Black Heart Enterprises owner George Stephenson at WonderFest with his new company's first kits, Medusa and Mr. Hyde. George is the founder and former owner of GEOmetric Design.

Some people like pro football, so they pay attention to NFL players, and not just when the players are on the field. Same goes for fans of every other sport, or movies, books, daytime television … whatever. If something interests us we study it, and the people involved, with more enthusiasm than anything our social studies teachers could have dragged out of us.

I like model kits and have learned a lot about the people who make them. One fellow I’ve always wondered about is George Stephenson, founder and former owner of GEOmetric Design.

Al Matrone now runs GEOmetric Design.

GEO was one of the first big garage-kit companies I became aware of after re-entering the hobby in late 2001 and its models quickly captured my attention. They were wonderful, affordable kits sculpted by some of the most talented people in the hobby, including William Paquet, Mike Hill, Jeff Yagher, Joe Simon, Thomas Kuntz and Takayuki Takeya.

It didn’t take long to figure out George was the man who ran GEOmetric. It also didn’t take long to figure out George was quitting the business and slowly shutting down GEO.

Bad, bad news for this budding middle-aged hobbyist. It was a relief when Phoenix Comics owner Al Matrone made a deal to buy GEOmetric in 2003 and continue the company.

In the years since, I’ve crossed paths with many of the creative people involved in GEOmetric and have interviewed some of them for Resin the Barbarian. George … well, I briefly met him twice, once at Imagine-Nation Expo 2002, which I believe was the last hobby show he attended as GEO’s owner; and the second time at WonderFest 2005, where I found myself standing next to him in the dealers’ room. I took the opportunity to introduce myself before quickly running away for fear of being even more of a pest than I’m used to being.

Both occasions predated the creation of this blog, and so I couldn’t create an excuse to throw a bunch of fanboy questions at him. In the years since, it would have felt rude. The guy’s a judge in his day-to-day life, I had no business pestering him to talk about the hobby he departed years ago.

Imagine my delight upon hearing in 2009 that George Stephenson was returning to garage-kit production, and that his new company would be called Black Heart Enterprises.

GOODBYE GEOMETRIC, HELLO BLACK HEART

A brief confession is in order. An awful lot of what you’re about to read is the barest rewrite of an autobiography George put together himself. He’s a good writer and I know better than to mess it up just so I can say I did it myself.

George ran GEOmetric Design, Inc., from 1990 through 2003, when it the became the only American GK company to slush-mold vinyl kits in the United States.

Todd Powell's buildup of GEOmetric Design's vinyl Mummy kit, sculpted by William Paquet.

“I sold GEO because I simply could not handle the load by myself anymore,” he wrote in an e-mail interview. “GEOmetric had always been my partner, Lynn Suilmann, and me handling all the art direction, licensing, molding, casting, packaging, shipping, you name it. Two guys! When things would get too heavy for us to handle, we had part-timers who helped out.

“In 1998, my partner wanted to resume his career in sales; he and his fiancée wanted the security of a regular paycheck. So, in 1997 or 1998, I bought him out. At the end of 1998, the hobby market was sagging, vinyl recasts of our kits were being sold all over Europe and Asia, AMT/ERTL went head to head with us on vinyl Trek kits, and our sales drooped.”

George was approached by St. Paul, Minn., to represent the city in housing matters and in human rights matters. “They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse and I went back to practicing law full-time. I naively believed I’d be able to convince the city that I could do that work part-time while I continued to run GEO. I nearly killed myself trying to do that.”

George hired a shop manager and an office manager to run the business on a day-to-day basis. The company cut back on producing new vinyl kits and turned more to resin busts, which were easier to produce than resin figure kits.

After three months, the city moved George to a position as special prosecutor for a particular part of St. Paul. Three months after that, the city made another offer he couldn’t refuse and appointed him chief prosecutor. “I supervised about 35 lawyers, investigators, law clerks and clerical staff. The money was great but it kept me from being as involved with GEO as I needed in order to keep the company viable.

“Then in 2001, I was appointed judge by Gov. Jesse Ventura (I’ll have to tell you the story about my hilarious judicial interview with Jesse). Anyway, I was handling felony trials (everything from drugs to murder) and I knew I couldn’t continue doing GEO. I started talking to AMT/ERTL, Polar Lights and Testors about purchasing GEO’s assets. But things were moving slowly.

“Phoenix Comics had been ordering a ton of kits from us each month and when Al heard I was looking to sell it, he contacted me and a deal eventually got done. He purchased GEO’s resin kits, busts, bases, and accessories. I still own the molds for all the vinyl kits.”

George Stephenson, left, and Mark Brokaw in the Earthbound Studios shop. Click the photo to read more about their history.

His job and raising his children kept George too busy for garage kits, so he put away his hobby supplies and didn’t paint a kit for six years. “I figured I should stay away for a while to focus on being a judge, and to give Al’s GEOmetric a chance to get its legs under it. Then, last Christmas, my older daughter bought me a cool Santa Claus statue that was poorly painted; she asked me to paint it. I did and had such fun doing so that I got the itch again … the itch to not only paint but to produce something.

“I had periodically kept in touch with sculptor Joe Simon and with Earthbound’s Mark Brokaw. I started talking to them about my itch and we kicked ideas around for several weeks. If Joe had not been pumped about sculpting for me or if Brokaw had been unable to mold and cast for me, I would have left it alone. But, things just fell into place.”

George wanted something simple to mold and cast. He also wanted something different than what he had done with GEO. That ruled out 1/4 scale busts, 1/8 scale figures and microMANIA scale figures.

Mike Falcigno's Mummy. Photo from Falcignoart.com.

