Let’s Take A Walk With The Incredible Hulk

You never know what’s going to show up outside your door in the ole’ Marvel offices! The place? Marvel Comics Editorial offices, 575 Madison Avenue, New York City! The time? Probably mid 1979.

I’m just boppin’ along, mindin’ my own B I business and there is the Incredible Ronnie Pollack outside my door. And the Hulk. It was much more likely to see the Hulk, by the way. Ronnie was one of the Executive people from upstairs. Sure, I make fun of them for almost never coming downstairs to see us. But she was a trooper, she girdled her loins [Alright! I’m sorry, Ronnie did not need a girdle but I could not resist the wordplay. Any High School Book Club geek knows the expression is “girded her loins” which refers to strapping on armor! –Literary-El) and made her way down to supervise this… whatever it was. Test run? Interview? I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.

That door to picture right is my office door (and that fire extinguisher is my fire extinguisher!). The door just behind Hulk is to Mark Rogan’s and my slop sink. Mark and I were two out of three of Marvel’s Photostat camera operators. This essay leaves out #3—Stu — completely.

You might be surprised to see The Incredible Hulk in the office—being a fictional character and all. But there is one thing only a few thousand lucky kids and associated parents, around the country know. That Marvel had an “In-Store Appearance” Program!
For a not inconsiderable sum of money, you could have The Hulk help you smash up business! Or Captain America—complete with shield. Or G. I. Joe himself. Even Spider-Man. Why just imagine a store opening—a toy store – that had ALL of them! The thought of all those dizzy with excitement kids running around, currently makes my head spin.

One of the Mailroom fellows, Mike Kudzinowski, was enlisted to help Marketing Department’s finest, Ronnie Pollack, acquaint the performer within, with the Hulk costume. The shape to extreme right is the edge of the doorway into Mark’s room. Hulk is facing down the long corridor to the rest of the office. The “Hulk Doctor’s” workshop is a couple of doors along from Mark.

As one might imagine, there were some safeguards that I kind’a recall all these years later. There were a couple of attendants to keep the kids from knocking Hulk over or kicking him where it would do the most good. I think the entire appearance lasted two or perhaps three hours. The performance artist would work a max of 20 minutes on and – I think – 20 minutes off. Plenty of time to administer an IV drip of Ringer’s Solution and swallow some salt tablets.

Hulk SMILE!! Just behind Hulk is Mark Rogan, my then-fellow stat operator. Mark lasted to about mid-1979 and left work as a production artist at an ad agency. His job was filled by my just-passed, old comrade at bromide, Robbie Carosella. Almost as important as Rogan, is the sweet salvation of a water fountain to image-left of Hulk.

I have personally put on that very suit—as an office bit of fun, not as an in-store appearance artist. The suit originally must have cost a small fortune. The original sculpt was most likely in clay. Then plaster molds were laid up. Neoprene was poured in and hand-sloshed around (I don’t think rotational casting was done for “one-off” castings). After the amount of time passes that results in the wall thickness you desire, you pour out the excess. As I recall, you put the pants on first, then stepped into the lower legs. There were large snaps at the join. The pants were filled with sheet foam.
At the waist line, beneath the artfully ripped-up tatters, were more large snaps. Those snapped to the torso—which was a masterpiece of one-piece casting. Also at the pants were a big pair of suspenders that did most of the work holding things up.

Hulk – carefully – rounds the bend. “Puny comic racks!” was heard. It’s hard to think back this far, but I think that office in front of Hulk was the new “black & white slick” Editrix’s, Lynn Graham and her Assistant Editor Ralph Macchio. At this point Hulk would head to his right, where Mike’s head is, which is toward the Bullpen.

I cannot remember if the lower legs were attached with Velcro or snaps. At the bottom of each leg was a fiberglass box to which were attached a simple pair of medium-sized slippers. I think there was a strap that held each foot securely.

Each one-piece arm had a fairly simple shoulder joint that anyone who ever ripped apart their G. I. Joe would be familiar with. The neoprene was flexible enough that the ring at the shoulder joint could be wiggled into the arm hole. And both arms could be rotated up and down. “Hulk SMASH!” indeed!

The head was an evocative bit of “warmer, friendlier” Hulk so as not to terrorize the kids. Fitted with yak hair and attached by snaps on nylon fabric tabs. I think there was the head-bracing webbing from a bicycle helmet attached to the inside.

About this point in time, the great planning minds of the Executives had a wall removed, pretty much where Mike’s rear foot is. The area behind Mike is the Marvel Bullpen! The Incredible Hulk has one friend who will take his extended hand of uhh… friendship. Nel Yomtov! Nel was in charge of Licensing stuff. Whoever needed a Spider-Man head attached to whatever-ya-got, spoke to Nel.

Then the whole thing was flocked! “Flocking” for those of you who do not do “craft” things, is a coarse powdered material which comes in various colors, that is applied to a sticky surface and gives you a pleasing finish. Not quite natural looking, but one of those methods that gives much more of a result than you would expect. If anyone remembers those nodding dogs for the back deck of cars… looked like that. [Yes, there IS an American Flocking Association. Really.]

