1964 Action Featurette DEMO DERBY played more than 6,000 screens with A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

    BOSTON -- A 28-minute featurette, "Demo Derby," filmed on location around Boston on demolition derby crashes, produced by Jim Pike, Pike Productions, opened at the Paramount, Boston; Capitol, Worcester; Allyn, Hartford, and Paramount, New Haven, June 25. It was on the bill with "Robin and the 7 Hoods" at the Paramount, Boston, and with the new Elvis Presley film, "Viva Las Vegas" in New Haven, Hartford and Worcester.
   Pike, a former film producer for WNAC-TV, Boston, formed his own company in Newton Center to produce commercials for network and spot television, plus special purpose films, but became interested in the photographic challenge of demo derby action. It's Pike's first theatrical motion picture.
   Edward Ruff Film Associates is distributing the film which was made in Norwood, Millis and Dover, Mass. A record from the original score of the sound track has been pressed with "Demo Derby" title song and on the flip side, "Kathy," the love theme from the picture.

     If the old Romans had been able to photograph the audiences arriving in the arena to bait the gladiators, they might have come up with the same faces one sees in “Demo Derby,” locally-made production. Nobody gets burned to death or is killed, but this is what the audience seems to be waiting for. One of the cars is burned to a crisp and the others look as if they had been in a five-car collision on the Fourth of July. But this adds up to the grins on those absorbed faces.
     The film, which is a series of crashes on various nearby tracks, is rather terrifying to people who hope the younger generation is learning to drive safely rather than to ram into each other. But the youngsters love it as releasing some sort of destructive compulsion and becoming famous at the same time.
     Their local hero, Don McTavish of Dover, battles with Glenn Legere of Braintree for a $500 prize.
     Producer Jim Pike has come up with a remarkable film which is one of the most galvanic impressions of modern life and teenage recreation I have ever seen on the screen. Arthur Korb composed the effective, and suitably crashing score.

Capitol, 15-18 July
Merritt, 15 July-4 Aug
Palace, 22-28 July
Palace, 15-22 July
Strand, 22-28 July
Garde, 22-28 July
Bridge Drive-In, 5-11 Aug
Pine Drive-In, 15-21 July
Capitol, 8-14 July

Bangor
Caribou
Ft. Fairfield
Madawaska
Mattawamgeat
Milo
Van Buren
Waterville

Opera House, 22-28 July
Dorseyland Drive-In, 12-14 July
Ft. Fairfield Drive-In, 2-4 Aug
Madawaska Drive-In, 12-14 July
Mattawamgeat Drive-In, 22 July-4 Aug
Milo Drive-In, 7-8 Aug
Van Buren Drive-In, 31 July-1 Aug
Haines, 8-14 July

Avon
Brocton
Brocton
Brookline
Chicopee
Dartmouth
Fall River
Fitchburg
Lawrence
Lowell
Malden
Medford
Milford
No. Adams
No. Andover
Orange
Quincy
Raynham
Shrewsbury
Springfield
Springfield
Sturbridge
Welfleet
W. Springfield

Avon Drive-In, 5-11 Aug
Brockton, 29 July-4 Aug
Skyview Drive-In, 5-11 Aug
Coolidge, 5-11 Aug
Airline Drive-In, 5-11 Aug
Auto Drive-In, 5-11 Aug
Somerset Drive-In, 1-14 July
Whalom Drive-In, 8-21 July
Palace, 15-28 July
Strand, 8-14 July
Grenada, 5-11 Aug
Twin Drive-In, 5-11 Aug
Mendon Drive-In, 19-21 July
Corey Drive-In, 12-18 July
Denrock Drive-In, 15-28 July
Orange Drive-In, 22-25 July
Strand, 5-11 Aug
Raynham Drive-In, 15-28 July
Edgemere Drive-In, 8-21 July
Paramount, 29 July-18 Aug
Round Hill Drive-In, 5-11 Aug
Dolly Drive-In, 22-28 July
Welfleet Drive-In, 29 July-1 Aug
Memorial Drive-In, 5-11 Aug

Boscowen
Dover
Manchester
Manchester
Nashua
Rochester
Somerswarth

Boscowen Drive-In, 15-28 July
Strand, 22-28 July
Manchester Drive-In, 15-28 July
Rex, 24-26 July
Nashua Drive-In, 15-28 July
Rochester Drive-In, 12-15 Aug
Route 16 Drive-In, 26 July-8Aug

Newport
Pawtucket
Providence

Strand, 5-15 July
Leroy, 7-13 Aug
Majestic, 15 July-3 Aug

Ascutney
Brattleboro
Burlington
No. Montpelier
White River Jct.

Get clippings from local newspapers that reviewed "DEMO DERBY" when it first played with the Beatles "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT." For those special 60's fans who actually saw "DEMO DERBY" and "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT" on the same bill and who might want a reprint of the review in their local newspapers to go along with their "DEMO DERBY" DVD -- we recommend the NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE. We tried it and you see the amazing result, below. If you find an especially good review, drop us a line at info@otherworldcottage.com. If we post it here, we'll attribute its discovery to you!