All Poster Forum
Movie Posters => General Discussion => Topic started by: brude on March 08, 2013, 01:07:41 AM
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Kirby, Bruce, Rich, Sean, etc., etc., etc.
Stories about purchases, dealers, collectors, investors, big sales, firsts, events, memories...
Share those anecdotes here and post as many pictures as you can.
Australia, England, Italy...wherever posters are collected...stories?
It really sucks that many of the greatest collectors in this hobby just visit as guests.
Their contributions would add so much to the history of this hobby.
Please register and post away.
We'd love to have you on board.
cheers
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I wish we could get Benito on this thread....would LOVE to hear how he amassed such a phenomenal collection of posters.
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Unfortunately, I do find this hobby is rife with Snobbery. Which is why we don't tend to hear from a lot of the high end collectors...
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I dont think that snobbery has much to do with many high end collectors/collections. Those who have the deep pockets put together outstanding collections of rare and expensive pieces and do so quietly and without fanfare (well, most do anyhow- certain people like Ralph DeLuca likes to show his peacock feathers now and then, and Benito basically rotates his collection daily/monthly on ebay ;) ).
These collectors don't feel the need to discuss the hows and whys on forums like APF, unfortunately.
And I think that certain people perhaps dont speak up because they don't want their names and collections out there from a security POV. 8)
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These collectors don't feel the need to discuss the hows and whys on forums like APF, unfortunately.
Snobbery then...
And I think that certain people perhaps dont speak up because they don't want their names and collections out there from a security POV. 8)
Rubbish, we know who these people are, and where they live, so by not being involved how does this make them more secure. I'm also sure if they are like me they will have first rate security systems. In fact those with the deeper pockets will have systems that put mine to shame...
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Snobbery then...
Rubbish, we know who these people are, and where they live, so by not being involved how does this make them more secure. I'm also sure if they are like me they will have first rate security systems. In fact those with the deeper pockets will have systems that put mine to shame...
Equating and saying silence is the same as snobbery (as a blanket description) applied to all high end collectors who do not discuss their posters, is something I dont agree with, but we are all entitled to our opinion. Makes for a good discussion. ;)
I would be willing to say that there are a good number of high end, low key collectors whose names are unknown to poster forums or online groups. I'm not talking about the Metropolis 3sh or the Frankenstein 6 sheet, which made news but collectors of other more rare posters (US or foreign) from the 1920's, '30s, '40s and so on.
I was speaking of "security" = having their name out there, not their actual home alarm system. Some do not want, nor do they feel comfortable being in the more public eye. So they retain a low profile. It's no different than those who opt for the flip side of the collecting coin. This is their choice.
Look at certain buyers in some of Bruce's recent auctions, for example. Not too long ago, one buyer bought a HUGE number of Bond items, spending thousands of dollars in that one auction alone. Folks on APF were asking and wondering if it was a fellow member. If that person is a member, it was never revealed, nor did that buyer ever speak up on APF, as far as I can recall. 8)
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I wish we could get Benito on this thread....would LOVE to hear how he amassed such a phenomenal collection of posters.
he was buying when the material was cheap and people gave it away. he also as an executive had lots of money. combination=perfect
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(well, most do anyhow- certain people like Ralph DeLuca likes to show his peacock feathers now and then, and Benito basically rotates his collection daily/monthly on ebay ;) ).
I posted a basic primer thread on satelliteguys.us in the home theater area, and ralph chimed in and posted there once.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/159926-A-Movie-Poster-Primer
Seems he would have a better time here.
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http://ralphdeluca.com/
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Jon Warren's text on the "Royal Theater Collection":
The Royal Theater Collection -- Jon R. Warren
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Kirby, Sol Candell, Bruce, Morris and (if he reads MPT) Todd will have fun contributing to this thread and reminiscing about this great find.
In 1990 or 91, can't remember now, a group of investors and I purchased what has come to be called the Canadian Collection for $320,000 (or somewhere around there, something over $300,000 but I don't recall the exact amount).
I flew up there, inspected the collection, and paid the cashier's check to THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT!
The collection was a matter of legal dispute over who owned the posters...so the collection was sold and, pending the outcome of the court, the proceeds were to be paid to the winner of the argument.
In a small town in Canada named Provost there once was a theater called The Royal Theater (what a great name!). The posters found there truly were royal.
The theater had been in the family since the 1920s, and in the late 1980s it had been sold to a new owner who was renovating it to be turned into a video store.
