"What was your involvement in the making of
the original Michael Myers/THE SHAPE mask, from the movie HALLOWEEN?"
DAVID AYRES:
" Thanks for asking...so here goes
I was working at the DON POST mask company in the early/mid 1970's, as a degner, sculptor, moldmaker, and painter for the manufacture of Halloween masks and special projects. I had just missed working with Verne Langdon who sold his "Lion's Share" of the company back to Post a few years earlier. Working at Post was my first "Hollywood" job, after I moved from Arizona. I was 22 years old, and working at a childhood dream job, nce reading FAMOUS MONSTERS and seeing all those wonderful advertisements for POST masks, and reading POST articles, which inspired me as a kid. It was DON POST STUDIOS! Don Post Sr. was a gracious, kind-hearted man I admired very much. It was a real pleasure to be working there. I'd see him often working in his office, or coming thru the studio answering our questions. He was always smiling and you'd see him chuckle or laugh at something when discusng a special project or observation. I originally met Don and Don Jr. at their old building on La Guanga Blvd, before STAR/WARS made them a giant, and then moved to a larger building in Glendale. Nowadays all their masks and accessories are made in China. It was a time that will never happen again. When I started at POST, Don Post Jr. was taking over the family buness, Bill Malone was a VP, and later Bob Short came on the scene as his asstant. I was transfered to the Mold Dept. headed by an artist named Johnny Johnson. We were in the process of merchanding the STAR/TREK mask line. Shatner along with others were chosen to be replicated in rubber. I took the lifemask of Shatner and made a 2 piece negative plaster mold, and pressed clay in it, creating a "Clay-Press". Bill Malone took the clay reproduction of Shatner's face, added ears, back of the head and the neck. He did a good job of rendering the mask. One day after the masks were in production, Bill Malone received a call from someone at a production company who wanted a John-Doe mask. Bill thought the Shatner mask would work, and removed the pointy deburns, painted it white, and sprayed the hair black. Little did we know at the time it would become such a world famous mask icon. Many have fought for the rights to the mask. I'm not sure who owns it now. The originals are hard to find and most are in private collections valued at thousands of dollars each. There are many forgeries and knock-offs on the market underground. You have to be very careful when searching and purchang them. The originals were very tight fitting, for me anyway, I have a large head. And, they must be getting to the rotting or meltdown stages by now. So be careful. I wish I had had the foreght to buy a few when we were making them. An incredible Hollywood success story, for a ngle mask. The rest is cinematic history........"
that was David Ayres Formerly of Don Post Studios (a Lab Tech. 1972-75)
DAVID AYRES:
" Thanks for asking...so here goes
I was working at the DON POST mask company in the early/mid 1970's, as a degner, sculptor, moldmaker, and painter for the manufacture of Halloween masks and special projects. I had just missed working with Verne Langdon who sold his "Lion's Share" of the company back to Post a few years earlier. Working at Post was my first "Hollywood" job, after I moved from Arizona. I was 22 years old, and working at a childhood dream job, nce reading FAMOUS MONSTERS and seeing all those wonderful advertisements for POST masks, and reading POST articles, which inspired me as a kid. It was DON POST STUDIOS! Don Post Sr. was a gracious, kind-hearted man I admired very much. It was a real pleasure to be working there. I'd see him often working in his office, or coming thru the studio answering our questions. He was always smiling and you'd see him chuckle or laugh at something when discusng a special project or observation. I originally met Don and Don Jr. at their old building on La Guanga Blvd, before STAR/WARS made them a giant, and then moved to a larger building in Glendale. Nowadays all their masks and accessories are made in China. It was a time that will never happen again. When I started at POST, Don Post Jr. was taking over the family buness, Bill Malone was a VP, and later Bob Short came on the scene as his asstant. I was transfered to the Mold Dept. headed by an artist named Johnny Johnson. We were in the process of merchanding the STAR/TREK mask line. Shatner along with others were chosen to be replicated in rubber. I took the lifemask of Shatner and made a 2 piece negative plaster mold, and pressed clay in it, creating a "Clay-Press". Bill Malone took the clay reproduction of Shatner's face, added ears, back of the head and the neck. He did a good job of rendering the mask. One day after the masks were in production, Bill Malone received a call from someone at a production company who wanted a John-Doe mask. Bill thought the Shatner mask would work, and removed the pointy deburns, painted it white, and sprayed the hair black. Little did we know at the time it would become such a world famous mask icon. Many have fought for the rights to the mask. I'm not sure who owns it now. The originals are hard to find and most are in private collections valued at thousands of dollars each. There are many forgeries and knock-offs on the market underground. You have to be very careful when searching and purchang them. The originals were very tight fitting, for me anyway, I have a large head. And, they must be getting to the rotting or meltdown stages by now. So be careful. I wish I had had the foreght to buy a few when we were making them. An incredible Hollywood success story, for a ngle mask. The rest is cinematic history........"
that was David Ayres Formerly of Don Post Studios (a Lab Tech. 1972-75)
SithLord
Thursday 3/06/2008 at 08:02 AM | 3960
