Men in Dinosaur Suits

Hi Woodsy,

Here is a You Tube video that I recently came across, called The History of Dinosaur Suitmation. It covers men in rubber suits playing dinosaurs or SF monsters in the movies and on television.

It is 57 minutes long, and includes clips from a number of old movies, although much of the coverage is fairly modern. Movies covered include the Godzilla series, and Gorgo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVBim51CD8E

Paul Adams from New Zealand

UPCOMING SPECIAL! PREDATORS

Like the Gorgo and Big Gorillas toys and kits weeks we had on MC last year, there'll be another special week of posts in the last week of this month called ..... Predators!

Big cats, bears, giant crabs, sharks - you name it, it'll be here in vintage toy or kit form! It'll be grrrrreat!

Aurora, Airfix, paintings, die-casts, anecdotes, memories and more grizzle than Grizzly Adams!

Hold onto your jeep seats, Predators week will be here soon!

[if you have anything you want to show off on MC for this just email it to me!]

GORGO ROCKS UP IN NEW JERSEY FOR THANKSGIVING

Hi Woodsy. I'm taking a break from setting up Christmas decorations and thought I'd show you these two additions to Monster Base. 

First is this beautiful Gorgo set I pre- ordered months ago from a company called Titanic Creations. Even the box is cool, looking like a scene from the movie, and the accessories are numerous. 

I also saw this "Spider -Rex" at Walmart and snapped it up. 

Also, here's a pic of a Thanksgiving dinner plate. Everybody enjoyed it!

Full menu is Roast Turkey, mashed potatoes, Sage and Celery stuffing, Green bean casserole, glazed carrots, peas, coleslaw, Cranberry-Orange sauce, Macaroni and cheese (not the usual addition, but my brother requested it) And Hawaiian butter rolls.

-Brian F 

Monster Base 

NJ USA

Stop Motion Dinosaurs and Die-cast Cars

Here is another wonderful film from British Pathe. A 1967 colour film showing model dinosaurs being made for use in stop-motion movie work.

Mr Arthur Hayward, who worked for the Natural History Museum in London, is shown making the models. Some were used in films such as One Million Years B.C.

There are several short clips of the final models in action, with one rampaging through city streets, amid a fleet of die-cast vehicles.

These are: Corgi B.M.C. Mini Police Van (dog patrol vehicle); Corgi Aston Martin DB4; I am not sure about the silver car on the right - a Jaguar saloon ? The bus that gets over-turned is the Corgi Major Midland Red Motorway Express Coach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_oBI385qSE

Paul Adams from New Zealand

MAN IN A MONKEY SUIT: A TRIBUTE BY PAUL ADAMS

Hi

Back in the Golden Age of Hollywood, no thriller or comedy movie was complete without a gorilla on the rampage. Played by a man in a 'monkey suit'.

This is my tribute to these - literally - faceless actors. The men in the suits, who played Konga, and a host of other normal or giant sized gorillas, in all those movies.

Hope you enjoy it.

I started with a toy gorilla in a standing pose, which came in a bag of six assorted Wild Animals. All are moulded in a rather soft plastic.

The gorilla just would not stand upright on his own, so I had to give him a base. This was from an old Airfix Multipose figure set.

It is moulded in white plastic, so it has been in my spares box since the late 1970s - finally found a use for it. Moral of the story - never throw anything away.

The gorilla is beheaded with a small hacksaw, and the cut cleaned up with a knife. The body and inside of the head are hollow, so the body was stuffed with paper towel until it was full.

The only human part required was a head. The only heads I had available were 1/32nd scale, and just a bit too small.

The next size up is 1/24th scale. The Tamiya Campus Friends Set 2 accessory kit includes five figures and a motor scooter in 1/24th, and I was able to find one.

There is only one male figure in the set, but he has optional heads, so you can use one for the gorilla, and still build the standard figure.

The head is glued in place with Uhu glue, as polystyrene cement is unlikely to work on the soft plastic used for the gorilla. The gorilla head is placed over one fist, while the man in the suit gets some fresh air.

The model is then painted with Humbrol and Tamiya enamels. Semi-gloss black for the flesh areas, matt black for the fur, and brown for the eyes.