In the process of tearing out walls, lo and behold, a closet was found with a door in the floor which led down into a long-lost basement. In the basement were piles upon piles of old movie posters, dating from about 1929 and going through about 1950. From this time period, virtually every film that had been released was represented by multiple one sheets, lobby card sets, and (oddly enough) mini window cards. Even more astounding was the condition of the posters. Because of the dark and dry and cool conditions, the posters were in simply unbelievable condition (except for those that had what we called rat piss on them, yellow streaks of...well...rat piss). Pristine white borders without the slightest trace of yellowing. Brilliant colors that practically glowed. And the smell...ahh that faint musty scent...
Stacks and stacks, multiple copies, mint sets of Casablanca, Hound of the Baskervilles, Adventures of Robin Hood... you name it, it was there. Except for Universal horror, which was oddly not represented at all. Some have speculated that the Universal horror films were not shown in Canada due to censors. Others have speculated that the Universal horror WAS there, and that what the police confiscated and sold to me and my group was really just the tip of the iceberg. If so, what a tip!
Now, the new owner had told the work crew to clear the place out, to gut it, and to get rid of all the accumulated junk and trash.
So they did. But on the way to the dump one of the workers got the bright idea that the posters might have value. They decided to keep them and take them to the flea market that Saturday. And that was when the troubles began. Little did they know that by doing so they were breaking Canadian law.
Some of the others can chip in here, for the details of that Saturday, exactly how Sol Candell became involved, and other facts in the early discovery of the posters is a bit vague for me after all these years.
I remember that somehow Candell (coincidentally?) was at the flea market, that they started something called the Edmonton Poster Society, that a TV news show spotlighted the society, which was how the original theater owners and the new theater owners came to find out they had been ripped off (really now, they didn't even know the posters were there and besides, had given instructions to throw out the trash), but nevertheless, after the news show exclaimed how wonderful and possibly valuable these posters could be all hell broke loose and a war over the posters began.
The first thing that happened was the new owner had the work crew members arrested for theft. One of the work crew, a Daniel Pelletier (I believe his first name was Daniel, might have been David) was mentally unstable, or on medication which he failed to get while in jail. He committed suicide. He couldn't live with the idea of going to jail for something he did not even know was against the law.
The police confiscated the posters, and it was these confiscations that my group purchased from the court. But, I have heard that only part of the posters were at the home where the police raid occurred and that a larger portion were elsewhere at the time, either at Sol Candell's or somewhere else.
The poster collecting world first became aware of the Canadian collection when Sol Candell ran a small ad in Movie Collector's World (I would love a copy of that issue) offering classic titles for dirt cheap prices. Poor Sol had no idea of the true value of some of these gems. He was selling Adventures of Robin Hood one sheets for $200, classic Temples and Garbos for $100, and so on. Maltese Falcon, mint, $50. That kind of thing.
A mle ensued.
Kirby McDaniel, Morris Everett, and Gary Vaughn were among the first callers, being so smart that they regularly had their copies of MCW delivered via Federal Express just for such eventualities. Todd Feiertag didn't bother to call. He hopped in his car and drove to Edmonton! Some wonder what Universal horrors the master Universal horror collector may or may not have obtained during this trip. Can you say Mummy?
A significant number of posters were sold to collectors all around the world as a result of that ad, and they all came to be named in the lawsuit. It seemed the Canadian government demanded the return of the posters under penalty of law!
Of course, the letters demanding the return of posters fell on reluctant collector ears, all of whom promptly filed the letters in file 13.
Before long, the law raided Sol Candell's place and confiscated his remaining posters, but not before a significant number were sold. And probably not before the work crew called and alerted him, giving him plenty of time to haul off a large bulk and store them in a secure, un-police-raided place.
Somewhere, about here, in this timeline, one of the workers (or someone, I can't remember the exact details) drove to Sol Candell's and demanded the return of the posters which had been given to Sol for consignment (these were the ones Sol was selling in MCW). According to legend, the story that was told to me, this person was found dead in his car on the side of the road a few days later. No posters were in his car. After getting posters from Sol, what happened to the young man? Had someone been casing Sol's place, waiting to rob him, and then followed the man who had loaded the piles of posters into his car? No one knows. The posters he took away that day were never found.
I received a letter in the mail from the Royal Canadian Government, notifying me of their intent to accept bids for the enclosed list of movie posters. It seems that the court was soliciting bids from major advertisers for the sale of the posters.
