Vintage Barnabas Collins model kit gets a makeover

Much of the vintage merchandise created for DARK SHADOWS is amazingly naïve. In his defense, Dan Curtis essentially created the business model that George Lucas would later perfect. While movies and television shows had been attaching their brand to peripheral (if not entirely disposal) products for years, Curtis established a framework for private enterprises that allowed them milk an intellectual property for everything it was worth. It's almost shocking to me that HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, a movie that provided the Dark Shadows brand with its first legitimate Hollywood support, wasn't accompanied by the same flood of crap that had been attached to the television series just a few years earlier. Where were the trading cards? The coloring books? The HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS board game? Talk about a missed opportunity.

There didn't seem to be much in the way of quality control for the DARK SHADOWS television brand, though. When I referred to the merch as "naïve" at the start of this post, I really meant "awful yet cute." The MPC model kit is a flagship of sorts for the Dark Shadows brand, and is more representative of the "monster kid" culture championed by MPC than anything seen on DARK SHADOWS. It's a neat kit, to be sure, but looks more like an undead Alfred E. Neuman than Jonathan Frid.

Dick Smith adds a few hundred years to Jonathan Frid, 1967.

Back in 2013, MPC re-released the kits with new head sculpts for both the original Barnabas Collins and Werewolf model kits, featuring much improved likenesses of both characters. Not to be outdone, Escape Hatch Hobbies now has available a head for the Barnabas Collins kit that resembles the iconic Dick Smith make-up for the "aged" version of the character. This appears to be an unlicensed product so I hope this post doesn't cause them any problems ... but their work is pretty damned good.

You can see profiles of the sculpt below, and find them for sale on Ebay by clicking HERE.

Dick Smith shows you how to vampire, 1965

In 1965, Famous Monsters of Filmland published a rather incredible magazine devoted to the work of make-up artist Dick Smith. While already a respected talent, he was still a few years away from his ground-breaking work on LITTLE BIG MAN and THE GODFATHER. Smith eventually became a legend in the industry, his name synonymous by the '80s with the concept of "great make-up effects."

In 1965, though, Smith's talents were still within reach of Warren Publishing, who convinced him to help edit the "Do-It-Yourself Make-Up Monster Handbook," a one-shot magazine that illustrated simple, intermediate and advanced make-up techniques. The models were mostly teenagers, but Smith wore his own appliances in a few of the magazine's photos. The magazine is a Monster Kid landmark, produced in such quantities that it's still pretty easy to find today.

Dick Smith adds a few centuries to Jonathan Frid.

Of course, Smith also played an important tole in DARK SHADOWS. He created the make-up affects that "aged" vampire Barnabas Collins in both the television show and the 1970 feature film HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS. It remains some of my favorite of Smith's work.

For those of you thinking about dressing up for this year's Dark Shadows Festival, below are instructions from Smith on how to best capture that vampire look. Enjoy!

VAMPIRE
I think a vampire make-up is a very good one for you to begin with. The materials and the application are quite simple but the effect is great. You need white, black, and gray or green grease-paints, a black eyebrow pencil, and some pale or neutral powder. Some false teeth from a novelty store and some stage blood would add to the effect but are not necessary.

STEP I — HAIR 
Start by wetting your hair and brushing it straight back. Add more water or hair dressing if necessary to get it to stay. Obviously, long hair is best for this make-up, which will give you another excuse for not going to the barber.

STEP 2 — BASE 
Your face should be given a pale, weird color. White (or light flesh color) plus some gray or green greasepaint will give the right effect. Wash your hands first, then put dabs of both colors all over your face and mix them by rubbing them together with your fingertips. Keep adding grease-paint until you have covered your entire face, neck, ears, lips and blended the make-up right into your hairline.

STEP 3 — SHADOWING 
Next take the gray or green color and put more of it under the cheekbones and at the temples to make these areas look darker and more hollow (see illustrations of facial highlighting and shadowing in the first chapter—if you want to be very particular). Use a fingertip or a quarter inch (or larger) brush to blend the shadows but do not slave over them because they are not necessary for this make-up, just good practice for you.

