I debated on where I should start this thread and finally settled on "Off-Topic" because so much of what I'll be posting isn't sci-fi or horror. Oh, there will be genre entries but the majority of the graphics will be non-genre. So here goes.
First, just a bit of history. Although movies had been shown on TV for over a decade it wasn't until NBC started NBC SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES that bigger, more recent films were shown. By recent, we're talking about ten years. NBC ran a lot of 20th Century Fox movies like DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, GARDEN OF EVIL, and 1950s Marilyn Monroe movies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... ies_titles
As the years went on NBC, and the other networks, started running movies that had come out in the last few years. Finally, you could almost count on a bunch of movies from the last year or two being broadcast. The local stations were also flooded with movies. The 1960s were an incredibly rich and diverse offering of all kinds of movies from all decades, even the silent era. Many of the local stations in the Fort Worth/Dallas area ran three or more movies per day. It could be hard keeping track of what you'd seen.
Back in the 1960s I made several attempts at keeping track of what movies I watched. I'd check off titles in Leonard Maltin's book, I wrote Maltin-esque thumbnails reviews, and I even wrote longer, more comprehensive reviews. Something else I tried out for about a year was clipping listings and ads from TV Guide. Sometimes they'd have a Close-Up which was a more detailed listing with a photo that took up nearly half a page of the digest size magazine. Except for the Close-Ups, I'd take these and glue them to an index card, label it, and file them away. Here's a card for SABOTEUR from a local broadcast.
![]()
Here's a clipping for the NBC telecast of RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP.
![]()
CBS ran SAIL A CROOKED SHIP. Most network clippings would include cast information which was quite useful in the pre-internet days.
![]()
Not all movies got an ad or a Close-Up so I found an annual publication that had these Close-Up-sized
listings of the new TV season's movie offerings.
![]()
If they were small enough I'd glue them on an index card, too.
![]()
You can post any ads or listings you have, too. Eventually, this might become a resource for someone who can use this content. This could be a lot more useful if there were dates to accompany these images but dumb, teenage me didn't jot down the dates. Stupid, I know.
You can post however you like but I'm going to proceed alphabetically just because it's easier for me to organize the items I've got. Remember, a lot of this won't be sci-fi or horror related but I hope there are a lot of good memories stirred up. Perhaps some of you remember watching these movies with your family back in the time when families used to watch things together. And your patience will be rewarded eventually with some cool sci-fi and horror graphics.
![]()
Samuel Bronston's epic (did he do anything that wasn't an epic?) premiered on ABC in color but pan and scanned. This certainly cut down on the epic feel and diminished the huge Peking city set but that's the way it was in those days and people flocked to their TV sets to watch these network broadcasts of recent movies. At 153 minutes this must have been slotted into at least a three hour time slot.
![]()
This was an ad for a local broadcast, unusual in itself but I guess they were mighty proud to be showing it. A strange juxtaposition of serious movie with a lighthearted giveaway. If I really hurried home from school I could tune in while the host was still dialing for dollars. This was the time slot in which I first saw THE BEAST FROM HOLLOW MOUNTAIN.
![]()
This is the Close-Up format that TV Guide used, usually to denote a more "important" movie. This movie was relatively short for a Roadshow attraction, those movies that required reserved seats and were run only twice a day like a Broadway play, and originally had a documentary prologue in its first run engagements titled THE ARTIST WHO DID NOT WANT TO PAINT with a beautiful score by Jerry Goldsmith. I don't remember if ABC ran that but I doubt it because even at 138 minutes this movie likely lasted three hours with all the commercials.
![]()
This was my favorite style of movie ad. It's simple, yet elegant, easily read, and contains most of the information you'd want in order to make a decision whether to watch or not. I don't know who designed it, probably some forgotten clock puncher, but if you're reading this know you created a fantastic graphic. AMBUSH BAY was one of those movies that went to TV really fast. It came out in September, 1966 and was on NBC the following season. I suspect it exactly clean up at the box office so to TV it went. Of course, Hugh O'Brian would still be remembered by TV viewers for playing Wyatt Earp, particularly as that show was still in syndication.
![]()
EMILY failed to recoup at the box office in 1964 but the public was much less aware, in fact, virtually unaware of box office reports for movies in those days. All they knew was that here was a movie with that SOUND OF MUSIC girl Julie Andrews, her huge hit movie still playing all over the country, paired up with popular TV star James Garner.
![]()
This 1952 movie would have been more the type of fare you'd have seen the first few years of NBC SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES, but it was harmless enough.
