1977 Be Something Studios Catalog

 The 1977 Be Something Studios catalog has been posted here before, but these specific scans have not been posted until today. These scans come straight from the Zagone factory and are much cleaner and crisper. In order to keep some sort of sense of things, I have decided to start posting the old Be Something and Zagone catalogs in chronological order. In cases like this, some duplicates will be posted when there is an improvement over the originals. 

 

Historically, this is a really cool catalog that features some early work from a few sculptors including Billy Baccarella, a young Billy Ystrom, Artie Clafford, and it may have included work from Mike Saenz as well. I will try to get some clarification the next time I speak with Tony Zagone. I have included several close-up scans of individual masks of interest here as well...

 

Be Something Studios - Wicked Witch mask

Be Something Studios - Two-Face mask

Be Something Studios - The Corpse mask

Be Something Studios - Living Dead mask

Be Something Studios - Fang Face Female mask

Be Something Studios - Fang Face mask

Be Something Studios - Devil mask

Be Something Studios - Bloody Mary mask

1978 Franco Catalog - Be Something Studios

 

 There is something awesome about a good old fashioned black and white Halloween mask catalog. It's certainly not the quality of image, but if you are old enough to remember holding something like this in your hands, you know what I'm talking about. The 1978 Franco catalog featured three pages of early Be Something Studios masks, all of which are quite rare these days, and a few that I have never seen in person. I've posted a few color catalog shots below as well...

Be Something Studios - Demon mask

Be Something Studios - Fantome mask

Be Something Studios - Fun Ghoul mask

Be Something Studios - Hanging Eye Do mask

Be Something Studios - Uncle Ooze

Be Something Studios -Unicorn mask

Zagone Studios / Be Something Studios Catalog Week

 

 

Good evening Creeps! This week at the Monster Mask Blog, we'll be digging into a full week of vintage catalogs from Be Something Studios. Before the world got crazy with the pandemic, the mother load of BSS and Zagone catalogs scans was hand delivered to me by River Lev, who is a sculptor and painter at Zagone Studios, which is located about 7 miles from the Phantom's crib. I have been dying to post these, and they are a certainly a large motivating force in the revival of the blog. 

I plan to post five of these catalogs this week starting on Tuesday. Several of these have been posted in the past, but not with this level of clarity. These scans are gorgeous! I'll try to post hi-res pics of several of the masks as well. 

A bit of personal history that I'll share... Be Something Studios are the nearest and dearest to my heart. Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, these are the masks that were in my local costume shops, as Zagone Studios was located in Chicago (now in the southwest suburbs of Chicago). They are the masks that I absolutely fell in love with and became obsessed with as a kid. In Fall of 1985 when I had just turned 11, my Mom began allowing me to ride my bike a few miles from the house and visit a small party shop called "Corky's Partytime" in Hoffman Estates Illinois. Corky's did Halloween right. They had a killer display of Be Something masks and all the amazing staple of costumes, makeup, and props tht one could hope to find in the mid-1980s. I rode my bike up to Corky's every damn day after school to look at the masks. It was all I wanted to do. The only thing that could pry my attention away from the masks was when the annual local haunted house opened up at the community pool. But even then, I still visited every day. 

So for some folks, it's Don Post Studios, or Distortions Unlimited, or whichever studio may have captured your attention. But for this guy, it was Be Something Studios. THIS is why I am so thrilled to share these!!!

Some other thoughts... If you're a long time reader of this blog, you've heard me say this before, but it bears repeating. I really believe that through the years Be Something/Zagone has the the most impressive line-up of original characters of any other studio. Yes, DPS, and Distortions have had their share of classic originals, but BSS/Zagone has been churning out killer originals for decades now.  I've also been saying for years now, that Zagone masks are the best masks to wear if you're going to wear them. Nobody does it better. Now, I will say, I do love to wear my Trick or Treat Studios Rob Zombie mask, it fits like a glove as do many of the masks that Justin sculpts. But over the past 40+ years, nobody has done it better than the Zagones. I may be biased by my childhood love for their masks, but I really believe that BSS/Zagone made (and still makes) the very best mass-produced masks on the market. I do love a good mask debate though, so by all means, tell me I'm wrong!

Alright, enough already. Let's get to the catalogs shall we...

Random Sunday Morning Mask Pic: Vintage Don Post Studios Instagram

The Random Sunday Morning Pic post was a long-standing tradition here at the monster mask blog, and it will continue on with the blog's revival. I thought the relaunch would be a good opportunity to point out some resources that have popped up during the hiatus. I wanted to start with my favorite place to visit on Instagram for good vintage Don Post Studios photos... The Vintage Don Post Studios page on Instagram where Joshua Warren regularly posts wonderful photos, a good many of which I have never seen before. The content is generally exclusive to Don Post Studios, but occasionally features other studios as well. Good stuff here. Check it out if you haven't already...

Image Source: Vintage Don Post Studios

1952 Topstone Catalog

 

Hey Creeps! Let's begin the revival of our little blog with the oldest piece that resides in the Phantom's catalog collection. Fresh off the scanner bed... it's the 1952 Topstone catalog. This is one of the few Topstone catalogs that I have had the pleasure of owning and scanning to share, as most of the other Topstones that I have posted have come from other online sources or collectors.

If I may say so myself, this is a beautiful catalog. The graphic design and type treatment is gorgeous and the illustrations are simply incredible. The Chamber of Horrors page being among my personal favorite in perhaps any mask catalog. And, who can resist the allure of the glamorous Mermaid Caps?

The majority of the masks in this catalog simply don't exist today, so there is little in the way of photographs to use to compare to the illustrations. But, the little monster kid in me still can't help stare at these images and wonder what they might have looked like in person.

