FREE MONSTERS - Premiums & Give-A-Ways

[aura of foreboding]

I have that same brochure with the Frankenstein mask on it. I got it when I went there in the early '70's.
I don't know how many years they printed them, but it's at least early '70's. I see them on e-bay from time to time. I also got another brochure when I went there that I almost never see around, it has black and white photo's inside of some of the exhibits and descriptions of all of them.

I posted pics here...

http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=8125.msg127132#msg127132

Awesome, Monolith!  My powers of deduction triumph again!   

And thanks for posting those scans.  What an awesome little place!  I really like the Phantom. 

[Hepcat]

how about these Monster Slurpee Cups that 7-11 gave away in the 70's

Cool! Is that the whole set?

[Monsters For Sale]

Here are a few more of the 7-11 Slurpee "Mythical Monsters" series cups from the 1970's:


















So far we have 18.

Big Foot
Cave Thing, The
Dragon
Giant Squid
Golem
Headless Horseman
Hydra
Loch Ness
Minotaur
Monster of the Moors
Mummy
Roc
Swamp Creature
Troll
Vampire
Werewolf
Yeti
Zombie

Eighteen is an odd number.  I suspect there were others.  Anyone out there have a definitive list?

[kapkarrot]

edit: Monster for Sale, you have 18 monsters listed (Hydra and Werewolf are listed on the same line).

I found two more monster cup images online, Cyclops and Ghost Riders.

The Cyclops is from this thread: http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=822.30




The Ghost Riders are on this flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/astronit/2659716640/#

Someone smarter than me can post the image.  According to this site, there are twenty cups.  I wish I had never seen these, because now I want them all!

[Monsters For Sale]

Thanks, Kapkarrot!

I was afraid someone would catch that before I got signed on this afternoon.  I corrected my previous list and the numbers.

Here are the missing two cups you provided for us.  I just isolated them for easier viewing.







That means we have all 20 here - thanks to you.

Interesting that there is no "Man-Made Monster" AKA Frankenstein.  I guess the folks at 7-11 didn't believe he was mythical.

[kapkarrot]

Glad we could work together to make a list!  I noticed Frankenstein's absence, too.  Maybe they considered him a Golem?

[Haunted hearse]

Glad we could work together to make a list!  I noticed Frankenstein's absence, too.  Maybe they considered him a Golem?

Only if the Golem had been brought to life by a Rabbi named Frank N. Stein. Maybe the problem was that the Frankenstein Monster they wanted to use, would have got them in trouble with Universal.  Their Golem actually looks to me a lot more like Karloff's mummy. 

[Monsters For Sale]

Only if the Golem had been brought to life by a Rabbi named Frank N. Stein. Maybe the problem was that the Frankenstein Monster they wanted to use, would have got them in trouble with Universal.  Their Golem actually looks to me a lot more like Karloff's mummy.

That's why they would use a generic name like "Man-Made Monster" - Like they did with Werewolf, Vampire and Mummy. 

Just seems funny that they would include the other three and not find a way to use Frankie, too.

And where is the Swamp Creature (CFBL)?

[kapkarrot]

Only if the Golem had been brought to life by a Rabbi named Frank N. Stein. Maybe the problem was that the Frankenstein Monster they wanted to use, would have got them in trouble with Universal.  Their Golem actually looks to me a lot more like Karloff's mummy.

I have seen the term golem used broadly enough to include the Frankenstein's Monster (a "flesh golem"), but I consider that a stretch.  I wasn't sure what they wrote in the description on the back, and wondered if they also made the same leap.

[Monsters For Sale]

This is an interesting adult-sized mask that was given away by Grolsch Beer in what must have been the 1980's.

Grolsch makes those big brown beer bottles with a ceramic cap seated on a rubber gasket and held in place by a wire clamp.  The name Grolsch is fired right into the glazed white cap.

This silly mask has "Grolschenstein" wearing a Grolsch cap on his head.  The wire clamp is hinged at Frank's electrodes locations.  The mask is made of that VERY thin white plastic (vacuum formed?) that has been used on kids' masks in the past.  It is 11¾" tall.





I can't image anyone ever wearing one of these things, but there must be a few out there hanging on beer memorabilia collectors' walls.

[Mord]

Wow, Grolsch has always been my favorite beer (even more so now).

[BRICK]

I'm surprised that no one has brought up these. The first is a mini-CD that came with the re-release of the Creature from the Black Lagoon movies on VHS. The CD contains clips from all three Creature movies, access to an on-line "Hunt for the Creature" game, and a cheaply produced featurette; a lame Predator rip-off, with a POV camera showing how the Creature decapitated and dismembered a squad of commandos. Obviously, this was an attempt to justify as to why fans would want to shoot their favorite amphibian in the first place. A question to anyone who might have seen this featurette: am I the only one who thought this terrain was WAY too dry for the Creature to haunt?



The next freebie was a Halloween giveaway from Papa John's from a number of years back. It's a DVD with Abbott & Costello meet the Mummy as well as a bonus episode of the Munsters. Sure, it's a no frills disc without chapters or trailers, but any time you have Universal Monsters, Abbott & Costello and PIZZA all in the same promotion, plus it's FREE, how can you possibly go wrong?





The next two items were not really promotional giveaways, but rather Universal Monster advertising displays that I acquired. The first comes from the original Universal Studios Monsters Classic Collection. It is the top part of the larger standee used to display the VHS tapes, with an artwork montage of some of the tapes in the series.



This final example shows the advertising artwork for the Universal Monster cookies from Nabisco. This is actually a translucent display that would be mounted at the top of the checkout lanes at a supermarket, in front of a light box. I'm guessing they cropped Frankenstein this way so they could portray him realistically, without having to deal without having to deal with any of the actor's heirs.

[Monsters For Sale]

Those are all nice to see, but...

I've never seen the Creature CD or the Papa John's DVD's.  Those are REALLY cool!

Thanks for sharing them.

Welcome new UMA member.  Way to contribute.

[Monsters For Sale]

This Frankenstein slide puzzle is 2½" X 2½" and was given away by B. Moss Clothing Company stores to advertise a one day pre-Halloween sale.  Since Halloween occurred on Thursday that year, that means the sale was in 1974, 1985, 1991 or 2002.  I'm guessing it was 1991.

The maker's initials are OTC.  I believe this was made by Oriental Trading Company.

[Haunted hearse]

This final example shows the advertising artwork for the Universal Monster cookies from Nabisco. This is actually a translucent display that would be mounted at the top of the checkout lanes at a supermarket, in front of a light box. I'm guessing they cropped Frankenstein this way so they could portray him realistically, without having to deal without having to deal with any of the actor's heirs.

Great examples.  By the way, Sara Karloff sold Universal the rights to the Karloff Monster years ago, so Universal would have not had any issues with demands from heirs.