Press Releases

UPI Press Release - TMNT #1

SUMMARY:

An original press release / article from United Press International (UPI) that details the upcoming TMNT #1 comic book from “Laird and Eastman.”  Came with a letter detailing its provenance and history.  The entire press release / article is contained on one long strip of continuous paper.

In 2014 (thirty years later), Peter Laird wrote about the creation (and significance) of this press release in three separate articles on his Blog:

(Snippets #15: April 26, 1984) – “Dear Ms. Blumenthal, Thank you for your call in response to our press release concerning our new comic book, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. We appreciate your interest, and would be happy to discuss the book further with you or another representative of UPI. Our schedules are fairly flexible, and I am usually at home in case you would like to call during the day. (Kevin Eastman and I run Mirage Studios out of our home in Dover.) I am enclosing a copy of the comic book, along with some more information about Mirage Studios and the other “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” products that we are marketing. (At present, we are only selling t-shirt transfers in addition to the book itself, but we hope to do a poster in the near future.) Hopefully, my next statement will not seem egotistical, but… I think that there is an interesting story to be written here, not just about our comic book, but also concerning the great diversification and expansion that has transformed the comics industry in the last few years. Thank you again for your interest, and we hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, Peter A. Laird” [As diehard Turtle fans know, this UPI connection resulted in a windfall of free publicity for the TMNT comic, as this story went all over the country, and possibly around the world. We literally could not have paid for that much press. Thirty years later, I still feel grateful to Ms. Blumenthal for her interest and efforts. — PL]

(Snippets #16: April 27, 1984) – “…our interviewing might not be over, because yesterday I got two calls from interested parties. One was from the UNH school newspaper; they might send a reported over to do a story on us. The other was even more interesting — a woman from UPI (United Press International) called and asked me to send them a copy of the book, as they might be interested in doing a story on us. UPI, as I’m sure you know, is a BIG news wire service that is as its name implies, international. I sent a press release to their Boston office as a sort of joke; I really didn’t expect anything to come of it. Maybe nothing will… but the possibilities are exciting.”

(Snippets #17: April 30, 1984) – “What could be either the biggest publicity we get, or turn out to be absolutely nothing, is that UPI (United Press International) might be interested in doing a story on us. I sent a press release to their Boston offices on a lark, not expecting that anything would come of it. But last week I got a call from a woman at UPI who asked me to send her a copy of the book and some more information, and said that UPI might (and I emphasize MIGHT) want to do a piece on us. If they did, it would be fantastic! But being the semi-realist that I am, I’m not holding my breath.” [As previously mentioned, UPI did, in fact, do that story, complete with photograph, and we got a boatload of publicity from it. What a stroke of luck! Of course, it’s also true that, had we not taken the initiative and sent out that press release to UPI, it is extremely unlikely that they would have ever taken notice of us and our little comic book. So I guess it wasn’t ALL luck. — PL]

A note about the UPI printout:

This particular printout came from the United Press International bureau in Concord, N.H., where I worked as a newsman for 14 months beginning in July 1984.  Andy Dabilis, who wrote the story, was UPI’s Boston-based New England regional editor at the time and actually was the person who ultimately approved my hiring.

Although some of the coding at the top of the printout was automatically generated by UPI’s transmission system, other parts of it are meaningful.  The HFR5-4 in the very first line translates into “hold for release on May 4.”  BC-NE-MONOGRAPH is the story name or slug, with BC indicating “both cycles,” meaning there would not be separate stories for morning and afternoon papers.  SKED means the story was listed on the schedule of stories UPI previously announced would be coming.  The next line shows UPI was sending the story in advance for use on Friday, May 4, 1984, or thereafter.  The 725 is the approximate word length, and “picture” means a photo was being sent separately on the photo wire.  The coding at the bottom indicates it finished printing at 1:02 p.m. EDT on May 2, 1984.

The printout most likely came from the New Hampshire state wire machine.  In those days, the Concord bureau was required to retain a printed copy of every story transmitted on the state wire for a period of time — possibly three months — after which the printouts could be discarded.  After my arrival at the bureau in July, I managed to salvage this printout from the May copies before they were tossed into the trash.