Announcing The Sphinx GODZILLA GUIDE VOLUME 5: U.S. Theatrical Promotional Items!

 

I lost track of how long this project took (maybe three years or so, off and on), but after a long period of concentrated effort, the entire series of Sphinx Godzilla Guides is finally complete.  

This fifth and last volume covers vintage promotional theatrical material from the original series of Godzilla films, plus GODZILLA 1985 for good measure, and because there is a huge amount of stuff for that film.

It's hard to represent this guide in a screenshot or two, but the premise was to use all of the vintage pressbooks (as we have done sporadically in this blog over the years) as a guide, and take a deep-dive look at each one of them along the way, showing all of the known materials that exist for each film. Another little-examined corner of Godzilla history is the vast amount of crazy suggestions that the various distributors made for theatre-owners to promote and exploit the film...some not even legal!

In addition, we will look at ad slicks and ad molds, radio and television spots, and any and all other ephemera produced--several films even had unique items only made for them, such as a mask, a comic book, even a safety vest in one case. We will see examples of finished ads as they ran in newspapers of the day, as well as trade ads and the occasional news stories. It's not only a fun read for the Godzilla fan, but can also serve as a checklist of sorts for the hard-core collector, as nowhere in collecting history has anything like this ever been attempted. I am not sure how interested Toho really is at preserving the history of Godzilla in America, as they seem to be extremely disorganized in their efforts, but here it all is (call me sometime, Toho; let's do lunch).

Of course, these volumes will continue to be updated as new discoveries are made, especially in the Home Video and Comics areas, which are ongoing. I'm always more than happy to receive corrections and additions for any of the volumes, and I hope they are used and enjoyed, because they will be here in perpetuity and at absolutely no cost.  Enjoy! You can download all five at the Sphinx Godzilla Guides page.

Now, on to the next large-scale project; stay tuned!

GODZILLA vs. MEGALON Complete Set of Color Stills (Cinema Shares, 1976)

 

This is an update of an old post, because I just this week completed this set of 8.  MEGALON had 8 x 10-inch "color stills" instead of lobby cards, but they are super cool, with lots of great promotional photos.  Sort of like giant trading cards. Here are all 8 in one lovely post!

                 

Announcing the Godzilla Theatrical Promotional Items page!

 

As you know, we keep track of vintage American Godzilla items around here.  We have retail items covered, but the glaring omission to our lists (links are at the left side of this page) are all of the theatrical items that couldn't be bought in stores.  We have featured many of them over the years on this blog, and this new page will show what exists for all of the vintage Godzilla films, going up to GODZILLA 1985.  "Say, was there even a pressbook for THE TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA?" you might ask yourself...well, this new page will tell you. (The answer is "NO.")

There is an entry for each film, listing the following categories of promotional items:  Posters, Lobby Cards, Stills, Pressbooks,  Ad Slicks or Molds, Radio and TV Spots, and a miscellaneous category for some special promotional items that were unique.  Each category will be linked to its coverage on this blog, so you can see our coverage of these items.  

So, check out the Vintage American Godzilla Theatrical Promotional Items (which is a mouthful) page when you can!

Amazing Godzilla, Mothra, and Mysterians Lobby Cards!

Recently, I scored the following amazing lobby cards:

KING KONG vs. GODZILLA, featuring neither contestant as they would appear in the actual film!

Mothra's larva seemingly directs a terrified crowd!
Note she is hand-colored and yellow!

An extremely exciting Mysterians lobby card that features Moguera! (I always forget whether the vintage one's name has a "U" in it.)

And finally, ending a long era of searching, a KING OF THE MONSTERS card of my very own.  This card is shortly going to the framer's so that it can be on my living room wall as soon as possible.

Return of the Jedi Lobby Card (20th-Century-Fox, 1983)

My immediate goal was to have one lobby card from each of the three original films, so I picked my favorite of the bunch from the ROTJ ones.  This is #8, the Max Rebo Band.

Star Wars Color Still (20th Century Fox, 1977)

I was mildly surprised to purchase a lobby card from the original STAR WARS--which would have been 11 x 14 inches--and have it arrive as a color still, which is 8 x 10 inches! But, as it's in fantastic shape, with no pinholes or tape even, it's still a smashing success!

