The SHOCK! / Son of SHOCK! Viewing Project in The Universal Classics Forum

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The SHOCK! / Son of SHOCK! Viewing Project

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Latarnia		#21	[-]
Registered User Posts: 24660 Nov 1 10 11:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Do we know if Universal offered their library on the "open market"? Or was this just a closed deal between Screen Gems and Universal? Mirek
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ryanbrennan		#22	[-]
Registered User Posts: 34 Nov 2 10 1:16 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Kevin Heffernan, in his book Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold, states: "In 1957, Screen Gems contracted with Universal-International for a $20 million, ten-year lease on 550 pre-1948 Universal features, which were placed into syndication late in the year." He attributes this information to a Variety article -- "Universal's 10-Yr Lease of 550 Pix to Screen Gems" -- dated June 12, 1957. So that's at least when it was announced to the public. But, the late, lamented Cadaverino posted this August 5, 1957 from The New York Times: U.-I.'S OLD MOVIES TO BE SEEN ON TV Screen Gems Will Distribute Pre-1948 Products By Thomas M. Pryor Special to The New York Times HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Aug. 4 A union of interest between Columbia Pictures and Universal-International has been brought into existence by television. Screen Gems, Inc., wholly owned Columbia subsidiary, will take over TV distribution of U.-I.'s backlog of pre-1948 feature movies. Approximately 600 theatrical features are involved in a seven-year leasing agreement. The pact guarantees minimum payment to U.-I. of $20,000,000 during the life of the contract, according to Milton R. Rackmil, president of the company. Trade circles had reported since last June that the deal was being negotiated, but official confirmation was lacking until the formal announcement yesterday. Paramount Pictures is now the only major company that has not committed to television its stockpile of movies made before Aug. 1, 1948. The movie studios have a contractual agreement with Hollywood unions not to put theatrical films produced after that date on television until a formula is reached to provide extra payments to actors, writers and directors. With the combined old-film libraries of Columbia and Universal, Screen Gems is now the largest distributor of theatrical films for television. If we take this article at face value it says that the deal was being negotiated as late as June, 1957. Cadaverino mentions a later article that amends the lease to 14 years, with the $20M paid within the first 7 years. Last Edited By: ryanbrennan Nov 2 10 2:00 AM. Edited 1 times.
ryanbrennan		#23	[-]
Registered User Posts: 34 Nov 2 10 1:24 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Do we know if Universal offered their library on the "open market"? Or was this just a closed deal between Screen Gems and Universal? That's a good question, a very interesting question. Perhaps Universal had no mechanism for syndicating their pictures themselves and didn't want those start-up costs. Knowing that Screen Gems had been successfully handling television syndication since 1948, it may have seemed a no-brainer to the short-sighted suits at U-I to let SG do the work and let U-I reap a financial bonanza. -
ryanbrennan		#24	[-]
Registered User Posts: 34 Nov 2 10 1:30 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Some other movie syndication deals involved General Teleradio acquisition of RKO's pre-1948 library for $18 million in 1955 which were then distributed to their WOR "The Million Dollar Movie." Another outfit (I don't have the name right now) picked up the pre-1948 Warners' films for $21 million about the same time, maybe 1956. In 1957 MCA, which would later own Universal, grabbed over 700 pre-1948 Paramount films for $50 million. Don't know if the MCA deal went down before or after the SHOCK! deal or debut.
ryanbrennan		#25	[-]
Registered User Posts: 34 Nov 2 10 1:57 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Here's a page from an April Billboard magazine with several articles on various movie packages being sold and the effects of this on local stations: http://books.google.com/b...Bg&sa=X&oi=book_ result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CCEQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=early%20movie%20syndication&f=false The logical culmination of these deals -- which, with exceptions, primarily dealt with pre-1948 movies -- was probably NBC'S SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES (1961) which was a regularly scheduled network movie night that presented more recent (ten year old and less) big Hollywood movies. It was after the SHOCK! package that everybody wanted to get into the monster game. Heffernan indicates that these packages could be thrown together rather quickly when he reports that Associated Artists Productions offered a mostly Monogram package of 52 horror films in September, 1957. One speculates that AAP was enticed after seeing that SHOCK! had sold in over 30 markets. Last Edited By: ryanbrennan Nov 2 10 2:05 PM. Edited 2 times.
