From Zombos' Closet

Mexican Lobby Card: Chanoc (1967)

Amazing how all these jungle guys fighting lions, tigers, and assorted beasts never seem to get scratched, mauled, or serious f'd up. Hell, the urban jungle's apparently a lot worse if you go by these movies.

Ulysses (1954) Movie Pressbook

"A natural for school cooperation," Ulysses is a fun movie. This is the pressbook for the re-release of the movie.

Mexican Lobby Card: Superman Flies Again

Here's another colorful Superman Mexican lobby card for the television series. I like this one because the inset scene matches the action illustration at the bottom right.

More Superman Stuff in the Closet:

Superman and the Jungle Devil Mexican Lobby Card 

Adventures of Superman Mexican Lobby Card

Superman II Movie Pressbook

Genuine Superman Outfit Advertisement (Screen Magazine, 1955)

Mexican Lobby Card: Santo vs. Los Cazadores De Cabezas

Santo squares off against the Headhunters in this Mexican lobby card from 1971. 

Mexican Lobby Card: Invisible Ghost (1941)

These are the kinds of Mexican lobby cards I dream about. Frightening image of Bela Lugosi done in spook show luridness, matched with a gasping woman in the inset scene, and colors that scream "creepy" out loud. I normally don't collect lobbies that are badly torn, but this one is rare and the missing piece doesn't ruin the impact. I hope you find it as compelling as I do. This one is for Invisible Ghost (1941). And note that Polly Ann Young's name is misspelled.

 

More Bela:

Return of Chandu Pressbook

Bela Lugosi Meets Alfred Hitchcock

Bela Lugosi On the Set of Dracula

Monster Times Issue 30 February 1974

Issue 30 of The Monster Times gives Long Island a bad rap by providing way too much coverage on The Horror of Party Beach, annoys comic book fans with an assessment of The World's Worst Comics, and goes ape over John Landis's Schlock. Continuing the schlock motif, Joe Kane explores the 1950s teenage-slanted horror movies, with perhaps a bit more negativity than is warranted, and William Grefe (the director of Stanley) is interviewed. The best article is a rundown on all the really bad horror movies we can't seem to forget. 

 

Conquest of Space (1955) Movie Pressbook

The fascination with outer space exploration and interplanetary travel (and evil aliens) fueled a lot of 1950s science fiction cinema. Usually it was either the after effects of space travel causing more harm than anticipated (the Quatermass Xperiment: The Creeping Unknown is a good example), or it was finding out that once you got to where you were going, monstrous alien monsters (I'm open to a better term if you've got one) wanted to eat you or do other nasty things (like in The Angry Red Planet). Then, of course, you had George Pal insisting on giving us movies that focused on the more positive and challenging aspects of space exploration. He even insisted on adding as much scientifically accurate information (at least what was known back then) as possible. Wild, right? Here's the pressbook for George Pal's Conquest of Space.

Audrey Rose (1977) Movie Pressbook

Many 1970s pressbooks focus on admats, which are placed up front in the pressbook, and then add a page or two of article promotion toward the end of the pressbook. If based on a novel or there's a novelization of the movie, there's a page devoted to it. Many 1970s pressbooks are rather bland because of this less stylish and often repeated format. This movie has that slow 70s pacing, but still is a good one to watch.

Mexican Lobby Card: Tarzan Y La Diablesa

Here's an interesting one: this Mexican lobby card for Tarzan and the She-Devil, Tarzan Y La Diablesa, is a bit confusing. This is a beautiful lobby highlighting Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan, but Lex Barker played Tarzan in the 1953 movie. Oops. 

Mexican Lobby Card: Ghosts on the Loose (1943)

The East Side Kids mix it up with Bela Lugosi in Ghosts on the Loose. A salary dispute with Leo Gorcey, the "brains" of the group, would lead to The Bowery Boys movies beginning in 1945.

More Stuff in the Closet:

• A Bowery Boys Halloween
• Bowery Boys Mexican Lobby Card
• Another Bowery Boys Mexican Lobby Card

Mexican Lobby Card: El Misterio Del Latigo Negro (1958)

This Mexican lobby card for El Misterio Del Latigo Negro is gorgeous and a fine example of how much talent-driven composition Mexican lobbies can achieve. 

Mexican Lobby Card: The Deadly Wrestling Hold (1990)

The Deadly Wrestling Hold, La Llave Mortal, is promoted in a Mexican lobby card that uses two inset fight scenes for half of the lobby and illustration for the other half.