Beyond Ballyhoo

William Castle, for instance, was a master promoter. In one scheme involving The Tingler, Vincent Price warns in the movie that “the only way to stop the monster is to scream. That’s the signal to the projectionist to throw the switch. Under ten or twelve seats were some electric motors, war surplus things that Castle got a bargain on. The motors vibrated the seat, in the hope of scaring a scream out of someone. Just in case it didn’t Castle planted someone in the audience to get the screams rolling.”
This book is about flamboyant promotion, the con artist side of the movie world—everything the ballyhoo boys did to separate the customer from the price of a movie ticket—Emergo, HypnoVista, 3-D, Wide Screen, Cinemagic, Duo-Vision, Dynamation, Smell-O-Vision, plenty more. Supporting the text are 107 photos and illustrations, some never-before-published, and a filmography.

Mark Thomas McGee is retired and lives in Palm Desert, California. He has also written several books about the unstable world of low-budget filmmaking.

Mark Thomas McGee
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 253
Bibliographic Info: 107 photos, filmography, index
Copyright Date: 2001 [1989]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1114-6
Imprint: McFarland

“excellent”—Big Reel; “entertaining…worthy”—Film Review; “interesting…extensive filmography”—Communication Booknotes; “entertaining”—American Cinematographer; “highly entertaining”—The TV Collector; “lively…in-depth…enjoyable”—Hitch; “a book to be brought out whenever we begin to think of the 20th century as one of good taste”—The Book Report; “highly entertaining and informative”—Cult Movies; “a nostalgic and warm reflection of an era of the movies now gone”—Midnight Marquee; “greatly informative”—Fatal Visions.