STEP 4 — EYES 
The eyes are the most important thing. Apply black greasepaint to the upper and lower lids, making it very dark close to the eyelashes and in the hollows around the eyeball. Press gently with your finger and you will feel the hollow in the skull in which the eyeball rests. Your shadowing should not go beyond it and the outer edges of the shadow should get lighter and lighter until they blend softly into the pale flesh color. A quarter-inch sable brush (#7 or 8) is handy for working around the eyes but you can do it with a fingertip.

STEP 5 — POWDER 
Now powder your face generously with a pale or neutral powder. Pat it on, do not rub. The powder absorbs the grease and sets it, so you put on plenty and then brush off the excess with a powder brush or a piece of clean cotton or one of those fuzzy bath powder puffs.

STEP 6 — EYEBROWS 
The shape of the vampire's eyebrows is most important. Use your black pencil and keep it fairly sharp with a single-edge razor blade. The idea is to make tiny hair-like lines on the skin in the same direction that natural eyebrows grow. Study the close-up picture and then start penciling near the nose until the brows almost meet each other. Now work on the rest, giving the top of the brows the diabolical upward slant.

STEP 7 — FINISHING TOUCHES 
The black pencil can also be used to enlarge the nostril openings by applying black in and around them. The inner part of the lips should also be blackened into a thin hard line with the eyebrow pencil or greasepaint and a brush Your hair should be dry by now and in good shape but if it is not, fix it once more. There have been vampire make-ups with both black and blonde hair, so you can leave yours the way it is. If you should want to blacken your hair, liquid black mascara or black cake make-up is the proper thing to use (never risk injury by using some non-cosmetic material like shoe polish). Other black make-up materials might be used but avoid them unless you are sure that you can wash them out of your hair easily.

TEETH 
If you want to have fangs, now is the time to put them in or improvise some. The simplest method is to bend a white pipe cleaner into a shape like a croquet wicket and model wax fangs over the ends. Chewing wax is good; so is the yellow wax on some cheeses (Bonbel and Bel Paese). Paraffin for preserving must be softened in very hot water. A whitish taffy might work.

If you want to be gruesome, you can apply a trickle or two of stage blood to your lips. A very weird touch is to paint bright red greasepaint or blood on the lower eyelids in a line just under the lashes.

Lastly you will want to dress for the part. Find whatever you can that is black or somber in color. A large piece of cheap black cloth makes a good cape or can be draped around the head as a hood.

Oscars obits include DARK SHADOWS make-up artist

The internets were abuzz this morning about the snubbing of Joan Rivers from the Academy Awards' 2015 Cavalcade of the Dead. People are legitimately surprised that a woman who spent much of her life mocking people on the red carpet was omitted from the "In Memoriam" tribute. At least they finally got rid of the obligatory applause during the montage, which had the awkward habit of rising and falling based on the celebrity of the person appearing on the screen.

I saw about five minutes of last night's ceremony, which is five minutes more than I've seen of the presentation during the last two decades. I pretty much quit the Oscars during the whole FOREST GUMP vs PULP FICTION kerfuffle and have (rarely) looked back. By chance, I was in the room during the "In Memoriam" segment and spotted the card for make-up artist Dick Smith. For a moment, it appeared that Barnabas Collins had found his way into the montage ... but it was only Dustin Hoffman from LITTLE BIG MAN. Yes, it's essentially the same make-up appliance Smith used in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, but still ... I had disappointments.

Smith, of course, worked on the DARK SHADOWS television series, creating the first version of the "Old Man Barnabas" make-up in 1967. I still prefer the work Smith did on the television show, but concede that the make-up in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS is scarier.

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the visuals used in this year's presentation. The images were actually quite attractive, and were so complex that I wondered how long they took to prepare. Rather than just using a still photo from the archives, the producers opted to have mixed media images (or their digital counterparts, anyway) for each of the people featured in the gallery.

