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Adventures of Captain Africa (1955) Pressbook

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One of the last few serials produced by Columbia, the Adventures of Captain Africa: Mighty Jungle Avenger!, were born when Columbia lost the rights to the Phantom, of which this movie was going to be the sequel. A lot of coffee and rewrites later, the costume was altered and the plot revamped, along with the character, to hit the jungle trails once more. Unfortunately, a lot of stock footage was used, along with a few cheater chapters, rendering these adventures not so thrilling. Wikipedia and The Files of Jerry Blake give good rundowns on this serial entry.

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Outcast of the Islands (1951) Pressbook

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Dramatic poster art for Outcast of the Islands drew my attention to this pressbook. Looking at it, I find it interesting how some movies played up the exotic woman (here it's Kerima) in the tropical/jungle milieu, until the 1950s, in the horror and adventure genres; one of all image, no substance. Now, of course, there were the femme fatales in noir, and the standout movie starlets, but they stood apart from the pretty-cardboard women with an air of tropical mystery and vexing perfection like Kerima, Acquanetta, and Kathleen Burke (Panther Woman in Island of Lost Souls). Noteworthy in this pressbook is the use of the "MASS audiences and CLASS audiences are flocking to see…" promotion line. I don't recall seeing another blatant (although, let's face it, an inherent presumption for any movie) spelling-out of the makeup of the audience theaters should have expected to get for Outcast.

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Monster World Issue 7, 1965

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Here’s a monster matinee issue of Monster World for your Saturday morning coffee reading pleasure. Issue 7 has lots of those wonderful advertising pages we loved as kids (but now I realize how much page-space was taken up for them!), and a Son of Frankenstein filmbook,  a note about Basil Rathbone’s dislike for being known as a horror actor, and Ghidorah! wags his tail. There ‘s a wonderful two-page spread on Famous Monster’s 3rd Fantastic Amateur Make-up Contest! too. A rather smart way to sell the 4.95 dollar kit. Of course, that kit, unused, would fetch a lot more money today. Then again, I wonder how many millennials are into monsterkid stuff?

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The Collector (1965) Pressbook

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I caught this on television a long while back and found it disturbing. A psychological horror story, it leaves you with a definite depressed mood. Terrence Stamp and Samantha Eggar provide the tension and terror as he displays really bad social skills and she's desperate to escape.

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Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Pressbook

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In 1981 I lost a girlfriend and watched Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen. Let me explain. I had just broken up with my girlfriend. She was still in love with a previous boyfriend who did a lot of bar-hopping playing in a band he never could commit seriously to. So, she couldn’t commit seriously to another relationship either as she followed him around, from bar to bar, hanging on. I actually wonder what happened to him more than her, but I hope she made out okay. Anyway, I was feeling awful after our split that night and, driving around aimlessly, I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark playing, though I forget which Brooklyn theater I walked into to see it. Place was packed; I barely made it in. After the traps started springing, in the first few minutes, I forgot everything else and joined in the foreign-locale derring-do and supernatural mayhem. I felt a lot better that night. I went back a few times more. I bought a few Indiana Jones 12-inch action figures a while later, marked down (with that memorable red sticker) at Toys R Us. I always think of her where Indiana Jones is concerned. Funny how things match up in your memory and hang on. Here’s the pressbook.

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The Monster Times Issue 36
October 1974

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Here’s another jam-packed issue for The Monster Times, issue 36. I get goosebumps when I read news blurbs like the one you’ll find on page 25, in Trek Talk. A bloody sweet tw0-pager by Dez Skinn and Dave Gibbons provides the comic relief, and Jason Thomas brings us part 1 of Robots in the Cinema. The mysterious Howard Philips asks Why Super-Heroines Leave Home, and the monster movies are gravely covered with Tales From Beyond the Grave and, one of my favorite Donald Pleasence movies, The Mutations. Lots more to read, so I won’t keep you any longer: jump right in!

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Night of the Living Dead Insurance Policy

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This is the ‘insurance policy’ theater giveaway for Night of the Living Dead. Of course, if you were actually frightened to death you couldn’t spend the money anyway. Below it is a copy of the NOTLD pressbook page highlighting this promotional gimmick. And here’s my take on this classic movie that frightened me as a kid. And I mean really, really, scared the sh*t out of me.

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The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) Pressbook

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Fellow purveyor of popular culture goodness (and geekdom), Terry Michitsch, generously provided these scans of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad pressbook. My favorite Sinbad movie, this has it all: fantastic musical score, wonderful dynamation from the master, Ray Harryhausen, a perfectly nasty villain, romance, and a solid fantasy storyline with action sequences.

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The Monster Times Issue 35, 1974

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Here’s a monster timely issue for Godzilla fans. Issue 35 of The Monster Times covers Tokyo’s eternal monster problem with a nifty rundown on the big nasties across the movies (up until 1974, of course). Howard Phillips (um, yeah) provides an overview of Supernatural Horrors in the comics, and the Science Fiction Book Club (gee, I was a member!) gets a shout-out in Bargains From Beyond. Not surprisingly, there’s a full-page ad for the Science Fiction Book Club, too. Back then, the club was the best way to get your hands on copious genre reading material. John Tibbets provides an academic lecture on horror and Chosen Survivors gets a “worth seeing” review. Also noteworthy, Trek Talk provides Cleveland Amory’s review of Star Trek, which originally appeared in TV Guide‘s 1967 issue.

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Mandrake the Magician (1939) Pressbook

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Here’s another Columbia movie serial pressbook for a comics hero, Mandrake the Magician. Lots of magical promotion for this movie can be found here. Wikipedia mentions that Mandrake may possibly be the first superhero (he appeared in 1934).

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New Adventures of Batman
and Robin, the Boy Wonder (1949)
Pressbook

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Here's another rare pressbook that recently went for over a thousand dollars at auction (crazy over-bidders!). Columbia's promotion for Batman and Robin is pretty smashing in these 16 pages. Of note is the single, but still important, promotion, Attract the Girls! on page 6. Looking back on those costumes, we can snicker a bit now, given all the high-tech stuff done today for the Batman movies, but audiences must have been just as thrilled back then as we are today.  As for me, I've not seen this serial yet, and look forward to doing so. The poster art is exciting. This one's for Will Meugniot on Facebook, who posts lots of wonderful animation, movie, and comic book stuff you shouldn't miss.

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and Robin, the Boy Wonder (1949)
PressbookRead More »