A mild curio fell made itself known via a large Dallas based auction house and the sale by a well known Bond collector who had decided to point his life in another direction. The Lafayette Theatre in Suffern, New York State is a 1923, one screen affair with a Wurlitzer and enough architectural heritage to save it from the wrecking ball and the advance of modernity. Indeed, in 2002, the Galaxy Theatre Corporation agreed a long term lease and, further to investment, refurbished it to its pre war luxurious styles through to adding an ornate chandelier in 2003. As well as showing first releases, the Lafayette also presents alternative programming and festival weekends. All of which brings us neatly back to the above mentioned curio; namely a set of 12 lobby cards advertising one to Spend a Weekend with James Bond by seeing, From Russia with Love, OHMSS, The Spy who Loved Me, The Living Daylights, GoldenEye, Casino Royale.
The question of how official they are deemed to be should probably be tackled first. These have been designed and printed for a specific theatre for a one-off festival. There appears to be no support or sponsorship for the event by MGM or Eon other than what is implied by the use of copyright images, logos and title fonts. That said, they were created to advertise and market the release of these films for an otherwise well known and respected cinema that boasts its own Wiki page, so one can later deliberate the definition of the word ‘official’.
A set of 12, two cards devoted to each film, the design and production values are perhaps understandably basic. In the bottom white border, each of the film titles utilize the font and logo of the time, a border which also boasts home to a rather lonely and forlorn gun barrel logo and an equally friendless Walter PPK silhouette that has an image of the Bond actor in question squeezed into the hand grip. The UA logo may offer some clue as to the release date of this festival which might be only just after the release of GoldenEye. The only other items of note are a random numbering system whereby From Russia with Love Card 1 does not automatically denote Card 2 is also showcasing Russia. Rather it is OHMSS. In fact, none of the adjacent numbers show the same film. Let us believe the designer was aiming for the scattered approach. And the last point being that, again, a deleted scene is used for Casino Royale which has Bond and femme frolicking around in the waves.
I did send a mail to the Lafayette asking for more information as to what this was all about but so far nothing.
Any info would be great. Cheers.
