While It Came From Hollywood, this pressbook for Tennessee Jamboree geographically would be more easterly. I never could watch Hee-Haw, but I do enjoy some country music (the old stuff mostly, some new stuff) and rockabilly, and toss in a strong fiddlin’ session and I’m aces.
Notice that in AIP’s Warriors Five pressbook (hey, of course It Came From Hollywood) Giovanna Ralli takes the high ground in the poster art while the GIs blow up things and shoot off guns. A lot. Blame it on the male gaze and those legs selling seats in theaters for this war movie’s commercial focus. She, of course, plays the “lovely Italian hooker.” All hookers in Hollywood movies are lovely. The publicity plays her up with “Americans first look-see at sex-sational new star.” Yeah, try pushing that for a movie promotion today. Aside from Ralli, Jack Palance provides the leading man beefcake (with help from his international male cast). This production was a joint Italian, Yugoslavian, French(ian), and American endeavor. In the UK it was paired with a re-issue of Island of Desire with Tab Hunter and Linda Darnell, another war-centric movie about two people who wind up stranded on a deserted island (nope, no Gilligan or professor either). I always got Linda Darnell mixed up with Nanni Darnell, who was my first crush. I was six and she co-starred in 1960s television’s The Magic Land of Allakazam with Mark Wilson. I definitely would never confuse her with Anna Ralli. (One thing to note. I think the interior pages of this pressbook were pinkish in color, to balance with the cover. I changed the images to show a white page color to enhance readability.)
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It Came From Hollywood sends along this six page AIP pressbook for the science fiction movie, Unearthly Stranger. Scientist marries a woman who may (okay, she is, but the characters don’t know it yet) be an alien from outer space to stop his research. From that simple premise, the movie works well within its budget and with solid acting and dialog, you can’t go wrong. While the Publicity page in the pressbook is on the skimpy side, you will notice, like in other pressbooks of this period, the actress is shown in something skimpy too. In fact, many pressbooks going back decades would always highlight the female leads within the contexts of beauty, glamour, and fashion. The guys, of course, maybe got a watch, shirt or luggage tie-in.
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Another AIP pressbook courtesy of It Came From Hollywood, The Mind Benders was released on a double-bill with Operation Bikini. The movie fit the 1960s zeitgeist with elements of the Soviet Union, brainwashing, sensory deprivation, and spy secrets. TV Guide‘s review, dated 2014 (cited in Wikipedia’s article) noted: “a strange movie that leaves a deeper impression than one might expect due to the originality of the plot and the tense direction. It is the direct predecessor of Altered States.” On the seat-selling slants page they recommend suspending a mannequin from the theater marquee, dressed in a scuba diver’s outfit. Ah, the fun creative days of movie promotion without memes and social machines.
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Robert L. Lippert went for the cheaper productions and at a good time too. Hollywood was producing fewer movies overall due to television’s growing downward pull on box office receipts, as well as the population shifting to the suburbs, which left city theaters with more unfilled seats. Lippert’s movies played the drive-ins and lesser theaters and were cheap enough to turn a good profit. In 1951, Lippert released Superman and the Mole Men, the first feature film (there were the Kirk Allen serials) to star George Reeves, kicked off the successful television series. Allen regretted turning down the role for the tv series that made Reeves America’s Superman of the 1950s and 60s. Lippert became the U.S. distributor for Exclusive Films, which later became Hammer Films. He had a lucrative run up until Hammer moved the distribution to major studios. Lippert’s pressbooks were usually not many pages and contained poster art and some promotional information. Thanks to It Came From Hollywood for this copy.
