As you guys would know, I love a good mock-up newspaper! Whenever I encounter one, I try to include a screenshot in my review; but some films offer so many treats of this nature that one shot won’t do it. So I’ve decided to create a space where I can take a closer look at the fine detail of these beloved movie props.

Of course film-watchers weren’t meant to subject these mock-ups to forensic analysis, and when films were only viewable in the cinema, generally you couldn’t. These days, however, a sharp eye and a good pause button reveals just how often, and over how many years, the same mock-ups were re-used.

Meet the Repeat Offenders!—

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ETA:

I’m going to put this up top to help me stop confusing myself with this: it’s very easy to think I’ve seen something twice just because I’ve been scrolling up and down here!

Definite repeaters:
– New ‘Living Buddha’ Reported Discovered
– $3,000,000 for Aid Pledged for S. A. Earthquake Victims
– Limited Farm Bill Favored
– Bill Aids Owner On Foreclosure
– Victory Sighted In Fight Against Yellow Fever
– Ocean at Last Yields Its Gold and Its Silver
– No Precedent For Handling Certificates
– Passengers Make Hasty Exit From Blazing Street Car
– Prepaid Taxes Reach Highest Mark In History
– City Transfers Bond Millions To Sinking Fund
– State Bureaus Must Pay Rent In New Offices
– Steel Demand Fairly Steady
– Fire In Everglades
– 110,000 Chinese Living In Trees As A Result Of Flood
– A Record Set In City’s Sale Of Bond Issue
– Building Code Under Fire
– “Slip” Betrays Accused Thief
– Engineer Killed As Limited Crashes
– 3000 Additional Japanese Troops Arrive In China
– Engineers Finish 10-Year Research
– Judge Denies Motion On Narcotic Evidence
– New Tax Bill May Be Needed
– Mayor Outlines New Project Of Administration
– Mayor Maps Plan For Building Program
– Racket Murder Defendants To Take The Stand
– Police Disperse Rioters
– Five Persons Burn To Death In Clubhouse
– Fireman, 18, Hurt As Engine Upsets
– Chinese Pirates Kill Two Britons
– Youth Arrested After Glitter Was Removed From Campaign Sign
– Sheriff Holds Youth: Admits Knowing Victim

(Question: is that the same youth in the last two??)

Ones I’m sure I’ve seen more than once:
– Fire In Everglades Put Under Control
– 3000 Additional Japanese Troops Arrive In China
– Building Code Under Fire
– 110,000 Chinese Living In Trees As A Result Of Flood
– 1 Dies, 4 Saved As Squall Sinks Sloop In Sound
– Hundreds Killed In Chinese Quakes [Arctic Fury]
– Commuter Increase Denied
– New Petitions Against Tax [Gigantis]
– American Mining Expert Asks British Citizenship [The Lost Jungle]

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REPEAT OFFENDER #1:

I’m very proud of this one! I mean, everyone knows about Panic in New York: Menagerie breaks loose, but this is my baby! At least, as far as I’m aware no-one but me has repeat-spotted New ‘Living Buddha’ Reported Discovered.

This mock-up newspaper subheading first caught my eye during Gigantis, The Fire Monster, the 1959 Americanisation of Godzilla’s Counterattack. I next spotted it in The Mummy’s Tomb, which was released 17 years earlier! And you may imagine my giddy surprise when I spotted it again while watching the non-genre drama, Girls On Probation, made in 1938!

Girls On Probation (1938):

The Mummy’s Tomb (1942):

Gigantis, The Fire Monster (1959):

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REPEAT OFFENDERS #2 AND #3:

When I posted the mock-up newspapers from Gigantis, The Fire Monster (see Part 2), commenter Uncle Mike felt that he had seen the headline, $3,000,000 for Aid Pledged for S. A. Earthquake Victims, somewhere else. I thought I had too—and was delighted when I subsequently spotted it in one of the papers from The Flying Saucer.

But that isn’t all! The Gigantis paper has a smaller headline to the right, Limited Farm Bill Favored, which also rang a bell for me; and that too is in the mock-up from The Flying Saucer!