The list was, to put it mildly, mind blowing. After calculating conservatively, I figured the value of the collection to be worth more than $900,000. Way too rich for my blood, alone. But I had friends. After some convincing and arm twisting (they came into the deal kicking and screaming) they agreed to put in enough money to make a realistic bid. Steve Geppi was the largest investor, I was second, Steve Fishler was third, and Mark Wilson was the fourth investor.
The gossip and grapevine rattling surrounding the rumors of who was bidding and how much they were going to bid is a story unto itself. We were trying to reconnoiter bids so that we could top the second bid by the least amount possible. But it was Steve Geppi who said, to hell with it, let's not gamble, bid enough that we get it and don't worry about bidding too much more than the second guy.
We won the bid.
Mark Wilson and I went to Edmonton to take possession. I spent several days going through the collection, a time I will never forget. This was poster heaven. I mean, it was beyond my wildest dreams to ever get to see such gorgeous posters, much less own them. Mark and I kept shaking our heads at the incredible condition. And at the incredible titles.
Who won the lawsuit? What do you think? Did the original owner sell the real estate AND contents, or just the real estate. Who did the posters belong to? Who got the money? I'll tell you one thing: the workers didn't get it, they got criminal records instead.
Turns out, believe it or not, that the ORIGINAL OWNERS got the money. The new owner bought the real estate, but all the junk and papers abandoned inside were the property of the original owner until the second they hit the junkyard, at which time they would have became public domain.
Just think, if the workers had dumped the posters at the dump and then came back later and retrieved them they would have been the proud owners, legally, of a bunch of movie posters. But since they waylaid them prior to the dumping, they were thieves. Ironic, huh?
Over the next year or two we sold the collection. We recouped our investment within six months. My investors were extremely happy. They all now liked movie posters very much. Steve Fishler liked them so much he started collecting them. He has amassed quite a collection since that day in Tennessee when we decided to become partners and buy a collection in Canada. His collection includes a little poster we fondly call the Frankenstein six sheet.
How he came to own that six sheet is another story, quite different from the version we have seen on television. The poster was not found in a locked suitcase.
But that's another story. And I'm not at liberty to divulge, unfortunately, for it's a great yarn and spans the globe.
Jon R. Warren
Warren's Movie Poster Price Guide
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Love reading that story again and again Matias
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Wow, awesome (re)post? Matias. thumbup
That's the kind of stuff I want to read here. more More MOAR!!!!
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Love reading that story again and again Matias
Me too, my friend. I'm currently looking for Dario's story now...
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Wow, awesome (re)post? Matias. thumbup
more like (re)(re)(re)(re)(re)(re)(re) post. ;)
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Unfortunately, I do find this hobby is rife with Snobbery. Which is why we don't tend to hear from a lot of the high end collectors...
Sorry Paul, but when they see posts like these their suspicions will be confirmed and they'll leave as quietly as they came...
Let's keep this thread on a positive note... the goal here is to break down barriers (real or perceived), not reinforce them. I vote in favor of removing non-relevant posts or restarting the thread.
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Sorry Paul, but when they see posts like these their suspicions will be confirmed and they'll leave as quietly as they came...
Let's keep this thread on a positive note... the goal here is to break down barriers (real or perceived), not reinforce them. I vote in favor of removing non-relevant posts or restarting the thread.
+1
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Sorry Paul, but when they see posts like these their suspicions will be confirmed and they'll leave as quietly as they came...
Let's keep this thread on a positive note... the goal here is to break down barriers (real or perceived), not reinforce them. I vote in favor of removing non-relevant posts or restarting the thread.
I`m agreed it strayed of far too quickly
stew
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I'm not for modifying anything, but I disagree with Paul's post. There may be some snobbery, but it is a minority perspective
of course, my collection is still better than yours.. and yours.. and yours too
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Well, I don't post my best stuff on here, it's far too good for you lot... ;)
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I've been lucky to pick up some massive collections over the years including at least three from New Zealand. I used to spend a lot of time over there about ten - fifteen years ago. The good thing about finding collections in NZ was that they used original posters from the US, Australia and Britain.
I knew one guy who owned a small cinema in a country town. He had a mountain of posters. He kept everything and had access to the various distributors in NZ. He also owned another building next to the cinema and that was filled with piles of posters from the 50s to more recent times.
