Here's a luridly illustrated Mexican lobby card for Urubu (aka Urubu, The Vulture People). Menacing, almost silhouetted people, a bosomy white girl in dire danger (and let's not forget the skimpy, inappropriate clothing, for jungle hiking), make this a memorable lobby. The movie is probably a boring jungle documentary so they had to spice it up somehow.
Here's the Mexican lobby card for Three Hours to Kill, with Dana Andrews and Donna Reed. Nice, action-packed layout, comfortably balanced across the corners with an eye-catching color arrangement. Within a second or two, you know who the leads are (note the two-pistol packing cowboy at top left, in the background, and Donna Reed and Dana Andrews in the foreground), and the potential trouble stirring things up (left and right at bottom, and the inset scene). A sophisticated, well thought through card.
Here’s a very special pressbook from the closet vault. It’s the 12 x 17.5 inches Advertising Book for The Return of Chandu. This, the Publicity Book, and a theater giveaway Chandu Mask were presented in a large, eye-grabbing folder. Quite an impressive promotional presentation for this serial starring Bela Lugosi.
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Pressbook: Return of Chandu (1934)
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This is the large (12 x 18.5 inches), attention-getting, pressbook presentation folder that the Return of Chandu promotional materials were held in. Note the two grommets in the middle, representing the door knobs: I’m guessing there was a ribbon or ornate string that tied the two front panels closed. Quite a presentation to theaters for this action-packed and melodramatic serial headed by Bela Lugosi as Chandu. See the Publicity pressbook , Advertising pressbook, and the theater giveaway Chandu mask this folder contained.
Only 4 pages, but packed with promotional material for Chandu on the Magic Island, with Bela Lugosi. The original serial was edited down to 2 movies, The Return of Chandu and Chandu on the Magic Island. One of Lugosi's best roles, but often forgotten between his Dracula and Ygor triumphs.
Here's the Mexican lobby card for Roy Rogers' Twilight in the Sierras (1950).
The late 1950s to early 1960s had a certain style of scripting and visual direction for female leads, which often promoted through tight, and skimpy, clothing with slip on shoes. Guys held the guns, of course, and seemed to always roll up their sleeves and slick back their hair. Lex Barker made a wonderful Tarzan, by the way.
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I already posted the herald for this movie, so here's the pressbook. Notice anything odd about it? What's a reference to Batman doing here? The first air date for the popular and influential Batman television series, starring Adam West and Burt Ward, was in 1966. American distributors for A Study in Terror must have thought linking Sherlock Holmes with the more campy Batman would be a good butts in seats gimmick. Wow. Great way to sell a horror movie starring two iconic figures, one fictionally good, one all too real evil.
See more pressbooks From Zombos' Closet.
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Here's the theater giveaway to help promote the showing of A Study in Terror with John Neville as Sherlock Holmes. While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had engaged in speculation as to who Jack the Ripper really was, his fictional creation never did.
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The Golden Voyage of Sinbad gets the filmbook treatment in issue 38 of The Monster Times. At least it adds a few pre-production sketches of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion effects for the models. Marvel's handling of Conan the Barbarian is examined (thank the lord for those black and white magazines that escaped the dreaded comics code, especially here), and Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. blabs about The Blob in a great interview. Interestingly, he relates how the blob's color was dyed deeper shades of red as the film progressed. "Since the creature devours some fifty people by the end of the film, it was a logical thing to do." Yeaworth also confirms the multiple titles for the movie before release: The Molten Meteor, The Glob, and Night of the Creeping Dread. He notes Steve McQueen suggest using "The Blob" one day during shooting. Bless you, Steve. Last but not least for this issue, TMT praises The Mad Ghoul for B-ing a movie above the rest.
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I found this Mexican lobby card for Santo Contra Los Secuestradores (1973) primitive in its layout, but still effective. Hints of action, villains, and women with and without guns. Looks like fun to me.
A fantastic Mexican lobby card for White Pongo (1945). Could this be the missing link between man and ape?! Nah. Just a man in a gorilla suit. But I'll keep searching for you. Ray "Crash" Corrigan plays the ape. Naturally. Aguirre Tinoco drew the ape in his distinctive artistic style.