If you’re a mask collector that’s never heard of Joe Dolinich, don’t be ashamed. Joe has been off the mask radar for years and it’s my pleasure to be able to bring him back into the fold where he belongs. Now living in Arizona as a family man, Joe leads a normal and quiet life, but there was a time in which he was a true life Dr. Frankenstein of sculpting and monster making. Throughout the 80s and 90s, Joe had worked his magic on everything from catalogs, music videos, feature films, all the way to creating some of the most beautiful sculptures the mask world had ever seen. Joe was kind enough to take some time out and answer a few questions for everyone at The H.M.A.. I hope you enjoy.

HMA.: So Joe, tell me what originally got you into all of this?

JD: In 1966 my friend showed me his copy of Famous Monsters magazine and I loved it. I bought Dick Smith’s Monster Makeup Handbook and wanted to make my own monsters. In 1967, for Halloween, I did my very first makeup: a greasepaint ghoul with a Styrofoam wig black head with plastic tubes for veins. I was 10 years old. I learned about the Alcone Theatrical Supply Company in New York and bought some latex and started doing cotton and latex makeup.

HMA: As a kid were you a big fan of Halloween, trick or treating, costumes, masks, etc?

JD: I loved Halloween! Halloween then is not like it is today though. There were no haunted house displays or lots of decorations. It was fun. You didn’t need a gun for protection just to go trick or treating back then.

HMA: Do you remember the first mask you ever owned?

JD: I never had masks. I loved them, I just couldn’t afford them. Mom and Dad thought it was a waste of money to use once. Besides, Mom said it was better to make your own costume.

HMA: At what point did you begin to experiment with sculpting?

JD: The sculpting actually started with cotton and latex around 10 or 11 years old. Clay sculpts started around 13 years old. I actually still have the first head I ever sculpted and molded and later filled with foam.

HMA: I know you’ve worked on many films and television shows. What was the first break into the business?

JD: It depends on what you mean by first break. The first job in Los Angeles I got paid for was for being a sound boom man on a couple of adult pictures. “Lust in Space”and “Vixanna’s Revenge”. That was an eye opening experience! Hey, it paid the rent. The first makeup work was a J.C. Penny’s commercial creating an old prospector makeup.

HMA: What was it like to work with John Buechler and Magical Media Industries?

JD: First off, the name of John Buechler’s company back then was Mechanical and Makeup Imageries. I worked on nine movies and one album cover in fourteen months. We worked on two to three pictures at any one time. “From Beyond” was the first and I left in the beginning of “Garbage Pail Kids”. He was a head strong, strong-willed leader who surrounded himself with extremely talented people in their early careers.

HMA: Tell me your favorite and least favorite projects you worked on in film and TV.

JD: My favorite job in the movies has to be on the remake of “The Blob”; my last picture. I was making $1200 a week and self-employed. Which means no taxes was taken out! It was about 11:00 or 12:00 at night and I’m crawling all over this huge silk and gelatin bag with several other people. I was exhausted, hungry and sweaty and realizing how much I love this. The worst job was Garbage Pail Kids. I was sculpting pre-production concepts for the movie. I think it was the supervising producer John Strong, who hated Buechler and his work and voiced his opinion graphically to Buechler’s face in front of the whole crew every day! I was stuck in the middle, having to listen to the battles and trying to sculpt Buechler’s ideas, which I didn’t agree with. It was time to go.

HMA: Were you able to keep any cool props from back in the day?

JD: No. I still have a nifty crew coat from “The Blob”. I did have a few foam “Mac and Me” skins, but I gave them away along time ago.

HMA: I’m sorry, but I have to ask. Did you really work on Starship’s “We built this city” video? Were you aware that particular album ranks as the worst record ever, according to Blender’s ranking of reeking tunes?

JD: There’s a shot in the video where the group sings to the Lincoln Memorial. Lincoln stands up and sings back. That’s the part I did. Two and a half hours of makeup and eleven hours to shoot that one shot. The actor was bald and beardless which I didn’t know till the morning of the shoot! I wanted white contact lenses but the producer didn’t want to pay for the $250.00 for one days work! I do have the background effects reel from that video. P.S. they played that song for eleven hours straight!

HMA: You’ve sculpted many masks and monsters over the years, but in particular, I’d like to know more about the work you did for The Halloween Society back in the 80’s.

JD: I first met Ron Magid while working on “From Beyond”. He was interviewing Beuchler for an American Cinematographer article. Tom Floutz was having problems casting “The Hunchback” so I figured out a solution. Ron had asked if I would like to do “The Bride of Frankenstein”. I said I would if I could do it more life-like. He agreed. He was critical of its progress and so was I. I think it turned out pretty good, for it’s time.

HMA: Tell us a little about other mask and busts projects you worked on, outside of The H.S.

JD: I moved back to Jersey in 1988 and started a company called Character Collectables. One product line was character wall mounts. Such as Alfred E Newman, Laurel and Hardy, and side show performers cast in Ultracal. At this time I met a guy from New York named Bob Nardi. With him I did “Curse of the Demon”, “Colossus of New York”, and some very questionable side projects. A resin cast of an Imir was one. An original mold of “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” under water head was another. I needed the money so I did the projects without question. Our collaboration lasted only about two years until I found out he was over charging on the “demon” and cheating me on the money split; His loss.

HMA: I’ve heard a funny, little story about you and the infamous, Aztec Mummy. Would you care to elaborate on this?

JD: I met a man in California named Johnny Legend, who released wrestling videos. He wanted a mask of the “Aztec Mummy” from “Wrestling Women and the Aztec Mummy”. There was one condition; Secrecy! The Aztec Mummy was going to return to the wrestling ring. Okay! The deal was for cash and back issues of Famous Monster magazines for two Mummy masks and the mold. Two masks were made with twelve-inch zippers cast in the back of the heads. He was a great guy to do business with; a rarity in mask making! Jump forward about 10 years or so. Fangoria I think did an article on finding the original Aztec Mummy Mask! Wow! I’d finally get to see the original. Low and behold, guess whose mask this was? David Lady has a picture and article of the mask in his first Mask Collectors Guide done by “some unknown artist”. Hmmm!

HMA: What have you been up to since your hiatus from film, TV, and monsters?

JD: Not what I should have been doing! Besides that, I worked for 9 years at Capitol Ornamental Concrete in New Jersey designing, fabricating and restoring statues and fountains. Loved working for a great company who took good care of me. Even managed to create and restore some gargoyles! At this time I hired a very talented man by the name of Steve Varneke who needed his chance. We worked together building and restoring garden ornaments and fountains. A man from England who wanted “Indiana Jones” foam-filled busts to sell contacted us. This commission turned into a major nightmare. For six months we received several emails a day and ten or so new pictures every week for sculpting revisions and upgrades! He was using Harrison Ford’s entire acting career as reference for the “Indiana Jones” bust! No matter how we’d try to please him, it was never the way he wanted it. The problem was he didn’t know what he wanted! The outcome was he despised it so much he dumped the one finished piece on Ebay. Because of all this day to day crap the partnership between Steve and I ended and so did “Bullseye Reproductions”. I also haven’t sculpted a bust since then and that was in 2000.

HMA: Do you have any interest in coming back to mask making? What can The H.M.A. do to convince you to come back and bring us more, spectacular creations?

JD: I lost my job at a concrete ornament company in Arizona in April 2007. I have the time but don’t have a shop, materials, or money. Hell, I don’t even have a place to make a shop! Other than those tiny problems, I don’t see why not. LOL

HMA: Who wins in ’08?

JD: Does it matter? Really? LOL

Tags: HALLOWEEN MASKS, halloween society, horror movies, joe dolinich