Halloween Pumpkin With Legs
Because I know you're already thinking about Halloween, here's Betty Grable, a happy pumpkin, and a little bedtime reading for you.
Movie Pressbook:
Jungle Jim in Voodoo Tiger
The movie pressbook for Voodoo Tiger (1952). This is a 6-page foldout. I've mixed up the order of the pages but they're all here.
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Mexican Lobby Card:
Los Espadachines De La Reina
Yes, The Happy Musketeers (1961) is a weird movie. For kids. Great child-friendly illustration too, especially the swooning woman shackled to the torture wheel. Kids love that stuff for sure.
Movie Pressbook: Soylent Green
A very well constructed color noir, Soylent Green also warned us about global warming years before it started to take hold of our attention. Good science fiction always tells us what we don't want to hear.
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Movie Pressbook:
Guess What Happened
To Count Dracula
After reading the IMDb blurb for 1971's Guess What Happened to Count Dracula, I definitely know what happened to Dracula in this movie: "Dracula enslaves Dr. Irving Jekyll, turning him into the lycanthropic JackalMan, demanding that he lure female blood donors to his L.A. cabin retreat." Oh, my.
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Movie Pressbook:
Guess What Happened
To Count DraculaRead More »
Student Guide Handout:
The Andromeda Strain
It's interesting to note that science fiction movies usually receive a more sophisticated (and academic) promotion through their pressbooks and theater giveaways. Here's an example of a herald for the movie that's formatted as a study guide for students.
Mexican Lobby Card:
The Playgirls and the Vampire
The Italian production of La Ultima Presa Del Vampiro (The Playgirls and the Vampire) is considered the first horror movie to combine blatant sex with gothic horror (think nudie cutie with bite). Actually, it's not all bad, although the special effects are groan-inducing when seen today. But the story is good and the overall production shows care and attention. And it has playgirls! Oh, and a vampire, too. This unusual lobby card (done in window card style, although there's no room added for theater info) is striking in its simplicity and color choices. It took over two months to arrive from the eBay seller in Mexico, but I'm tickled pink to finally be able to share it with you. I hope you are, too.
Movie Pressbook:
Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
See the Blacula pressbook here (most of it, anyway). Here's the sequel, Scream Blacula Scream. I like both movies, and were they not saddled with the blaxploitation connotation (although they are good examples of blaxploitation, actually), the tortured character of Mamuwalde just might be appreciated more by horror fans.
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Blacula (1972) Pressbook
According to Wikipedia, Blacula was the first horror film to receive a Saturn Award. It's also the first time an African-American actor (William Marshall) appeared on screen as a vampire. Marshall also was the King of Cartoons for Pee Wee Herman's Playhouse. Of note, too, is how his sympathetic but demonic character mirrored Dark Shadows' Barnabas Collin's similar predicament. Pressbooks from the 1970s often printed ads on one side, leaving a blank page. That's why some page numbers are missing. An insert flyer appears after the pressbook.
(See the Scream Blacula Scream pressbook)
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Elizabeth Shepherd and Vincent Price
Tomb of Ligeia
A photo of Elizabeth Shepherd and Vincent Price hamming it up on the set of Tomb of Ligeia; I briefly chatted with Ms. Shepherd at the NY Horror Show convention. Hoping to get an email interview with her, she deferred to her handler's advice. Of course he (and she) didn't contact me later. Bummer. But I enjoyed our brief chat, even though she kept speaking of Mr. Price when I wanted to hear more about her.