R.I.P. Dick Smith

It's a sad day... but what sweet monsters he made. Rest in Peace Mr. Smith, your monsters and inspiration will live on forever.

The Masks of Famous Monsters - Issue # 14

Welcome to the eighth 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.

By October of 1961, when issue #14 was released, the classic Topstone ads have all debuted and there is little in the way of new ads, but that certainly doesn't stop issue 14 from containing some real monster mask gems within it's pages.

Monster masks make a double appearance in The Graveyard Examiner, which had become a monthly feature at this point in the history of FM...

While the quality of the photo is poor, this The Frankenstein monster mask is almost assuredly the same type (or even same one) used for the photos on page 35-36 of the first issue of Famous Monsters.

Another masked ghoul creeped into the Graveyard Examiner in the form of a rockin' roll Phantom. This appears to be an Ellis Burman Sr. Phantom Mask. When compared to the Wheeler catalog shot below, the lower lips and the lines on either side of the mouth match up pretty well, as do the cheek bones...

Ellis Burman Sr. - Phantom of the Opera Monster Mask

Another monster mask rears its ugly head later in issue #14 in the form of this spectacular Mr. Hyde mask from Dick Smith. The full article that this photo came from can be seen here.

Mr. Hyde Mask by Dick Smith

We'll wind down our look at issue #14 with a fun ad from the final pages of the Captain Company Shock Monster T-Shirt...

That's it for another installment of the Masks of Famous Monsters. Tune in next time when we build a bridge to the first appearance of Don Post Studios ads in FM pages!

Monster Makers Series #5 : Dick Smith

The Monster Makers series is a monthly look at the men that made the monsters. Many FX and make-up men started as garage mask and monsters makers. Some graduated to making rubber monster masks or monster suits for Hollywood films. Still others went on to produce revolutionary effects...

This month's edition of the Monster Makers series features an article written by Dick Smith himself. The article originally appeared in Famous Monsters # 14 and is fully of amazing photos and how-to information...

Monster Makers Series #2: Dick Smith

The Monster Makers series is a monthly look at the men that made the monsters. Many FX and make-up men started as garage mask and monsters makers. Some graduated to making rubber monster masks or monster suits for Hollywood films. Still others went on to produce revolutionary effects...

The second edition of the Monster Makers series features an article from issue # 17 of Famous Monsters of Filmland featuring Dick Smith's creation of Dorain Grey.

Pressman Space Creaure Masks

Space Creatures Masks (Zordius, Megathor, and Vorkan) were released in 1978 by the Pressman Toy Corporation. As if these build-it-yourself masks weren't oozing of bad-assery to begin with, Oscar award winning make up artist Dick Smith designed the three characters. This full page ad comes from page 5 of Fangoria #2 and features some fun makeup kits with the Space Creatures taking center stage.

Megathor, Vorkan, and Zordius

I've never had the pleasure of seeing any of these in person, but a quick search on Ebay yielded a score of nice images of each of the three Space Creatures...

 

Image source: PlaidStallions.com