MINNESOTA ICEMAN QUESTIONS, I was there too and it was different Options

[Crow Logic]

Vern Langdon has offered some lively posts and its nice to have him at BFF. But I have one problem with the MIM that has yet to be resolved to my satisfaction. I saw the exibit in 1972 and viewed it numerous over the course of the week it was displayed at a Long Island Shopping Mall. I've posted my impressions of what I saw and they need not be recounted here. However the creature I viewed in 1972 was not the same as the creature that appeared in Argosy Magazine in 1968. This has bothered me ever since especially because there is the story that the original Iceman was replaced by a model. Since I'm sure there are others here that saw the Iceman in the early 1970's I'd like to know if they too saw a display that was different from the Argosy article.

[LAL]

According to Langdon:

"Makeup Master John Chambers was working with us on several things at the time, so Don Sr. and I consulted with John about whether or not to take on the project. We unanimously decided against it because we felt it was an elaborate (and somewhat shady) hoax with which we did not wish to become directly involved. Frank Hansen, upon being told this, pressed us for a referral. We suggested he take his idea to Howard Ball, who was the artist responsible for sculpting the extremely lifelike dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures at the world-famous LaBrea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. We further suggested he have Howard cast the figure in hot melt, which we felt would hold up far better than rubber or any other then-known material in the ice. We contacted Howard and put him in touch with Hansen, and Frank Hansen delivered his "hot melt iceman" idea to Mr. Ball. When Howard Ball had completed the sculpture and the casting, Frank brought the creature to us to see. It looked exactly as he had designed, and the flesh-colored hot melt made it look even more realistic. John contacted Werner Keppler at Universal for Frank, and Werner agreed to make up the creature, then ventillate Yak hair into it, one, two, or three hairs at a time, depending upon the area of the body. Meticulous work, of which Werner is a master!"

http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?sho...hl=Vern+Langdon

According to Hansen:

"In January 1967, I made sketches of the real creature and went to Hollywood to confer with the men who make models for the motion picture industry. I talked with Bud Westmore, the director of make-up at Universal Studios. He informed me that such a model might cost up to $20.000. Westmore didn't have the time to make the creation, but he agreed to offer his technical knowledge if I needed it. He also agreed that it would be a "challenging" endeavor. I then consulted with a staff member of the Los Angeles County Museum. He suggested that I contact Howard Ball, an independent artist who was creating life-size fiberglass elephants to be displayed at the La Brea tar pits. I later engaged Ball to sculpture the carcass and mold the body.

John Chambers, a make-up artist and academy award winner from 2Oth-Century Fox suggested that a small wax studio in Los Angeles could implant the hair according to my specifications. I approached Pete and Betty Corral. They agreed to do the work and implanted each hair individually with an open-end needle. I constantly directed this portion and their work was magnificent. They were greet artists and a pleasure to deal with."

http://home.clara.net/rfthomas/papers/hansen.html

A Tale of Two Models?

This post has been edited by LAL: Aug 31 2008, 11:59 PM