“Then one day, I was rearranging my collection of wooden masks from Africa. I’ve collected them for years and have them displayed on the wall of my rec room. As I was arranging them on the wall, I thought it would be cool to have some monster masks mixed in with the African masks. I already had a Predator wall plaque and a Pumpkinhead face from the original Stan Winston molds but I wanted a few more monsters mixed in with the African art.

“I searched like crazy for pieces I wanted and came across Mike Falcigno’s 1:1 scale Mummy (which I think is a gorgeous piece, better than any photo I’ve seen of it). I talked him into selling me one with the back of the head flat. I got it, painted it, and had a ball! When I put it up on the wall, it looked so cool. Then it suddenly hit me. Let’s do 1:1 scale resin faces designed to hang on a wall.

“Joe Simon and I had worked together well and often when I owned GEO. So, he dug the idea and was pumped about doing something in 1:1 scale. Brokaw loved the idea, too, and was bummed that he hadn’t thought of it first. He was ready to take on another client and, since I had helped push him into starting Earthbound Studios back in the ’90s, he agreed to do the work for me.

“And so, Black Heart was born.”

The Thing from Another World is coming soon from Black Heart Enterprises. The wall-hanging piece was sculpted by Joe Simon and will be cast by Mark Brokaw's Earthbound Studios. Black Heart's next figure will be "one of the hobby's more popular characters," George says.

SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT BLACK HEART

Resin the Barbarian: I have always presumed GEOmetric Design got its name in part because your name is George. Why did you name your new company Black Heart?

The T-800, painted by Steve Parke.

George: Yes, my name was the basis for the name “GEOmetric”. Black Heart? Look at my face; I’m a black man. I wanted the company name to reflect that. More importantly, I thought I could have fun with slogans like “Black Is Beautiful”, “Black by Popular Demand”, and my girlfriend’s favorite, “Once You Go Black…” I gave a lot of thought to a logo and envisioned this freaky, evil-looking heart. So, the name Black Heart just felt right.

RtB: Do you envision Black Heart becoming as big as GEOmetric once was?

George: No, I won’t do another GEOmetric, at least not before I retire from the bench. GEO was never intended to be as big a deal as we became but the market supported that kind of enterprise in the ’90s. The hobby and GK markets won’t support a garage kit company on that scale right now. I like the idea of Black Heart remaining a small company doing limited numbers on high-quality kits. I’m thinking we will do no more than 100 of each kit we do; actually with some we’ll only do 50. When we hit that magic number, the kit will be done.

RtB: Will Joe Simon remain your primary sculptor, or do you plan to eventually work with other sculptors?

George: I have spoken to only one other sculptor about doing a sculpture for Black Heart. But right now, my plan is to have Joe Simon be my guy. I’ve worked with a lot of great sculptors during the last 20 years and have gotten excellent work from them. But working with Joe is so comfortable.

Joe Simon will be Black Heart's primary sculptor.

Joe started with me when I was doing GEOmetric. He interned with us and surprised me with how quickly he improved his sculpting. Today, I’d say Joe Simon is as good as anyone out there. Joe is fun to work with and we have such fun with the projects we do. He sends me progress photos every couple of days, we rap on the phone and by e-mail four or five times each week and he gets the project done on schedule. It is a pleasure working with him.

RtB: Am I correct in understanding that you will do the bulk of Black Heart’s work, with support from the other people mentioned on Black Heart’s home page?

George: That’s right. Joe will likely do all of the sculpting; Brokaw and Earthbound are slated to do the molding and casting. I research and write the profiles; Dave Fisher lays them out for me. I’ll tap guys like Steve Riojas, Steve Parke, David Fisher, Fred DiSanto, Joe Dunaway and John Allred to do buildup work for me and to contribute to our website T&A page.

RtB: Is there any chance you will return to producing vinyl kits?

George: I own all the molds for GEO’s vinyl kits. I don’t have the slush molding equipment needed to produce vinyl kits and don’t have the desire at this time to start that up again. I’m more likely to sell those molds to someone wanting to produce vinyl kits. I think it would be great, and could be profitable if someone did that. But, I do have a small quantity of each vinyl kit we produced. I plan to just sit on them for a while.

A BRIEF LOOK AT THE LIFE OF A GARAGE-KIT PIONEER

George Stephenson is 51 and lives in Maplewood, Minn. He has three children — a son named DJ, 16, and two daughters, Monica, 14, and Leigh, 12. His “significant other” is Claudia. He has served as a judge since 2001, appointed by former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.

His childhood hobbies did not include model kits.

“I was really into Aurora but not the model kits; I was VERY into the their HO scale slot cars. I did not build models as a kid. I also spent a lot of time and money on electric football. Electric football were the games with the little plastic football players that ran on a vibrating football set. The guys in my neighborhood were really into that and as a kid, I organized the EFL (Electric Football League) with about six or seven other kids who played each other on Saturdays and Sundays during the NFL season.

Medusa, painted by George Stephenson.

“Most people who remember that game talk about how frustrating it was to play the game with players running all over. But, we were so good at it that we could actually run plays, complete passes and kick field goals. We figured out how to ‘train’ or ‘program’ the players to run specific plays and we knew what we were doing. We also painted the players so their uniforms were more authentic than what would come with the game board.”

He collected comic books and saw the advertisements for Aurora monster models, which he thought looked cool. “I was a huge fan of most serious monster movies; my favorites were the classic monsters.

“But, I was not a fan of building model kits.”

In 1985, George was driving in St. Paul and discovered a hobby shop. He stopped in and saw a display of beautifully painted Aurora monsters.