Latarnia		#26	[-]
Registered User Posts: 24660 Nov 2 10 7:28 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Great info, Ryan. Thanks much! Mirek
ryanbrennan		#27	[-]
Registered User Posts: 34 Nov 2 10 8:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks, Mirek. It would look like concurrent with the growing interest in all things monster, the film industry interest in leasing their movie catalogs came along at the most fortuitous moment.
CreepingBride.monsterkidclass...		#28	[-]
Registered User Posts: 45 Nov 3 10 1:29 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	ryanbrennan wrote: Kevin Heffernan, in his book Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold, states: I'm glad that you mention Heffernan's book, Ryan... I found it to be full of interesting research, though I would've like to have seen more in there about SHOCK! and Son of SHOCK!, naturally. Latarnia folks would be especially interested in his discussion of how never-released-theatrically-in-the-US European genre films ended up on TV in the US in the 1960s. And I love the appendix that Heffernan has in that book on "Feature Film Packages in Television Syndication, 1955-1968." I wish that he could've fleshed that out a little more-- so many of those titles were ones that I had never heard of before and certainly never seen. I hope it will inspire someone to do a "Medallion TV 'Creeping Terrors' Syndication Package" or "Allied Artists Television 'Sci-Fi for the '60s' Syndication Package" viewing project blog! The SHOCK! / Son of SHOCK! Viewing Project blog
ryanbrennan		#29	[-]
Registered User Posts: 34 Nov 3 10 8:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I, too, loved seeing those film packages listed, CreepingBride. I was able to identify which packages each of my local TV stations leased. Lots of fun. Yes, there are a few packages that would be worthy of a viewing blog project. The "Chiller-Science Fiction Package" would be an easy one since there are only four movies in the group! The Mexi-Horror packages would be particularly interesting, like "Thrillers From Another World," if all 19 movies could be assembled for viewing, not to mention the K. Gordon Murray package.
CreepingBride.monsterkidclass...		#30	[-]
Registered User Posts: 45 Nov 7 10 10:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	ryanbrennan wrote: not to mention the K. Gordon Murray package. There you go! That's what I'm talking about!! The SHOCK! / Son of SHOCK! Viewing Project blog
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CreepingBride.monsterkidclass...		#31	[-]
Registered User Posts: 45 Nov 8 10 12:14 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	CreepingBride wrote: Maybe my thinking here is too "six degrees of separation" to be historically accurate, but if these sorts of connections to and through Hammer exist (and I intuitively think that they do despite not having done a bit of research), then the shockwaves of SHOCK! take us to the Eurohorror explosion of the '60s and '70s. That's not a link that I had expected to find! I was reading about the Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies blog's plan for a Naschy Blogathon from 29 November to 3 December. I'd like for the SHOCK! blog to be part of the effort, but I can't think of a way to make it fit. But maybe something along the lines of what I quoted above (it appears earlier in this thread)...? I'm not smart enough about Eurohorror's genealogy to do it myself, but maybe Mirek or Ryan or some other Latarnian can work up some sort of post that gets us from SHOCK! to Naschy? Please PM me or Mirek if anyone's got any good ideas... The SHOCK! / Son of SHOCK! Viewing Project blog
ryanbrennan		#32	[-]
Registered User Posts: 34 Nov 9 10 4:01 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Your thoughts, CreepingBride, inspire me to wonder what the history, if any, of the Universal classics and the Shock! package were in Europe? Were the Universal classic horror films commonly seen and revived theatrically throughout Europe? After Screen Gems released the Shock! package in the U.S. did they pursue the rest of the world, particularly Europe? Just when did the Universal horror films become available for television broadcast in Europe? Was there a comparable horror wave? Naschy cites the influence of a Universal horror film screening when he was something like nine years old back in the 1940s. What was their availability to him over the years? Did he watch them on TV before beginning his own horror career? Mirek knows much more about Naschy and may be able to answer some of these questions.
