From Zombos' Closet

What's It All About, Igor?

Zombos' Closet...a vast trove of endearingly cheap thrills, including movie and book reviews, and scans of his collections of cinema pressbooks, goofy paper-cutout Halloween decorations, and his amazing collection of Mexican lobby cards from B-grade films. If you have time to descend into a serious rabbit-hole of marvelous trash-culture nostalgia, visit that site just as soon as you possibly can. (DangerousMinds.net)

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Shaolin Wooden Men (1976) Mexican Lobby Card

Back in the 1970s, to catch a martial arts movie, you had to find a theater running them. Those theaters were not your usual mainstream fare ones. This was also known as, oh yeah, go to Times Square in New York City and mind the theater seat you sit in, because you never know what they were playing before the Kung Fu movies hit the screen. Or you had to find a more offbeat theater running Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan (yup, a misspelling on the card) or some Chinese martial arts opus somewhere in the more interesting areas of the city. But boy were those movies worth it. Between the horror movies and martial arts movies, and the graffiti, it was certainly a colorful time for those seeking different cinema fare. This poster-like Mexican lobby card packs a nice punch with its illustration and inset action scene.

Comixscene Doc Savage and The Shadow

From the first issue of Comixscene (1972), Jim Steranko's news and history newspaper for comics art, come this Doc Savage centerfold and The Shadow splash page. The centerfold has Steranko's Doc surrounded by images from other notable artists. The splash page is the image that netted Steranko's work for The Shadow with DC. Both are awesome. Comixscene was very much like The Monster Times, although with less graphics and more text for each article. In his comics work, Steranko brought a new, adult intensity to his layouts, characters, and action sequences, melding pop art elements within the comic page that were mind-bending and ground-breaking for young guys like me reading his Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. My favorite memory of him is when I saw him during an early Phil Seuling-organized comic convention, behind his table, with two femme fatales at his sides. He was smartly dressed to the nines, and completely not conforming to the usual decorum for comic artists back then. I still don't know if he was doing a put on or he was serious, but man, he could draw like no one else so why not act like it? As I recall, he was also around my height (that would be...not tall), and he dabbled in escapology (which I was also doing at the time), so he reminded me of Houdini. He had the that tough, secure attitude too.

El Secreto de Pancho Villa (1957) Mexican Lobby Card

Here's an atmospheric larger Mexican lobby card (more like a small poster) for The Secret of Pancho Villa. The left and right skulls take the background as the dark-clothed mysterious masked figure, carrying the unconscious woman, takes the foreground. He is the hero, the Avenging Shadow. The layout is rough, but it has that cut and paste of highlights rush job aspect that is rather engaging because it is easy to take in. 

Tip-Off Girls (1938) Pressbook

One does not live by horror movies alone. Sometimes a good crime melodrama, noir, western, fantasy, science fiction, guy movie, girl movie, kid movie, or documentary will do. This time around it's crime! The reason I found this pressbook so interesting was its use of pink and blue tones, and the fact that I like crime movies from the 1930s to 1950s. This one boasts a good cast with Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Anthony Quinn, Lloyd Nolan, Evelyn Brent, Mary Carlisle, and J. Carol Naish. The premise is bad girls helping rob trucks of their cargo. Shame on them!

Version for your comics reader: Download Tip-Off Girls Pressbook

Hat, Coat and Glove (1934) Pressbook

While the movie may rate only 5.7 on IMDb, I give its pressbook a higher rating. The cover is striking, using poster art from the movie. The use of darker and lighter green highlights adds a nice punch. Ricardo Cortez starred as Sam Spade in the 1931 Maltese Falcon, which is not my favorite Spade or Falcon. Wikipedia states this is a pre-code movie, but the Hays Code started in 1930, and was enforced by 1934. Oopsy?  

Version for your comics reader app: Download Hat Glove and Coat

House of Wax 3D (1953) Pressbook

I caught House of Wax 3D during the 1971 re-release in theaters. While I love both the original Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray Mystery of the Wax Museum and this Vincent Price remake,  with both having excellent directors, Price just makes it all the more fun along with the 3D effects. That voice of his is so mellifluous while his character is at his most dangerous, it's all quite disarming and alarming at the same time. Charles Bronson's brutish handyman provides the best and most surprising 3D effect ever done too. Now this should be re-released again in theaters, for sure. What's really eye-popping in this pressbook are the theater lobby and poster displays to sell the 3D.

Version for your comics reader app: Download House of Wax 3D

The Brainiac (1962) Mexican Lobby Card

I cannot recall exactly when I first watched El Baron del Terror, but I was of that impressionable young age to be pretty mesmerized and chilled by watching the Baron suck out those brains and dip into his big, chafing dish styled, serving bowl for seconds. While the makeup is well underdone and the story in need of a rewrite--and lord knows that English dubbing was awful--The Brainiac is justifiably a cult classic, recreating the style of a Universal Horror for Mexican audiences. This Azteca lobby card captures the movie's vibe quite well. And you can never go wrong with Abel Salazar in a movie.

The Cat and the Canary (1939) Pressbook

At 32 pages, and 15 x 12.5 inches in format, this is quite a pressbook for promoting The Cat and the Canary horror comedy with Paulette Goddard and Bob Hope. The amount of articles, poster art, newspaper ads, and promo gimmicks is astounding. There's a Cat (the villain) mask, cast teaser board, lobby displays, ready to run newspaper adverts, pre-publicity for Paulette Goddard, great poster art, and what's really cool, the shout-outs to classic horror stars.

Comic reader format: Download The Cat and the Canary