Newspaper Movie Guide 1980

I found a newspaper from June 6, 1980, and one of the things I always think is fun to do when looking at an old paper is checking out what was playing at the movies back then.

You may have heard that it's the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, but were you also aware of another classic movie which opened 30 years ago...

Did you happen to notice "With Mel Gibson" near the bottom of the ad? That's probably the last time Mel was buried in the credits like this. Check out the trailer which uses the "With Mel Gibson" credit too...



Next there's this low-budget slasher movie that has a title that sounds like it could be an anti-abortion documentary to me...

And the Silent Scream trailer...


Now here's a film that has gone by a number of different titles. The original title is Snapshot, but was retitled when released on video as The Day Before Halloween, or The Night After Halloween. To further confuse things the name of this film in the 1980 newspaper ad is...

I love that ad copy, "Don't open the door... Don't answer the phone... Don't look in the attic... " - all of which just happens to be titles of other horror movies. One More Minute looks like a pretty intense slasher film, but according to YouTube film reviewer, SlasherIndex it's anything but...



Two years earlier in 1978 National Lampoon's Animal House was a huge hit, and a flood of imitators followed. Not to be out done, MAD Magazine presented their first (and only) motion picture with MAD Magazine Presents Up The Academy...

MAD Magazine artist Jack Rickard illustrated the poster, and that's practically the only thing MAD had to do with this film. Oh yeah, a live action Alfred E. Neuman makes a quick cameo too...

That "Alfred" mask is either funny or terrifying depending on your sensibilities. Anyways, the film was a flop, and fellow blogger, Frank, at Franklin Mint Blog does excellent job of documenting the whole mess. (You can also download the soundtrack at his blog too!)

Well, here's the TV commercial...



It's an interesting coincidence that another "Animal House-like" movie opened on June 6, 1980, with poster art by Jack Davis who just happens to be another MAD Magazine artist...

The full-color poster has slightly different art and a totally different tag line...


And finally a TV commercial for this forgotten comedy...

Weeki Wachee

Let's take the plunge into another retro brochure collection. This time it's that classic mermaid attraction Florida's Weeki Wachee...

The two images above are from a card that I believe dates from the early 1970's.

The brochure below is from 1978...

I'm assuming the picture of the girl with torpedo-like underwater scooter was intended to be the front, and the "shark girl" was on the back of the brochure - but it could go either way. Maybe with the popularity of Jaws "shark girl" was placed in the racks facing up.


If you look closely at these brochures you''l see that Weeki Wachee was once owned by ABC Leisure Attractions - which was a subsidiarity of the American Broadcasting Company. Weeki Wachee is no longer owned by a private company, and is now a state park.

Supergrass made a music video for their song "Low C" which plays like a mini Weeki Wachee documentary. Check it out...

AutoWorld

Well here's the brochure for the infamous Six Flags AutoWorld in Flint, MI. It's a little controversial, and was featured in documentaries made by a well-known portly provocateur (you're smart, I'm sure you know who I'm talking about).

There's been a lot of speculation on AutoWorld's failure. I think the basic reason it failed was because it was simply a bad idea. The automobile theme was too limiting to support an elaborate indoor "family entertainment center." Even in Michigan, where major car companies are headquartered, and tens of thousands of people make their living from the auto industry there weren't enough people interested in visiting AutoWorld to support the place.


Oh look the brochure folds out into a "fun map" to help you plan your visit...


It's funny how the back of the AutoWorld brochure urges to "Plan your visit soon!" Yeah, you better have since it lasted less than 2 years.

It's time to say goodbye to AutoWorld!

Mystery Fun House

Here's a 1990's brochure for Mystery Fun House in Orlando, FL. It was the attraction notable for a large fiberglass wizard on the front of the building. Mystery Fun House operated from 1976 through 2001, and was located virtually across the street from the Universal Orlando Resort.

It's interesting to note, that in a little over a month, Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando will be the home to a certain very popular boy wizard. So now that wizard who use to hang out at Mystery Fun House can... Umm... Yeah, I got nothing. I thought I was going somewhere with this setup, but I got nothing. Please enjoy the rest of this brochure for this defunct attraction.

I just finished a box of Handi-Wrap from 1974!

I usually don't talk about my personal life on this blog, but I just finished a box of Handi-Wrap from 1974.

In the picture above if you look closely at the small print on the lower left you can see I'm not kidding - "1974 The Dow Chemical Company Indianapolis Indiana."

How this box come into my possession is not remarkable, but it was given to me un-opened about seven years ago. I didn't realize it was that old until after I opened it and found that it had lost all its power to cling.

Anyways it looks like Handi-Wrap is no longer manufactured, and even if it was I doubt many boxes from 1974 are still around. So as a public service, I present a historical artifact for the enrichment of peoples of the Internet. Maybe someone studying package design from the 1970's, or a art director from That 70's Show (yeah, I know it's been canceled, but let's just go with it for now) who has to dress a grocery store set will find this post useful.

front

bottom

side

And just for good measure here's a Handi-Wrap commercial...

So what the heck happened to the Boatyard Shopping Village?

Back in 1983 I was on a family vacation in Florida, and my parents were visiting some friends who lived in Clearwater, FL. One sunny afternoon our Clearwater friends took us to the Boatyard Shopping Village. Here's a postcard I just found while looking through some old junk.

Click to enlarge, or don't

Look, here's another Boatyard Shopping Village postcard I found online.



The Boatyard Shopping Village was a full of specialty shops and a few restaurants themed to look like an old timey fishing village. It sorta reminded me of Sweethaven from that live action Popeye movie. Well that is a less detailed Sweethaven, and one made out of rusting sheet metal.

Hey those Popeye sets are still standing! Imagine that!



Anywho, here's the back of the post card where you can read the official description for the Boatyard Shopping Village.



So now here's the mystery - what the heck happened to the Boatyard Shopping Village? As you can see from the Google satellite image below, it appears that all traces of the Boatyard Shopping Village have been thoroughly removed.


View Larger Map

Also except for the postcards I've found, I can't find any other evidence that this place ever existed. I thought the place was reasonably cool when I visited as a kid. Didn't anyone else? I thought for sure I'd find someone reminiscing about the Boatyard Shopping Village on some obscure message board.

This place is more mysterious than Brigadoon.

UPDATE:  Be sure to read the comments if you'd like more info on what happened to the Boatyard Shopping Village.  A big thank you to all the people who have left great comments so far!

Prehistoric Forest

Since my last post was super boring I thought my next post should be extra exciting, and what's more exciting than dinosaurs.

This is a low budget brochure for Prehistoric Forest in Irish Hills, Michigan, and Prehistoric Forest was a dinosaur attraction filled with low budget fiberglass dinos.


Although it must be said that these were well done low budget fiberglass dinos, and at least when I visited everything was well maintained and freshly painted. Besides the dinos, there were other odd things to see at Prehistoric Forest like that "burning spring" thing pictured on the upper right above. I can remember asking my father how fire could be bubbling out of the water like that. Yeah kids can be so naive, but then again I was 23 when I asked this. Thank you folks, I'll be here all week!



Since the pictures in this brochure were all B&W I wanted to include some color photos my father took when this attraction was in its prime. Unfortunately I could only find one (I'll update this post if any other pix turn up).


This is the "Neanderthal Man" and if you noticed he looks like he had a makeover compared to the brochure picture.

You should have guessed by my use of past tense that Prehistoric Forest in Irish Hills is now defunct. According to a report online it closed in 1999. Thanks to YouTuber mortuarygirl1 you can see how Prehistoric Forest looked in 2009.


UPDATE: There's a few more color Prehistoric Forest photos right here...