Schell Studios Mask Ad

Half page color ad from issue #95 of Rue Morgue Magazine featuring the mind blowing work of Jordu Schell. Masks pictured from left to right include: "Hybrid II" , "Asto-Zombie", "Phaedron" , "Creature" and "Frankongstein"...

Brinke Stevens and Friend

Brinke Stevens poses with Nick Damon's Ragnarok mask...

Image Source: my-retrospace.blogspot.com

Random Sunday Morning Mask PIc - Lil' Phantom...

Rat Fink Mask Ad

This ad for the Rat Fink and Junkyard Kid masks comes straight from Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's own "Dumb Junk" Catalog...

Rat Fink Mask Ad

Ed Big Daddy Roth's Dumb Junk Catalog

It's tough to tell if the masks offered in the ad are the 1989 Death Studios versions, or the American Mask and Novelty produced version. These catalog images came from an ebay listing a while back and the resolution is pretty poor, but the legible portions make for a fun read nonetheless.

Here's a quick look at the old boys in color...

Headhunters Quarterly Vol. 3 Num. 1

Continuing along with the goal of eventually scanning each of the HHQ issues to preserve for mask and monster enthusiasts, here is issue #9 (Vol.3 Num.1) As always, a .PDF of the issue can be downloaded, just right click here and save!

The first Headhunters Quarterly published in 1999 featured the highly anticipated release of the Don Post Universal Monsters Re-Issues. The issue contained some of my very favorite HHQ write-ups entitled "Finding Original Calendar Masks" from Dante Renta and Pete Roberts.

In addition, issue #9 featured part one of the "Return of the Classic Don Post Universal Monster Masks" articles. This is a read that still puts a huge smile on my face. It's still possible to feel the energy and excitement caused by the release of  these masks in this issue.

 The Cool New Stuff department featured the upcoming Death Studios Bloodbeast and Tor Johnson sculpts, as well as a new Dr. Lady mask...

 The Reader's Poll Result were in for the reader's favorite mask poll. Again, it's a cool look back at the pulse of mask collectors at the turn of the century...

Carol Hicks - Wasp Woman Mask

Here's another flyer that arrived in the mail in the mid to late '90's from David and Laura Lady's Horror Hotel. This one featuring Carol Hicks' sculpted Wasp Woman...

Wasp Woman Mask

The Masks of Famous Monsters - Issue # 19

Welcome to the tenth 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.

As discussed in yesterday's post, this installment temporarily takes us out of order, as we go backwards to look at an article from the September 1962 issue of FM.

The article itself features some fantastic vintage monster mask photographs which were in fact stills from an 8 minute home-made horror movie title "Monster in the Basement" released in 1962 by Robert Kraus.

The article itself is unusual in the sheer volume of pages (10 pages total) dedicated to the movie. In addition, the overall page layout is quite strange and is very unorthodox for the FM format, perhaps in an attempt to mimic the jump-cut edit of the film, but as a result, we are left with some kick ass shots of a Topstone Gorilla, Cyclops and a Bayshore Zombie!

The Masks of Famous Monsters - Issues # 15-26

Welcome to the ninth 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 issue #15 the classic early Topstone ads have all debuted and there is little in the way of "new" material other than the occasional mask related photo for the next eleven issues which span a time frame beginning in January 1962, and ending exactly two years later in January 1964 . All that will change by issue #27 when Don Post Studios masks find their way into the pages Famous Monsters of Filmland for the very first time. This post bridges that gap and documents each minor mask related appearance along the way...

The following photo of some early 1960's vacuform masks was the lone monster mask photo to be found in issue #15...

Issue #16 offers up a single selection of monster mask fun with this great shot of a Topstone Shock Monster and Teenage Werewolf...

Issue #17 again offered up only a single new nugget for fans of monster masks...

We have to skip forward to issue # 19 for mask related material. Fortunately, the wait was worth it as readers were greeted by a whooping ten pages of monster mask fun! For the ease of archiving, I'll be posting these pages in a separate post here tomorrow.

Issue #21 contains a small photo taken over twenty years prior to the release of the issue of Forry wearing a mask created for him by a young Ray Harryhausen!

Quasimoto Mask by Ray Harryhausen

Again we skip forward, this time to issue #23 for a nice shot of a Topstone Horrible Melting Man mask.

The only new mask related ad that would appear in this 11 issue span would be the "Shadow" Type mask and "Mystery Man" mask. Hardly monster masks, but certainly worth looking at as the Mystery Man mask would go on to appear in numerous Warren publications for over a decade to come.

The "Shadow Type" mask would appear just once, in issue 24...

This ad would not be found in issue #24, but would reappear in issue #25 in an altered "Mystery Man" from. It's a reasonable assumption to say that either Meridian Pictures or Columbia Pictures was none to happy about James Warren's unlicensed use of an Shadow "type" mask along with a photo of the Shadow in action. And so, the "Mystery Man" ad was born...

Well Creeps, that's a wrap on the pre-Don Post Studios days of Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine. See you all here again next month for another installment of The Masks of Famous Monsters!

Random Sunday Morning Mask Pic - Collegeville Witch

As I sit here firing back a few Bloody Marys before a full Sunday of Championship Football, I can't help but wonder what these gals would be like after a couple of cocktails...

Rubber Gorilla Post Card

I picked up this post card from the Rubber Gorilla Mask Making Studio display at last year's Monsterpalooza. It features a good number of Neal Harvey's psycho killer designs...

Rubber Gorilla Masks

Speaking of Monsterpalooza, we're a little less than 3 months away from the 2012 'palooza!

T.S. Kuebler's Cabinet of Curiosities Article

This article was published in June of 2007 featuring the work of Thomas Kuebler. While the work looks amazing in these shots, it's absolutely mind-blowing-jaw-dropping stuff in person. The glares of the figures are extremely unsettling, and the level of detail is beyond comprehension.

Critter Hand Puppet - Part 2

Check out this nasty little fellow from Artifexcreations. More info and pics here..

Critter Hand Puppet

To piggy-back Saturday's American Mask and Novelty Company post, here's the infamous Critter Hand Puppet half page ad that thrilled and taunted many monster kids of the 1990s. Damn I so wanted one of these things! There were two versions offered (Deluxe and Standard) with the Deluxe being an impressive 20" tall.

Critter Handpuppet Ad

Fancy Two-Color Version of the Critter Puppet Ad

Deluxe Critter Puppet

Standard Critter Puppet

Assorted Vintage Plastic Halloween Masks

I found a folder on my computer yesterday I hadn't visited in years named "LoRes" full of tiny images of vacuform monster mask goodness. Not sure if I saved these from ebay, or another blog at some point, but I arranged them into a single image to post...