The Mad Mad Mad Scientist Laboratory

[drmark7]

The "reeking if Aurora" is mentioned, but not specifically how much the MAD MAGICIAN box seems to echo the GIGANTIC FRANKENSTEIN aka "Big Frankie" model box. Right down to some fonts and placement of the main titles.

See it here:
https://www.amazon.com/Gigantic-Frankenstein-Frankie-Moebius-Models/dp/B0018RWP9I

[Hepcat]

The Gigantic Frankenstein is perhaps now the single most coveted Aurora figure kit. Quite simply at a suggested retail price of $4.98 in 1964, it did not sell well. Few were therefore made thus leaving one very difficult to find these days.

[Mike Scott]

Quite simply at a suggested retail price of $4.98 in 1964, it did not sell well.

You could have gotten the Frankenstein, Dracula, Mummy, Wolf Man and Creature kits for that price! 

[Hepcat]

Actually since their original issue price was $0.98, you could have gotten all of:

Phantom of the Opera
Dracula
Mummy
Wolf Man
Creature

for that price!

And of course a Mad Mad Mad Scientist Laboratory was less than 59.9% of the price.

[Mike Scott]

Is there an echo in here? 

[Hepcat]

The Phantom kit had more pieces than the Frankenstein kit and was therefore the better value!

[Mike Scott]

The Phantom kit had more pieces than the Frankenstein kit and was therefore the better value!

That's like saying the 4' painting is better than the 3' painting. 

[BijouBob8mm]

That's like saying the 4' painting is better than the 3' painting.

And then there's that 6' painting of Vampirella.  (OK, OK, it's just a poster and not the actual painting...do you know how hard it was to hide THAT from the folks?)

[Hepcat]

Were you afraid your dad would confiscate it for his own use?

[Mike Scott]

(OK, OK, it's just a poster and not the actual painting...do you know how hard it was to hide THAT from the folks?)

Did they only allow original art in the house?

[BijouBob8mm]

Did they only allow original art in the house?

"I don't know if it's art, but I know what I like."   

If only Lucy Lawless lived in my neighborhood when I was a student filmmaker!  We'd still be making Vampirella movies!!!  LOL

[Hepcat]

Given that the Mad Mad Mad Scientist Laboratory would have appealed to precisely the same potential buyers as the Aurora monster model kits, perhaps Physio-Chem/Homelab arranged for Aurora to make the Mad Mad Mad Scientist Laboratory available through Aurora's own distribution network....

This could explain why Mort Kunstler might have gotten the impression that Homelab was an Aurora subsidiary.

The fact that Homelab was located in Westbury on Long Island basically just down the road from Aurora's headquarters in Brooklyn lends further credence to the possibility/likelihood of such an arrangement.

[mantus]

I had this Lab set when I was 10 y.o.. 1965.  I never forgot it.  I loved it - sitting in the basement mixing up all this stuff.  Part of the fun was the stories that went with each experiment.  The narratives were borne out in each experiment - turning "water" into "blood" - that kind of stuff.  I would love to see the Lab book and reread those stories.  The whole concept was well thought out.  It must have been cause 55 years later, I still remember it.  The cover art is perfect.  Mark

[Hepcat]

I would love to see the Lab book and reread those stories.

The Instruction Booklet that was part of the set is sometimes offered for sale by itself on Ebay and elsewhere.