MK80 - Draft Introduction

Hello to all of you friends, supporters, and people who clicked on this by accident. When I first started this blog, I mentioned I wanted to include drafts of things I'm working on to get some feedback. Well this is one of those drafts of a thing.

As most of you know, I'm a fan of the 1960s Monster Kid era.  My first book on the history of Don Post Studios was tied into that era and I have read every book and watched every documentary on the era.  I came along at the tail end of it though, so I've always had to look at it as a historian rather than a first hand participant.  One fact these books and documentaries always include, and I have never agreed with, is that the Monster Kid era ended for good in 1977 when Star Wars triggered the sci-fi boom.  I've always seen it is as a mere lull between waves.  I thought it was about time that someone took a look back at the role of monsters in 1980s pop culture because there are significant parallells between the two waves, or two eras if you prefer.  The more I thought about it, the more I really wanted to see it done.  

As most of you also know, my latest book, the first volume of the history of Distortions Unlimited, is tied up in production limbo and the second volume on hold indefinitely.  That's left me with a bit of time on my hands so I figured I'd start working on an outline and an introduction.  Rather than write something dry and academic, which has never been my style, I'm thinking of writing this in the first person and sharing some personal anecdotes along the way.  A lot more objective information than a memoir, but more personal than a history textbook.       

This is where you guys come in. I'm going to share the first draft of my introduction here and ask you for some feedback.  I know the grammar and sentence structure needs work.  I'm just trying to get ideas onto paper at this point.  Do you guys think this is even a good idea?  Should I forget it and go back to writing about rubber monster heads?  I'm also open to suggestions for a title.   

Here it is...I'm looking forward to your feedback:

It all began in October of 1957.  Screen Gems, the television subsidy of Columbia Pictures, released the Shock Theater package of 52 pre-1948 Universal Classic horror movies for television syndication.  Shock Theater was an instant success, with viewership in 5 key markets (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco Philadelphia, and San Antonio) reporting a boost in ratings ranging from 35% to 1,125%.  The following year, Screen Gems released the Son of Shock Theater package added another 20 films from both Universal and Columbia.

Seemingly overnight, children across America were obsessed with monsters.  Every weekend evening, they would be glued to their televisions to watch horror movies, often introduced by their local horror host.  The job of the horror host was twofold.  First, they had to make the horror kid-friendly and remind the parents that it was all clean fun.  Second, and more importantly, they had to pad out the film's presentation to a standard time slot given that these films varied in time from just under an hour to over an hour and a half. 

This explosion in the popularity of monsters was a phenomenon which did not go unnoticed.  Within several years, these children had Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, Aurora model kits of the classic monsters, and monster masks which let them become their favorite monsters.  Through the 1960s, the number of products to enthrall the hordes of monster-loving kids grew exponentially.  These kids were, and are still, known as Monster Kids.

Today, we have a number of books and documentaries about the Monster Kid phenomenon that started in the '50s and peaked in the '60s.  These all present the Monster Kid phenomenon as something that was permanently extinguished as quickly as it began with the release of Star Wars in May of 1977, which saw Dracula and Van Helsing  replaced in children's imaginations by Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.  Being a kid in 1977, I remember how obsessed we all were with Star Wars.  Even Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, the religious text of Monster Kids everywhere, was filled with Star Wars articles that we devoured.

Did Star Wars usher in a sci-fi boom that displaced horror as the popular genre among kids and teenagers?  Yes, absolutely.  But did it actually spell the end of  Monster Kid-dom?  Not a chance!

  

We Monster Kids of the '80s have generally been looked down upon and dismissed by the first wave of Monster Kids.  Every single book and documentary about the Monster Kid phenomenon treats it as a one shot deal that ended in 1977.  I don't buy into that.  If we've learned anything from horror movies, it's that monsters never stay dead.  The late 1970s sci-fi boom was not the end, but a lull between waves.  It's time that the second wave was acknowledged and this book is hopefully the first of many to tell our story.

Our monsters were different than the classics, in that they weren't tragic characters we empathized with and felt sorry for.  In the early to mid 1970s, before Star Wars came along, horror began to shift towards grittier, more realistic movies.  Films like The Last House on the Left and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre introduced moviegoers to monsters who were ruthless, soulless killers who terrified us as we watched them on the screen then stalked us in our nightmares.  Our horror movies in the '80s were marked by special effects sequences that made our movie viewing experiences akin to watching a magic show where the fun was in trying to figure out the tricks.  Special effects artists, almost all of whom were first wave Monster Kids themselves, became our idols.        

