Question for Bruce -- was this poster produced by one of the "other companies?" That it lacks any studio or production credits is interesting, too. Or was it a studio release OS? It's a stunning and eye grabbing poster, imho, that's for sure.
It is definitely
NOT studio issue. It likely was printed by "Leader Press" (if not by them, then by one of the similar companies; see below).
In the 1930s, a constant headache for theaters was being sure of having movie posters for their current releases. Often, the posters would travel with the actual film prints, and sometimes the theater before them might have forgotten to include the poster, it might have been defaced or torn, etc. If a theater didn't have posters, it was very frustrating!
Several companies began in the 1930s (Leader Press, the "other company", Woolever Press, etc) that made posters of their own for new releases, and they would provide a back up for theaters in case they didn't get a studio issued poster.
Often the posters from these companies (with the exception of the "other company") were silk-screen posters, but they were often quite attractive, and virtually always had a completely different design from the regular studio issued poster.
It is an absolute fact that posters from these companies are far more rare than the regular studio issued posters. It is also a certainty that these posters were issued when the movies were first released. In fact, they were created
PRIOR to the movie's release, so that they could serve as teaser or advance posters (theaters rarely got the studio issued posters before receiving the actual movie).
We have located an extremely rare original advertisement for Leader Press posters which clearly states that they were available to theaters a full two weeks prior to each movie's release.
