Universal Monster Army

I've wanting to start a thread sometime on what all of us here at UMA was the inspiration to our collecting.
What influenced us growing up? There has been so much pop culture influence on our MINDS
We as fan(atic)s of all things that had an impact on our childhood. Such as: cinema, music, art,
family member, best friend or etc.

I myself, growing up through the '70s and '80s, there was so much cool stuff to influence a young being.
Some of my dearest memories were at a early age and living in Rochester, NY. I would watch CHILLER Theatre
with my Mother and Grandmother. Also going to the Midtown mall with my parents and buying me MEGO and AHI
action figures. As life changes, I eventually moved to Las Vegas. Still, I have fantasic memories of my Las Vegas
childhood years.

Again, so much cool memories. A couple more memories I want to add. One of them being: 7-11 Monsters cups.
Now those were the coolest cups. My friends and I would go to our nearest 7-11 every week and buy the cups.
Especially when King Kong was released in theatres.


So, come you UMA'ers! Let's see your stories, ancedotes and memories of childhood past.

I would have to say.....

I remember my first Planet of the Apes movie experience.
There was an APE marathon in the 70's, all five movie. Awesome, is best
described. After that, I went Ape crazy and purchased all POTAs merchadise.

I totally remember the POTAs marathon, I lived it. Lol

Dr. Paul Bearer and Horror Incorporated, the Monster Old Maid card game, and the Aurora Glow models are all to blame. They are what sparked the inspiration to reclaim my childhood and even give birth to the UMA back in 2002.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Oh boy, I think I can drum up a few here. I was a kid of the '80's in PA, not that the geography really matters.
My elementary school library actually had plenty of monster and horror related books for kids, among them were the awesome orange colored Crestwood House monster books.
My mom worked at a Hallmark store for a bit so at Halloween there was always some good monster stuff, one in particular was a coloring book that had pictures of all the classic monsters doing some terrible deed that you could color in. The pictures were accompanied by a bio of each monster and it was that book that taught me who Ricou Browning is.(I actually might still have that one, if I find it I'll scan it, you guys would probably dig it)
THE MONSTER SQUAD. I was about the same age as the kids in the movie. Had a cubby hole in my house that I converted into my own little monster clubhouse, influenced directly by the movie of course.
I could go on and on.

There were a number of defining moments in my younger days that turned me into the monster related toy enthusiast I am today:

1. The first was perhaps the "You'll Die Laughing" card set that Topps issued in 1959. These featured artwork by the legendary Jack Davis and are perhaps my favourite card set of all time. My association with these at the time didn't go beyond admiring the older kids' cards as I didn't yet have the disposable income to buy cards priced at five cents a pack.

2. My mother used to haunt the Kresge, Woolworths, Zellers and Metropolitan stores in downtown London looking for bargains I suppose. As a youngster I was invariably in tow. I didn't mind of course as there was always the chance I could score a dish of ice cream at the restaurant counter these stores typically featured. And of course there was never a shortage of other items to occupy a young boy's interest, goldfish, little turtles, budgies and all those toys! It was on one of those trips to Kresge that I came face to face with a Great Garloo, which I immediately brought to my mother's attention. With a sticker price in the twenty dollar area, there was just no chance I'd be given one though.

3. It was some time in 1961(?) that my buddy and I took in a double bill featuring the "Curse of Frankenstein"  and the "Horror of Dracula" at the Capitol Theatre in downtown London. My buddy was so frightened by the events on the screen that he actually closed his eyes during the graveyard scene in the Dracula movie. I was made of sterner stuff but these movies were like none I'd seen before and left a profound mark on my impressionable young mind.

4. I energetically collected the "Spook Stories" card set that Leaf issued in 1961.

5.  It was in September of 1962 that I took in the "King Kong versus Godzilla" movie at the Odeon Theatre in downtown London. I was left awestruck.

6. Around that time I also succeeded in getting my mother to buy me a Hasbro Marble Maze at Woolworths. It featured pitfalls such as the Haunted Mountains, Devil's Pass, and Man Eating Plants and was the best toy I'd ever gotten to that point.

7. On another trip to Kresge within a few months  I came upon the Aurora monster models. Up to that point I'd just dabbled on the fringes of monster culture but those Aurora kits were so awesome that they sent me right off the deep end. Although I was most attracted to the Creature at first, it was the Mummy, Bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Flivver I ended up building.

8. At some point I also became aware of the Revell line of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth Fink model kits. Rat Fink and Angel Fink would be the two I'd build. I also bought a T-shirt Iron-On Transfer of Brother Rat Fink which I successfully applied to one of my shirts which my disgusted father promptly used as a rag in the garage. I never built any of the Hawk Weird-Ohs but a buddy down the street had an assembled Francis the Foul.

9. By selling fifteen newspapers on a Saturday morning, I earned a prize beyond my wildest dreams - that being a Standard Plastics monster wallet featuring Wolfman and the Creature, albeit it was the one with the Mummy that seemed to be the most popular with the other fellows.

10. I then made the biggest score of my young life on a family trip to Detroit to visit relatives. I got my father to buy me a "Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist Laboratory"! My two best buddies were more than eager to be my demented half-brained lab assistants and enthusiastically fetched tapwater for me while I mixed up the concoctions.

Here are some pics I've lifted off the net:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Mad20Scientist.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Mad2.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Mad8.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Mad6.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Mad3.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Mad4.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/madmada.jpg)

Unfortunately, this fabulous set disappeared when I went off to boarding school for grade nine. I believe my father must have given it away to the snot-nosed kid down the street. Nonetheless, this set was the key to turning me into a monster enthusiast for life.

11. Trick or treating on Halloween with my two best buddies in 1964 I was given one card in a generic wrapper. Opening it up we discovered the "Hairy Fiend" card from the Topps "Mars Attacks" set. We were awestruck since "Mars Attacks" cards had not been distributed in London and we had therefore never seen any. Without the wrapper, we failed to even figure out the name of the set despite the Mars Attacks title on the back!

12. A few months later I discovered "'Big Daddy' Roth" magazine on the newstand and ended up getting all four issues. I dutifully did as the ad suggested and sent away to Roth Studios in California for a Rat Fink sweatshirt, which my father just as dutifully turned into yet another rag.

13. I'd also discovered the first issue of "Creepy" magazine on the newstand while checking to see if the new "Green Lantern" or "Flash" comic books had come in and was immediately taken by the Jack Davis artwork on the cover and the stories inside. I ended up becoming a big Warren Publications fan and remember haunting neighbourhood stores waiting for the first issue of "Eerie" to hit the newstands. Curiously though I never bought "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine because I thought it was for bigger kids!

cl:)

Hep! You sure have your influences in a row! For me it's a wild mix in no set order, I don't think.
     Roy Rogers and the Lone Ranger on TV.......Monster Laughs, Mars Attacks and baseball cards, a quaint little hobby shop where I bought Aurora, Hawk, Revell and any other airplane model that caught my eye.......that led to the monster models and winning the Aurora Monster Maker Contest (early 60's)......and cannot forget to mention the comic books......oh the comic books! Got serious about them with approx. Amazing Spiderman #14. Amassed a very nice collection, opened a comic store, got big into comic original art and collecting toys  mid-70s. Retired early with the sale of the comics and original art.
    The thrill of finishing out the numeric runs of those early card sets, and completing entire baseball team sets definitely led to my lifelong desire to gather and gather and gather!  The fun will continue, and the unexpected and thrilling finds will never cease.....till I do.........Love, Buddy

I think my earliest memory of anything fantastic and other-worldly was Flash Gordon. Then the Superman TV series and toy dinosaurs. My first legit MONSTER memory was sneaking out of bed to spy on my Dad who was watching The Thing on Chiller in Chicago. He invited me into his easy chair (unbeknownst to Mom) and I was hooked. In 62 we moved to Mpls. and my brothers and I were into making models (WW!! aircraft of course since Dad flew Hellcats and Corsairs) and he brought home either Aurora's Dracula or Frankenstein, from then on it was all monsters all the time  - FMOF, Outer Limits, Saturday Horror Incorporated (Uni classics) - on after "Epic Theatre" which was Hercules stuff, the monster cards, rubber spiders, my neighborhood friends had our own MONSTER club, Creepy, etc. til I teened out and got too cool for that kids stuff and picked up a guitar. So I missed all the excellent 70s MONSTER stuff. Many years later as a married Dad I noticed the Monogram glow in the dark reissues and something clicked in my head that screamed "Hey I love this stuff!" and I started collecting in earnest. I had a very happy childhood if I still draw on it for strength.
I also collect dinosaurs, army men and Superman stuff.
And now I have a whole new bunch of friends! Long live the UMA.

