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

UPDATED WITH NEW DISCOVERIES!

PART ONE OF THIS MASTERPOST IS FOUND HERE.

We aren't going to let any grass grow in getting this masterpost completed.  After all, too much can happen! With my luck, a meteorite with my name on it could come through the ceiling at any moment, so let's act fast.

Where were we? Ah, yes:

6) WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS & MONSTER ZERO (UPA/Donald Velde) Two ads (60 and 30 seconds) adorn this 7-inch 45 rpm disc released by Henry Saperstein's UPA.  You can see here a turning point beginning, because in past years there would've been more ads made to promote the film.  The pressbook (seen here) gives a cursory single line and says you can "order [them] free."  These are great ads that wisely use audio from the films! 

WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS & MONSTER ZERO Radio Spots

NOTE: Remember that both GODZILLA vs. THE SEA MONSTER and SON OF GODZILLA went straight to U.S. television, so no radio spots for these films.

7) DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (American International) Here, we get really lucky, because all four of these glorious ads were included on the awesome Tokyo Shock Blu-Ray...that was immediately withdrawn because Toho had a hissy fit.  This is also a 7-inch, 45 rpm disc, whose existence the pressbook (seen here) very briefly mentions, saying ads were "FREE in 60 and 30 second segments."  Also, this is the place to say that you probably recognize the mighty voice in these recordings.  It's none other than William Woodson, narrator of years and years of SUPERFRIENDS, as well as the great BATTLE OF THE PLANETS!

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS Radio Spots

8) GODZILLA vs. THE SMOG MONSTER (American International) Another 7-inch, 45 rpm disc, which for a while was the format of choice for radio spots.  In a reversal of what we've seen, A.I.P. gives us a verbose, flowery paragraph in the pressbook (they always were good at ballyhoo): "...sound and the fury of the battle sequences and the reactions of the people have been recorded and combined with provocative narration to stimulate the imagination of radio listeners...and they should be used liberally in time slots which cater to the community's youngsters. The spots are 60 and 30 seconds in length and have been combined on one 45 rpm disc for your convenience." Who could argue with that? (By the way, you can see the whole pressbook here!) Only the shorter of the two ads has surfaced over the years:

GODZILLA vs. THE SMOG MONSTER - Radio Spot

UPDATE: The website Zombos' Closet has the complete set of both ads at this post!

ADDENDUM: Special thanks to Anonymous, who in the Comments section below pointed us toward an American International repackage of quadruple features (circa early-to-mid 1970's) that not only included SMOG MONSTER (and also DESTROY ALL MONSTERS) in their "Monster Marathon," but even had a special radio spot made for the occasion! A.I.P. was really good about making double, triple, and even quadruple features out of their films at this time, and often the two mentioned above were included! Here is the archive.org link where you can actually hear/download it!  We really should give out No-Prizes around here like Marvel did in the good old days.

9) GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND (Cinema Shares) Here we take a sharp right-hand turn (I told you things would get weird).  There was no pressbook issued for this film (which you probably know was actually GODZILLA vs. GIGAN, and didn't make it to the U.S. until 1977), so we have nothing to go by.  This is yet another item that was first shared on this very blog and exists nowhere else, and it was issued as a 5-inch reel-to-reel tape. It would be awesome if a vinyl form did surface, because unfortunately one of the ads on my tape was degraded and garbled.  I did my best to reconstruct it--which you can see and download at this post, including a video with subtitles.

10) GODZILLA vs. MEGALON (Cinema Shares/Donald Velde) 

If we were strictly going in chronological order, this would come before the last entry, as MEGALON was released in the USA in 1976.  Take note of this, because not only was the campaign extremely ambitious for MEGALON, but it was the last Godzilla film issued with a pressbook (which is a very fun read, at this post).  Now, as I said, the promotion for MEGALON was taken to new heights--there was a comic book, four different pinback buttons, the "Godzilla For President" campaign--it went on and on.  There were the usual TV ads, and as you can see above, the pressbook tells us there were "Radio Spots (30 second)." 

UPDATE (2/15/2025) This ad has been located, obtained by me, converted, and restored for the world.  (See the whole post here if you are so inclined.) Enjoy!

GODZILLA vs. MEGALON Radio Spot (1976)

11) THE TERROR OF GODZILLA (Bob Conn Enterprises) A huge thanks goes out to Ultrase7en, who reminded me about the commentary track for the 2008 Classic Media DVD release of THE TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA, which actually includes a complete 30-second radio ad for the 1978 theatrical release of this film (remember, the version with MECHAGODZILLA in the title--that has the added prologue--was Henry Saperstein's version released to television).  I know I heard that commentary way back in 2008, but promptly forgot it existed! He was kind enough to also extract it for us, so here it is:

The Terror Of Godzilla Radio Spot (1978) 

Honorable mention:  I intended this list to cover only the original 15 vintage Godzilla films, but if you are so inclined to include GODZILLA 1985 and make it 16, there were apparently also radio ads for that film, although there is no trace of them today, other than a mention in a couple of sources (one of them being John Waters' book CRACKPOT believe it or not).  They seem to have completely vanished.

PROLOGUE:

Since these posts were originally made in 2022, we have made great strides in closing in on completing this set of vintage ads! To wrap things up, if you are owner of any of the material that's missing from these two posts (such as the missing GIGANTIS ads), don't just sit on it, but digitize it and share it with Godzilla fans on YouTube or something.  You own it, it's a mega-rarity, and nobody can take that away from you, but why not make these pieces of Godzilla history available for the generations to come?  If you have nowhere to host it, space at The Sphinx is always available to you.  Think about it, won't you?

It's starting to sound like a telethon around here, so we better stop now...I hope you've enjoyed this in-depth look at what would otherwise be a lost part of Godzilla history.  Do you have any of these physical items for sale? No, you don't.  If you did though, and would rather have money than dumb old records, you could always contact us!*

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*Worth a try.

ANOTHER FOOTNOTE: In other Toho news, the awesome Zombos' Closet that I've mentioned a few times already ALSO has complete sets of radio spots for RODAN, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, and KING KONG ESCAPES! Amazing!