A few weeks ago I was in the awesome cinema related bookstore Larry Edmunds Bookshop on Hollywood Boulevard when I came across something I had completely forgotten about: the foto novel. This was a late 1970s and early 1980s phenomenon that utilized actual screen shots from films and added film dialogue to tell the movie's story. Think of the form of a comic book or graphic novel, but with photos. I remember having a few of these as a kid including one of Close Encounters of the Third Kind that I looked at over and over again. Larry Edmunds Bookshop only had a few copies on the shelf. There was Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Ice Castles, Love at First Bite and The Champ in stock. If they would have had Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan or Alien in stock, I would have bought it right then and there. I did take a few quick photos of them if you want to catch a glimpse of teen heart-throb Robby Benson in his underwear in Ice Castles. Seeing these foto novels gave me an adrenaline rush of nostalgia. Does anyone else remember these? Did you own any?
3 comments:
i remember robby benson and ice castles and these foto novels...but not which ones specifically. ice castles...i can remember some parent driving friend and i all the way across san jose to see this. my friend i was with at the time would have totally bought this for ice castles! maybe she did. i can still remember the awful song for this movie. terrible!
I remember seeing ICE CASTLES too. Robby Benson was a big, big deal during a brief period in the 1970s. He was in a basketball movie I loved called ONE ON ONE that is probably really crappy, but as a kid, I liked it.
didn't know that one. of course there was 'the ode to billy joe!' yep -- he was a huge star in the mid-to-late 70s!
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