As a quick aside, I've tried to keep the watermarks on these scans as unobtrusive as possible. I am not trying to take ownership of these images, rather I want to avoid the issue that occurred during the early days of the monster mask blog when my un-watermarked scans of a few classic 1960's catalogs began showing up on eBay and being pawned off as originals by scammers.

 

 

Let the Blood-Curdling Begin Again...

 Well, it's been a minute! It's actually been several minutes. Six and a half years, to be exact, since regular posting occurred here on the Blood Curdling Blog of Monster Masks.

Let me begin by saying “Thank You” for all the positive feedback and kind words about the blog during the hiatus. It has been gratifying to know that the content continues to serve the mask collecting community. I regularly see scans from the blog showing up on the interwebs and socials. That is one of the reasons why I started the blog originally, to share resources with the community, and it's amazing to still see them being shared continually. Over the past 6+ years, I have been told by more than a few collectors that they miss the blog, and it has been customary for me to reply by saying, “it will return one day”. That day is today!

So.... why now? Well, keep in mind that I originally stopped investing my time running the blog to instead focus more of my energy on mask-making. This strategy paid off. The last 6 years have been my most productive by far in my 25+ years of mask-making. The Devil's Workshop has become my full-time gig, and I have had the pleasure of starting a new venture with fellow mask maker Aaron Lewis as we launched Rock Bottom Novelties earlier this year. Having firmly established a rhythm and schedule, I feel I can now devote some time once again to the blog. More than anything else, the timing just feels right.

So, this is what I'm hoping to accomplish with the return of the Monster Mask Blog...

1. Share more stuff - I have accumulated a lot of new material to share. LOTS of new catalogs. A big thanks goes out to all those that have given me catalogs to share over the past several years. Contributions make up a good majority of the new material that I have. I can't thank all those who have generously shared scans, or catalogs, with me enough. Over the past several Maskfests, I have been gifted all sorts of amazing catalogs and stacks of monster mask goodness. I look forward to getting it all out there. As always, I am constantly on the hunt for new mask related material and always welcome contributors. Keep them coming you creeps!

2. Revisiting old material – My secondary goal is to revisit, and reorganize, a lot of the old material that is already posted here to make it easier to find. I plan to add better tags and meta data to make the blog more searchable. For example, there are 269 posts on Don Post Studios. It would be easier to find information if I had tags that included Don Post Catalogs, Don Post Ads, Don Post Articles, and so on.

3. New regular topics – I have some ideas of regular topics, such as a Mask of the Month post of some of my favorite masks (Phantom Faves), and plenty of other new regular posts that I want to kick the tires on.

4. Self-promotion – In the past, I was never shy about occasionally announcing a new project that I was working on. Despite the fact that I haven't posted regularly here in over 6 years, the blog still has 10K+ visitors every month. I would love to be able to reach a larger audience and share my work. Especially in 2021, which is the 25^th anniversary of the Devil's Workshop. I've been putting out a number of DW25 special releases and it would be great to post them here and share some stories about the last 25 years of making monsters.

I hope you'll join me on this new chapter of the Monster Mask Blog as we once again explore the history of Monster Masks! Tune in tomorrow for the first catalog scan to be posted here in over six years...

Invasion of the SUPER MASKS has begun

 

Hey Creeps! It's time for some quick shameless self-promotion. This weekend saw the launch of Rock Bottom Novelties, and with it, the birth of a new line of masks, the likes of which have never been witnessed before... SUPER MASKS.

Rock Bottom Novelties (named in part as an homage to Topstone) is the partnership of veteran mask makers Aaron Lewis, and Pete Infelise. The premiere release of Super Masks featured the SUPER SPACE SLIME MONSTER designed and sculpted by Aaron Lewis, and the SUPER ZOMBIE designed by SKINNER and sculpted by Pete Infelise.

SUPER MASKS are produced by the legendary Zagone Studios and are limited to 100 copies each. SUPER MASKS also feature the most epic header cards to ever be stapled on the top of a plastic bag. Check them out at the Rock Bottom Novelties website and shop, and get your claws on what is sure to become an instant collector item. 

 

 

Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween Creeps!!!

Happy New Year Creeps!

Wow, 2017 came and went without any posting here on the ol' Blood Curdling Blog of Monster Masks, but that doesn't mean that this blog is dead. Far from it! Each month, over 1,000 of you rubber-lovin' head hunters still visit catalog posts; and over 12,000 posts from the archive are revisited re-read every month.

When I took time off from the blog, my intention was to spend time more time in the studio, and that has certainly been the case. I was more productive in 2017 than in any year in the past. These days I regularly post what's going on in the studio on the Devil's Workshop Instagram account. Feel free to join me there!

 With that being said, I still do plan to bring back the blog at some point. Over the past 15 months since I've stopped posting, I've continued to build up a pile of mask related materials, and I have MUCH to share. In fact, just last week I was fortunate enough to score a beautiful 1952 Topstone catalog...

 So fear not fellow mask freaks and rubber necks, the blog will indeed return. I don't have a date in mind, as I have a major pinball conversion project to tackle first, but I do indeed intend to bring this blog back when that is complete. I do miss firing up the old scanner and digitizing old ads, catalogs and articles.

In the meantime, enjoy the archives! In addition, enjoy these early months of the calendar year when a flurry of sneak peeks and new releases from mask makers 2018 lineups begin to appear.  Hope to see a bunch of you at Maskfest this year. It's the 10th year for Maskfest and it's primed to be the best ever. Cheers!

The Art of the Halloween Mask

The Art of the Halloween Mask is an exhibit focusing on the art of Halloween Masks throughout the ages. Featuring modern day world class artists in the field of mask production and special effects and a collection of vintage Halloween masks dating back to the 60s. Show opening: Saturday, October 15 at 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM in PDT. Click here for additional info.