Where television was the piece of technology that fed the first wave of Monster Kids, we had the VCR.  Most of us received our education in horror movies from our local mom & pop video store.  How many times did we discover something we loved only because the horror movie we wanted was already rented out?  If you have ever stood in a small video store, looking at all the VHS covers, frantically trying to make up your mind while your parents told you it was time to go, this book is for you.

Thanks to MTV, we watched Michael Jackson dance with zombies and listened to Freddy Krueger rapping.  We pored over issues of Fangoria magazine and both of Tom Savini's Grande Illusions books (we are still patiently waiting for Book III, Tom).  We faced a purple Jason Voorhees  on our Nintendo only to be repeatedly told that we and our friends were dead.  Most of you reading this will be silently nodding and agreeing with me when I say that the '80s were a great time to be a kid who loved monsters.  Join me for a trip down memory lane as we revisit these days and proudly say "We're the Monster Kids of the '80s and this is our story".

           

   

Original Uncropped Phantom Photo

In 1965, Don Post Studios’ Universal Horrors line represented the ultimate in monster masks.  To show off this line, Verne Langdon took one copy of each of the masks and personally finished them with a unique paint and hair scheme.  He had them professionally photographed by J. Barry Herron, a photographer who would go on to a career as a cinematographer and director of photography in the motion picture industry.  The 11x14 prints were then framed and hung on the office walls at Don Post Studios.

Shortly after the offices were decorated with these prints, publisher Jim Matthews attended at Don Post Studios to discuss advertising Don Post masks in a new magazine he was launching called Modern Monsters.  Upon seeing the framed photos, Matthews recognized the potential to do something commercial with the photos.  His initial idea was to sell prints, however Verne had the idea of creating a calendar instead.  This became the now famous 1966 calendar and also why the Universal Horrors masks are referred to as the "Calendar Masks".

Some of the original photographs from the walls of DPS are still floating around in private collections.  I own the original Creature photo, which is looking a bit worse for wear and definitely showing its age.

In researching the book, I would often come across scans of B&W copies of the photos but was never sure where they originally came from.  Some of these were B&W copies of the photos we're all familiar with, while some were alternate takes.  An example is this Frankenstein, which has the hand visible across the chest.  When compared to the calendar photo, too much of the chest is visible in the calendar photo for it to simply have been cropped out.  I suppose it could have been airbrushed out, but it is more likely Herron told Don Post Jr. (who was the model in the Herron photos) to lower his hand then snapped another photo.

I was browsing on Ebay of all places for mask photos when I came across this familiar face: 

I was just looking at the calendar Phantom photo just the other day, comparing it to a custom painted mask I had received as part of a project to complete a set of calendar replica masks. If there's any interest I can share those here with you too.  Anyway, I noticed the Phantom hand in the photo and did not recall seeing it in the calendar photo.  I went back and double checked the calendar and confirmed it had been cropped off at the bottom of the costume's V neck.  

I went into my own archives (which, as you can imagine, are quite extensive from researching the book) and looked to see if I had this uncropped image anywhere.  I had lots of photos from the Herron shoot and was confident I had seen them all, but this one was nowhere to be found.  

I saved the image and tried cropping it to see if it matched the calendar photo. I'll let you be the judge:

Next comes the question if it's an original photo or a print and where it's been for the last 50+ years.  Both questions are answered by looking at the back of the photo:

The Barry J Herron stamp shows it is an original photo from his studio, and the initials FJA indicate this photo was in the archives of Forrest J Ackerman, the editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland.  There was a very close relationship between Warren Publishing (publishers of FM) and Don Post Studios at the time.  This is where I move away from fact and into the realm of speculation, but I can easily see Forry asking for copies of the photos for inclusion in future issues of FM.  Since the magazine was published in black and white, he would not have needed color photos which would explain why he had B&W copies.  I recall seeing some calendar photos in FM, but never this one in particular.  I could have easily missed or forgotten it, or he may have gotten the complete set and only used a few.    

    

This discovery just goes to show that there lots of treasures out there to still be discovered.  There is still a lot of new information to learn in this hobby, probably one of the reasons I love it so much.