One tape and one record to update for you today. · 3:16am Sep 24th, 2016
It's the sabbath and today I got another VHS tape from that huge box and one double LP-set.
The VHS tape is A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, the 1966 Ancient Rome satire starring Zero Mostel. It's on the (REALLY SHORT LIVED) 20th Century-Fox Video.
The replacement for the Magnetic Video Corporation (following founder Andre Blay's departure from the company), it ran from February to October 1982, and was notable for two things:
One, released a select few titles for rental only, including Dr. No, A Fistful of Dollars, the first Rocky movie, Taps, For Your Eyes Only and the original release of Star Wars (or Star Wars Episode IV, as George Lucas likes to call the last one these days). That last one is now known amongst the Internet for copies that are being sold at RIDICULOUSLY HIGH PRICES!!!
Two, the company was known for its release of sale titles in oversized (by width) cardboard boxes that are known as Fox Boxes because they are so well associated with the company.
The company, of course, later became CBS/Fox Video, FoxVideo and, finally, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
This tape doesn't have a print date.
if you want to know how this tape opens, skip to 0:12 of the video below:
Yes, this is how EVERY UA-owned film would open if it were released on 20th Century-Fox Video between February and October 1982. The announcer always gets me because it sounds more like a sponsor tag than anything else.
The record is a 1968 2-LP set from MGM calling itself 24 Karat Hits: A Double Dozen of All Time Best Sellers by Hank Williams (SE-240-2). I looked it up and it turns out this is part of an album series. From the site, I quote:
The 24-Karat Gold series was a short-lived series of double-LP issues, packaged with a gold foil cover. The records used the same blue and gold label as the main series at the time. From the photos inside the cover, which seemed to be the same on all the albums, it appears that MGM was contemplating several more volumes, including 24 Karat Gold from the Underground, and 24 Karat Gold for Groovin', but these apparently never materialized. (They did issue at least one volume on Kama Sutra, 24 Karat Gold Hits from the Lovin' Spoonful [Kama Sutra 750-2], with the same gold foil cover and same pictures in the liner note area.) The series was originally slated to be the SE-24000 series, but the catalog numbers were shortened between the time the album masters were made and the time the cover artwork was finished, as the original matrix numbers are scratched out in the vinyl trailoff area.
Indeed this album, in the jacket, contains photos of Jimmy Smith, Arthur Prysock, The Lovin' Spoonful, Dr. Zhivago, and Hugh Masekela. (who had a hit in '68 with an instrumental version ''Grazing In The Grass''; The Friends of Distinction later had a hit with its vocal counterpart) These photos are all in an album devoted to THE pioneer of Country Music!!!! 
The records (yes, both of them!) come in MGM's standard advertising sleeve of the period. Fittingly enough (since this IS from 1968), the sleeve has a rather groovy, psychedelic attitude:
The record (which uses the blue/gold label MGM began using in 1968) was pressed by MGM Records (or the MGM Records Division) in Bloomfield, New Jersey, you can tell because they have this symbol in the deadwax:
(NOT my photo)
Thank you for reading. Have a good evening.
