This may be the oldest herald (and pressbook, posting soon) in my collection. While the 1921 The Secret Four movie serial is now lost, it looks pretty darn exciting. This herald is about 22 inches long and 9.5 inches wide, so quite a herald to be handing out to movie patrons. The movie was 15 episodes across 30 reels, silent of course, and filled with great chapter titles like The Creeping Doom (8), Floods of Fury (13), and the Dive of Despair ((5). Maybe it’s me (okay, sure, it usually is), but looking at this herald, and with the movie filled with “international intrigue to seize world power by gaining possession of hidden oil deposits in the United States (IMDb),” I’m reminded of the pulp hero, Doc Savage, who first appeared in the 1930s. I wonder if this may have been one source of inspiration for the character.