And it's a great shot of stuntman Peter Diamond (as the Tusken Raider) and the beloved-to-The-Sphinx hero Mardji the elephant (as the Bantha) in the desert of California! Enjoy!

Original Star Wars Lobby Card (1977)

Items of the Week: ATRAGON Lobby Card and more

Two things I've picked up, and two that I've seen in the wild:

First up, a lovely, crisp ATRAGON American lobby card. Great showcasing of Manda here (with horns and whiskers and all that...did you ever notice they were lost by DESTROY ALL MONSTERS?), even if it is hand-colored, which they did back then.  For some reason..which is why Baragon is green on my FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD lobby card (see previous post).

Next up, a vintage trading card from the SPOOK STORIES series 2, made by Leaf.  It's dated 1961, but as we all know, this image is from KING KONG vs. GODZILLA, so they never updated their fine print for the second series.

Back side of the card...I am guilty as charged, having just recently made fun of these old cards, with their lame jokes and dodgy captions...but I cannot resist the lure of vintage American trading cards featuring Godzilla!

Oh, Japan...do you really have a thing called the ULTRA DINER? Of course you do. Does Bandai produce food products like "Ultraseven's Hashed Beef"? Of course it does. I saw this on Ebay, and it said, in wonky English, that the actor who was Dan Moriboshi either owns a restaurant, and/or works in one...and I thought it was Ultraman Ace who was the chef!

"Chile & Tamarind"...wait, what?!

Okay, this is really the FAIL of the week, but I'm not labeling it as such, on a technicality. This was at a local grocery store.  First off, BLEAH to anyone who wants to chew gum flavored as such, but it struck me that the flavor was not only tamarind, but an entire South American country as well...isn't it "Chili Pepper" after all? Unless that was the intention..."enjoy the flavor of tamarind, expertly blended with trees, dirt.....burros...."

So, according to Wikipedia, it's a sort-of alternate spelling to say "Chile" in reference to peppers, so I didn't exactly stamp a FAIL on it....but in defense of language, we have to draw the line somewhere, folks.  It's like the millions of people who continually use the word "disrespect" as a verb.  Continual misuse of the English language may cause a  new entry to be placed in the official dictionary after several years, but it doesn't make it correct.  Or even a good idea.

Godzilla Lobby Cards (part five), Revoltech Baragon, Mothra, & Rodan, and more!

This is going to be a miscellaneous one.

Firstly, I sculpted a Mothra larva to keep my Superdeformed Godzilla company, and it turned out like this:

So now I had two figures, and it just made sense that they needed a home.  So, another diorama project was born.  It turned out like this:

I used Sculpy and a pack of model railroad trees...it was supposed to be Monster Island, but I didn't know when to stop, and I added a cardboard backdrop that was featured inside of the Godzilla Chess Pieces made by X-Plus, thusly:

And, with Mount Fuji in place, it's done.

Next up is a lovely lobby card for GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER that I just acquired.  I love the artwork of Rodan carrying Godzilla!

When going through kitchen cabinets recently, I rediscovered two collectibles from my youth: 

"Castle Dracula" mug from defunct Universal Studios attraction, that my parents brought me from their 1980 trip to Los Angeles.

When they returned to Universal, they took us along, and I think that's where I got this (slightly dodgy and off-model) Bullwinkle mug.  Note the yellow gloves!

Next on the agenda are some super-detailed, super-articulated Japanese figures that I discovered.  I'd like to say I got these for Christmas, but I actually just bought these for myself.  These are "Revoltech" figures, made by Kaiyodo.  They did a handful of kaiju, but apparently their popularity caused Bandai to jerk back the license from them (?) to start making their OWN super-articulated kaiju, which is the recent "SH Monsterarts" line (from which one of my Christmas presents actually DID come, the '94 Godzilla).

This Baragon is completely amazing, and includes everything you need to make your own diorama of one of his FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD scenes, horse included!

With regard to paint and sculpt, this is the greatest figure of adult Mothra that I have ever seen. 

