"Studio masks are beautifully made by clever artists and finished by make-up artists. These must be seen to appreciate their quality".
- Bert Wheeler's Make Up and Mask Catalogue
Before Don Post claimed the top spot in the monster mask market, Bert Wheeler's Hollywood Magic Shop and mail order business located at 6660 Hollywood Blvd. and Las Palmas was selling a line of over-the-head latex masks inspired by Universal monsters. They had the added cachet of being designed and created by none other than makeup man, Ellis Burman, Sr., who, among his other accomplishments, had the distinction of creating Lon Chaney, Jr.'s mask of Kharis for the mummy movies of the 1940s.
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| Ad from Genii, The Conjuror's Magazine, still being published today. |
The masks were cast and painted by hand and sold exclusively by Wheeler, whose main business was selling magic supplies. The prices ranged from $8.95 to 14.95, depending how much work was put into them. Existing examples are extremely rare and my search only came up with photographs from the catalog and various images like the one below.
From left to right: Don Post, Bert Wheeler, Verne Langdon, Tor Johnson and Forrest J Ackerman.
