re: So, you always wanted to go to Don Glut's house?

[David Peters <davidrpeters@charter.net>]

Thanks, for the ref, Dan.

I just went through the entire Don Glut photo-collection. Took awhile.  
It just doesn't stop.  We can all thank Don for all the eye-candy  
along the way. Interesting that his back door has become a time  
portal, where modern women become cave girls as they step into his  
backyard. Don does need to do a serious dusting of his collection. At  
the present rate of sediment accumulation, it will become part of the  
Quaternary strata in just a few more decades.

I had taken the tour myself in 1986. I think most of the collection  
precedes that time. Don was a complete gentlemen and a great host to a  
complete stranger. His Dinosaur Dictionary was about all we had, back  
then, as a popular reference.

Good to see that old Jonas studio T-rex skull made it safely to  
California. Regarding the provenance, the original was not "hit by  
lightning." Rather it stood surrounded by trees at Oak Knoll Park, the  
site of proto-St. Louis's Science Center before the present eu-Science  
Center was erected. The museum also has a Jonas Triceratops. During a  
storm, a tree limb tore T-rex asunder (of course, lightning was  
probably present). The fiberglass sculpture was chain-sawed to fit  
into a dumpster where a roofer I knew told me about it. I dug up the  
head, remounted it and gave it new teeth (the originals were not  
rescued). All this happened in the late 1980s when I was riding the  
GIANTS book publicity wave (including Gallery of Dinosaurs, Strange  
Creatures, From the Beginning, calendars, etc., none of which did as  
well). The skull on wheels, like a prehistoric Trojan horse, served as  
a backdrop to some early publicity stills. It traveled from St. Louis  
to California roped down on the back of a pickup truck. Probably got  
some kids in Kansas and New Mexico all excited to see it on the road.

David Peters
St. Louis

http://www.collectorsquest.com/collection/item/12449/jonas-studios-tyrannosaurus-rex.html