When I was in NZ, I would give him a call and he used to let me loose in the building that housed the posters for a couple of hours at a time, usually while he was screening a movie. That gave me a couple of hours to try and find the decent titles amongst the huge piles of posters.
There were multiple copies of US one sheets, lobby cards, half sheets, 3 sheets, etc etc and, of course, lots of daybills. Problem was that it was all randomly stacked in piles about 3 feet high.
The good thing was that he usually charged $3.00 for a poster and $1.00 for a lobby card, irrespective of the title.
I felt like I was "on the clock" every time I arrived there and it was hard to know where to start looking. I remember one day, while searching through a pile of mostly junk titles, I found four sets of Lawrence of Arabia lobby cards. There were also lots of Elvis US one sheets and daybills and quite a few 50s Sci Fi titles. The owner used to charge a bit more for the Sci Fi posters - usually $10.00 each.
He used to base his prices on his poster sales which he would have about once a month when he let the public loose. He never made much money on those days and I think he was quite thrilled when I would spend a few hundred bucks each time I had a "private viewing".
I still have records of some of the posters I purchased and the prices I paid and now I wish I bought more but I have to say it was a lot of fun going through the stack of posters and finding the odd treasure.
Sadly, the cinema owner passed away and many of the posters were destroyed.
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Sorry Paul, but when they see posts like these their suspicions will be confirmed and they'll leave as quietly as they came...
Let's keep this thread on a positive note... the goal here is to break down barriers (real or perceived), not reinforce them. I vote in favor of removing non-relevant posts or restarting the thread.
Agree. thumbup Aren't British folks, such as Paul, supposed to be charming? :-\
Cool stories, Matias and John. cool1
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In Paul's defense... he IS one of those crotchety old school collectors! When did you start collecting Paul... 70s? I'm looking for back-in-the-day stories from you too! Where and who did you buy from?
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Matt, I've been collecting since the early sixties (comic books)
my first poster buy was 2 Universal 6 sheets, including Invisible Man's Revenge, for $20 from Dick Bojarski who wrote a book on Karloff. that would be 1967 or 68.
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I would like to find out more about the Alhambra theatre find as well as where Leonard Schrader found his Keaton lobby card sets...also there is this classic rerun from another thread
http://www.mcwonline.com/pdf/705drv.pdf
THE NEW ZEALAND COLLECTION
"During the early part of 1999, a collection of Universal Pictures half sheets were discovered under the floor of a
house being renovated in Wellington, New Zealand. The posters were in an amazing state of preservation, with the
majority of them in very fine to mint condition. The family that found them realized they had something unique and
tried to sell them through a local antique publication for $25.00 each. They had one call regarding the posters and the man who called offered
to buy every poster the family had. The family became suspicious that they might have something far more valuable
than they realized, so they declined the man’s offer and went about finding a way to discover the true value of the posters.
Through the internet, they found several poster dealers, but couldn’t find any prices to compare their posters to
(hey guys anyone who has ever bought a high line poster can relate to this, can’t we?). They next contacted some of the
auction houses including, Christie’s South Kensington and Bonham’s. The auction houses promised them quite a
return on their posters and the family suddenly became aware of the posters true value. However, rather than
pay high commissions and wishing to keep their discovery somewhat quiet, they decided to sell their collection privately.
It was at this point the family contacted a private dealer who then contacted Cinema Icons. The dealer knew
that Ron dealt in very rare Universal horror posters and that he would make them a fair offer on their items. In June
1999, he traveled to New Zealand and purchased one complete set of half sheets (meaning both the A and B styles) of each title they had.
Upon his arrival back in the U.S., the posters were immediately sold into private collections. And that’s where the story should have ended…
Over the course of the next year, he began to hear rumors the people in New Zealand still had more half sheets.
The rumor was that there were multiple copies of some of the half sheets, and there was at least one other complete set
of what he had purchased the prior year. He discounted the rumors because the family asked him to keep our transaction
quiet. They didn’t want people to know the posters had already been sold. He assumed the set he had purchased
was the same set that collectors were saying was still available. During this time, he kept hearing about the posters
coming to auction, first Sotheby’s New York, then Christie’s South Kensington. But with each catalog that was issued,
the posters failed to materialize, and he came to the conclusion that the rumor was just that; a rumor!
In October 2000, the New Zealand family called Ron. They told him that they did indeed still have more half
sheets. They were tired of dealing with the auction houses and were getting spooked when strange people were
showing up on their doorstep in New Zealand and asking about the posters. They wanted to know if he was interested
in buying them out.
