About a dozen years ago, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Charlie Gemora's daughter, Diana, at Monsterpalooza. At the time she and Jason Barnett were collaborating on a documentary about her late father, released as CHARLIE GEMORA: UNCREDITED in 2016. Besides Diana, the film features Rick Baker, Bob Burns and Chris Walas among others. Unfortunately, after poking around a bit on the 'net I was unable to find any DVD's for sale, so I'm really glad I got mine off Jason's Kickstarter project back in the day.
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| Diana Gemora with a figure of her father, Charlie. |
I did find it on YouTube on the JB Video Show channel, so I'm taking a wild guess that the "JB" stands for Jason Barnett (see below).
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| Jason Barnett talks about Charlie at the 2013 Monsterpalooza, Burbank, CA. |
I got to meet both Diana and Jason twice and spent about an hour or so with them, soaking up everything I could about Charlie and his career as a "monkey man" and makeup artist.
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| Charlie with Lon Chaney in The Unholy Three (1930). |
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| Charlie ready to "go ape". |
Charles "Charlie" Gemora was born in the Philippines and came to the United States in 1922 during the civil unrest that has plagued the island and and off for many years. On the ship bound for the States, Charlie became an invaluable asset as, because of his small size, he could wiggle through the pipes and lines to repair critical equipment. Charlie landed odd jobs in Hollywood and was later hired as a sculptor and key craftsman at Universal and worked on both THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Another knack that Gemora had was his ability to sketch amazingly accurate portraits. Many times Charlie would sketch a co-workers' visage as quick as the time it took for a lunch break! Charlie contributed his artistic talents to films for many years, from the Phantom's Opera House stage to the shrunken heads in THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE. His legacy is rich in the lore of old Hollywood and the early days of special effects. Of particular interest to me was his affiliation with famed makeup artist Jack Pierce, who went on to become head of makeup for Universal.
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| Charlie and his prop heads from The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake. |
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| Paul Wexler as Zutai in Charlie's makeup chair. |
During our visit, Diana gifted me this mask made from a sketch by Charlie of Zutai, Henri Danielle's faithful, head-hunting servant from THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE. Sadly, Diana Gemora passed away on October 15, 2023. She was a wonderful lady and I feel fortunate to have met her.
The image below has been scanned to its original size so you can print it out and use it as intended!
YouTube link for the JB Video Show channel (copy and paste into your browser address bar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFvnR-kiio8&t=19s
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