Monster of the Day #735

Might as well stick with theme, sort of.

Following (another) unfortunate transporter accident, he bucks up by practicing his jazz hands.

Even after he got his head issues straightened out, the Creature kept up his dance lessons.

Why? Because smooth dancers get the chicks. Hey, watch those fins, mister!

  • Flangepart

    Ah, but the claw gets in the way of full appreciation of the wonderment…(Sigh)…

  • Ericb

    The suit looks great but it must have been hot in that thing.

  • The Rev.

    Those photos are wonderful. I love that second one.

  • SteveWD

    I would bet that these are from production of ‘Revenge of the Creature’. The ‘Silver Springs’ on the scuba tank (the underwater shots of the first ‘Creature’ were mostly shot at Wakulla Springs – I think, ‘Revenge’ was shot at Silver Springs), the car in the first picture looks to be from the Marineland rampage in ‘Revenge’. I live not too far from what’s left of Marineland. Everything seen there in ‘Revenge of the Creature’ was bulldozed a few years back. The location of the tank where the creature was ‘held’ is a parking lot for the much downsized interactive dolphin attraction. I guess what’s kind of ironic is that Marineland + University of Florida Whitney Lab is now much more a scientific research establishment now than it was way back when this was made.

  • bgbear_rnh

    a much cooler version of “The Incredible Mr. Limpet”.

  • Gamera977

    I’d been to Marineland as a kid back in the mid ’80s and had no idea they’d renovated the whole park. Haven’t been back since then. I did visit Silver Springs a few years back, I thought some of the stuff did look somewhat familiar from the ‘Creature’ movies. The dolphin tank from SS looks a great deal like the tank they put the gillman in ‘Revenge’ but I’m thinking they said on the commentary it was a tank at Marineland though.

  • SteveWD

    Old Marineland is pretty much gone. It went bankrupt in the 90’s and sat for a few years. New investors bought up the property and bulldozed everything. What’s there now is a very small ‘dolphin encounter’ type of attraction – really low key. The Whitney Marine Lab which is operated by UF is the only thing from the old days that is still there. What turned into Marineland was originally built in the 30’s as Marine Studios. The big tank was specifically constructed for underwater photography – it turned into a big tourist attraction and the Marineland name was adopted later.

  • Gamera977

    I went by their website before I posted and got that impression. Sad to see it go but it’s good to know that the research lab is still operating.
    Thanks for the information, I had no idea.

  • Rock Baker

    The first two shots are of Ben Chapman, you can tell from the chest and shape of the head in the second pic. That would make those from the first film. I do think, however, that the third shot was taken during production of REVENGE.

  • Hes doing the classic ‘Exit, stage left’ move on picture two.

  • SteveWD

    Aha, thank you. I knew there were differences between the land and water creature costumes because of different actors but I sure can’t tell unless they are side by side. So, the land creature is a different actor in all the movies but in the water it’s all Ricou Browning?

  • Cullen Waters

    Those are the greatest pictures ever.

  • Rock Baker

    That’s what I understand. The land versions were played by Ben Chapman, Tom Hennesy (sp?), and finally Don Megowan. I guess there just were no other actors who could hold their breath and swim as well as Browning (who, amusingly enough was a, I believe, five pack a day smoker at the time he was doing these pictures). I see Browning pop up in interviews shot decades later, and he now bears a striking resemblance to Ozzie Nelson!

  • Eric Hinkle

    Who ever knew that Creature from the Black Lagoon had such smooth moves with the ladies? I wonder if Lovecraftian Deep Ones are equally adept when romancing human women?