How I became a monster loving kid and the monster toy enthusiast I am today!

[Hepcat]

My father was not impressed.

Many weren't in those days.

I then discovered there were more Aurora monster models available. On the base PX they were 33 cents and downtown they were 99 cents.

Wow! 33 cents!

I found a place in Salem Mass. which sometime I will make the hour and a half trip with the hopes of getting something new or rare.

What kind of place is this? A hobby shop or a vintage toy store?

I still do the models which keeps a steady flow of collectables coming in.

Do you paint them now?

[Wich2]

Great memoir, Steve!

[Universal Steve]

Many weren't in those days.


What kind of place is this? A hobby shop or a vintage toy store?
It is a place called Harrison's Comics and Collectables. I have gotten quite a few good things there.

Do you paint them now?
I am always working on a model. I just finished Robin which I will post pics soon and now I am starting the Earthen Dead Dracula. I have quite a stack ahead of me and I am always adding to it. Painting is my way of relaxing

[Universal Steve]

Great memoir, Steve!

Thank you

[Haunted hearse]

My interest in Horror goes back to probably the the local Drug store, where you could buy Aurora Model Kits and toys like "The Haunted Hulk".  There was also the Vine American party store, where every Halloween they had paper Halloween decorations like the Hallmark Haunted House I played with as a kid.

This isn't the actual one, but one somebody posted here on the UMA recently.  I also had a Munsters lunchbox growing up, and
Monster themed Hot rod kits.  On TV you had "The Munsters" The Addams Family", there was "Shrimpentstein" as well as "Milton The Monster".  I've never lost my interest in Monster Culture, and I love that UMA is here to learn that I'm not alone in this.

[Wolfman]

I'm not sure what was the first monster toy I bought, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was the Aurora Frankenstein.

Funny story. After I got all the Aurora monster models, I was convinced for some reason the Harryhausen Cyclops was next.

I proceeded to go into Woolworth's every Saturday for the next year asking when the Cyclops was coming out. It got to a point where this woman would hide from me, knowing full well I'd be showing up every Saturday. LOL

JP

[Hepcat]

Did she ever succeed in getting you to buy a different model kit?

[Monolith]

I grew up in Everett Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. Everett is 1/3 residence, 1/3 cemetery, and 1/3 industry. I was lucky in monstering because I had an older brother who was ten years my senior who was obsessively into acting and monster movies in particular. I remember my mother would buy the TV Guide every week and my brother would go through it and highlight all the monster movies in red ink. In Boston we had a whole bunch of hosts and shows that would show monster movies throughout the 60's and even into the '70's. The first movies I remember of watching were KING KONG and FRANKENSTEIN. I've seen those two more times than I've seen any other movies. My brother bought every issue of Famous Monsters starting with issue #2. Somehow he missed the first issue. I read every one of them. He also had most of the Aurora models. The first monster item I ever bought myself was the Aurora Creature model. While shopping with my mother in Malden, which was the next town over we discovered a great hobby shop that had Aurora models. Every week thereafter my father would drive me to the hobby shop and I would run in and get another Aurora monster model. I collected all of them this way. I would get home and lay down some newspaper on the kitchen table and start breaking the pieces off the sprues and gluing them together. I wasn't so good at painting them back then. My brothers models were painted much better and I still, to this day have some of his original models that he painted way back in the '60's. He gave them to me when I was really young along  with some of his other monster items like his Frankenstein speaker head, an SPP wallet, and his FM's. All of which I cherished then and still have now. Those are the first items in my collection and they're what made me start collecting.

[Hepcat]

Every week thereafter my father would drive me to the hobby shop and I would run in and get another Aurora monster model.

Lucky you!

My brothers models were painted much better and I still, to this day have some of his original models that he painted way back in the '60's. He gave them to me when I was really young along  with some of his other monster items like his Frankenstein speaker head, an SPP wallet, and his FM's. All of which I cherished then and still have now.

Is your brother glad that you kept the kits he assembled or is he indifferent? Does he still appreciate or even collect monster toys and memorabilia?

[Monolith]

Oh yes, my brother is very glad to see the kits he painted so long ago. He's still a big fan of monster movies, he's posted here at the UMA under the name The Holding Coat.

