Press Workbook for Puss N' Boots (1964) dir. by Roberto Rodríguez and Manuel San Fernando
Puss N' Boots is the English name given to the Mexican film El Gato con Botas (1961), starring actor Santanón in the lead role. Of note from this page of the press book, which was sent to exhibitors, are the specific directions by distributor K. Gordon Murray, who claimed to have a "tried and proven...formula of selling special children's pictures and has been used in the largest cities and the smallest village." This was unusual for press workbooks, which usually left exhibition plans to the theaters.
Below is a transcript of "The Plan" Murray devised:
This picture will be shown on MATINEES ONLY on your play dates.
You will schedule three showings on weekdays at 12 o'clock noon, second at 2 p.m., and the third at t:00 p.m.
On Sundays and Holidays you will schedule TWO showings ONLY, first at 1:00 p.m. and the second one at 3:00 p.m.
You will schedule showings on your regular attractions playing on these dates to fill out your normal schedules.
Running time of features is 91 minutes. The program should run 1 hour 55 minutes, so you will need 24 minutes of shorts, trailers, etc.
There is a "One Price" admission policy of .50 to everyone, so that every person is a child to see PUSS N' BOOTS.
The distributor is furnishing extensive TV coverage in the key spots and all areas will be saturated with TV advertising. The distributor pays for the TV campaign 100%.
TERMS for this attraction are 50%. There are no reductions or adjustments to anyone.
K. Gordon Murray is credited with "inadvertently assisting in the creation of a certain subgenre of film that flourished in and around the 1960s" called "children's grindhouse films," referring to the name for theaters that usually showed low-budget exploitation films.
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