Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Sunday, May 04, 2014

You Haven't Seen It Till You've Seen It Again


Best Business Is Repeat Business for The Three Caballeros (1944)

Repeat biz is said to drive success of Star Wars sort of sci-fi and comic book pix, but where did encore attendance have beginnings? I'd have gone three times at least to see The Lost World in 1925, given earlier birth, but did others? How many patrons double-dipped in an era when downtown streets were filled with theatres? Brandt's Globe sat between Broadway palatials the Astor and the Strand, plus thousand-seaters up/down the Main Stem, yet "There's That Man Again For The 5th Straight Week" to see The Three Caballeros. Was he for real, or were the Brandts pulling our chain? It helped for the New York Post to endorse repeat viewing, "renewed relish" to be had for going back. Certain movies did lend themselves to a second, third, however many look. The Globe had used a similar selling device for Chaplin's reissue of The Gold Rush in 1942, dressing their marquee to effect that "You Will Want To See It More Than Once," and maybe that power of suggestion did bring customers back. I checked Caballeros' pressbook for the ad shown here, but no trace; chances are this was creative art on the Brandt's part. So question arises: Would we, or did we, repeat-go to Disney animated features when they were new? Can't offhand think of any I saw twice theatrically, but then I wasn't around when The Three Caballeros played first-run. Things might have been different given that circumstance.

5 Comments:

Blogger Robert Fiore said...

Less likely when you had to depend on your parents to take you, wouldn't you day?

3:11 PM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Donald Benson remembers feature pairings during the 60's:


In my late-boomer youth I'm hard pressed to recall going back for a first-run film, unless there was a girl interested in going ("Sure. I haven't seen it yet myself!").


But if half of a double feature was something I'd seen and liked, I'd stick around. Sometimes a familiar co-hit would tip the scales if the unknown quality wasn't quite strong enough.


I miss the days of officially paired double headers. All those Bond twofers, the made-to-order cheapie teams (someday I intend to see "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter" with "Billy the Kid Meets Dracula"), and other sensible or not pairings:


-- "Odd Couple" and "Rosemary's Baby", promoted on a single poster as the greatest double feature of all time. Both were hits to be sure, but I never saw the logic. Unless "Odd Couple" was viewed second to calm you down after the horror flick. Like staying up to watch a dull cop movie after Shock Theater.


-- "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Black Hole," marketed together as Disney spectacles and technical achievements (think this was an attempt to salvage the latter's initial run). True story: San Francisco Chronicle dropped the ad in the middle of their porno theater page.


-- Disney's "Treasure Island" and the TV-based "Doctor Syn, Alias the Scarecrow", more logically paired in the 70s with nifty matching posters highlighting Long John Silver ("Pirate Gold!") and the Scarecrow ("Smuggler's Loot!"). Felt like a last call for that kind of show.


Otherwise, they tended to be random pairings originating at the theater level. The 1966 "Batman" with Cecil B. De Mille's "Greatest Show on Earth" played the Granada in Morgan Hill, as well as "Georgy Girl" with "A Man for All Seasons".

4:21 PM  
Blogger Rick said...

I saw the ROSEMARY'S BABY / ODD COUPLE double-feature, after having seen both movies individually. Other than both being hits for Paramount, I don't understand the pairing either.

In the '60s I occasionally made return visits to see a movie: THAT DARN CAT, BLINDFOLD, CAT BALLOU. In each of those cases, though, my second viewing had less to do with the movie itself than it had to do with Hayley Mills, Claudia Cardinale, and Jane Fonda, respectively.

10:44 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

My Mom, born in 1920, often told me she would sit thru movies she liked several times. No doubt it was on the same day since she was talking about the Depression.

7:28 AM  
Blogger Scott MacGillivray said...

The big Boston house that ran THE JOLSON STORY first-run did not advertise the Jolson voice or Larry Parks or anything you might see in the movie. Rather, the ads were "How many times have you seen it? 3 times? 7 times? 9 times?"

12:39 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024