The format of this Spanish pressbook for Olsen and Johnson’s zany Hellzapoppin compelled me to add it to my collection. Their comedy was brash, insulting, crazy, and non-stop fast. They covered it all: vaudeville, radio, theater, television, and film. The wild cover art and long, slim appearance of this pressbook pays tribute to their unique style.
Here’s the Hellzapoppin Theater Program. See more pressbooks From Zombos’ Closet.
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A lost viking civilization in the Arctic provides the theme for this fantasy film with David Hartman. Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too was the other part of the double bill theater showing. Some critics at the time liked Winnie and Tigger more than Hartman. Island’s pressbook, as usual, throws everything into promotion. Did you know that toothsome means attractive? Agneta Eckemyr is described as “toothsome enough to make a mummy drool.” As usual with many pressbooks, female actors were often treated as mostly eye-candy fluff and glamour objects.
Comic reader version: Download Island at the Top of the World Pressbook
See more pressbooks From Zombos’ Closet.
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Tim McCoy goes looking for the killer of his friend in this Monogram Westerner. He had the best scarf in the West.
Comic reader version: Download West of Rainbow’s End Pressbook
See more pressbooks From Zombos’ Closet.
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A very ominous Mexican lobby card for Damiano Damiani's The Witch in Love (La strega in amore). This is a good example of how a simple layout can add subtle and not so subtle themes: the main scissor illustration showing violence and death; the younger woman on the left showing erotic fantasy but also foreboding as she faces toward the woman on the right; and the flaming passion or ill-intent shown by that older woman on the right. The eyes are drawn to each of these three visual statements in that order. The inset scene is one of action, too, which keeps the level of tension across this lobby card quite high.
A thrilling Mexican lobby card for The Black Whip.
More puppet mayhem coming…I like puppet mayhem…here's the press release…let's hope they focus on the horror first and the gore second.
FIRST LOOK: BILL MOSELEY and BILL OBERST JR Star in Upcoming Killer Puppet Horror Pic ‘HANDY DANDY’
DETROIT (August 28, 2018) – Horror veterans Bill Moseley (Rob Zombie's The Devil’s Rejects, 3 From Hell) and Bill Oberst, Jr. (3 From Hell, Death House) star in the upcoming killer puppet feature film, HANDY DANDY.
Helmed by Jeff Broadstreet (Night of the Living Dead 3D), HANDY DANDY commences at a shuttered TV studio haunted by a 200 year old dark magician known as Mr. Jolly (Oberst). Once the star of a 1960’s children’s show, Mr. Jolly has a long history of stealing living hearts from kids and adults alike in order to keep his evil puppet family alive. Tonight, as five unsuspecting intruders stumble into the puppets' bloody lair, one brave man (Moseley) has come to face his past in the form of Mr. Jolly and stop the magician from taking any more innocent life.
The cast also features Jake Red, Cody Cameron, Arthur Marroquin, Danni Spring, Kyle Anderson and Katelynn Newberry as the puppets' prey.
Oberst shared, “I've done a lot of horror films, guys, and I think you're really going to like this one. It's fun. There's a lot of gore, brutality, really cute puppets…and it has Bill Moseley and the main puppet, Handy Dandy. That makes it pretty special.”
Shot on location in Detroit, Michigan, the film is produced by Don Borza, CEO of Milwaukee Junction Entertainment, from a script penned by J.S. Brinkley.
Fans can learn more about the production by going to HandyDandyMovie.com.
Quite a bit of promotion for two teenager and crime movies from Republic Pictures, that's for sure. I have a fondness for these fold-out pressbooks with sleeves to hold the promotional sheets (see Brain from Planet Arous and How to Make a Monster).
Comic reader version: Download Juvenile Jungle Double Bill Pressbook
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The Destination Moon pressbook is big. At 13.5 by 20.25 inches, and 31 pages, it is an impressive promotional campaign for the movie. It is interesting to note that this movie presaged the notion of private enterprise spearheading space exploration, not the government. Of course, NASA did the heavy lifting in the beginning, but now it seems private enterprise is taking the lead (for better or worse). Woody Woodpecker has the honor of explaining the scientific principles behind space travel. For the story behind that, see Wikipedia's entry on Destination Moon.
Comic reader version: Download Destination Moon Pressbook
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The British World of Horror magazine came out in 1974 through 1975 and lasted 9 issues. Not very polished in layout, but overall, content-wise, it did include a good range of movie coverage, some fiction (if you're into having short stories mixed in with your horror movie articles: I'm not), and black and white and color pictures (although the printing quality was poor). The Scream Scene section was similar to The Monster Times' own The Monster Scene. A few cartoons were also tossed into the mix. In this issue, a classic horror article on Lon Chaney Sr. rubs elbows with coverage of The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, and Young Frankenstein.
Comic reader version: Download World of Horror (more in the magazine morgue!)
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Here's one for Mario Bava fans, from the Italian comic series Diabolik.
Comic book reader version: Download Danger Diabolik Pressbook (and see more pressbooks)
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While the humor doesn't improve much for this last issue of Monster Madness, the inclusion of articles was a last gasp attempt at enticing the maturing monsterkids into spending their coinage. In this issue you will find cool reading on the Creature from the Black Lagoon (with a great pic of Milicent Patrick at work), reviews for Asylum, Blacula, and Dr. Phibes Rises Again, the redoubtable Robert Bloch, and a letters page. Special note: the Fright Gallery ad on page 61; who wouldn't want all of these 24 x 36 inch posters to stare at in the middle of the night?
Comic book reader version: Download Monster Madness 3 (read more monster madness in the magazine morgue)
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