Prologue: Somewhere deep in the suburbs of Burbank, CA is “Bob’s Basement”. A private home museum of priceless horror/sci-fi props curated by its owner; actor, writer, former FX artist, Mr. Bob Burns. The museum part of the house is not open to the public, and doesn’t have regular hours, but through a friend, I was granted the privilege of touring his amazing collection, which includes props from Aliens, Terminator 2, Gremlins, and my personal favorite, An American Werewolf in London. He also has the last known armature for the original King Kong (1933). It’s rumored that the Smithsonian offered to purchase it from him. He declined. Another rumor is that a private collector offered him half a million dollars for the piece, but he turned that down as well. Read below:
I was hanging out with a friend and his family one night BBQ’ing at their home in Burbank. We were talking about favorite horror movies and I stated that An American Werewolf in London was among my top 5 horror films of all time. To be honest, it is definitely in my top 10 favorite movies of all time. That’s when they told me that just 30 feet away, through their 5 foot tall brick barrier wall, and across a driveway, that the actual werewolf prop used in An American Werewolf in London was amongst a plethora of other film prop collectibles at their next door neighbor’s house.
Me: “Who is this neighbor and why does he have the wolf?”
Them: “It’s Bob Burns. He used to be in the FX industry and was highly respected. Now in his retirement, he collects famous movie props. We can take you over there sometime when his door is open. It isn’t an official museum, but those that know, know that when his door is open, he will let you tour his collection.”
It was a couple of weeks later that I was visiting my friends again one Saturday afternoon, and their neighbor’s door was open. So we all trotted over and was greeted by Bob’s wife, Kathy, in the doorway. She informed us that we needed to wait a minute or two before we entered because a small film crew was there filming a segment with Greg Nicotero who is most known for creating the special make-up FX for The Walking Dead series.
A few short minutes later, the film crew stopped rolling and took a short break to contemplate the next shot. We stepped inside, and to say the site is overwhelming is an understatement. It’s a room full of, not just movie memorabilia, but film history. To be honest, I was a little surprised that the items weren’t displayed in a more open and organized fashion. It was set up almost like a garage with things kind of cluttered, disorganized, and placed wherever they could fit. Some were in glass cases, but most of the pieces were not. In one quick glance around the room, I could see aliens, assorted nameless creatures of cinema, space vehicle miniatures, Star Wars cantina patrons, the American Werewolf, and…wait, is that John Landis walking towards me? Yup, John Landis is walking straight up to me. He was there as part of the Nicotero documentary apparently.
I awkwardly froze because the man who wrote American Werewolf was approaching me, as I could see the famous werewolf prop in the background behind him. All I could think was, first of all, “Chops, stay cool”, and then thought about how this man gave me awesome beastly nightmares, and directed the most famous music video of all time. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. In addition to Animal House, The Blues Brothers, and Coming To America.
He reached for my face and grabbed my right sideburn gently (without permission I might add) telling me how impressive it was as he inspected my facial hair, lifting it and moving it side to side. I felt like a specimen. Landis then told a story about how Sean Connery had amazing, nearly unnoticeable toupees throughout his career until his toupee maker passed away. He couldn’t find a replacement wig maker good enough, which led to Connery appearing bald in most of his films going forward.
I don’t know if that’s true. I didn’t care if that was true. It was an interesting anecdote, and John Landis, werewolf extraordinaire, was touching my chops all the while I’m standing 6 inches in front of a table of assorted aliens from the Alien series trying not to knock them over, and seeing the werewolf prop 10 feet behind him.
Check out the wolf, some aliens, Terminators, a Munster, and the rest of the monstrous inhabitants from Bob’s Basement below!
Props from An American Werewolf In London (1981)
Aliens (1986)
Gremlins (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Star Wars (1977)
The sad thing is Bob owns all the various prototypes of Enemy Mine’s creatures but they are never published… I am afraid one day theu could be lost forever….