Thursday, July 23, 2015

The Magic Band at Western Costume

This Guy Webster photo of Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - an outtake from a 1967 session for the STRICTLY PERSONAL album gatefold - shows Don Van Vliet (center) wearing the mask created for the Edgar G. Ulmer film THE MAN FROM PLANET X (1951).


I've known this for awhile, but what I didn't notice until seeing this photo is that the stocking-masked gentleman second from the left might well be wearing the slouch hat worn by Vincent Price during his skulking scenes in HOUSE OF WAX (1953)!


Drummer John French, who is wearing one of these get-ups, remembers that the group obtained the wardrobe and props from this shoot from Western Costume rental in Hollywood. I wonder if any of the other space helmets or other props seen in this photo can be traced to other classic films or television shows? If any of these others, um, ring a bell - let me know at tim@videowatchdog.com.