I’m also very sure that these films do not exhaust the usage of these two headlines—stay tuned!

ETA1:  Correct! – Limited Farm Bill Favored also shows up in the single mock-up newspaper from the serial, Flash Gordon – appearing 14 years before The Flying Saucer!—

ETA2: Limited Farm Bill Favored had another outing in 1936, in fact one of its mock-ups offers a two-fer—

Flash Gordon (1936):

Fugitive In The Sky (1936):

The Flying Saucer (1950):

Gigantis, The Fire Monster (1959):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #4:

In fact, Gigantis turns out to be a goldmine of repeated headlines, as well as further proof of how long the same mock-ups were used and re-used by the studios.

Thus, we find the same headline – Bill Aids Owner On Foreclosure – in The Walking Dead, from 1936, and Gigantis, from 1959:

(ETA: Also Fugitive In The Sky, also from 1936:)

Fugitive In The Sky:

The Walking Dead:

Gigantis, The Fire Monster:

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REPEAT OFFENDERS #5 AND #6 AND #7 AND #8:

Obviously (and not surprisingly), The Mummy’s Tomb and The Mummy’s Ghost used the same template for their mock-ups, because their newspapers have more in common than just headlines about rampaging mummies—giving us four separate instances of reused “stories”:
– Victory Sighted In Fight Against Yellow Fever
– Ocean at Last Yields Its Gold and Its Silver
– No Precedent For Handling Certificates
– Passengers Make Hasty Exit From Blazing Street Car

The Mummy’s Tomb (1942):………………………………………..The Mummy’s Ghost (1944):

 

 

 

 

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REPEAT OFFENDER #5A:

Victory Sighted In Fight Against Yellow Fever shows up in another mock-up from the same year:

Black Dragons (1942):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #8A:

Passengers Make Hasty Exit From Blazing Street Car also shows up in The Sound Of Fury, from 1950, which offers in addition a couple of other Repeat Offenders (see below).

The Sound Of Fury (1950):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #9:

The Mummy’s Ghost is another that just keeps on giving! In addition to its numerous double-ups with The Mummy’s Tomb, it offered another of those I’ve seen that somewhere else touches—which turned out to be Gigantis, The Fire Monster: Prepaid Taxes Reach Highest Mark In History.

(ETA: now spotted in 1942—)

Black Dragons (1942):

The Mummy’s Ghost (1944):

Gigantis, The Fire Monster (1959):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #10:

There’s only one newspaper in Destination Moon, but two headlines on it caught my eye—though I’ve only been able to pin down one of them, City Transfers Bond Millions To Sinking Fund: I’d spotted it before in The Walking Dead, in fact from the identical positioning the two films may have used the same mock-up.

ETA1:  The serial Flash Gordon, also from 1936, uses this same headline in its mock-up paper—

ETA2: And I have good reason to think the same mock-up was used in another film of 1936—

Flash Gordon (1936):

Fugitive In The Sky (1936):

The Walking Dead (1936):

Destination Moon (1950):

What’s frustrating is that I’m sure I’ve seen State Bureaus Must Pay Rent In New Offices somewhere before, too; not only seen it, but remarked on it; but do you think I can find it again? Stay turned…

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REPEAT OFFENDER #11:

Several of the headlines in the first newspaper seen in Ghost Patrol, a science-fiction / western B-film, caught my eye, though I was only able to identify one of them—chiefly because I already joked about it in a review!

But I’m sure I’ve seen that headline about the Chinese floods elsewhere too, though I can’t find an example at the moment. (ETA: Gotcha! – see below.) And there’s a third headline to the right about ‘large gains from investments’, I think, which is only seen clearly in a different shot of the paper, that also struck me as familiar. The hunt continues!

Ghost Patrol (1936):

Captive Wild Woman (1943):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #12:

Ah-HA!

Pardon me quoting myself, but up above in Repeat Offender #10 I complained re: Destination Moon that:

“I’m sure I’ve seen State Bureaus Must Pay Rent In New Offices somewhere before, too; not only seen it, but remarked on it; but do you think I can find it again? Stay turned…”

I have now just found that headline again, and remembered where I saw it the first time: in The Creeper, from 1948, which uses enough mock-up papers (and not well) to end up over in Up Close.