Quote from: Hepcat on July 23, 2011, 07:11:49 PM

3. It was some time in 1961(?) that my buddy and I took in a double bill featuring the "Curse of Frankenstein"  and the "Horror of Dracula" at the Capitol Theatre in downtown London.

cl:)

That, sir, is (*at*)#$%ing AWESOME

Quote from: bigbud on July 23, 2011, 07:47:53 PM
...that led to the monster models and winning the Aurora Monster Maker Contest (early 60's)....

My hats off to you! Now that's an achievement in my book.

8)

Planet of the Apes movies...
King Kong, Son of Kong & Mighty Joe Young on Thanksgiving...
The 4:30pm Movie--Sci Fi Week...
Hammer Films on late Saturday Mornings...
Chiller Theater...
Abbott & Costello Meet (fill in the blank)...
Sinbad movies...

QuoteMy hats off to you! Now that's an achievement in my book.

Thanks Hep. I entered the Mummy. I glued tiny strips of old T-shirt to him. Covered him entirely in cloth wrap. Took quite awhile to do.  As I remember he really did turn out good.........Buddy

Ahhhhhhhhhh.........flashback!  Sitting on my living room floor in Kalamazoo Michigan, drinking chocolate milk- watching the Munsters- playing with my Munsters paper dolls.........yeah!
Picking out my Halloween costume- usually the brand that came in a bag that you used as a trick or treat bag (yeah right! we used pillowcases), unless I decided to make my own costume, which I did 50 percent of the time.
Playing with my precious Show N Tell and listening to my favorite record -Disney's The Headless Horseman.
I was obsessed with my Strange Change Machine ( Ahhh, I love that smell), and re-enacting monster movie scenes in my room. After watching Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman on the projector, I would stage an elaborate fight with a large teddy bear I had- hahaha!!
Anyway, after I was about 6 or 7 years old ( late 60s)- Saturday belonged to Sir Graves Ghastly.     :)

Quote from: charp13 on July 24, 2011, 02:03:56 PM
Anyway, after I was about 6 or 7 years old ( late 60s)- Saturday belonged to Sir Graves Ghastly.     :)

Awww, CreepysFan- it was such an event when the movie came on. There were jokes and skits and beloved characters.....it was really cool because a lot of the movies were "scary" and it let you take a break from the seriousness of the movie without putting your head under a pillow. I especially love "the Glob". He was a character that sang songs and lightened the mood with masterpieces like "The King Kong Stomp".

Quote from: bigbud on July 24, 2011, 11:31:15 AM
Thanks Hep. I entered the Mummy. I glued tiny strips of old T-shirt to him. Covered him entirely in cloth wrap. Took quite awhile to do.  As I remember he really did turn out good.........Buddy

Man, that's pretty freaking impressive Buddy!! I don't suppose any pics survived??

KING KONG is the first movie I remember seeing and started my fascination with gorillas & giant apes.  FRANKENSTEIN is the next movie I remember seeing and started my love of monsters in general.  I saw these movies at around 5 years old.  Our local Indiana Horror Host, Sammy Terry's Nightmare Theater hit the tube in 1962, followed a year later by a tv special program called MONSTERS WE'VE KNOWN & LOVED - that was it!  Monster Kid!  Next came The Mighty Kong, Son Of Garloo, Aurora Models, Dinosaurs, MPC Monsters, & Palmer Monsters.  TV consisted of Lost In Space, Twilight Zone, Dark Shadows, The Avengers, Batman, etc.  Sammy Terry was often followed by Championship Wrestling with grapplers like Dick The Bruiser (google him!), The Crusher, Moose Cholak & Wilbur Snyder, inspiring me to suspend my disbelief and eventually leading me into that bizarre world of "grunt & groan" , myself. 

Bob's Store, a locally owned mom & pop where I bought FMOF, Creepy, Eerie, Wrestling mags & Eerie Publications bloody horror comics.  And ten cent pops & nickel Zero Candy Bars.  Bob's Store is long gone.  Creepy Crawlers, Vampire Blood and Glow-In-The-Dark Paint - hell, anything that glowed in the dark!  Monsters, Superheroes & Wrestling filled my life.

1997 - The USPS presents The Universal Monsters Stamps, and my wife buys me a sheet or two.  When Toys-R-Us sets out the Aurora re-issues, the monster memories come flooding back.  Several years after that, I find EBAY, and even though many people hold it in disdain, for me it opened up the whole universe - the universe I knew as a child, pre-teen & teenager - The Universal Monsters!!  And the nostalgia just keeps on comin'! 

And now, the UMA - Thank God for it!

Monsters We've Known And Loved (1963) PART 1 OF 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkMyBVv3SnE#)
Monsters We've Known And Loved (1963) PART 2 OF 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b1z4psUiug#)

UP, you remember the fun quite well! Very interesting post! And Oh! Those Zero bars!   Buddy

I never got to see the original films till I was in my twenties.. They didn't show them around here and I couldn't afford them on VHS until then. But I loved everything about the monsters. When I saw my first Universal- Dracula- 1931- I was hooked on Black and White horror movies. For me as a Kid, it was all about the Dinosaurs, a love I have of them to this day. While Universals or Corman films never aired where I live, Godzilla films showed and I loved Godzilla movies. And when I found a Remco Frankenstein and Dracula, I got them- 4 bucks apiece in 1983- and I wore them out, playing with them. I wish I still had them. And My monster machine plaster figure maker.  I got books on Monsters and Mythical beasts and I remember my fourth grade art classes being dominated by portraits of Dracula, the Creature, the Blob, and my favorites- Frankenstein, the Mummy, and Godzilla. I even tried for a time to publish some of my horror fiction stories.

You'll Die Laughing! cards, The Outer Limits, Alcoa Presents One Step Beyond and The Twilight Zone on television. Outre episodes of television shows like The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, especially the one about the chicken.

1963 comes along and so does my first memory of our local TV horror host, the delightfully weird "Ronald" the ghoul on WVEC's Shock Theater.  Lon Chaney Jr. as The Mummy.  The original King Kong, Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young, The Giant Claw, Frankenstein.  Going to the White Tower hamburger joint with my brother and then going home to watch Boris Karloff dunk Marilyn Harris in the lake.

Writing my own stories and having my father (who drew human beings better than I) to illustrate them. 

In art class, sculpting papier mache beings I invented myself, from a planet of my own creation, and explaining them to my schoolmates as real creatures from a real world (and convincing a few!).

Great television shows that didn't appeal only to kids but to all ages: The Munsters, My Favorite Martian.  Being very disappointed when my mom informed me that I could not meet Uncle Martin in person  no matter how much I wanted to do so because he simply didn't exist.

Teenage years and  2001: A Space Odyssey.  Sharing my love of monsters with my young nephew.  Becoming aware of the huge Planet of the Apes fandom through visiting him at his house and listening to his friends talk about their collections and watching them build models from Aurora kits.  Taking my nephew Ed to the movies and enduring those chesey '70s Godzilla flicks with good humor, knowing Ed was gonna grow up to be a Monster Kid like me!

QuoteYou'll Die Laughing! cards,

I totally remember those cards as a kid. Such good memories that keep us happy,
even as wee get older.

I got into building "monster " models because of a TV horror host by the name of Ghoulardi, it started around 1962-63 in Cleveland,Ohio. Ghoulardi (real name - Ernie Andersen ) would come on friday nights as I recall,my mom allowed us to stay up to watch his show, Ghoulardi was COOL, He shot off firecrackers right on the show, That's how I started up my Aurora monster building,Ghoulardi would blow them up on television. I sent him a monster drawing I made one time and he posted it on his backdrop right ther on TV. Well, I never missed any of his shows, it was the COOL thing to do back then in Cleveland. Recently I found some old clips of Ghoulardi on youtube, Boy do they bring back memories. Anyway it was a Good Time to be a kid, as Ghoulardi would say STAY SICK, TURN BLUE.  >:D

Yes, Ghoulardi! That's a name that I remember from the distant past! A buddy of mine used to rave about Ghoulardi. His father was a couch potato from way back and his family therefore had cable early on. They thus received the Cleveland stations.

Here's Ghoulardi:

Ghoulardi 1963 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U41MxzxvPNA#)

RARE GHOULARDI CLIP FROM EARLY 60'S FRIDAY NIGHT SHOW (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6mPNK6vDBA#)

8)

Cool thread! So many monster moments in a 5-6yr period. I was old enough to appreciate the mid-to-late 60's monster boom & all the trappings. All the TV shows: Batman, Dark Shadows, Irwin Allen, Addams Family, etc. FM #39, the 1st monster mag I ever set eyes on. King Kong & Return of Dracula, the 1st monster flix I can put a title to were experienced in this time frame as well. Toy dinosaurs, Palmer monsters, Ben Cooper Halloween costumes, gum cards...so much during these formative years, a great time to be a kid!