[marsattacks666]

How I became a Monster loving Kid of all things Monsters, Horror and everything aesthetically Creepy.

My story begins at age four, circa 1969, New York. I would say I attribute my love of Monsters and Horror from the influence of my Mother and Grandmother. As far as I can recollect, the first time I was exposed to a Monster image, was from seeing Chiller Theatre. That was it! I was hooked!
See the opening credits from Chiller Theatre. The six-fingered hand ascending from the bloody ground. That Chiller Theatre image really grabbed me, at least I thought
it did.

Chiller Theatre, popcorn, Mom, Grandma and a four year old sitting in front of a television in the dark. How awesome is that, I ask. Rhetorical. It was awesome! Monsters right in front of my face, scaring me, but still I watched every image on that television screen.

My Mom and Grandma would purposely try to scare me, by hiding, making scary faces or weird body gestures. Well, that worked a couple times. Until I grew a tolerance to their
chicanery. It was all in fun. Those days were truly fun times.
Great Monster memories.

As I became older, I wanted to see more Monsters and anything Horror related. I think I was about six when I received my first Monster toy. It was a Dracula figure, and if I
recall, I am pretty sure it was an A.H.I., Dracula. Or maybe, a Lincoln Dracula. Nevertheless, it was a cool Dracula toy.
That Dracula toy was the start of my obsession for Monster toys.

Mom supplied me with Creepy, Eerie, Monster and Super Hero comic books. We went to any and every Horror film we could possibly watch. From Drive-ins to double features.
One particular film my Mom and I watched was, The Amityville Horror-1979. Holy crap! I got scared watching THAT film. So much so, I ran up the aisle of the theatre.
My Mom laughed, after the movie was finish. I did stay and eventually watch the entire film. Plus, begged her to watch it again.

That same year, I went to the Drive-in with friends to see Dawn of the Dead. Wow! Now that film really affected me, and left an indelible impression. The images from Dawn of the Dead were quite disturbing, for a thirteen year old. I am still surprised that the Drive-in management let me in.

Seeing Dawn of the Dead for the first time at a young age definitely influences my love for gore. Again, I was hooked.
I wanted and craved, Gore!  Soon after, Fangoria magazine hit magazine shelves. I began to collect Horror and Monster magazines, posters, masks and Tshirts.

My love for Monsters and Horror has never ended. It is a part of me, a lifestyle. Some understand and some do not- GET IT. What's there to GET?! 

[Hepcat]

My story begins at age four, circa 1969, New York. I would say I attribute my love of Monsters and Horror from the influence of my Mother and Grandmother.

Chiller Theatre, popcorn, Mom, Grandma and a four year old sitting in front of a television in the dark. How awesome is that, I ask.

My Mom and Grandma would purposely try to scare me, by hiding, making scary faces or weird body gestures. Well, that worked a couple times. Until I grew a tolerance to their chicanery.

Mom supplied me with Creepy, Eerie, Monster and Super Hero comic books. We went to any and every Horror film we could possibly watch. From Drive-ins to double features. One particular film my Mom and I watched was, The Amityville Horror-1979. Holy crap! I got scared watching THAT film. So much so, I ran up the aisle of the theatre.
My Mom laughed, after the movie was finish. I did stay and eventually watch the entire film. Plus, begged her to watch it again.

Oh man! Your grandmother and mother were unbelievably cool!



Incidentally, was it home made/popped popcorn?

[Flower]

I would guess Jiffy Pop.



I've never seen the package above and my family often burnt some of the popcorn.  By accident.

[marsattacks666]

Oh man! Your grandmother and mother were unbelievably cool!



Incidentally, was it home made/popped popcorn?

Hepcat, indeed it was. It may have been Orville Redenbacher's.

[skully]

Hey guys, thought I'd write a bit, I currently have my 10 year old grand-daughter sleeping over night at my house here in the city, she's having the time of her life here, she's so excited with all these monsters here in my house, she's really having fun, I'm telling her when I was her age (10), I would watch monster movies till dawn.  She's currently watching an episode of "Goosebumps", soon to be followed with "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein"!!!  So much fun. Makes me think back to those good old days.