November 1977 -" Magnetic Video, operating as Video Club of America,
is the first company to provide theatrical motion pictures on home
video. Company founder Andre Blay convinced Twentieth Century-Fox to
license him 50 titles for sale directly to consumers. The cost of the
license was $300,000. Video Club of America marketed itself through a
two-page ad in the November 26-December 2, 1977 edition of
TV Guide (pages 48-49). The titles, which were available in both the
Betamax and VHS formats, included Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid,
Hello, Dolly!, M*A*S*H, Patton, The French Connection, The King And I,
and The Sound Of Music. The videos are supposed to be for home use
only, and not for rental. Membership in the club was $10.00 and the
price of the videos was $49.95 each. Blay recoups his initial investment
in just two months."
- The Entertainment Merchants Association
Original TV Guide ad for the first ever rental VHS tapes!
Original classified ad for Video Club of America.
Partial list of titles
1. The Making of Star Wars (1977)
2. Sky Riders (1976)
3. Let It Be (1970)
4. Boy On A Dolphin (1957)
5. The Producers (1968)
6. Dreamer (1979)
7. All Screwed Up (1974)
8. Visit to a Small Planet (1960)
9. The Only Game in Town (1970)
10. The Detective (1968)
11. Welcome To Arrow Beach (1974)
12. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974)
13. Sunflower (1970)
14. Don't Give Up The Ship (1959)
15. Stiletto (1969)
16. Hugo the Hippo (1975)
17. Book of Numbers (1973)
18. Money Madness (Eddie Money) (1975)
19. Casanova '70 (1965)
20. West Side Story (1961)
21. Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (1971)
22. The French Connection (1971)
23. Leonor (1975)
24. 5 Terrytoon Cartoons featuring Sidney
25. Where The Bullets Fly (1966)
26. Miracle Of Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympic Highlights (1980)
27. H.M.S. Pinafore
28. Summertime Killer (1972)
29. Shoot (1976)
30. The Touch (1971)
31. Deadly Hero (1976)
32. A Dream of Passion (1978)
33. The Dancing Princesses (1978)
34. I Will, I Will... for Now (1976)
35. An Unmarried Woman (1978)
36. Raise the Titanic (1980)
37. Saturn 3 (1980)
38. The Strange Case of Alice Cooper (1979)
39. The Boys from Brazil (1978)
40. Rabbit Test (1978)
41. Rocky (1976)
42. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1976)
43. The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox (1976)
44. The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)
45. Black Emanuelle (1975)
46. The Towering Inferno (1974)
47. A Touch of Class (1973)
48. The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
49. Soldier Blue (1970)
50. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
51. M*A*S*H (1970)
52. The Undefeated (1969)
53. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
54. Planet of the Apes (1968)
55. The Blue Max (1966)
56. The Sound of Music (1965)
57. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
58. The Young Lions (1958)
59. The African Queen (1951)
60. The Spiral Staircase (1946)
61. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
62. Heidi (1937)
63. Curly Top (1935)
64. Patton (1970)
65. Nasty Habits (1977)
66. Blood of the Vampire (1958)
67. Sudden Terror (1970)
68. The Sensuous Nurse (1975)
69. All in a Night's Work (1961)
70. March or Die (1977)
71. Autumn Sonata (1978)
72. The Great Dictator (1940)
73. Man Friday (1975)
74. Predators of the Sea (1972)
75. A Man, a Woman and a Bank (1979)
76. The Domino Principle (1977)
77. The Eagle Has Landed (1977)
78. The Great Train Robbery (1979)
79. Huckleberry Finn (1975)
80. Kotch (1971)
81. Chaplin Revue (3 shorts)
82. The Days of Thrills and Laughter (1961)
83. The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
84. Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)
85. The Sand Pebbles (1966)
86. The Hot Rock (1972)
87. The Garden of Allah (1936)
88. 5 Terrytoon Cartoons featuring Astronaut
89. 5 Terrytoon Cartoons featuring Possible Possum
