Monstrous Marquees

[Monsters For Sale]

  Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Regency I - San Francisco, California, 1979 - A


                         Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Regency I - San Francisco, California, 1979 - B


This theater decided to make the most of their small Marquee by abbreviating the title in LARGE letters.

(Nice for patrons that there is a bus stop right by their front door.)

[Monsters For Sale]

                                   Planet of the Apes - Riverside - Milwauke, Wisconsin - 1968

This theater crowds as many letters as possible into their sign. 

Way too much information for a marquee.  "Man hunted, caged, forced to mate by apes."

I prefer to see a new movie with as little foreknowledge as possible, and let the story reveal itself as I watch.

And I kinda feel cheated that I have only ever seen the censored version, with no actual mating taking place.

(Though, having seen the teeth grinding that Heston considers a smile, I probably wouldn't enjoy seeing his climax expression.)

[Monsters For Sale]

                          Exorcist, The - Copernicus Center - Chicago, Illinois - January, 1974 - A



                         Exorcist, The - Copernicus Center - Chicago, Illinois - January, 1974 - B

The marketing for this film was masterful.  It was one of the most anticipated releases I can remember.

The well-bundled crowd seen here is sporting heavy coats and knit caps.  It must be cold as hell in Chicagao, at night, in January.


I remember when it opened in my town.  The local theaters traditionally changed programs on Friday nights.  The Exorcist broke the mold by opening in a matinee on Wednesday.

My work day ended at 11:30 AM.  I went down to the largest theater in town (a BIG place) and found a thick line of people wrapped around 2 sides of the building.  We were all seated before the movie began.  I knew I was normally off work at this time, but I was stunned to see so many people going to the movies at noon on a Wednesday.

The audience was uncharacteristically quiet.  What little chatter there was, and it was scant, was delivered in whispers.  The air seemed electrically charged.

When our showing let out, I saw that there was an even heavier line of expectant patrons queued up around 3 sides of the theater.

[Monsters For Sale]

                                            Thing, The - Lyric - Waycross, Georgia, 1951


Horror/Sci-Fi movies of the 50's and 60's were marketed with all the veracity of snake oil in the old west.

                      "Find your own seats.  Ushers scared to work."

[Hepcat]

I wonder how many of these fabulous traditional downtown theatres are still around?

[Monsters For Sale]

                        Bat Whispers, The - Rivoli - New York City, New York - November, 1930

[Universalrocks]

So much signage produced for the old classic films, wonder what happened to most of it? I don't think I have ever seen any photos of these being in the hands of collectors.

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