nearly of the same quality of the last two sets, they do fill in several gaps in show coverage. There were still a number of booths that aren't represented in photos here, not by intention, but rather due to the crazy crowd size and my own lack of awareness to bring my phone charger cord. One of these years I'll learn...