I hope I have not gone too far when I reveal that Hulk “green” is florescent green spray paint made by Krylon. Available at most hardware stores.

Whatever outfit that made this tribute to creative ingenuity had clearly solved all these problems over the years and perfected this sort of costume.

In an earlier blog I mentioned the carpet as dividing line between Bullpen and Editorial—Hulk is stepping over it. He is heading right to Stan’s New York office, but Stan was not there. In fact, as I am reminded by the relative absence of any staffer’s bothering this poor devil in that thing, it’s lunchtime!

But! Let’s get back to the one time I tried this thing on. Everything was going very well. The interior fittings were all adjustable and being 6’-3’ was not an issue. The arms just popped right in and could be swung around easily. Then the head was attached.

Within a few seconds, my personal sweat pumps were switched from “Just Warm” to “Nuclear Armaggedon.” This was SO long ago, I still had a few wisps of hair (dark, lustrous waves as I recall). An amount sufficient to help retain more of the heat radiating off me, rising and collecting right at my head. Friends, it was downright uncomfortable in there. I walked around a bit, going sideways and ducking my “head” through the door, shuffling down the hall. At about the 4-minute mark, I felt a flutter of wings, clearly the Angel of Death’s—and I was very glad to get the thing off. I think I got about 20 feet down the hall.

It’s too bad we didn’t stop by Stan’s office, instead we’re steaming down the hall that leads to the main reception area. The half-glass wall has a secretary and an adjunct of bookkeeping in there. The Hulk is striding past Nel’s office, if I am not mistook.Of interest to the greater world of comics is the door to the right. That door is Nancy Murphy’s Universe. The Keeper of the Proof Rolls. I have gone on and on about them, in brief they are same-size copies of the negatives used to make the steel/aluminum then rubber printing plates for every comic ever made! That very sweet lady with a grip of iron, held on to those proofs for so long, that’s why Marvel Masterworks can exist!

As thanks for letting me try on the costume, I helped the Hulk Dr. package up the costume. There was a set of custom made sail-cloth bags. They strongly resembled Post Office mail sacks. I remember they could be padlocked closed!

Also of note to crafters and modern-day cosplayers was the extensive use of Barge Cement. This was my first exposure to it. This stuff was such a strong adhesive, you could repair a barge with it. The day I tried on the costume was the day the fiberglass box was stuck back down to the bottom of a foot. I may have offered a “test to destruction” to see if it stuck… Of course, the title, Hulk Doctor, was conferred on any of the small crew who worked for that same outfit that made the costume. When the Hulk falls apart, who do you call? Herb Trimpe. If he’s not available, the Hulk Dr.

Marvel’s Reception area. That is lovely Josie Lopez who would not have greeted you with a mouthful of food. Consummate professional that gal was. Of techie note: that is a 4-line telephone on her desk. Marvel had 4 telephone lines to the interior from this desk. Astonishing. And a nice guest ashtray.

The last time I saw this costume was down at the 387 Park Ave offices. I can’t believe the in-store program was still running. So someone must’ve found it and hooted in delight, throwing it on to bedevil Bullpenners. Probably as late as 1983—since legendary creator Editor Carl Potts was trading blows with it in the Bullpen!

Finally! Once you step out that reception door, a turn to the right gets you to a short corridor to the Mighty Marvel Mailroom! This is the high security entrance. Not as well known is that to the rear there is a Dutch Door that leads back around to my stat-room neck of the woods. Which opens to almost exactly  the Hulk Dr.’s door. So this was a shortcut demonstrating mercy to the crazy man in the suit. Assistant Editor Linda Florio looks on in disbelief. It is rumored that, from outside her closed-door office was overheard the crash of a small bottle—maybe the size of a famous brand of hooch—and the cry of “NO MORE!”

[Linda knows I love her and am well aware that she never had a drinking problem!]

Now here is a color image to celebrate this rather neat-o costume (whearabouts unknown). This is from a box of slides taken on a day that newsman and video reporter Huell Howser came by Marvel. Mr. H. was a very popular personal interest story person who was making his bones over at WPIX-Channel 9 News. I’m pretty sure he was interviewing Stan. There was some bit of business where Stan gave Mr. H. a piece of painted Romita Sr. art for some reason… Well, as the Hulk Dr.’s office was just down the hall from me, when this squad of loud people blew in, I took out my camera! I took a lot of behind the scenes of him and his producers putting the costume on, walking around the office and even from within the elevator, going downstairs to the front of the building to do his intro promo shot. Yep, right on Madison Avenue.

This shot is the only color shot of Stan’s office too. This also was Marvel at 575 Madison.

This picture was a “discard.” The non-discarded version had Stan looking up at the Hulk. On the other hand, the lady’s reaction had settled down by that shot. Huell himself asked for that box of film after it was processed. And I sent it to him. Of course he swore he’d return them but never did. I even went so far as to contact the Huell Howzer Archives to see if that old box of film might still be there. Nope. Too bad; there were a lot of nice pictures of Huell and everything else in the office that day. But the curators were awfully professional and courteous.

You should look him up. Ole’ Huell had done a lot of good things between putting on the Hulk costume and passing.

Fin