“I had just finished three and a half years of law school while working full time; I was a single guy who was working as a prosecutor for the city. I had free time for the first time in years and disposable income. I thought it would be cool to build the Aurora Frankenstein kit. The shop owner said they didn’t have any but he pointed me to a couple of guys that he thought might be able to help me out, Terry Webb (now the publisher of Amazing Figure Modeler) and Terry Ingram (now one of the principals of Universal Monster Army). Through them I got connected with folks who sold me a Frankenstein. Had a ball painting it so I got the Mummy, then the Wolf Man and so on. That’s how I got started in this hobby.

“By the way, I still race slot cars and still own my electric football men.”

ANOTHER Q&A ABOUT GEORGE’S EXPERIENCES AS A KIT PRODUCER

RtB: What story or stories would you tell about the people, famous or not, you’ve met over the years thanks to your involvement with the hobby?

George: Woody Allen bought GEOmetric’s vinyl Pumpkinhead kit years ago. He didn’t get the comic book/instruction booklet that came with the kit and we had to send him one. That was pretty cool!

I was actually asked to be in the film “Galaxy Quest” with Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver. The producers wanted me to set up a GEOmetric Design booth and to be in the sci-fi convention scene in the movie. I passed on that because they wanted me to be out there for a week. I figured they’d cut up that scene anyway and I’d be bummed about spending that time out there and then not even get onscreen. That had happened to me before in a Japanese film. And, I was right; you could hardly make anything out in the convention scenes. But, at a pivotal moment toward the end of the movie, GEOmetric’s models are squarely on screen and recognizable in the bedroom of one of the film’s more hilarious characters. Now that was really cool!!!

RtB: You enjoy painting kits. Do you have a collection of built and unbuilt kits? If so, what are your favorites?

George: I have a bunch of kits. Twenty years and lots of trades for GEOmetric kits allowed me to compile quite a collection. I have lots of Japanese kits of American movie monsters, Billiken, Max Factory, Kaiyodo; I have lots of the popular resin kits from Yagher, Tom Kuntz, Steve West, Mike Parks, Bill Paquet, Mike Hill, kits from Janus Company, and others, too many to name.

I’ve assembled most of them but a lot are not painted and never will be. Not enough time in this life.

I have buildups of most of the GEO kits, and multiple buildups of many of them. My favorite kits to do are the kits GEO produced and the kits Black Heart is doing now. These are characters I dig, and the sculpts (most of them) were done just the way I wanted. So, of course, they are going to be my favorites.

Of the GEO resin kits, I think our Tremors is one of the cooler kits GEO did; I love that kit. Of the vinyl kits we did, I’d have to say our Alien and Predator kits are the coolest because they can each be built in multiple versions with all the accessories and customizing kits we produced for them. But, we also did some pretty cool Trek kits that really didn’t get a whole lot of notice. Our Locutus of Borg and our Ferengi were two that I really enjoyed building and painting.

RtB: What was the last kit you painted?

George: Black Heart’s Mr. Hyde is the last kit I finished. I painted a Medusa and a Mr. Hyde just before WonderFest. I was intimidated by a 1:1 scale model with that kind of detail. It took me a few days to feel comfortable painting Medusa. I started feeling that I was either rusty or the techniques I used on smaller scale stuff did not translate to 1:1 scale. I remember starting to get bummed and eventually panic started to set in.

Then all of a sudden, I stepped back and started to like how she was coming along and before I knew it, I was digging that larger scale and digging how Medusa was looking. After Medusa I did Hyde and that was sheer joy. What a fun buildup that was. Now I feel that 1:1 scale is easier than the smaller-scale stuff, more detail to paint so it is easier to make the model look good. Plus, the larger size allows an old man like me to see where the paint is supposed to go.

AN ISSUE OF GREAT INTEREST IN THE GK HOBBY

Licensing model kits is a subject of particular debate and controversy among people involved with the hobby. Here’s what George had to say about it.

“The original GEOmetric Design produced licensed kits. A few kits we produced were of characters for whom copyrights and/or merchandising rights were not clear. All of our vinyl kits were licensed. But in the summer of ’98, Diamond Comic Distributors, one of GEOmetric’s largest and best distributors at the time, began selling vinyl bootlegs of two of our bestselling vinyl monster kits, Alien and Predator. They sold them all over Europe and wiped out our foreign sales (about 30 percent of our business) at a time when we were struggling like so many other sectors of the hobby market.

“I was contacted by a shop owner in France who had been buying our stuff from our French distributor. He sent me Diamond’s European catalog. But the kits Diamond was offering were vinyl recasts which they were selling for one-fourth of the wholesale price of our originals. Diamond knew they were bootlegs of our kits because they had also been selling our originals. Their catalogue used photos of the original GEO kits, photos from our own packaging.

“They not only wiped out our international sales of those two kits but greatly reduced the international demand for our other kits because, suddenly, folks felt GEOmetric’s originals were too expensive compared to the recasts.

The GEOmetric Design Romulan, painted by Todd Powell and now sitting on a former co-worker's desk. The kit is out of production.

“I contacted the head of 20th Century Fox’s legal department. I told him what was up and said, ‘I have everything you need to stop the recasting,’ photos, catalogues, samples, and so on. But I was naive. When I told the studio guy where the recaster was located (Korea), he immediately said, ‘George, I can’t help you.’ He explained that the motion picture studios had found no protection or support in Korean courts for their copyrights. He said it did not make sense to pursue the recasters because ‘It’s just not cost-effective.’ I was bummed.

