What's in a pressbook?
Imagine yourself an executive at United Artists in the late 1930s or early 1940s. A significant film has just been produced for your corporation, and it’s now time to reap the box office returns for all the hard work and financial investment put into the production. UA already has its regular network of theaters set up (via block-booking) to distribute the film. However, like most big-budget films of the day, this film is going to be distributed under a percentage-of-profit structure—that is, your profits are directly affected by box-office receipts. You need to make sure that theaters are actually drawing people in to see this new film. Nationwide promotional efforts probably aren’t a sufficient solution; these are still difficult given the variance in dates and locations of film runs. So what strategy can you implement in order cooperate with exhibitors to ensure that everyone profits upon the film’s release? Why, pressbooks, of course!
Pressbooks reveal the multifaceted approaches used by film distributors to work with exhibitors to maximize the reach and profit of their films. Early on, pressbooks tended to be short and focused on pre-written columns that theaters could submit to their local newspapers to promote the film; later, they ballooned in size, were printed (at least partially) in splashy colors, and included advertising images, posters, heralds, ideas for promotional events, and so forth. Before the advent of YouTube trailers or even saturation booking (the practice whereby most theaters across the nation show films during their first run and, thus, can take advantage of national advertising campaigns), the advertising schemes in these pressbooks promoted cooperation with exhibitors and were designed to maximize box-office profits to the benefit of both distributor and exhibitor.
The collection of pressbooks digitized here includes a wide swath of UA films from the 1920s-1950s. This is by no means an exhaustive collection, but it samples some of the most significant films, directors, and stars the distributor worked with during the “classical Hollywood” era. These include Shirley Temple, Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers, Lucille Ball, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Alec Guinness, and of course, the founders of United Artists: Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith. Some of these pressbooks are also disconcerting glimpses of our film past and our social ignorance on issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, and beyond. But whether providing further context to these social ills or simply advising exhibitors on how to run coloring contests for young filmgoers, these pressbooks offer insights into the intersection of distribution and exhibition in the age of the studio system alongside infinite entertainment. -- Connor Perkins, 2020.
Thank you to the Mary Pickford Foundation and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research for making the scanning of these pressbooks possible. These pressbooks and hundreds more have been preserved in the collection, United Artists Corporation: Series 5.4 United Artists Pressbooks, at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.
Title | Director | Year |
---|---|---|
A Night in Casablanca | Mayo, Archie | 1946 |
A Thousand Clowns | Coe, Fred | 1965 |
Abraham Lincoln | Griffith, D. W. | 1930 |
America | Griffith, D. W. | 1924 |
An Innocent Affair | Bacon, Lloyd | 1948 |
Arrowsmith | Ford, John | 1931 |
The Black Pirate | Parker, Albert | 1926 |
Blockade | Dieterle, William | 1938 |
Body and Soul | Rossen, Robert | 1947 |
Born to Be Bad | Sherman, Lowell | 1934 |
Broken Blossoms | Griffith, D. W. | 1919 |
Champion | Robson, Mark | 1949 |
City Lights | Chaplin, Charlie | 1931 |
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp | Powell, Michael and Emeric Pressburger | 1945 |
Cop Hater | Berke, William | 1958 |
Coquette | Taylor, Sam | 1929 |
Corsair | West, Roland | 1931 |
Disraeli | Kolker, Henry | 1921 |
Du Barry, Woman of Passion | Taylor, Sam | 1930 |
Emperor Jones | Murphy, Dudley | 1933 |
Foreign Correspondent | Hitchcock, Alfred | 1940 |
Green for Danger | Gilliat, Sidney | 1946 |