And here we have a splendid Rodan, complete with building to crush.  Having such an amazing sculpt of the classic Rodan suddenly makes me realize how little I like the "Fire Rodan" redesign!

These Revoltech kaiju figures began to come out around 2010, and are still relatively affordable.  I think all three of these were around $40 each.  There's also a "Mysterians" Mogera, as well as an Angilas and Gigan, but unfortunately those last two are pretty pricey...the Gigan alone is often around $100 on Ebay currently (see future post for these)! They also had a super-detailed Maser Cannon, but as you'd expect, it's way out of scale with their other releases...or else it wouldn't be as super-detailed, I guess. Oh, and also a classic Gamera and Gayos that are worth checking out.

Now that we are all caught up around here, and as we prepare to ring in another New Year!

Godzilla Lobby Cards (part four) and More!

I'm continuing my adventures through lots of cool magazines, but before we look at a few classic Godzilla articles from Famous Monsters, here are three amazing vintage lobby cards I recently acquired, and a couple of other oddities:

Godzilla meets Angilas for the first time (as enemies!) in my second lobby card from GIGANTIS THE FIRE MONSTER (the U.S. version of GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN)

I was lucky enough to get a lobby card for FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD featuring monster action, but somebody colored poor Baragon rather greenish here!

It's not a Toho classic, but the American film THE LAND UNKNOWN still offers some great dinosaur action just the same.

Two different models of speakers from vintage (and now long-gone) drive-in theaters! These are going straight into The Sphinx's Museum of Antiquated Technology (M.A.T.)! Well, it's actually my garage.

As we segue back into cool items from vintage magazines, here is an ad from a very different time: 1980! Let the sad irony wash over you for a moment.

Random Godzilla Goodness

A few random items today. Finishing up the lobby cards (for now), we have a Mexican lobby card for GHIDRA THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER:

Below is a photo, horrible as it is, of a poster from Turkey.  This is one of my favorites, and it's for INVASION OF ASTRO MONSTER (which is the only English on the poster). The King Ghidorah is truly stunning.

Below, the pressbook for YOG, MONSTER FROM SPACE (known internationally as SPACE AMOEBA). Pressbooks were sent to movie theaters to supply them with newspaper ads for reproduction, articles to run in their local papers, ideas for publicity campaigns, and also to show lobby cards and posters that were available for ordering. Often, they were cut to pieces, but luckily this one is intact! "SPEWED FROM INTERGALACTIC SPACE.....!"

Finally, another of my favorite pieces, a Godzilla (and building!) salt and pepper set.  Believe it or not, it's an officially licensed Toho product! Those crazy Japanese; I love them dearly!

Godzilla Lobby Cards (part three)

Here are a couple more American lobby cards from the greatest film ever made.

Godzilla Lobby Cards (part two)

More lobby cards for your viewing pleasure today:

Poor Angilas gets ambushed in this one from GIGANTIS, THE FIRE MONSTER (1959, U.S. version of GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN).

Here's an American lobby card from the either maligned-or-praised GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER (Me, I LOVE it! In fact, this one is very high on my list, and in my top five favorite Godzilla movies!)

An exciting Mexican lobby card for PLANETARY TITANS, er, excuse me, GODZILLA VS. MEGALON.  By the way, that's another film that's both loved and hated (and also in the "love" category for me)! Mexicn lobby cards seem to very often have the picture-within-a-picture format.

And finally today, we have another American card, for KING KONG ESCAPES (1968). Nope, it's not a Godzilla movie, but it IS a Toho Classic, directed by Ishiro Honda, and includes a Gorosaurus death scene at Kong's hairy hands, as well as a Sea Serpent sometimes mistaken for Manda!

Empire Strikes Back Lobby Card (1980)

The Sphinx re-opens once again, this time I have an oddball entry for you. This is a lobby card for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and it's a really cool semi-off-screen shot of the Rebel base hangar on Hoth. I love this picture--there are lots of neat details to see. It almost quallifies as a behind-the-scenes shot: is the person tending to the astromech droid, or setting up a prop for filming? There's a Treadwell droid and lots of other cool details to see as well. Also, there's an interesting bit in the fine print that says something along the lines of "This lobby card must be destroyed"! Indeed!