BOB BURNS: A MONSTER KID ORIGINAL

I had the great pleasure of meeting Bob Burns in 2013 at Monsterpalooza in Burbank, CA. He was easy-going, gregarious, had a great sense of humor and always willing to talk about his second love, monsters (his first being his wife, Kathy, who sadly passed away in 2021 at the age of 86). That year the 80th "birthday" of King Kong was being celebrated which included a ceremony with a birthday cake commemorating the legendary giant ape. Burns brought along his King Kong armature designed by Willis O'Brien and built by Marcel Delgado. It has the unique distinction of being the only complete armature from the film known to still exist.

Following are two features about the young Bob Burns from FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND (#4, August 1961 and #6, January 1962 respectively).

BOB BURNS: BEAST WISHES Youtube:

Visit Bob's Official Website HERE.

MONSTER MASKS AT MONSTERPALOOZA

On display in "The Theater" at this year's MONSTERPALOOZA was a collection of masks, including the famous Don Post Tor mask accompanied the original mold from which the masks were cast.

GIRLS AND CORPSES AT MONSTERPALOOZA!

A regular event at Eliot Brodsky's MONSTERPALOOZA in Burbank, CA is the arrival of the GIRLS AND CORPSES magazine "Corpse-Mobile", a 1969 Cadillac hearse appropriately age-worn and complete with casket containing a morgue-load of monster babe goodness ready to be unleashed on the slavering zombie hordes -- otherwise known as the paying customers!

GREETINGS FROM MONSTERPALOOZA!

Well, I'm taking a few minutes for a breather here at the 2014 MONSTERPALOOZA in beautiful downtown Burbank, CA. Still looking for that fabled land of milk and honey I keep hearing about, I came in to Bob Hope Airport yesterday from SeaTac and went from the land of rain (it was raining like proverbial cats and dogs when I left) to the land of earthquakes (there was a 5.2 temblor that centered around the town of La Habra at about 8:00 PM).

Just came back from a 90 minute presentation by Bob and Kathy Burns and the wonderful crew who worked on his legendary Halloween yard shows back in the 60s and 70s. Many of these were filmed and Bob says so much so that a lot of footage was edited out for sheer length.

The highlight of the weekend so far (outside of chatting with Bob, Scott Essman, Anne Serling, Carla Laemmle, Bill Stout -- well, you get the idea) was the special 60th Anniversary CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON tribute panel presented by Essman featuring very special guests, Ricou Browning, Julie Adams, and Bob Burns. The presentation included a number of slide shows that showed many rare shots from the productions, including a never-before-seen 8mm "home movie" that was taken during the filming of REVENGE OF THE CREATURE. My pointy hat's off to Scott Essman (who had moderated a panel on stop-motion animation the night before) for this assemblage of what he called "deities" of the monster motion picture business. I couldn't agree with him more.

Here are a few scenes from "The Museum" exhibit:

Reproduced painting from "Rod Serling's Night Gallery".

Homage to Ray Harryhausen.

Beautiful repro of Ray's imaginative work.

Everybody's favorite pin head

Ricou Browning's in the house! Getting set for his panel discussion.

3D CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON TO SCREEN IN LOS ANGELES

Scott Essman, the Prince of Promotion, is reporting that the last of the great Universal monster movies, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954), will be screening in its original 3D version this Sunday at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, California. Playing with it Universal's THE MUMMY. A super double-feature! Tickets are available HERE.

Those of you who can't see it in L.A. and are going to MONSTERPALOOZA in Burbank the following weekend will have a chance to see it Saturday night, March 29, at 8:30 PM. Info is HERE.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, KING KONG!

At this year's MONSTERPALOOZA in Burbank, CA, attendees were treated to a panel discussion on KING KONG on the occasion of his 80th "birthday". Bob Burns was on hand and graciously showed off the last remaining complete armature of a King Kong animated model. I had the distinct pleasure of briefly touching the steel frame that at one time was the skeleton that held together a figure used in the making of the most famous monster movie of all time.

At the conclusion of the discussion a birthday cake was wheeled out and the audience sang "Happy Birthday" to King Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World!

BEGORRA! IT'S CHARLIE GEMORA!

This last April, Burbank CA was home to thousands of monster fans for the West Coast's biggest fear fest, Monsterpalooza. The highlight for me was the panel discussing King Kong. Among the group was the World's Biggest Monster Kid, Bob Burns, who brought along with him the last surviving piece of Kong himself, a complete, miniature armature of the Eight Wonder of the World. Later, a big birthday cake was wheeled in and we all sang Happy Birthday in honor of Kong's 80th year on Skull Island.

The next night we were in for another treat. Continuing on with the "ape theme", filmmaker and makeup artist Jason Barnett held a presentation on the life and movie career of Charles Gemora. Not as well known as a Chaney, Pierce, or Westmore, Gemora was behind the scenes for many a' monster movie flick.

