VINTAGE UNIVERSAL MONSTER WALLETS & WALL PLAQUE ART

Talk about a blast of nostalgia! Up for bid at Heritage Auctions are these original paintings used for the art on those monster wallets and vacuform plaques we saw ads for (and maybe even some of you purchased them) in FAMOUS MONSTER OF FILMLAND way back in the 1960's. They were manufactured by Standard Plastics Products, Inc., based in South Plainfield, New Jersey, apparently now a Superfund Site!

Each piece is painted on 8.5" x 12" illustration board (maybe gouache or acrylics?) with the image measuring  6.75" x 9". Unfortunately, the artist is not identified, but whoever it was took inspiration from a certain Aurora model box painter. Being auctioned singly, at the time of this writing, each one has bids over $1,000.

Note: As mentioned, if you take a closer look at these, you'll notice that they come pretty close to the images painted by James Bama for the Aurora monster model kit box art, especially The Wolfman!

THRILLER: THE VAMPIRE WAS A SUCKER!

All I've got to say is, despite the economy being in the shitter there doesn't seem to be a thing wrong with the collector's market. A visit to any auction website will prove my point, with the tens of thousands (and often millions) of dollars for sales of anything from art, to trading cards, to comics and musical instruments (think Mark Knophler's recent haul). A quick perusal on eBay will also show you that so-called "vintage" magazines carry high and often ridiculous price tags, as well.

Now, I don't know exactly how much of this merchandise actually sells, but I suppose that if someone wants something bad enough, they'll spring for it.

I found this unpublished post from 2014 that I never got around to uploading for some reason, so I thought I'd finally let it see the light of day.

The subject is Myron Fass' horror fiction magazine, THRILLER, published by Tempest Publications. I don't have any notes on the asking price at the time or if it was sold at all, but I included here part of the description by the seller:

"Up For Auction: Thriller Magazine, February, 1962, #1. This is Volume #1, and the First Issue of this magazine. A rather scarce magazine to come by. The man on the cover with the noose around his neck is actually Myron Fass, the publisher (looks like he was really involved with his publication). This appears to be a rather trashy magazine devoted to vampires, the occult, monsters, and other strange things. If you have been looking for this rather scarce magazine, this one deserves a second look. It is really nice, not without defects, but nothing glaring to take away from the really nice representation it has."

And then there's this:

"Publisher Myron Fass sat at the top of a pulp magazine publishing empire in the seventies that sometimes published as many as fifty titles a month! Fass favoured one shots, but this title (published in 1962, prior to the prolific publishing run of the ‘70s) lasted for three issues! It suffered from inferior production values (black & white pages on cheap newsprint) making them difficult to find in nice condition, a little crude, a little gaudy, and a lot of fun! Despite the almost total lack of horror film related content, this horror fiction magazine is, nevertheless, sought after by many monster magazine collectors. A few film stills were used as illustration for it's stories, but most of the photos (cover and interiors) were staged scenes of horror, possibly using members of the magazine's staff. The one being offered here (Thriller #2) is complete, but in well worn/read/heavily creased/fragile covers shape, but because of it’s historical significance, I cannot and will not toss it into the dumpster! Please enjoy the scans of some of the internal pages as they perhaps are your first glimpse into the interior of this issue. Here is a golden opportunity to obtain this magazine at a fraction of the price one in better shape (if you could find one at all) would undoubtedly command."

After doing a quick look-up on eBay, as of this writing I found two copies of THRILLER #1 for sale, one for $200 and one for $300. There were no issues of #2 or #3 listed, which gives me the impression they might be even harder to find than the first issue.

Don't mess with Myron!

Read another post about Myron Fass' THRILLER HERE.

'HOUSE OF DRACULA' VINTAGE PICS

According to film legend John Carradine, he was once considered for the role as the original Dracula before Bela Lugosi was cast. Carradine did finally get his chance succeeding Lugosi as the Count in Universal's HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944) and HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945). These select and vintage original stills from the latter film have been unearthed from deep within the bowels of the Mysterious Mansion to share with you, readers of WOM!

[Photo source: Heritage Aucions.]