For some reason the paints did not want to dry to their proper finish, so the model is glossier than he should be. Still, a fun little project.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

KONGA COVER IN MINIATURE BY PAUL ADAMS

Hi

Just for fun, I decided to see if I could re-create the Monarch Books Konga cover - above - in model form. This is not a permanent diorama, it was only set up for the photographs.

I used existing models and kits, so they are not an exact match for the cover, but the figures are painted to match the Monarch colours. The grass and foliage are plastic, from the artificial flower section of a $2 shop (Pound Shop in Britain).

Konga himself is a Schleich Male Gorilla, height about 80mm. This is a beautiful model, which is very well finished - no re-painting was needed.

The lady is from the 1/24th scale Tamiya Campus Friends Set 2*. This includes five figures and a motor scooter. She is a 13-part kit in buff coloured plastic, and despite some very oddly shaped parts, the fit is excellent.

The gentleman is a kneeling mechanic from the 1/25th scale AMT Tip Top Shop set, one of a series of three garage accessory kits. He consists of just five parts, in white plastic.

Then it was just a matter of setting everything up, and taking the photographs. Here they are. I hope you like them.

Six photographs, the Konga cover is from Worthpoint, the rest are mine.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

*The Tamiya and AMT kits contain several other figures - I am sure I will be able to find uses for them too.

KONGA THE NOVEL- RESEARCH BY PAUL ADAMS

Having already looked at the Monarch Movie Books novelisation of Gorgo, it is now the turn of Konga. Also published by Monarch, as part of their film tie-in line.

Monarch Books, of Derby, Connecticut, was a US paperback publisher, which was only active from 1958 to 1965. Most of their books were rather on the sleazy side, at least judging by the covers.

For a while they also published a few movie and TV tie-in novelisations. Most of these were grouped together in the Monarch Movie Books series, which only lasted from 1960-61.

For a more detailed look at Monarch Books, see this earlier post, which was part of Gorgo Week.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2023/05/monarch-books-publisher-of-gorgo.html#comment-form

Numerically, the next book in the series after Gorgo, was Konga. MM604 Konga, was written by Dean Owen, which was a pen-name of Dudley Dean McGaughy or McGaughey (variously listed as 1906 or 1909 to 1986).

This site gives a list of his many books - there were a lot, under a number of pen-names.

https://mysteryfile.com/DOwen/Bibliography.html

The cover of Konga states 'This Novel Is Based On The Herman Cohen Production - An American International Picture'.

Inside is 'Based on an original story and screenplay by Aben Kandel and Herman Cohen. An American International Picture in Eastman Color'. AIP being the US distributor.

The copyright page says '© 1960 Alta Vista Productions, Inc'.

The book was published in August 1960, although the film would not be released in Britain and American until March 1961. Like all the other Movie Books, it sold for 35 cents.

Unlike most 'giant monster on the rampage' movies, Konga only got an A Certificate from the British Board of Film Censors, meaning those under 16 were admitted if accompanied by an adult. Today, it is a PG, for Parental Guidance advised, and deemed suitable for anyone over 8 years old.

It seems that this book too was 'spiced up' a considerable amount, compared to the movie. Monarch liked to mix risque material in with their mayhem.

Unlike most of the other Movie Books, Konga had a painted cover, but the artist appears to be unknown. Actually, very little of Konga is visible, with more attention being paid to the couple in the foreground. A close-up of Konga was repeated on the back cover, tinted green.

Charlton Comics also released a Konga comic book, which ran from 1961 to 1965. There was also a separate mini-series initially called The Return of Konga, before becoming Konga's Revenge with issue 2. This was very similar to the situation with the Gorgo comics.

Four photographs from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

ITS KONGA AND FRIENDS WEEK!

Following on monstrously from Gorgo week we follow the massive footprints of the British Kong to his and his friends' lairs!

Join us this week for some proper movie monkeying around!

🦍

GORGO POSTSCRIPT: ADDED SAUCE!

I came across this item on You Tube, where the American reviewer looks at the differences between the Gorgo film and the Monarch Books paperback. 

I had read that Monarch's book on Gorgo, and presumably Konga and Reptilicus, added some risque scenes to spice the books up a bit. 

According to this review, which includes quotes from the book, it was 'spiced up' more than a bit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JphT6F_Y8lg

Paul Adams

New Zealand

*Woodsy adds: if you're easily offended by risque language then maybe don't watch all of this You Tube clip from about half way. You have been warned.

