Access Atlanta > Movies > Blog > Archives > 2008 > August > 15 > Entry
There’s a good reason why it’s called a ‘trailer’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dear Mr. Smithee,
Can you tell me when and why previews became trailers?
This really doesn’t make any sense to me. A preview means to see before, to show or view in advance. This is a perfectly good and descriptive word for the short looks at upcoming films.
A trailer is a non-automotive vehicle usually pulled behind something.
This word makes no sense in describing the short “preview” of an upcoming film.
This makes me crazy!!!
BETTY WINN, Watkinsville
Dear Make Some Lemonade,
You know what makes me crazy?
How some theaters don’t turn down the houselights during trailers. And how some moviegoers incessantly blab about their putrid troubles all during the trailers.
And how I don’t like to watch trailers anyway because I want to enter the opening of a film like a newborn to the world.
But there is method to Hollywood’s unmistakable madness.
That is that, in days of yore, your precious preview was a postview.
Scenes of upcoming films were screened after a full movie had played. That’s where the tag “trailer” emerged. The first trailer apparently appeared in November 1913.
It didn’t take Hollywood geniuses long to discover that audiences would get up and leave once the movie was done. So no one was really watching their trailers.
So they invented the incessant “preview,” which is a trailer that is no longer shown after a full movie but before it.
ALAN
P.S. You get a DVD of the trailer for “Burn After Reading” and a healthy can of Booty Sweat commemorating “Tropic Thunder.”
Dear Mr. Smithee,
I heard a story on NPR this week about the development of some new invisibility technology, and it put me in mind of an old movie I saw once. I can’t remember the title or the plot, but I do remember a woman in an invisible bikini.
My father insists that this see-through swimwear is featured in an episode of “Scooby-Doo,” and my brother says Im totally making it up.
What say you, Oh Powerful and All-Knowing Cineaste?
EMILY-ROSE GUILLEBEAU, Athens
Dear All Seeing,
I have written about this movie before.
But I so appreciate giving respectful individuals the opportunity to properly put their family members into place that I will gladly repeat myself.
I am recalling when one Mr. Smithee, being at the time an alert wee lad, was ecstatic at the prospect of seeing the 1966 film “The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.”
Imagine my dismay at discovering that not only was the bikini a peek-a-boo see-through, but so was the flesh of the ghostly lass that would otherwise be peeked at.
Darn that Hollywood.
ALAN
P.S. You get a “Bee Movie” bag and a can of Booty Sweat commemorating “Tropic Thunder.”
THE READERS WRITE
Several astute Smithee readers took their valuable time to comment on my recent selections of some of the best screen entrances in history, especially Omar Sharif’s in “Lawrence of Arabia.”
Here are a few excerpts:
From Steven Killen of St. Paul, Minn.: A great entrance that can’t be overlooked is from “Star Wars” when Darth Vader first appears amid the smoke of blaster fire when the Imperial cruiser takes the rebel ship. The long, flowing cape, the black helmet and armor, the sound of his iron lung and, of course, the voice of James Earl Jones make it memorable.
From Marvin Potter of Delray Beach, Fla.: How do you rate Orson Welles in “The Third Man”? If not the best, it has to be among the best.
From Alice Wernimont Bodnar of St. Paul, Minn: I find, to my dismay, that I must question your response regarding the greatest screen entrances. Certainly Omar Sharif’s ranks up there, but how to explain no mention of Katharine Hepburn’s voice-from-the-heavens elevator entrance in “Suddenly Last Summer”?
My humble response: Those are all great, too. And I thought of each of them. But I didn’t include them in my list then and won’t do so now. I like mine better.
HAVE A QUESTION FOR MR. SMITHEE?
E-mail him at alansmithee@ajc.com or go to accessAtlanta.com and click on Movies. Please include your name, city and daytime phone number. Mr. Smithee can’t reply to every request, but inquiries chosen for publication will receive movie-related prizes.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Alan Smithee
Comments
By Antonio Villanueva
August 16, 2008 3:02 PM | Link to this
Dear Mr. Smithee: I saw Picnic when I was a child -many years ago-,I saw it again on TV,-few days ago-,I did like the film, nice music and, more than anything: Kim Novak, I fell in love with her!; I saw her again in “Vertigo”, no wonder A. Hichtcok was in love with Kim too. Mr. Smithee have you liked an actress that much that her image stay in your mind for long time, and if so, who is or was she and the movie’s name. Thanks! Antonio
By FCM
August 16, 2008 8:22 PM | Link to this
2 things
1 - link on ‘Half Blood Prince’ never came up….WB is so interested in trying to match Year over Year to Batman they move a movie and irk the fans more? Proves Hollywood is run by money grubbing people who do not really care about the viewing public!!!! How about moving up the date on “Hallows Part 1” instead WB?
2-There was a movie in the 60s or 70s that I cannot recall the name of nor get it out of my head. The Dad is a professor in Psych I believe. He has 2 daughters…The older one is college age I suppose, and keeps bringing interesting ‘dates’ home and running off to the beach. He is writing a book on raising teen daughters and sends his associate out to watch the older daughter. Ends up the girl gets married and Dad is interrogating the various ‘dates’ to find out whom is his son in law. Anyone know this movie?
By xnjkyevow mtbkudl
November 18, 2008 2:15 AM | Link to this
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By xnjkyevow mtbkudl
November 18, 2008 2:15 AM | Link to this
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By xnjkyevow mtbkudl
November 18, 2008 2:16 AM | Link to this
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