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Contact Us
The Haunted Studios
25041 State 92
Bagley MN 56621
Telephone 213
928-5302
Email Us Now or use
our
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Life Mask?
Can I wear a Life Mask?
Are they life size? I bought a Life Mask and it looks smaller than life size?
Can I paint the masks myself to look "life like"?
Why do some Life Masks have hair and open eyes?
Where do your original Life Masks come from?
I have an original Life Mask I want to sell. Are you interested?
How many copies of each mask are made?
Do the masks come with any Certificates?
Other people sell the same masks but they cost three times as much. Why?
Can I buy your items wholesale for my shop our website?
Can I get one of your life masks cast in bronze or other metal?
What is the difference between Studio 303 and The Haunted Studios?
Where did your Original Maltese Falcon come from?
What is a Life Mask?
Generally, a life mask is a cast taken from the face of a living person. Also known as a life cast these living impressions have been used for centuries by artists working in all mediums to capture true to life images.
Life masks are used in motion picture and television industries to create special effects make up. Rather than tying up an actor to sit through make up tests, a cast is taken and used to produce the required make up appliances. A variation is the Death Mask, again a centuries old technique, used to record the features of dead persons.
Can I wear a Life Mask?
No. Life Masks are made as display items. Traditionally they are solid or hollow cast in casting plaster or stone. Life Casts from The Haunted Studios Collection™ are exclusively cast in UltraStone™.
Are they life size? I bought a Life Mask and it looks smaller than life size?
Yes, all Life Masks sold by The Haunted Studios™ are life size. It is often surprising just how small some actors are; a long standing tradition dating back to the stage. Smaller actors allowed for smaller (and cheaper) sets and costumes. Some life masks are cast from originals that are over 70 years old and may have one to two percent shrinkage due to age but remain essentially life size.
Can I paint the masks myself to look "life like"?
Yes, and many of our customers do paint the casts in flesh tones. For best results order your mask in white. All of our life masks are available in White, Antique Gold, or Antique Silver.
Why do some Life Masks have hair and open eyes?
The Life Masks in The Haunted Studios Collection™ are all castings from studio originals; we do not "sculpt" or "enhance" the life masks in any way. Typically a studio will create a Life Mask to develop special effects make up. For that purpose the casting will not have hair or open eyes.
Other times, as illustrated above with actor Richard Boone, the studio technicians will sculpt the eyes open or add hair. The only Haunted Studios™ Life Masks that have open eyes or hair are the ones sculpted by the original studios; we do NOT modify the life masks in any way.
Where do your original Life Masks come from?
Our collection began in 1963 when Ken Patterson retrieved a number of Life Masks and original molds being discarded by Universal Studios. Ken pulled nearly 100 masks and molds from the dumpsters at the time Universal was "cleaning house". Over the years we have purchased or traded to bring our collection to over 3,000 Life and Death Masks. Only a fraction are offered for sale at any one time.
I have an original Life Mask I want to sell. Are you interested?
We are always buying Life Masks, so if you have something to sell please contact us at ken@hauntedstudios.com to let us know what you have.
How many copies of each mask are made?
Generally we produce 50 pieces from each mold, then that mold is destroyed. Some editions may be as large as 100 pieces. Each mask is close numbered. We use an IR ink to record the mask number on the back of each mask. Your purchase is registered with us and your number recorded. Often, for popular Life Masks, we will create a new mold when the initial run is sold out. Some masks, however, are limited to their initial production run and once sold out are never again offered.
Do the masks come with any Certificates?
Yes, each Life Mask from The Haunted Studios™ comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and your purchase is registered with us and your number recorded.
Other people sell the same masks but they cost three times as much. Why?
We have been collecting, trading, and selling since 1963. That's 46 years. When we started a hard to find mask might cost hundreds of dollars. When we began selling our collection on the internet we wanted to have fair, popular prices. Most of our "faces" are under $20. and most of our "heads" are under $30.
Our prices are fair and our quality is the best. You can pay more for someone's recasting of our masks, but why would you?
Where did your Original Maltese Falcon come from?
This a long but interesting story. To start with we need to go back to the original 1941 Warner Brothers production of The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart.
Surviving documents and first person accounts confirm that director John Huston was far from pleased when presented with the Original Maltese Falcon prop by Warner Brothers Art Director Robert Haas. The problem with the Falcon was that it looked new. Huston felt this inappropriate for a piece that had been around the world many times in the hands of greedy men.
More than 600 years travel should have taken their toll, but as presented the dingus looked like it was literally made yesterday.
