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Pressbooks (Horror, Sci Fi, Fantasy)

The Monster Times Collector’s Issue 2
1974 International
Star Trek Convention

Thousands of fans showed up for the 1974 International  Star Trek Convention at the American Hotel. By 1976, three Star Trek conventions ran in New York within a two-month period (fancyclopedia). I attended the Al Schuster convention at the New York Hilton, which attracted tens of thousands of fans (upwards of 50,000!). I waited on line for hours but did manage to get in, although thousands didn't. It was disorganized and not planned well at all. The convention was investigated by the New York Attorney General because many ticket holders couldn't get in. Most memorable moment for me: William Shatner getting a cream pie tossed his way by a kid who was goaded into doing it as a joke. Shatner handled it all like a pro and the audience ate it up. 

This is the blue cover, newsstand, edition of the Star Trek Lives collector's issue. The Monster Times also published a grey cover edition that was available only at the convention.

(Read The Monster Times Star Trek Lives Collectors' Issue 2)

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Realart Pressbook: Flesh and Fantasy 1943

Realart printed 4-page pressbooks for re-releases of movies. Here's the one for Flesh and Fantasy with Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck. It's a very good anthology movie with three supernatural tales that twist toward  their endings. Wikipedia mentions Universal shelved the original opening sequence, which was more violent and dramatic, and replaced it with a humorous one, even though preview audiences "raved about this scene." Intriguing to note, the second story involves a murder that brings to mind 1945's Dead of Night's bewildered architect and his, well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?. 

Flesh-fantasy-pressbook

Movie Pressbook: The Swarm (1978)
Part 1

An all-star cast couldn’t generate enough buzz for this Irwin Allen disaster movie to survive its box office, but this oversized, 32 page, pressbook for The Swarm is still killer. Irwin Allen, by the way, added all those spiffy aliens to his television shows like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea because he felt it boosted ratings. Known as the Master of Disaster, his disaster movies could be rather disastrous financially, but The Towering Inferno is a good flick.

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