GODZILLA Vintage Radio Spots: Well, How Many Are There? PART ONE

Welcome to another masterpost where you get information that exists nowhere else! Today we are going to tackle a murky subject with lots of misinformation:  vintage Godzilla "radio spots," which is for some reason the preferred industry name for radio ads or commercials.  

I don't need to tell you, but back in the day, studios and/or licensing companies would prepare specially-made radio commercials (as well as television ads) for many of their films, because radio was one of the best places for promotion.  These were (usually) free to the promoter, because after all, they helped everyone involved.  

The best way to know what was available is to read the vintage pressbooks.  All pressbooks for the films we are going to discuss are available on this blog, so I am not going to repeat photos, but instead place links so you can see them for yourselves if you so desire.  As you will see shortly, there was no uniformity to the media that was used, and sometimes the available literature didn't even specify any details.

So? How many are there, then? Well, the short answer is: eleven.  Probably.  MEGALON is a little unclear, but hang tight, because here we go:

1) KING OF THE MONSTERS (Godzilla Releasing Co./TRANS-WORLD)  A 12-inch 33&1/3 record of 5 spots [first made available on this very blog, dear readers!] was "created by Terry Turner and Don Thompson" according to the pressbook.  The book only says they were "available," and doesn't specify the media involved.  Only a few months ago, it came to light that these were also offered on a (probably 10-inch) 78 from a kind soul who posted them to YouTube, making these a rare example of spots available in two formats! You can see the KOTM pressbook here, and download the radio ads (and even see the video for the 78 version, which I believe are completely identical) at this post!

2) GIGANTIS THE FIRE MONSTER (Warner Bros./Thaddeus Suski Productions) This is a sad one, because this record has only come up for sale a couple of times in the last several years, and apparently the buyers have no intention of sharing its contents, preferring instead to simply hoard it away somewhere.  As the pressbook tells us, the record contains "one 1-minute and three 20-second radio spot announcements...taken directly from the soundtrack of the picture." This was a 10-inch, 33&1/3 rpm one-sided disc (you can see the back had a neat textured pattern).  You can read the pressbook in this post, but as I said no ads have ever surfaced.  This film was released in many places in a double feature with TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE, and the last track on the record is for that double-bill.  Hopefully, we will hear them for ourselves one of these days!

3) KING KONG vs. GODZILLA (Universal/National Screen Service) This is an unusual entry, because we are going to discuss two different records! The official disc of radio spots was issued as a 7-inch 45 rpm record on red translucent vinyl (also unique in this list!).  There are five ads, although the pressbook ("Showman's Manual") merely says ads were "in all the usual 60, 30, and 10 second lengths."  What's most unusual here is that a second record was actually available, and this was an in-theatre one:

The pressbook spends much more time telling you about what they call the "PREVIEW RECORD," and says it was "specially made to be played during INTERMISSIONS. Announcer's voice presents an exciting sell for KING KONG vs. GODZILLA against incidental background music and also calls attention to the refreshment available at the candy counter. It's a 33&1/3 rpm [also, 7-inch] disc with both a 5 minute and a 2&1/2 minute pitch, all on one side. It is not intended to replace the trailer and is played only when nothing is on the screen.  Available at $1.50 per week, per record, from your NATIONAL SCREEN SERVICE EXCHANGE." So this record was meant to be played in the actual theatre, and what's more, you apparently had to rent it weekly!

This film is another case where precious little has surfaced in regard to radio ads.  You can read the pressbook, uh, Showman's Manual, in this post.  I've found two recordings that have surfaced over the years, and they may not even both be from the record of radio spots:

KING KONG vs. GODZILLA Radio Spots

The longer of the two sounds as if it was recorded from the air, and is specialized to radio station WAKY (Louisville, Kentucky), and mentions local theatres.  Considering this is what they actually wanted DJ's to do with these ads, it's probably safe to say the ad originated from Universal's record.

4) GODZILLA vs. THE THING (Americal International) Since we just looked at this one (see previous post, just scroll up...okay, here!), you will recall that this was a 7-inch, 45 rpm one-sided record that contained three glorious ads, which, as you also recall, can be downloaded at that same post! If you would like to enjoy the excellent pressbook for the film (perhaps the most common Godzilla pressbook), it can be found in this post!

ADDENDUM: Special thanks to Anonymous, who in the second installment of this masterpost pointed me to an American International repackage of quadruple features (circa early-to-mid 1970's) that not only included GODZILLA vs. THE THING (and also SMOG MONSTER) in their "Monster Marathon," but even had a special radio spot made for the occasion! He was kind enough to post an archive.org link where you can actually hear/download it! See the Comments in Part Two for that! We really should give out No-Prizes around here like Marvel did in the good old days.

5) GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER (Walter Reade-Sterling/Continental Distributing) Ads for this film were distributed as a 10-inch, 33&1/3 record which contained five different spots.  The pressbook confirms that they were "a 60-second, two 30-second, and two 20-second spot announcements," and you can peruse it (it's a hoot) in this post! Unfortunately, only one 20-second ad has surfaced, but here it is:

GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER Radio Ad

TO BE CONTINUED!

GO TO PART TWO

Since there is so much ground to cover, I am splitting this masterpost into two parts.  We will cover the second half next time, when things get even weirder and more scattered! What's the MEGALON mystery? Find out next time.