Cool News
Quint wants to introduce you to Bob Burns and his Hollywood Halloween shows!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. You should know the name Bob Burns. If you don’t then you will by the time I’m done with you, by God!
Now, Bob isn’t a famous journalist or actor or director. He’s not a well-known make-up man or a radio personality. In fact, if you just look at his credits his biggest claims to fame are assisting on builds for INVASION OF THE SAUCERMEN and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, playing a gorilla on a ‘70s TV show called THE GHOSTBUSTERS and puppeteering Mac in the McDonald’s Mac Tonight commercial from the ‘80s.
Bob Burns may not be famous, but he’s icon to a small group of people that includes Peter Jackson, Dennis Muren, Rick Baker, Greg Nicotero, Howard Burger, Guillermo del Toro and basically any monster fan. The best title for Bob would be something between Film Historian and Alpha Geek.
Bob is one of us. I’ve had the very good fortune of getting to know both him and his awesome wife Kathy a little bit, having spent time with them in Philadelphia (we both did our cameos in The Lovely Bones around the same time) and back in LA. You will not meet a nicer, friendlier more down to earth couple than Bob and Kathy.
But it’s not just that Bob is the crazy-awesome Uncle you wish you had growing up, the one that’d tell you off-color jokes and let you watch horror movies when the parents were away, that sets him apart. He’s also amassed a helluva collection of movie history.
I’ll get to that in a minute. I’ve toured his famous “basement” that is really more of a reformed garage at his Burbank home and I’ll share some pictures from that in a bit.
Besides his amazing collection of props Bob is known for his Halloween shows. Starting in the late ‘60s he’d throw a little something special on for the Trick Or Treaters. It began with wearing a mask when answering the door and ended up firing up the imaginations of monster fans across the world.
A documentary has been made on these special shows called BOB BURNS’ HOLLYWOOD HALLOWEEN, spearheaded by KNB’s Greg Nicotero. I have two pieces of good news (treats) for you. The first piece is that the documentary is freakin’ great and the second is they’re releasing it in chapters (for free) on their site (which can be found here) with every week of October bringing a new segment.
I usually wouldn’t advocate watching a documentary this way, but this one is almost constructed to be watched in segments. The documentary isn’t so much about Bob, but in the shows he put on. The documentary is broken up by show; from a jaw-dropping brilliant low-tech live Jekyll & Hyde transformation to the War of the Worlds tribute which included a 40 foot long spaceship built into the side of his house to make it look like it literally crashed landed into Bob’s abode.
These are all in bite-sized 10-15 minute sections and are a mixture of talking heads and home video (be it 8mm, 16mm or, later, actual video) footage of the shows being planned, constructed and executed. The biggest chunk of time focuses on the last of the shows, an extremely detailed recreation of Howard Hawks’ THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD he did in 2002.
Why should you care about these hand-made suburban haunted house shows? Well, if you’re here you’re a movie geek and you’re going to shit when you see how Bob and friends recreated The Time Machine, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Exorcist and Alien. That’s one reason. Another is that it wasn’t just Bob and some carpenter friends putting these things together. Rick Baker, who worked on The Exorcist with the legendary Dick Smith, first sought Bob out at the age of 13 and helped him on his early Halloween shows. And he came back that Halloween to help execute his own movie work. Another regular helper was the legendary Dennis Muren.
So, you have these genius monster makers who take their Halloweens and give it to Bob and the kids of this neighborhood all through the ‘70s. Suddenly what was at first a few dozen neighborhood kids turned into a few hundred. By the time the final show in 2002 was done there was a 2 hour wait to go through Bob’s spookhouse.
There’s an overall feeling of a snowball rolling downhill with this documentary. Bob and Kathy start out super low-tech and as they gather more and more talented friends they come up with bigger and more decadent shows until they’re building sets that damn near mirror each movie being represented down to the smallest detail. The head of CBS who worked on THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD has a moment where he talks about how it’s like stepping into a time machine walking around the halls of the arctic base again.
If you’re at all like me this documentary will hit all your joy buttons. It’s inspiring in a way. I have zero artistic talent whatsoever. I couldn’t build a table or paint a portrait or sculpt a creature out of clay if my life depended on it. But watching this doc makes me want to put on a show like Bob. On my best day I couldn’t deliver half the show Bob could on his worst, but it gives you that feeling of wanting to try.
As John Landis says in the documentary, Bob has 9 million step-children. I can’t imagine how many imaginations he jump-started with his shows, but the man had an impact. Now you can be one of Bob’s kids!
The first part of the documentary introduces you to Bob and gives you the origin of his Halloween show. That’s what’s on the website now and in the coming weeks you’ll see the shows grow more extravagant and your geek bone will be tickled pink.
I don’t know what that means, actually, but I think it’s a good thing.
Speaking of geek bones I want to show you some of the stuff Bob has in his collection. I toured his house a little over a year ago and now I want to share some of that with you.
Most of his props are donated, but he does have a great story on how he acquired the original George Pal Time Machine at an LA thrift store.
