Geraldine, Your description of this ALIEN booklet is not accurate. These booklets were sent out to exhibitor owners and execs. Back in the 1970's there still existed numerous blind bid states. I worked in Texas and it was the most extreme example given the sizes of Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin and the money those markets represented Blind bidding was when a theatre chain had to commit to a film, sometimes a year in advance, with terms outlined (1st two weeks at 70% 2nd two weeks at 60% etc.) and frequently putting up at times tens of thousands if not all together 100's of thousands of dollars on the blockbusters WITHOUT EVER SEEING A SCRAP OF FILM. So these booklets were sent out prior to bidding and came in all kinds of formats.....some just a couple of fold out pages to nice booklets with on set photography. If my memory isn't completely failing, I recall booklets on STAR WARS, ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER, APOCALYPSE NOW, WILLOW, OUTLAND, EXCALIBUR and a few others that were really impressive. Others like ET (at the time called A BOY'S LIFE) were just gate folded brochures (no picture of ET for sure that was such a huge secret). Same with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, CLASH OF THE TITANS, etc. etc. And then some were just a single printed sheet saying who starred, produced and directed. (Can you imagine buying a car with a tarp over it and being given just a description and some art, commit to it, and not expect delivery for 9 to 12 months.......that was blind bidding!)
Anyway to say only 30 were made is preposterous. Just in Texas alone there had to be at least 25 to 35 theatre chains, each film buyer and marketing guy receiving a copy. In the theatre chain I worked at, we usually would receive four to five and we were only in San Antonio. Now multiply those number by triple (or more) to accommodate the personnel at circuits like Plitt, AMC, General Cinema, United Artists, Mann, and you can see the numbers required approach a 1000 in no time. Plus certain critics at the major National News agencies received copies on occasion. Also a little common sense is in order. Once a brochure is on the printing press, or photos being printed and spiral bound, do you honestly think under 30 would be printed? Because once on the presses it almost as cheap to print several thousand as it is 20. The $$ are in the set-up. These pieces were not dissimilar to the Studio Release books from the 1930's that pop up frequently. So while it makes for great Ebay copy to limit their numbers to generate a false sense of scarcity. This is not the case with these marketing tools. Whether they have ever been in an auction or not is irrelevant. While you can ask whatever price you like, ($5000) as a MOPO buddy I just hate to see someone look so foolish.. freeman fisher On Jun 21, 2012, at 7:33 AM, Geraldine Kudaka wrote: > We've decided to put up our own auctions. Will be announcing posters later, > but thought the avid Alien collector might be interested in this ebay item. > > Based on the successful marketing of Star Wars, Charley Lippincott was hired > by Johnny Friedkin / Fox to market Alien. > > This ebay auction is for a rare photo booklet made for Fox's studio heads. > > ebay listing 290731119615 > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List > Send a message addressed to: [email protected] > In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L > The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