“We talked further. I asked what the studio would do about the American distributor selling the recasts all over Europe. I said, ‘They aren’t in Korea. Diamond Comic is in Baltimore.’ His response: ‘George, we aren’t going to go after every little shop that is carrying a couple of recasts of GEOmetric kits. It’s just not cost-effective.’

“I was pissed. I asked, ‘Then why did we pay you X dollars for the license?’

“He was surprised by the question and didn’t know how to answer it. I said, ‘While you are thinking about that, let me ask you another question: Why should I be concerned about you coming after me WHEN I don’t pay you another penny for royalties?’ He had no response to that either. We ended the conversation with no resolution to the problem.

“So, I never paid Fox another penny in royalties although we continued to sell AND ADVERTISE those two kits for nearly five years until I sold the company. I never heard from Fox again. I’m sure they figured coming after GEOmetric was not ‘cost-effective’. I should add that, at about the same time, the same thing happened with our Star Trek kits when they were bootlegged in vinyl by that same Korean company and in resin by a small company in the U.S. The studio did nothing to help us. I learned a valuable lesson: if the copyright holders (studios) don’t feel it is cost-effective to protect their licensees from recasters and distributors of recasts, they must not feel it is cost-effective to go after a small-time, low-profile GK producer.

“The studios know about garage kits. And for the most part they don’t care about the little bit of business we do because it doesn’t impact them. But if we get stupid and make it hard for them to ignore what we do, we are asking for trouble.

“I’ve heard rumors about who might be responsible for the recent wave of cease-and-desist letters from Universal Studios. I have difficulty believing that a handful of guys could get Universal fired up enough to do what they’ve done and chase down a dozen or more GK producers. My experience tells me that someone with a relationship with that studio, a company who is licensed or who is trying to negotiate a license with Universal, is more likely the instigator of that mess.

“I’m not pointing fingers at anyone and I’m not suggesting that anyone is right or wrong to have done so. That’s business. If some studio comes at me for doing an unlicensed kit, that’s my responsibility.

“My plan is to do kits that are in the public domain, or arguably in the public domain, kits whose copyright or merchandising rights are not certain (a lot more of those than most people know and you’d be surprised about what characters fall into that category), and then some that are copyrighted but whose copyright holders are not threatened by what little business we do.

“Whenever possible we’ll tie our kits to genre themes, and/or base them on classical literature, mythology, legends and genre archetypes.”

Before his visit with Cortlandt Hull and Dennis Vincent, artist James Bama had never actually seen an Aurora model kit or a model kit box with Mr. Bama's famous artwork. During the visit shortly after WonderFest 2008, Mr. Bama signed Cortlandt's original Aurora Frankenstein box. "I treasure that!" Cortlandt says. Photo courtesy of the Witch's Dungeon.

In 1966, two people took major steps toward living their dreams. One was James Bama, a New York City commercial illustrator, about 40 years old, whose portfolio included dozens of cover paintings for Doc Savage paperbacks and the box art for many of Aurora’s monster model kits. The other was Cortlandt Hull of Bristol, Conn., great-nephew of “Werewolf of London” star Henry Hull, a 13-year-old lover of classic horror movies and builder of Aurora models.

Dennis Vincent, left, Cortlandt Hull and two scary friends at the Witch's Dungeon. The Dungeon is open Friday through Sunday evenings in October. Halloween lovers should stop by if they're in the neighborhood. Photo courtesy of the Witch's Dungeon.

Looking over my notes for this month’s “Resin the Barbarian” interview, recognizing the time frame of the turning points in these two men’s lives, I was fascinated to realize that Mr. Bama began to move away from the genre work that has remained popular about the same time Cortlandt embraced a life ever influenced by monsters. Cortlandt’s decision was made in part because he — like millions of others — so loved Mr. Bama’s box art. Decades later, Mr. Bama was impressed with the work Cortlandt and director Dennis Vincent did profiling artist Basil Gogos on “The Witch’s Dungeon: 40 Years of Chills”, so he invited them to visit his home in Wapiti, Wyo., for a rare interview that will be featured in the documentary “Legends of Film & Fantasy”, to be available on DVD in early 2010.

"I created The Witch's Dungeon in 1966," says Cortlandt Hull, "when I was 13, inspired primarily by James Bama's cover art and the Aurora kits. But an 8-inch model was not frightening to me, I wanted them life-size — that's how my classic horror museum began! Jim Bama (pictured) asked us to bring our life-size Karloff Frankenstein Monster with us — so he could have a photo with it, as he loves the film — a huge honor for us!" Photo courtesy of the Witch's Dungeon.

Wapiti is where Mr. Bama finally settled a few years after he and his wife, Lynne, departed Manhattan, according to the introduction to the book “The Western Art of James Bama”. They’d visited a friend in Wyoming in 1966 and began to realize how different their lives could be. After return visits in 1967, the Bamas settled in Wyoming for good in 1968. Bama continued doing commercial work for a few years to make ends meet, but his focus quickly turned to his own works. His realist approach to Western people and places has gained Mr. Bama widespread respect as a fine artist.

Around the time Mr. and Mrs. Bama were discovering Wyoming, Cortlandt was working with his father, Robert, to turn a Swiss chalet-style building into the Witch’s Dungeon, a place to house the life-sized monsters the boy had started fabricating when he decided the Aurora models just weren’t big enough. The Dungeon, open every year around Halloween, continued to grow over the years, as did Cortlandt’s artistic abilities. In October 2009, Zenobia the Gypsy Witch (Cortlandt’s original creation) welcomes visitors to a visit with many of Cortlandt’s monsters, including the Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein’s Monster, Count Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and, of course, the Werewolf of London.

