AIP News Clips Galley Packet
Monster-Mongers
It Came From Hollywood sends more news clips from AIP. This time Horror Merchants, Cry of the Banshee, and Slaughter scripting as well as others soon to be in glorious newsprint.
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Howl With Some Werewolf Movie Radio Spots
Ah, the good ol’ days.
Greetings, kiddies. I was just sitting here in my old rickety rocking chair, basking in the light of the full moon coming through my bedroom window, when I heard a knock on my front door.
Opening the door I found my neighbor, Harry Talbot, standing there, panting frantically.
“Granny,” he said, “Do you have a razor I can borrow? I need to shave my face before I go out tonight.”
“Why’d gillette it grow out so much? I asked.
He said he’d been busy, but tonight he was off to have a howling good time on the town. I snickered to myself. Most of the ladies I knew thought him to be just another old wolf, so I doubted he’d have much success with any of them.
“Just a minute,” I said.
I rummaged through some of Uncle Edgar’s old things and came up with an old straight razor. I gave it to Harry. He thanked me and bounded away to enjoy whatever adventures he could find.
I returned to the comfort of my old rocker and thought about this week’s radio spots. Hmmm. Well, last time I did spots about vampires and the undead, so this time I should feature spots about werewolves. Great idea! …
The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972) Pressbook
Courtesy of It Came From Hollywood…The Groundstar Conspiracy pressbook with supplement. A noirish, spyish thriller movie with George Peppard and Michael Sarrazin. Peppard, of course, is best known as Hannibal in the television series The A-Team. He also played his annoyingly cool and supercilious leading man persona in Banacek. Michael Sarrazin, a Canadian actor, is notable for his role in They Shoot Horses Don’t They and to horror movie fans for The Reincarnation of Peter Proud. Funny, but I recall They Shoot Horses Don’t They mostly because my dad took me, I was pretty young, to see it and he said an expletive, along with his dislike for the movie’s ending. I wasn’t too keen on it myself at that age, either. But he did manage to bring me to science fiction movies (he didn’t like horror: my mom did), and he behaved himself when The Last Starfighter ended (though he found it just as underwhelming as Horses). Click each image to expand it–you will need a BIG screen–or right-click the expanded image to download it.) And you don’t have to read the signs to find more pressbooks, just rummage through our categories.
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AIP News Clips Galley Packet
Bette Davis a Bunny?
It Came From Hollywood provides a bunch of cool galley packets of AIP news clips with fetching titles like “director goes from cellar to beach,” “Bette Davis becomes a ‘bunny’,” and ”green beret versus motorcylce gang” to perk up interest. Here’s the first one. There’s also a neat blurb for Five-in-One Horror Show, An Evening with Boris Karloff.
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AIP News Clips Galley Packet
Bette Davis a Bunny?Read More »
Nine Girls (1944) Pressbook
A bunch of pretty (and pretty loopy, scheming, petty, and the usual female cinema stereotypes for the 1940s) sorority sisters get together on a dark and stormy initiation night. One of them winds up dead. Much finger-pointing and rivalries ensue as the mystery is secondary to having a bunch of–did I mention?–pretty girls being the focus of this B seat-filler. TCM has a page of quotes from this movie: my favorite is “Suppose I pick you up and we’ll do something gay?” Ah, those wacky sorority types. Exploitation for this movie included suggestions to “use lots of girlie photos” and “start early search to find the nine most popular girls in town.” Also, there was the “plant pictures where men meet” and snipe mystery and girlie magazines by affixing labels hawking Nine Girls. To be honest, these are the kinds of pressbooks (and movies) I really enjoy. Go figure. And where do men meet? That sounds like a catchy title for something, not sure what though.
Click each image to expand it–you will need a BIG screen–or right-click the expanded image to download it. And no sleuthing or sorority babes needed to find more pressbooks from Zombos’ Closet. But, you can still invite a sorority babe if you like.
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El Espectro Del Estrangulador
Mexican Lobby Card
Here’s an exciting example of luchador action with Santo vs. the Ghost of the Strangler (1966). You have Santo, a bloody handprint, an ominous silhouette, a show girl, and background illustration hinting of musical numbers to be seen. Somewhat of a sequel to Santo vs. El Estrangulador, the villain uses disguises fashioned from the skin of his victims (but no chainsaw, darn). El Santo (Rodolfo Guzman Huerta) got the idea for his silver mask after reading The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas. See CinemaBlend for 6 things to know about El Santo.
Undead Movies Radio Spots
Well, it’s 2024 and we’re off to a flying start, as Dracula would say.
