first up, many, many thanks indeed to the one they call deadmuso for going to some considerable trouble and effort to forward these amazing images on to me to share with the world at large. nice one mate, thank you very much indeed.
deadmuso recently invested the sum of £3.00 at a market stall for an original 1971 issue of the soundtrack album for Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. this would be a shrewd investment just for the wonderful Walter / Wendy Carlos music in itself, but he discovered that it had an original promo insert still in the record too, in pristine condition!
knowing that a few people visit this site for Kubrick related mentions, and indeed for the benefit of those avid google hunters doing their searches, i asked deadmuso if it was at all possible for him to send me some pictures. this he has done for the benefit of us all!
as you can see, i was not kidding when i suggested that this insert was in pristine, perfect condition!
i have reduced the size of what deadmuso sent through, but i trust that you can see all the information you need from these images.
on that note, the information provided is excellent - here's the credit list for the film.
i think more details appear there than do at the end of the film!
deadmuso is of the opinion that the insert is a merchandise form, allowing one to purchase Clockwork Orange related products. whereas i can see how he came to this conclusion - and indeed movie merchandise did exist before Star Wars, no matter what George Lucas would have you believe - but i am not so sure that this is what the insert specifically is. for a start, one of the things presented on the insert is the album, which you would (in 1971) have just purchased to get the insert.
i suspect that the insert is in fact some sort of press release. in a best case, then, what deadmuso bought was a review copy of the album, making it all the better a bargain. otherwise, it is entirely possible that they slipped the press release into the album as a "bonus", prior to the record labels clocking that bonus materials allow one to sell something at a higher price!
adding to the curiosity are the two pages (or thereabouts) given over to "Press Ads", showing dimensions and a price at the bottom.
the second page of these press ads is particularly interesting as it shows something called "Shell Quote" variations of the adverts.
the gaps, or if you will shells, on these suggests they are left open to allow for one to include quotes as part of the advert, presumably snippets from glowing reviews to help sell and advertise the film. it doesn't make all that much sense, but i suspect what Warner have handed out here are the details of their promotional campaign, along with what they propose to pay to have the adverts in the newspapers. a peculiar thing to do if that is the case, but as we get to see it i suppose there is not much point in complaining!
if those prices are indeed the proposed cost for the newspapers, do not forget that this was in 1971 if the prices seem low, and even then they would only be for the London (innit) press; the film did not go on a somewhat notorious national release until about a year later.
should anyone reading this have any further information about the specific reason for the insert then please be so kind as to leave a comment!
meanwhile, i have indeed saved possibly the best until last for you. that best would be an advert for a publication related to the film, and a quote from Stanley Kubrick that i have not seen before!
i suspect the advert is for the screenplay of the film, as i am aware of the fact that once upon a time one could purchase it. well, once upon a time being 1971, i suppose. should it turn out that the book listed there is the actual novel, then as Anthony Burgess' name appears to be missing that would explain how the rumour began than there was no such person as Anthony Burgess, with Stanley Kubrick supposedly making up the name to deflect criticism of the content. as it is not apparently published by Burgess' usual publisher, Penguin, i do really think that's an advert for the screenplay.
as for that Kubrick quote, here's a close up for you, if interested.
many, many thanks again indeed to deadmuso for all the effort to get these pictures to me. i trust they have been of interest to a few people!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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