Dinosaur Devotee Sows ‘Prehistoric Garden’
When Don Glut’s Burbank home is dug up by archeologists 1 million years from now, they may find the skull of a tyrannosaurus lying next to four caveman statues.
Glut, all-around dinosaur expert, probably wouldn’t mind the scientists digging up his eclectic home as long as they didn’t conclude that cavemen lived alongside dinosaurs.
That myth--the reign of man and dinosaurs are separated by 65 million years--is one of many that Glut strives to destroy through his writing.
Glut, 44, began collecting information on dinosaurs from the moment a giant apatosaurus mesmerized him at age 7 3/4 at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The result has been a series of books aimed at professional paleontologists and general readers, including the “Dinosaur Dictionary,” published in 1972, “The New Dinosaur Dictionary” and “The Dinosaur Scrap Book,” all available in general bookstores.
New Work
In the works is “Dinosaurs: An Encyclopedia,” a multivolume, more technical work to be supplemented by additional volumes every 5 years. The book, which Glut said a publisher of scientific books is considering, should be in stores in about a year.
Glut collects his data by “reading journals, hanging out with a lot of the pros and asking a lot of questions,” he said. Early research was performed in libraries, but the turning point came in the early 1970s when Glut gained access to scientific journals and began consulting with professional paleontologists. Glut’s fascination grew as he surrounded himself with depictions of prehistoric creatures in comic books, films and on TV.
With no formal education in paleontology, he has amassed a credibility that Mary Odano, past scientific preparator at the George C. Page Museum in Los Angeles, calls “the last and final word” in volumes written on the subject.
Odano has identified and catalogued more than 7,000 bones found in the La Brea tar pits, which are next to the museum. She first met Glut in the late 1960s while he was doing research at the Los Angeles County Museum, where she worked as a volunteer.
Professional Respect
“He’s got the ear of professionals all over the country now,” said Odano, 65. “Whatever he publishes is authentic. You don’t have to have a thousand degrees from institutions to put out really good work.
“Scientific publications are not readily available or meaningful to the general public. Don’s work bridges the gap between kids’ books and scientific literature--and it’s accurate. So much of the stuff on the market is not accurate.”
George Callisan, 48, professional paleontologist with the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, said Glut’s encyclopedia is his “most professional contribution yet,” adding that “dyed-in-the-wool lovers of dinosaurs” would enjoy the work. “It’s a much more technical piece than his previous books.”
Glut works out of an office in his home, which is packed with movie memorabilia and exhibits from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, including four cavemen statues in the garage and towering black bear statues in the kitchen and guest bedroom. Other corners of the house are filled with hundreds of dinosaurs of varying sizes made from wood, metals, crystal, papier-mache and other materials. Glut collects statues wherever he travels.
The house is gradually being transformed into a type of Universal Studios tour through the La Brea tar pits--all for Glut’s enjoyment. Glut is turning his back yard into a “prehistoric garden,” which will include a volcano and tyrannosaurus skull replica to complement the giant swamp-green apatosaurus that now stalks the yard. The garage’s interior walls will soon be molded into cave-like formations, he said, which will give his caveman statues a more natural habitat. And a separate room in the house contains a model train that weaves its way through elaborate miniature depictions of classic Frankenstein and Godzilla film sets.
Glut obtained more realistic-looking creatures, such as a mastodon, tyrannosaurus, allosaurus and giant ground sloth skulls from Odano, who fashions replicas of the bones in her Canoga Park business, Valley Anatomical Preparations.
Odano casts the skulls and other bones in polyester resin and fiberglass from original bones at museums across the country. She sells the replicas, priced from 20 cents for a trilobite (a prehistoric marine animal) to $30,000 for a giant ground sloth skeleton, to museums throughout the country.
Much of the interior of Glut’s home, which also is inhabited by a lizard named “Neecha,” and several cats and tortoises, was used as the set for “More Dinosaurs,” a half-hour documentary produced for KABC-TV 3 years ago.
“I’m always astonished when I go to Don’s house,” Callisan said. “It’s a real treasure trove.
“Don is one of those individuals that a profession would just love to be associated with. Every profession needs an individual who can convey technical information to the public at large, and that’s what Don does. He’s becoming more and more known as his work progresses.”
Dinosaur Comedy
Glut also is writing and co-producing a “live-action comedy movie with dinosaurs,” which will begin shooting next year in a rented Burbank studio. Unknown Productions, a company he recently formed with independent film makers, will release the movie next year. It will be a spoof of old films about dinosaurs, much like the movie “Airplane” spoofed the movie “Airport,” Glut said.
With the release of his movie, Glut said he is accomplishing what he began envisioning while attending USC’s School of Film during its golden years in the early 1960s, when he studied with a bright crop of future film makers that included George Lucas.
After graduating with a film degree in 1967, Glut did a brief stint as a rock musician. He then spent a decade writing comic book story lines for Marvel and other publishers. He broke into writing scripts for television cartoon shows with the series “Shazam!” in 1974, and he has since written nearly 100. In 1979, he wrote what has probably been his biggest success, the novelization of the movie “The Empire Strikes Back.”
“Career-wise, it was probably the most important assignment I ever got,” Glut said of the novelization. “It opened up a lot of doors.” The book had nothing to do with dinosaurs, but Glut said he feels his new book and film have been properly timed to cash in on current fascination. Interest in dinosaurs, evidenced by their imprint on everything from shower curtains to boxer shorts, is at an all-time high, Glut and Callisan said. Members of the baby boomlet, offspring of the baby boom generation, helped fuel the interest, Callisan said.
“It seems all children have a fascination with dinosaurs,” he said. “Of course, if there are more 4- and 5-year-olds around, then that’s a factor in generating a widespread phenomenon. It appears to be worldwide, too.”
A series of fossilized discoveries begining in the early 1970s also helped spark curiosity, Glut said.
“The discoveries have shown dinosaurs in a completely new light,” Glut said. “It shows them as being not the sluggish, swamp-bound creatures that we used to see pictured in children’s books, but dynamic, agile, possibly warm-blooded, fairly intelligent creatures--some with maternal instincts.”
Bones from a pterodactyl, indicating a possible 50-foot wingspan, were discovered in Southwest Texas 10 years ago, Callisan said, and a completely new species, “seismosaurus” is being unearthed in New Mexico.
But such discoveries, Glut said, seldom convince those who deny that mammoth prehistoric life ever existed.
Some visitors who view artifacts in his home will turn to him just before leaving for a final comment, Glut said. “They’ll look at me and snicker and say, ‘Of course, these things never really lived, did they?’ ”
