Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
Borgman illustrated the first four volumes of the nine-volume series, which you can read about at Too Much Horror Fiction and Monster Memories. The Groovy Age of Horror reviews all of the books here. Images are via Monster Memories.
Borgman talks about the covers here.
Great Tales of Horror and Suspense would be a superfluous anthology of famous horror stories if not for the extraordinary illustrations of Norman Nodel and Harry Borgman. Nodel painted the cover and did interior art for the first half of the book, while Borgman handled the exquisite line art for the Dracula section. See more of Borgman’s Dracula at And Everything Else Too. The black and white pages are from Borgman’s blog, where he talks about the assignment:
The art was rendered with a Crowquill pen with brush accents using India ink. It was a fun assignment and a real break from some of the Detroit automotive work that I was involved with at the time. Randy Mulvey, my New York [agent] during that period, landed this assignment for me as well as a series of Dracula paperback covers.
He goes into more detail about the gig in another post. I’ll post his Dracula covers later.
ThrillerVideo was a home video series released between 1985 and 1989. Most of the schlocky horror flicks were narrated by Elvira, but she refused to host a number of the more graphic titles, which were released in a less sexy format. You can see the full catalog here.
(Images via Monster Memories and Zombie Logic)
The quintessential ’80s scream queen, you have to admire Quigley’s pluck and wry self-promotion. The direct-to-video “cult spoof of exercise videos and fright films” was recently re-released, and you can get an autographed copy through her website. Read a good review of the original video at The Betamax Rundown.
You can see an interview with Quigley in “VCR Horrors,” a 20/20 panic piece from 1987.
(Images via VHS Collector and The Betamax Rundown)
Above: The Exorcist opens at the Paramount Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1974. “Proof of age required”! The Paramount opened in 1964 and closed in 1990. According to Cinema Treasures, “no trace remains” except for this lone photograph.
Below: The Exorcist opens at the National Theatre in Westwood, California. The film received a limited release on December 26, 1973, and the National was one of the 26 participating theaters. The landmark was demolished in 2008, displaced by luxury apartments.
You can see more Exorcist marquees here, as well as video footage of audience reactions at the National and elsewhere.
Thrills & Chills was a kids horror magazine published by Scholastic books from 1994 through 1996. I can’t say much about the quality because I’ve only seen the covers and a handful of interior pages, but the series is historical now, if for no other reason than that Earl Norem was a regular illustrator. If you’re new to Norem, start here.
The pieces above are all originals and have sold on eBay over the last few years.
From Board Game Geek: “It’s possible for everyone to go insane and lose in this game.” Sounds about right. Beautiful Tom Sullivan cover and interior art—see more here.
(Images via Board Game Geek and this Latvian board game site)
A group of University of Washington college students made their own Star Wars costumes for a Halloween party in 1977 and staged a skit at the party. Andrew Siguenza was R2-D2, and the highlight of your day is his Flickr album of the party and costume prep.
Every time I think I’m too tired to go on with the blog, I find something like this.
I think she’s had a few too many already. Look at the size of that $100,000 Bar (now 100 Grand Bar)! And look how huge the “fun size” bars were!
(Image via Hillary Buckholtz)
2 Warps to Neptune 