Post 5 of 6: Show-and-Tell and Art Gallery

This is Post 5 of 6 this afternoon.

9) SHOW-AND-TELL

For those participating on ZOOM, today, we open the floor to any club members who have “fancraft” undertakings to showcase—sci-fi scale models, sculpture, SF/F woodworking or needlecraft, Halloween masks or costumes, whatever genre-themed, hands-on project it may be that you are working on at present, or have recently completed. Tell us all about your endeavour, and share any photos you may have snapped of your work-in-progress, or of the finished piece.

Those not able to join our ZOOM chat for the show-and-tell may contribute nonetheless by using this post’s “Leave a Comment” feature to type in a quick description of any such project of theirs.

10) Art Gallery: AIP’s Sci-Fi/Horror B-Movie Posters (The Albert Kallis Years)

Alternately, we offer an art gallery of colourful, arresting, astounding science fiction/horror B-movie posters designed and rendered for American International Pictures, or AIP (initially ARC, American Releasing Corporation) by artists largely unknown outside of Hollywood’s film industry. Two of the most talented were stand-out freelancer Reynold Brown and the advertising-savvy Albert Kallis.

Kallis supervised all advertising campaigns at AIP from start to finish, often handling the design and illustration himself, producing many of the studio’s most striking film posters. He served as AIP’s art director from 1955 through 1973.

AIP was the first film studio to rely on focus groups to evaluate what would likely excite their audience of largely teenagers. Movies about hot-rod racing and motorcycle gangs, along with Westerns and war pictures, and of course, sci-fi and horror films were, thus, the company’s lifeblood.

AIP’s approach was to pre-sell a film with a thrilling title and eye-catching poster, secure funding from exhibitors, and only then commission a script and shoot the movie, often in a matter of days or weeks! And an effective ad campaign was key to getting people into movie theatres and out to drive-ins for what were, after all, low-budget B-movies. A well-designed film poster promised excitement and thrills, and often, the sci-fi/horror monster featured looked better on the poster than in the film!

In addition to Kallis, who, interestingly, was later a co-founder of the International House of Pancakes (IHOP) restaurant chain, prominent AIP personnel included consummate sales manager James H. Nicholson and entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff, the company’s founders, producer/director Roger Corman, as well as screenwriters Charles B. Griffith and Lou Rusoff. Other notable producers and/or directors included Alex Gordon, Edward L. Cahn, Bert I. Gordon, and Herman Cohen.

AIP enjoyed increasing success in the late-1950s, added more films to the production slate, and began releasing films in agreements with other production companies to boost content. Kallis’ workload consequently ballooned, prompting him to engage other artists to help with the work, including Brown, a draughtsman of impeccable facility, who was able to turn Kallis’ layout concepts into marvellous finished paintings.