One of the true founding fathers of the horror host genre....did you know Ernie was also the announcer for years on Family Feud?

Evidently station management lived in constant fear of what Ghoulardi was going to say on air because it was all live.

8)

Inspired by Dr. Frankenstein, as a tot I would perform my own brain transplants by making monster heads (skull, brain and all) using clay or Play Doh. Then, with the plastic scalpel from my doctor kit, I'd proceed to remove the tops of the heads and switch brains. Luckily my family found this more entertaining than disturbing.

I also recall making a small Frankenstein Monster out of old clothes and a plastic milk container for a head.

Moonshadow - Good to know you're still awesome after all these years!  What a cool kid you were!

Quote from: LundyAfterMidnight on August 01, 2011, 03:59:26 PM
Cool thread! So many monster moments in a 5-6yr period. I was old enough to appreciate the mid-to-late 60's monster boom & all the trappings. All the TV shows: Batman, Dark Shadows, Irwin Allen, Addams Family, etc. FM #39, the 1st monster mag I ever set eyes on. King Kong & Return of Dracula, the 1st monster flix I can put a title to were experienced in this time frame as well. Toy dinosaurs, Palmer monsters, Ben Cooper Halloween costumes, gum cards...so much during these formative years, a great time to be a kid!

LundyAfterMidnight, you summed-up a period in time when Monsters were KING.

As a child of the 70's/early 80's I had to take my monsters where I could get 'em!

Television-Universal Monster/Hammer flicks, Scooby-Doo, The Incredible Hulk, The Munsters, Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Salem's Lot, Gargoyles, I have memories of horror/Halloween episodes of Green Acres, Happy Days, CHIPs, The Brady Bunch; I'd watch any episode of a show with even the slightest nod to monsters.  Later in the early 80's; Tales From the Darkside, Amazing Stories, Dark Night of the Scarecrow.  Any and every horror flick I could catch on HBO/Showtime, the list is to long to list!

Toys-3/4 Remco's, the Mighty Men and Monster Maker, any and all toy lines that had even the remotest connection to monsters; Masters of the Univers, Star Wars, tons of generic action figure lines, etc.  Dinosaurs, aliens, dragons, etc.

Reading material-Marvel/DC/Charlton horror comics, Fangoria, Starlog

And I have fond memories of the Haunted Mansion lp with Disney's Trick or Treat on the opposite side!

That's what I grew up on!

It seems that we all grew up on so many cool things. Whether it was Horror related
or not. As children, I believe, our happiness came many wonderful things.

I will never forget the feeling I had seeing my first issue of Famous Monsters when I was eight!  I didn't know any real "monster fans" at school, none that were really serious, anyway; and seeing the magazine, and poring over the ads, I realized that there must be other people out there, somewhere, who enjoyed such things.  Just the knowledge that there were "other monster fans OUT THERE, SOMEWHERE" calmed me down and excited me at the same time.  It was okay to like the Frankenstein Monster and all his buddies!

Quote from: Moonshadow on August 02, 2011, 09:58:27 AM
Inspired by Dr. Frankenstein, as a tot I would perform my own brain transplants by making monster heads (skull, brain and all) using clay or Play Doh. Then, with the plastic scalpel from my doctor kit, I'd proceed to remove the tops of the heads and switch brains. Luckily my family found this more entertaining than disturbing.

I also recall making a small Frankenstein Monster out of old clothes and a plastic milk container for a head.

I think I love you.

Quote from: Scatter on August 07, 2011, 03:32:32 PM
I think I love you.

Me?!? Lol. ;D

Quote from: Scatter on August 07, 2011, 03:32:32 PM
I think I love you.

I have this image of Keith Partridge burned into my brain...

Hey, I have 3 or 4 Partridge Family songs on my iPod.

(http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQanQ6vW3oOdhvPoGhWM1vKGccO51Hx0FrBmC9xfe0FQLiFPlaHlg)

I do too... 

Guilty pleasure - what can I say?

Didn't remember this one as a kid, but found it on YouTube and it's become one of my Partridge Family faves!!

The Partridge Family - Summer Days (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8wNN0Fx7dA#)

I grew up with Horror Incorporated ( I can remember running home from my friend's house, they lived across the street), groovie ghoulies, Dark Shadows (original), The Munsters, Addams Family, Kolchak, the Night stalker ( I rode my bike home as fast as I could for this one), In Search of with Leonard Nimoy and Saturday afternoon horror movies. I never missed a horror movie and still don't. My Dad got me into the classics, so I have a big love of them. Yes, I did watch Bewitched, Partridge Family and Star Trek.

Lisa

A very well constructed song that i remember well. but i still find it disturbing when David sings it to Danny Bonaduce...

Quote from: Scatter on August 24, 2011, 08:04:08 PM

Hey, I have 3 or 4 Partridge Family songs on my iPod.

(http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQanQ6vW3oOdhvPoGhWM1vKGccO51Hx0FrBmC9xfe0FQLiFPlaHlg)

.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  What?!?!?

Growing up in the upstate NY capitol district in the 70s and 80s I had lots of fuel for my monster mania. I saw most of the 70s Godzillas, the AIP/Amicus Land that Time Forgot movies, Sinbad snd thr Eye of the Tiger, Giant Spider Invasion (which played on a double bill with Godzilla vs Megalon when I was 5 and scared me silly!), the 76 Kong,several kung fu movies and assorted other gems at the local drive-ins (a couple of which are still in operation today). On TV I saw a lot of harryhausen and Godzilla movies. In fact, seeing King Kong vs Godzilla on TV when I was 4 years old is what started my love of monsters and dinoaurs in the first place. I also loved Planet of the Apes and Star Trek. My dad was always a model builder-mostly cars, planes and train sets, so he supplied me with many many kits as a kid-the Pyro/Lindberg dinosaurs, Aurora monsters and Prehistoric Scenes, the Addar jaws (there's a kit that needs reissuing bad!) and the mego Kong on the WTC. When I was little we would go to the hobby shop or Duane's Toyland and he'd let me pick what kit I wanted and he's put it together and paint it for me. As  I got older he taught me how to do them myself. Now we usually will go to a hobby shop along with mt teenage sons once or twice a year which is always a great time. In the early 80s we got a couple UHF stations and tons of great (and not so great) monstwer movies and by the mid 80s, english dubbed anime shows like Voltron, Tranzor Z and Robotech. One channel had a friday night triple feature called Theater Bizarre which ran every Friday from 1982 to 1989 or 90 and they showed everything from Universal classics, Hammer, AIP, Godzilla, Gamera,evben a few Paul Naschy movies! There was no host per se but the opening graphics and music were great and there was always an announcer that offered a breif description and opening monolgue. Here is a link to several openings I posted on youtube a couple years ago. Theater Bizarre Combo.wmv (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r4_I_zPDSk#). I also LOVED Charlton's horror comics! It might be sacreligious, but I like Charltons better than EC! Aside from monsters I also grew up watching classic sitcoms like bewitched, I dream of Jeannie as well as british comedies like Monty Python and Benny Hill. My parents and extended family were always very supportive of my monster interests too.

That was great, RedKing - bet it brings back lots of memories!

I wasn't really a horror fan growing up. Not so much because I didn't like monsters because I most certainly did but because the 80s was the era of slasher films and as a kid I had kind of a weak stomach. The sight of blood made me ill.

My big thing was movie creature FX. I was fascinated with the technologies used to bring creatures to life in the movies. Puppetry, stop motion, animatronics, things like that. I was a pretty good puppeteer. I loved puppets. When I was six I nearly got kicked out of a McDonald's. I had one of those monkey puppets that could be posed to look like it had it's arms around your neck. I walked in there with the monkey, making it look around and respond to it's surroundings. An employee approached me to tell me to get the live animal out of the restaurant only to realize it was just a puppet. I barely remember this but my mom swears it happened. There was one time I do remember though. I was at my grandfather's house and I had fallen asleep on the couch with a monkey puppet on my hand ( a different one. This was years later than the McDonald's incident ) when one of my uncle's friends came into the room. I woke up at that moment and for some reason I made the monkey sit up and look around. My uncle's friend actually screamed.
Of course, monster puppets weren't readily available back then. When they were I was all over them. When the My Pet Monster plush came out and became popular it was quickly followed up with others in the line. There were three small monster puppets. I had all three. I played with them endlessly, giving them personalities and such. I loved manipulating them and making them come alive. And then Boglins came out. They looked realistic enough to be a movie prop and I loved them. Plus since they were made of rubber I could play with them at the local pool. We once cornered a girl on tthe diving board with the boglin. She refused to jump into the pool as long as the boglin was there. I even took that Boglin to church. I brought him to church so often that when I didn't bring him people asked about him.
I'm not a fan of CGI effects. The fact that with puppetry or animatronics the creature actually exists somewhere, that you can actually touch it makes it just that more amazing. CGI has it's place but I'll never hold it in as high a regard as puppetry, animatronics or stop motion. I love the idea of actually making monsters. Making them so they exist in the real world in some form.
CGI is nothing but a glorified cartoon. It can be neccessary for some things, but I'll never find it as impressive as animatronics or puppetry.

