Whenever fish-men from the depths of the unexplored Amazon come hurtling at me with flared gills and snarling teeth, I always imagine how much better they’d look in 3-D.
Universal Pictures thought the same thing in 1954 when they up and released The Creature From the Black Lagoon—the film that traumatized clean-cut 50s kids more than the Korean War. Even nowadays the movie makes you want to check the hotel pool before you climb in, lest a webbed hand reaches out and grabs your ankle in mid-cannonball.
Thankfully this water monster wasn’t bred in a murderous fish hatchery, but in the bowels of the makeup department at Universal Studios. After dusting off Devonian-era fossils, unhooking reptilian claws from my jacket, and wondering if my pet fish is planning to have me eliminated, this is the account I’ve pieced together.
Swim and Sink
Producer William Alland concocted the idea of the Gill-man after a dinner with Orson Welles. The first treatment was written over ten years later, and by then Alland had a very distinct vision of how the scaly monster should appear onscreen:
“I had an idea of how this creature should look—I wanted him to look much more human. I had a marvelous sculptor create a very sad, beautiful monster—in fact, it wasn’t a monster, it was far more “attractive,” more “romantic-looking” than the beast we ended up with. While it had fish lips and this, that and the other, my creature was all done as a sort of an aquatic development of a man. And I was so pleased with it! It would still frighten you, but it would frighten you because of how human it was, not the other way around.”
To hatch this romantic water-dweller, Alland worked with the Universal makeup team, headed by Bud Westmore. Milicent Patrick, who’s story as the true designer of the Gill-man has now been well documented, was most likely involved in these early stages as well, though this hasn’t been confirmed.
This resulted in the first costume, which Gill-man sculptor Chris Mueller dismissively referred to as “The Pollywog”.
Like a demon anchovy straight from the Hellish depths of a twisted episode of Spongebob, nobody except Alland hit it off with the first suit. He thought it perfectly captured the “human” and “sad” elements of the character that he wanted so desperately to shine through. Instead it made every human who saw it sad.
Bud Westmore’s brother Frank witnessed the first test of the Pollywog costume, writing:
“Instead of projecting menace, he looked like a man swimming around in long rubber underwear…”
Ricou Browning, who wore the Pollywog costume, remembers that studio heads James Pratt and Edward Muhl said the suit “sucked” after a test screening. After that, poor William Alland entrusted the design to the makeup team. His fish had been fried.
Hatching a Monster
Milicent Patrick designed the Gill-man, working on her fishy friend for six weeks and enduring three redesigns before the studio executives were appeased. Some sources claim that she researched the legendary Sea Monk and Bishop-fish creatures for inspiration. Since she previously worked as an animator for Disney, I like to think elements of Cleo the fish are in there, too.
Once Patrick completed her designs, the makeup team were able to get their hands dirty. Chris Mueller went to work sculpting the Gill-man’s head while Jack Kevan took care of the rest of the body. Plaster casts were made of Ben Chapman and Ricou Browning, the two actors who were cast as the Gill-man (Chapman on land, Browning for the underwater scenes).
Chapman’s personal attendant while he was in costume was Bob Dawn, who’s father Jack Dawn had created the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow for the Wizard of Oz.
The suit was then constructed in individual pieces using foam rubber. To apply the makeup, each actor started by slipping into a one-piece latex bodysuit. The effects team then attached the foam rubber appliances onto the latex like a reptilian paper doll. Ben Chapman said “it took about 2-3 hours to get in and out” of the costume.
Both Creature costumes were sculpted to be as close in appearance as possible, but when one actor is 6′ 5″ and the other is 6′ 3″, a little slice-and-dice is needed. Browning was the shorter of the two, so his chest appliance had to be pared down. Part of the middle section was removed, leaving a “split” chest that proves swimming in the Amazon builds your pecs as well as your pectoral fins.
On posters and promotional materials, the Creature sometimes appears bright green with ruby lips that look like they’ve been stung by the Wasp Woman. In reality the suit was a dull mossy green, with some touch-up paint added after the actors were encased. Chapman said:
“Around the scales, after I got into it, they had highlighted it, with a gold/copper paint to give it that fishy sheen.”
Milicent Patrick was even on set to take care of touch-ups firsthand.
With a name like “Gill-man”, you can be darn sure they’d do something special with his gills. For the scenes where the Creature’s gills flare like a bloodthirsty betta fish, a separate head was created that allowed the gills to move up and down. Compressed air was then pumped through tubes attached to small air sacs hidden behind the gills, free to inflate and deflate for the audience in glorious 3-D.
As cool as all these appliances looked, the Creature costume limited the eyesight of both actors. Ben Chapman couldn’t see much while shooting the grotto scenes where he carries Julie Adams. While Adams lay limp in his arms, Chapman accidentally veered too far off course and whacked the actress’ head into the stone wall set.
