The Marty Weiser papers span the years 1925-1988 and encompass approximately 24 linear feet. The collection consists of production files, correspondence (both personal and professional), subject files, photographs, pressbooks, and clippings. The production files contain publicity-related material, including advertising budgets, clippings, correspondence, and press releases for hundreds of films, primarily Warner Bros. releases. The subject files contain publicity material on film personalities, entities with which Weiser corresponded for exploitation and publicity purposes (such as the Eye Dog Foundation), and subjects such as outdoor advertising, including billboards and skywriting. Companies with substantial representation include Arthur P. Jacobs, Lippert, Warner Bros., and Weiser’s own company.

Martin “Marty” Weiser (1911-1988) was born in New York and raised in Rochester, New York. After graduating from the University of Rochester, he worked as a reporter for the Rochester "Democrat and Chronicle" and as assistant manager of Rochester’s Century Theatre, until being hired as an office boy for Warner Bros.' New York publicity office. He went on to work in the studio’s “exploitation” department, becoming its West Coast director in 1940. In this capacity he worked on the publicity campaigns for such films as THE LETTER (1940), SERGEANT YORK (1941), YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942), TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944), THE BIG SLEEP (1946), LIFE WITH FATHER (1947), ROPE (1948), KEY LARGO (1948), and WHITE HEAT (1949). During this period he also worked on the ad campaigns for most Warner features and conceived numerous publicity gimmicks. Among these were Ann Sheridan's month-long truck tour of the western United States for THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1940), a premiere on a submarine for DESTINATION TOKYO (1943), and a stunt which challenged moviegoers to sleep through THE BIG SLEEP.

In 1950 he left Warner Bros. to work for Lippert Productions, a distribution arm of 20th Century-Fox, as publicity and advertising director. During the 1950s he started the publicity firm Weiser and Thomas, followed by the Marty Weiser Company, which handled the successful Academy Awards® campaign for MARTY (1955). Weiser joined the Arthur P. Jacobs Company for the remainder of the decade, working with such clients as Yul Brynner, Ronald Reagan, Gene Kelly, and Sophia Loren, and on campaigns for Paramount and United Artists films, including BEAU JAMES (1957), THE BIG COUNTRY (1958), THE BUCCANEER (1958), SEPARATE TABLES (1958), and ALIAS JESSE JAMES (1959). In 1960 he handled publicity for the West Coast premiere of SUNRISE AT CAMPOBELLO.

He returned to Warner Bros. in 1961, publicizing some of their most popular films of the period, including THE MUSIC MAN (1962), MY FAIR LADY (1964), WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966), BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), DIRTY HARRY (1971), A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971), BILLY JACK (1971), THE EXORCIST (1973), BLAZING SADDLES (1974), BARRY LYNDON (1975), ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976), SUPERMAN (1978), CADDYSHACK (1980), PURPLE RAIN (1984), and BEETLEJUICE (1988). Among his more famous publicity stunts of this period are a preview of BLAZING SADDLES for horses at a Southern California drive-in, dressing the Los Angeles Cinerama Dome in a huge bonnet for MAME (1974), and a car crashing through a billboard to promote FREEBIE AND THE BEAN (1974). The Publicists Guild of America honored Weiser with its Maxwell Weinberg Publicist Showmanship Award in 1983 and 1985, as well as its top honor, the Les Mason Award, in 1982. He remained with Warner Bros. until his death in 1988.