Aha! Here is a blast from the past. I used to have one of these on my bedroom wall as a lad in the 60s. While the following story does not authenticate anything, you might find it "enlightening."
Growing up in the New York/Long Island area, there was a special promotion around the time Aurora (I believe it was Aurora) released an oversized model of Frankenstein that had movable arms and a long chain connected to a hunk of stone (plastic). The arms were connected through the shoulders by a very large rubber band, so you could move both arms up and down. The model was approx. 2 1/2 feet tall. I had one and I was the envy of the neighborhood. Enough about the model and back to the poster.
One night around that time, my Mom and Dad gathered me and my brother up and took us out for a "surprise." They told us we were going to go see someone special who was appearing at a local department store. When we got to the store -- and I can't remember which store that was, either Macy's, Abraham & Strauss or E.J. Korvettes -- a large crowd had gathered, complete with security guards brandishing machine guns (these were probably actors with toy guns). In the middle of the crowd was a hulking brute -- the Frankenstein Monster.
He was sitting in a huge chair, signing those posters with a magic marker and grunting and growling for the kids.
We had just gotten in under the wire and were amongst the last to get our posters signed. As we neared Franky, I got scared. Real scared.
The guards were playing it to the hilt..."Don't get too close, kid. He's mean and dangerous." Nonsense now, but scary then. The dude had great makeup and we kids thought he was the real Frankenstein from the movies. I was shaking like a leaf.
He signed my poster "Franky," and as we stepped back to take it all in, the guards declared that the show was over and everybody had to clear the way for the monster's departure. Then, with a rustling of chains and grunts and growls, the Monster stood up towering over us. As he turned to leave, he lurched towards us and went "Aaaarrrgggghhh." shaking his outstretched arms in our direction.
Now, even though I was a little kid, I didn't scream in fear. I did the next best thing -- the quiet thing -- I wet my pants. How fargin' embarrassing!
That was a bodily function my family never let me off the hook for. I was ribbed by them for years, "Did big, bad ol' Franky make you wet your pants?"
True story, I kid you not.
According to the pics that I found of the model, it was released in 1964. That makes it about right. The signed poster stayed on my wall for years, finally becoming tattered and covered with all sorts of shit my brother and I would throw at one another. The model -- well, we eventually packed it full of firecrackers and put it out of it's misery. Wish I still had both.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Ooops, are my pants damp???
