Television largely introduced the classic Hollywood Universal Studios monster movies to a new, young audience in the late 1950s and 1960s.

A generation before, our parents and grandparents would see them at cinema theaters in the 1930s through the early 1950s. But as television sets began broadcasting on CBS, NBC, and ABC networks in 1948, it didn’t take long before millions of American households owned a TV.

The original Universal movies were not deemed suitable for TV broadcast during prime-time hours, but in San Antonio, Texas they were shown after the 10:00 news at night by the local KENS-TV station on channel 5.

On Saturday afternoons, the station would present more “soft” science fiction movies like “The Man From Planet X” or some other outer space thriller. However, for Universal Monsters, it was regulated to Friday night’s Project Terror, “Where the Scientific and the Terrifying Emerge!”

It was usually quite an effort to get mom and/or dad on board for approval to stay up that late to see them.  Of course, the movies were quite scary (but rather mild by today’s standards), and indulging them went into the midnight hours.  

The sun had long gone, and our imaginations knew it was the time when the monsters lurking there would begin their terrorizing rounds.  So, one had to be a bit brave to watch these movies in the first place.

My parents were on board quite early because they knew I would fall asleep on the couch or a pallet on the floor within minutes of the program’s start.

Of course, as many of my cousins and friends did, I grew into more brave modes with longer viewing endurance.

Mom and Dad were supportive as most parents during the age of cap guns, slingshots, and eventually plastic models.

Some of my Halloween costumes, made by Momma, were Frankenstein, the Wolfman, Dracula and even the Mummy. I begged to be the Invisible Man one October, but she just couldn’t figure out how to make it happen.

Once I had mastered the art of staying up to watch a complete movie at night, I graduated to the next big thing.

The Aurora plastic model company kicked into the scene about 1960 after they secured rights and permissions from Universal.

It wasn’t until I was eight years old when I glued and painted my first model. It wasn’t a monster, though.

I proudly pieced together and ‘constructed’ President John F. Kennedy, sitting in his famous rocking chair.

This was released by Aurora in honor and rememberance the year after his November 1963 assassination. I was able to see JFK the day before his death, so erecting this model was particularly meaningful.

The Universal Monsters were so popular that Aurora expanded their offerings with automobiles, trucks, aircraft, and space rockets.

Eventually, with their box art, they turned it backward for the later “Square Box” kits that included the glow-parts.

Compare the original art on the long-Box.The monster craze triggered by Aurora boosted new television shows such as The Munsters and The Addams Family in the 1964 Fall TV Season.  

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