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum | Milestone, Lewis | 1933 |
Happy Anniversary | Miller, David | 1959 |
Hell's Angels | Hughes, Howard | 1930 |
Home of the Brave | Robson, Mark | 1949 |
How To Murder Your Wife | Quine, Richard | 1965 |
How To Murder Your Wife | Quine, Richard | 1965 |
I, Accuse | Gance, Abel | 1919 |
I Cover the Waterfront | Cruze, James | 1933 |
I Met My Love Again | Logan, Joshua, Arthur Ripley, and George Cukor (uncredited) | 1938 |
I'll Be Seeing You | Dieterle, William | 1944 |
Intermezzo | Ratoff, Gregory | 1939 |
It's in the Bag! | Wallace, Richard | 1945 |
Jigsaw | Markle,Fletcher | 1949 |
Kid Millions | Del Ruth, Roy | 1934 |
Kiki | Taylor, Sam | 1931 |
Kind Hearts and Coronets | Hamer, Robert | 1949 |
King of the Olympics | Lerner, Joseph | 1948 |
Lady of the Pavements | Griffith, D. W. | 1929 |
Ladybug Ladybug | Perry, Frank | 1963 |
Lured | Sirk, Douglas | 1947 |
Mad Wednesday | Sturges, Preston | 1947 |
Marty | Mann, Delbert | 1955 |
Miss Annie Rooney | Marin, Edwin L. | 1942 |
Modern Times | Chaplin, Charlie | 1936 |
Monsieur Verdoux | Chaplin, Charlie | 1947 |
Moulin Rouge | Lanfield, Sidney | 1934 |
Mr. Robinson Crusoe | Sutherland, A. Edward | 1932 |
My Best Girl | Taylor, Sam | 1927 |
New York Nights | Milestone, Lewis | 1929 |
No More Women | Rogell, Albert S. | 1934 |
Nothing Sacred | Wellman, William | 1937 |
Odds Against Tomorrow | Wise, Robert | 1959 |
Of Mice and Men | Milestone, Lewis | 1939 |
Olympic Cavalcade | Lerner, Joseph | 1948 |
Our Town | Wood, Sam | 1940 |
Prehistoric Women | Tallas, Gregg C. | 1950 |
Raffles | Fitzmaurice, George | 1930 |
Rain | Milestone, Lewis | 1932 |
Ramona | Carewe, Edwin | 1928 |
Ramrod | DeToth, Andre | 1947 |
Secrets | Borzage, Frank | 1933 |
Since You Went Away | Cromwell, John | 1944 |
Sleep, My Love | Sirk, Douglas | 1948 |
Something Wild | Copland, Aaron | 1961 |
Son of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein | Lee, Rowland V., and James Whale | 1939, 1935 |
Sparrows | Beaudine, William | 1926 |
Spellbound | Hithcock, Alfred | 1945 |
Steamboat Bill, Jr. | Reisner, Charles | 1928 |
Stella Dallas (1925) | King, Henry | 1925 |
Stella Dallas (1937) | Vidor, King | 1937 |
Story of GI Joe | Wellman, William | 1945 |
Suds | Dillon, John Francis | 1920 |
Taming of the Shrew | Taylor, Sam | 1929 |
Teenage Millionaire | Doheny, Lawrence | 1961 |
Tess of the Storm Country | Robertson, John S. | 1922 |
The Birth of a Nation | Griffith, D. W. | 1915 |
The Bowery | Walsh, Raoul | 1933 |
The Circus | Chaplin, Charlie | 1928 |
The Count of Monte Cristo | Lee, Rowland V. | 1934 |
The Devil Dancer | Niblo, Fred | 1927 |
The Devil to Pay | Fitzmaurice, George | 1930 |
The Dove | West, Roland | 1927 |
The Eagle | Brown, Clarence | 1925 |
Four Feathers | Korda, Zoltan | 1939 |
The Fugitive Kind | Lumet, Sidney | 1960 |
The Gaucho | Jones, F. Richard | 1927 |
The General | Keaton, Buster and Clyde Bruckman | 1926 |
The Gold Rush | Chaplin, Charlie | 1925 |
The Goldwyn Follies | Marshall, George | 1938 |
The Great Dictator | Chaplin, Charlie | 1940 |
The House of Rothschild | Werker, Alfred L. | 1934 |
The Iron Mask | Dwan, Allan | 1929 |
The Jackie Robinson Story | Green, Alfred E. | 1950 |
The Joe Louis Story | Gordon, Robert | 1953 |
The Last of the Mohicans | Seitz, George B. | 1936 |
The Last Mile | Koch, Howard W. | 1959 |
The Manchurian Candidate | Frankenheimer, John | 1962 |
The Mark of Zorro | Niblo, Fred | 1920 |
The Mighty Barnum | Lang, Walter | 1934 |
The Miracle Worker | Penn, Arthur | 1962 |
The Night of Love | Fitzmaurice, George | 1927 |
The Nut | Reed, Theodore | 1921 |
The Other Love | DeToth, Andre | 1947 |
The Private Life of Don Juan | Korda, Alexander | 1934 |
The Private Life of Henry VIII | Korda, Alexander | 1933 |
The Pusher | Milford, Gene | 1961 |
The Southerner | Renoir, Jean | 1945 |
The Struggle | Griffith, D.W. | 1931 |
The Thief | Rouse, Russell | 1952 |
The Thief of Bagdad | Walsh, Raoul | 1924 |
The Westerner | Wyler, William | 1940 |
The World of Henry Orient | Hill, George Roy | 1964 |
Tillie's Punctured Romance | Sennett, Mack | 1914 |
To Be or Not To Be | Lubitsch, Ernst | 1942 |
Tomorrow, the World! | Fenton, Leslie | 1944 |
