Post-auction analysis - OMGs!, LOLs!, WTFs!, whatev....

[erik1925]

Many 30x40 size posters were issued with cut and pasted images attached to them prior to those posters being sent out?

I'd never read or heard this before.

It seems to make little sense that a poster would be printed with "image A," for example, as designed, only to then have some piece cut from another poster & glued over part of the original image. Why not just print the poster with the preferred image? Plus, poster designs had to be signed off on prior to being printed, by the studio. So was permission given to then alter those approved images with some piece just glued on later?

And who did all the extra work (the cutting and pasting?) Was it the printer? NSS employees?

Any idea?

If nothing else, I could see a poster being altered or added to by a theater employee, once it was in their possession.

Interesting and curious info, for sure.

[erik1925]

This first release US HS for Dracula's Daughter (1936) sold on ebay a couple days ago for the single, winning bid of $5999.90

Unrestored and not backed. And what a a cool "history" on the reverse side, having been stamped, showing that this item has been in the collections of (at least) 3 other collectors over the decades.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1936-DRACULA-039-S-DAUGHTER-22x28-Original-Universal-1-2-Sheet-Poster-VAMPIRE-HORROR-/401477040739?hash=item5d79e57a63%3Ag%3AoSYAAOSwTO9aB8cs&nma=true&si=WM4TAfCe%252FMSJ8qTEAk5B4YygYDA%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557





 

[guest4955]

Cool, what does the handwriting say?

[erik1925]

No idea. Couldn't zoom in and keep the writing clear, when I looked quickly.

[CSM]

I would think those stamps could very well be Poster Exchange stamps over collector/collection stamps...

[erik1925]

3 of them state, those in black in, "From the collection of Terry Witmer." (or what looks like Witmer).

Shown in the upper left, lower left, lower  & upper right. Maybe all 4 are duplicates of the same previous owner.

The ones in red ink look to be the name and address of some poster business or maybe a previous poster seller?

The near upper left-center and lower right stamps, in black, can be better seen and read in this larger image:

[CSM]

Thanks Jeff - love that little bit of history that comes along with some posters

[erik1925]

Me, too, Chris. I also love those added, historical touches that show some provenance, too! 

[jayn_j]

I went out and invested $7 for a rubber stamp.  Why not add to the history?

[erik1925]

Thanks Jeff - love that little bit of history that comes along with some posters

And especially interesting, too, Chris, when info like that is on the back of the more rare, Uni horror material. 

[crowzilla]

Me, too, Chris. I also love those added, historical touches that show some provenance, too! 

I like it best when the stamps bleed through to the front so that you don’t have to turn the poster over and see who used to own it.

It is interesting though that the final owner who amassed that great collection didn’t stamp them.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

I like it best when the stamps bleed through to the front so that you don’t have to turn the poster over and see who used to own it.

It is interesting though that the final owner who amassed that great collection didn’t stamp them.

har har

I do like how Terry Witmer stamped all four panels of the poster, in case someone wanted to break it up & sell 4 pieces......

[50s]

I think Ill stamp every panel for all my posters so that if any get stolen they should be easier to identify if the resurface.

[erik1925]

I like it best when the stamps bleed through to the front so that you don’t have to turn the poster over and see who used to own it.

It is interesting though that the final owner who amassed that great collection didn’t stamp them.

Not a fan of the heavy handed ink stampers, either. 

[crowzilla]

har har

I do like how Terry Witmer stamped all four panels of the poster, in case someone wanted to break it up & sell 4 pieces......

That was in anticipation of Haggard ripping it apart and making 4 new posters

[MoviePosterBid.com]

That was in anticipation of Haggard ripping it apart and making 4 new posters

 

[erik1925]

A few days ago I found a similar but different prior sale:



http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/3335377.html

******

I consulted with Jeff/erik1925 to see if he could track down other prior sales of either "style" but he quickly figured out the dealio:

The first thing I noticed on the copy emp sold is that it looks like a cut and pasted head/face of the monster was placed over the printed image.