I grew grew up in the greatest time for monsters ever, the 60's and 70's.
Somewhat in order:
Aurora Frankenstein and Hunchback kits around '65.

The Battlewagon toy ship.

My cousin and my older brother buying Famous Monsters #35 and letting me look at it.

G.I. Joe's, especially the Soldiers of the World German soldier and motorcycle/sidecar.  Someone stole my German from my desk at school...I am still looking for the suspect.

Batman, Outer Limits, Lost in Space and collecting their gum cards.

Halloween and Christmas parties my dad threw for kids at the American Legion he was the manager of.
My first monster costume of Frankenstein (Ben Cooper).

Buying a stack of about 12 Famous Monsters for a quarter at a rummage sale when I was about 8.

Creepy People, Thing Maker, Creepy Crawlers.

My collection of Marx, Mattel toy guns.

The ravine/creek we played army in all year around.

WGN in Chicago's Creature Features and Milwaukee's Dr. Cadaverino (had to use the rotor on those two to get t.v. reception.

Hot Wheels Redlines (pre 1970, not the junk after that).

Super 8 monster movies, monster models; Aurora Prehistoric Scenes and Dr. Deadly stuff.

And in the middle of all this was a place called Silver Beach Amusement Park and The House of David ( a religeous sect formed in 1903 in Benton Harbor, Mi.  It was a self sustaining commune basically where the public could go there and enjoy the old time entertainment, ice cream, pony rides, go cart rides and a minature train rides ( you could hear the train whistle from our house a couple of miles away).  At night they had beautiful color lit fountains.  If you get a chance look this place up and look at the images
of the fantastic buildings, some of which are still intact and very creepy. When I was on the midnight shift on patrol, we sometimes had to look for fugitives hiding on the property.  I remember the wind and the shadows on a fall night there, very eerie.

I was a 70's/80's kid...

Alan Ormsby's Movie Monsters, Count Gore's Creature Feature, AHI/Remco monsters, monster movies on Saturday afternoon and Saturday night, Halloween, comics, football, BMX bikes, mischief, water guns, firecrackers, beach vacations, Spanish food at my grandmother's on Sundays, reading, going to the pool, going to the library, playing soldiers, army men, AH wargames, seeing some cool movies on the big screen, records, summer vacations...

Then I turned 14 and I got my first job...

Quote from: BaronLatos35 on August 25, 2011, 04:40:43 PM
I was a 70's/80's kid...

Alan Ormsby's Movie Monsters, Count Gore's Creature Feature, AHI/Remco monsters, monster movies on Saturday afternoon and Saturday night, Halloween, comics, football, BMX bikes, mischief, water guns, firecrackers, beach vacations, Spanish food at my grandmother's on Sundays, reading, going to the pool, going to the library, playing soldiers, army men, AH wargames, seeing some cool movies on the big screen, records, summer vacations...

Then I turned 14 and I got my first job...

All great stuff! :D

Great reminiscences by all!

8)

Overall though television and movies were not as big an influence on me growing up in the late fifties/early sixties as these were for many of you other fellows. I was always collecting things - cereal premiums including the CFL and baseball cards printed on the back of Post Cereals, whatever gum cards were being displayed in variety stores at the time, hockey and other premium coins available in potato chips, comic books, magazines whether Mad, Drag Cartoons, or Creepy and Eerie. I was also an avid builder of model kits, be they monsters, finks, warships, warplanes, slot cars or gas fired model planes. And one spring/summer I became an avid Duncan Spin Top enthusiast.

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/ADuncan1.jpg)

Then there was my original issue wooden skateboard with metal wheels very much like this Nash Shark skateboard:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/ANash.jpg)

We didn't do tricks with skateboards in those days. The idea was to find the longest, steepest incline with the most cracks and potholes in the pavement and try to make it all the way down to the bottom without falling to the ground. Cove Road was excellent for that purpose. And none of us ever hurt ourselves!

The problem was that I didn't have enough money to actively pursue any more than one and a half to maybe two of these interests at any one time, with the half being the cereal premiums since my parents of course funded the cereal. Whatever was my greatest enthusiasm that season therefore defined me as a kid and I would put aside whatever had been my defining enthusiasm the previous season. That's why so many of my childhood collections somehow went by the wayside.

But now I still remember and cherish them all!

8)

Man Hep, I used to LOVE those Duncan tops and yo-yos!!

Hep! I still have my Shark skateboard! The shark image and writting on mine is green. As kids we had a cement floored basement with the furnace (a big monstrosity) in the center. We got very good at sitting on the skateboard and propelling ourselves with our hands......built cardboard tunnels to fly through and chased ourselves in circles for hours!   Buddy

Quote from: bigbud on August 27, 2011, 04:06:50 PM
Hep! I still have my Shark skateboard! The shark image and writting on mine is green. As kids we had a cement floored basement with the furnace (a big monstrosity) in the center. We got very good at sitting on the skateboard and propelling ourselves with our hands......built cardboard tunnels to fly through and chased ourselves in circles for hours!   Buddy

My cousin had a basement like that with the Giganto-Furnace in the center..........but the vehicles of choice for us around that thing were BigWheels and Green Machines.

Quote from: bigbud on August 27, 2011, 04:06:50 PM
Hep! I still have my Shark skateboard! The shark image and writting on mine is green.

Yes indeed. They came in several different colours. I "won" one on Ebay about four years ago but it's not as pristine as the one I've pictured.

:(

Quote from: Scatter on August 26, 2011, 05:03:22 PM
Man Hep, I used to LOVE those Duncan tops and yo-yos!!

I got pretty decent with my spin top. I could do the Round the World trick where you flung your top behind your back and then caught it spinning in the palm of your hand. The trick I never properly mastered was the Man in the Flying Trapeze one where you caught the spinning top in mid air with the string and then flung it up again back into your hand. I knew of a couple other fellows in the schoolyard, Ed Keeler and Joe Švilpa, who could do those.

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/ADuncan3.jpg)

8)

Classic and pretty cool!

Duncan rules!

Indeed it does. I have a whole box of twenty or so different ones. Here's a sample:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Duncan-1.jpg)

I'm still trying to find some Whistlers because the first Duncan top I bought as a kid was a Whistler. I quickly graduated to a plastic Imperial but I've not been able to find one of those either. I have a vague recollection that they were 29 cents or 39 cents for the regular wooden ones back in 1963 and 39 cents or 49 cents for the fancier ones such as the Whistlers and Imperials.

8)

I first saw my beloved BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN at the age of 6, and have loved my "monsters" ever since.  I remember also going to the five and ten with my brother, and buying my first copy of FM a couple of years later. (g)  My bro was 14 at the time, and we had a sort of "armed truce".  We respected each other's private lives, and neither of us have ever ratted about each other's magazines.  (g).  I did lose my first copy, but managed to retrieve it from the trash can.  My brother then taught me how to position it between the mattress and the box spring.  There WERE no "Monster Girls" in the Kennedy era 1960s.  By 1969, things were different.  I had my first copy of Bram Stoker and my first copy of Mary Shelley, as well as a full length poster of Boris Karloff on my bedroom door.  God Bless  Fred Gwynne...even the most conservative of mothers was lulled by the wacky humour and sweetness of Herman Munster!

The rest was history....wonderful history.  Seeing FRANKENSTEIN and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN  on the "Big" screen of my high school auditorium.  That Christmas, I also received my first unofficial bit of art.  It was a huge, solid glass door stop in the shape of a giant whale.  Mom never understood why I named it "James".  Now she knows....having 'met' the man himself!

"E"  ededed

Quote from: Elisabeth on September 12, 2011, 07:43:07 PM
I remember also going to the five and ten with my brother, and buying my first copy of FM a couple of years later. (g)  My bro was 14 at the time, and we had a sort of "armed truce".  We respected each other's private lives, and neither of us have ever ratted about each other's magazines.  (g).  I did lose my first copy, but managed to retrieve it from the trash can.  My brother then taught me how to position it between the mattress and the box spring.  There WERE no "Monster Girls" in the Kennedy era 1960s.

Very cool! A pact against killjoy parents born of mutual convenience!

8)

Quote from: Hepcat on September 14, 2011, 10:15:26 AM
Very cool! A pact against killjoy parents born of mutual convenience!

8)

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

I remember a time where the toy aisle, was KING.
Not like today. Toys today, suck! :(

Yeah, my wife & I were looking through a Christmas Catalog and both kept commenting on the lack of COOL toys!

