Today's grooviness is PART TWO of the three part collection of my Girl in Gold Boots memorabilia. The piece we're going to be looking at today is the original pressbook from the 1968 Ted V. Mikels cult classic!
As you can plainly see, the film was promoted as a BOX-OFFICE BONANZA OF GOLD! Oh, how I love the word "bonanza". I don't know how much money it actually made, but I highly doubt it was a "bonanza". Perhaps it being featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 brought it more fans, DVD sales, and money! At least, I hope it did.
As with all pressbooks, the whole thing is basically just a tiny newspaper that's sole purpose is to explain to you how awesome the movie is, and show you that if you put this film in your theater, you will be rolling around in buckets of gold and rainbows from the mystical land of Figgleforth.
The pressbook also contains what I love the most about B-Movie/Exploitation films -- promotional materials. Possibly my favorite thing about these kind of films are the catchphrases and the taglines they come up with for the posters and advertisements.
Pure genius. If you can resist that, then you are a much stronger person than I.
The pressbook also includes a few biographical articles on each of the main actors in the film -- Leslie McRae, Tom Pace, Jody Daniels, and Mark Herron. As far as I know, the main three characters are all still alive... but, I could be wrong. All I know is that I'd love to meet Jody Daniels, Leslie McRae, or Tom Pace... HINT HINT...
Leslie McRae did a lot of work in the 60s and 70s, with bit parts on lots of TV shows, such as Here's Lucy, Love, American Style, and Green Acres. She also had small parts in The Long Goodbye, the classically campy film Valley of the Dolls, and as Don Rickles' girlfriend in The Money Jungle. She had starring and supporting roles in some other films, like Ted V. Mikels' Blood Orgy of the She-Devils, Bummer, Wonder Women, Coffy, and probably the most popular, Paul Bartel's cult classic Death Race 2000. Her most recent role took place after a 30 YEAR absence from film and TV, in the 2005 docu-drama Day of Miracles -- which she also produced. From what we can tell from her IMDb page, she has been mostly producing projects since 1997, including the 2007 Academy Awards! WOAH. Mind = Blown.
Tom Pace mostly performed in TV, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mission: Impossible, and 11 episodes of Combat!. Ted V. Mikels seemed to like him, since he cast him in two of his other films -- Blood Orgy of the She-Devils and Astro-Zombies. He also had a bit part in the classic disaster film Airport, where he plays one of the passengers on the plane who makes concerned faces in the background.
Jody Daniels, being a musician-turned-actor, started out recording for Dot Records, putting out only one 7" single, and unfortunately, no full length LP. The only other movie that he had a starring role is in an extremely rare biker film entitled Hells Chosen Few, which was also released in 1968. He also had bit parts in the films Policewomen, High Yellow, and the TV movie The Eye Creatures.
The pressbook also contains what I love the most about B-Movie/Exploitation films -- promotional materials. Possibly my favorite thing about these kind of films are the catchphrases and the taglines they come up with for the posters and advertisements.
"Vibrant...
Unpredictable...
She hungered for fame...
The men in her life offered her
love, danger, excitement!"
The pressbook also includes a few biographical articles on each of the main actors in the film -- Leslie McRae, Tom Pace, Jody Daniels, and Mark Herron. As far as I know, the main three characters are all still alive... but, I could be wrong. All I know is that I'd love to meet Jody Daniels, Leslie McRae, or Tom Pace... HINT HINT...
Leslie McRae did a lot of work in the 60s and 70s, with bit parts on lots of TV shows, such as Here's Lucy, Love, American Style, and Green Acres. She also had small parts in The Long Goodbye, the classically campy film Valley of the Dolls, and as Don Rickles' girlfriend in The Money Jungle. She had starring and supporting roles in some other films, like Ted V. Mikels' Blood Orgy of the She-Devils, Bummer, Wonder Women, Coffy, and probably the most popular, Paul Bartel's cult classic Death Race 2000. Her most recent role took place after a 30 YEAR absence from film and TV, in the 2005 docu-drama Day of Miracles -- which she also produced. From what we can tell from her IMDb page, she has been mostly producing projects since 1997, including the 2007 Academy Awards! WOAH. Mind = Blown.