An Artist in his own right, Huston did a number of sketches depicting how the Original Maltese Falcon should be aged for its appearance on the screen. Following Huston's instructions the Warner Brothers Property Department produced a second, aged original that won the director's OK.
The Property Department created lead and plaster castings while Huston and Associate Producer Henry Blanke arranged for an outside modeler to provide a light weight and durable resin casting.
It is important to know that the resin falcon is actually quite different from the plaster and lead falcons; its head is flat and elongated, much like a real bird. The resin dingus was used exclusively in publicity photos and compared to the screen used castings the difference is plain to see.
We all know what the Falcon looked like that made it to the screen, but what happened to the original, unaltered Maltese Falcon? That is a question that historians have been arguing over for years.
We do know that several plaster castings were made of the unaltered Falcon. Some immediately disappeared into private collections, in the early 1990s a claim was made that one had been found inside a sound stage wall at Warner Brothers, and at least one appears to have ended up in the hand prop room at Century Props on Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood. That Falcon was rented in the summer of 1962 for use on The Steve Allen Show syndicated by Westinghouse TV and taped just down the street in the old Vine Street Theater.
The Falcon was to have been used in a comedy sketch featuring Allen as Sam Spade, but for reasons unknown the bit was never performed and the Falcon sat backstage at The Steve Allen Playhouse on Vine Street in Hollywood, never returned to Century Props.
In the summer of 1963 a new Steve Allen Show set was installed and a general house cleaning took place. Ken Patterson, then a teenager, spent most of the summer hanging out at the studio, having been introduced to the crew by Talent Coordinator Jerry Hopkins. When the old set was coming down Patterson was given a truck load of "trash" including the plaster casting of The Original Maltese Falcon.
With help from his friend sculptor Vito Paulekas Ken produced the first Studio 303™ mold from The Falcon. Within days he had sold the first copies through a collector's book shop just off of Hollywood Blvd. This Original Maltese Falcon has been offered for sale by The Haunted Studios™ continuously since 1963.
In 2008 The Haunted Studios™, in association with Studio 303™, for the first time offered a "screen accurate" version of The Original Maltese Falcon to honor the 45th Anniversary of our offering of The Original Maltese Falcon.
The 45th Anniversary Falcon was created by applying hand burnishing and aging techniques to a cast of the first Haunted Studios Original Maltese Falcon™ in order to achieve a Screen Accurate replica with an authenticated history. Our Falcon stands 12" tall and has a shipping weight of 8 pounds.
What is the difference between Studio 303 and The Haunted Studios?
This is really a chicken or the egg question. Ken Patterson, the Curator of The Haunted Studios Collection™ grew up in Hollywood California in the 1960s. This was a time of great change in the entertainment industry as well as society in general. Throughout the 1960s studios were "cleaning house". Not only were they letting go of long time contract employees, but they were cleaning out old storerooms and lofts. Decades worth of old effects prop molds, Life Masks, and sets were on their way to the land fills of Los Angeles.
Starting in 1963 Ken "mined" a sizeable collection of celebrity Life Masks. Whenever Ken would show the collection the immediate reaction was amazement and "I want one!". Life Masks were not well know as they are today. They were collected and traded, but only by entertainment insiders and were highly valued prizes.
Ken had been kicking around the name The Haunted Studios™ ever since hearing the story of an old sound stage on Santa Monica Blvd that was supposed to be haunted by the ghost of Rudolph Valentino. Ken began using the Haunted Studios™ name for a number of projects in 1963, including the sale of castings of Life Masks and The Original Maltese Falcon™.
Noted sculptor Vito Paulekas was a close friend of Ken's and helped with the very first molds made from the original Life Masks. The Haunted Studios™ production division, Studio 303™, is named in honor of Vito, the address of his Hollywood art studio was 303 North Laurel Avenue.
To make a long story short, Studio 303™ makes them and The Haunted Studios™ sells them!
Can I get one of your life masks cast in bronze or other metal?
Yes, but it is quite expensive. Foundry costs vary from mask to mask, but the fees are always several hundreds of dollars just for the casting process. Hot (foundry) cast life masks are quoted on an individual basis. For more information email us at questions@hauntedstudios.com
Can I buy your items wholesale for my shop or website?
Yes, all of our items are available wholesale, and the majority offer a progressive quantity discount. For more information on how to set up an account just click on the Wholesale information link below our banner or click here.
For more information
Ken Patterson's Haunted Studios™ are known world wide for a rare
collection of props and Life Masks of the greatest stars of
motion pictures and television. We started this collection in
the early 1960s, and have been adding to it ever since.
If you have a question we would be happy to
hear it, just contact us at
questions@hauntedstudios.com
and we'll get back to you with an answer.