THAT'S IT FOLKS! GORGO'S GONE!

 

Hope you enjoyed Gorgo week readers?

Special thanks go to Paul Adams of NZ for all his fab contributions to this special week.

Till the next monster week .....

GORGO Week Extra: A Tale of Two Monks: Rasputin and Monarch by Paul Adams

I have been looking in to the history of Monarch Books, and trying to compile a list of their film and TV tie-in novels, as not all are grouped together in the Monarch Movie Book series. It has been claimed that one of these was Monarch Books 241, Rasputin: The Mad Monk. Presumably based on the Hammer film of the same name.

I quickly realised that this was doubtful, and further digging made it even more unlikely. 

Rasputin: The Mad Monk, by Stuart Friedman, Monarch Books Inc., was published in March 1962. Cover painting by Bob Maguire. The cover states First Publication Anywhere. Retail price 35 cents in the USA.

The Monarch Books address is given as Division Street, Derby, Connecticut, USA, rather than the Capital Building, Derby, as in earlier books.

My reasons for doubting this is a movie tie-in book are as follows:

No movie tie-in is mentioned anywhere on the front or back cover, or inside on the title or copyright pages.

No mention of Hammer, or any other film or distribution company.

The book was published in March 1962, but the Hammer film was not released until March 1966 (it was made in 1965). Book publication and film release dates do not always match, but four years is a pretty big gap.

The copyright page states 'A Monarch Non-Fiction Headliner'. So it was non-fiction, while the Hammer film was a fictionalised account of real events.

Monarch book numbers are confusing, as fiction and non-fiction titles are mixed together. The 241 number is therefore no help here.

The Wikipedia entry for Monarch Books claims Rasputin is based on the Hammer film, but gets the publication date wrong, stating 1959 when it was 1962; and lists it as a novel.

Only someone who has actually read the book could say categorically if it is, or is not, based on the Hammer film.

There was a novelisation of the Hammer film by John Burke, part of The Second Hammer Horror Film Omnibus (1967). This contained novelisations of four Hammer films: The Reptile; Dracula - Prince of Darkness; Rasputin - The Mad Monk; and The Plague of the Zombies.

This was Pan Books Ltd, M223. 

There was a 2nd Printing in 1974, with a different cover.

Four photographs from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

THE GOGOS GORGO: ITS GORGO-EOUS!

We end our Gorgo week with the most Famous of all Gorgo portraits, the one and only 1961 Famous Monsters of Filmland cover by the mega-talented Basil Gogos [1929 –  2017].

Does it get any better than this!

Between the cover artist talents of James Bama at Aurora and Basil Gogos at Famous Monsters the monster craze was a dead cert, especially with the late great Forry Ackerman kicking it all off.

Do you prefer Bama or Gogos?

Here's the Gorgo spread in Famous Monsters.

Monarch Books - Publisher of Gorgo: Research by Paul Adams

Monarch Books, an American company, published a paperback novelisation of the film Gorgo. They also did a number of other movie and television tie-in books, but information on the company is hard to find.

Complicating matters is that the name Monarch was used by a number of different publishers, in both America and Britain.

The firm was based in Derby, Connecticut, and was best known for its Bad Girl books, which tended towards the sleazy and sensationalist. Many of these had semi-dressed (or un-dressed) ladies on the cover.

Monarch produced both fiction and non-fiction. The former included Westerns, Science Fiction - some by such distinguished authors as Robert Silverberg and Poul Anderson. There were even a few juvenile titles.

The non-fiction included plenty with titles likely to appeal to fans of their Bad Girl novels. There were books on various aspects of the real Wild West, including the various Indian Wars. Biographies of famous singers and movie stars - from Shirley Temple to The Loves of Errol Flynn, famous generals, politicians, and even a couple on contemporary Popes. Books on famous battles, and Medal of Honor winners. True Crime - one of which featured a photograph of notorious 1930s gangster "Baby Face" Nelson lying on a slab in an Illinois Morgue. There was a book of crossword puzzles, one on beauty care, and a number on American politics.

Monarch Books was only active from 1958 to 1965. It was established in 1958, and the first two titles were published in October that year. The line expanded steadily over the next few years. They seem to have run in to problems in early 1964, with delays to the release dates for a number of titles, and a declining number of new books. Things improved for a time, but their last books came out in December 1965.