Did any of you get this year's Sears Christmas Wishbook in the mail , yet?... More like a Wish-pamphlet! The size is about 6X8 inches and there are only a little over 100 pages. When i was a kid, getting the Wishbook was always a BIG, almost magical event. Within a few days i'd have pages folded and items circled, hoping my parents were paying attention to my not so subtle hints as to what i wanted most. Seeing this years version is nothing short of depressing. The toy section [once a large portion of the book]  is  like a bad joke.  I guess it's depleted condition is simply a reflection of the current economy, but nonetheless saddening to see what has become of this once cherished childhood tradition.   

Hey ya Gasport! I feel the same.......what an incredible time to have been a kid. The Christmas catalogs were full of the most imaginative playthings! It often seems there is no longer any originality in toy concepts. Has it all been done already? I wouldn't think so. One area of concern for toy makers has to be liability claims. More than half the toys I had as a kid would be instant magnets for a law suit today.  Seems anything that little Johnny might stupidly harm himself with is subject to parental outrage (shared of course with their lawyers).    Buddy

I still remember going through the Sears Christmas Catalog in the 60's - Heck, the toy section alone was huge!  Dinosaurs, G.I. Joes, Johnny West & his bunch, Captain Action, Major Matt Mason, castles, forts, army men, ventriliquist dummies, Creepy Crawlers, etc. - Wow!  I'd wear that catalog out drooling over all the coolness!

Does anyone remember the smaller size soldiers called The Tigers or Fighting Tigers?  They had Machine Gun Mike, Combat Kid, etc.  Even had a cool song in the commercials.  Man, I'm getting nostalgic!

*EDIT*   Just found this!

http://www.mninter.net/~caryho/tigers/ (http://www.mninter.net/~caryho/tigers/)

Why no, UP...I have no idea what you're talking about. Please elaborate!  ;)

(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/Gasport2000/toppertigersNov2011.jpg)

Quote from: bigbud on November 13, 2011, 08:58:10 PMOne area of concern for toy makers has to be liability claims. More than half the toys I had as a kid would be instant magnets for a law suit today.  Seems anything that little Johnny might stupidly harm himself with is subject to parental outrage (shared of course with their lawyers).

This is partially due to juries having a history of making outrageous awards against companies and partially due to there being little or no downside to suing. If plaintiffs could be jailed for launching frivolous lawsuits, this would change.

>:(

Reading all of these made me remember things for the first time in a long time.  I first saw the Universal classics when they were brought back for television thinking they were the coolest movies of all time (still do).  Then I got into Science Fiction Theater which was Thursday nights.  Back then, most SF films were monster movies anyway.  Of course Twilight Zone and Outer Limits quickly became favorites.  I still hold it against ABC when they came to town and turned one of our independents into an affiliate and we lost SF theater.

Then I discovered the Aurora monster kits and built every one of them.  Wish I knew what happened to them.  Stuck them on a shelf and when I would get bored, I'd just glance over.  Got Bats in the Belfry and The Green Ghost for consecutive Christmases.  I think I enjoyed setting them up as much as playing them.

By the time high school rolled around, I had gotten out of model building but some friends got me back into building the muscle cars.  One trip to the model store and I discovered Aurora had just released the glow kits so I defected from the muscle cars and built every one of them again.  Still have those but a recent move did not treat them well.  About the same time, the local ABC affiliate started showing a double feature of horror movies with their own host.  Victor Ives (kind of a Dracula with a stand-up personality) and his henchman who was a floating head some of the time and a character called Ravenscroft other times. Both were played by Jimmy Hollister who has now passed on.

By the time my kids started coming along (80s), I had a whole new audience to spread the interest to.  Son is now more into Rob Zombie (he is good) and my daughter, who loves the classics as much as I do, is turning me onto the foreign horror so it never stops.  Luckily the wife approves lol.

The only things I felt cheated out of as a kid were toys based on "H.R. Pufnstuf." It took Toy Island 30 years, but I finally got Pufnstuf and Cling & Clang. Too bad we didn't get a Witchiepoo, though. Now, I did have that Kellogg's mail-in Freddy the Flute. Painted in with Testor's gold model paint, and painted his little diamonds white with silver speckling. Instantly destroyed its collectible value, of course!

Quote from: Zombiology on November 14, 2011, 10:56:52 AM
Then I discovered the Aurora monster kits and built every one of them.  Wish I knew what happened to them. 

By the time high school rolled around, I had gotten out of model building but some friends got me back into building the muscle cars.

What's sad is that model kits were a huge part of the childhood of many/most of us on this board but I understand that young boys have no interest in model kits anymore. It's all about the instant gratification available from video games these days.

:(

Quote from: Gasport on November 14, 2011, 12:59:41 AM
Why no, UP...I have no idea what you're talking about. Please elaborate!  ;)

(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/Gasport2000/toppertigersNov2011.jpg)

DING!  And we have a WINNER!  I should'ave known!

I used to alternate between the monster kits and sci-fi kits. I think I had all the classic Aurora monsters Jekyll/Hyde, The Salem Witch, and Bride of Frankenstein. I had the Starship Enterprise, Klingon Bird of Prey, and Space Station K-7. Had the "Space: 1999" kits, that glow-in-the-dark UFO and the "UFO" series kit. Had Luke's X-wing, Vader's TIE x-1 Advanced, and that huge Millennium Falcon kit from "Star Wars." Got the Monogram "ALIEN" kit, too. Took that to college with me, even (naturally, it didn't survive its first kegger).

Quote from: Count_Zirock on November 15, 2011, 07:00:14 PM
I used to alternate between the monster kits and sci-fi kits. I think I had all the classic Aurora monsters Jekyll/Hyde, The Salem Witch, and Bride of Frankenstein. I had the Starship Enterprise, Klingon Bird of Prey, and Space Station K-7. Had the "Space: 1999" kits, that glow-in-the-dark UFO and the "UFO" series kit. Had Luke's X-wing, Vader's TIE x-1 Advanced, and that huge Millennium Falcon kit from "Star Wars." Got the Monogram "ALIEN" kit, too. Took that to college with me, even (naturally, it didn't survive its first kegger).

Nice memory

The Davis Variety on Richmond Street in my hometown of London, Ontario was a store exactly like a New York City candy store.  It was directly across the street from St. Peter's School where I was obligated by my parents to attend extracurricular language classes between 4:00 and 5:30 Saturday afternoons. It had the obligatory lunch counter which the fellow worked himself. I was never drawn to get anything at the lunch counter though (not that I would have had the money anyway of course). Unlike the lunch counters at the downtown Metropolitan, Kresge and Woolworths stores a few blocks away, it was pretty spartan and dingy and just didn't appeal to me. Mr. Davis himself was almost a comic book caricature of the old guy working a hot grill and his lunch counter never seemed to have any customers on Saturday afternoons. He probably got the bulk of his business frying up breakfast and lunch for the teachers at St. Peter's. And of course everybody smoked and read newspapers in those days including the teachers and the respective bishops, priests and staff at the adjacent St. Peter's Basilica and St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral. 

Davis' had most everything else to tempt a young boy with a quarter or two in his pocket though. It was one of the very few stores I knew that stocked Black Cat Bubble Gum which was licorice flavoured and was somehow chewier than Bazooka or even Dubble Bubble. I remember happily chewing on Black Cat and blowing black bubbles for hours!

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/ABlackCatgum.jpg)

I also very clearly remember buying baseball cards at Davis' every so often:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/Baseballwrapper.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/29-07-201245506PM.jpg)

The wooden magazine rack was located on the other side of the store from the lunch counter and was thus well situated to sneak a peak at the insides of the titty mags. There would of course have been something wrong with any little boy who wouldn't glance at pictures of bare naked ladies given a chance. In fact, I'm sure that the priests from St. Peter's and St. Paul's, if not the bishops themselves, would have been taking the occasional peak as well.

It was at Davis' magazine rack though where I first encountered Green Lantern 26, 28 and 29 and the excitement I felt seeing those issues for the first time is still seared in my mind to this very day. In fact, I'm sure those comics are the reason why I still remember Davis' so vividly.

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/GreenLantern26.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/14-06-2012114624PM.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Comics/21-06-2012114247PM.jpg)

While St. Peter's and St. Paul's cathedrals are still there, 1979 was the last year for St. Peter's School and Davis Variety has also been gone for decades. I have a vague recollection of once getting a chocolate milkshake that wasn't actually very good at Davis Variety but I never got to sample a cheeseburger. You never know what you've got till it's gone.

:(

  For my brothers and I it was growing up watching Bob Wilkins and Creature Features on weekend nights. Scooby Doo and the Night Stalker, along with syndicated Munsters and Addams Family after school.