My new discovery, however, is in Love Takes Flight, an aviation romance-drama from 1937. This film uses a number of mock-ups, but most of them are superimposed and therefore not clear enough for study. What we can see is generally done rather well; albeit that one story about the film’s heroine suddenly gives way to, Although he succeeded in gaining…

Meanwhile, another story sits side-by-side with something else I’m sure I should be looking out for: Fire In Everglades. (ETA: Found it! – see below.)

Love Takes Flight (1937):

The Creeper (1948):

Destination Moon (1950):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #13:

Most of the sub-headlines in The Gorilla are too blurry to be certain of, but I did catch one that seemed familiar: Steel Demand Fairly Steady.

Sure enough:

(ETA: Just spotted it in 1936—)

Fugitive In The Sky (1936):

The Gorilla (1939):

The Mummy’s Ghost (1944):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #14:

I love it when we get a self-repeater—that is, a film reusing the same material in different mock-ups.

I can’t say I’ve see one like Reefer Madness before, though: it uses the same headline, Sheriff Holds Youth: Admits Knowing Victim, both between mock-ups and in the same mock-up!

 

Annoyingly, though, I remember making a joke about that headline in another context but can’t remember where—watch this space…

…and bingo! – I did note the presence of this headline in another film, but recorded it over in Up Close:

Death In The Air (1936):

…and bingo again, another outing during 1936, in the film version of a serial:

The Lost Jungle (1934):

(Also a new Repeat Offender in this film, see below.)

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REPEAT OFFENDER #15:

The 1938 film Mystery House allowed me to shift not one but two headlines from “I’m sure I’ve seen that before” up to “definite repeaters” (see also below), and also gave me a new Repeat Offender!

First of all we have confirmation of Fire In Everglades, which a longer shot allows us to see in full as Fire In Everglades Put Under Control:

Love Takes Flight (1937):

Mystery House (1938):

 

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REPEAT OFFENDER #16:

The second gotcha from Mystery House, used in a different mock-up, was 110,000 Chinese Living In Trees As A Result Of Flood (and there will be others, I’m quite sure):

Ghost Patrol (1936):

Mystery House (1938):

(You may have to take my word for this one!)

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REPEAT OFFENDER #17:

The newcomer to our ranks is A Record Set In City’s Sale Of Bond Issue, which also showed up four years later in The Mummy’s Tomb (another gift that just doesn’t stop giving!):

Mystery House (1938):

The Mummy’s Tomb (1942):

And in fact, I’ve put the wide shots of both the mock-ups from Mystery House over in Up Close, because they strike me as something I’m likely to be coming back to…

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REPEAT OFFENDER #18:

Another “I knew it!”

I was sure I had seen Building Code Under Fire in a number of places but could not immediately spot them. However—

No Time At All (1958):

Gigantis, The Fire Monster (1959):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #19:

We have a completely new offender from Frank Capra’s 1929 aviation drama, Flight—demonstrating exactly how long this aspect of film-making has been in existence (and maybe that they weren’t reusing the same mock-ups as frequently then as they did later), with two front pages in the same montage offering the same supporting story: “Slip” Betrays Accused Thief:

Flight (1929):

 

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REPEAT OFFENDER #20:

The Mummy’s Tomb strikes again! – with one of its smaller headlines, Engineer Killed As Limited Crashes, also showing up again eight years later.

ETA: And weirdly enough, having seen this one for the first time, I almost immediately spotted it again, the earliest example of the three:

The Devil’s Playground (1937):

The Mummy’s Tomb (1942):

The Sound Of Fury (1950):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #21:

Another “Gotcha!” – I finally got a clear example of something I knew I seen several times, though sometimes too blurrily to be sure of the number: 3000 Additional Japanese Troops Arrive In China.

