The Great Old Ones: UMAers 40 & Over

Count_Zirock · June 23, 2011, 07:38:05 AM

I see the young 'uns started their own thread. So, what's so great about being able to remember seeing horror hosts every weekend on TV, and finding brand new Aurora monster kits in the stores? Plenty! Let's preserve those memories here.

Anton Phibes · June 23, 2011, 01:15:12 PM

I'm 41.....qualifying as an Old One. Can I be Cthulhu?

Street Worm · June 23, 2011, 02:48:32 PM

Sign me up!

Born in the Year of the Chevy (& the Shadow of Sputnik)
been a Monster Kid my whole life!

& stay off my lawn!

Tom Smith Monsternut · June 23, 2011, 02:50:06 PM

55 in November

LundyAfterMidnight · June 23, 2011, 03:30:14 PM

The Big Five-0 in September. I was just old enough to catch the '60's monster fever. A turbulent period in US history, but a great time to be a (monster) kid.

Kidagain · June 23, 2011, 03:38:50 PM

60 years young and loving every minute of it.

Radioactive Rod Whitenack · June 23, 2011, 04:21:43 PM

I was born in 1967, so even though I missed the monster boom of the 60's, I did catch the last gasp of it in the early 1970's, including the glow-in-the-dark Aurora monsters and the Prehistoric Scenes models. Everything cool from the 60's, from "Batman" to "The Wild, Wild West" to "The Munsters" was playing in reruns on TV and I didn't know that it wasn't brand new. I read "Famous Monsters of Filmland" along side "Star Log" and "Fangoria". I caught Ray Harryhausen's movies in second run theaters and saw "Eye of the Tiger" and "Clash of the Titans" during first run. I watched Universal Monster movies on out local horror hosted program, "Fright Night", and I also caught the new wave of sci-fi at 10 years old when "Star Wars" opened in 1977, so I'm sort of a child of both worlds.

Count_Zirock · June 23, 2011, 06:05:15 PM

I turned 49 in May. I, too, caught the tail end of the original monster-kid craze. Mom was a monster fan, so she turned me on to it all at a pretty young age. My first Aurora kit was "Superboy & Krypto" when I was just five. I was home from school, sick with a cold, and Mom ran out and bought the kit, glue, and paints. That was the start of it. Soon I was buying Famous Monsters, Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, Castle of Frankenstein, and all the monster kits I could lay my hands on.

Unknown Primate · June 23, 2011, 06:18:15 PM

My first loves were KING KONG, Gorillas, FRANKENSTEIN & Dorothy Provine (who played Rocky Shaw in the '59-'60 tv series, THE ALASKANS. I'm 55 - same as my I.Q.

CreepysFan · June 23, 2011, 07:33:56 PM

Turned 49 last month. Mom was a horror fan, so I grew up as a monster kid from the start. I can't remember a time we didn't go to the weekend Horror-rama at the drive-in. By `67 I was already collecting horror comics, but I discovered the Warren magazines in `72 and the monster fever became obsessive. The monster models, posters, and an appreciation for Lovecraft were fuelled by the Warren magazines. My only regret as a monster kid, was the death of the Drive-in theatres.

Wich2 · June 23, 2011, 08:20:06 PM

Thanks for the thread, CZ.

>So, what's so great about being able to remember seeing horror hosts every weekend on TV, and finding brand new Aurora monster kits in the stores?<

Plenty!

And classic Charlton, Dell, & Gold Key horror comics - for 12c!
And new Warren, CoF, and Marvel monster mags at the newstand - for under $1!
And monster records in the stores - AN EVENING WITH BORIS KARLOFF, etc.
And new Hammer films in Drive-Inn double bills!
And...

-Craig

Scary Terry · June 23, 2011, 08:25:16 PM

I'm a cranky old man of 53 -- with a two year old son. How the heck did that happen? Well, I know how it happened, but still....

Wich2 · June 23, 2011, 08:50:55 PM

(Oopsy! Thanks, Terry - I forgot my Stats: 53 this July. Born with NASA, graduated on the Bicentennial!)

Scatter · June 23, 2011, 10:27:55 PM

46.........born in 64 and caught the fumes of the 60s Monster Mania watching Chiller Theater on WPIX out of NYC from '71-'82, and sneaking into the Lake Drive-In in Wolcott Ct. for a dizzying array of first and second run 70s and 80s monster, Hammer, and exploitation flicks.

Halcyon days. Is there anything more beautiful than this??

The diaper-jockeys in the under 40 thread can keep their cineplexes. They've COMPLETELY missed the romance and thrill of BEING THERE when you could find Auroras in every department store, a Drive-In in every town, and a horror host on every black and white TV.

Dr. Jitters · June 23, 2011, 11:18:34 PM

I'm 46 too, born in '65. Don't give up on the drive-ins! They're still out there. Seek and you shall find.

My dad took us to the d-i regularly in the mid-70s and I got to see a bunch of "classics" there.

Also enjoyed various Warren publications, Marvel comics and loved picking up four of them for a dollar. Plus the other staples, Kolchak the Night Stalker, Land of the Lost -- all those classics.