DON POST: MASKS REQUIRED!

Don Post masks were ubiquitous during the Monster Craze of the 1960's, but their popularity never really waned as they were one of the most coveted of monster collectibles. Sold widely, and especially ever-present in the back pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND and other monster magazines, they were more expensive than a lot of Monster Kids could afford, but that didn't stop them from being wildly popular, and later even becoming legendary.

Don Post with his beloved monster masks.

Founded in 1938, Don Post Studios was in business until September, 2012. That's over 70 years, folks!

By 1965, DPS was riding high after acquiring the licensing from Universal Studios to produce masks of their classic monsters. Co-owner, Verne Langdon took one of each of the masks and re-did the color and hair to make them more "photogenic". He had J. Barry Herron take a shot of each one (Herron ended up in a career as cinematographer and Director of Cinematography) and had 11" x 17" color posters printed up.

When Jim Matthews, publisher of MODERN MONSTERS visited DPS, he noticed the posters hanging up and asked if he could sell them in his magazine. Langdon had another idea -- he wanted to make a calendar out of the images. The trouble was, there were only 10 masks!

The solution was somewhat easy: the gorilla head from an ape costume based on the great makeup impersonator, Charlie Gemora and sold by DPS was used for one of the months. Langdon visited Universal and they allowed him to cast the original mold of the Metaluna Mutant from THIS ISLAND EARTH and he turned that into the 12th calendar mask.

Jim Matthews printed the 1966 calendars with his own money through his company, Prestige Publications, and sold them for a buck apiece in MODERN MONSTERS. Their were two versions of the cover; one was of the Frankenstein Monster and the other was The Wolf Man.

After the end of 1966, retailers go the idea of cutting off the calendar tabs and selling the two-sided photo pages as "art prints", which is how I got mine. 

Now, here they are, from my personal collection, in the order of the month that they appeared on the calendar.

DON POST MASK RE-ISSUES

What Monster Kid can forget those wonderful Don Post monster masks that were for sale from the abundant ad pages of Warren's FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND in the 1960's? Wildly popular and iconic in Monster Craze culture, they are one of the most revered items from that era. Post landed a contract with Universal Studios to develop and manufacture likenesses from their rogue's gallery of famous monsters.

Don Post mask ad from FAMOUS MONSTERS.

In 1998, Don Post Studios re-issued them. Even these later editions command prices in the hundreds of dollars for any collector willing to spring for one. Shown here are examples from the line of re-issues.

DON POST 2016 MONSTER CALENDAR

It's not too late to espouse the virtues of a 2016 calendar -- in this case, the Don Post Monster Calendar for 2016. Introduced at Don Con (the Don Post monster mask convention last November), it is now available from several online retailers, here is a description from BlackSparrow:

"Created by Daniel Roebuck and Tammy Peralta, in conjunction with Dante Renta, this limited DON POST 2016 Monster Calendar pays tribute to the 1970s original mask designs that replaced the Universal Monsters on the 1966 Calendar. 2016 would be the 50th anniversary of the original Don Post Calendar. Using original 1970s Don Post masks that are foam-filled, the Roebuck-Peralta-Renta triumvirate spent long hours photographing and then adding Don Post, Jr.’s eyes to each image! Read Daniel Roebuck’s account of how the calendar was made here. This 9″ x 12″ calendar was originally a DON-CON exclusive."

 

Don Post masks and his famous 1966 mask calendar were a common sight in monster magazines and have become legendary as the quality monster mask of the time that every Monster Kid coveted.

 

 

 

NICE MASK!

Out of all the monsters, Frankenstein's creation seems to have the most success with the ladies. Dracula may be good at sneaking up on the unsuspecting female who swoons for his hypnotic affection, but when it comes to out-and-out uninhibited and unabashed lasciviousness, Frankie takes the, uh.... cheesecake.

Case in point: Here is just one instance of Henry's laboratory-spawned offspring (or someone dressed up like him) scaring the daylights out of a bare nekkid babe ... and who knows what else?

A horror high-five?

[SOURCE: High Time 1965]

MODERN MONSTER NO. 1 (PART 3)