Aaron asked for a Monsterpalooza report. OK!
It was great, as usual. The highlight for me was meeting make-up legend and Rick Baker mentor Dick Smith (that’s us up top; photo by Samantha Holmes). A photo op with the amazing Mr. Smith seemed to be on EVERYBODY’s mind (including mine)…
The night before Monsterpalooza saw the premiere of the documentary on Bob and Kathy Burns, Beast Wishes. The film is great and the response was phenomenal. My friends Frank Dietz and Trish Geiger have put together an incredibly entertaining and loving tribute to the two people who are perhaps the most beloved icons in the world of us Monster Kids.
I had breakfast with Bob and Kathy and friends on Sunday morning. They were quite touched and delighted by the film.
My friends, the lovely Bela Lugosi family, were set up not far from the Monsterpalooza entry point, right next to Sara Karloff and the Lon Chaney family.
Mike Hill had his usual spectacular display. This time he sculpted full size figures of Jack Pierce touching up Boris Karloff as The Mummy, plus Rick Baker making up David Naughton as the American Werewolf in London. Incredible! You’d swear you just saw them breathe! Do some Googling and I’m sure you’ll turn up pics people shot of Mike’s fine work.
Speaking of American Werewolf, John Landis was at Monsterpalooza signing his new monster book for Dark Delicacies. John was the only one of my director pals to show up. I believe Guillermo del Toro is busy on Pacific Rim, Frank Darabont is working on a new film noir series for TV, Jon Favreau is tied up with two huge projects and J. J. Abrams has his fingers in a dozen pies…
Rick Baker was ill on Friday but made it to Monsterpalooza later.
Another of the big highlights was seeing my dear friend Donnie Waddell (guest coordinator at WonderFest), who came all the way from Louisville, Kentucky (the number of people from out-of-state for Monsterpalooza was the most I’ve ever seen. I guess the word has gotten out on what a great show this is).
Long time friend Pete Von Sholly and his talented wife Andrea were selling Pete’s monster wares, including his gigantic monster panorama murals. The ultimate Dinosaur Kid Don Glut reported to me on how touched he was by Beast Wishes.
My big sellers at the show were my Tarman action figure (duh) and my Dinosaur Discoveries book. Make-up wizard Todd Masters purchased my pen and brush drawing of Noble Johnson as the zombie in Ghost Breakers (Mr. Johnson was also the chief in King Kong).
Eliot Brodsky and his staff work incredibly hard to make this the coolest monster show in the world.
Thanks, Eliot, for another fantastic Monsterpalooza!
Bill,
Sounds like it was a blast! So many cool people to meet with different talents. It gets me all happy just thinking about it! Well, back to the old easel. 🙂
Cheers,
Lee
Dick Smith and protege Rick Baker have had amazing careers and done outstanding work.
Mike Hill’s sculpts are amazing as well.
Seems like you had a great time.
Best,
Rick
Thanks for the report, Mr. Stout. Great stuff. It’s good to see Dick Smith looking chipper. His make up for Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man was amazing.
While you guys were partying with the monster makers I was watching a TV broadcast of Dracula on the Saturday night creature feature. It’s been years since I’ve seen that. I was surprised when I realized how much screen time Dwight Fry got as Renfield. He almost deserved second billing as the film’s best supporting villain. 🙂
Dear Bill,
It has been a couple of years since I last saw you at the MONSTERPALOZZA and it was a joy to see you at your table promoting all of your varied artwork. Actually it was great just to be greeted by your consistently happy persona. I have been in dreamland with your HALLUCINATIONS book, which for my tastes is the perfect antidote to reality. It gave this fan an opportunity to reveal in your technicolor fantasy worlds; like nobody else on the planet can create.
Look forward to seeing you next time… It is THE SHOW for horror/fantasy film fanatics.
Brant Elliott