Don Post, Sr. Article - Questar Magazine #7

31 years ago today we lost a legend as Don Post Sr. passed away. Don's impact on the mask world can not be understated as the man practically invented the process of making and manufacturing latex rubber masks.

The June 1980 issue of Questar featured a very thorough write up of the life and legacy of by Jeffery Elliot titled "The Many Faces of Don Post, Sr."

 

 The back cover of the issue featured a great ad for Don Post Studios Star Trek masks and Star Wars masks. 

Don Post Studios Article - FM 1975 Convention Book

From the Famous Monsters 1975 Convention Book, here's a great little article on the changing of the guard at Don Post Studios. The article focuses mainly on Don Post Jr. taking the reigns at the studio and assures the dear reader that the studio will continue to produce high quality monster masks for years to come.

There's a few nice photos featured in the article, especially of Forry with the life-size monsters and the old Uncle Eerie masks in the background. I really dig the Gort suit!

1992 Death Studios Catalog

In our second post on the masks of Death Studios, we'll take a look at the 1992 single page catalog. The 1992 line-up was dominated by Jordu Schell designs. The "Gothic Demon", "Xenophobe", "Boogey Man", "Hybrid", and "La Muerte" all made their Death Studios debut.

As a senior in high school with a job at the local ice cream parlor, I remember thinking that I couldn't possibly work enough hours to get them all, let alone the masks from the '91 catalog I still wanted! The only mask from this catalog I would actually go on to order was the Karloff-ian Mummy "Ancient Death", as most of my paychecks were spent on concert tickets in '92.

 

Hi-res scan with all the gruesome details still intact!

Zombie Mask - Flesh Eater

This zombie mask showed up in the mail a few days ago after I snagged it up on Fee-Bay about a week ago.

This mask holds a very dear place in my heart as I sculpted it back in 1996 for Death Studios. It was the first mask of mine to make it into in a Death Studios line-up appearing in the 1997 catalog.

 

Here's a photo of the Flesh Eater from the Death Studios Catalog

Here's a brief history of the Flesh Eater. The mask was actually produced three different times. Originally by the Devil's Workshop in 1996 for a short while, where only 4 copies were ever produced under the name of "Decayed". Next, the mask was offered by Death Studios under the name "Flesh Eater" for a couple of years before being added to the Dark Side Studios line-up in 1999-2000. Darkside Paul produced the mask for a few more years in the early 2000's.
 
I never requested a copy from DS or DSS as I had made one copy for myself. Without much thought I sold my copy always thinking I would grab one while it was still in production. In late 1998 I went back to college for a few years I dropped out of the mask world and so did the Flesh Eater.

 

Here's a photo of my long gone original copy

The copy I now have is from Darkside Studios and it's beautiful. Paul did a great job on the paint work and I absolutely LOVE the hair. I'm happy as hell to have one in my collection, although my wife is probably getting sick of it hanging out on the dining room table for the last 3-4 days!

The Masks of Jason Soles

Today's post features these stunning masks from Jason Soles. Mr. Soles is a sculptor who creates one-of-a-kinds as well as reproducible pieces. These are without a doubt the most original masks I have run into in some time. Check out Mr. Soles Deviant Art page for more of his work.

1980 Ben Cooper Catalog

Most of the kids that grew up with these plastic vacuform masks with the colorful vinyl smocks and knew of them as a vital part of every Halloween. In addition to the traditional vacuforms, the 1980 Ben Cooper catalog features a new line of rubber masks. Very low quality rubber masks, but they certainly have their own retro charm!

I was cruising the ultra-swank Plaid Stallions site yesterday and came across scans of the 1980 Ben Cooper Cooper catalog.  I stitched together a few images and cleaned up some compression artifacts, here's a few pages to sink your fangs into:

 

 

 

Here's the direct link to the Plaid Stallions page with the entire catalog.

Verne Langdon Zombie Mask Ad

This full-page color ad from the back cover of Famous Monsters #104 features quite possibly the most sought after mask of them all... the Verne Langdon Zombie. For most collectors it remains the holiest of holy grails!

 

The Zombie mask was created by Verne in 1972, about 4 years after he left Don Post studios. The mask first appeared on the cover of the Creepy 1972 Annual. After Warren Publishing received a number of inquires about the mask Verne decided to produce a limited number of these in his spare time along with the help of Terry Smith. Verne has stated that he remembers making around a dozen and Terry completing about twice that before the advertisement was retired.

At some point in a future post we'll take a look at the reissue and recasts of this legendary monster mask!

Maskfest 2011 Announcement Coming Soon!

The HMA has promised that an Official MASK-FEST 3 announcement is set to be made on 11-16-10! While we wait for the news I thought it would be a good time to post some pics I took at last year's Maskfest 2.

 

Bruce Spaulding Fuller's Table & Close Up

 

A few of the many pieces available at Daniel Horne's Table

 

David Lady had a variety of new and old masks for sale

The Devil's Workshop Table debuted the Famous Monster Cover Project at Maskfest 2

 

A few of the pieces at Jeff Wehenkel's Booth

 

The KreationX booth had some great masks and life size display busts

 

Night Owl's killer Shock Monster mask and hands

 

Monte Ward's life size Killer Clown 

 

Dick Smith's Exorcist bust from the Shumsky Collection

A few of the many mind-blowing pieces from Stephen Collins

 

 

Pictures do not do justice to Thomas Kuebler's show stopping pieces.

One half of the Twisted Toybox Booth

A small portion of the amazing Universal Monster Army display

The Witch's Dungeon display

Headhunters Quarterly Preview Issue

The newsletter of collectible latex masks and props... Headhunters Quarterly was a quarterly publication from McDoogal's House of Horrors that thrilled mask collectors during the late 90's. The brainchild of Jim Kessler and Jeff Wehenkel, HHQ was a welcome and much needed newsletter and common grounds for mask collectors before the days of the world wide web.

I first met Jim and Jeff at the Chicago Rezn Headz convention in 1996(?). This was the first time I had the opportunity to meet folks with the same passion and enthusiasm for Halloween masks as I had! I've had the pleasure of seeing Jim and Jeff at several conventions since, and it's always great to see them.

My goal is to eventually scan each of the issues and post them here to share and preserve them for other mask and monster enthusiasts. So with that, we'll start with the preview issue, Volume 1 Number 0 - the Zombie Issue!

In addition to the images here, the entire issue can be downloaded in PDF format, just right click and save!

Look for more issues in future posts!

Don Post Color Calendar Mask Ad

I'm recovering from a crazy Halloween, so tonight's post will be a quicky that takes a look at the back cover of the Famous Monsters of Filmland 1966 Yearbook. The issue featured a wonderful full-color Captain Company ad for the classic Don Post Calendar masks! These pics are from different angles, and most feature different paint schemes than the original calendar photos. If you missed the original Calendar Mask post, check it out here and compare!

 

The cover of the 1966 Yearbook itself is one of my favorite in the FM catalog. It features a ghoulish painting of the Don Post Deluxe Phantom mask.

If you're also a fan of this classic cover, do check out the Devils' Workshop Famous Monster Cover Project Phantom mask while there are still a few copies left!