Aupperle wrote:
ryanbrennan wrote:

Regarding George Lofgren, according to Mike Hankin's Master of the Majicks, Vol. 2, Lofgren invented a method for "rubberizing" the fur in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, didn't work with Harryhausen again until EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS on which he assisted with floor effects (wearing black velvet and moving a light around to create the "foo lights"), assisted Harryhausen in building two wire-armatured maquettes of the Ymir (one of which is handled by Frank Puglia in the film) for 20 MILLION  MILES TO EARTH and "building props and other things."

On 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD he helped build the peaks of Colossa from castings of real rocks (and may have helped in the sculpting of the other miniatures) as well as handling "much of the puppet fabrication."  "... the Roc's feathered exterior and that of its young chick (covered with duck down) were the taxidermy work of George Lofren."  As Jim details, Hankin tells the story of the Dragon sculpt.  He says no one knows which side was done by whom but that both are seen in the film so can be compared.

Hope this helps.

Thanks very much for the information on George Lofren's work with Ray Harryhausen. Missed the section in Majicks where Mike Hankin relates the story about the two sides of the dragon. Guess I always thought I was the only one who got that story from Ray but really should have known better.  Unless I related the story to Ernie and Mike found out about it that way... HA Ha... round and round we go...

EDIT: OK, so this is funny. Found the dragon story in Majicks and Mike even has a footnote. "Ray Harryhausen to Jim Aupperle in Santa Monica, California, October 1972."  That was the Sunday morning Stephen Czerkas and I met Ray in Santa Monica and he got us breakfast at the House of Pancakes. Yeah, a couple of fans who just called him up out of the phone book. What a great guy!

Sorry I overlooked that attribution, Jim.  I didn't even notice a footnote!