Death In The Air (1936):

The Devil’s Playground (1937):

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Unexpectedly, the low-budget, edited-together wilderness drama Arctic Fury has turned out to be a direct and indirect goldmine of new Repeat Offenders, offering three (maybe four) itself and also leading me to discover several more while hunting for the new ones.

(I say “maybe” because, having noted Hundreds Killed In Chinese Quake up above as a potential repeat, I’ve now spotted it in Arctic Fury without being able to re-find the original source; d’oh!)

REPEAT OFFENDER #22:

There are so many headlines about taxes in these mock-ups  – Gigantis, The Fire Monster on its own offers no less than four different ones! – that it is easy to overlook when you’ve actually found something new; but now, in addition to Prepaid Taxes Reach Highest Mark In History (and possibly New Petitions Against Tax, which is another that’s scratching my brain), we definitely have reuse of New Tax Bill May Be Needed:

Arctic Fury (1949):

Gigantis, The Fire Monster (1959):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #23:

And the Arctic Fury / Gigantis crossover continues with another new RO: Engineers Finish 10-Year Research:

(ETA: It pre-dates both of them—which makes it at least 27 years of research…)

Black Dragons (1942):

Arctic Fury (1949):

Gigantis, The Fire Monster (1959):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #24:

And conversely, Arctic Fury picks up one of the seemingly endless list of ROs from the Mummy franchise: Judge Denies Motion On Narcotic Evidence.

The Mummy’s Tomb (1942):

Arctic Fury (1949):

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REPEAT OFFENDERS #25 AND #26:

This sweep also highlighted a mayor who’s been a very busy boy / girl—with Mayor Outlines New Project Of Administration joined by Mayor Maps Plan For Building Program on the same front page.

Gee, do you think these films could have used the same mock-up??—

The Devil’s Playground (1937):…………………………Mystery House (1938):……….

 
 

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REPEAT OFFENDER #26A:

Mayor Maps Plan For Building Program shows up both before and after these two, although without its companion-piece:

Fugitive In The Sky (1936):

The Sound Of Fury (1950):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #27:

I’m astonished I didn’t spot this one earlier, since the headline occupies the same space on two different front pages previously juxtaposed by date—plus the similar positioning (gee, do you think…?): Racket Murder Defendants To Take The Stand.

Fugitive In The Sky (1936):

The Walking Dead (1936):

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REPEAT OFFENDERS #28 AND #29:

This one may be a little unfair. It’s what I call a “self-repeater”, when the same story shows up in two different papers in the same film; though I guess in this case, the New York Record and the Los Angeles Globe-Telegram could have decided to run the same front page story. (And, ahem, to position it in the exact same spot…)

The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) strikes again!—

 

While this one finds the Mapleton Daily News picking up front-page filler stories from, you guessed it, the New York Record—Spanish Ship Found Helplessly Adrift:

 

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REPEAT OFFENDER #30:

And finally in this extraordinary update, which has taken us from #22 all the way through to #30*, I have re-spotted one of the very first headlines ever to be mentioned as a potential RO (see comments below); I only wish it was something a little more cheerful: Five Persons Burn To Death In Clubhouse.

(*Good grief, #31, thanks to my belated re-check of Black Dragons!)

Mystery House (1938):

Black Dragons (1942):

Captive Wild Woman (1943):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #31:

I spotted this randomly in Mystery House, where one front page has a dismaying focus on film disaster (see Up Close); and I’ve just spotted it again a few years later, with Black Dragons evincing the same uncomfortable tendency—Fireman, 18, Hurt As Engine Upsets.

Mystery House (1938):

Black Dragons (1942):

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REPEAT OFFENDER #32:

Another “I know I’ve seen that” headline: I had Chinese Pirates Kill Two Britons marked down after I spotted it in The Mummy’s Tomb; I’ve just hit it again, but eight years earlier:

The Lost Jungle (1934):

The Mummy’s Tomb (1942):

And in exchange for clearing up one of these, The Lost Jungle has given me another I-know-I’ve-seen-that-before: American Mining Expert Seeks British Citizenship.

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We take a more detailed look at some of these mock-ups in Part 2: Up Close.