That story is in the documentary, so I’ll let Bob tell the whole thing.
Bob has props and costumes going back to movie serials, including the early Captain America serials.
Bob has a piece from every period of science-fiction, fantasy and horror. The stuff that got me were the ‘70s and ‘80s props since that’s the era I grew up in. I’ll throw a ton of pics in a row below. You’ll see an alien from The Abyss, one of the evil Mogwai as well as the terrified stunt Gizmo from Gremlins (I think it’s used whenever Gizmo opens the blinds at the end of the first movie), the Drop Ship and Queen Alien head from Aliens and some American Werewolf stuff that I’ll get to in just a minute.
Yes, that’s an ARACHNIPHOBIA spider sitting on Gizmo’s chest.
The American Werewolf stuff quite literally took my breath away. I can say I’ve pet the David Werewolf. I also got a picture of Bob with the Werewolf. Now, time has been a bit rough on the foam rubber, but I’ve heard the KNB boys did a patch job on David and he looks as good as new.
You can’t have David without Jack. I’m sorry I called you meatloaf, Jack!
Those are nice, big recognizable pieces from the movie, but there’s a smaller prop that is just as known and freaked me out quite a bit.
Bob pointed out that it’s darker than in the movie and that’s because John Landis reused it for Thriller. Since it went from being David Naughton’s hand to early ‘80s Michael Jackson’s hand they had to darken the complexion.
Of the filmmaker donated pieces there are a couple of notable props. I’m sure you can figure out who donated what when you see ‘em.
Probably the centerpiece of Bob’s collection is King Kong. He has the original armature that Willis O’Brien built. In other words, he has Kong’s skeleton.
Sideshow Collectibles took scans and made a detailed collectible recreation a couple years back because of this piece. You might also remember seeing Peter Jackson holding it at the New York King Kong premiere. It was his date, but no word on if the armature let him go past first base.
That’s just a small sampling of Bob’s collection. It speaks volumes of the man that he doesn’t horde these prizes away. Quite the opposite. He loves giving tours of his stuff and watching like-minded people getting their geek on.
If you want to see more of his stuff you can track down a copy of the book IT CAME FROM BOB'S BASEMENT which is a movie geek must-own anyway.
I’ll leave you with a picture of me and Bob sitting under his row of Alien heads (he has one that was used in each Alien movie starting with Ridley Scott’s). And no, I don’t usually wear shirts with my pseudonym written across the top.
I’ll make sure to throw a link up to each new piece of the documentary as it becomes available. It’s movie nerd crack. You’ll love it.
Part One of Bob Burns’ Hollywood Halloween is here, just click on the video tab!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
-
+ Expand All
-
.. that's a lot of great stuff!
-
The best...the best...
-
going threough the ads for Bob Burns masks and such for sale in the magazines in the 70's... was it so long ago?
-
Bob, you're the real deal. Thanks for opening up your home to Quint and his readers.
-
If we ever have a movie geek hall of fame, I hereby nominate Bob to be the 1st inductee. He's also an awesomely nice guy who loves to share stories and his love of genre film.
-
living in the UK it was always nice to read about Burns, there was a large feature on his Alien Halloween show in Starlog (I think) with how he just rescued all the props from the dumpster, incredible. Like Forrest Ackerman, you always felt all these famous props and stuff found a good home, they should open a museum. Off now to watch the documentary...
-
Thanks for posting this Quint. What a wonderful tribute to Bob, Kathy, Rick, Greg, Denis and the countless other talented folks who made these Halloween shows so special. Awesome! Looking forward to the rest.
-
...fantastic collection, great guy. So he played the gorilla "Tracy" on "The Ghostbusters," huh? I watched that program when I was a kid...all one season of it.
-
Captain Marvel costume next to Captain America?
-
it is gems like this that make dealing with shit like The Pit all worth it. Nice job Quint
-
Those teeth must be a bitch to dust. In fact dust is the enemy to all things awesome. That whole room is a fucking dust hazard. Why am I blathering about dust so much? Sorry!
-
Very cool-one of these days I have to try and do Halloween in LA-It would have to be more fun than in my neck of the woods!
-
as always- you come through
-
Will definitely be showing my 11 year old son this in the morning. Keep up the great work.
-
except the parts when you talkbackers say "Fuck"
-
But I do sympathize with you trying to keep your son respectful and well-behaved. Being a parent is really fucking hard. Good luck.
-
The photo they show of the kids in the doorway just sums the whole thing up. It looks like such a blast. I mean the early stuff that they did. It looks like it as gone total hollywood but the stuff of the first three years grabs you and reminds you of what Halloween and horror movies are all about. The next installment can't come soon enough.
-
About a year or so back. The restorer did an amazing job.
-
A few more articles like this and you'll have to ask for a raise...and you'll deserve it..Well done I haven't read anything with this quality and presentation on this site for years. I also have to give Kudo's to KNB for the documentary. It's first class all the way.. I have bookmarked the site and will be waiting for more each week..Great fucking job Quint
-
That was him wasn't it?
