Monster of the Day #1198







We all love the behind the scenes stuff. The thing I think is funny (and I’m sure one of you guys will correct if I’m wrong) is that I think the guy with the glasses in all the photos is producer Irwin Allen, not O’Brien or Harryhausen. Like Allen was the one designing the dinosaurs! What a dick!

  • Beckoning Chasm

    It does look an awful lot like Irwin Allen.

  • Ericb

    ” You know guys, I really think an iguana with a horn glued to its snout would look a lot better.”

  • Eric Hinkle

    I’d have loved to hear Ray’s response to that suggestion. Or Eiji Tsuburaya’s for that matter.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Allen has a lot more hair than that and a broader nose. Mystery man I say who works on a set in a coat and tie ?

    There seems to be only one picture of Ray which is also odd. That’s him with the 2×4 in the 3rd photo correct?

  • bgbear_rnh

    and O’Brien is the old man in the overalls I think.

  • mtz

    Wow, the models are much larger than I would have guessed.

  • Rock Baker

    Allen had to oversee production. Considering the rest of the film is made of stock footage, I can easily see Irwin being pretty hands-on during the making of the film’s stand-out sequence.

    O’Brien is in the first two shots for sure. That’s him next to Irwin in the second shot. Ray is standing behind Irwin in the third shot.

    Given his presence, I’m further stumped by his failure to re-use this footage in later projects! Despite his demands for opulence, he wasn’t one to let anything go to waste.

  • Rock Baker

    Producers work on set in a coat and tie, or at least they did back when there was still glamor connected with being a producer. In general back then, you could tell who did the grunt work because they’d loosen, or outright remove, their neckties.

  • Ken_Begg

    I’m not saying he wasn’t involved, but these are clearly publicity photos, and they make him look like he designed and built the things.

  • Rock Baker

    Well, they say he oversaw their construction. There’s nothing so blatant as a shot of Allen holding a pencil up and pretending to be drawing one of Obie’s sketches.

    The pix are actually pretty informative, staged or not, since they hint at a much larger crew than we would normally give credit for. We tend to, as fans, assume guys like Obie and Ray constructed their own puppets and sets even when we know otherwise.