UNIVERSAL STUDIOS TOUR - THE MONSTER UNMASKED!

[Monsters For Sale]

      

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS TOUR  -  THE MONSTER UNMASKED!

Fifty years ago, if you visited Universal Studios, you likely encountered a tall, handsome young man and snapped his picture without ever knowing his name - or even capturing his face in your photograph.

No, it wasn't a ghost.  It was Mike Bongiorno, who portrayed the Studio's Frankenstein Monster from the Summer of 1967 (when he was  21) 'til September,1973. 

Universal Studios has always catered to tourists.  Shortly after they began productions in 1915, guests were charged 5¢, to watch movies being made.  The original tour ended when the studio switched to talkies in 1930. 

The modern Studio Tour began in earnest in 1964 with the introduction of the Glamor Tram.  The first year of operation, the Tram departed from the front lot commissary.  The upper lot Studio Tour Center opened in 1965.

Mike Bongiorno became Universal Studio's very first roaming Frankenstein Monster in 1967. 

And he did it without relief.  Mike was the only one playing Frankenstein during that 6 year  period.  He worked EVERY holiday.  When his college buddies were enjoying weekends, holidays and school breaks, he was lurching around Universal to the delight of hundreds of thousands of  tourists from around the world.

During this time, Mike was attending UCLA Law School and living in his Frat House, riding a motorcycle and driving a VW Bug.  He also joined the Marine Corps Reserve, where he would eventually attain the rank of Sergeant, E5.

Knowing Mike was seeking employment, a friend who worked in the Universal Studios Personnel Department let him know of hiring possibilities.

At first, because he was a Marine, Mike was hired for Universal's Changing of the Guard Ceremony.  They would go through the change and he would be required to stand rigid until the next change. 

Later, Universal decided to see what else he could do around the studio.  Mike was told, "Go to Wardrobe.  See what fits."

At the Wardrobe Department, 6' 3" Mike was given one of Fred Gwynne's Herman Munster costumes and a pair of his boots.  Then he was sent to Don Post studios were they customized one of their Frankenstein masks for him.


                                                  Becoming the Monster

Mike would apply black makeup around his eyes, green makeup to his hands and darken his fingernails. 

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"... I used a damp make up sponge to dab into two cakes of pancake makeup (green & gray) to coat the back of my hands to match the color of my mask, after I'd applied a black Marks-A-Lot to my fingernails. This black would last all day, until I'd remove it with ladies fingernail polish remover. I'd have to reapply the hand makeup after each hourly break, due to sweating and loss from shaking hands with the tourists (they would usually comment favorably about getting some of my makeup on them)....   ... Universal never told me to use makeup on my hands/eyes. I just decided to do so to better remain in character."

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He would don the Fred Gwynne costume and built-up boots.

Then Mike pulled the mask over his head.  He tucked the neck of the mask inside a turtle neck sweater and secured it with Velcro so it would not ride up.  A towel was folded up and glued into the top of the mask to fill out its elevated flat head.  A little extra padding was put inside the jaw, so it would not collapse as he moved about inside.

With the full costume on, Mike was transformed into the 6' 9" Frankenstein's Monster.

Mike would come out and position himself with a wall at his back (to prevent mishaps because of limited vision) to pose and sign autographs for about 45 minutes - then escape to his air-conditioned dressing room to recover from the heat.

He especially liked to entice the smaller kids to come up to him.  He would get down on one knee and pose for pictures of him "strangling" the little tykes who would do their best to look properly terrified.


                                                    Signing Autographs

Perhaps it was inevitable that Mike would drift toward this occupation.  As a kid of 10 or 11, he liked to go to Buddy's Fun Shop in North Hollywood, where he bought his first Frankenstein mask.   He would put on one of his dad's old jackets and play the monster - Little suspecting that someday he would be the official park monster for Universal Studios Tour  when he grew up.

Mike's Monster  was allowed to wander around Universal's upper lot Tour Center at will.  Then, he would call for one of the studio's drivers to pick him up and take him down to the lower lot where he also roamed free.  He would spend most of his time there (an hour or two) suddenly appearing from doorways on European Street .

Sometimes, Mike would walk over to Manhattan Street and Western Street, go inside the various doors and wait for the Tram to come by.  Then he would spring out and startle the Tram tourists, and often the tour guide, with an unexpected appearance.

Because  Mike was Universal's first roaming Frankenstein, there was no established Guidebook of Proper Monster Conduct.  He had to make up rules for himself as he went along.

When I asked him if Universal required him to do a mute act or if he fielded tourist questions, Mike responded:

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"Universal never instructed me on what to say or do or how to talk with the Tour guests.  On my own, I felt I should always remain "in character", so I tried to emulate how Boris Karloff sounded and spoke as Frankenstein's Monster.

I sort of growled in my baritone voice as I approached tourists, flailing my arms straight out in front of me. I would growl-shout "Gooood!!" (as Boris did when he tried smoking that cigar given to him by the blind hermit, [in "Bride of Frankenstein"] and I'd growl "Gooood!!" again after each tourist had taken their picture(s) with me, coupled with a growling "Thank You"

I got quite adept at knowing how to say "Thank You" in a variety of languages when I could tell their nationality (in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Filipino [Tagalog], Swedish). The tour guests loved that.

Generally, they were so happy to have gotten their pictures taken with this huge and initially frightening Character, who proved surprisingly approachable and friendly (in his pitiable way), that I really had to field no personal questions...I believe they in effect thought I WAS a Real Monster!"

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Prowling Universal as the Monster was a hot, sweaty job.  At the end of each day, the costume would be dried out and aired for the next day's use. As needed, the padding was removed from the costume and the garments laundered.  Universal would need to replace the costume about twice a year.


                                                Quenching a Monster-Sized Thirst

A friend of Mike's dressed up and played "The Mad Dr."  He would later become the Phantom of the Opera with a Lon Chaney mask.  They were the only monsters who roamed the studio during Mike's tenure..  There never were any other monster characters terrorizing the tourists.  (Universal's short-lived Baby Frankenstein character was introduced three years after Mike had graduated college and gone off to practice law.)

The young law student was hired to work 8 hr. shifts for $5 an hour in 1967 - good money at that time.  (The U.S. minimum wage became $1.40 an hour in February, 1967 and rose to only $2.00 an hour by 1974.)

Sometimes, Universal would have Mike venture outside the studio for public appearances, mostly openings and such.  When going to outside gigs, he would dress in everything but the mask and boots and drive his Volkswagen  Bug.  He was paid $100 each for such special appearances.

Once, Mike was sent to Dan Tana's Restaurant where he surprised Frank Sinatra for his birthday.  (Ol'  Blue Eyes was less than amused.)

Occasionally,  he would get into his VW Bug and drive away from an appearance with the mask still on, just until he could disappear around a corner - so he wouldn't spoil the image for the people he had just entertained.  The big monster driving off in the little car must have been quite a sight.

When Mike graduated law school in 1973, he left Universal.  His Studio co-workers threw him a party and presented him with a sculpture of himself dressed as the monster.  He still has a piece of it.  Sadly, the rest was lost, along with many of his other personal keepsakes, in the 1993 Malibu fire.

Michael Bongiorno went on to practice medical malpractice law for 42 years, first as a defending attorney and later as a prosecuting attorney.  He retired in 2015.

Today, he is a contributing columnist for the Newport Beach Independent Newspaper.


It's easy to see why Mike was chosen by Universal to enhance their visitors' tour experience.  He is a very out-going and friendly guy who gave freely of his time and endured my many questions without complaint.  Not everyone would put up with a stranger grilling him about a college job he began half a century ago.

Monsters are the nicest people.



Adam Love
7-29-2017

[Dr Wolfenstein]

What a great story.

[Kidagain]

I just love stories like this, getting to know the person behind the mask at these parks.Thanks so much Adam for this.

[Dr Wolfenstein]

 I wonder if he is the same Frankenstein monster in this postcard?It does mention The Phantom of the Opera on the back of the card.




  Gab

[Monsters For Sale]

I wonder if he is the same Frankenstein monster in this postcard?It does mention The Phantom of the Opera on the back of the card.
  Gab

Hmmm.  The pants and boots are darker.  It would depend on the year the photo was taken - not the date the card was printed, or mailed.

[Dr Wolfenstein]

 Just found this while searching for Frankenstein postcards from Universal Studios.It says the postcard is from 1968 so it might be him if the site is correct.

http://www.thestudiotour.com/ush/attractions/streetmosphere/frankensteinsmonster.php

 

[the_horror_man]

A very heart felt story about the passion for one of, if not the greatest Monster of all time. The pic of him signing autographs is fantastic. Ironically, he is surrounded by little girls and not one of them is afraid that they might to be thrown in the lake. Perhaps there was not a lake close by.

thm

[Mike Scott]

Great story, Adam! How did you find this guy?

[Remco Wolfman]

This is fantastic. Thank you for posting that.

[Monsters For Sale]

Great story, Adam! How did you find this guy?

Got the first and last pictures off eBay for very reasonable Buy-It-Now prices.  They were both dated December, 1971 and came with small snipes on the backs.  Mike was identified by name and the fact that he was a law student.  This was the first time I had ever seen the Monster's alter-ego revealed.

I thought it would be fun to have him autograph them and get them framed.


I searched his name + "lawyer".  There were several hits, so I began with the one in Southern California.  I sent an e-mail saying that I was searching for a former Universal Studios employee or anyone who could point me to him.

That same day, the answer came back;  "I'm him." with a couple facts about his post-Universal life, his phone number and an invitation to give him a call.

And he has been just as sweet about putting up with my crazy quilt, haphazard way of assembling information all through the process of putting this together.  I asked him to read each of my several edits and fact check everything I included.  Surprisingly, he was willing to do this.


At first, I thought I would just add a couple notes to my picture post.   Then, not finding any other sources about the subject, I decided I would try to document this cloudy area of Universal Tour history for people like me, who are always curious about back-stories .


This was my try.

[aura of foreboding]

This is simply phenomenal.  Great work!  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this. 

[Dr Wolfenstein]

Great detective work Adam.

[Mike Scott]

You should shop your story around to get a wider audience. Try the FRANKENSTEINIA (is that right?) blog, for one.

[Monsters For Sale]

You should shop your story around to get a wider audience. Try the FRANKENSTEINIA (is that right?) blog, for one.

I don't know anything about such things.

The UMA is the only group I have ever belonged to.  During some dealings with ToyRanch, he suggested that I might like to join the old site.  Been here ever since.

I did sign up for one other group but found the way they did things not to my liking (lots of ads, complicated picture posting, etc.) and dropped out almost immediately.

I did this little project for myself and my fellow UMA members.  Where it goes and what happens to it next is out of my hands.  Once posted on the Internet, all control over a thing is lost.

If someone else wants to use this, I have no objection.

[Gory Glenn]

One of the best posts ever on this site! Great stuff, I may have even seen him as I went to Universal Studios on a regular basis as a kid. Thanks for sharing, really enjoyed this.