The lost ghost of Camp Anawanna- The return of Zeke The Plumber

"Being dead wasn't a problem, but being forgotten? NOW THAT'S A BITCH!"

                                              - Freddy Krueger, Freddy Vs Jason 

      In the world of Horror, there have been MANY MONSTERS. Some have come, some have gone. But sometimes, some are forgotten... This being common, with some cases that in which unfortunatelly reboots are made unless there are those people who don't forget them and occasionally bring them up to other horror enthusiests that probobly never heard of titles before then.
   and sometimes, other Monsters don't really exist within the Horror genre world, and that maybe perphaps they come from other sources, in this case; the source being an early 90's Nickelodeon show, of kids attending a Summer Camp. In one Episode and ONE ALONE. We were introduced to a horrific scary image of a character, That even if not exposed to the likes of Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger, this one was good enough to give the normal child Nightmares for years to come: ZEKE THE PLUMBER.


           
Zeke in this particular episode was the ideal product on what Nightmares where made out of, even one of the characters in the episode referred to him as the "Freddy Krueger of Custodians".
         The story of Zeke goes as he was the Camp's custodian, but years prior while serving his time in the army stationed in the Phillipines, he had his nose bitten off by a parrot, thus losing his sense of smell. This becoming his strong and weakess point working as a custodian, especially with the smelly dirty jobs. However one night while digging a hole he hits a gas pipe and unbeknownst to the custodian, he lights a match and explodes... All that was found of Zeke was his upper lip, and a toilet plunger which became cursed, that whoever touched it, would be haunted in their dreams (Hence the Freddy Krueger reference).
         Within this one episode and about four minutes or less of screen time, this image frightened ALOT of children including my older sister and many others who had watched the episode, and up until now, MANY years later... It had SEEMED that alike other horror titles and even their antagonists, unless a re-release was made, or a remake, no one would touch or even remember such characters unless REALLY brought up. But for Zeke in this case, because he was NEVER a Horror character nor had any titles based off of him, and he was in childrens television- NOT to mention he would be the last character you could rank or compare with likes as Freddy or Michael, It would Zeke never had that light shined onto him, and ANYONE who remembered Zeke, actually shut out that memory because he was so damn scary. However years later and come this summer, Zeke will resurface and come into the Horror convention circuit, and before he does, This entry will go on as to why he is coming back and WHY I feel he does belong amongst the other monsters:

Post MAY initiation

        

         Being brought onboard with the MAY (Monsters Among You) was something that I had least expected to happen to me for oh so many reasons, one of the many reasons being that I had only one character to work with that was a custom made one, and that I don't exactly have that budget to make what my horror brothers make and be able to attend every convention especially with some private matters to take care of first.
          one of the other things that is rather difficult to think of or imagine is WHAT character that is recognizable that not only has not yet been touched upon or done, and yet, I can fit the frame of that said character? Just about every other monster known has been done, and if there aren't, they will either be done or chances are because the stereotype of the monster being tall and bulky puts me in that odd spot where I am limited for what and who I can do, unless it was another custom character I could create, I seriously doubted it I was up shit creek and ran out of ideas of what to do, without expanding out further from the horror source.
          I don't know exactly what it was, but then thats where it DID hit, looking for characters outside of that horror realm, but them bring them in and give them some horror twist, which would soon turn into other custom creations and then I was at that standstill again... and then something happened, and I don't know where or WHY it hit me, but it did... Going upon youtube, there was a "Salute your shorts" reunion panel at Comikaze. Nolstagia hit me upside the head and then when there was a Q&A session with Kirk Baily ( Who   played UG in the childrens show) and he touched based upon one of his favorite Episodes THAT BEING The Zeke The Plumber episode, that in which WHO HE DID PLAY AS:




   Upon watching the other Q&A sessions with the other cast members of the show, a majority has pointed out that the Zeke the Plumber episode was their highlighted and favorite episode from the series, and that which is the one of the better episodes that stood out from the short lived series.
   Then digging deeper into the forums, google, facebook youtube ect. There had been fan-films (from Fan made teaser trailers from the episode to other stories unrelated to the S.Y.S. canon but kept the name "Zeke the Plumber") to even more to my surprise, ATTEMPTS as Zeke the Plumber costumes. Now one thing I have to keep in mind althought the attempt is there, and they DID put threw the effort of making the costume, it never looked anywhere close to the true source. I would have to mind myself, only because I am DEFINATELY one of those attention to detail nuts, and the one thing that ALWAYS threw the costumes off, had to be the mask. Not that its the costumers fault themselves, they are not to blame, but unfortunatelly, I do not believe the major eye catcher that makes or breaks this costume, would be the mask-- 

             Granted you can say it is an "Old man" mask, but if you go on Ebay or any other store, not one Old man mask is the same as the other- some are more novelty or scary or standard, and for the time source where cosplay I don't really think was a thought of mind, especially with the lack of connections we have via the internet nowadays,  The Identity of the mask has really yet to be aknowledged or identifyed (It looks a whole lot like Dennis Farina).
               So I had done my homework and aside from a few people who have done the costume for Halloween purposes TECHNICALLY he was never done in the terms of cosplay, NO ONE from what I saw was EVEN dressed as Zeke at the Comikaze S.Y.S. Reunion... THIS HAD TO CHANGE!!
       Of course I trodded along delicately with this subject because although scary, Zeke wasn't a Horror genre character, so doing so, I got in contact with a few others in the cosplay field and asked their two cents with the character. A few didn't know who he was respectfully so, and there for I introduced the character to them.but the people who knew of Zeke, they gave me that blessing and full encouragement to do the character, and I was set.... and now the tricky process began or reimagining Zeke.