Cortlandt and Dennis were very busy on a mid-September Saturday. For Dennis, the major task was editing footage for “Legends of Film & Fantasy”. Cortlandt was building the “Graveyard of Classic Ghouls” at his Witch’s Dungeon in preparation for opening the attraction’s 43rd year. Still, they made time to speak with me on the phone to tell me about their visit with James Bama.

We also talked about some of the other actor, filmmaker and artist interviews done for the documentary, including one with garage-kit sculptor Jeff Yagher, creator of the Aurora Box Art series of kits produced by Monsters in Motion.

In addition to taking the time to speak with me, Cortlandt and Dennis were kind enough to give me a preview of two of the nearly completed segments of the upcoming DVD, the interviews with Mr. Bama and Jeff. I watched each several times and anxiously anticipate the completed movie.

HEADING TO WYOMING RIGHT AFTER WONDERFEST

If you’ve read this far, you have probably been familiar with James Bama’s artwork a long time. You may be one of the millions of people happily threatened by the Frankenstein’s Monster Mr. Bama painted for Aurora’s first monster model, chilled by the glow of the fire under his Witch’s cauldron, or terrified by his mask-waving Phantom of the Opera. All of his colorful monster-model paintings — even the ones Mr. Bama himself doesn’t much like — magnetized people (mostly boys) to store shelves in the ’60s and inspired them to build the kits inside the boxes. Some of those boys, now middle-aged men, still love the work. Thanks to their enthusiasm, plus reissues of the classic kits with the classic artwork by Polar Lights starting in the ’90s, it continues to be discovered by others.

Poster courtesy of the Witch's Dungeon.

However, Mr. Bama didn’t realize until fairly recently that he’d long since fulfilled his childhood fantasy of being a “hero in the monster world,” and he hadn’t actually seen an Aurora model until Cortlandt and Dennis visited.

The filmmakers were able to connect with Mr. Bama thanks to the efforts of mutual friend Roger Kastel, an artist whose works include the movie posters for “Jaws” and “The Empire Strikes Back.” He gave Mr. Bama a copy of “40 Years of Chills”, which Mr. Bama watched and enjoyed enough that he invited the filmmakers for a visit. Arranging the trip to Wyoming required some schedule-juggling and a big road trip after WonderFest 2008, but “we don’t regret it,” Cortlandt said.

The man they met spent years in which he wasn’t very interested in discussing his commercial art. He’d left that behind in part because he’d grown disillusioned creating works considered “disposable” by those who commissioned them, including the Aurora box art. Such works were rarely preserved, and in the case of Mr. Bama’s artwork, they were often radically modified by other artists, such as when the monster paintings were redone for the later, gaudier square-box glow versions of the kits.

For Easterner James Bama, Dennis said, the West of the mid-’60s was “exotic”. He felt an affinity with the area’s underappreciated Native American population and is pleased that he was able to realistically depict those people in his artwork. “He portrayed them in ways they hadn’t been portrayed before,” Dennis said.

Cortlandt Hull, left, says the Aurora artwork of James Bama was a bigger inspiration for him than the models themselves. Photo courtesy of the Witch's Dungeon.

After about four decades in which he’s painted the subjects he loves and built a solid reputation as a fine artist, Mr. Bama, now in his 80s, “likes his life,” Cortland said, and he has embraced the notoriety of his earlier works.

In the “Legends of Film & Fantasy” interview, Mr. Bama says he loved horror movies as a child, even though they frightened him so much that “I had to sleep with my mother periodically.” He still enjoys them and rewatches them regularly with his wife, Lynne. Back in the ’60s, Mrs. Bama costumed herself as a witch and posed for that Aurora kit’s box art. She was the only model he used for those paintings, all the others were based on publicity stills and pictures of the kits.

Despite his genre work, Mr. Bama says in the documentary that he was unaware of contemporaries such as Frank Frazetta or Basil Gogos. Fantasy works of that sort simply weren’t what he sought out in his private time.

A Hasbro paint-by-numbers kit inspired by James Bama's Phantom of the Opera box art.

For years, he was “completely unaware” of the influence of his Aurora artwork. He had no idea how many products had been marketed that were based on those paintings, including plastic plaques, wallets and paint-by-numbers kits. He hadn’t even seen an Aurora kit in person until he saw some that Dennis and Cortlandt had brought with them.

However, he said, he has encountered plenty of people who are familiar with the kits.

“But you would not believe how many people I know, even in Wapiti, Wyo., who are around 50, who made those model kits when they were teenagers. A lot of them.”

MAKING A DOCUMENTARY: LET THE SUBJECTS SPEAK

James Bama is not comfortable with “big” attention, said Cortlandt Hull, who interviewed the artist for “Legends of Film & Fantasy”. Mr. Bama likes to reach out to fans and talk about his work, but he doesn’t want his home thrown into an uproar by a crew led by an interviewer with a substantial ego, only to see a small piece of the interview used.

For Cortlandt and Dennis Vincent, the important thing is to let the people they’re visiting tell their stories. “You never see us on camera,” Cortlandt said.

Actor David Hedison, star of the original "The Fly", is interviewed in "Legends of Film & Fantasy". Photo courtesy of the Witch's Dungeon.

Don’t change what people say. Put in the work — a LOT of work — to come up with appropriate visual elements to enhance the message, not detract from it. Narrating the film instead of letting the subjects deliver their messages in their own words is “the easiest way to do it,” Cortlandt said, but it’s poor filmmaking.

“If you don’t like solving problems on a daily basis, it’s not for you,” Dennis said of making movies.

Dennis and Cortlandt put in considerable effort locating visual elements for their movies. They’re thrilled when families share behind-the-scenes photos from classic movies with them, allowing them in turn to share the photos with a wider audience for the first time.