Browning had similar problems while swimming in the costume. The makeup team tried placing goggles in the eyes, but they quickly filled with water after a costume test and Browning had to veto the idea. He eventually decided to not wear any eye protection, further limiting his eyesight.
The filmmakers had another problem with Browning’s costume: foam latex floats on water like an inflatable Frankenstein. To keep Browning and the suit underwater, a lead chest plate was strapped across the actor’s back and shoulders, with thigh and ankles weights added as well.
The makeup team considered putting a breathing tank in the suit, but it proved to be too awkward. Thankfully, Ricou Browning was about as good as Tom Cruise at holding his breath, so a series of breathing hoses were strategically placed around the water for him. Browning said:
“I had about four safety men. The cameraman would give me a signal that he’s ready. I would breathe from the hose, and then I’d let him know I’m ready for the scene. I’d let go of the hose, give it to the safety man, go into the scene, hold my breath, and do the scene — or do as much of the scene as I could — holding my breath. Then I would go to another safety man on the other side of the frame, and get another air hose to breathe from.”
On land Ben Chapman didn’t have to grapple with water hoses, though he did have to contend with not being able to sit in the costume for full 14 hour days—the foam rubber was too stiff to allow him to take a seat. Thankfully he could easily remove his Gill-man head between breaks in filming.
In keeping with the swimming motion of a fish, director Jack Arnold wanted the Gill-man to “glide” on land instead of walk. To take the skip from his step and put a creep in his claw, 10 lb. weights were added to Chapman’s footwear.
Put all these ingredients together and switch on the Devonian-era blender. Chill and serve.
Gills On Wheels
To promote The Creature From the Black Lagoon, Universal sent Milicent Patrick on a promotional tour billing her as “The Beauty Who Created the Beast”. That is one road show I’m sorry I wasn’t around to see.
Bud Westmore, enforcing what Rick Baker calls “The Westmore Regime”, threw a tantrum like a kid who got the wrong flavor ice cream and complained to the studio, who gave in and changed the name of the roadshow to “The Beauty Who Lives With the Beasts”. More like the Beauty who had to work for the Beast.
In addition to Patrick, Ben Chapman has said that Jack Kevan’s work on the film (like pretty much everyone else on the makeup team) has been severely overshadowed. In several interviews he makes mention of how hard Kevan worked to get the costume looking as best it could, especially during the long days on set. If they ever make a “Hall of Makeup Artists” a la “The Hall of Presidents” at Disney World, we’ll make sure Patrick and Kevan get their very own animatronics.
We will give Westmore one credit here. Julie Adams called him a “delightful” man and easy to be around since he personally did her makeup each day on the set of Creature. She mentions how they talked about life and personal issues. He probably made the effort only because she was the star, but heck, being good at small talk counts for something…
….and then you see this picture of Westmore on the set holding a paintbrush the wrong way while Chris Mueller holds a sculpting tool. Game over.
Revenge of the Creature
For the Gill-man’s second time around the scream circuit, the makeup team completely re-sculpted the mask and body. Actor Tom Hennesy took over from Ben Chapman, with Ricou Browning once again playing the underwater scenes.
Westmore is once again credited with the makeup, though details about this film and The Creature Walks Among Us are more scarce. Milicent Patrick had been fired at this point. They should make a mini-series about Patrick entitled Revenge of the Creature Creator.
The makeup team went Peter Lorre-style on the Gill-man’s eyes for this film, making them more “poppy” and wider.
The Creature Walks Among Us
When the Creature begins walking among us, you can bet your Rita riverboat that he’s going to look alot more human. Once again the Gill-man has a new face under the mask, actor Don Megowan.
The Creature has lost his large gills and some of his oversized eyebrow ridge. Also gone are Revenge’s ping-pong ball eyes, with Megowan’s eyes lending the Gill-man his most human characteristic.
The costume was padded to make the Gill-man look bulkier on land. Once Ricou Browning took over in the underwater scenes, the shirt stuck to his more slender frame. If your weight fluctuated as drastically as that, you’d have a permanent scowl sculpted onto your face as well.
Along with Bud Westmore, a makeup artist named Vincent Romaine has been named as having worked on the film (he unsurprisingly went uncredited). His later makeup credits include the first film spinoff of McHale’s Navy.
It’s sad to think that the Gill-man suits are gone. Foam rubber doesn’t keep forever, so most of the Creature has long since disintegrated and scattered to the Universal winds. Thankfully, unlike foam rubber, our fondness for the Gill-man won’t be floating down the Amazon anytime soon. He’s just another guy in our universe who appreciates beauty when he sees it, be it Julie Adams in the first film or the beckoning sea in the last film, and who can blame him for that (besides the families of his victims)?