GODZILLA 1985 Promotional Items (various)

There are a few years that stand out for their sheer amounts of American Godzilla material.  1978 is one, followed by 1985 and 1998, although that last one certainly wasn't all roses.  1985 was one of the biggest, though, and if you knew where to look, Godzilla was all over the place.  There was a fun Dr. Pepper campaign, and also an onslaught of toys and products from Imperial (all of these items can be seen at our Vintage American Godzilla Items page, by the way).

For some reason, though, we haven't ever discussed the many other promotional items that were made for GODZILLA 1985, so let's remedy that now.  These are basically associated with the theatrical and/or home video release of the film, so you wouldn't have found any of these in retail stores:

Theater Standee: we all know the famous poster, but did you know there was a large cardboard standee, measuring 45 by 71 inches? There was a time that such large displays were commonplace, but it seems like you don't see nearly as many today. Come to think of it, when's the last time I went to a movie theater?

Video Store Standee: This is actually the exact same item as above, with a sticker placed over the NEW WORLD PICTURES, making it NEW WORLD VIDEO...I kid you not!

The Love Theme from GODZILLA 1985:  I mentioned this somewhere on this blog in the past, but yes, there was a single released for the American version of the film.  It's pretty rough.  And, pretty rare.

"Godzilla Beach Patrol" Safety Vest: I know what you are thinking, because I am still thinking it to this day, and it consists of  lots of "how the...?!" and "why?!" exclamations.  We may never know why this existed.  My feeling is that it was tied to an event, and probably a local,  one-time event, somewhere.  

The back has the slogan of "Have You Seen The New Godzilla" that appeared in a couple of places during 1985, and you can just make out a tiny "New World Video" underneath.  All I can tell you is, the G.B.P. (even though they had a sweet logo) has never reappeared.

Video Store Poster:  1985 was the first (and only, I guess) Godzilla movie to have a separate video store poster, which...wasn't too different from the theatrical one.  It was the same 27 x 41" size, though, and sometimes sellers get them mixed up.

Video Store Standee & Sign:  Some video stores went the extra mile, and had a counter-top-sized small standee, as well as a hanging sign.  Ah, remember video stores?

New World Video Mug: I have actually done a post about this item before, and since it does specifically say "New World Video," we can feel confident that it was promoting the home video release rather than the theatrical one. 

There was also a magazine ad campaign (where you will see a lot more of the "There Goes The Neighborhood" tagline), with full-page color ads of the poster art in magazines like Rolling Stone.  There were also numerous versions of television ads, and I've seen two mentions in print that radio ads existed, although none have ever surfaced!

Audio Avalanche!

Before we return to our latest Godzilla revelations, let's catch up on some audio that I've laboriously purchased, digitized, and cleaned up.  The work is all done, so it would be a shame to let all that go to waste...speaking of waste, do you have some time that needs wasting? I'll help you. Here we go (in no particular order):

1) The Age of Television (RCA, 1971)

This is not one of those "clip show" records, but rather a well-made documentary. Don't let the year of 1971 put you off; this is captivating stuff, and its interspersed with candid interviews with the likes of Milton Berle, Arlene Francis, and Steve Allen, and some of their anecdotes are hilarious.  You'll be glad you did.  The record came packaged with a large book (which isn't necessary to enjoy this). Recommended!

LINK: The Age of Television

2) If Someone Had To Fill Your Chair Tomorrow, Who Would It Be? (Fails Management Institute, 1977)

This piece of unmitigated crap is a one-sided 12-inch record that I found at a Game Exchange of all things.  I will admit that once I saw "THE FAILS MANAGEMENT ISNTITUTE" on the sleeve, I was buying this.  Unfortunately, they failed to manage the fail that was this record, which is nothing more than an advertisement to attend an expensive seminar "at two beautiful locations!" Also, the "Fails" is one of the old guys' last names...no, really.  They take turns droning on about boring business things, and actually do manage to leave us with a couple of funny samples, which I have cut out and gotten you started with, as you will see if you bother to download this...thing.

LINK: If Someone Had To Fill Your Pants

3) Bed Time Tales (Rosicrucian Recordings, date unknown)

And then we have this, which is obviously from the 1950's.  A stodgy old Fred Mertz-sounding character, who clearly doesn't want to be there, reads four meandering and pointless "tales" to the listeners, but he sounds like he'd rather start thrashing them at any second.  When you look at the back cover and see the other titles in the series, which were about the "Science of Mysticism," and "Attaining Cosmic Consciousness," you realize that Mommy and Daddy were having way more fun.  But do I run into any of those titles at the Goodwill? Nope.

LINK:  Bed Time Tales

4) Oceanography (Educational Activities, Inc., 1969)

Remember filmstrips in school? Remember your teacher struggling with loading the projector, while you made fun of her? Remember her cueing up a record or tape incorrectly, while you made fun of her? Remember being so glad when the lights finally went out, so you could sleep...or better still, watch the filmstrip, and make fun of it? (I got in trouble rather a lot.)  Well, here is the audio to two educational--and quite strange--filmstrips about the next frontier for man to pillage and leave full of discarded Lee Greenwood albums and Ho Ho's wrappers. We don't have the actual filmstrips, but I did include the Teacher's Guides for you to peruse.  The most fun, though, is the list of recommended class activities on the back cover, where we read suggestions like "Investigate the commercial fishing industry and locate important fishing grounds."  

    "Billy, where are you going in that overcoat and dark glasses...and is that your father's revolver?!"

    "Aw, gee, Ma, I'm just going to finish my expose' and blow the lid offa Big Fish...the National Enquirer is waitin'." 

LINK: Oceanography

WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS & MONSTER ZERO Radio Spots (UPA, 1970)

 

I am equally pleased and shocked to say that we have another (partially) lost set of Godzilla radio spots to bring out of the lost media category!  I decided to look in a less obvious place for radio spot records, and lo and behold, was able to bring this back home, from Finland, no less! How it got over there is a mystery.

I wasted no time in capturing this glorious minute-and-a-half.  These ads are some of the very best Godzilla radio ads, and they were smart enough to use real sound effects from the films (which wasn't always the case).  You can download them below, and I'll also add these to the recent Godzilla radio spot masterpost.

WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS & MONSTER ZERO Radio Spots

Postscript:  I'm always interested in the reverse sides of one-sided records, and I can report that this one does indeed have grooves (and a blank label) on its B-side, only instead of being empty and silent, they are cut in a reverse spiral, and farther apart...meaning, if you drop the needle somewhere in the middle, it shoots away and flies off the record before you realize what's happening! Nutty!

Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster Ad Slick Sheet (American International, 1972)

 

Ordinarily there wouldn't be much to say about these vintage sheets, meaning what you can see is pretty much what it is.  But what I find weird is the way they filled leftover space on these things.  You will often see a cropped/doctored graphic, or even a photo, used to fill the space, and some of them are baffling as to what their exact use would be.  

Here is an example of what I'm talking about:

Cropping out this Godzilla required some retouching, but somebody thought it was necessary, or even useful. It leaves the end user with a filler piece that doesn't even have a movie title.  Even stranger still:

This time, somebody had to crop out Godzilla's arm to allow it to move like a paper doll would, and...poke Hedorah in the eye, like a Terry Gilliam animation.  I mean, ok, if that's what you were going for, then you succeeded.  It's pointless for me to say "and this is before the days of digital manipulation, kids," but I guess I just said it.  It's very strange.