Tom Pace mostly performed in TV, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mission: Impossible, and 11 episodes of Combat!. Ted V. Mikels seemed to like him, since he cast him in two of his other films -- Blood Orgy of the She-Devils and Astro-Zombies. He also had a bit part in the classic disaster film Airport, where he plays one of the passengers on the plane who makes concerned faces in the background.
Jody Daniels, being a musician-turned-actor, started out recording for Dot Records, putting out only one 7" single, and unfortunately, no full length LP. The only other movie that he had a starring role is in an extremely rare biker film entitled Hells Chosen Few, which was also released in 1968. He also had bit parts in the films Policewomen, High Yellow, and the TV movie The Eye Creatures.
According to this pressbook, Jody performed a song on an episode of the classic anthology show, Route 66. As a normal crazy person should, I decided to look this up on IMDb to find out and pick up the DVD. Unfortunately for me, IMDb does not list any episodes featuring our pal Jody Daniels. But, that didn't stop me. Since I work part-time at the world's greatest video store, CineFile Video, I decided to rent out a season of Route 66, on the extremely unlikely chance that I would find it.
As soon as I brought it home, I searched online to find the episodes on the DVD that were filmed in Texas, since the show usually cast people from the towns they were filming in. Well, as luck would have it, the first episode I picked was the one! I got about 2/3 of the way through, when a party scene arose. I heard guitar, the camera cut around the party, and there he was -- tight gray suit, clean shaven, slicked back hair, and playing the same exact guitar he plays in Girl in Gold Boots! Kablam!
Check him out in the scene from the Route 66 second season episode "A Long Piece of Mischief" in the video below! He's rockin' out in the background throughout the whole scene, but at about 0:45, there's a good look at him and that awesome guitar.
Of the four main stars, the one with the most intriguing life story has to be Mark Herron, who played the greasy nightclub owner, Leo McCabe. One thing that the pressbook only briefly mentions is that he had a role in Frederico Fellini's 8 1/2, which is now considered one of the greatest films of all time.
But by far the most interesting thing about Mark Herron is the fact that at the of the making of Girl in Gold Boots, he was married to super duper movie/music star Judy Garland! He was her fourth husband, and their marriage lasted from November 1965 to January 1969. They broke off the marriage when she discovered that he was gay, and apparently having an affair with her daughter Liza Minnelli's boyfriend and later husband.
Oh boy.
Mark and Judy -- professional smilers.
Another page of this pressbook promotes something that was never officially released -- the Girl in Gold Boots Soundtrack. Chris Howard wrote the main theme and other songs for the film, but many of the songs (including the theme) were sung by Larry Cartell. Other tracks were performed by Joe Valino and Jerry Wallace. Jody Daniels even wrote a song for the film!
Now, for gigantic nerdy fans of this film, being able to find all the surprisingly super songs from the movie is like finding the holy grail of B-Movie music. Since the album was never released, it seems almost impossible, unless you're magical like me...
But that's a different post altogether.
Well, I hope you and your gold and blue fur bikini enjoy the pluperfect pressbook from Girl in Gold Boots. Now, keep your gold boots movin', uh huh! Yeahhhh you're lookin' just fine, yeah girl!
Sorry, I got carried away there for a moment.
Download the pressbook PDF HERE!!
And stay tuned for the super duper and unimaginably intense PART THREE of the Girl in Gold Boots memorabilia!!
Thanx Jeremy! I went and got it! That's good stuff!!
ReplyDeleteWow this is awesome. Thanks for the soundtrack, and the PDF of the pressbook. Who would've thought that Tom Pace was actually Serbian? Maybe that's why his accent is a bit odd.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any idea what happened to Mr. Pace? There have been other people wondering about this too.
Oh boy, I have no idea what has happened to him. Perhaps I'll send an e-mail to the director, Ted V Mikels... they worked together on a few movies. Maybe he knows!
ReplyDelete