Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Hugo: Man of a Thousand Faces

hugo man of a 1000 faces

In 1975, Kenner produced a doll that was the brain child of special effects artist/director/writer Alan Ormsby who directed the film "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" and authored the classic scolastic book Movie Monsters which probably spawned a legion of Monster kids by itself.


Hugo was a great concept, a puppet version of Lon Chaney sr, complete with makeup kit so you could give him hundreds of combinations of creepy disguises. As a bonus (?) the Hugo puppet on it's own was creepier than ten ventriloquist dummies, his unusual stare had him featured in Pee Wee Herman's original act and on the popular "Uncle Floyd Show".

hugo man of a 1000 faces
DVD DAY

man from uncle Two big TV classics are out today, first is the complete box set to the Man from U.N.C.L.E series. It took me a long time but I eventually grew to love this wild sixties spy series that started a national craze. The series goes from straight to breezy to downright campy and all of it is enjoyable.

Lots of stars in this series as well from Yvonne Craig (a boyhood crush I never recovered from) to Sonny and Cher, even James Doohan as a baddie.


incredible hulk The other big release is one of the most seminal series of the 1970's in the release of the complete box set to the Incredible Hulk series. This long running classic show sent a nation into "Hulk Mania" and just by running through some of the toy archives on the site, you can see how big an impact this series had.

I recently rewatched the pilot movie and it still holds up, eventually the show's formula tends to grind but it's still a classic.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hated this thing....Santa dropped him off when I was 3 or 4 and Hugo scared the crap out of me....his dead, dead eyes. LOL. So as a 4 year old, I shoved him back in his box and hid it in the attic crawlspace...unearthed him 30 years later when my mom sold the house....

Anonymous said...

I have some bittersweet memories of Hugo, which I posted on my blog awhile back: http://polyvinylman.blogspot.com/2007/01/from-bert-ernie-to-hugo.html

Vlad said...

After oceans of time had passed and long after the comic book ads of Hugo, Man of a Thousand Faces had been burned into Vlad's brain, I finally came to possess Hugo. In fact, I am modeling my midget monster army on Hugo. The dead eyes! The face, a canvas for many a disguise! Hugo shall be legion!!!

Chris Cummins said...

I can't get enough Hugo! Mine lives next to 2-XL on my shelf. They are married, but the state does not yet officially acknowledge their union. But one day their love will be understood!

Vlad said...

2-XL!!! Vlad's love for his 8-track playing robot knows no bounds! (I still remember residents of Vlad's castle being none too happy when Vlad played 2-XL VERY VERY LOUDLY early that Christmas morning long ago.) 2-XL shall help lead Vlad's Hugo Army to victory!

Anonymous said...

2XL was awesome. His signiture "Hmm-hmm-hmm, whistle-whistle-whistle" sound is tattooed into my memory banks. When I got older, I played my sister's old 8-tracks on them. It was odd, hearing Jethro Tull blaring from his little circuits . . .

Ian Sokoliwski said...

Yeah, the Hulk pilot.

I watched it a while ago, and, yeah, it still holds up.

However, would a scientist really wear a sheer shirt that should show off her nipples (except for the pockets on the shirt)?

:D

Keith said...

That would have so creeped me out if I had one. Glad my parents never got me one though. Yikes.

rob! said...

Hugo is profoundly disturbing.

If I had a kid, and he wanted this toy, I would've forced a Catcher's Mitt in his hand and told him to go outside.

Joe Sherlock said...

I had a Hugo and LOVED IT! You could stick the disguise stuff on your own face, too! I need to se if it's still buried somewhere at my parents' house...

Anonymous said...

I had this Hugo toy and loved it, but I think the reason it wasn't more successful was because they made it so tedious. You were supposed to put the pieces on with glue stick and then wash them off! What kid (or parent) wants to keep doing that? Still, Hugo is and always will be a classic!

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin