When
Universal Pictures became Universal-International in 1946, new studio head
William Goetz discontinued the studio's B-pictures - comedies, musicals, mysteries, westerns, and serials - to begin a prestigious operation that would feature many independent productions. Goetz had no interest in Universal's sizable backlog, and leased the entire sound-film library (dating from 1930 to 1946) to Broder and Harris. Realart had theatrical reissue rights for 10 years; television rights were not included. Realart reissued Universal's films in
double-feature package deals, with new and more exciting advertising (Universal was never mentioned in the ads or posters). Most films were re-released under their original, familiar titles, while others were given more effective (and often more lurid) titles:
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry became
Guilty of Murder;
Man-Made Monster became
The Atomic Monster;
The Mystery of Marie Roget became
Phantom of Paris. Supporting players who had since become stars were now given more prominent billing, such as
Robert Mitchum becoming second-billed on the reissue of
Gung Ho! (1943);
Dan Dailey catapulted to top billing for the reissue of
The Andrews Sisters'
Give Out, Sisters; and
Keefe Brasselle of
The Eddie Cantor Story was billed over star
Gloria Jean in the waterfront melodrama
River Gang.
Abbott and Costello were incidental players in their first film, the 1940
Allan Jones musical
One Night in the Tropics; Realart removed 13 minutes of footage with the romantic leads, and remarketed the edited version as a full-fledged Abbott & Costello comedy. Realart also acquired non-Universal productions:
A Walk in the Sun was retitled
Salerno Beachhead. Theater managers were delighted with Realart's oldies, which did better business than certain new pictures, and Realart prospered. There was a steady market for double features, but exhibitors would not pay a premium for reissues. Realart's Jack Broder saw a chance to make more money by making
new films for the double-feature theaters. Broder hired
Herman Cohen as a new vice-president and formed Jack Broder Productions, releasing through Realart. These modestly budgeted films included the boxing drama
Kid Monk Baroni with a then little known
Leonard Nimoy as the title character, and the jungle comedy
Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla featuring the veteran horror-movie actor and the comedy team of
Duke Mitchell and
Sammy Petrillo, who imitated
Dean Martin and
Jerry Lewis.
Bride of the Gorilla and
Battles of Chief Pontiac ventured into the horror and Western genres, respectively. Toward the end of Realart's 10-year lease, certain re-releases were
themselves re-released (
Buck Privates and
Little Giant circulated more than once). By the early 1950s, television had become increasingly popular and many
neighborhood theaters had closed. Broder sold his own productions to television, with
Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla making its television debut less than a year after its theatrical run. Broder released only four more Realart originals to theaters:
Roger Corman's first film
Five Guns West in 1955,
Wetbacks in 1956, and a science-fiction/horror double feature
Women of the Prehistoric Planet and
The Navy vs. the Night Monsters in 1966. However, Realart continued to prosper in distribution through so-called "states' rights" offices in several major cities, handling product for production companies, such as
American International Pictures, without a distribution network of their own. == References ==