Lets See some cool Groosome creatures!!! Heres some cool shots from the Barris Collection: Barris Booth: Ed Roth showing the camera his monster like self portrait... These are later Barris (Done by Crazy Al) for the North Hollywood Shop.. Recently I spent some time at Brad Mastersons shop witch if you don't know he run's his shop out of the Barris Lynwood shop.. Recently he picked up an airbrush and decided to start to paint Monster Shirts.. But not just any monster shirt.. he wanted to do what took place in the exact spot when Dean Jeffries was renting that location from George.. Brad is doing some cool stuff even dumbing it down a bit so it looks like its from 1958.. How cool is it to have a replicated monster shirt done where the Hot Bed of kustominzing and his art took place. Check Out the Shirt in the window.. I have a bunch for sale in the classifides and he dose kustom shirts too... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=624482 Heres some of his work...
I need to recompress this for the web... But of couse Mr Von Franco is one of the legends keeping this art form alive.. He will be doing this at the Long Beach Motorama at the end of the month.. Witch is awesome cause he hasn't painted shirts in public in a while.. Heres the DVD we did a long time ago "I was a teenage monster Shirt painter"
I remember spending my last 15 bucks on a airbrushed T back in the late sixties at a car show and having to take the backroads home cause I didn't have any money left for the thruway tolls....it was worth it. Heres one my friend Ed Roth did for me back in 85, I cherish it.
Roth created an industry. Artist still make a living copying his work essentially... Sort of amazes me...
Brad and I were taking to Jeffries and we showed him some shirts and he loved them.. We tryed to talk him into breaking out his airbrush that he still has from back then.. he was kinda leaning into trying it again but ultimalty said no.. How cool Jeffries doing a shirt for the first time since that late 50's all on film we might keep buggin him...
awesome pics... I love the Bob Bleed one!!!!!... this is the only picture I have of one I've painted, and its me
Wow, timely thread or what? I always wanted a monster shirt!!! Here is the one-off Brad did for me that turned up in England last week; I don't usually do the printed T-shirt thing, but an airbrushed monster shirt à la Roth courtesy of Mr Masterson's considerable talents is a whole different ballgame. Hell, I practically live in this thing thanks a lot Brad! Paul
The monster shirts remind me of the great work or Kelly Mouse. They were really way ahead of their time with the art works they created. I think Big Daddy also really enjoyed their work.
dig it! Makes me think of that Leave it to Beaver episode where Beav and the gang really want a monster sweatshirt and only the Beav wears his to school
what is the history behind the monster, just a period in time? i can only imagine wearing such a T marked you as going against the grain to the old timers in suits. is that why tyhe monster thing lived on? or is it as simple as one guy roth liked monsters and so decided to mix his cars/monsters together to create. chris.
Nice job for Masterson and you Evel way to keep up a neat tradition on an even neater place. Hey go balls deep and get some vintage sweatshirts from buzz rickson / toyo industries complete the circle. They have the correct length knits at the end of the sleeves and waistband and they even have some reproduced with vintage tags I.E. championship running man and deep v re-inforcement gussets around the neck. Yeah they are expensive to start, but if your going to re-create.... make it right. rad job..exploding vaginas with music notes. Rome
Do you mean Stanley Mouse? Mouse was a god around these parts. Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelly formed Kelly Mouse when they were doing all the artwork for the Grateful Dead Albums and Posters. All the album covers the Grateful Dead had for years for the work of Kelly Mouse. Stanley Mouse was one of the greatest artists of all time. He was one of the first guy doing the monster shirts back in the early 60's I believe. There are a number of stories of Big Daddy Ed Roth watching Mouse doing his tee shirts in Mich. at shows and many people believe that the RatFink line was created after he saw the art work of Stanley Mouse. Check it out for yourself Kelly Mouse Studios Jimbo
Jimbo, I did not know that all I ever heard were the stories of Mouse was the high school kid painting shirts at the State Fair and pinstriping cars out of his parents house. I do know he moved to San Fran and got into the music scene and did the dead stuff, but hadn't heard of Kelly Mouse. I am trhilled to have in my collection a Mouse Catalog,some old iron ons, as well as a signed shirt.
Poor Boys: I only wish I had some of Stanley Mouse art work. He was the best in the business and his work is a collectors item for many people. Google his name and you will find many stories about him and the more you read you will understand why he is a true legend. I really learned about his amazing career through a guy named David Ford who called me one night and wanted to talk. David as been in the tee shirts business since the early 60's and he told me the complete story about Roach Studios which was the company back in the 60's who made most of the crazy tee shirts we all remember from those years. David started telling me stories about Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelly and how they came to form Kelly Mouse Studios. Ed Roth became a fan of Mouse and was really impressed with not only the monster shirts but also how fast he could recreate one. Jimbo
You see by my avatar that I like monster shirts. As most of you know, this was made for me by "Big Daddy" Roth for my 11th birthday in 1961. I had my catalog and Dad took me to Roth's shop in Maywoond on Slauson Blvd. on a rainy saturday. Dad and I walked in and Ed was there all alone and Dad said..."this is my son's birthday, can you make him a shirt?" Ed was cool. He sat down after putting a nice new white long-sleeve sweatshirt on this wood stand and he said..."whatcha want kid?" So....I whipped out the catalog.... And told him I wanted the "Don't Bug Me" guy...... So, after he finished it, he sez, "hey, you want your name on the front?" Well, of course I wanted my name on it. So he asks me my name and then he sez, "now, let's put some spiders on your name"...... The whole car smelled of damp paint all the way home. I never wore it to school. Just weekends and the drag races. Thankfully, I still have it. Damn, is it small...! here's a screen shot of my scrawny self wearing it in a 8mm home movie at Lions Drag Strip about 25 miles south of where we lived... here I am checking out Don Garlit's dragster....I'll never forget this day. This was the first day I got to use the Graflex camera that dad got after WWII...from this day on, it was MINE!!! He had already showed me how to use it, but up until this day, I had to ask to "borrow" it. ....and, yes, I still have the camera, too...
In 1962, "Leave it to Beaver" did an episode all centered around the dreadful "monster shirts". Beaver and his buddies saw all these cool "monster shirts" in the window of the local store. The boys "had" to have one each. They got their "monster shirts" and proudly wore them disgusting all those square adults by doing so. They guys made a deal. They would all wear them to school tomorrow. They even "shook" on the deal so nobody would "chicken out". But "chicken out" they did, except for the Bev> So, Beaver goes into school and he's the only one wearing a "monster shirt" and the teacher is mortified. MORTIFIED I TELL YA! The Beaver is sent to the principal's office and his parents had to go into school, too. Those "monster shirts" were nuttin but trouble. TROUBLE I TELL YA! that lady is DISGUSTED! "now, Beaver you won't wear that to school now will you? BUSTED....one of the boys is told to "take that OFF" before leaving his house Beaver walks into class, and holy shit.....he was the only one......! "BEAVER!...go to the principal's office AT ONCE!" "Now, Beaver...you don't want to look like one of those "hot rodders" now do you?" "No, dad...I'm too big of a pussy"
The most of the leave it to beaver episode is on "I was a teenage monster shirt painter" available on my site..
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