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ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, THE (1975) Press kit

[Hollywood]: Twentieth Century Fox, 1975. Vintage original 12 x 9″ (31 x 23 cm.) press kit, printed portfolio, with twelve 1 and 2 pp. promotional inserts and one 9 pp. Production Information Guide, 14 photos, mostly 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.), JUST ABOUT FINE.

The original 70s transgressive classic. “Uses the icons and conventions of two different genres in order and contrast and critique the social and cultural meanings found in them…by combining the horror film and the musical and by demonstrating that, although they are both queer in many ways, they are ultimately incompatible.” (Benshoff and Griffin, Queer Images, pp. 147-8)

BLAZING SADDLES (1974) Press kit

[Hollywood]: Warner Brothers, [1974]. Vintage original 12 x 9″ (31 x 23 cm.) press kit, printed portfolio, 12 printed promotional inserts (1 and 2 pp. each), 9 borderless photos, mostly 8 x 9 1/2″ (20 x 24 cm.), covers slightly creased, with title handwritten on side, overall NEAR FINE or better.

Mel Brooks’ crazed revisionist Western, from a script which Richard Pryor worked on, in which Cleavon Little memorably plays a black sheriff in a very racist western town.

GLORY (1989) Press kit

[Hollywood]: Tri-Star Pictures, 1989. Vintage original 9 x 12″ (23 x 30 cm.) press kit, USA. Printed pictorial portfolio, with 8 printed supplements of between 1 and 3 pp., a 33 pp. pamphlet, and thirteen (13) 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) photos. Some creasing to portfolio, FINE in NEAR FINE covers.

Major African American acting talent was on display in this Civil War film, including Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Andre Braugher.

DO THE RIGHT THING (1989) Press kit

Spike Lee (screenwriter, director) Hollywood: Universal Pictures, 1989. Vintage original press kit, USA. Quarto, pictorial folder, one page of text and fourteen (14) 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) black-and-white photos laid in. Some scuffing to the folder, photos FINE in VERY GOOD+ folder.

Bogle, Hollywood Black, pp. 184-185: “A blistering and often brilliant look at America’s festering racial divisions… DO THE RIGHT THING exposed a nation’s denial of ongoing though suppressed racial conflicts.”

An array of important Black actors appeared in this film, including Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito and Martin Lawrence.

JULIA (1977) Press kit

Lillian Hellman (source) Vintage original press kit, USA, Printed folder, with fifteen (15) 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) photos laid in a paper sleeve, with twenty-three (23) printed promotional texts, about 60 pp. of text overall. Creasing and shelf wear to folder (particularly to spine), internally very good+.

Adapted from a section of Lillian Hellman’s memoir PENTIMENTO, this acclaimed film by director Fred Zinneman portrays an episode in Hellman’s life, when she reunites with her girlhood friend Julia in Germany, and embarks on a dangerous anti-Nazi mission.

LET’S DO IT AGAIN (1975) Press kit

[“NEWS AND FEATURE SERVICES”] Vintage original press kit, USA. Sidney Poitier (actor, director), Bill Cosby, Ossie Davis, Jimmie Walker; Warner Brothers. Printed folder, with 13 loose 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) photos, with some a little smaller, and about 20 press releases, for a total of at least 40 pp. of descriptive text. A few notes in ink on front cover, near fine.

In the previous year the same team made the comedy UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT, which was very successful, and they followed that up with this sequel. Poitier, who had directed that film, also served as director on this sequel.

As is most often the case with press kits of the 1970s, this is a very scarce piece, and the OCLC records no known copies of it.

CLEOPATRA JONES (1973) Press kit

Vintage original press kit [“NEWS AND FEATURE SERVICES”], printed folder, laid in loosely 7 glassine sleeves, containing a total of seventeen (17) 8 x10″ (20 x 25 cm.) photos, a few a bit smaller, both those sleeves and the folder itself contain a total of about 12 press releases, with a total of about 30 pp. of promotional text, USA. Housed in original mailing envelope, NEAR FINE. Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey, Brenda Sykes, Antonio Fargas, dir: Jack Starrett; Warner Brothers.

One of the Blaxploitation classics. The statuesque Tamara Dobson made an enormous impression in the title role, which led to an inevitable sequel. Press kits of this era are very scarce, and there are no known copies listed in OCLC.

ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, THE (1975) Press kit

Vintage original press kit, printed folder, quarto, 7 pp., with fourteen (14) 10 x 8″ (25 x 20 cm.) black-and-white print still photos laid in. Folder NEAR FINE, contents FINE. Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Peter Hinwood, dir: Jim Sharman; Twentieth Century Fox.

Russo, pp. 52-3: “A truly subversive and anarchistic film on the subjects of sexuality, movies, sex roles, and the homosexual as monster… [Lead character] Frank N Furter is an androgyny who comes from outer space, from a galaxy called Transsexual and a planet called Transylvania.”

OCLC only records one copy of a 1985 later edition.

BELL JAR, THE (1979) Press kit

Sylvia Plath (source) Vintage original press kit, USA. Los Angeles: AVCO Embassy Pictures, 1979. Ca. 100+ leaves. Quarto. Nineteen separate mechanically reproduced typescripts, ranging from 1 to 11 leaves each, most stapled, printed on rectos only. Accompanied by twenty-two (22) 8 x 10″ borderless black-and-white stills, with captions. Enclosed in over-size printed studio folder (a bit rubbed and with fraying along the extended top edges). FINE in VERY GOOD- folder.

An extensive studio press kit promoting the 1979 film adaptation of Plath’s semi-autobiographical novel, based on a screenplay by Marjorie Kellogg, directed by Larry Peerce, and starring Marilyn Hassett, Julie Harris, Robert Klein, et al. The releases include extensive productions notes, a synopsis, biographical material, notes on Plath and the book, etc. This is a very scarce book, the only one which I have ever encountered.