They also spend a great deal of time locating and cleaning up memorabilia, such as ads from old comic books and issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.

Actor Bill Mumy, left, will be featured in "Legends of Film & Fantasy", directed by Dennis Vincent, right. Photo courtesy of the Witch's Dungeon.

“We like everything to look as if it just was made,” Cortlandt said.

For the segment with Mr. Bama, Terry Ingram of the Universal Monster Army helped locate vacuform plaques and wallets that were plainly inspired by the Aurora box artwork.

For me, the most interesting thing Cortlandt and Dennis said about making their movie is that they take their interviews seriously. What they’re exploring, as the title indicates, are “film and fantasy” subjects, and that includes horror and science fiction movies and people who sculpt monster figures. For some, that would be an opportunity to poke a little fun, treat it as kids’ stuff. But, said Dennis and Cortlandt, their approach isn’t gimmicky. When actor Bill Mumy, for example, told them a story about Alfred Hitchcock, they knew it was great fun, but also fascinating, and they were delighted Mumy took the time to tell them about it.

A DUNGEON MASTER SINCE HIS EARLY TEENS

Naturally, Cortlandt Hull's Witch's Dungeon includes a life-sized sculpture of Great-Uncle Henry, the "Werewolf of London". Photo courtesy of the Witch's Dungeon.

As stated earlier, Cortlandt Hull opened the original Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum in Bristol, Conn., in 1966, when he was 13 years old.

Called “a tribute to the actors and effects artists who have given us the classic fantasy films,” the Dungeon features Cortlandt’s life-size figures based on classic horror and sci-fi films. The museum has won the support of many whose relatives are featured, including Sara Karloff, daughter of Boris Karloff; Ron Chaney, great-grandson of Lon Chaney and grandson of Lon Chaney Jr.; and Bela Lugosi Jr.

The museum is open for its 43rd season in October 2009, every Friday through Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. The price of admission is only a buck, and I for one would be all over it if I weren’t clear across the country.

The Dungeon’s story is great fun. Learn more about it online at preservehollywood.org, or even better, get yourself a copy of the DVD “The Witch’s Dungeon: 40 Years of Chills”.

JEFF YAGHER AND HIS AURORA BOX ART MODEL KITS

I’ve been a fan of Jeff Yagher’s sculptural work seven, maybe eight years now. Anyone who enjoys classic monsters and garage kits is familiar with his work. In 2006, Jeff agreed to talk with me about his Aurora Box Art kits, produced by Monsters in Motion, most of which were inspired by the Aurora work of James Bama. He has been a gracious interview subject several more times since then, in Resin the Barbarian entries focusing on Monarch Models and a profile of Steve Riojas’s work on Jeff’s Yagher Classics series, and for a 2007 Amazing Figure Modeler article.

Dennis Vincent took great care in lighting Mike Rutherford's Wolf Man model. The resin kit was sculpted by Jeff Yagher, creator of the popular Aurora Box Art series of models. Photo courtesy of the Witch's Dungeon.

For “Legends of Film & Fantasy”, in an interview conducted by actor Daniel Roebuck, Jeff discusses his longtime affection for James Bama’s Aurora paintings and the challenges of translating them into three dimensions. He enthusiastically describes the rush of emotions Bama inspired in his use of color and mood, creating “the collector’s gotta-have mentality.”

I was particularly interested in hearing Jeff describe his concerns in sculpting the Aurora Wolf Man, whom Mr. Bama interpreted as a combination of Lon Chaney Jr.’s Wolf Man and Oliver Reed’s beast from “Curse of the Werewolf.”

“The particular challenge for that one,” Jeff said, “was making it not Lon Chaney’s Wolf Man, not Oliver Reed’s werewolf, but James Bama’s interpretation.”

The editing skills of Dennis Vincent, of Colorbox Studios, are on great display in the Yagher segment. He paid a visit to the New England home of Mike Rutherford to shoot video of Mike’s wonderful buildups of the box art kits. Mike, a huge fan of Aurora models and keeper of a monstrous MySpace page, painstakingly painted the kits to resemble the box art that inspired them, and Dennis spent more than six hours shooting them to make sure he got exactly the lighting and angles he needed for “Legends of Film & Fantasy.”

Mike Rutherford's Aurora Box Art kits, sculpted by Jeff Yagher and featured in "Legends of Film & Fantasy". These kits are all depictions of artwork by James Bama. "Sure, I have to study these paintings to get the color as good as I can," Mike says, "but Jeff really has to study these paintings and transform them into 3D. Even after six years of building the box art kits, I still find it incredible how Jeff is able to do this."

What he has done with that footage is great fun, as Dennis transitions the video between Mr. Bama’s paintings and Mike’s finished model kits, demonstrating how Jeff’s sculpture and Mike’s paints mirror the work that inspired them more effectively than side-by-side photos can hope to do.

“I learned that these two guys don’t fool around when it comes to their craft,” Mike told me in an e-mail. “We did talk but they were both focused on doing a good job with the filming. I was shocked with the amount of equipment that they brought with them. I live in a small house so we didn’t have a whole lot of room and I really should have brought the kits to Cortlandt’s house, but we were afraid of the kits getting damaged during the move.

“I was amazed at how long the entire process took, but after seeing a tiny bit of the film, I can see why it took so long. They were sure to film each kit from every angle, still shots, rotating shots, white lights, colored filters … You name it and they did it.”

Mike has been an unabashed fan of Jeff’s work and the two are friends. Mike has also known Cortlandt for several years, and he helped the two get in touch for “Legends of Film & Fantasy.”

