27 June 2011
Quote of the Day: Cracked
From "The 6 Most Wildly Irresponsible Publicity Stunts in History":
Back in the early 1900s, when silent films were the norm and "talking pictures" were an absurd idea that people believed would never take off, movie promotion was still in its early years. This was before there was such a thing as movie trailers and giant billboards stuck to the sides of buildings and buses. Clearly, grossly irresponsible publicity stunts were the only way.
One promoter who jumped right on this trend and who didn't really care about things such as "human safety" and "mass death" was Harry Reichenbach. While he did do some generally safe yet obnoxious stunts such as throwing pennies behind actors to get people to follow them around ("Look! They're being mobbed by fans!"), he also cooked up some stunts that can be best described as borderline insane. In 1918, for instance, the movie Tarzan of the Apes was on its way. And what better way to promote it than to let lions and gorillas loose in New York City hotels?
Back in the early 1900s, when silent films were the norm and "talking pictures" were an absurd idea that people believed would never take off, movie promotion was still in its early years. This was before there was such a thing as movie trailers and giant billboards stuck to the sides of buildings and buses. Clearly, grossly irresponsible publicity stunts were the only way.
One promoter who jumped right on this trend and who didn't really care about things such as "human safety" and "mass death" was Harry Reichenbach. While he did do some generally safe yet obnoxious stunts such as throwing pennies behind actors to get people to follow them around ("Look! They're being mobbed by fans!"), he also cooked up some stunts that can be best described as borderline insane. In 1918, for instance, the movie Tarzan of the Apes was on its way. And what better way to promote it than to let lions and gorillas loose in New York City hotels?
Labels: random weirdness
# posted by mamurd @ 10:39 PM 
