Hugo: Man of a Thousand Faces

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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".

DVD DAY
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.

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.
For more Fashion Mockery and 70's toy love visit us at Plaid Stallions.com


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[jwyblejr]

Didn't I see him on The Venture Brothers? I think I saw 21 with one and Hank Venture took his goatee to make himself look Russian.

[sauce]

What a mug on that Hugo!

[DocDrako]

My wife is creeped out by Hugo. I gotta get one. So I can creep her out more.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Every year Hugo would creep me out in the Sears catalog.I didn't notice until now, how much Mini-Me (and to a lesser extent, Dr. Evil) resemble Hugo.

Chris

[Mikey]

I can't think about Hugo without thinking of Uncle Floyd

[HardyGirl]

I know one of my friends had Hugo, but I can't for the life of me remember who. I remember that plastic smell, though.

The first time I saw U.N.C.L.E. was that marathon that was on Encore last year. But I really like it. And IMHO, The Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno Hulk is the definitive version for me. I love the series (as well as Bill Bixby, RIP), and have many eps on tape, as well as some great trading cards.

[vulcan2074]

Hugo is just So Weird Looking.

I Never saw the man from U.N.C.L.E. but It does look interesting.

I Love the Incredible Hulk. That was an awesome show. One of the Greats.


Sammy

[Mikey]

m

[toys2cool]

I love this figure,I've always wanted one

[cjefferys]

My grandparents bought me Hugo for my birthday when I was a kid. What a great toy (I had no idea it was created by the director of CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, that's very interesting trivia). Of course, as the years went by, more and more of my Hugo's pieces went missing. We used to torment my younger cousin with Hugo whenever he visited our house. He was seriously scared of him (can you blame him??). I don't know what eventually happened to my Hugo, I completely lost track of him. My mother probably sold him at a yard sale or something. I'm definitely going to have to rebuy this someday.

[censy]

I had a Hugo, when I was little. I remember it came with this glue stick, with brown glue in it, that you used to stick his appliances to him. It didn't work too well : )

Chris

[AUSSIE-Rebooted-AMM]

Man. . .I am eternally in my parents debt for getting me a Hugo back in the day. . . still have it. . .minus most of his bits . . . .yeah that glue was horrible sticky gooey stuff.

[cjefferys]

Yeah, that glue was the only disappointing aspect of the toy. It was easily washable, but it didn't stick too well.