  Going to our school fair and tossing a soft ball in a milk jug to win both Groovie Goolie and Fat Albert PVCs. Bulding Dracula and the Phantom glow kits while marveling at the Monster Scenes store display at Uncle Ed's Toy Circus. A friend had an older brother who was a kit hoarder even back then, having a whole wall of his bedroom cover in kits!

  Other toys I remember having were Colossus Rex, the Sears remote control Triceratops, numerous robots, and Micronauts. From cards, to comics, toys, playing baseball, and riding bikes the early to late 70s were a fun time to grow up.

I feel lucky to have been a kid in the 70s/early80s, I grew up with Mego figures, cap guns, Baseball cards, James Bond Movies, classic horror movies, movies like Jason and the Argonauts and Sinbad The Sailor, StarWars , 6 million dollar man and best of all my Schwinn Stingray which I still have. Great Times for sure because Granddad was still alive.

Quote from: Gills on February 17, 2013, 06:54:52 PM
I feel lucky to have been a kid in the 70s/early80s, I grew up with Mego figures, cap guns, Baseball cards, James Bond Movies, classic horror movies, movies like Jason and the Argonauts and Sinbad The Sailor, StarWars , 6 million dollar man and best of all my Schwinn Stingray which I still have. Great Times for sure because Granddad was still alive.

Definitely great times. ;D

First off- WELCOME, Gills!
And I was touched by your words about your granddad. I'm not sure if you've ever seen the movie- Peggy Sue got Married- it's really not a memorable movie, but there's a scene where Kathleen Turner goes back in time and although she's now a grown woman, it's the old days when her grandma is still alive. And when her grandma calls her house, and Kathleen Turner's character hears her grandma's voice on the phone....she just reacts so sweetly and it always makes me cry.
Anyway, I'm horrible at describing movies! hahahaha! But if you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about  :)  (but usually no one ever knows what the heck I'm talking about)
I think if I could go back to the 70s, I would want to spend a day with my grandma- most of all.

Part of the fun I experienced with monsters lay in the associations I had with them as a child and teenager.

Our family was accepting of the Shock Theater package in almost all of its offerings.  Watching the films late at night on Friday, with our local horror host "Ronald the Ghoul" and his zany friends, became a family affair.  Often we would do something special for that viewing that we did not normally do like make homemade candy, or we would pick up hamburgers (something rarely done; we had a more healthy diet than many kids do now). 

We would turn the lights off in the house in case my father decided to go to bed early.  So we sat in semi darkness with the only lights coming from the TV.  I would draw pictures of the monsters or the giant apes and dinosaurs, inspired by the films, and sometimes wrote my own stories of the monsters and their mishaps.  I was encouraged in this by my parents.

Once in a while I would get The Munsters comic books at our local Grays Pharmacy (are any Norfolk, Virginia folks on line?  That pharmacy still stands -- since 1918!).  I had those wonderful Valentine cards with monster parodies. Were those "Topps" brand Valentines?  I don't remember off hand though I have some of them still. 

Quote from: Monster Kid on February 19, 2013, 01:22:00 PM
Once in a while I would get The Munsters comic books at our local Grays Pharmacy (are any Norfolk, Virginia folks on line?  That pharmacy still stands -- since 1918!).

Cool! Does it have a soda fountain counter?

Quote from: Monster Kid on February 19, 2013, 01:22:00 PMI had those wonderful Valentine cards with monster parodies. Were those "Topps" brand Valentines?  I don't remember off hand though I have some of them still.

These? 

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/FrankensteinValentineStickers_zps891f2c7d.jpg)

If so, yes they were by Topps. They're actually not that easy to find these days.

:(

Quote from: charp13 on February 19, 2013, 11:55:50 AM
First off- WELCOME, Gills!
And I was touched by your words about your granddad. I'm not sure if you've ever seen the movie- Peggy Sue got Married- it's really not a memorable movie, but there's a scene where Kathleen Turner goes back in time and although she's now a grown woman, it's the old days when her grandma is still alive. And when her grandma calls her house, and Kathleen Turner's character hears her grandma's voice on the phone....she just reacts so sweetly and it always makes me cry.
Anyway, I'm horrible at describing movies! hahahaha! But if you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about  :)  (but usually no one ever knows what the heck I'm talking about)
I think if I could go back to the 70s, I would want to spend a day with my grandma- most of all.

Thanks Mars attacks 666 and charp13. :)

Monster Kid, my friend, your memories take me back--though my memories go back further yes!  But we share those memories nonetheless--staying up late on Friday nights, with only  the light of the tv in the living room, and "schooling myself" on the great old monster movies, and somewhat later, on the not-so-monstery movies like THE NIGHT KEY and NIGHT MONSTER (movies which featured Karloff and Lugosi, and others, like Lionel Atwill and Frank Reicher, in the supporting roles).  Then going down the silent dark hall to my bedroom, never "scared", but something much better--SATISFIED, having feasted my eyes (and glutted my soul, I guess I should add!) on a banquet of classic terror movies!  Those were the days, M.K., those were certainly the days!

Quote from: typhooforme on February 20, 2013, 10:07:40 PM
Monster Kid, my friend, your memories take me back--though my memories go back further yes!  But we share those memories nonetheless--staying up late on Friday nights, with only  the light of the tv in the living room, and "schooling myself" on the great old monster movies, and somewhat later, on the not-so-monstery movies like THE NIGHT KEY and NIGHT MONSTER (movies which featured Karloff and Lugosi, and others, like Lionel Atwill and Frank Reicher, in the supporting roles).  Then going down the silent dark hall to my bedroom, never "scared", but something much better--SATISFIED, having feasted my eyes (and glutted my soul, I guess I should add!) on a banquet of classic terror movies!  Those were the days, M.K., those were certainly the days!

Amen!

DOUBLE AMEN.  (g)

James,  The rock solid, Green Glass Whale doorstop from 1969, has now been moved to a place of honour on my hearth.  and is now surrounded by a myriad of Emerald, Amethyst, Cobalt and Aqua Victorian Poison bottles.  That area gets the sunset, and treats me to a brief blast of colours when it hits the glass.

The newest arrival is HJALMAR....a black cat Gargoyle that's the size of an actual kitten.  He sports a pair of elegant bat wings, and if you look closely enough, a tiny pair of red tipped fangs.  (VBG)
"....Once a Monsterkid, ALWAYS a Monsterkid...."

"E" ededed

Hi, Hepcat, yes, they were the valentines I have.  I also have some of the non monster ones from Topps.. my favorite was "I'd climb the highest mountain.... to get away from YOU!"

Alas, Hepcat, the soda fountain counter once standing at Grays Pharmacy where my father and I got hamburgers is gone now.. replaced by a wall display of wrapping paper, glass knick knacks, Old Dominion University banners (the college is across the street) and stuffed animals.   But they still have the same neat  black and white paintings in huge frames hanging from the walls of a doctor making a house call, a doctor getting in his buggy to visit a patient, and a pharmacist dispensng medication.

It is so nice to know that you, Robert, felt the same way I did when I was a kid about the great films.  Somehow, we knew they were great.

Quote from: Monster Kid on February 22, 2013, 11:30:16 AM

It is so nice to know that you, Robert, felt the same way I did when I was a kid about the great films.  Somehow, we knew they were great.

Isn't that the very definition of greatness? Anything that is so surpassing in quality that it is immediately and unquestionably identifiable as such?

To me, if you have to try to convince me that something is truly great, then by definition it ISN'T. 

'Memories of building and painting my first Frankenstein model & being coached by my older brother to spend a lot of time painting. That was in the 60's...

Then building other kits, including The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Phantom of the Opera, The Mummy, the strange-change mummy, the haunted house and The Forgotten Prisoner of Castle Mare.

'Building the Flying Sub, Seaview, Spindrift, the Invader's UFO, and Star Trek models. My favorite part of the project has always been detailed painting, so spent weeks or months painting, upgrading, blending, touching-up paint details.

Then Star Wars came out and I enjoyed spending several months painting the Mill Falcon and a snow walker.

Then yrs later, enjoyed building the Polar Lights Jupiter 2, which is around half-completed in my closet, as I always have several projects I'm working on, and I like it that way.

'Watching Creature Features with host Bob Wilkins and lighting my skull candle when he lit his.
Every yr of Halloween fun, my favorite holiday and as a result, have a massive costume collection to this day, including renaissance faire costumes and several other characters. 'Happy my wife also loves and has many costumes... brew cheers    8)

A wife who likes to dress up in costumes?? Oh the possibilities!!  ;D

Quote from: The Batman on February 23, 2013, 12:20:58 AM
'Memories of building and painting my first Frankenstein model & being coached by my older brother to spend a lot of time painting.

My favorite part of the project has always been detailed painting, so spent weeks or months painting, upgrading, blending, touching-up paint details.

