There
are a lot of little things I want to talk about, but before I get into anything
I just wanted to point out it was 53 years ago this month that the world got its
first look at Don Post Studios' Universal Horrors line. These masks are still referred to as the
Calendar Masks due to their use in a 1966 calendar. I won't talk about the calendar here as that's
a story for another day.
The
relationship between Don Post Studios and Universal Studios goes back to 1948
when Don obtained the license to produce masks of the Frankenstein monster. While Don was never really a monster fan, he
came to become quite fond of Frankie over the years, seeing him as another
member of the line along with the clowns, animals, and old people. When Don forgot to make a payment to
Universal under the licensing agreement, he was quite surprised that Universal
never reminded him. After that, he
"forgot" the next several payments to see if Universal would come
looking for their money and they did not.
Fast
forward to 1963 when Verne Langdon purchased part of Don Post Studios. It was Verne who transformed Don Post Studios
from a novelty mask company to a monster mask company. The first step in that transformation was the
Hollywood Horrors line. This line-up consisted of six masks; Dracula, the Wolf
Man, the Mummy, Mr. Hyde, the Frankenstein Monster, and the Phantom of the
Opera. All 6 were sculpted by Pat Newman,
a sculptress who had followed the Posts from Chicago to Los Angeles after WWII.
In
1964, Langdon was contacted by David Hammond, the head of Universal’s
Merchandising Department. In addition to
renewing their existing license, Hammond also wanted Don Post Studios to
produce masks for their new tv show The
Munsters. Armed with the renewed
license for the Universal monsters, Langdon set out to release what would be
the ultimate monster masks. Later that
year, Pat Newman sculpted the line that would replace the Hollywood
Horrors. In the December issue of Genii: The Conjuror’s Magazine the world
got its first look at the Universal Horrors line. The two page spread featured a letter “From
the desk of Don Post” introducing the new line and emphasizing the Universal
connection and the use of original movie molds.
The letter featured a photo of Don Sr. wearing Verne Langdon’s Dracula
cape and leaning on a casket, and was signed “Don Post”, however the copy was
written entirely by Langdon. The other
page featured an illustration of the Frankenstein Monster against a lightning
filled night sky, surrounded by small photos of the ten masks that made up the
Universal Horrors line. The ten included
Dracula, the Creature From the Black Lagoon, the Frankenstein Monster, the Mad
Doctor, Mr. Hyde, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Phantom of the Opera, the
Hunchback, and the Mole Man.
The
co-operation from Universal was quite significant during this period. Rather than simply allowing Don Post Studios
to use the likenesses of their monsters, Universal also gave Post access to
their make-up department. As indicated
in the advertisement, Post was given access to any of the molds he wanted. In 1964, these molds were all stored inside
sound stage 28, in a loft several stories above the stage where Lon Chaney Sr.
filmed Phantom of the Opera in 1925. To
retrieve the molds, Don Sr., Verne, and Universal’s make-up department head Bud
Westmore had to lower the molds using a system of ropes and pulleys.
Of
the ten masks released in the Universal Horrors line, only the Mole Man and the
Creature From the Black Lagoon used the movie molds for their entire run. The first version of the Frankenstein Monster
in the Universal Horrors line was made by making a mold from a prop head that
was created for a dummy used in the climactic scene of Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein where the monster, set
aflame, falls through a pier. This mask
was too small and did not fit properly, so Langdon had Pat Newman sculpt a new
version, which is the one seen in the calendar.
The Mr. Hyde was also initially released using the mold from the mask as
seen in 1953’s Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. There were two masks used for the movie; one
for Boris Karloff and one for his stunt double.
The problem was that Karloff’s mask was only a ½ mask and his stunt
double had a small head so his mask was too small. The Karloff ½ mask was claypressed and the
back of the head filled out for the Post mask.
It was still on the small side and was resculpted by Pat Newman within
the year.
The
masks themselves were extremely high quality and found themselves making cameo
appearances in episodes of popular television shows at the time. The most popular of these is the McHale's Navy episode "The Vampire
of Taratupa". The episode featured
the Mummy, Hunchback, Phantom, Wolf Man, and (briefly) the Creature From the
Black Lagoon.
Most
of us know the Universal Horrors line from the advertisements in the back of
Famous Monsters. Not being born until
1972, I missed a lot of issues when they first came out. Fortunately, even in Canada, issues from the 1960s
were readily available and I got caught up rather quickly. Like many monster kids, old issues of FM were
my monster education and the mask ads were my first exposure to Don Post
Studios. Most of the advertisements
featured the calendar photos of masks which weren't really accurate as Verne
custom finished those copies for a series of photos (did I mention the calendar
was a topic for another day?).
This
advertisement, known as the "sweater ad", shows the copies as they
were actually produced. Yes, the Wolf Man was painted green. I've seen an
original and confirmed it.
Let's
be honest, the calendar masks are huge to mask nerds like me (and probably you
as well if you're still reading this) so this isn't the last you'll hear of
them from me. I just wanted to point out
that it was 53 years ago this month that they were announced. Everything else is my mind bouncing around
like an 8 year old looking for a popsicle.
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