The Masks of Famous Monsters - 1968-69

Welcome to the twenty-first 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.

Unfortunately for monster mask lovers, 1968-69 would not be good years for finding monster masks within the pages of Famous Monsters Magazine. Coincidence or not, the parting of ways between Verne Langdon and Don Post Studios would mean a drastic reduction in the coverage of DPS in the form of articles and ads. With the golden years of the studio gone, so went the golden days of monster masks in Famous Monsters magazine. Over the course of the next twelve issues we had but these sparse scraps to pick from. Perhaps the crowning monster mask moment of '68 was the cover of the February issue which featured ol' "Sandy Claws"...

Issue #49 would feature the first appearance of the dreaded "Sold Out" signal within a Don Post Studios Deluxe Universal Monster mask ad...

Issue 49 would also be the last time the DPS / Ellis Burman sculpted economy line ad would appear in FM...

Issue #50 would contain another "Men Behind the Monsters" article written by Verne Langdon. The featured artist was Ben Nye. Among the behind the scenes shots, a young Dick Smith could be seen working with the mold for the Fly mask...

Fast forward past several issues with either no mask ads, or repeat ads, to issue 54 where we are presented with two mask related articles, but alas both are repeats from issue 42 which was published the previous year back in January 1967.

Issue 55 would contain a new ad format for the remnants of the old calendar ad. This new 3/4 page ad would no longer feature any of the sold out masks in the series. This was also the last mask ad that would appear in the pages of FM until issue 60...

The July issue (#56) would contain an nice shot of the window display from Wallich's Music City where a beautiful full figure Mummy adorned with a DPS Calendar mask took center stage. The display was part of promo for "An Evening with Boris Karloff and Friends" phonograph with featured a score by Verne Langdon...

A quarter page ad for the "Evening with..." record album would appear in issue 57 of FM and would run for a few consecutive months...

While not a mask, this full page photo of the old Barnabas Collins could be found in issue 59. The character was the inspiration for the Don Post Studios "Old Vampire" mask which was released in 1975 and would remain a staple in the DPS line-up from the mid to late 70s and into the early 80s...

We'll wind down this edition of the Masks of Famous Monsters with the December issue of 1969 when the aforementioned three-quarter page DPS would once again make an appearance after a long absence...

 And with the December 1969 issue, so closes the decade. While it's a rather uneventful closing, the decade as a whole provided some of the most cherished articles and ads that monster mask collectors would ever know. Next up, the 1970s...