“LEGENDS OF FILM & FANTASY” COMING SOON

The four-hour documentary from Dennis Vincent and Cortlandt Hull will be available on DVD in early 2010.  More than two years in the making, “Legends of Film & Fantasy” is hosted by actor Mark Hamill and includes interviews with more than three dozen people, including:

Actor Mark Hamill serves as host and guest on "Legends of Film & Fantasy". He discusses the challenges of acting in "The Empire Strikes Back" with Yoda, a puppet whose off-camera behavior was unpredictable.

• Director George A. Romero.
• “Teenage Frankenstein” Gary Conway.
• David Hedison, star of the original “The Fly”.
• Actor Bill Mumy of “Lost in Space”, “Babylon 5” and much more.
• Julie Adams of “Creature from the Black Lagoon”.
• Makeup masters Dick Smith, Rick Baker and John Goodwin.
• Mat Falls and Tom Gilliland of Sideshow Collectibles.
• Artist Roger Kastel, painter of the famed “Jaws” and “The Empire Strikes Back” movie posters.
• Artist and sculptor Daniel Horne.

A bust of the Creature from the Black Lagoon menaces actress Julie Adams in her home. Photo courtesy of the Witch's Dungeon.

Watch for more information on the final release date at preservehollywood.org. I’ll also be sure to pass it along here at  Resin the Barbarian when I find out.

—

Many thanks to my friend Mike Rutherford for suggesting I get in touch with Cortlandt Hull and Dennis Vincent. Mike’s enthusiasm for building models and classic horror cinema has been an inspiration for me since about 2002.

What you see below is what I was able to recover of a Moebius Models blog entry I lost when the Clubhouse moved to a new server in early October 2007. The loss of that entry isn’t the worst inconvenience the Clubhouse experienced, and at least I held onto this much. The Q&A with Frank Winspur, the most important part, is intact, and for that I’m thankful.

Please keep in mind that Moebius has continued to make announcements about its future since I wrote this entry; check the Moebius Web site for information.

Resin the Barbarian: Why did you name your company Moebius?

Frank: The first two choices were turned down at the trademark office. I am a fan of the artist Moebius, and when I did a little more research and found out it is actually a mathematical term, I thought it would be a cool name. Its reference in mathematics is very interesting, I encourage everyone to check it out online at one of the many sites devoted to it.

RtB: As I understand it, you’re about to issue your third and fourth editions of the Dr. Jekyll as Mr. Hyde kit. The first was the long-box version; the second was a glow-in-the-dark Wonderfest long-box; the third will be a glow version released the week of Chiller; and the fourth will be a square-box glow version. Is it safe to say, then, that the doctor has been a success?

Frank: The doctor has been a great seller. We hadn’t planned on four releases of it, but the limited WF kit got quite a bit of e-mail sent to us. The Chiller edition will be visually different in the way of box art, but still the Frightening Lightning edition. Slight color change. More copies this time, 480, hopefully everyone that wants one will get one!

RtB: Is it true that the teeth were trimmed off the Jekyll mold master by someone in China? And, is there any chance the figure’s teeth will be restored in a future issue of the kit?

Frank: That’s not quite the whole story. We started out with a ’72 version to tool off of. There was basically nothing left for teeth on the kit we got, either head. It was a sealed kit, so I know no one tampered with it. I can only think that some of the detail wore off through all its pressings earlier. We have had much e-mail on this, and it will be fixed. The only problem is, how to get heads back out to customers that want them. I will be speaking with China about having this done in a few weeks, and I will keep everyone updated.

RtB: How soon will Captain Action be available?

Frank: I wish I had a good answer on that. It has fallen behind due to the factory in China. A few small problems have come up. New regulations in China due to the recalls this year have effected almost everything, whether it needs testing or not. The other problem is that it is such a limited kit. No one is saying this to me, but I am guessing they are putting it off due to the fact that it is an extremely small job as to what they are used to.

RtB: Let me make sure I have this straight: Moebius has issued the Jekyll as Hyde repop and is about to issue the Captain Action. The kits that are coming include the Seaview, Voyager and the Prehistoric Scenes Jungle Swamp. Did I overlook anything?

Frank: For now, no. We have put the swamp on hold, as there really had been no interest in it. We are hoping next year once the brand grows, we can put it out. October we will have the first half of 2008 to announce at iHobby in Chicago.

RtB: For the repop kits, can you tell me where you acquired the mold masters? Were these, say, eBay purchases?

Frank: For Jekyll and Voyager, they were picked up on eBay. From there China went about prototyping them to fix original flaws.

RtB: Can you tell me the order in which these kits will be available, and/or specifically when?

Frank: Voyager, then the rest is a toss up. I am hoping for Captain Action and glow Jekyll for October. Seaview will most likely be November from the way it looks. Very hard to say until the prototype is finished.

RtB: Some sellers are offering preorders on, and taking money for, Moebius kits that probably won’t be available until well into 2008. How do you feel about that?

Frank: Honestly, not much I can do. I can guarantee the kits we have listed will all be released. We haven’t gotten that far ahead to predict 2008 on anything. This is why were not releasing any new info on 2008 releases at this point. Everyone needs some time to digest.

I guess it’s the same with any manufacturer. Retailers sell the kits and take preorders, so they have a view of what they will need. With the advent of Paypal, there doesn’t seem to be a way that someone can allocate funds to a product when it comes in.

All I can tell anyone from my experience in retail is use a credit card for online purchases. You can always go back and charge it back to the seller. Protect yourself first and foremost. There will be enough kits to go around, don’t worry about missing out. Unless it is limited.

