In the good old Times Square of the ‘50s and ’60s, the movie marquee sell — the visual presentation of the theme or tone of the film — made a big impression. It conveyed attitude and confidence. It meant a lot.

In the case of Otto Preminger‘s Anatomy of a Murder, it’s noteworthy that Columbia distribution execs felt that Saul Bass‘s austere, monochrome logo for this 1959 film (opened on July 2nd) was the way to go.

Frank Capra‘s A Hole in the Head, playing one block to the north at Leow’s State, opened two weeks later (July 15th).

“Marquee Swagger”, posted on 12.16.19:

You also have to admire the marketing chutzpah of the distribution executive who calculated that a visually concise Saul Bass logo (is there any other kind?) would be more than sufficient to attract Times Square passers-by. You have to admire the certainty and the confidence. The applicable term is “balls.”

The point was that the distribution guys were so confident that Saul Bass’s twisted arm logo had penetrated the marketplace that they figured they didn’t need to spell out the title to sidewalk traffic. Yes, the east-facing front of the Victoria marquee spelled it out, but that side wasn’t seen as much as the north and south facers.