He went into negotiations with them and was able to purchase all of their remaining posters. Before Ron
did this, he managed to get a statement from them that this was indeed the last of the posters.
The following list of posters accounts for the entire inventory of the horror posters from the New Zealand Collection.
Although Universal didn’t mark their half sheets as A and B styles, for simplicity, we’ve denoted the style that
has the same image as the title card as style A.
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Style A – 2 copies
Style B – 3 copies (1 with the borders trimmed off)
The Raven (1935)
Style A – 1 copy
Style B - 4 copies
The Invisible Ray (1936)
Style A – 2 copies
Style B – 1 copy
Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
Style A – 3 copies (1 with a significant chunk out of the left side)
Style B – 4 copies
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Matt, I've been collecting since the early sixties (comic books)
my first poster buy was 2 Universal 6 sheets, including Invisible Man's Revenge, for $20 from Dick Bojarski who wrote a book on Karloff. that would be 1967 or 68.
I don't mean to leave anyone out Rich! I was hoping you and Bruce would contribute as well seeing as how you are regulars here. Looking forward to more stories!
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I would like to find out more about the Alhambra theatre find as well as where Leonard Schrader found his Keaton lobby card sets...also there is this classic rerun from another thread
http://www.mcwonline.com/pdf/705drv.pdf
THE NEW ZEALAND COLLECTION
"During the early part of 1999, a collection of Universal Pictures half sheets were discovered under the floor of a
house being renovated in Wellington, New Zealand. The posters were in an amazing state of preservation, with the
majority of them in very fine to mint condition. The family that found them realized they had something unique and
tried to sell them through a local antique publication for $25.00 each. They had one call regarding the posters and the man who called offered
to buy every poster the family had. The family became suspicious that they might have something far more valuable
than they realized, so they declined the man’s offer and went about finding a way to discover the true value of the posters....
This story jibes with Moore's interview in Kirk Hammett's book Too Much Horror Business. Moore sold some of these half sheets to Hammet (or was his agent).
I've wondered who these sellers are and why they kept things quiet. Did they own the house or were they restorers who took them without permission of the owner? Maybe they didn't want to attract the attention of the taxing authority?
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Aww what does it matter - all Kiwis and Aussies are convicts anyways!
;D
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In Paul's defense... he IS one of those crotchety old school collectors! When did you start collecting Paul... 70s? I'm looking for back-in-the-day stories from you too! Where and who did you buy from?
Chewy day at work most likely, Started with Monster mags in the late 60's, bought my first poster in 72.
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Great topic.. I think I will try to get Benito/ Miguel/ on the phone and see if he can spare some stories with us. I will call him on Monday. See what happens...
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Great topic.. I think I will try to get Benito/ Miguel/ on the phone and see if he can spare some stories with us. I will call him on Monday. See what happens...
Rosa, dile que aun estoy esperando el cartel argentino de "El hombre sin brazos" que prometió enviar de regalo... en mis sueños ;)
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Rosa, dile que aun estoy esperando el cartel argentino de "El hombre sin brazos" que prometió enviar de regalo... en mis sueños ;)
Como me llamo Rosa que lo hago y se lo comento, a lo mejor te lo envia y todo!!! ;)
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Si lo logras, te hago un monumento de bronce y lo llamo Rosa la Milagrosa :)
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¿Dónde está la estatua de bronce luego Matías, y se puso su cartel ...
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What happened to this thread?
I thought Kirby was gonna post some pictures?
Doesn't anyone have any stories?
Hmmm....
I guess no one will mind me hijacking it for a bit by asking "How annoying is my new signature?"
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I guess no one will mind me hijacking it for a bit by asking "How annoying is my new signature?"
Not sure why kongs mouth is moving so weird
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What happened to this thread?
I thought Kirby was gonna post some pictures?
Doesn't anyone have any stories?
Hmmm....
I guess no one will mind me hijacking it for a bit by asking "How annoying is my new signature?"
The day you joined APF - EPIC! Keep on em Ted...
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What happened to this thread?
I thought Kirby was gonna post some pictures?
Doesn't anyone have any stories?
Hmmm....
I guess no one will mind me hijacking it for a bit by asking "How annoying is my new signature?"
Over on MOPO, he seemed rather busy with a topic/thread he started on Fifty Essential Gay Films. Maybe he will return, once that thread cools down.