Some sources claim that Monarch Books was the paperback publishing division of Carlton Publications. Both were based in Derby, Connecticut. Others say only that at least one of the owners of Carlton was also a part-owner of Monarch.

There were certainly links between the two. Monarch Books were distributed by Capital Distributing, which also handled Carlton Publications. Monarch released novelisations of the science fiction movies Gorgo, Konga, and Reptilicus, while Carlton Comics published comics based on the same three characters.

These two sites provide a limited amount of information, but Wikipedia does contain errors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_Books#:~:text=Monarch%20Books%20was%20an%20American,which%20specialised%20in%20pulp%20novels.

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database requires you to click on the various headings, to get more information. Their title list is longer, and more detailed, than the Wikipedia list.

https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/publisher.cgi?1284

Then I came across this - a very detailed history and listing of Monarch books - Wow. A lot of work went in to this. There are also links to two sites which show all the Monarch book front covers, and some back covers. A gold-mine of information.

Many Monarch 'authors' were actually pseudonyms - the site lists who was who; along with cover artists where known. The Monarch numbering system, and prefixes, are also explained.

http://bookscans.com/Publishers/krjohnson/defunctpages/MONARCH_BOOKS.pdf

Image galleries of the covers:

http://bookscans.com/Publishers/monarch/monarch.htm

http://www.ramonschenk.nl/monarch/

Early on, the film tie-in books were mixed in with the regular fiction titles. The MM - Monarch Movie Book series - was a short-lived line that grouped all the film tie-ins together, but it only included eight titles, all released between May 1960 and June 1961. Thereafter, there were no more movie tie-ins.

I have only found one television tie-in novel, but I may have missed others, simply because I did not recognise the titles.

Some covers were painted, in the usual Monarch style, others used photo covers - these were the most common. All the tie-ins sold for the same price, 35 cents.

Honestly, some of the films these books were based on are really obscure. Several of the back covers said 'See the Picture - Read the Book !'. That might have been rather difficult in some cases.

There is one book which is mentioned in some sources as being a film tie-in, Monarch Books 241 Rasputin: the Mad Monk, by Stuart Friedman (1962). However the book itself does not mention any film tie-in, it was described as non-fiction, and the Hammer film of the same name was not released until 1966. I doubt there is any link.

143 Jack the Ripper, by Stuart James (January 1960). Based on the 1959 British film Jack the Ripper, released in the US in 1960. Painted front cover, black and white photo from the film on back cover.

218 Rebel of Broken Wheel, by Dean Owen (October 1961). Based on The Rebel, a Western TV series (1959-61), about a former Confederate soldier. Colour photo cover.

The book is credited to Dean Owen, a pen-name of Dudley Dean McGaughy.

Monarch Movie Books, 1960-61 only.

It appears that Monarch liked to get their books out well in advance of the film arriving in cinemas. Most of the films Monarch novelised were foreign, rather than US films.

MM600 The Enemy General, by Dan Pepper & Max Gareth (May 1960) Based on an American film shot in Europe. Black and white photo cover.

Authors are actually Louis Morheim and Stuart James.

MM601 The Strangler's of Bombay, by Stuart James (May 1960). Based on the British Hammer film. Black and white photo cover.

MM602 The Brides of Dracula, by Dean Owen (May 1960). Based on the British Hammer film. Painted cover.

The book is credited to Dean Owen, a pen-name of Dudley Dean McGaughy. The copyright page says © 1960 by Jimmy Sangster.

MM603 Gorgo, by Carson Bingham (July 1960). Based on the King Brothers film, which was not released until 1961. Black and white photo cover.

The book is credited to Carson Bingham, a pen-name of Bruce Cassiday.

MM604 Konga, by Dean Owen (August 1960). Based on the British film. Painted cover.

The book is credited to Dean Owen, a pen-name of Dudley Dean McGaughy.

MM605 Reptilicus, by Dean Owen (Jun 1961). Based on the Danish film. Black and white photo cover.

The book is credited to Dean Owen, a pen-name of Dudley Dean McGaughy.

MM606 The Street is My Beat, by Carson Bingham (June 1961). Painted cover.

It seems this film was not made as planned, and did not appear until 1966. The book is credited to Carson Bingham, a pen-name of Bruce Cassiday.