If you look at bruce's copy... look at the printed image of the windmill in the background.. and then notice that part of the photographic image overlaps and covers part of the windmill. It looks sloppy and is obvious that it doesnt match the rest of the poster. When compared to the one on ebay, its easy to see that the 2 posters are identical, in every other way, aside from Frank's head.


And if it is a cut and pasted job on the one emp sold, its odd that wasnt mentioned, in conjunction with the fact that the borders were all trimmed off on the emp copy also.

Again, maybe its not a cut and pasted head on the emp copy.. but it sure looks like it was added, to me.

*****

I was sure he was right, and I checked in with another expert, who agreed the head was pasted on but it could well have been issued that way, like many 30x40s from this era with glued on images.

Did your expert explain why this cutting and pasting was done with what sounds like regularity, back then? Or how prevalent it was?

We've all seen other 30x40s from those earlier decades (on various seller or auction sites, ebay etc), that had no additional cut and pasted imagery attached.

Any more info on this that you might have learned or gathered?

[guest4955]

Did your expert explain why this cutting and pasting was done with what sounds like regularity, back then? Or how prevalent it was?

We've all seen other 30x40s from those earlier decades (on various seller or auction sites, ebay etc), that had no additional cut and pasted imagery attached.

Any more info on this that you might have learned or gathered?

Nope and I don't really recall pasties on other 30x40s but really they're so rare pre-1960 - I've never bought one or scrutinized one b4.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

most paste-up stuff was done by individual theatres who wanted to customize what they were doing, either to stand out from the competition, fit displays they already had or to remove salacious content to meet moral standards where they were. Occasionally NSS also created custom material, probably on request or to fill a need when they had no more posters and couldn't justify a large print run and of course there was Melloy Bros who did those 40x60 customized displays generally with photographic content

[crowzilla]

Did your expert explain why this cutting and pasting was done with what sounds like regularity, back then? Or how prevalent it was?

We've all seen other 30x40s from those earlier decades (on various seller or auction sites, ebay etc), that had no additional cut and pasted imagery attached.

Any more info on this that you might have learned or gathered?

The 30x40 for the 1947 release of Frankenstein had a photographic image attached.
So does the Realrt poster for Bride of Frankenstein (https://movieposters.ha.com/itm/horror/the-bride-of-frankenstein-realart-r-1953-silk-screen-poster-30-x-40-horror/a/161732-51064.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515#
I believe that the Realart Son of Frankenstein 30x40 might be a photograph, but haven't held on in my hands to be sure

[erik1925]

Curious to know on that Realart Bride of Frank, if the B/W photo of Karloff and Elsa Lanchester is covering up a pre-printed image, like was done on the Frankie 30x40.

Any idea?

[erik1925]

In looking at the 30x40's that emp has sold for movies from the 1930s (27 items) and '40s (81 items), only the Frank '51RR looks to have had the added cut and paste from any of the 1930s films and it looks like none from the 1940s had a cut piece glued on, post-printing.

So i wonder how common the added cut & paste practice actually was?

1930's 30x40:

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/tag/nation%253AU.S./tag/xtype%253AThirty%2520by%2520Forty/tag/decade%253A1930s/archive.html


1940's 30x40:

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/tag/nation%253AU.S./tag/xtype%253AThirty%2520by%2520Forty/tag/decade%253A1940s/archive.html

[crowzilla]

According to Todd Spoor's book on 30x40s and 40x60s, applying the B&W photo image to the posters was something that really got going in the 50s and they were all applied by hand.
He shows several examples.

[erik1925]

According to Todd Spoor's book on 30x40s and 40x60s, applying the B&W photo image to the posters was something that really got going in the 50s and they were all applied by hand.
He shows several examples.

Thanks for the info, Sean.

[erik1925]

According to Todd Spoor's book on 30x40s and 40x60s, applying the B&W photo image to the posters was something that really got going in the 50s and they were all applied by hand.
He shows several examples.

I'll have to look for his examples, too. I went thru all 410 examples from the 1950s that emp has sold and none of those had added, pasted imagery attached to them.

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/tag/nation%253AU.S./tag/xtype%253AThirty%2520by%2520Forty/tag/decade%253A1950s/archive.html

There are many examples of B/W photos on these 30x40s but those photographic images were printed originally on those particular pieces.