;D
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Over on MOPO, he seemed rather busy with a topic/thread he started on Fifty Essential Gay Films. Maybe he will return, once that thread cools down.
;D
I thought you were making that up. laugh1 MOPO is seeing more action over that gay thread than Brokeback Mountain on a crisp November night. Nice to see the old guys having a lively debate. Thank goodness, MOPO's antiquated forum software does not allow the posting of gifs/images.
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I kid thee not.
qip
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Thank goodness, MOPO's antiquated forum software does not allow the posting of gifs/images.
Like this Finnish version of YMCA....
http://www.youtube.com/v/402qZaHGZOc
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Like this Finnish version of YMCA....
http://www.youtube.com/v/402qZaHGZOc
Damn Mel we know what you like to watch in your free time lol. If the shorts on that guy got any shorter his damn testicles would be hanging out each side of his shorts. And the back up dancers look like they are humping the air and have no dancing skills what-so-ever.
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That video is plain humiliating
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And you guys complained I was getting of track.... eyeroll
Snobbery!
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I bought the catalog from the Christies December 1990 auction, which featured 300 posters and lobby cards from Charles Dyas, who saved "pretty and important" posters that came through his theater before the Depression and preserved them for six decades.
Anybody have more info about him or this auction?
The catalog has many posters I've never seen before, although some have recirculated since then:
(http://www.posternirvana.com/0DNE2/2013-04/Christies%201990.jpg)
(http://www.posternirvana.com/0DNE2/2013-04/Christies%201990a.JPG)
(http://www.posternirvana.com/0DNE2/2013-04/Christies%201990b.jpg)
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Are you joking Mel? You couldn't find my name in it?
If you really have no idea, I will fill you in!
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Are you joking Mel? You couldn't find my name in it?
If you really have no idea, I will fill you in!
Yeah, I knew you organized some of the early Christies auctions.
Tell us more about Charles Dyas, how you got his posters, and what posters were, in retrospect, the best bargains from that sale....
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First off, either buy these (http://www.emovieposter.com/books/bookspecific.php?booknum=22 (http://www.emovieposter.com/books/bookspecific.php?booknum=22)) because I will soon raise the price to $60 or get enough items in our June Mini Major Auction to get a set for free.
Here are all the prices. You tell ME which were the best buys, and the most over-priced.
http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/publication/Hollywood%2520Posters%25201/sort/4/archive.html (http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/publication/Hollywood%2520Posters%25201/sort/4/archive.html)
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First off, either buy these (http://www.emovieposter.com/books/bookspecific.php?booknum=22 (http://www.emovieposter.com/books/bookspecific.php?booknum=22)) because I will soon raise the price to $60 or get enough items in our June Mini Major Auction to get a set for free.
Fair enough, I ordered a set, now you should tell us about Charles Dyas....
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Here is some info, mixed in with much other stuff (I wrote it 15 years ago, so some of it is wrong, as I have learned much since then).
http://www.spotlightdisplays.com/Articles-Movie-Posters.html (http://www.spotlightdisplays.com/Articles-Movie-Posters.html)
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I ordered a set too... I love these books plus they make great coffee table books!
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Here is some info, mixed in with much other stuff (I wrote it 15 years ago, so some of it is wrong, as I have learned much since then).
http://www.spotlightdisplays.com/Articles-Movie-Posters.html (http://www.spotlightdisplays.com/Articles-Movie-Posters.html)
Pretty sorry Bruce, linking to a 15 year old article. Expected more from an old-timer.....
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/two-thumbs-down.jpg)
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Pretty sorry Bruce, linking to a 15 year old article. Expected more from an old-timer.....
I'm not too sorry Bruce, I'd rather Bruce spend his time preparing the partial daybill auction that starts in under 24 hours. :D
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Did you ever find this Charles Dyas story Bruce? I would love to read it and I also have a hazy memory of you mentioning the "Alhambra" find...I have never read anything about it either....
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Nope, never did! I have still been too busy to write a new one (auctioning 110,000 items a year for four million dollars is more time consuming than you might imagine!).
What is this Alhambra find?
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I hear ya Bruce...I admire your hard work...I wish there was an undertaking to merge a list of the major finds and each poster on the list...
