Monday 31 March 2014

Don Post Catalogue 1977

I was doing a bit of investigation into the Titan Find space helmets, following a very vague hunch that I might have seen one of them, back in the day, on those full page adverts for horror masks that used to be in most issues of Fangoria.  To which ends I found myself on a rather brilliant blog looking at scans of old articles, adverts and catalogues from Don Post Masks.  This it turns out is the name of the company that used to make these wonderful creations and advertise in the magazine.  Anyway, after a bit of perusing, I stumbled over this image;
from this page....
...of the Don Post Masks 1977 catalogue.  Now what's really of interest is not so much the "905 Alien" mask, as lovely as it is, but the helmet he's holding,.  This unless I'm very much mistaken is the same one as featured in The Andromeda Strain, a design which popped up again in Titan Find.

And given the fella in the bottom middle picture seems to be brandishing one of the Sandman guns from Logan's Run it made me wonder if the photo shoot had been enhanced by a movie prop collector, someone such as William Malone, a well documented collector of SF memorabilia and also the director of Titan Find?  Not sure if anyone can spill a little more light on this company and their relationship with Malone but if he was looking for someone to make him some looky-likey 2001 helmets a few years later, you would be hard pressed to find a more capable studio.

As a final thought, given that it was actually this helmet...
...I was investigating. I still feel like I've seen it in a Don Post advert but then I also think the creature inside looks a lot like this;
..so maybe that's influencing my thoughts.  It's worth noting that Jukebox was an original design from the 1985 catalogue, and yes that's the same year that Titan Find came out.  Coincidence?
 
Anyway, while you mull them thoughts over why don't you go over to The Blood Curdling Blog of Monster Masks which can be found by knocking on this door; http://monstermasks.blogspot.co.uk/

Now get over there and grab yourself an eyeful.  Its all good stuff.

Steve

3 comments:

  1. Well, well, well! It's 2 in the morning and I really should be going to bed but a quick look at Wikipedia reveals that William Malone actually worked for Don Post Studios and at around the same time. I should be a bloody detective.
    G'night!

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  2. I've a vague feeling that the '905 Alien' is from the TV version of Logan's Run ? (and I could have sworn that there a picture of it in the Sci-Fi Now book).

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    1. They are. It is. Page 15. Sci-fi Now remains always in reach :) Well recalled

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