                                                                The mask

"But you are a sissy little girl, now aren't you?"

            So to start off with creating his costume, it was NOT hard to say the least, actually it was quite easy. The most I had to purchase was the Flannel shirt (the closest if not the accurate design as to what Zeke wore) The Overalls and a pair of gloves, but I knew the one vital piece of the costume I was going to be having the hardest time with, and might have to use my creative flow, was Zeke's horrfying mask.
            I had looked and browsed on threw Ebay for the mask I thought would look close to what Zeke wore or would wear in this time and age. there was one although I wasn't too happy that it was a half mask that covered the face and not the entire head, which would require a wig. and although the mask plus the wig had its own original look contrasted to the ORIGINAL Zeke mask, it was all I could consider going with, although not really happy, I wasn't disapointed either. but it was until a visit on Instagram that kicked me in the ass that I didn't think before. an unpainted Michael Myers mask, not chalk-white, but the eyes cutted out, and still in its flesh toned look. THIS WAS what I had to work with to get Zeke's mask!!
          Of course you couldn't just pick up ANY Michael mask, it had to be just right, so I will be damned if I put 60 bucks into a new Michael mask that chances are I might screw up on if not done right, so the best way was to think in regards with good old Camp Anawanna. HAVE IT BE THE CHEAPEST MASK, and that being the Walmart brand very cheap and crappy Michael Myers mask, with the molded hair.
        Halfway threw constructing it actually looked like my former boss from Bottom dollar Food without the eyebrows and mustache, but when they were all attached into place. A custom Zeke mask that put to shame the other ones, and possibly one a 20 dollar budget, considering what I had bought and put into the mask, and BUYING two wigs to expirement to see which looked better.

Left: Prototype Zeke mask with original wig

The Final mask. Looks abit more like Tom Selleck, opposed to Dennia Farina, but it works!

                            The Wardrobe

            As I had stated earlier in regards with Zeke's attire, not a whole lot can be said, because his costume was easy to put together. The only other thing I probobly couldn't identify but wouldn't have had issue replacing anyway was the hat Zeke wore, which honestly looked like two hats on one another in a Sherlock Holmes style, but again not a hat that was properly identifyed, but subsituted with bucket hats.
           Aside from gathering the pieces I need with the wardrobe, also came the process of trying to give contrast to this newly horror adapted Zeke. Although the Plunger was his Iconic weapon of choice, it will not serve him as much in this portrayal ( No worries, the Plunger will NOT be that far behind), going back into his backstory serving in the Army and also that being he was a custodian for the camp, he will have on his a Utility belt were he will have weapons both sharp and blunt: A nod to the original Budnick story where Donkey Lips intervenes mentioned a Hatchet, Zeke will have just that- A Tomahawk that Zeke had kept to himself, an artifact more likely, but with a sharpening stone and his reflexes, it will be a dangerous weapon yet again. on his utility belt he will also be carrying a pipe wrench, his secondary Plumber's helper... AND another nod to the show, Zeke likes to think of it as his first Trophy from his first victim- Michael Stein. I will not go into saying what that Trophy is, but once people notice what it is, all bloodstained and ripped and stitched up, people will thoroughly enjoy it.
         

                                               Zeke's new backstory

            There will be a new drafted story with Zeke, since being that the children's television backstory was weak for the character, since being OF COURSE, it IS a kid's show and it wouldn't want to go into explicit and horrifying details, but for the sake of the Continuity, what we ALREADY KNOW OF ZEKE (or so that we think we know) The continuity will remain intact, revolving around the one episode.
             the way I am handeling the story is simple: The episode that involves Zeke is only the middle part of the story, and what we don't know is what REALLY happened (the past) and what happened after the events, actually even in a year or two, undocumented happenings that occured at Camp Anawanna because lets face it... IF WE KNEW what only happened to our favorite campers, it would be a kick, right into the childhood! But seeing that everyone who has loved the show, and that episode in particular, and would rather like seeing Zeke being brought back to live, I hope people enjoy what I would bring with this character...
         To hint off what I have in story for his backstory however: Zeke really DID exist and was the Camp's custodian/groundskeeper, and rest assured there was NO parrot that bit off Zeke's nose...
Of course years later, when our campers are in place, Budnick overhears bits and pieces of a story of a man named Zeke who was once a custodian and lost his nose. All Budnick did was give it a horror spin and made some stuff up as he went along... Sometimes even telling stories of what you don't know, like scary stories, will come back to haunt ya... So be careful what ya say... because you don't know when word will go around to the former custodian and decide to return to the old camp, which as of today is a disolated and in ruins, because of tragic events that happened a few years later AFTER the first Zeke the Plumber story was told by Budnick that one night at Camp Ananwanna....

                                Epilogue

        At one point or another, our fears are introduced from the camp grounds- Jason Voorhees, Cropsey, Angela Baker, and now Zeke The Plumber. Although he was never from the Horror Genre, The character was created with horror intentions no doubt about that, and come DAYS OF THE DEAD INDIANAPOLIS 2013, Zeke will make his long awaited come back, after all... He has been away from his happy campers, for FAR TOO LONG!!