RtB: Of your kits, do I correctly understand that the Seaview will be the first original creation by Moebius? I’ve seen at least one seller label it as an Aurora repop.

Frank: Yes, our first original. Not sure why someone would refer to it as a repop, definitely not that!

RtB: Do you have any more original creations in the works? If so, what?

Frank: Everything for 2008 at this time is an original kit. I cannot announce any of it at this time due to licensing. October at iHobby will be the announcement date.

We currently have one kit in the sculpting phase by someone many of your readers may know, Shawn Nagle. No hints yet, though. We have two other sculptors lined up for 2008 kits that I can hopefully announce in October.

RtB: I’m not going to get into a bunch of wish-list material because I know you get it all the time. However, If I don’t ask specifically about Gigantic Frankenstein, people will ask me why. I’m sure you’ve been asked about it yourself a thousand times. Any chance you’ll plug in the electrodes on this piece of classic plastic?

Frank: That has by far been the most requested piece so far. The one thing that everyone doesn’t realize is that it needs to be licensed through Universal. Check an old box and you’ll see a “copyright Universal Studios” line on it. They are a little more interested in checking Frankenstein licensing than some of the others they may own.

RtB: Can you tell me about any further repops in the works?

Frank: We actually got into it to make original kits. In the future we may do some repops as limiteds like Captain Action, for sale through our club/newsletter. We are hoping to get that going next year, just no time right now.

RtB: What’s on your own wish list? What subject would you most like to tackle? And, do you build kits yourself?

Frank: Myself, the ‘60s Batmobile would be No. 1. The 2001 kits have to be next. But as everyone knows, those are very tough licenses. Batmobile is impossible.

I built myself for many years. My eyes have been getting weak, and my hands are horrible now. I had to have one hand/wrist rebuilt this year, and it has put a huge damper on any building for some time. Hopefully again, as I love plastic!

RtB: I’ve heard a GK producer who sells Aurora recasts tried to prevent Moebius from repopping the Jekyll as Hyde kit, basically claiming that he owned the rights to the kit. Can you tell me anything about that?

Frank: Very interesting question. Anyone can claim they own anything, and more specifically put in a copyright for it. As my attorneys put it, “Anyone that has a correct address, and a check that doesn’t bounce, can copyright anything.”

None of what I was drug through is public knowledge, but I believe if anyone wants to look at the trademark site, this “GK producer” has filed opposition to our trademark for the series using the name Dr. Jekyll as Mr Hyde . This is public knowledge. I am not sure why someone would be so spiteful, as this has cost plenty to defend at this point.

If anyone checks copyrights on this particular kit, it is owned by Universal, and the OLD Aurora Plastics that was bought by Nabisco. Currently, it is expired and no one has come forth to register it that has proof of ownership. A “derivative” copyright, so everyone knows, claims you are making changes to the original, with the original owners’ permission. The changes must be “substantial” to have a valid copyright. Anyone owning a “derivative” owns the changes, not the original!

RtB: Has the possible emergence of a new Aurora, (or “A”) run by the Giamarrino family and planning to reissue many Aurora originals, affected your plans with Moebius? If so, how?

Frank: No effect that I know of. Honestly, we went into it looking at the large percentage being new kits. Polar Lights did nearly everything of value as far as sales are concerned. If I wanted to build a company that I knew would be selling repops, and probably only 500 at a time, I would be crazy. It’s just too costly, you couldn’t make money. Unless someone else had the tools and would do it for you with little cost. We’re trying to keep it reasonable, and interesting. We are not, nor would we ever, work with another company as some people have suggested.

RtB: You and Scott McKillop of Monarch Models seem to have a cordial relationship. Can you tell me about your first contacts with one another?

Frank: I spoke with Scott originally back in December. Most of what Scott is looking at is public domain properties. We were both a little worried we might have some overlapping interest. Jekyll was on Monarch’s list, Nosferatu was on Moebius’ list. We exchange some info so we don’t do something really silly. It’s expensive and too much work to have two of the same kit come out at the same time!

RtB: What are the high points, so far, of creating and operating Moebius Models? What’s the smartest thing you’ve done?

Frank: As crazy as it may sound, the high point was getting our first licensing deal done. It is so much more work than most would think. The studios just aren’t throwing their doors open to anyone with a check. It is a lot of work to get to the signing.

Smartest thing, not public knowledge quite yet, but that would be getting Dave Metzner on board. He officially starts Oct. 1 barring no complications. He is truly one of the most knowledgeable guys out there as far as getting this stuff done.

RtB: What are the low points and the biggest missteps?

Frank: The low point is just the waiting. Much of this we have no control over. You can’t pick up the phone and yell at someone and get it done quicker. Most of it is an art, and to get it right, there can be no rushing.

That is one thing if any I can stress to fans, do you want it fast, or do you want it right? We are working on getting out the best quality we can, and there can be delays. Like in the case of the Seaview. There were just a lot of small things we thought could be improved on. And we’re doing it. It has slowed the release down, but everyone will be happier with it. We learned a lesson with Jekyll’s teeth, and we are much more careful.

RtB: What have you learned that will affect what you do in the future?

Frank: Hard to say, we are still so young with this. Just get out the best product we can. At the most reasonable price that we can.

RtB: Anything you’d like to add?

Frank: Not much to add, other than a thanks to all of you that have written, bought Jekyll, and placed preorders with our dealers/distributors. Always open for comments, but please remember anything we receive for new kit suggestions are either the property of the copyright holder when we receive, or become the property of Moebius Models on receipt.

We love the suggestions, but remember we’re basically builders/fans/collectors that have been in the business for a very long time. Most things we receive are already on our list, it is a big one!