-
...Film Geek Hall of Fame! Harry get to it!
-
After Kongs escape when Kong enters time square. They were returning home from shopping. He has a bunch of boxes in his arms. If I remember correctly. Quints shows up shortly after this in the trolley when it's knocked around.
-
Oct 06, 2009 1:35:15 AM CDT
So now that Forry is gone - you guys get a chumy with Bob
by professor_monster
so obvious
-
you get around you little tramp.
-
way to be a cunt.
-
The evidence is in the pictures of Oscar and David. They are both restored. Quint's mentioned Bob before around Kongs release. This site isn't getting chummy with Bob. They've been chummy with him for a long time. They are down with him, Baker, Ray Harryhausen, Dick smith, and KNB. You got a problem with that. Jealous much Professor_Monster?????
I dream of the day they chew the chaw with Kevin Yagher. -
I had the good fortune to meet Bob at the Kong Premiere and again at a showing of the original movie in San Diego. He is a great guy who is always happy to chat to any fan.
-
Great that we're getting to see the biog for free! And it's available to overseas fans, so double thank you!
-
Jesus, I knew of Bob Burns in the late sixties because of the articles Forry wrote in Famous Monsters. Where were you guys???
But still its nice to make him known to a new generation of geeks. -
And has the best articles. Why does this site still belong to that inarticulate, illiterate fool Harry?
-
Thanks for the very cool article Quint. I've seen pics before of the Werewolf and it always blows my mind. I will be sure to check out the docu.
-
As I'd like to be able to show it to my Father, whom introduced me to all the classic stuff, but who I have been unable to introduce to the wonderful world wide web as of yet. :P
-
Thanks for putting this up and reminding us of how cool Bob Burns is. I had first noticed him in some of the extras on an Alien DVD (he has a HUGE stock of props from the movies) and he seems like such a nice person and truly a kid at heart. It's nice to see the support he gets from the FX luminaries. I'm anxious to see more of the webisodes. Great stuff!
-
There was a big feature on Burns' shows in Starlog many years ago (late 70's or early 80's) and it really floored me, especially the Exorcist and War of the Worlds shows. The Exorcist show had an actual person levitating (while talking in a demonic voice and wearing contacts to make her eyes appear to glow red) and the War of the Worlds show was basically a live recreation of the first Martian attack from Orson Welles' radio production. They built a whole add-on to Burns' house that the ship would appear to have crashed into, and it looked so convincing that some people thought Burns had actually wiped out part of his house just for his Halloween show. I had no idea they kept them going until 2002. Man, what I wouldn't give to take a tour of his place. Can't wait to see the documentaries. Many thanks for that, Quint!
-
Quint, I don't know if you respond much to talkbacks, but are those pictures with Bob recent? I noticed that the last Halloween show seems to have been in 2002, so I'm guessing Bob simply ran out of gas to keep doing them. I know Bob's advancing in years (aren't we all?) but I was wondering if his health is okay? He seems like such an awesome guy I keep hoping he's around for a few more years. Somehow, it's comforting to know folks like Bob are still around holding a flame for the great creature features of the past 50 years.
-
Bob's doing good. He stopped doing the shows for a few reasons, I think, but most of which is the personal cost involved. Even with friends and admirers pitching in he was always out of pocket it seemed.My visit was less than 2 years ago and I've heard he's the same old lovable Bob. He'll be around for a while, I think.
-
Wonderful and must be compiled for DVD. This kind of thing really gets you in the mood for Halloween. Excellent post man, one of the best things I've seen on the site.
-
damn new keyboard, yeah new keyboard that's it...
-
Los Angeles still has a few of these Yard Haunts, nothing like Bobs though. Sadly, there are fewer each year...
-
Glad to see Bob's still alive and kicking. The more CGI I see, the more concerned I am that the art of great makeup effects, and old-school monsters, might be going the way of the dodo. That said, I can't WAIT for Benicio Del Toro's Wolfman!
-
And thank you kindly Mr. Burns. The tour was EXCELLANT!
-
hehehe...
Great article Quint. Bob Burns is a megastar. -
Thanks for the heads up on that Bob Burns site. I'm gonna enjoy checking it all out.
-
Hasn't it been a week?
-
From the Ghost Busters '75 tv show, saturday morning thing he did w/ the F Troop guys. Fun stuff! he was the guy in the Ape suit. We thought it was a real monkey at the time. Oh well.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 455 total posts 231 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 127 total posts 118 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 108 total posts 108 posts
- Rest In Peace Bethesda’s Adam Adamowicz -- 84 total posts 84 posts
- Wanna smell like the Hulk? What about Cap? Consider yourself a Thunder God or a unisex God of Mischief? -- 65 total posts 64 posts
- Ridley Scott's Next Will Be Cormac McCarthy's THE COUNSELOR! -- 53 total posts 53 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 50 total posts 50 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 98 total posts 46 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 169 total posts 43 posts
- Quint travels to Barsoom and visits the John Carter set!!! -- 132 total posts 42 posts