I was born again as a "Monster Kid" at the impressionable age of 8 when the syndicated
Shock Treatre packages debuted in New York in 1957, hosted by that "Cool Ghoul," Zacherley. I've been collecting monster memorabilia ever since, focusing primarily on the classic Universal films, with an emphasis on the Frankenstein Monster, in particular.
I like a lot of variety in my collection, and back in Sideshow Toy's UM heyday, they really delivered for me in that regard. Action Figures, Pozers, Polystone statues, Bobble-Heads, Little Big Heads, Shredders, Wrestlers, Key Chains, Shot Glasses, Monster Mountain, Halloween Buckets, whatever they produced, I happily bought.
The only Sideshow UM product I
don't collect are the 12-inch and PF Silver Screen Editions, although I do have a SSE 12" Frankenstein's Monster. I also passed on the Holiday Dracula when it was originally offered for sale at SC's site — I thought it was over-priced at the time (D'oh! — nor do I have a Holiday Frankenstein's Monster.
I also have quite an array of merchandise from other manufacturers: Figures from Remco, Mego, Marx, Hasbro, Jaxx, X-Plus, and Funko; Calendar Masks from Don Post; Model kits from Aurora, Polar Lights, and Revell; Resin Kits; Busts from Cine Arts; Bobble-Heads from Forever; Kubricks and Bearbricks; Puppets; Environments and accessories from Hawthorne Village and Department 56; Musical snow-globes from Westland Gifts; An animated, singing (Monster Mash) Frankenstein's Monster and Bride from Gemmy; Stamp sets from the USPS; A Frankenstein's Monster Beer Stein from Anheuser-Busch/Ceramarte; Super-8 shorts, tapes and DVDs; Posters and prints and stills; Books; Candles; Magnets; Buttons; the list goes on.
As far as info on upcoming releases, there have been rumors of a PF wrapped Mummy for a while, a PF Gill Man is reportedly in the works, and more 1:1 busts are said to be planned. I'm now the same age as Bela Lugosi was when he appeared in
Son of Frankenstein, and I really hope we eventually see "Old Ygor" produced as a 12-inch figure. There's a quartet of Karloff characters I'd love: "Hjalmar Poelzig" from
The Black Cat, Janos Rukh from
The Invisible Ray, "Edmond Bateman" from
the Raven, and "Mord the Executioner" from
The Tower of London.
Since a Colin Clive "Henry" seems doubtful due to rights issues, Ernest Thesiger's "Dr. Pretorious" and Basil Rathbone's "Wolf" would help fill the gap left by the absence of any of the "Men Who Made The Monsters." And we have got to have Lionel Atwill as "Inspector Krogh!" We need some women, too: Gloria Holden's "Countess Marya Zaleska from
Dracula's Daughter, and Elsa Lanchester as "Mary Shelly" and Una O'Connor as "Minnie" from
Bride of Frankenstein. Finally — I suspect I'm alone on this one (Okay, and with Una, too, I suppose) — but a PF figure of Charles Ogle's loopy incarnation of the monster from Edison's 1910 production of
Frankenstein would be great, and a nice companion to the Vampyre.
And, Anton, your collection is very impressive, particularly your autographs. Is that a Chaney, Sr. behind your PF Phantom? Not an easy one to come by, to say the least. I've considered adding some autographs to my collection, and seeing yours is very inspiring.
"To a new world of Gods and Monsters!"
