Odd Newspaper Headlines in Old Noir Movies

Extollager

Extollager

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Time for me to start another low-traffic thread.

You know how noirs often feature newspaper front pages. Last night we were watching Narrow Margin -- a real RKO gem from 1952. About ten minutes into the feature, we see a newspaper front page. A small headline: MERCURY NEW X-RAY SOURCE, TWO SCIENTISTS REPORT.

I'll bet there are some other odd headlines that could be reported here and I'll bet I'm not the only person who watches for them when taking on these enjoyable old movies.

So... how about it?
 
I love this thread idea, Extollager! My wife and I often freeze-frame movies when newspapers are shown, so we can see what the stories are! They don't show many old American or English films here in Finland, but any time they do, should newspapers be shown, I shall diligently report back here. But I love the headline you mentioned above, it's wonderful! :)
 
You're another freeze-framer!

I'll also stop the DVD of an old movie or TV show if there's a scene in at a newsstand, a library or or bookstore, and if the viewer can see the covers of magazines or the titles of books.

By the way, here's the cover of Daredevil #7, showing a newspaper with the classic headline (right below the word "Sub-Mariner") "Planarians Give New Clues to Early Migrations" -- below the image I'll post a link for a larger view.
300px-Daredevil_Vol_1_7.jpg


http://themightyblog.fr/2014/04/les-grands-moments-de-daredevil/
 
Dang, I forget the movie... but the small headline was : 100,000 Chinese living in trees after flooding.
 
Hi,

I joined the forum to pass this bit of info along. I goggled the phrase "Mercury New X-ray Source" and stumbled upon this forum. I was freeze framing episode 7 of the Andy Griffith show where they were looking at a picture of Barney, a hero for nabbing a crook. Upon closure examination of newspaper, the article that was supposed to be about Barney had the opening line "Mercury New X-ray Source Two Scientist Report". OP reports seeing this in a 1952 movie. It appears to have been used again in the 7th episode of Andy Griffith. I found it amusing and wished to pass it along.
 
My take would be that the scriptwriters were doing it as some kind of joke/prank. To see what they were allowed to get away with before anyone in the studio hierarchy noticed! It is just a way of getting one over on the "man" without actually telling him where to go.

On Star Trek: The Next Generation they similarly kept inserting props, and references to the film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension! into the script. They also added the number 47 into the script wherever and whenever possible (something that JJ Abrams has continued in his own films.) (The writer Joe Menosky began the 47 thing but then it spread to the other writers. Apparently, it is a local tradition at Ponoma College where he was a graduate.)

In 1952, films were made to be viewed by an individual once, in the cinema. TV was still a new medium. No one would have foreseen that in the future someone could have a library of films at home, or that anyone would freeze-frame and look at a fake Newspaper headline, much less that we would have technology to do it for us in our own homes, or then to query other references using a world-wide database. They never expected anyone to ever notice. Now, they do expect some fans to notice and so it has become an Easter egg hunt instead.
 
The only equivalent (if it is one) that I can think of, off the top of my head, is the text about the crew of the Nostromo that scrolls past Sigourney Weaver's head in the boardroom scene in Aliens. I spent a while looking for it, but was disappointed when I found what it (probably) was. The articles on each character were wildly over the top, either as a joke or because that's what someone's view of SF entailed.
 
I frequently do that, myself; though no headlines come to mind. TCM is currently running SUMMER OF DARKNESS (film noir), so there is an abundance of material for this thread. I did have an ALL-IN-WONDER, TV card with capture capability, but not any more. Zooming the DVR often disappoints, as the part I want to see is then off the screen. :cry:
 
Extollager said:
Time for me to start another low-traffic thread.

You know how noirs often feature newspaper front pages. Last night we were watching Narrow Margin -- a real RKO gem from 1952. About ten minutes into the feature, we see a newspaper front page. A small headline: MERCURY NEW X-RAY SOURCE, TWO SCIENTISTS REPORT.
Click to expand...

I'm thrilled. Just now was watching Revenge of the Creature (i.e. the Creature from the Black Lagoon) from 1955 -- and in a sequence with newspaper headlines about the monster on the loose, that Mercury headline -- the identical one -- appears again.

Interesting that the first (?) use of the Mercury headline was in an RKO feature, while the Creature movie is a Universal International production.
 
:ROFLMAO: but were there any headlines specific to that film?


I recall zooming on newsstands to see what magazines were there; though I cannot recall specifics.
 
With three different instances of the same headline it would be worth looking at the staff working on the two films and the Andy Griffith show to see if anyone worked on all three. If so, then you have the joker. Unfortunately, I doubt he is still with us to ask him why.
 
Freeze-framing computer displays can be fun too.

My favourite is this which comes from an American re-edit of a Japanese TV movie. Somehow, to convey the utter complexity of an alien space fleet appearing on the view-screens of our heroes' ship, they thought it best to cut in an invoice/delivery note for a an engineering firm in Utah.

Meanwhile on the Display Screen of a Japanese Spaceship... by the_junk_monkey, on Flickr
 
I have a habit of watching old episodes of Dragnet courtesy of a thing called "Uncle Earl's Classic Television" (which also has a lot of old movies.) I just started watching this one:

http://www.solie.org/alibrary/Dragnet_TheBigBounce.html

Less than one minute into it we get a lovely close-up of The Los Angeles Examiner.

The big headline is RECORD HEAT WAVE DUE. The follow-up story starts with the sub-headline TEMPERATURES WILL SOAR TO HOTTEST POINT.

Above that, in slightly smaller print we see NEW FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY. (It's in the same size type as COMPLETE RACES next to it.) Down below we see the follow-up story with the sub-headline STRANGE OBJECT SIGHTED IN SKY.

Other, smaller headlines are SCIENTIST BARES NEW ATOMS USE, AUTOS CRASH IN SPEED RACE ON FREEWAY, and BUSINESS CHIEFS TELL OPTIMISM.
 
Bagged another choice plum! This is from Radar Secret Service. The main headlines are RADAR PATROL ROUNDS UP LEADERS OF CRIMINAL BAND RECOVER BALANCE OF STOLEN ATOMIC MATERIAL -- but the other headline is delectable: DATA ON 8,000 ANTARCTIC METEORS

This appears in the last five minutes or so of the movie, in case you want to Rush Right Out and look it up.
 
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