From Zombos' Closet

On the Spot (1940) Pressbook

Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland team up in another Monogram comedy that mixes the usual 1940s tropes (like gangsters and  soda jerks for instance). Darro gets top-billing, Moreland (his "colored crony," "colored cohort"), barely a nod, though the two made a good team up. The Shake It Up with Soda Store Stunts! is informative. I would have loved to have seen Skello in the theater lobby, for sure.

ComicRack reader version: Download On the Spot Pressbook

Be on the spot with more pressbooks from Zombos' Closet.

Red Barry (1938) Pressbook

If Larry "Buster" Crabbe is in it, it must be good. He plays a detective after stolen bonds worth two million dollars, which in today's money is a lot more. Red Barry was a comic strip by Will Gould. No relation to Chester Gould who did Dick Tracy. William Gould played Commissioner Tom (again, no relation to either Goulds), and Rita Gould played Mama Sonia (once again, no relation to the other Goulds either). That's a lot of unrelated Goulds. The pressbook has a neat appearance with a centerfold spread of promotional ideas.

ComicRace reader version: Download Red Barry Pressbook

See more cyclonic pressbooks (and possibly Goulds) from Zombos' Closet! 

The Face of Fu Manchu (1965) Pressbook

As Christopher Lee said, the first one should have been the last one. The Castle of Fu Manchu is the worst of the lot, but the first two are good, if questionable today. The first movie in the series is made better by Nigel Green as Nayland Smith. Here is the British pressbook. One thing, the pressbook states that the saying "one picture is worth a thousand words" is a Chinese proverb. Nope. Not even close. Fred R. Barnard is credited with saying it in 1921, although he did pretend it was a Chinese proverb. 

ComicRack reader version: Download Face of Fu Manchu Pressbook

Let's face it, you can see more pressbooks from Zombos' Closet.

Buck Rogers (1939) Pressbook

In the 1970s, serials were rediscovered by the comic and science fiction fans for good reason: you can criticize the budgets, but the stories were pretty nifty and the imagination ran wild. I always liked Buck Rogers more than Flash Gordon, though I found both a lot of fun and exciting. There's just something really cool about a person who wakes up 500 years later than the year he went to sleep in. 

ComicRack reader version: Download Buck Rogers Pressbook

Campus Sleuth (1947) Pressbook

Those crazy teenagers, always getting into trouble on campus, at least in 1940s and 1950s movies. Mostly, the appeal of this pressbook was Noel Neill, Lois Lane in George Reeves Superman television series. I liked Noel Neill but she always seemed too fragile and less headstrong than a Lois Lane should be. Phyllis Coates, who played Lois in the first season of Superman, was replaced by Neill. Coates was pushy and tough in appearance and action, which made the first season of Superman more for the entire family instead of just the kids, which the later seasons played to. She also hated the idea that Lois couldn't figure out that Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same; something the comic picked up on and tried to explain in a very bad way (see Superman issue 330). Let's be honest: those glasses and mild mannered demeanor are the worst attempt at disguise ever done in comics. Just go with it.

ComicRack reader version: Download Campus Sleuth

No won't need to hire a detective to find more pressbooks from Zombos' Closet.

Chasing Trouble (1940) Pressbook

Frankie Darro starred (more or less with the dog, Rinty) in The Wolf Dog (1933) serial and other actioners from Mascot. He had a big role in The Phantom Empire serial in 1935. His small stature and youthful looks kept him into young roles for a while until his age caught up with him. He also starred, along with Mantan Moreland, in movies like this one for Monogram. He also did a lot of television work. Notably, Mantan Moreland receives barely a mention in the pressbook as an "ace colored comic." Moreland was, for a moment, considered as a replacement for Shemp in the Three Stooges, but that did not happen. He would have been awesome.

ComicRack reader version: Download Chasing Trouble Pressbook

You can chase more pressbooks from Zombos Closet without trouble.

Jungle Jim in Jungle Manhunt (1951) Mexican Lobby Card

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. There are skeleton men and man-eating dinosaurs to contend with in Jungle Manhunt. That looks like one mad chimp too, so Jungle Jim has his hands full in this one.

Target Earth (1954) Pressbook

One of my guilty pleasures, Target Earth lacks an army of robots (they made only one), lacks a good budget to sell the invasion angle, but does provide drama between the players who must survive the (did I mention only one) robot's deadly intentions as well as those of the psychopath in their midst. Later movies, from zombies to aliens, would play up on the dealing-with-the-threat-from-without-and-within theme. While the robot isn't designed all that well by today's standards, it does create menace and has that 1940s/50s esthetic that I do find endearing. The pressbook is a tidy little number with enough articles, promotion, and poster art to help sell the movie. And, repeat after me, "beaverboard." The pressbook mentions taking the 6-sheet poster, mounting it on beaverboard, and placing a flashing red light where the robot's eye-panel is.  Whew. That would have been killer in the theater lobby.

ComicRack reader version: Download Target Earth Pressbook

You don't need to go to Target to see more pressbooks from Zombos Closet.

The Red Ace (1917) Pressbook

The Red Ace pressbook, which is the oldest one in my collection so far (from 1917), is one of the most beautifully conceived pressbooks I've seen, with wonderful use of color, graphics, and text fonts. Size-wise, it's rather small at 12.5 x 7 inches, but it packs quite a visual wallop; and, certainly, that old world, flourishy, charm in its design is nostalgic.

ComicRack reader version: Download Red Ace Pressbook

Want to play with more trump pressbooks? There's more from Zombos' Closet.

The Red Ace (1917) Herald

Here's the colorful theater herald for the 15-chapter serial, The Red Ace (1917), from Universal.

 

Undersea Kingdom (1936) Pressbook

If it wasn't Mars blasting the earth's atmosphere with deadly rays it was an undersea or other hidden kingdom threatening doom with a disintegrator ray. Ah, the good old days when global warming wasn't a problem; just evil minions and their maniacal leaders who apparently had little else to do but make trouble for everyone on earth. Mystery Science Theater 3000 can mock this movie all they want, but it's still a wild ride with its mishmash of whatever costuming was available from the wardrobe department, and creative model work, and the volkites (tin can robots), all done  on a shoestring budget. As for scientific gadgets, the Reflector plate is very interesting mostly because the concept was used again in Star Trek's Mirror Mirror episode with its Tantalus Field: a device that could see and hear anyone at any time, with a handy press-here-to-disintegrate button. There's also the Invisible Wall of Atom Rays that acts a lot like the Enterprise's shields. So make fun all you want: a fair amount of later science fiction staples came from this and other serials. This pressbook is huge at 13 x 20 inches and contains a lot of promotional material to get the kids into the theater. 

ComicRack Reader version: Download Undersea Kingdom

You don't have to dive deep to see more pressbooks from Zombos' Closet.

The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold Mexican Lobby Card

This 13.75 x 28.25 inches poster-sized Mexican Lobby card for The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (El Llanero Solitario y La Ciudad Perdida de Oro, 1958), is exciting, colorful, and certainly makes me want to see the movie. While the Lone Ranger is considered too corny now for a decent revival in cinema, growing up watching him on television, with George Reeves' Superman, was fun. The travesty of Johnny Depp playing Tonto (originally done by Jay Silverheels) as a weird joke is unforgivable. What's weird and corny about two people seeking and working together for justice? One of Jay Silverheels' homes was in Brooklyn, off of Bay Parkway, just a little ways from where I was growing up in Bensonhurst. I often passed his house with the beautiful window displaying his Native American pride. I don't recall him doing conventions--at least not the ones that I attended in the 1970s.