The variety of the images used was a little weird, though. This was a remembrance of people who died during the last year, but many of the images were photos taken of the actors when they were much, much younger. I'm positive James Garner has had his photo taken since the release of THE GREAT ESCAPE in 1963, so I don't know what they had to dig that deep into the archives unless they were trying to make some other statement. (Gasp! Can Hollywood be ... shallow?) Edward Herrmanm's photo looked to have been taken a few months ago, while the one for Robin Williams might have been from his Mork years. And I'm still a little confused as to why a photo of Eli Wallach from THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY was used. Were they afraid people wouldn't know who he was? See also: Bob Hoskins' portrait, which showed him kissing Jessica Rabbit.

Dick Smith, DARK SHADOWS make-up artist: 1922-2014

Dick Smith, right, adds a few hundred years to actor Jonathan Frid.

Legendary make-up artist Dick Smith died yesterday at the age of 92.

Jonathan Frid in DARK SHADOWS, 1967.

Smith was a pioneer in the development of latex and plastics used in make-up applications, and was responsible for creating the "aging" of Barnabas Collins in both the DARK SHADOWS television show in 1967, as well as in the 1970 feature HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS. His credits include LITTLE BIG MAN, THE EXORCIST, TAXI DRIVER and THE GODFATHER.
 

"It was a rush job doing a 100+ year-old makeup on Jonathan Frid for one episode but it turned out to be valuable preparation for LITTLE BIG MAN," Smith explained on his website. "I attempted blinking eyelids with partial success. Overlapping appliances covered the face and neck."

That same year Smith worked on DARK SHADOWS, he won a Primtetime Emmy for  Individual Achievements in Art Direction and Allied Crafts - Makeup for MARK TWAIN TONIGHT!, a CBS special starring Hal Holbrook.

Frid in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, 1970.

Smith was tasked with repeating his DARK SHADOWS success on the feature film HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS.  Smith famously re-used portions of Dustin Hoffman's make-up from LITTLE BIG MAN to complete actor Jonathan Frid's transformation in the film.

"The film repeated the episode where 'Barnabas' turns ancient," Smith explained on the credits page of his official website. "I used some of the previous appliances but re-made the forehead and joined it with the back head-piece from LITTLE BIG MAN. to make him bald. Also used the eyelids from LITTLE BIG MAN."

"I was sorry to hear the sad news of Dick Smith's passing last week," said actress. Kathryn Leigh Scott. "He was a wonderful makeup artist, one of the best! We loved working with him on HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS. I still have the latex scar he made (using a veal cutlet pierced with a meat fork as a mold!) for my neck after Barnabas (in Dick's old age makeup) bit me. Wonderful memories of a dear man!"

Smith won a 1985 Academy Award for Makeup for his work on AMADEUS and received a 2012 Honorary Academy Award for his career's work.

"THE EXORCIST was really a turning point for makeup special effects," special effects artist Rick Baker (STAR WARS, VIDEODROME) told The Washington Post in 2007. "Dick showed that makeup wasn't just about making people look scary or old, but had many applications. He figured out a way to make the welts swell up on Linda's stomach, to make her head spin around, and he created the vomit scenes."

Kathryn Leigh Scott and Jonathan Frid in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS.

Collinsport News Bulletins

Dick Smith, right, adds a few hundred years to actor Jonathan Frid.

* Academy Award-winning make-up artist Dick Smith, the make-up artist for such films as THE GODFATHER, THE EXORCIST and HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, will be receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild in February. Smith was also the make-up artist on the original DARK SHADOWS television series. Via The Hollywood Reporter

* DARK SHADOWS writer Sam Hall is suing for royalties involving his work on episodes of ONE LIFE TO LIVE distributed in 2013 through services such as iTunes and Hulu. Via We Love Soaps.

* THE COLLINSPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY's first book, MONSTER SERIAL, received a nice mention by the BAY AREA REPORTER. The book is available from Amazon.

* Sharon Smyth Lentz ("Sarah Collins" from DARK SHADOWS) will be appearing in July at the MonsterCon in Greenville, S.C., alongside folks like Butch Patrick, Pat Priest and Ricou Browning (of THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.)