2023 was a fantastic year…lots of new friends (some dead, some alive), lots of new radio spots, and the start of Granny Creech’s Radio Spot Crypt. Many thanks go out to Zombos Closet for making this old woman very happy, and for making her dream come true. I’m having a blast, and 2024 already promises to be even greater as many new things are on the horizon for both Zombos and Granny’s Crypt, so stay tuned!
I was just looking over my collection of spots and realized I still have a few “singles” left…individual spots for movies rather than the complete marketing package of three or more per title. So, I thought I’d include them here, linked together under the ‘vampire’ category. The first is Horror of Dracula followed by a combo spot for Horror of Dracula and The Thing That Couldn’t Die. Third is a spot for 1960’s Brides of Dracula, and, lastly, a spot for Curse of the Undead. I hope you enjoy them. It was a real pain in the neck to round them up, but there was a lot at stake, so I feel it was worth it. You can count on me to deliver the best, make no bats about it! (Hee Hee) Until next time….
Horror of Dracula and The Thing That Couldn’t Die!
Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Granny at [email protected].
The Sign of Zorro (1960) Pressbook
A big thanks to It Came From Hollywood who have now joined the Gang of Terrors From Zombos’ Closet. With a huge archive of both Joe Kane’s (The Phantom of the Movies) movie memorabilia and their own, stretching across decades, you will be seeing a lot of cool stuff in its new home From Zombos’ Closet. Of course, we’ll need a bigger closet…but, to start, here’s The Sign of Zorror pressbook from It Came From Hollywood’s archive.
Being a Disney pressbook, it is filled with merchandizing and promotional content galore. Guy Williams (Armando Joseph Catalano) also made a very dashing Zorror, too. His two notable roles were as Zorror and John Robinson (Lost in Space).
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Shadow of the Hawk (1976)
Mexican Lobby Card
With Chief Dan George, Jan-Michael Vincent, and Marilyn Hassett, this is an effective supernatural Canadian entry of the 1970s. While it could use a bit more action and plot-twisting, the story of a Shaman enlisting the aid of his modernized grandson to fight black magic plays like a television movie, but there are some excellent moments where the effects and the action make it a worthwhile watch, especially if you like the 1970s film vibe.
Espectros (The Ghastly Ones) 1968
This is the Mexican lobby card for The Ghastly Ones (1968). Or, as Stephen King states in his book Danse Macabre, “the work of morons with cameras.” I don’t think that would sell as a movie title, but oddly enough, it does fit quite a few horror movies quite well. I imagine no one would go see The Work of Morons with Cameras unless it was a funny and compelling compilation movie, though, come to think of it, that’s one hell of a midnight movie title. The lobby card, however, does give enough sexy, ghastly, hey-that’s-a-big-knife, and-is-that-a-head-in-a-pot vibe to entice unwary patrons. Which, of course, is not to be confused with pothead, a term many of you, I’m sure, were familiar with back in the 60s.
King Kong vs Godzilla Radio Spots
Hello, Children…Granny Creech here…
The other day I was stirring up a pot of brew when I received a phone call from my grandson, Big Abner, and he asked, “Granny, you have more radio spots than there are bodies in Witchwood Cemetery. Which one is your favorite?”
Hmmmm….interesting question. I have been collecting spots for longer than I can remember and his question caused a lot of internal retrospection. I love them all, some more than others – kind of like my relatives (heh heh). Which is my favorite and why? And what makes a great radio spot anyway? Well, it’s kind of like my brew: a lot of good things need to go into the pot to make a satisfying result.
For starters, a good radio spot has to have a quality announcer(s). He has to embrace the overall mood of the movie, whether it be excitement, fear, or humor. If he can elicit the proper emotion through his voice and colorful words, I can usually get excited to see the movie.
Second, a spot should tell the story of the movie somewhat, and include music and/or sound effects.
Lastly, it should appeal to the mind’s eye as well as to the ears. You should be able to visualize what you are hearing. You should be able to “see it on the radio.”
I thought and thought and eventually came up with two or three titles that would rank as my favorites. I finally came up with a winner. My favorite radio spots of all time (so far) are for the 1963 US release of…..King Kong vs Godzilla! …
Citizen Kane (1941) Pressbook
Here is the rare premier release of the Citizen Kane pressbook. There were two pressbooks created for the movie and this is the one that appeared first. After the movie did poorly–what with William Randolph Hearst’s minions bad-mouthing it as much as possible and killing adverts for it–a second pressbook was created with a different slant for advertising as the movie progressed through theaters. Through it all, Citizen Kane is THE movie that should be on your bucket list of must see cinema, no matter what kind of movie fan you are. Orson Welles visionary style, the fluid and timeless social commentary, and the emotional gut-wrenching by the soul-twisting characters, scripted between him and Herman J. Mankiewicz, are classic all the way. Read online or download these images: Citizen Kane Pressbook
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