That's the skill I lack. Sometimes I wish there were model painting classes. Painting model cars would I think be a good way to develop some painting skills.

:-\

My parents loved zombie and monster movies .. so watching Chiller Theater was mandatory. I loved playing hopscotch and/or potsy .. no one seems to draw the chalkboards correctly or at least the Brooklyn version that I was taught.  Also, everyone I knew had cap pistols, loved the smoke and the smell.

Sadly, there aren't many fireflies/lightning bugs to capture overnight in a jar with grass and to release the next day.

Something else I remember, with a great deal of pleasure, was Biology Class.  I was by no means a Scientific "Egghead", but I had looked at my father's old notebooks from College (ca. 1933).  It helped a great deal, because when we got to Dissections, I had a vague knowledge of "the lay of the land".   I was the first one in class to get my Frog, and the only one in my section of the class not to upchuck.  (Something that is pretty common in a Girl's School).  Fortunately, I was lucky to complete my science credits before we got to the CAT, or I would have barfed too.

We also had Super Cool Lab smocks...made of our fathers' old dress shirts. and buttoned down the back.  Very Cool, when tied around the waist...because they looked surprisingly "Frankensteinian".  (VVVBEG)

"E"

Quote from: Flower on September 19, 2013, 08:27:24 AMI loved playing hopscotch and/or potsy .. no one seems to draw the chalkboards correctly or at least the Brooklyn version that I was taught.

Did you skip? Do you remember any of your skipping rhymes/verses?

???

Quote from: Hepcat on September 20, 2013, 08:06:22 AM
Did you skip? Do you remember any of your skipping rhymes/verses?

???

Everyone skipped but I have no recollection of 'skipping songs' ... We had jump ropes (only single but my father has always claimed that he jumped 'double dutch') and sang the 'Mississippi Song' going in and out on the words 'push' and 'mush' .. I'll attempt to find the correct version but I did come across a 'jump rope song' site .. http://mudcat.org/jumprope/jumprope_display_all.cfm (http://mudcat.org/jumprope/jumprope_display_all.cfm)

Here's a great blog comment on the subject of letting boys be boys:

The Metz Family - Why My Kids Are Not the Center of My World (http://themetzfamilyadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/10/why-my-kids-are-not-center-of-my-world.html)

:)

Here is a site that will jog your memories of Christmas toys past:

http://192.185.93.157/~wishbook/ (http://192.185.93.157/~wishbook/)

AND LOOK AT THOSE ORIGINAL PRICES!

Monsters For Sale---  Those catalogs are the BEST!!  Thanks for the link!  I looked at those catalogs year round when I was a kid! Daydreaming about toys.....  :)

Here's a cool book reprinting Sears Wishbook toy pages. I bought one and love it!

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510VA0MDNZL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)

Info on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Toy-Sears-1951-1969/dp/0971428409 (http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Toy-Sears-1951-1969/dp/0971428409)

I grew up in the late 60's-and 70's.  Great times!!  Horror movies on Friday nights and Saturdays.  During the Christmas break in the early 70's an ABC morning program would run horror shows, that is where I first got to view Hammer movies, Dracula, The Gorgon, and others.  Wanting to go outside and play, only staying inside to watch a movie or it was late and I had to.  I remember if toys made a noise or had lights it was envied by friends and brother.  Running to the drug store on Tuesdays because that was when the new comics hit the stands, and during the summer if I was early enough the worker would have to cut the rope which kept them together.  As a kid, 3-5, my dad worked for a department store in the toy department.  He would put back the best toys for us for Christmas. 

Quote from: Zackuth on January 18, 2014, 12:27:27 PMAs a kid, 3-5, my dad worked for a department store in the toy department.  He would put back the best toys for us for Christmas.

Oh wow! Talk about a kid's dream come true! Do you remember what were some of the "best" toys he set aside for you?

???

It all began once I saw my first monster movie. After that, I'd watch every monster movie I could.

Then I built the Frankenstein model kit. That lead to getting more and more monsters of all kinds and making Creeple People (remember when they used pencils for the body?) and Creepy Crawlers.
I love collecting skulls & skeletons & I still have quite a few to this day.

I loved how scary The Outer Limits was on TV, even though at some moments my older brother would turn the TV volume WAY UP and I'd have to hide behind the couch!

I loved Halloween. My parents had to stop me from wanting to wear costumes before AND after Halloween. To this day Halloween is my favorite holiday and I love how people go crazy with photos
during any Batman appearances I make. My late night Batman appearances are the most intense as the suit looks awesome in dark settings and most kids are sleeping so they are not terrified. These days I can make a late night Batman appearance and enjoy watching people freak out. Having fun with each Batman appearance only gets me hooked on it. Perhaps I'll quit my gig when I need a cane! 

To me the '89 Batsuit is the ultimate Batsuit and '89 cowl is the best looking cowl and the 8 section scalloped cape looks the best. It's THE comic-book-come-to-life movie suit.
I don't like the past few movie Batsuits, as they look more like a motocross-suit.

(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r42/thebigredviking/fave89cowl_zpsf34030ef.jpg)

Quote from: The Batman on January 18, 2014, 01:21:38 PMTo me the '89 Batsuit is the ultimate Batsuit and '89 cowl is the best looking cowl and the 8 section scalloped cape looks the best. It's THE comic-book-come-to-life movie suit.

My definition of "the best" too!

8)

Quote from: Hepcat on January 18, 2014, 01:16:47 PM
Oh wow! Talk about a kid's dream come true! Do you remember what were some of the "best" toys he set aside for you?

???

The one I do remember was Mighty Mikes, both my brother and I got one.  We had the track it climbed on too.  That is really all I remember (we are talking 46+ years ago).  He was working there when the Bond movie From Russia With Love came out.  The breifcase from the film, complete with coins and knife, came out as a toy for children.  My dad said "those damn knives were all over the place!"  And it was his job ot clean it up and put things back.  I do know we got some games, but I don't remember what ones. 

Sear Christmas Catalog - 1964 - Page 205

(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5533/12058954596_23f5d47f37_o.jpg)

There were still a couple of stores where one could order from the Sears catalogue within a couple of miles of my house in eastern Toronto several years ago. These catalogue outlets closed a few years ago and now the Sears department stores in Canada may be shuttered within weeks. Sears Canada has filed for creditor protection and no buyer for the company or its stores has surfaced.

Personally I won't miss the Sears stores. They're all situated in suburban malls and I've always found Sears stores and any other suburban department stores a hollow echo of downtown department stores and simply depressing.

:(

Now if only Walmart and Costco would disappear as well....

;)

Quote from: Hepcat on October 12, 2017, 09:08:20 AM
There were still a couple of stores where one could order from the Sears catalogue within a couple of miles of my house in eastern Toronto several years ago. They closed some years ago and the remaining Sears stores in Canada may be shuttered within weeks. Sears Canada has filed for creditor protection and no buyer for the company or its stores has surfaced.

Personally I won't miss the Sears stores. They're all situated in suburban malls and I've always found Sears stores and any other suburban department stores a hollow echo of downtown department stores and thus simply depressing.

:(

Now if only Walmart and Costco would disappear as well....

;)

Walmart, ugh!

Quote from: Zackuth on January 18, 2014, 03:03:11 PMHe was working there when the Bond movie From Russia With Love came out.  The breifcase from the film, complete with coins and knife, came out as a toy for children.  My dad said "those damn knives were all over the place!"

Toy briefcase? Which one?

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/James%20Bond%20mpc_secret-agent-attache-case1_zpshgtgtukq.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Janes%20Bond_zpsftjpxe7b.jpg)

???

Amazing Spider-Man 25 introduced me to pop culture in the early 60's and I've been hooked ever since! Somehow my parents allowed me to read Creepy and Eerie and those magazines brought me into the world of monsters. The first UMA monster movies I saw were the short 8mm films you could order from the back of those Warren magazines. I still have a Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notredame loop along with my favorite, Creature From the Black Lagoon. The first  monster movie I saw in a theater was The Vulture. I remember it scared the hell out of me! Later the Kiro Seven Vampire aired on television  in the Seattle area and I was able to see full versions of most of the Universal movies (thanks count!)
I long ago replaced my first copy of ASM 25 with one in nice condition. However I still have that original book. The splash page was at some point replaced with a splash from Marvel Tales and I wrote "my frist Marvel comic", with the incorrect spelling, on the cover. Strange as this may sound, I told my kids to bury me with that comic when my time comes.
RF

Quote from: Rex fury on January 25, 2019, 11:53:25 AM
Amazing Spider-Man 25 introduced me to pop culture in the early 60's and I've been hooked ever since! Somehow my parents allowed me to read Creepy and Eerie and those magazines brought me into the world of monsters. The first UMA monster movies I saw were the short 8mm films you could order from the back of those Warren magazines. I still have a Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notredame loop along with my favorite, Creature From the Black Lagoon. The first  monster movie I saw in a theater was The Vulture. I remember it scared the hell out of me! Later the Kiro Seven Vampire aired on television  in the Seattle area and I was able to see full versions of most of the Universal movies (thanks count!)
I long ago replaced my first copy of ASM 25 with one in nice condition. However I still have that original book. The splash page was at some point replaced with a splash from Marvel Tales and I wrote "my frist Marvel comic", with the incorrect spelling, on the cover. Strange as this may sound, I told my kids to bury me with that comic when my time comes.
RF

Awesome! :)

Quote from: Hepcat on January 25, 2019, 11:12:50 AM
Toy briefcase? Which one?