The Alhambra theatre find pops up from time to time....I've only seen it attributed to window cards simply because of the imprint area....It's referred to as the "Classic" or "Famous" Alhambra find...but any info is elusive...I think in your ebay days you had some window cards at one point as well...
here is a typical description
http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=624&lotIdNo=31087 (http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=624&lotIdNo=31087)
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That's a comic book technique to increase value. It worked there, in this hobby, hardly at all.
Another great window card find was the Crescent Theater in Pontiac, Michigan.
I think the best find ever was the one I sold over a ten year period. Someday I will write out THAT story. The funny part is that it was the best ever, even though 90% of it was destroyed!
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Here's an original Albin Grau rough sketch/watercolor done for the NOSFERATU (1922) advertising and/or poster campaign. It's simply a beautiful piece of poster history that has also managed to survive wars etc. :)
(http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q719/spitfire3992/vampirkult120_v-ARDFotogalerie_zps3a4237f9.jpg)
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That is an amazing piece of art, Jeff.
I'm an admirer of all things Nosferatu and Grau and I haven't seen that one before.
I like it better than any of his others for the film.
Including this menacing image...
(http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8159/nosferatu3na7.jpg)
http://beautiful-grotesque.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-art-of-albin-grau.html (http://beautiful-grotesque.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-art-of-albin-grau.html)
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Someone should tell the tale of the Royal Theater Collection in all its lurid glory. It was 25 odd years ago, and still it is the most amazing story. I was there for some of it. I used to remember a lot about it, but it's been too long. A while back I got a phone call from a young lady in Canada whose father had owned the Royal. She wanted to know what I knew -- and I was chagrined to find out how I didn't remember all the details I once knew. The hobby does need a diarist / memorialist to write down all the foibles and adventures.
Here are the people who most helped / influenced / assisted / encouraged / argued with / suffered misunderstandings / made up with me: Jose Carpio, Channing Thomson, Morrie Everett, Bruce Hershenson, Joe Burtis, Mike Orlando, Walter Reuben, Jon Warren, Ira Resnick, Sam Sarowitz, Ron Moore, Gary Vaughn, Lou Ann Wooley, Tony Nourmand, Bruce Marchant, Richard Allen, Jean-Louis Capitaine, Mike Kaplan, Marty Davis. These are the old-timers and its actually a quite wonderful group. I have tons of pictures and I should probably start posting some. Kirby
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Someone should tell the tale of the Royal Theater Collection in all its lurid glory. It was 25 odd years ago, and still it is the most amazing story. I was there for some of it. I used to remember a lot about it, but it's been too long. A while back I got a phone call from a young lady in Canada whose father had owned the Royal. She wanted to know what I knew -- and I was chagrined to find out how I didn't remember all the details I once knew. The hobby does need a diarist / memorialist to write down all the foibles and adventures.
Here are the people who most helped / influenced / assisted / encouraged / argued with / suffered misunderstandings / made up with me: Jose Carpio, Channing Thomson, Morrie Everett, Bruce Hershenson, Joe Burtis, Mike Orlando, Walter Reuben, Jon Warren, Ira Resnick, Sam Sarowitz, Ron Moore, Gary Vaughn, Lou Ann Wooley, Tony Nourmand, Bruce Marchant, Richard Allen, Jean-Louis Capitaine, Mike Kaplan, Marty Davis. These are the old-timers and its actually a quite wonderful group. I have tons of pictures and I should probably start posting some. Kirby
Please do post photos and say what is accurate/inaccurate about Warren's version:
http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,5773.msg110993.html#msg110993
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Please do post photos and say what is accurate/inaccurate about Warren's version:
http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,5773.msg110993.html#msg110993
This.
And I want know know the Frankie 6sh story.
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This.
And I want know know the Frankie 6sh story.
I'd love the full truth on both as well but fear that will never truly happen given all the apparent nefarious elements to both events (stories?)
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I thought the Frankie 6sht story was common knowledge amongst us Poster fellows..?
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Isn't he referring to a second Frankie?
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I thought the Frankie 6sht story was common knowledge amongst us Poster fellows..?
Not the TRUE story
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Oooh, sounds exciting...
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I believe Jon's statement on the Royal Theatre Collection is either 100% or nearly 100% correct seeing as he was one of the principals to the deal.
It is an interesting story
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I'd still like to see photos. Kinda like this:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zaWmQtKOCI0/TT9wx6pztxI/AAAAAAAAAMI/VZ_Ct6yjV7E/s1600/tomb.jpg)
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By pure coincidence somebody offered to sell a War of the Worlds one sheet that he claims his brother "rescued from an abandoned theater in North Carolina." Unfortunately, he had it dry-mounted. Oof.....
