From Zombos Closet

October 20, 2024

AIP/Filmways
Black Classics Marathon
1980s Radio Spots

Paul McVay over at It Came From Hollywood dug deep to find these radio spots. Here’s what Paul had to say about them.

Filmways had barely completed their purchase of American International before rushing out massive movie marathon packages to any exhibitor who would take them, and to their credit, it was a pretty smart idea. Attempting to recoup as much money as they could on their investment before they themselves went bankrupt.

“Filmways put together four black-film-oriented movie packages that appealed to every kind of theater and every time of day. Represented here are two of the four packages, Black Classic Unit 2 & Black Classic Unit 4. They include the “All-Day Motion Picture Marathon,” the All-Night Motion Picture Marathon, and the ultra groovy Dusk-To-Dawn Drive-In Movie Marathon. The movies included in the Black Classic Unit 2 package were Truck Turner (1974), Cooley High (1973), Bucktown (1975), and, forFriday Foster movie poster with Pam Grier some reason, Kung Fu Killers (1974). Each cut is tailored to that specific movie-going experience, be it all night at the Drive-in, all night at your local hardtop or if you weren’t encumbered by a job, all day long in your favorite local theater.

Black Classic Unit 4 included Friday Foster (1975), Slaughter (1972), Cornbread, Earl, and Me (1975), and Black Mamma, White Mamma (1973.) There are three 60-second cuts for each package for a total of six 60-second spots. All are highly polished with film audio drop-ins, sound effects, and some wonderful funky backing tracks. All six spots are different from each other. This was, perhaps, the last time radio advertising for film was this satisfying.”

Black Classic 2-All Day Motion Picture Marathon

Black Classic 2-All Nght Motion Picture Marathon

Black Classic 2-Dusk to Dawn DI Movie Marathon

Black Classic 4-All Day Motion Picture Marathon

Black Classic 4-All Night Motion Picture Marathon

Black Classic 4-Dusk to Dawn DI Motion Picture Marathon

Secret Agent X-9 1945 Pressbook

Lloyd Bridges only movie serial, Secret Agent X-9, also featured two actors who played Charlie Chan’s sons in that popular movie series, Key Luke and Benson Fong. Going after a synthetic fuel formula provides the motivation for thirteen chapters of action and cliff hangers. Universal was unique with their serials by not providing the traditional chapter recap of the story so far. Instead, they had characters in a following chapter recap, through their dialog, what transpired in the previous chapter (as noted in Gripping Chapters: The Sound Movie Serial, by Ron Backer, BearManor Media). Universal did a Secret Agent X-9 serial in 1937 too. That storyline centered around stolen jewels. Both serials were based on the comic strip character of the same name written by Dashiell Hammett and drawn by Alex Raymond.

Secret Agent x-9 movie serial pressbook, 1945

Dracula Classic Magazine 1976

Myron Fass of Eerie Publications came out with this non-comic look at Dracula in 1976 (with the short story, Dracula’s Guest, by Bram Stoker, included). It was followed up with another one-shot, Revenge of Dracula, in 1977. Both covers featured Bela Lugosi as the undead count. In Revenge, Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla was added. John Thomas Church provided the non-prose content for both. Revenge was the last magazine to be published by Myron Fass under the Eerie Publications name as he and Stanley Harris split over differences and Harris took the name with him in 1977.

In The Weird World of Eerie Publications by Mike Howlett (Feral House), he recounts how things came to a head. Fass kept a gun in the office. “In the summer of 1976, there was the typical tension in the air, and Myron Fass was storming around the office after having a heated argument with Harris. He retreated to his office and then a gunshot rang out.”

“It was really loud, and everybody freaked out, Howard Smukler recalled. “We had a number of gay editors/artists, or at least non-violent English major types, and they were really going nuts.” The shot went through the wall into Harris’ office, barely missing him.

Dracula Classic Magazine, Eerie Publications, 1976