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/James%20Bond%20mpc_secret-agent-attache-case1_zpshgtgtukq.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Janes%20Bond_zpsftjpxe7b.jpg)

???

It would have to be the top one because it has knives. 

I don't remember precisely where and when I encountered my first pinball machine but it must have been over sixty years ago and I've loved them ever since.

As a youngster in the early sixties I was usually required to attend supplemental Lithuanian language classes Saturdays between 4:00 and 5:30 PM during the school year. These classes were in the basement of St. Peter's elementary school just north of downtown London on Richmond Street by the cathedral. Dreadfully inconvenient to be sure.

There was a silver lining though. I'd be given $0.50 or so to go see a movie downtown prior to classes plus bus fare there and back. But St. Peter's was only about a mile and a half away from where we lived in Old South London. So I could walk there anyway. The bus fare I could then spend otherwise!

Sometimes I would indeed take in a movie. But often I'd elect to deploy my cash in other ways.

One temptation was a pinball machine at a diner that was right across from the Wishing Well Beverages bottling plant on Richmond Street which was on the southern edge of the downtown area about halfway to St. Peter's. I believe that it was this Gottlieb Sweet Hearts machine released in 1963:

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Gottlieb%20sweet_back_zpst34jj225.gif)

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Gottlieb%20SweetHearts_zpsxs9sh199.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/v/nViQpsT9Kvg&version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nViQpsT9Kvg#)

http://www.youtube.com/v/K6TOvPaGPJY&version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6TOvPaGPJY#)

But pinball machines were then banned in Canada as "illegal gambling devices" until January 1976. But when the new student recreation center at the University of Western Ontario was completed in 1971, it had five pinball machines! One of them was the Gottlieb 2001 released in 1971 which ended up becoming my own gateway machine to a lifetime of sordid pinball degeneracy.

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Gottlieb2_zps18fb0965.jpg)

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Gottlieb1_zpscad71e14.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/v/fnn9Or6FhMo&version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnn9Or6FhMo#)

Now I was never short of cash as a student and so I fed many a quarter into that machine. But it couldn't last. You see under the law it was an "illegal gaming device". Accordingly a City of London police officer appeared at the rec center after about three months, played the machines for two or three hours to satisfy himself that they were indeed illegal gaming devices which could very well corrupt students, policemen and whoever else for life, and the machines were gone for good the next day. Yes, seized they were by the fascist State!

While the draconian law was repealed a few years later, I've never forgiven the bastiches. Smash the State I say!

When pinball machines were legalized in my environs in 1976, two specific machines acted to set me on the path to permanent pinball degeneracy. These were both to be found at the York Hotel in downtown London directly across the street from the CNR passenger train station. The first was the Wizard released by Bally in 1975:

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/PinballWizard1_zps80733847.jpg)

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/PinballWizard2_zps1739fd18.jpg)

A very well designed game, it sold over 10,000 units which smashed Bally's previous production record of 5254 for a pinball machine. I had the game completely mastered and built up a total of nineteen free games on a single quarter one afternoon before I succumbed to fatigue.

The other game was in the other room by the old fashioned greasy spoon lunch counter attached to the York Hotel. (How I miss those greasy spoons now!) It was the Royal Flush machine which Gottlieb released in 1976:

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/RoyalFlush1_zps24ba6afb.jpg)

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Royal1_zpsec1852e2.jpg)

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Royal3_zps1ab32c97.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SF5uccdQzQ# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SF5uccdQzQ#)

I had my best run ever on this machine one afternoon. I'd hit everything and I had the machine lit up like a Xmas tree. I was already up to five or so free games but I wasn't even targeting the free game hole. My timing was so good that I was hitting the silver ball hard enough to propel/bounce it right off the glass and I just wanted to keep hitting. And then believe it or not but a hippie watching me with astonishment leaned on the machine so hard that he tilted it thus ending my best run of all time. I wanted to belt him!

So no, I've never needed drugs or alcohol. Pinball, model kits, comic mags, gum cards and other baby boomer kids' stuff, muscle cars, and rock music and stereo equipment were all it took to set me on the path to ruin. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry.

;)

Quote from: Hepcat on August 13, 2019, 09:32:49 AM
I don't remember precisely where and when I encountered my first pinball machine but it must have been over sixty years ago and I've loved them ever since.

As a youngster in the early sixties I was usually required to attend supplemental Lithuanian language classes Saturdays between 4:00 and 5:30 PM during the school year. These classes were in the basement of St. Peter's elementary school just north of downtown London on Richmond Street by the cathedral. Dreadfully inconvenient to be sure.

There was a silver lining though. I'd be given $0.50 or so to go see a movie downtown prior to classes plus bus fare there and back. But St. Peter's was only about a mile and a half away from where we lived in Old South London. So I could walk there anyway. The bus fare I could then spend otherwise!

Sometimes I would indeed take in a movie. But often I'd elect to deploy my cash in other ways.

One temptation was a pinball machine at a diner that was right across from the Wishing Well Beverages bottling plant on Richmond Street which was on the southern edge of the downtown area about halfway to St. Peter's. I believe that it was this Gottlieb Sweet Hearts machine released in 1963:

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Gottlieb%20sweet_back_zpst34jj225.gif)

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Gottlieb%20SweetHearts_zpsxs9sh199.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/v/nViQpsT9Kvg&version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nViQpsT9Kvg#)

http://www.youtube.com/v/K6TOvPaGPJY&version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6TOvPaGPJY#)

But pinball machines were then banned in the Province of Ontario (or all of Canada?) shortly thereafter until about 1975(?). But when the new student recreation center at the University of Western Ontario was completed in 1971, it had five pinball machines! One of them was the Gottlieb 2001 released in 1971 which ended up becoming my own gateway machine to a lifetime of sordid pinball degeneracy.

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Gottlieb2_zps18fb0965.jpg)

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Gottlieb1_zpscad71e14.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/v/fnn9Or6FhMo&version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnn9Or6FhMo#)

Now I was never short of cash as a student and so I fed many a quarter into that machine. But it couldn't last. You see under the law it was an "illegal gaming device". Accordingly a City of London police officer appeared at the rec center after about three months, played the machines for two or three hours to satisfy himself that they were indeed illegal gaming devices which could very well corrupt students, policemen and whoever else for life, and the machines were gone for good the next day. Yes, seized they were by the fascist State!

While the draconian law was repealed a few years later, I've never forgiven the bastiches. Smash the State I say!

When pinball machines were legalized in my environs in 1975 or so, two specific machines acted to set me on the path to permanent pinball degeneracy. These were both to be found at the York Hotel in downtown London directly across the street from the CNR passenger train station. The first was the Wizard released by Bally in 1975:

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/PinballWizard1_zps80733847.jpg)

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/PinballWizard2_zps1739fd18.jpg)

A very well designed game, it sold over 10,000 units which smashed Bally's previous production record of 5254 for a pinball machine. I had the game completely mastered and built up a total of nineteen free games on a single quarter one afternoon before I succumbed to fatigue.

The other game was in the other room by the old fashioned greasy spoon lunch counter attached to the York Hotel. (How I miss those greasy spoons now!) It was the Royal Flush machine which Gottlieb released in 1976:

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/RoyalFlush1_zps24ba6afb.jpg)

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Royal1_zpsec1852e2.jpg)

(https://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/Royal3_zps1ab32c97.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SF5uccdQzQ# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SF5uccdQzQ#)

I had my best run ever on this machine one afternoon. I'd hit everything and I had the machine lit up like a Xmas tree. I was already up to five or so free games but I wasn't even targeting the free game hole. My timing was so good that I was hitting the silver ball hard enough to propel/bounce it right off the glass and I just wanted to keep hitting. And then believe it or not but a hippie watching me with astonishment leaned on the machine so hard that he tilted it thus ending my best run of all time. I wanted to belt him!

So no, I've never needed drugs or alcohol. Pinball, model kits, comic mags, gum cards and other baby boomer kids' stuff, muscle cars, and rock music and stereo equipment were all it took to set me on the path to ruin. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry.

;)

😀