Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Box Office Poison (magazine article)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was Speedy keep: withdrawn by nominator and no responders were in favour of deletion. (Non-admin closure.) Dricherby (talk) 12:49, 15 June 2013 (UTC)

Box Office Poison (magazine article)

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The article is about a 1938 magazine article. The sources are a copy of the article and a sentence quoting it in relation to a celebrity. There seems to be no historical significance. SL93 (talk) 03:12, 15 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Literature-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 03:17, 15 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Film-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 03:17, 15 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Lists of people-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 03:18, 15 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Comment:, did you try to search for sources before posting for AfD? Per WP:BEFORE (D2 in particular), we should make an effort to look for them. A quick search in Google Books shows a lot of results right away. Erik (talk &#124; contribs) 03:40, 15 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I did. I see three books that don't even mention this article. Instead of asking me if I searched for sources and telling me about something that you're not even sure if I know or not, you should probably say your comments about the article. SL93 (talk) 04:16, 15 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Another search did reveal more, but as trivial mentions and box office poison referring to something else. Multiple sources do not automatically equal significant coverage. Please mention sources and how they show notability. SL93 (talk) 04:18, 15 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Withdrawn: Notable as per another search. No one does the same searches or at the same time so assumptions of someone not searching for sources makes no sense. SL93 (talk) 04:27, 15 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Keep (had edit conflict with SL93 above) because there is significant coverage about the topic. Below is a sample from this year and each of the two preceding years; there is much more in search results.
 * Better Left Unsaid: Victorian Novels, Hays Code Films, and the Benefits of Censorship (2013): "The key, it seems, to understanding the box-office poison list of 1938 on which Hepburn was so famously and pejoratively placed is to bear in mind the identity of the list's author: Harry Brandt, the president of the Independent Theater Owners of America (ITOA). Brandt's goal in taking out a full-page ad in the trade press declaring the toxic status of stars like Hepburn, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, and Fred Astaire was to protest the studio practice of 'block booking'—a practice wherein independent exhibitors were forced to pay for blocks of several different films in order to rent the one film that they actually wanted to play. Brandt's list was, therefore, meant to discourage the studios from casting the actors and actresses who were considered to be 'unappealing' by the ITOA's primary clientele."
 * Radio Pictures: A Titan Is Born (2012: "Besides the loss of Katharine Hepburn, the studio also watched helplessly as Fred Astaire's reputation declined. Astaire was listed by Harry Brandt of the Independent Theatre Owners Association as being among the 'box-office poison' contingent. The story was picked up by Time and Newsweek, much to the dismay of Astaire and RKO. Actually, the charge was ridiculous. Only one of Astaire's films (A Damsel in Distress) had ever lost money. Despite the studio's attempts to secure retractions from the Independent Theater Owners and Time'', none was forthcoming. And by the end of the year, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers had disappeared from the upper echelon of Hollywood's box-office champions."
 * America Reborn: A Twentieth-Century Narrative in Twenty-six Lives (2011): "Harry Brandt of the Independent Theater Owners of America declared that Hepburn was box-office poison, placing her at the head of a list that included Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and Marlene Dietrich. Alarmed, RKO kept good scripts away from her, and in 1938, they finally offered her a role in a B movie, Mother Carey's Chickens... Then Cukor came to the rescue, offering her the starring role in Holiday'' with Cary Grant... It was a polished film, rather than a great one, and was helped by Cohn's defiant publicity campaign, which included billboards with the question: 'Is it true what they say about Hepburn—that she's box office poison?'"
 * These were all easy to find when searching "box office poison" "harry brandt" in Google Books and focusing on specific years (to get the best results for each year). Thanks, Erik (talk &#124; contribs) 04:41, 15 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Keep while the article doesn't really make it clear, it did have an impact on the movie industry at the time. Our article on Dolores del Río gives several paragraphs to her "box office poison" status, for example. Andrew Lenahan -  St ar bli nd  10:59, 15 June 2013 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.