Pictures of posters in action

[ps.]

Jay, as a New Yorker I remember every type of display shown in this thread at one theatre or another until about the late 60s. Times Square when I was a kid was mind-blowing. sadly, I did not learn to appreciate architecture or the great palaces until they were closing them down. The theatre in Jamaica on Jamaica Blvd at 164th street was such a palace with marble staircases on either side of the circular lobby/concession area, actual Ushers and on the mezanine they had skyboxes. That was some theatre

i just did a rather large research project on jamaica, queens a couple semesters ago, and it has sadly come a long way down. amazing to think what was once there though.

[rdavey26]

The Longest Day, Bangkok, 1962:





[/quote]
Looks as if there is a swastika inbetween all these posters right in the middle..

[MoviePosterBid.com]

i just did a rather large research project on jamaica, queens a couple semesters ago, and it has sadly come a long way down. amazing to think what was once there though.

that's where I was born and where I grew up.
the theatre is now a church..

I believe there was still farm in Jamaica as late as the middle 50's.
I wonder if the orphanage is still there. We used to go sledding on that property. It had these great repeating leveled out areas that made it kick-ass fun....

[Through the Stones]

Holy wow!  These pics are so cool.  They seriously make me want to travel back in time.  It's so amazing the lengths it seems like theaters took to promote the films and get people talking about them.  It's so odd to think that, in a way, that was it.  There was no internet previews or television commercials.  I wonder, were there radio plugs for films back in the day?  When did commercials become a prevalent form of promotion and how much of an impact did they have on the production of different types of posters/cards?  Keep these cool cool pics coming though!

[MoviePosterBid.com]

radio spots and tv commercials. tv commercials were generally 15/20/30/45/60 seconds depending on how big a film it was.
amongst my earliest collectibles were 16mm trailers of tv commercials for sf movies

[ps.]

i must say that i am getting quite the kick out of looking for some pictures (i'm even digging into some of my school's databases, so this is some real research :p) anyway since much of the allure of collecting these posters comes from the fact that they once hung in theatres, i think this is as worthwhile a thread as any. i figured i'd post a bunch more since these aren't the photos you'll find on a google search, also they are more representative of middle-America:

texas - ~1904-1910 silent film (figured i'd post something early, you can see a couple diff. sizes and some real smiles from the folks. i'm kidding, they aren't smiling.)


the rest:



(mexico here)


(back to usa)
















here's an example of the aforementioned 42nd street in its heyday:



and while we'd all like to think that our posters come from a theatre along the great white way, better chance it was hanging here:



also, if you want a better view on any of them...copy the image's url (right click) and remove the 'L' that precedes '.jpeg'

[CSM]

Those are great ps. thanks for sharing!

And does anyone else agree how awesome it would be to have one of those one sheet + lobby card combo easels?

[pratschm]

Not much more I can add except another - Wow, this thread is amazing! Great great topic.
I've often wondered the same thing as Through The Stones in his original post. I think I've only ever seen OS's and bigger. Couldn't really place half-sheets, LCs, etc, so seeing these pics... just awesome. Seeing the grandeur of those real theaters is just so cool. I'm sure I went to a theater or two like that when I was a kid for movies like ET or Return of the Jedi, but I don't remember it. I do remember going to see Seabiscuit at The Senator in Baltimore back in 2003. It had the window displays and fancy frames and it was an awesome experience, but definitely nothing like these pics. Keep 'em coming! 

[rdavey26]

Maybe one of ya would like this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950s-Movie-Theatre-Movie-photo-lobby-card-display-27-x51-/400413635824?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3a8334f0

[CSM]

Maybe one of ya would like this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950s-Movie-Theatre-Movie-photo-lobby-card-display-27-x51-/400413635824?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3a8334f0

Yeah that's cool but so heavy and so far away

[rdavey26]

Yeah that's cool but so heavy and so far away

Yes it is. From me it is on the other side of the country.

[110x75]

For me is the other side of the continent 

[Ari]

Anyone heard of the other side of the WORLD?
 

[jayn_j]

Jay, as a New Yorker I remember every type of display shown in this thread at one theatre or another until about the late 60s. Times Square when I was a kid was mind-blowing. sadly, I did not learn to appreciate architecture or the great palaces until they were closing them down. The theatre in Jamaica on Jamaica Blvd at 164th street was such a palace with marble staircases on either side of the circular lobby/concession area, actual Ushers and on the mezanine they had skyboxes. That was some theatre

These images are what I am talking about concerning the upper midwest.  These are all theaters I went to as a kid, and you can see that posters were all wall mounted.

Tower theater:  This was my favorite.  The picture doesn't show the 50' bell tower.  The interior was Spanish theme with marble staircases a huge crystal chandelier over an 8' diameter marble fountain.


Wisconsin Theater:  One of the big downtown first run houses:


Strand Theater: Another downtown palace:


A favorite downtown one was the riverside with very ornate interior, but I dont have a good marquee shot.  That is the only one of these still standing.  This shot down Wisconsin Avenue shows the Center and Strand in the background

[Harry Caul]

Maybe one of ya would like this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950s-Movie-Theatre-Movie-photo-lobby-card-display-27-x51-/400413635824?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3a8334f0

This one actually isn't too far from me... hmmm....

For future reference, if any of you find old display cases like this please PM me.  I was thinking of using old displays like this in the poster show I'm going to put on in fall.  Thanks!

[rdavey26]

This one actually isn't too far from me... hmmm....

For future reference, if any of you find old display cases like this please PM me.  I was thinking of using old displays like this in the poster show I'm going to put on in fall.  Thanks!

To bad the seller won't ship it. I could only imagine the cost of shipping on that thing though.

[ORFEO]

Great topic and great photos, thank you guys for having shared!

Seeing them I remembered this video of a strike by film distributors against bill posting tax increase. It has been shot on the streets of Rome in the '60 and you can see some giant italian posters while being..
(no, stop please, do not do it!!)
..deleted  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GoEsHs44hHg

[crowzilla]

And Sean, would this poster be a OS for the sound version of the Phantom? This was in the other shot that Peter posted:



sorry for the delay, it is from july 1939, (photo was part of a 'federal art project,' guessing a post-depression program, if that interests anyone)

If this is from 1939, it just goes to show how material was in continuous use over the years.  The half sheet is from 1929 and Universal did not re-release Phantom again (Realart/Film Classics did in the late 40s). 
Erik, That is a one-sheet frame for sure, but the poster they are using is not one of the eight(!) original styles or the re-release style, so it is either an other company poster or more likely local produced (I say that because of all the other homemade Phantom stuff they have).

[110x75]

Great topic and great photos, thank you guys for having shared!

Seeing them I remembered this video of a strike by film distributors against bill posting tax increase. It has been shot on the streets of Rome in the '60 and you can see some giant italian posters while being..
(no, stop please, do not do it!!)
..deleted  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GoEsHs44hHg

Damn! That made me sick...

[Mirosae]

Damn! That made me sick...

and made me cry....

[erik1925]

and made me cry....

 

[Mirosae]

I don't look that cute!

oh...

oh......

[longdog]

Just in case there was any doubt that this was promoting a Bond film!




And another slightly more restrained example;

[paul waines]

That  007 is spectacular...

[CSM]

Found this in Bruce's archives: