Monsterpalooza In Burbank

Monsterpalooza In Burbank

Text and photos by Armand Vaquer

Above, King Kong atop the Empire State Building greeted entering attendees (click on this and the other photos to view larger).

I just got back from Monsterpalooza (and my local sushi bar) that's being held this weekend at the Marriott Convention Center in Burbank, California and I was greatly impressed. There were plenty of things to do and see. There were many stars, past and present, of horror and science-fiction movies and television shows.



Monsterpalooza had scheduled events in the Theater and a Museum of horror figures. There were dealers galore such as Anime Jungle (below) and Monsters In Motion thoughout the venue. Throughout the show, there were monster make-up displays (above). I saw several people in the process of being made up as some ghastly being of one kind or another.



Some of the stars included Julie Adams from The Creature From The Black Lagoon, Margot Kidder (Lois Lane) from the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, scream queen Brinke Stevens, Danielle Harris, Michael Berryman and many more.

Above, Julie Adams and Armand pose with a life-size Creature figure.

It was a pleasure to meet the late Forrest J. Ackerman's assistant, Joe Moe along with Phil Kim (below), the new head of Famous Monsters of Filmland.



I was also pleased to meet the Classic Horror Film Board's "Count Gamula" himself in his guise as mild-mannered artist Kerry Gammill.

The Museum had quite a number of displays. They included...

Boris Karloff in Jack Pierce's make-up chair having tea...



...Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula with Kharis, the Mummy...



...the Alien...



...and, of course, no visit to California would be complete without having Governor Schwarzenegger on hand...



... and Dracula putting on the whammy



Before heading out of Monstepalooza, one more shot of Kong:



Monsterpalooza runs through tomorrow, so if you get the chance to go, do yourself a favor and go. If not, start planning to attend next year's show!

UPDATE: Jim Nolt, who founded the Adventures Continue website, sent me this message:

Your mention of Brinke Stevens sent me looking for a photo taken in (judging from my hair style and waistline) about 1992-1993.

Jim

This is the photo of Brinke and Jim that was attached (he looks like a young Jonathan Frid here):

Famous Monsters #253 Arrives!

Above, the Kerry Gammill cover.

Famous Monsters of Filmland #253 arrived in the mailbox today.

Boy, was I pleasantly surprised! The issue is beautiful! The production values are outstanding and the images reproduced brilliantly on slick paper. It is light years ahead of the old days when it was printed on inferior paper. It is 80 pages of pure monster delights.

The issue's cover depicts Bela Lugosi as "The Sayer of the Law" in Island of Lost Souls was beautifully rendered by Kerry Gammill. This is the subscription cover, but there are three different covers available at newsstands and Captain Company.

Another pleasant surprise: my ad for The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan appears full-page on page 43 and it reproduced beyond my wildest expectations! A big kudos to Archie Waugh for creating the ad!

Above, the ad.

According to editor Jessie Lilley, Famous Monsters is "in Borders, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Hastings."

UPDATE: Archie Waugh, who created the ad, doesn't seem to have a dealer in his area who sells Famous Monsters. He asked me to take a picture of it. So I did and sent it to him. Since I already have the photo, I thought I'd post it here. I had to use my laptop as an easel.



Archie noticed that Famous Monsters replaced the lime green border with a black one. I thought there was something different.