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Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, has been made into many movies. The earliest surviving version, according to IMDb, is one from 1915, where the sins of Dorian center mostly on cocaine use. This updated 1970 version by AIP amps up the sexual aspects of Wilde’s novel, with Dorian’s descent reflecting the more daring social and cinematic atmosphere of the 1970s as influenced by the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s. AIP’s pressbooks tended to focus on ad mats for newspapers, posters and lobbies for theaters, then maybe a page or two devoted to exploitation and movie and actor details. They also printed on one side of the sheet, so contained blank pages. The teaser ads are especially psychedelic even without color. (courtesy of It Came From Hollywood)
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Here’s a blast from the 1970s with Bo Svenson and Cybill Shepherd, courtesy of It Came From Hollywood. The decade of slinky women and bulky men onscreen gave us some cool matchups, even if the movies weren’t all that svelte. In Special Delivery, the pair run afoul of thieves, or rather, one thief (Bo Svenson) has to deal with one woman (Cybill Shepherd) looking for some adventure and another guy (Michael C. Gwynne) looking to get the cash he stashed in a mailbox. Familiar faces pop up along the way: Jeff Goldblum, Vic Tayback, Sorrell Booke, and others you may find familiar from your movie-watching. If you ask me, no movie with either Bo or Cybill, or both of them, can do any wrong. This pressbook is unusual in that its pretty loaded with promotional goodies and solid poster art. It also has a coloring contest page! Both Paul at It Came From Hollywood and myself love coloring pages in pressbooks. They are so cool and retro but timely at the same time, and kids and adults could enjoy coloring them. So, bottom line, they made great advertising for movies in the local papers. In the pressbook you will also find promotional offerings with Special Delivery imprinted balloons and t-shirts. I wonder if Granny Creech has the radio spots? Music by Lalo Schifrin (Mission: Impossible tv series for starters, need I say more?) (Click each image to enlarge and read or right-click to download after you enlarge it.)
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Here’s another news clips roundup courtesy of It Came From Hollywood. In this packet: famous Fondas star in film together, blurbs on The Dunwich Horror with Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee, Vincent Price’s Scream and Scream Again, and AIP does Wuthering Heights (yeah, probably with bikers, though, Heathcliff, fill my arms with leather!)
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AIP News Clips Galley Packet
Vincent Price, Dunwich Horrors, and Dali in De SadeRead More »
It Came From Hollywood…and the American International Exchange! The Fonda Festival, three great shows, with Bruce Dern, Dianne Ladd, Dennis Hopper, Susan Strasberg, Jane Fonda, and Nancy Sinatra. Oh, and members of the Hell’s Angels of Venice, California. A drive-in wet dream for sure. You’ve got bikers, baddies, and naughty behaviors galore in The Wild Angels, an Edgar Allan Poe movie (sort of) Spirits of the Dead, and Jack Nicholson’s scripting for The Trip, an acid-tripping movie. Spirits of the Dead boasted directors Roger Vadim, Federico Fellini, and Louis Malle, but IMDb notes that Orson Welles and Luis Buñuel were supposed to direct, along with Fellini (wow, what could have been!).
Courtesy of It Came From Hollywood…the re-release 1979 pressbook for Bedknobs and Broomsticks. The Sherman Brothers, who wrote the songs for Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jungle Book, and many others, wrote the songs for this movie. They also wrote It’s a Small World After All, so nobody’s perfect. My favorite work of theirs would be Mary Poppins, which reaches sublime heights of melody and heartstrings’ tugging. The rights to Bedknobs and Broomsticks were acquired before those of Mary Poppins, but it was shelved a few years to make way for Mary Poppins, since the stories were somewhat similar. Julie Andrews was the preferred witch for Bedknobs, but feared typecasting and demurred. Angela Lansbury eventually took the role. The movie won the 1972 academy award for Best Visual Effects over its competition, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. (Click each image to expand it–you will need a BIG screen–or right-click the expanded image to download it. And you don’t need witchcraft to find more pressbooks, just rummage through our categories.)
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Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) Re-release PressbookRead More »
Big Four Feature Unit Shows! from AIP. Gone are the days when people sat in movie theaters for a good part of their day, catching a feature, a newsreel, some cartoons, a second feature, and some popcorn; or at least a double-feature. The last time I sat for a bunch of movies back to back was when they did a marathon with Planet of the Apes at the Benson theater in Brooklyn. I loaded up on McDonald’s, bought my ticket, laughed, cried, and basically enjoyed the hell out of watching the movies back to back. Of course, my prostate was smaller then, so no problems with missing any of the action.
Here’s a down and dirty ad mats promotion for the five packages, each with four themed movies, courtesy of It Came From Hollywood. Take that, AMC!
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It Came From Hollywood sends more news clips from AIP. This time Horror Merchants, Cry of the Banshee, and Slaughter scripting as well as others soon to be in glorious newsprint.
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