CREEPY CLASSICS presents

The Phil HolthausCollection

 

From Phil Holthaus:

Here are the pics (above!) of the coffin my Grandfather made for me as a Birthday present.

Also here's a little background about it. My interest in Classic Monsters started at 8 years old on a Saturday Night. My parents were going out to dinner for the evening, and my brother and I were staying overnight at our maternal Sicilian grandparents' house. They let us watch "The Raven" 1935 hosted by Count Gore Devol on his Creature Feature program. Anyway, that's how it all began. After that, I was told about Lugosi's Dracula film, and my parents, who always supported both my brother and I's interests, started getting us books on horror films. Every Saturday night was spent watching a classic horror film. Then... finally, Creature Feature played the 1931 Dracula. I loved it!

As a kid, I had the Mego monster figures, and the Mego Monster castle. I was close to my 9th Birthday, and had made some coffins out of cardboard for my Dracula figure. It was my older brother Marty who came up with the idea of asking our Grandfather to make a "Lugosi like" coffin for my Dracula figure. My brother took some Monster books with pictures from the film down to my Grandfather (who was a master builder) and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today that coffin resides in my memorabilia room, and visitors to my house have often asked me "where did you buy that at?", to which I always reply, "This was made by my grandfather and given to me on my 9th Birthday."

Another angle of the homemade "Dracu;a's Coffin!"

Drac has his home.

Above: Phil's collection of books, figures...and look! Some posters on the wall...the one to the right is from the movie that started it all for Phil, THE RAVEN (1935).

Another photo of his handmade coffin, this one shows off the interior.

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Creepy Classics Video
P.O. Box 23, Ligonier, PA 15658
Phone: (724) 532-5226