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!

(Click on images to enlarge; once open you may have to click on it again to view full-size.)

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.

"Strange Change" Model Kit Ad

The "Strange Change" model kit ads (originally posted on my first blog, Sweet Skulls.)
(Click on images to view full size.)

I've been having a blast going through my collection bookcases lately, mining them for material to post on my blogs, here on Monster Memories. Usually, the only time I would get into them very much was when I was packing them up for a move. That was a killer; if you look at them in this picture, you might never guess that they would fill up ten banana boxes each. That's 30 heavy boxes total. I hope I never have to move them again, but that's hoping for too much, I suppose. Otherwise, I only reached into them occasionally as I was looking for something to read on a bathroom visit that threatened to be of extended length. Under such circumstances, you grab what you can off the top of a stack and hoof it!

Now, though, I am seeing things I haven't seen in years, re-discovering items I had forgotten I had. In many cases it's like seeing a friend you haven't come across in years.

Anyway, these ads for the "Strange Change" model kits from the early 70's were something I had forgotten about completely. It must have been well over 30 years since I saw these ads and thought about them! Or course, I never owned one of the kits; if you've read this blog much you know I kept my collecting to things like books, magazines and comics that could fit flat in a drawer, for easy hiding and quick packing. But that didn't keep me from reading and wishing!

"Ah, excuse me, do you have any toilet paper over there? Hello?"

The Vampire was the one I wanted most; I mean, changing from a "living" vampire to a skeleton, and back, how incredibly cool was that? I thought it was the coolest idea in the whole line of hobby kits put out in the MPC line, including the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean kits. It was like a scene from a Hammer Dracula movie!

"Goodbye, I'm off to the age of dinosau....Aaaiieee!"

I always thought it was "strange" that the time machine had the monsters appear inside the craft, but I guess they were taking dramatic license, and assumed that we kids would figure it out that it wasn't merely a fatal design flaw by a careless inventor.

"Close it, close it! Gosh, this is my private time, Mom!"

The Mummy was kind of neat, but he only got a little distressed and dishevelled in his change, not that big a difference. I think the Wolfman would have been a better candidate for a dramatic change. But what would they have put him in? A dog kennel?

If they wanted a truly strange change, they could have made one where Frankenstein's monster changes into the Bride! But that would have been a little ahead of it's time.

Of course, the ultimate would have been to make one with Vampirella; where she changes between slightly dressed and completely undressed! Ah, one can dream...

Remembering The Forgotten Prisoner

(Click on images to enlarge.)

"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!

Den Beauvais Monster Art

Today's Monster Memory is brought to life by the extremely talented and prolific Den Beauvais. This faithful adaptation of the Universal classic "Frankenstein" is breathtakingly painted, and each page is worth framing. Visit his site, at http://www.denbeauvais.com/ to see what all he's done and is working on. If you're not a fan already, after visiting his site you will be.

Below are two pages that I scanned in and posted in a large format so you can appreciate the work and talent that went into this.

Below are pages of the artwork found on his site. Just looking at these make me happy for some reason.

To view all the pages of artwork of the ENTIRE comic, without the dialog balloons (and really, who needs 'em?) go here and feast your eyes!

After seeing the work he did on the Frankenstein adaptation, he was contracted to do the model kit box covers for the new Dark Horse versions of the old Aurora models so beloved by Monster Kids everywhere. Beautiful work.

The "Bathroom Buddies" below show his humorous side!

Drac actually coined the term "bloodbath" but few realised he meant it so literally. It was a pleasure also enjoyed by Countess Bathory, a.k.a. "Blood Bathory."

One sniff told him that there was a lycan meeting in the old clearing next Tuesday at 12:30... and that everyone should invite a human friend for after-meeting snacks.

All those brains and no fiber really clog up the old plumbing!

Werewolf? There... wolf!

For a 3D animation the guys will enjoy watching for hours on end, click here. Heck, some girls reading this might enjoy it!

Well, it's good to see someone with such a love for the genre being able to make a good living at it, and making us fellow fans happy as well. Den, we raise our voices in a howl of salute!

All artwork featured in this post is copyright Den Beauvais.