There’s an old adage that says one should never talk about politics or religion while in a social venue. Kenosha Public Access host, Dr Destruction, on the other hand, can’t seem to get away from the former! Often espousing his own views via his weekly Crimson Theatre, Dr Destruction was even prompted to make his own run for Mayor some years back. While he would not win, he did make friends with many of his local politicians including the current Mayor of Kenosha – Keith Bosman.
Halloween masks. Some people hate them, some people love them and others just don’t understand the attraction. Growing up I always had to have some kind of Halloween mask with my costume. When I was young I started with those Ben Cooper costumes with the vinyl body suit and plastic mask with the rubber band that held it to your face. As I got older I graduated to rubber monster masks, most of which had little to no resemblance to what they were supposed to be. Times certainly have changed!
The upcoming Horrorhound Weekend in Indianapolis is really a quadruple threat. You have celebrity guests, an immense dealer room, the horror hosts, and Maskfest! This is not to suggest, however, that any of these need be exclusive. While Maskfest could easily be a convention in its own right, horror hosts can be quite crafty themselves.
I’ve been a horror host fan for as long as I can remember. Thanks to syndication in the early 80’s, I was able to get my first glimpse of a host via the Son Of Svengoolie from Chicago (playing out of a station in Boston). I soon also became aware of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark but, during this period, this could only be accomplished late at night, weather permitting. On the rare event those rabbit ear antennas did draw the original Movie Macabre the picture was extremely snowy and virtually unwatchable (though I STILL did). With the introduction of cable television, I was finally able to enjoy such hosts as Grampa on TBS’s Super Scary Saturday, Commander USA on the USA Network, and Morgus The Magnificent on WPIX.
If you are a mask collector then more than likely you have heard the name David Lady at least once (and more than likely you actually know him and have either talked to him on the phone or have e-mailed with him). When I first became aware of David it was in the late 1980’s. At the time the big mask companies were Don Post Studios, Distortions Unlimited and Be Something Studios. Though I bought masks from all 3 companies, a trend was starting to develop where what you got greatly differed from what you were ordering from their catalogs. So, I started to look for other options and found companies like Death Studios and one of my all time favorites, the now defunct House Of Horror Studios. In my quest to find better quality masks I came across a group called The Halloween Society. This society, run by Ron Magid, Dante Renta, Guy Thorpe and yes, David Lady, introduced me to a whole new area of collecting…an area I was unaware of. Apparently there were artists out there creating limited edition masks and busts of all of the great monsters I grew up on and it was through The Halloween Society’s magazine “The Halloween Gazette” that I started to see these pieces being offered.
Terror from Beyond the Dave 