These "Monster Green Stamps" were plugged on the SHRIMPENSTEIN kid's TV show on KHJ TV 9 in Los Angeles, which ran for about a year from 1967-1968. Hormel Wieners (aka hot dogs) were one of the show's sponsors. If you sent two specially-marked wrappers (the one's with the orange bat on the label) -- without the hot dogs, of course -- and 25-cents to the TV station, they'd send you back a set of 15 peel-off stickers featuring characters from the show. I also believe you would get them when you joined the Shrimpenstein Monster Fan Club for a buck.
Surf cartoon artist Michael Dormer co-created the show and wrote the scripts. It was hosted by actor, comedy writer and voice actor Gene Moss playing Dr. Rudolph Von Schtick (Moss also voice acted for the ROGER RAMJET and Marvel's FANTASTIC FOUR cartoons and the Smokey the Bear ads). The "Shrimpy" puppet was designed and built by Wah Chang, a noted special effects man in Hollywood who worked on such films as George Pal's THE TIME MACHINE, TARANTULA, THE BLACK SCORPION and 7 FACES OF DR. LAO.
Fred Rice assisted with the production and marketing ("Fred Rice Prods., Inc." is visible on one of the stamps), including the music and theme song. Rice was the same person who earlier produced the DRACULA'S GREATEST HITS LP in 1964, also featuring Moss. The record came with an uncut sheet of monster cards with images drawn by Jack Davis (see samples HERE). It is obvious that some of the images Davis had drawn from the LP cards were appropriated for the Shrimpenstein stamps, likely drawn by Dormer.
Baby Boomers will remember the days of Blue Chip and Green Stamps that were given out at supermarket check-stands, gas stations and other retail stores. The quantity would depend on how much you spent on each transaction. The idea was to fill up a stamp book with them and when you got enough, you could trade them in for items from the local Green Stamp store or from a mail order catalog.
[IMAGE SOURCES: Tumblr; Donald Deveau on Flickr.]
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| Full set of Monster Green Stamps. |
Gene Moss Obit:
Gene Moss, comedy writer and voice actor who lent his vocal abilities to U.S. Forest Service mascot Smokey Bear for many years, co-wrote and voiced many “Roger Ramjet” cartoons and co-created L.A. TV show “Shrimpenstein,” died of cancer July 15 at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 75.
Moss embarked on a career in advertising in the early 1960s and met longtime writing partner Jim Thurman at a company softball game. The pair teamed up to write more than 150 episodes and do voices for cartoon show “Roger Ramjet.”
Also in the 1960s, they collaborated on KHJ-TV Channel 9’s locally aired children’s show “Shrimpenstein.” Moss served as host Dr. Von Schtick while Thurman provided puppetry work and voices for the characters, including Shrimpenstein, a miniature Frankenstein.
Born Eugene Moshontz, Moss began a 10-year stint as the voice of Smokey in 1979, including the famous warning, “Only you can prevent forest fires” in radio and TV public service announcements.
The Cleveland native also did voiceover work through the ’80s for numerous ads before retiring to Palm Desert in 1989, where he pursued his love of music as a jazz bass player; he had given up his blossoming music career after he married his first wife and started a family in 1948.
He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Carolyn, two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren.
[SOURCE: Variety.]
A Michael Dormer strip from SURFTOONS #8 (November 1967) during the same time when SHRIMPENSTEIN aired:
