Posted 55 minutes agoSubscribe to Screen Time NewsletterCaret DownThe 16 Wildest Old Hollywood PR Stunts Ever AttemptedReportedly, director William Castle "was pissed no one bothered to die" during his horror movie "because it would've been great press."by Kristen HarrisBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink These days, movie promotion can get somewhat out of hand with fake costar relationship rumors or seemingly limitless product tie-ins, but that's nothing on the lengths studios went to promote their films back in the industry's early days! Here are 16 wild PR stunts from the Silent Era and Old Hollywood: 1. Harry Reichenbach was one of the most notorious press agents in the early days of Hollywood. To promote the 1918 film Tarzan of the Apes, he had an orangutan styled like a movie star in a glamorous evening gown and silk hat. The primate was brought to the lobby of the Knickerbocker Hotel. First National courtesy Everett Collection 2. For 1920's The Revenge of Tarzan, Reichenbach's ideas got even wilder! Posing as a musician named T. R. Zann, he checked himself into the Hotel Belleclaire in NYC. Claiming he wanted to put a Steinway piano in his room, he got a team of bellhops to help carry up a massive wooden crate. A short time later, he called room service with a strange request - 15 pounds of raw steak brought to his room. Edwin Levick / Getty Images Befuddled, the hotel manager called back to double-check they'd heard correctly. After receiving confirmation, the manager accompanied the server with the steak. In the room, they discovered not a grand piano, but a 450-pound lion! LMPC / LMPC via Getty Images Naturally, the employees rang up the house detective. Then, the cops were called in. Soon, the media showed up, too. The pieces fell into place - T.R. Zann stood for Tarzan, and his new movie was swinging into theaters soon! LMPC / LMPC via Getty Images 3. In 1920, Reichenbach told the New York Times that he once planned to have actor Clara Kimball Young kidnapped and held for ransom by Mexican bandits until she was "rescued by eight blonde cavalrymen." General Photographic Agency / Getty Images He said, "I went abroad for the Creel Bureau, doing exactly this same type of work. I spent $8,300 of my own money and got shot up with shrapnel. I could not get the money back, and so I tried to get it back in trade. I got the assurance that President Wilson would back me in this little bandit raid. Clara Kimball Young did not even know it was going to happen." Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Via Getty 4. Sixty-eight years before Bugonia hosted a free early screening for people willing to shave their heads, Universal Pictures paid aspiring actor Patricia Smith $300 to have her head shaved in the middle of a San Francisco movie theater lobby to promote The Girl in the Kremlin. The movie has a famous scene where Natalie Daryll's character's head is forcibly shaved. San Francisco U-I / Via youtube.com Here's the video: View this video on YouTube San Francisco U-I / Via youtube.com 5. When silent film star Florence Lawrence - aka the "first movie star" - made the jump from the Biograph Company to IMP, she already had a famous face, but audiences didn't know her name. Suddenly, a rumor emerged that, while filming in NYC, she'd been hit and killed by either an automobile or a streetcar. In response, IMP famously placed an ad titled, "We Nail a Lie." Everett Collection The ad copy read, "The blackest and at the same time the silliest lie yet circulated by enemies of the 'Imp' was the story foisted on the public of St. Louis last week to the effect that Miss Lawrence (the 'Imp' girl, formerly known as the 'Biograph' girl) had been killed by a street car. It was a black lie because so cowardly. It was a silly lie because so easily disproved. Miss Lawrence was not even in a street car accident, is in the best of health, will continue to appear in 'Imp' films, and very shortly, some of the best work in her career is to be released. We now announce our next films..." IMP courtesy Everett Collection Over the years, many have speculated that IMP founder Carl Laemmle planted the rumors of Florence's death, but nothing has ever been proven. However, he definitely capitalized on the attention. Several weeks after his ad, he actually took the actor to St. Louis so that the public could see for themselves that she was still kicking. Keystone-France / Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images 6. To promote the 1947 rom-com, The Egg and I, press agent Jim Moran went to the Los Angeles Ostrich Farm and - with the memoir the movie was based on in hand - sat on an abandoned ostrich egg until it hatched 19 days, four hours, and 32 minutes later. He reportedly squatted in a specially designed wheelchair during the day and slept in an ostrich corral at night. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Via Getty 7. The Ten Commandments director Cecil B. DeMille's publicity stunt still has political implications today. In 1956, he learned that the Fraternal Ord