PAT NEWMAN REMEMBERED
 

ON MAY 16TH 2006 VERNE LANGDON  WAS KIND ENOUGH TO CONVEY THESE THOUGHTS CONCERNING MS. NEWMAN

As I recall, Pat was a struggling art student fresh out of Choinard or Otis (L.A. Art institutes), and came to DPS looking for work. As she later told me, Don had her sculpt the deluxe Frankenstein Monster for Joe Karston's spook show, which I later appropriated for The Monsters series of heavy latex (zippered up the back) masks we sold to costumers. Don did The Mr. Hyde mask himself, and that first Mummy. He had a pretty good start on Lugosi's Dracula, but went off track, and was very frustrated he couldn't get the likeness. He told me "I've got somebody who I think can do this." As I've stated elsewhere, enter Pat "Fingers" Newman, "The Princess of Plasticine"! She knocked out that first Bela Dracula in days, and I never let go of her after that. Pat was one of the sweetest people I've ever known, but scattered as could be. I'd sit with her while she sculpted just to keep her on track. At that rate "we" would knock out a mask in a day or two, three at the most. She had an awesome eye for likenesses, and the ability to give me exactly what I wanted. She smoked incessantly, as we all did in those days. A failed marriage left her with several children to raise, but somehow she managed. John Chambers took us both to 20th Century Fox for Planet Of The Apes in 1967, and was responsible for getting us into the union (I made it into Local 706, the Makeup Artists & Hairstylists Local, and Pat was inducted into the plasterer's union.) We both made more money in a day than I often made as co-owner of Post in a month, without all the headaches of owning your own business (and there were many.) Evil Wilhelm commissioned Pat to create something; he can fill you in on that. By then I was well out of makeup and into working with Stan Freberg in advertising, but when I opened Slammers in 1989 Pat saw a newspaper story or TV feature on our school, gym and wrestling museum, and called me. She told me something I'd never known about herself, that she was crazy about elephants, and collected them - photos, models, dolls, anything elephant! She had always wanted to open an elephant museum, and wanted to talk with me about how I'd put Slammers and our World Wrestling Museum And Hall of Fame together. I told her about all the pitfalls, and talked her out of it (museums are VERY expensive to assemble, but even MORE expensive to run.) I think she passed away not long after that, but I have to smile whenever I think about her. She was SO talented, and yet so humble about it. Very scattered, yes, but more important, very dear. God Bless her sweet soul. 

 

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