MM607 Mad Dog Coll, by Steve Thurman (June 1961). Based on the film, which was loosely based on the life of a real gangster. Black and white photo cover.

The book is credited to Steve Thurman, a pen-name of Frank P. Castle.

That was the end of the line for Monarch Movie Books. There would just be The Rebel TV tie-in book before the end of the year.

Eight photographs from Worthpoint - these should give an idea of the range of titles Monarch published.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

GORGO ON A SCAMMELL

Just checked the name of the truck used to carry Gorgo across London in the film Gorgo.

Its a Scammell Highwayman.

I found out on this amazing database of cinematic vehicles https://www.imcdb.org/m54938.html

I had a look see if there was a toy version of the truck and lo and behold... a corgi classic!

So what about Gorgo?

Is there a toy that would lie nicely on he Scammell under a plastic tarp?

The little Palmer monster I know is too small but there are some bigger Gorgo's particularly in Japan.

This is a limited edition green Irasawa from 2003 I saw online. Gorgo is too small for the truck I think but the big figure Ogra, its Mum, might work.

Anyone got a Gorgo figure and a truck to recreate the scene? 

THE GORGO COMICS

 Here's a 3 plus minutes YT resume of the Gorgo run of comics in the Sixties.

Did you have any of them?

BRIAN'S GONE GORGO!

Wow! Gorgo Week! My kind of holiday!

Here's Monster Base's tribute to the Monstrous Mother/Child duo.

You might be interested to know that an American toy maker, Titanic Creations is producing a Gorgo Mother action figure with an estimated release date of Fall 2023.They got my pre-order for sure!

-BrianF 

Monster Base 

NJ USA

THE PALMER GORGO AND CHUMS! CAN YOU NAME THEM?

1964 gave us these US unbreakable movie monsters. Such was Gorgo's monster chops at the time he got top spot on the header card! Move over Gojira! [is there a Palmer Godzilla?]

Gorgy is in green top left. Palmer plastics of Brooklyn NYC made these brilliant mini-monsters. They came in many colours and I imagine are very collectable in the US as these are all auction pics.

Can you name them all here readers?

California's Diener Industries carried on the good work in rubber too - I think later - but I think they left out the British Godzilla!

Can you name all these? and is there a Japanese Godzilla?

Have any monster rubbers?

ROB'S MONSTERS

Woodsy,

Your recent post about watching Godzilla v Kong made me wax nostalgic for some of my favorite Showa-era Kaiju flix, so I dug out my DVDs and offer them herewith, especially as it Gorgo week.

Some are budget labels, some are bootlegs, but as long as they boast the original English dubbing jobs, they are all gold to me!

Do you like them Moonbasers?

Rob C

USA

GORGO - THE NOVEL: RESEARCH BY PAUL ADAMS

Long before the film version of Gorgo reached the cinema screens of either Britain or America, Monarch Books in the USA had published a paperback novelisation. The book is credited to Carson Bingham, which was a pen-name of Bruce Cassiday (1920-2005).

Monarch Books were based in Derby, Connecticut, and published a wide range of titles, including film and television tie-ins. For a while, the film books were grouped together in a short-lived series called Monarch Movie Books.

The Gripping Story Of A City Threatened With Annihilation

By A Raging Prehistoric Monster - Gorgo - This classic thriller is now on the screen as a spectacular King Brothers' Technicolor Production.

Based on an original story by Eugene Lourie, screenplay by John Loring and David Hyatt. Novelisation by Carson Bingham.

A King Brothers Technicolor Motion Picture. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Release. MGM being the US distributor for the film.

MM603, Gorgo, carries a publication date of July 1960 (well before the film came out in March 1961), and sold for 35 cents. It contained 141 pages. There were tinted black and white photographs from the film on both the front and back covers.

Oddly, despite this being a British-made film, there does not appear to have been a British edition of the book. I do not know if the Monarch Books edition was available in Britain at the time.

In 2014 Bear Manor Media released a book on Gorgo, in both paperback and hardback editions. This included the original tie-in novel; the original shooting script for the film; and a production history.

The Amazon listing for the book includes a preview of a few pages, and some photographs.

https://www.amazon.com/Gorgo-Bill-Cooke/dp/1593934998/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1683105188&sr=8-6

Four photographs from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

There will be much more on Monarch Books from Paul later in the week!