Jason Barnett talks about Charlie Gemora at Monsterpalooza, April 2013

Perhaps Gemora's greatest achievement was his mastery of the ape costume. He built and modified "monkey suits" for many years, each one becoming more realistic than the other. Barnett is memorializing Gemora's life as a Hollywood makeup and special effects man in a documentary entitled: CHARLIE GEMORA: GENIUS MONKEY MAN. According to Jason, the film is is still being assembled and edited and is due for release next April (maybe in time for the next Monsterpalooza?).

Charlie's daughter, the always charming and ebullient Diana Gemora, was present during the presentation to speak and answer questions about her father. Accompanying the talk was Jason's slide presentation showing many shots of Charlie and his monkey suits, as well as photos from the rest of his career as an accomplished craftsman behind the scenes of many creature features.

Diana Gemora, who is always enthused when talking about her talented father.

Charles "Charlie" Gemora was born in the Philippines and came to the United States in 1922 during the civil unrest that has plagued the island and and off for many years. On the ship bound for the States, Charlie became an invaluable asset as, because of his small size, he could wiggle through the pipes and lines to repair some critical equipment. Charlie landed odd jobs in Hollywood. He later found work as a sculptor and key craftsman for the famed Universal Paris Opera House recreation that was later seen in Lon Chaney's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Another knack that Gemora had was his ability to sketch amazingly accurate portraits. Many times Charlie would sketch a co-workers' visage as quick as the time it took for a lunch break!

Charlie works on Paul Wexler during the making of THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE.

 Charlie contributed his artistic talents to films for many years, from the Phantom's Opera House stage to the shrunken heads in THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE. His legacy is rich in the lore of old Hollywood and the early days of special effects. Of particular interest to me was his affiliation with famed makeup artist Jack Pierce, who went on to become head of makeup for Universal.

As a financial backer to Jason's Kickstarter project for his film, I anxiously await its release. I was able to briefly speak with him after his presentation to let him know his work is greatly appreciated and has a loyal supporter of this important historical project.

You can follow the progress of CHARLIE GEMORA: GENIUS MONKEY MAN, right HERE.

The black and white photos that are shown here are from the Charlie Gemora website right HERE.

HELP BACK THE "CHARLIE GEMORA: GENIUS MONKEYMAN" DVD PROJECT

I had the pleasure of meeting Jason and the Gemora's (no that's not a rock band) at last month's MONSTERPALOOZA (more to come about that in future installments here at MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD). A nicer group you couldn't hope to meet.

Jason is completing a documentary about Charles Gemora, an artist, actor, and make-up man who I guarantee anyone who has watched a fair share of vintage B and Poverty Row horror movies has seen, but is largerly unrecognized and definitely unsung.

If you can "swing it" (pun intended), click on one of the pledge buttons and support this unique and noble project. I saw some of the material that will be included in the DVD, due for release this October, and it promises to be both educational and entertaining.

Hurry, pledges are only accepted until noon today! Click HERE to pledge!

NOTES FROM THE CONVENTION FLOOR

A couple of things have been brewing here in the Mysterious Mansion:

On the weekend of April 12-14 I attended my very first MONSTERPALOOZA at the Burbank Marriott in the heart of L.A.’s TV Land. If I had only one word to describe it (and “awesome” doesn’t count), I would have to say it was “overwhelming”.

Two-and-a-half days are hardly enough to experience this way huge event – an endless expanse of dealer’s tables; display after display of sculpture, models, artwork and all other kinds of monsterabilia; a star-studded room holding such luminaries as Danny Glover, Martin Landau, Tom Noonan, Barbara Steele and Angie Everhart; a line-up of interesting talks and presentations from folks like Tom Savini and a King Kong 80^th birthday celebration – all contributed to an experience that I will find hard to forget any time soon.

Amping up the cool was the opportunity to meet up with “Hall of Flame” Doug, my friend of about a half-a-century, who I haven’t seen in well more than a half-a-dozen years. To share this event with a fellow monsterologist only added to the cumulative “wow” factor.

I was also fortunate to meet a number of fellow bloggers and correspondents, such as Pete “Yellow Phantom” Infelise at the NIGHT OWL mask table, monster movie marketeer Scott Essman, and storyboardist extraordinaire Pete Von Sholly. Not only that, but I also had the deep honor of meeting monster luminaries such as Sara Karloff, the Ron Chaney’s, the still-gorgeous Julie Adams, Jessie Lilly, Daniel Horne, and the last of the classic Universal monster players, Carla Laemmle.

Attending this event was worth every penny and every bit of energy to get there. I waded for 3 days through a crowd of ink and hair dye, as well as a fair share of “old dudes” like myself. It was satisfying to see a cross-section of people interested in this most wondrous of subjects. One thing I can say is that, with shows like MONSTERPALOOZA, monsterdom is in good claws – er, hands for years to come.

On another note, MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD celebrated its 1,500^th post this week. I never thought I had this much to say about monster magazines and memorabilia, but here I am, just a few days past a 3-year anniversary, still gabbing about ghouls! I hope that you are enjoying my efforts and continue to visit on a regular basis. In return, I intend to give you back my enthusiasm for all things monsters, along with a few surprises along the way.

MONSTERPALOOZA BEASTS 'N BABES