Latarnia		#33	[-]
Registered User Posts: 24660 Nov 9 10 9:12 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Very good questions. As far as I know it was difficult in Spain to see the Universal horror films, though they were shown (but how many?) in theaters. But on TV? I've never heard of a SHOCK-type television show in Spain or anyplace else in Europe. My impression at this point is that SHOCK did not play any role in the birth of 1950s/60s European horror, although the first two issues of FAMOUS MONSTERS (which had a focus on SHOCK programming) were reprinted in England. The impetus for horror in Europe came from the success of Hammer, whose films struck international gold. For instance, Jess Franco, who helmed the first genuine horror film in Spain--GRITOS EN LA NOCHE (English version: THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF)--crafted his film after seeing BRIDES OF DRACULA and wishing to do something different and more authentic. Mirek
CreepingBride.monsterkidclass...		#34	[-]
Registered User Posts: 45 Nov 9 10 6:03 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	ryanbrennan wrote: Naschy cites the influence of a Universal horror film screening when he was something like nine years old back in the 1940s. What was their availability to him over the years? Latarnia wrote: Very good questions. As far as I know it was difficult in Spain to see the Universal horror films, though they were shown (but how many?) in theaters. The first thing that popped into my head when I read this were the sisters in THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE! I don't think that there's a solid, direct link between SHOCK! on TV and Naschy per se... I was just thinking about what y'all were saying up-thread about the tangle between Screen Gems and Hammer over Universal in the mid-'50s. Is it possible to trace--- I dunno what to call it... "a line of transmission," maybe? --from SHOCK! to Eurohorror? ... like Mirek's remark about how Jess Franco saw THE BRIDES OF DRACULA and wanted to kick Universal-ism up to the next level so he made THE AWFUL DR ORLOFF. ...but I dunno... maybe it is too much of a stretch to make for the blogathon... it's a fun idea, though... The SHOCK! / Son of SHOCK! Viewing Project blog
ryanbrennan		#35	[-]
Registered User Posts: 34 Nov 10 10 3:05 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yes, I think you're right, CreepingBride, that from the stand point of rigorous journalism or scholarship there is no direct link. If it could be proven that Subotsky and Rosenberg knew about the Shock! package and wrote their version of Frankenstein as a result, the fact that this led to CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN might be enough, though tenuous. If it could be proven that the upcoming Shock! package deal was communicated to Hammer, even if it affected their final decision to shoot CURSE in the smallest way, the link would be strengthened. After that, any influence Hammer had on subsequent filmmakers would be in the direct line of descendance from the Shock! package. Though there doesn't appear to be a solid link who's to say one won't materialize at some point?
Richard.monsterkidclass...		#36	[-]
Registered User Posts: 1687 Jan 30 11 10:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well writ and well done, your Shock! blog. I enjoy it. Richard "If you can't learn from history, you can't learn." Charlton Heston
CreepingBride.monsterkidclass...		#37	[-]
Registered User Posts: 45 Jan 31 11 10:39 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Richard wrote: Well writ and well done, your Shock! blog. I enjoy it. Richard Thank you kindly for saying so, Richard. It's a lot of fun for me, so I'm pleased that others take some enjoyment from it. The SHOCK! / Son of SHOCK! Viewing Project blog
MrNitekatt		#38	[-]
Registered User Posts: 8 Jun 25 11 9:22 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	ryanbrennan wrote: ... Another outfit (I don't have the name right now) picked up the pre-1948 Warners' films for $21 million about the same time, maybe 1956...t That outfit was AAP,inc.- Associated Artists Production,inc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Artists_Productions
Latarnia		#39	[-]
Registered User Posts: 24660 Jun 27 11 2:22 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thank you for the answer, MrNitekatt! Mirek
ryanbrennan		#40	[-]
Registered User Posts: 34 Sep 15 11 11:51 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I went to catch up on this project and found that CreepingBride hasn't posted anything since January, looks like. Is the project on hiatus?
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