1969 Outer Limits Makeup article

From "Famous Monsters" issue #54, published in March of 1969, comes an article on John Chambers, make-up man for movies and TV. The article presents a special make-up session in which the artist recreates the application of the makeup he did for David McCallum in the episode "The Sixth Finger."
I distinctly remember the fright that monster gave me as a six year-old kid!

First, the awesome and memorable cover painting of the alien from "Invasion of the Saucer Men, by none other than Ron Cobb!

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Bonus: from the same issue, the scary giant from "Lost In Space." Since Chambers did the makeup effects for this show, it's likely he had a hand in making this creature also. Here's an earlier post I did on the model of this monster.

Bonus: from the back cover, a full-page ad for the "Forgotten Prisoner of Castlemare." You can see a whole post I did on this model here.

1971 "House That Dripped Blood" article

"The House That Dripped Blood" was one of those films that I grew up wanting to see, but never did until recently when it came out on DVD. I loved all of the Amicus anthology films, like "Tales From The Crypt," "Asylum," "From Beyond The Grave," "The Vault Of Horror," and others. The images from the film in Famous Monsters and other magazines interested me, but above all that POSTER! What an image! It stuck in my brain over the years as one of the best and most horrific movie posters I had ever seen. From issue #86 of FM, published in September of 1971, comes this article on the film. The cover of the mag featured the poster in the only color version of it I had ever seen, and I think to this day it's one of my favorite FM covers. I have to say, however, that the Amicus anthology films had some of the best posters to come out of any studio.

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Bonus: From the same issue, a write-up on a horror fan lucky enough to be able to build his own home theater, a rare thing in those days. I can only imagine the fun he and his friends had over the years. UPDATE: Out of curiosity, I googled Wes Shank to see what he has been up to, and you can see for yourself at these links: "The Man Who Owns The Blob" article, another interview at Monsters411.com and his own website "The Blob Book" by the writer himself! Very cool!

Bonus: the back cover of the same issue, featuring the alluring and full-hipped Vampi. My 12 year-old self was turned on by the ads for Vampi in these mags, and I drew her several times. Wish I still had those drawings! I used to save everything I ever drew, but much of my artwork mysteriously disappeared over the years I was home. I think my mother used to throw them away if she didn't like the subject matter, which was most of the time.

1977 FM Article on Hammer's Dracula Films

From issue #133 of the venerable Famous Monsters magazine, (published April 1977) we find an awesome article on Hammer's Dracula films with Christopher Lee, with rare behind-the-scenes photos from several of the movies. First, the cover with a fantastic colorful painting of Robby...

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Robby was uncredited for having first invented the Vulcan hand salute.

And the anticipated fang-tastic feature itself...

1974 FM cover article on Christopher Lee

Welcome back! I've been so busy lately, that this blog kind of got neglected. But hopefully I can update it regularly for awhile now. Thanks for hanging around (like a vampire bat.)

From the March 1974 issue #105 of the beloved Famous Monsters, comes a 12 page article and interview with the Prince of Darkness himself, Chris Lee. We start with the awesome cover by the legendary Basil Gogos...

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and the article itself... enjoy!

Bonus: the Lee-as-Dracula cover from issue #84, which, oddly enough, does not feature anything significant about Lee inside; so I thought it would go nicely here. What a great photo, that made a striking cover!

Remembering The Forgotten Prisoner

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"He’s the last remaining prisoner from years gone by. Long since passed, and now all that remains are his bones as proof to his existence. His crimes have long been forgotten. His sentence fulfilled. However, this unfortunate prisoner was lost in the system, and now his bones are the only remains that hang from the dreaded shackles of his prison cell. Until now."

Note: this is a re-post imported over from my earlier blog, "Sweet Skulls." It fits in nicely with the theme of "My Monster Memories," so in case you missed it over there, you can enjoy it here.

Oh, man... this brings my younger days back so clearly I can actually smell the model glue and paint. And the giddy, light-headed feeling I had while working on it in 1974 had very little to do with the fumes. Even today, taking out my little Prisoner model invokes such a strong sense of nostalgia that it almost hurts. Among the relics of my youth, only a few survive, and I'm grateful this one did. I had stored it away in a box of collected goodies in my grandmother's guest bedroom closet. Since her house was my one refuge from the strain of a controlling and intolerent stepfather, I kept the things I treasured there, for I had seen more than one item go into the flames of the trash barrel simply because my having them irritated him.

He was an ex-Army sargent, a hunter and construction worker with a sixth-grade education; while I was a bookwormish monster-loving kid who had an artistic bent. Needless to say we clashed, and I always came out on the losing end, being a pacifistic kid who loved nothing more than finding a quiet place to read my comic books. Unfortunately, that also irritated him. That's why my weekend stays at Grandma's house, a haven of love, freedom and normalcy, loom so large in my good memories. Stress-free afternoons reading my newest Monster Times or Castle of Frankenstein, putting together a model, and evenings watching the good stuff on TV: "Kung Fu," "Planet of the Apes," Night Stalker," and the Saturday Night Movie.

The Skeleton in my closet

Over a decade after I built my Forgotten Prisoner model, I re-discovered it in that box in the closet when I went to bring the things I had stored there into my own home. It was in several pieces, but easily fixed and lovingly touched up (except for a missing foot). It was funny, for he had become forgotten for awhile, but he was relocated, restored and placed in a collection bookcase for safe-keeping. Now he comes out yearly and joins the Halloween decorations on the mantle.

It's ironic that the one model that is most remembered by Monster Kids is the one called The Forgotten Prisoner. My lonely friend, you are not forgotten. You are fondly remembered and loved. I think I related to you a lot.

As much as it means to me, you won't find a picture of my own Prisoner on this page; my efforts are painting him were amaturish next to these awesome examples and not worthy to be compared. But you will see some great interpretations of the Prisoner paint job, all of which are terrific. Enjoy!

http://www.lowbudgetrecords.com/models/prisoner.htm

http://gobedelighted.blogspot.com/2007/09/talk-like-pirate-day.html

http://www.monstersinmotion.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/11444




http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=171006

The two images above come from a great FP page: http://www.tylisaari.com/models/fp/forgotten.htm

http://www.horror-wood.com/skeleton.htm

http://www.bobbysmonstermodels.com/prisoner.html

http://www.monstersontheshelf.com/id59.html

http://www.majormattmason.net/stevendemarco/prisoner.htm


http://www.markatherton4.com/prisoner.html

http://plmodels3.tripod.com/mindiola2.htm

http://museum.theclubhouse1.net/submissions/scottterry1.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~steven_demarco/id12.html

http://www.professorplastik.com/monster_site/proscenium/kits/prisoner_kit/prisoner_kit.htm

http://s94.photobucket.com/albums/l118/S_Coffey/?action=view&current=IMG_0129.jpg

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/27515/cat/500/ppuser/15338

A new larger version is available! Wow, but for the price I would possess this...

http://www.monstersinmotion.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/663

Here's a Youtube video of "a" forgotton prisoner that's pretty funny. Not a re-creation of our beloved bones, but in the same spirit.

Update: All these years I thought that the awesome and iconic box art was done by James Bama, who did the other monster model box covers.... but in my Facebook roamings, I came across the actual artist: Mort Künstler! Visit his official website here or the Facebook fan page to see more awesome art!