Saturday, September 11

One of my Greatest Swap Meet Finds...

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One of the questions I'm often asked is how I manage to consistently find great stuff digging around old swap meets. Maybe I have a have a horseshoe stuck up my ass. I have no idea and sometimes things just seem to find me. Like this morning, I travel out aways to an open air swap meet that's only held twice a year. Prices seems higher than usual. Multiple tables featured ex-Blockbuster abused DVDs for five friggin' bucks. Or tapes of huge Hollywood hits for three bucks--insane, people! I end up begrudgingly dropping two on a Thorn EMI clamshell of Hit & Run (1983). Expectations aren't high and the area is packed with people mulling about. I probably should have just went to my regular haunts...

I then see a dude with some vintage toys a few aisles over and made a beeline over since things were looking bleak. Uneventful Star Wars, Star Trek, comics, and sport cards...meh. Wait, what's that stack of paper under the table? Oh, cool, old movie pressbooks that studios would send out to theaters to garner interest in showings and buying advertising. Suddenly, I see her name, "CHRISTINA LINDBERG", sticking out of the bottom in the middle. I almost shit myself right there. My eyes lock on the prize and I'm immediately prepared to maim the genitalia of anyone who dare reach over my shoulder at them. Passing by all others, there it fucking is. The U.S. pressbook for perhaps the greatest Exploitation film for all times, Bo Arne Vibenius's THEY CALL HER ONE EYE (Thriller - en grym film) (1974). Okay, Jayson, need to play this sly. "How much are these...ermm...magazines?" while holding up some other worthless movie's booklet. The young guy says "Uh, well, make me an offer..."

Well, fuck. That could mean anything. Does he know that he has the single most awesome fucking thing within a five mile radius...or not? I don't want to lowball him, that would just be insulting and embarrassing, and there's no way in hell I'm leaving without these eight sheets of twenty-some year old paper. I strategically place the booklet back into the stack's middle and grab up the bulk. I cautiously ask again. "Well, if you take them all...ten bucks." I tell you now friends that $10 has never been exchanged faster. I walk away with Rocky's victory tune and Bill Duke's reminisce about how he and Jesse Ventura slaughtered a bunch of little brown people without a scratch playing in my head. Indeed, one of my greatest swap meet finds...

13 comments:

Jayson Kennedy said...

Just to note, the term "EXPLOITATION" on the last page refers to the gimmicks/promo stuff to get people interested in the flick, not the genre it sits in.

Danger Cinema said...

I'm literally drooling.

Samuel Wilson said...

I love the eyepatch as female fashion statement concept. Robert Rodriguez should be selling some of those nowadays at Machete screenings.

DrunkethWizerd said...

That's some sweet ass shit right there! I know that feeling you're talking about too, it's insane, but you're a pro at this kind of thing. If you would have shown the least bit of enthusiasm those prices would have been jacked up. "Oh you like those huh? Really want em? Muahahaha!" Way to stay kooool.

DrunkethWizerd said...

"Eye Patches For Girls - The Newest Fad!" Haha. Man, that's hot.

David A. Zuzelo said...

Great find...I wish I could just order up some window cards and heralds!

Pidde Andersson said...

I wonder if somebody had a letter-writing contest on what other famous actresses have come from Sweden...

ZwilightTone said...

That is an amazing find Jayson!

Jayson Kennedy said...

Hahaha, that would have been funny.

And of course Drunketh, I'm like Vanilla Ice in Cool as Ice when it comes to the art of the deal...

Jayson Kennedy said...

I'm also trying to figure out how to possibly frame it or at least some kind of protecive sleeve. It's an odd shape.

Toxaemia said...

You lucky duck! Some people really are clueless when it comes to the true value of some of the things they are selling.

Neil Fulwood said...

And all the ten dollars!!!! Dude, that's the find of the century.

huckey said...

this needs to happen to me someday damn it lol.

...do you dare tread upon the staircase?

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