Topper Returns | Del Ruth, Roy | 1941 |
Tumbleweeds | Baggot, King | 1925 |
Wuthering Heights | Wyler, William | 1939 |
Title | Director | Year |
---|---|---|
Accidents Will Happen | Clemens, William | 1938 |
Across the Pacific | Huston, John | 1942 |
Action in the North Atlantic | Bacon, Lloyd | 1944 |
Adventure in Iraq | Ledermen, D. Ross | 1943 |
Adventures of Don Juan | Sherman, Vincent | 1948 |
Air Force | Hawks, Howard | 1943 |
Alcatraz Island | McGann, William | 1937 |
Alexander Hamilton | Adolfi, John | 1931 |
Alias the Doctor | Curtiz, Michael | 1932 |
Alibi Ike | Enright, Ray | 1935 |
All This and Heaven Too | Litvak, Anatole | 1940 |
Always Leave Them Laughing | Del Ruth, Roy | 1949 |
Always Together | de Cordova, Frederick | 1947 |
Always a Bride | Smith, Noel | 1940 |
Always in My Heart | Graham, Jo | 1942 |
An Angel from Texas | Enright, Ray | 1940 |
Angels with Dirty Faces | Curtiz, Michael | 1938 |
Another Dawn | Dieterle, William | 1937 |
Anthony Adverse | LeRoy, Mervyn | 1936 |
April Showers | Kern, James V. | 1948 |
April in Paris | Butler, David | 1952 |
Arsenic and Old Lace | Capra, Frank | 1944 |
As the Earth Turns | Green, Alfred E. | 1934 |
Babbitt | Keighley, William | 1934 |
Back Pay | Seiter, William A. | 1930 |
Back in Circulation | Enright, Ray | 1937 |
Background to Danger | Walsh, Raoul | 1943 |
Bad Men of Missouri | Enright, Ray | 1941 |
Beauty and the Boss | Del Ruth, Roy | 1932 |
Bedside | Florey, Robert | 1934 |
Beloved Brat | Lubin, Arthur | 1938 |
Between Two Worlds | Blatt, Edward A. | 1944 |
Beyond the Forest | Vidor, King | 1949 |
Big Business Girl | Seiter, William A. | 1931 |
Big City Blues | LeRoy, Mervyn | 1932 |
Big Hearted Herbert | Keighley, William | 1934 |
Black Fury | Curtiz, Michael | 1935 |
Black Legion | Mayo, Archie | 1937 |
Blazing Sixes | Smith, Noel | 1937 |
Blessed Event | Del Ruth, Roy | 1932 |
Blonde Crazy | Del Ruth, Roy | 1931 |
Blondes at Work | McDonald, Frank | 1938 |
Blondie Johnson | Enright, Ray | 1933 |
Blues in the Night | Litvak, Anatole | 1941 |
Bordertown | Mayo, Archie | 1935 |
Born for Trouble | Eason, B. Reese | 1942 |
Boulder Dam | McDonald, Frank | 1936 |
Boy Meets Girl | Bacon, Lloyd | 1938 |
Brides Are Like That | McGann, William | 1936 |
Bright Lights | Curtiz, Michael | 1931 |
Bright Lights 1935 | Berkeley, Busby | 1935 |
British Agent | Curtiz, Michael | 1934 |
British Intelligence | Morse, Terry | 1940 |
Broad Minded | LeRoy, Mervyn | 1931 |
Broadway Gondolier | Bacon, Lloyd | 1935 |
Broadway Hostess | McDonald, Frank | 1931 |
Broadway Musketeers | Farrow, John | 1938 |
Brother Orchid | Bacon, Lloyd | 1940 |
Brother Rat | Keighley, William | 1938 |
Brother Rat and a Baby | Enright, Ray | 1940 |
Bullet Scars | Lederman, D. Ross | 1942 |
Bullets or Ballots | Keighley, William | 1936 |
Bureau of Missing Persons | Del Ruth, Roy | 1933 |
Busses Roar | Lederman, D. Ross | 1942 |
Cabin in the Cotton | Curtiz, Michael | 1932 |
Cain and Mabel | Bacon, Lloyd | 1936 |
California Mail | Smith, Noel | 1936 |
Call It a Day | Mayo, Archie | 1937 |
Calling All Husbands | Smith, Noel | 1940 |
Calling Philo Vance | Clemens, William | 1940 |
Captain Blood | Curtiz, Michael | 1935 |
Captain Thunder | Crosland, Alan | 1930 |
Captured | Del Ruth, Roy | 1933 |
Casablanca | Curtiz, Michael | 1942 |
The Adventures of Jane Arden | Morse, Terry O. | 1939 |
The Adventures of Mark Twain | Rapper, Irving | 1944 |
The Adventures of Robin Hood | Curtiz, Michael and William Keighley | 1938 |
The Adventurous Blonde | McDonald, Frank | 1937 |
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse | Litvak, Anatole | 1938 |
The Angels Wash Their Faces | Enright, Ray | 1939 |
The Bargain | Milton, Robert | 1931 |
The Beast with Five Fingers | Florey, Robert | 1946 |
The Big Noise | McDonald, Frank | 1936 |
The Big Shakedown | Dillon, John Francis | 1934 |
The Big Shot | Seiler, Lewis | 1942 |
The Big Sleep | Hawks, Howard | 1946 |
The Big Stampede | Wright, Tenny | 1932 |
The Case of the Black Cat | McGann, William | 1936 |
The Case of the Black Parrot | Smith, Noel | 1941 |
The Case of the Curious Bride | Curtiz, Michael | 1935 |
The Case of the Howling Dog | Crosland, Alan | 1934 |