June 19-21, 1998
Pittsburgh, PA
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MONSTER BASH
'98
June 19-21, 1998 Pittsburgh, PA |
Ron Adams and staff must be thanked for a successfull convention that featured, amoung other things, a King Kong 65th Birthday bash. Ray Harryhausen and Forry Ackerman were on hand to share memories of King Kong and their own careers. They participated in 2 Q & A seesion together and each one held an individual session. We got a chance to discuss our web site, THE FANTASTIC FILMS OF RAY HARRYHAUSEN a bit with Ray, and were happy to hear that he's pleased with the progress and changes on the site. Ray and Forry were presented with plaques from the Bash Staff and Ray received a special bust of Kong. Forry was presented with a portrait of Lon Chaney and treated the audience with an accapella rendition of Marlene's Dietrich's FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN in German. We thanked Forry for the song and he treated us to another song about Aladdin (pictured below). Boyd Campbell presented a very interesting discussion on the "lost" scenes of Kong which included a slide presentation of the spider sequence and other footage removed from the film and believed to be lost forever.
The MONSTER BASH is a true horror film lover's convention. They presented a MEXICAN MONSTER MOVIE night on Friday, Forry joined the audience sitting through the films into the wee small hours of the morning. The audience loved the films applauding and cheering on Santos as he battle the Vampire women. Saturday afternoon saw a Ray Harryhausen film festival screening several of the black and white films leading to the Kong Party on Saturday night with screenings of KING KONG, SON OF KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. Sunday closed out the film festival with tributes to Lon Chaney Jr and Elena Verdugo (the gypsy girl from HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN whose better known to today's audiences as Consuela from MARCUS WELBY M.D.)
We've included a few pictures that Sue took during the Bash here for your enjoyment!
RAY HARRYHAUSEN AND FORRY ACKERMAN DURING THE BASH
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Ray discusses the Web Page with Jim |
Talking To Ray Harryhausen |
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Jim, Forry Ackerman & Ray |
Forry, Ray and Ron Adams |
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Ray in the Kong Room |
Diana (Ray's Wife) and I take a break |
Other MONSTER BASH 98 Pictures
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Boyd Campbell and Jim discussing KONG |
Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman & Guest |
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Sue Meets Tom Savini |
THE EVAN'S CITY CEMETARY
(The NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD cemetary)
The MONSTER BASH was held in Pittsburgh and, knowing that Evan's City was only about 25 miles north of the convention, We left Sunday afternoon and made a side trip to the cemetary immortalized in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. The cemetary had been uprooted by a tornado a few years after NOTLD, but you can still recognize it. Great end to a great convention. That's Sue taking a break on the cemetary marker.
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