Box Office Poison (magazine article)

Box Office Poison is the title given in popular culture to a trade magazine advertisement taken out on May 4, 1938, in The Hollywood Reporter by the Independent Theatre Owners Association. Penned by the group's president, Harry Brandt, the title of the red-bordered ad was WAKE UP! Hollywood Producers. The ad named several actors "whose box office draw is nil", and added that "Dietrich, too, is poison at the box office" which led to the moniker that it is popularly remembered by.

Content

The full content of the advert:

Response

Articles appeared in many US newspapers chronicling the uproar in Hollywood after the association published the ad. Time magazine later that May published responses from some of the stars:
Louella Parsons included a mention of the Brandt ad in her 1938 New Year's Eve summation of the year in entertainment. When Hepburn's The Philadelphia Story opened at Radio City Music Hall to large crowds in December 1940, Brandt sent a telegram to Katharine Hepburn that stated "Come on back, Katie. All is forgiven."
Harry Brandt made other public demands of film studios.

Legacy

The term "box office poison" continues in use in magazine articles and opinion pieces. Over the years, several more "Box Office Poison" lists have been submitted in newspapers, in magazines, or more recently, online. In 1949, Mary Armitage's Film Close-Ups newspaper labeled many stars as "poison" at the box office, among them Sylvia Sidney, James Cagney, Henry Fonda, Ingrid Bergman, Jennifer Jones, John Hodiak, and two actresses that in 1938 were said to have "deserved" their salaries, Bette Davis and Shirley Temple. A BBC article about Hepburn and The Philadelphia Story, written in 2021, still refers to her being labeled in 1938 by Brandt as "box office poison". Brandt's 1972 obituary in The New York Times did not mention his involvement in the creation of the term.
Music artist Snax has been producing under the moniker Box Office Poison since 2015. The musical genre is house and disco/pop produced by Snax and features guest vocalists.