Friday, May 1, 2015

THE MONSTERS OF PAUL BLAISDELL - Part 2

Welcome back for Part 2 of the amazing work of Paul Blaisdell. Part 1 focused on all his major creations, now, we'll take a look at the other work in his portfolio...

Paul's first monster was a rubber puppet for the Corman production of THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES in 1955. Although the posters for the movie were some of the best ever conceived, the movie itself didn't even come close in delivering the goods. This movie always reminded me of a story by Al Feldstein in EC's WEIRD SCIENCE Comic from around 1953.

Paul came up with a totally unique flying insect umbrella alien for Corman's NOT OF THIS EARTH in 1957. Lucky me, I saw this one with my neighbors at the theater when it was released, back when kids would walk 5 miles to the show and back with no complaints.

Again in 1957, Paul played the part of a corpse in Corman's THE UNDEAD (Eegah!! had the 1-sheet). They even threw in his little bat things from IT CONQUERED THE WORLD.

1957 was a very busy year for Paul. Bert I. Gordon had him construct the giant needle used to inject Glenn in THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN. I'm pretty sure Paul and wife Jackie also made the miniature furniture and food props.

Paul also had small acting parts in these two 1957 JD flicks for Alex Gordon.

In 1958 Herman Cohen used Paul's personal collection of masks and heads in the climax for HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER. The priceless pieces were burned without the knowledge or permission of Paul, needless to say it was one dirty trick played on him. Burn in Hell Herman Cohen, you sorry sack of shit...

Paul was back with Bert Gordon in 1958 for EARTH vs. THE SPIDER, another one I saw at the time. Paul created the shriveled up motorcycle cop, a victim of The Spider.

Also in 1958 him and Jackie worked on ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (saw this one too) where they created some of the props and designs.

Then, Paul helped Roger Corman out again with the construction of the Beastman creature for TEENAGE CAVEMAN in 1959. It looks like parts of the monster from NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST were used in the making of this thing.

Columbia reused the costume from IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE for the aliens in INVISIBLE INVADERS in 1959, but, this time they're white.

Paul then created the horror magazine FANTASTIC MONSTERS OF THE FILMS in 1962 and included Devil's Workshop where he showed you how to make your own little monsters!!

Paul was only 55 when he died in 1983, he lived out the years after his movie career as a carpenter in the friendly little community of Topanga Canyon.

5 comments:

Dr. Theda said...

Still have never seen "Not of this Earth".... Cool looking creatures....been looking forward to seeing this post ... amazing the "Monsters" that he made with such low budget....( and limited time)..
most are "classic Movie Monsters".....

TABONGA! said...

Hi Doc, some of these titles are hard to find, like VOODOO WOMAN, INVASION OF THE SAUCER-MEN, THE UNDEAD and FROM HELL IT CAME. Luckily, there is a nice 2 disc/3 movie DVD Corman Collection that includes NOT OF THIS EARTH, WAR OF THE SATELLITES and ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS - About $12 on Amazon, what a deal!

Randall Landers said...

A true artist, and agreed about that SOB who burned some of his most memorable creations.

Dr. Theda said...

We have a copy of Invasion of the Saucermen... great monsters....

TABONGA! said...

I have all the titles except THE UNDEAD, had a DVD-R copy of that one but it crapped out on me -

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??