Hi everyone, I’ve been reading this board for awhile but just now decided to register and post. I’m hoping some of you might be able to shed some light on something for me…
When I was a kid I sent away for a mask/prop catalog I saw an ad for in the the back of Fangoria - one of those $2 and a SASE deals. This would have been around 1989. At the time I wasn’t into Halloween yet. When it came in I looked through it a couple times and not seeing anything I wanted I put it aside. A couple years later I finally discovered Halloween and decided I wanted a Myers mask. I dug out that catalog (and a couple others) and looked through hoping to find one. Well, I did and I didn’t… Unfortunately, there was no listing for a Myers mask in the catalog, but there was a Star Trek section. There, right in front of me, was the Myers mask I was looking for, only the pictured mask was listed as a Captain Kirk (incorrectly, I thought). I had no idea of the origins of the mask used in Halloween and wouldn’t for several more years so I thought it was just a random mistake. The catalog was a black and white xerox, so without flesh tones it looked exactly like the Myers mask I was looking for. Almost. The mask had sideburns, which I remember laughing about with a friend of mine. We thought that was a really strange screw up considering it was a perfect likeness otherwise. BUT I’m 100% sure the eyes were cut Myers style.
So did anyone else ever see anything similar? Were the molds already missing by this point and could these masks have been unauthorized pulls or were there still official Kirks in circulation this late? But why would there be Kirks with the eyes cut out? I was familiar with The Mask by that time and I am positive it was not that one. Obviously, I wish I knew then what I know now because I would have tried to obtain one. To me it was just a mistake in a catalog and by the time I noticed it, the catalog was already a year or two old. It didn’t seem worth the trouble to write or call them about the “mistake” so I ended up ordering The Mask instead from another company, but this bothered me for years. I always believed there was another, more-accurate Myers than The Mask out there but I always came up empty in my search. It wasn’t until Fangoria later did their big Halloween retrospective that I finally learned the origins of the Halloween mask and I realized that mistake in the catalog hadn’t been a mistake at all.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. This is something I was curious about for a long time and reading this board brought back a lot of memories.
Cool story. I am not familiar with this, this is new to me. There was one rare mask that was casted off an original Capt. Kirk pull that was released in 1985, known as 1984 Don Post “The Mask”. But, you are saying that this was from 1989. Can you dig up the page and scan it?
It could be if he got the year wrong by a several years, brotha K. Sean told me that he found the '75 Kirk at a toy convention back in 1994 that he used to make the Sean Clark Small '75 which was released in 1995/1996. I just scored one not too long ago and it is such a cool mini mask!
Thanks for the welcome! I went through some old boxes this weekend trying to see if I still had that catalog anywhere, but I didn’t find it. I was surprised how many of those catalogs I still have so there’s a chance it could turn up somewhere.
It was definitely not the 1990 Shatner in the picture. From reading on here, I gather that the 1990 used the 1986 The Mask sculpt and we used to compare the pics of both masks side by side and talk about how much closer the Captain Kirk looked. I was actually scared to order The Mask at all because my friend had an older color catalog from another company where the picture of The Mask was flesh colored. That was the only color pic we had, so for a time we thought they all were like that. Now, it is definitely possible that had I bought the Captain Kirk mask what I would have actually received would have been a 1990 Shatner. I suppose had Don Post sent out early mock-up pics of the 1990 using the 1975 design you guys would have uncovered it already? The picture I saw looked exactly like the 1984 The Mask pics posted on here by Sheriff Brackett with the eye holes, but with Kirk hair and sideburns. And since it was labeled Captain Kirk I assume it wasn’t really a white mask, even though the pic looked white.
The Sean Clark mask is several years too late. By 1994 I had bought and sold the 1986 The Mask and was regularly driving the local costume shop crazy by calling and asking them about the other Don Post Michael Myers mask that I was sure existed.
That is interesting! I do not think it has been covered here before. The 1990 Shatner was made from the Neil Surge’s 1985 “The Mask” not the 1986 “The Mask”, they are two different masks.
The '75 Kirk used to make the 1984 “The Mask” was still around in some form by 1998 because Josh (Sheriff Brackett) discovered that it was also used to make the 1998 Shatner prototype. It could have been a Capt. Kirk mask made from that mysterious '75 Kirk which we have never seen before. I think Don Post used a flesh-colored 1985 “The Mask” to advertise under the radar in a way as if they did not have a right to release a Michael Myers mask, hence the name, “The Mask”. I believe some flesh colored ones got out. The shopkeepers must have thought you were delusional!
You must have seen the 1990 Rubies Kirk mask. Like the others have said, it was made by DPS for Rubies using the original 1985 “The Mask” mold which is why it carries a Rubies stamp in the mask and a DPS care tag on the neck. This is also why the mask has Myers eyes instead of smaller, Kirk eyes. It’s is not in any way related to the 75 Kirk mask other than that the sculptor, Neil Surges, used the original Kirk as reference.
Here is my 1990 Kirk mask pictured amoung others.
I searched for the catalog you spoke of but did not find it. I am sure I have it scanned at home and will double check tonight.
Yeah I just missed all this! I was hard core Fangoria mask making collection in the mid 80,s and doing other bad things in 1990 Cool story man! I was into the Distortions stuff like the rotting vampire, night wolf and snot Rot I really was Their wasn’t shat for Myers
Josh (sherrifbracket), we don’t know each other but I just wanted to say thanks!! You are a true wealth of information when it comes to this hobby and I am in awe of that. Your collection always blows my mind. I am more of a lurker than poster but I wanted to pop into this thread and say thanks for shedding light on this topic and all the great information in the past!
Adam
