GOGOS GOES at 78 - The Famous Monster of Art Land

Basil Gogos (last name Greek) was one of the first artists most Baby Boomers appreciated. His work was featured on the cover of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND. He was a master of squeamy color and palpable texture. His portraits brought out every gruesome lump and bump, and his imaginative use of color turned most any face into a gruesome landscape.

This is a typical bit of Master Gogos' genius. I wonder what Master Gogos could've done with Lady Gaga. Basil actually did some album covers, but mostly for guys like Rob Zombie, who grew up admiring the man's work.

Famous Monsters of Filmland was popular in the late 50's and through the 60's (thanks to the "monster craze" that spawned "Monster Mash," "They're Coming to Take Me Away," TV shows such as "Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits," and the Roger Corman Poe films starring Vincent Price). When I was editing ROCKET in the late 70's, I still hoped to add a credit in "Famous Monsters" to my resume, but the mag was struggling.

There were also few horror actors who were either alive, or, such as Vincent Price and Christopher Lee, hadn't been done to death in the pages of the mag. Figuring horror and rock might work, I called up and offered interviews with the ghoulishly-made up rock group KISS. I got through to James Warren, who I knew to be a generous fellow. He had offered a year's scholarship money to my college roomie.

I'll digress for that story. My friend worked summers as a lifeguard, and saved some kid from drowning. It got in the papers, and Jim Warren read about it. He'd always wanted to do something special for a lifeguard, so he called up my friend. The "deal" ended up that Warren would pay for a year's tuition. My roomie told me about this windfall, and said his benefactor was "a rich publisher." He'd never heard of him. He spoke the magic words.

"James Warren???" I said. "That's JAMES WARREN! He's the publisher of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND! And VAMPIRELLA!" Ah, my friend thought, then this is just the guy to help out with a great costume for Halloween. He called up Warren and asked for one extra favor. And Warren delivered: a perfect, precise, expensive full CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON head.

I got to wear it too. My friend was an amateur skin diver, so I wore his skin diver gear and the CREATURE head, to wander around the campus one day. It was the closest I'd ever come to BEING a "Famous Monster of Filmland."

Well, I called up Jim Warren and pitched my interview idea. I mentioned that I'd once had a fun converation with Gene Simmons all about horror movies. Gene, a rather self-confident person, said, "I know it ALL. Ask me ANY question about horror movies." And I said, "OK, what were the years of the 3 Karloff Frankenstein films?" He said, "1931, 1933 1935." And I said, "Pretty good. Not quite." "No," said Gene, "I got it right." I said, "Well, Frankenstein was 1931, but the gap was longer. Bride of Frankenstein was 1935 and Son of Frankenstein 1939." Gene allowed, "You may be right. Anyway, I know everything about horror films!"

"Gene's a big fan of horror movies and Famous Monsters of Filmland," I told Mr. Warren. And he replied, "KISS uses the SS in their logo. They're a bunch of Nazis."

I said, "The logo was lightning. Whoever designed it, thought that lightning bolts would be cool. That's all that is." "It looks like the SS," Warren said. "Gene Simmons is Jewish," I said. "So is Paul Stanley. Half the band is Jewish." "Then they don't know their heritage. You tell them, I'll fly them to Dachau. I'll show them Dachau."

Things deteriorated from there. My one and only conversation with James Warren had made him simmer with anger, his voice quiet but intense and menacing. "Well...it was nice having a chance to speak with you," I said at the end of all this. "I'm one of your big fans. You've heard it so often, but it's true, I grew up reading F.M. So it was an honor to talk with you." "You're welcome," Mr. Warren replied, with a slight bit of conciliation in his voice.

A little while after that, "Famous Monster of Filmland" held a bankruptcy sale. It was a strange moment, going over to the office on auction day, and seeing the holdings of "Captain Company." The very astute Mr. Warren ran a lot of ads in the back of his magazines, all to sell mail order merchandise via his own company. He bought records, books, 8mm films and toys wholesale, and I think he also commissioned a variety of masks and posters and other items that were exclusives to the magazine. And there they were, being sold off in huge lots...hundreds of sealed 8mm Castle Films of "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" and the rest, and shelves marked off into lots, full of fake skulls and other goodies.

And yes, there was plenty of reproductions of Basil Gogos art, and lots of copies of the magazines. Not all the magazines. "Famous Monsters of Filmland" was one of the first, at least that I ever saw, to market their out of print issues as collectors items. Every new issue seemed to raise the price on remaining back issues, with a few more "SOLD OUT." I learned something else. Never send money through the mail. I didn't have a check book in those days. I waited for my rare copies of "Famous Monsters" and they never came.

Over the years, Basil Gogos did very well thanks to nostalgic F.M. fans. Monster fans such as Rob Zombie commissioned Basil for cover art. A website offered lithograph copies of Basil's work, and he turned up at the usual memorabilia shows. He was one of a select group of magazine artists who were revered by a generation. He WAS the master at "Famous Monsters." The other artists in his class were from "Mad Magazine," with Jack Davis leading the way. Davis not only did a lot of "Mad" covers, he successfully widened his market to include "TV Guide," and record albums (Bob and Ray, Homer & Jethro, etc. etc.) and movie posters.

When I edited RAVE, one fulfilled ambition was to hire Jack Davis. (Basil Gogos would've been, uh, too morbid!) RAVE was affiliated with ABC-TV, and helped on George Schlatter's annual Comedy Awards show. One year, to promote the ABC show, I hired Jack Davis to draw various comedians, including Roseanne Barr, Gary Shandling and Robin Williams, all grabbing for the Award, ala "Mad Mad Mad Mad World." My art director had good news and bad news. Yes, he was able to get Jack Davis to do our cover. That was the good news. The bad news? His price tag was my entire budget for the issue.

OK, I wrote the magazine myself that month. It was worth it. I said, "I'm just so glad to get Jack Davis. It'll be so great to have an actual piece of Jack Davis art, too." My art director said, "No, no, I'M taking that Jack Davis art. I'M the ART director." This could've led to a fist fight, but as it turned out, Jack's contract stipulated that HE owned his art work, and it had to be returned to him.

Jack Davis and Basil Gogos were probably the two most successful magazine cover illustrators of their era. Oh, there were others who were Artistic with a capital A, like Tomi Ungerer, and fetishists collect the paperback book cover art done by Stanton or Ward. A few older guys like Mort Kunstler (whose son was a college pal) have art gallery showings and even get commissions to create U.S. postage stamps, But if you had original art on Basil or Jack, you had an investment! And you'd never sell.