WHO WERE THE MASTERS OF TERROR?

Culled from the moldering archives here at the Mysterious Mansion is an interesting article from the February, 1936 issue of MOVIE ACTION magazine. Penned by an unknown writer, "Masters of Horror" is the title of the piece that features stories about the few actors starring in horror roles at the time. Described as "chill men", the list includes Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, Fredric March, Bela Lugosi, Henry Hull and Peter Lorre. Each actor is given a few paragraphs on the roles they played and how they got them. Notable tidbits are descriptions of Jack Pierce's makeup's for Karloff in FRANKENSTEIN and THE RAVEN, and Fredric March's 20-makeup (!) transition from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde.

A cool article from the golden years of Hollywood Horror!

THE FUTURE OF HORROR FILMS . . . IN 1933

 

After the financial successes of horror films in 1932, Grant Jackson asks in his article for the January 1933 issue of MOVIE CLASSIC, what's next? To answer that question, he covers five movies: THE MUMMY, ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, KING KONG, THE MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (known then as "The Wax Museum") and THE MASK OF FU MANCHU. This is a rather unique article as generally individual movies were covered, or individual actors, such as Boris Karloff were interviewed in the fan magazines of the day; it is unusual that horror films were collectively discussed as a "genre". A bonus is the generous addition of photos that accompany the article.

Oddly enough, three of the five films were actually released in late 1932 (THE MASK OF FU MANCHU on November 5, THE MUMMY on December 22 and ISLAND OF LOST SOULS on December 26), so it's quite likely that the author wrote the article during the same time for publication after the first of the year.

Ironically, other than Universal's THE BLACK CAT and in late 1933, THE INVISIBLE MAN, the future of horror films as optimistically described in the this article turned out not so promising. As a matter of fact, they would take a bit of a nose dive over the next year until WEREWOLF OF LONDON, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and a handful of others would signal the end of the classic "pre-code" Hollywood era.

Jack Pierce adds finishing touches before the camera rolls.

VAMPI SEXIER THAN MARILYN?

The first ever magazine auction hosted last monty by Heritage Auctions proved that -- for the time being, at least -- Vampirella is more popular, and sexier than Marilyn Monroe!

Yep, that's right. The first issue of Warren's VAMPIRELLA in a CGC-graded condition of 9.4 (out of 10) sold for a whopping $7,200! PLAYBOY's famous first issue featuring Norma Jean (aka Marilyn Monroe) with a CGC grading of 7.0 came in second with a realized amount of $6,600. Warren's EERIE #2 came in third (CGC 9.8) hauling in $3,600 and in fourth place was the first VAMPIRELLA Annual from 1972 (9.8!) which sold for $3,360.

Other monster 'zines that sold in high dollar amounts were FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #56 (CGC 9.8; $1,560), FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND 1967 YEARBOOK (CGC 9.6; $1,320) and another issue of VAMPIRELLA (#5; CGC 9.6; $1,200). The closest non-Warren monster magazine was the first issue of Marvel's DRACULA LIVES (CGC 9.8) which sold for $528.00.

Vampirella #1 (Warren, 1969) CGC NM 9.4 White pages. Origin and first appearance of Vampirella. Frank Frazetta cover and frontispiece. Neal Adams and Reed Crandall art. Forrest J. Ackerman story. Overstreet 2019 NM- 9.2 value = $1,400. CGC census 2/20: 21 in 9.4, 9 higher.

Eerie #2 (Warren, 1966) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages. This was the first magazine-sized newsstand issue (#1 was for all intents and purposes an ashcan edition. First appearance of Cousin Eerie. Frank Frazetta cover. Overstreet 2019 NM- 9.2 value = $230. CGC census 2/20: 2 in 9.8, none higher More Information: Edit 3/24: Clarified that there are currently two 9.8 copies on the CGC census.

Vampirella 1972 Annual (Warren, 1972) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages. Origin of Vampirella retold. Aslan skull cover. Currently ranked #25 on Overstreet's Top 25 Bronze Age Comics list. Jose Gonzalez art. Overstreet 2019 NM- 9.2 value = $450. CGC census 2/20: 1 in 9.8, none higher.