I'm going to pause for station identification but be assured that there's more to come.
First, just a bit of history. Although movies had been shown on TV for over a decade it wasn't until NBC started NBC SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES that bigger, more recent films were shown. By recent, we're talking about ten years. NBC ran a lot of 20th Century Fox movies like DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, GARDEN OF EVIL, and 1950s Marilyn Monroe movies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... ies_titles
As the years went on NBC, and the other networks, started running movies that had come out in the last few years. Finally, you could almost count on a bunch of movies from the last year or two being broadcast. The local stations were also flooded with movies. The 1960s were an incredibly rich and diverse offering of all kinds of movies from all decades, even the silent era. Many of the local stations in the Fort Worth/Dallas area ran three or more movies per day. It could be hard keeping track of what you'd seen.
Back in the 1960s I made several attempts at keeping track of what movies I watched. I'd check off titles in Leonard Maltin's book, I wrote Maltin-esque thumbnails reviews, and I even wrote longer, more comprehensive reviews. Something else I tried out for about a year was clipping listings and ads from TV Guide. Sometimes they'd have a Close-Up which was a more detailed listing with a photo that took up nearly half a page of the digest size magazine. Except for the Close-Ups, I'd take these and glue them to an index card, label it, and file them away. Here's a card for SABOTEUR from a local broadcast.
Here's a clipping for the NBC telecast of RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP.
CBS ran SAIL A CROOKED SHIP. Most network clippings would include cast information which was quite useful in the pre-internet days.
Not all movies got an ad or a Close-Up so I found an annual publication that had these Close-Up-sized
listings of the new TV season's movie offerings.
If they were small enough I'd glue them on an index card, too.
You can post any ads or listings you have, too. Eventually, this might become a resource for someone who can use this content. This could be a lot more useful if there were dates to accompany these images but dumb, teenage me didn't jot down the dates. Stupid, I know.
You can post however you like but I'm going to proceed alphabetically just because it's easier for me to organize the items I've got. Remember, a lot of this won't be sci-fi or horror related but I hope there are a lot of good memories stirred up. Perhaps some of you remember watching these movies with your family back in the time when families used to watch things together. And your patience will be rewarded eventually with some cool sci-fi and horror graphics.
Samuel Bronston's epic (did he do anything that wasn't an epic?) premiered on ABC in color but pan and scanned. This certainly cut down on the epic feel and diminished the huge Peking city set but that's the way it was in those days and people flocked to their TV sets to watch these network broadcasts of recent movies. At 153 minutes this must have been slotted into at least a three hour time slot.
This was an ad for a local broadcast, unusual in itself but I guess they were mighty proud to be showing it. A strange juxtaposition of serious movie with a lighthearted giveaway. If I really hurried home from school I could tune in while the host was still dialing for dollars. This was the time slot in which I first saw THE BEAST FROM HOLLOW MOUNTAIN.
This is the Close-Up format that TV Guide used, usually to denote a more "important" movie. This movie was relatively short for a Roadshow attraction, those movies that required reserved seats and were run only twice a day like a Broadway play, and originally had a documentary prologue in its first run engagements titled THE ARTIST WHO DID NOT WANT TO PAINT with a beautiful score by Jerry Goldsmith. I don't remember if ABC ran that but I doubt it because even at 138 minutes this movie likely lasted three hours with all the commercials.
This was my favorite style of movie ad. It's simple, yet elegant, easily read, and contains most of the information you'd want in order to make a decision whether to watch or not. I don't know who designed it, probably some forgotten clock puncher, but if you're reading this know you created a fantastic graphic. AMBUSH BAY was one of those movies that went to TV really fast. It came out in September, 1966 and was on NBC the following season. I suspect it exactly clean up at the box office so to TV it went. Of course, Hugh O'Brian would still be remembered by TV viewers for playing Wyatt Earp, particularly as that show was still in syndication.
EMILY failed to recoup at the box office in 1964 but the public was much less aware, in fact, virtually unaware of box office reports for movies in those days. All they knew was that here was a movie with that SOUND OF MUSIC girl Julie Andrews, her huge hit movie still playing all over the country, paired up with popular TV star James Garner.
This 1952 movie would have been more the type of fare you'd have seen the first few years of NBC SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES, but it was harmless enough.
I'm going to pause for station identification but be assured that there's more to come.
statistics: Posted by ryanbrennan — 2:02 AM - Today — Replies 2 — Views 100