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Oof, indeed.
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So what's it worth DM'd?
(http://www.posternirvana.com/0DNE2/2014-01/unnamed.jpg)
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Dunno, few bills?
Depends on how thick the board is, and when it was done. That will determine how much it will cost to demount, if it is even possible. Will probably have to be lightly sanded from the back side, working backwards.
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half price
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This forum makes hobby history on a weekly basis.
APF is #1 :)
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Jon Warren's text on the "Royal Theater Collection":
The Royal Theater Collection -- Jon R. Warren
--------------------------------------------------------
Kirby, Sol Candell, Bruce, Morris and (if he reads MPT) Todd will have fun contributing to this thread and reminiscing about this great find.
.....After some convincing and arm twisting (they came into the deal kicking and screaming) they agreed to put in enough money to make a realistic bid. Steve Geppi was the largest investor, I was second, Steve Fishler was third, and Mark Wilson was the fourth investor. The gossip and grapevine rattling surrounding the rumors of who was bidding and how much they were going to bid is a story unto itself. We were trying to reconnoiter bids so that we could top the second bid by the least amount possible. But it was Steve Geppi who said, to hell with it, let's not gamble, bid enough that we get it and don't worry about bidding too much more than the second guy......
Geppi runs a private museum in nearby Baltimore:
http://www.geppismuseum.com/Home/7/1/52/500
Looks like he gave a tour recently and you can see some movie posters in the background:
(http://www.bguthriephotos.com/Graphlib/GraphData14.nsf/Images/2013_12_15NA_0640/$File/GEPPT2_131215_313.JPG)
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So I met the owner of the War of the Worlds poster today. Says his brother found a stack of posters in an abandoned theater near Chapel Hill, North Carolina in the early 1970s. His brother gave him the WW poster but most of the other posters were later stolen. I offered him $750 for it since it's DM'd. Otherwise it's in pretty good condition. He said he'd consider it.
How much would it cost to demount it and LB it properly A-Z?
(http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv275/Forty_Candles/2012/IMG_2355_zps96e3af41.jpg)
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I will synopsis the history of the movie poster hobby
someone bought a poster from a movie
and the hobby was begun
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So I met the owner of the War of the Worlds poster today. Says his brother found a stack of posters in an abandoned theater near Chapel Hill, North Carolina in the early 1970s. His brother gave him the WW poster but most of the other posters were later stolen. I offered him $750 for it since it's DM'd. Otherwise it's in pretty good condition. He said he'd consider it.
How much would it cost to demount it and LB it properly A-Z?
(http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv275/Forty_Candles/2012/IMG_2355_zps96e3af41.jpg)
You should talk to Harry Caul.
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You should talk to Harry Caul.
Yes, I'm aware that it's very difficult to demount this. I'd probably keep it as is, rather than take the chance of ruining the poster and/or spending $750 to fix it.
Anyway, I told him that's he's better off consigning it or taking it to Ebay, so I doubt he'll sell it to me anyway.
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or Mario Cueva... I think he charges $350 or something...
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or Mario Cueva... I think he charges $350 or something...
For demounting a poster and rebacking it? I thought you had to sand it off from the back, which must take several hours.
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The cost comes down to the glue used -- some are actually quite easy to demount. But the wrong glue and yes, they need to soak it and scrape it.
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That WOTW one sheet is such a cool poster. Will get one one day...
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That WOTW one sheet is such a cool poster. Will get one one day...
Me too!
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I'd like to see more your true collector insights in this thread, but the type of stuff that isn't readily available. I read passing references to major events (a billion belgians suddenly flooding the market, or another particular trove, or the way is was before ebay made change X)
For relatively new collectors it would be nice to be able to discuss these interesting tidbits with my wife. It will give more life to my "stupid old paper collection" and she may cool her jets when she gets wind of my spending money on a poster.
Peaks and valleys - what amazing, crazy, fortunate or unfortunate events have happened in poster collecting since you started? How is this hobby always keeping you on your toes?
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Go here:
https://www.emovieposter.com/club/archive.php
If you are not a member, sign up (you can quit anytime). It is free.
Read through the SEVEN HUNDRED weekly emails dating back to 1999! Yes, you will have to ignore the promo stuff, but in-between you will find a MASSIVE amount of info not available anywhere else.
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Good luck, