Watch JACK PIERCE - 30 Minute Docudrama

For fans of the classic Universal monster movies, the name Jack Pierce is held in reverence. A makeup man par excellence, Jack Pierce created the image of the monsters we know and love: Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and the Invisible Man. He even had a hand in refining the image of Dracula, even though Bela Lugosi had been playing the Count on stage-and doing his own makeup-for years before the film was made. In 1998, Scott Essman, a lifelong monster movie fan, decided he wanted to produce a project that would pay homage to the man who gave a face to the monsters we know and love. With the films still under copyright, using clips would have been prohibitive. Essman chose to produce a play. Two years in the making, the play "Jack Pierce: the Man Behind the Monsters" was performed only once. The performance, however, was recorded and is now available in a 30-minute DVD format. While the story is driven by Jack Pierce's story, and told from Pierce's point of view, the play is far from a one-man show. The original list of 100+ characters, including Jack Pierce at various stages throughout his life, classic monsters, and character actors such as Maria Ouspenskaya, was pared down to under twenty. Jack Pierce is brought to life through Perry Shields performance, the details of his life told as thought over the kitchen table. In reminiscing about the films and the makeup that marked milestones in Pierce's career, the stage is set for vignettes from various films. The makeup ...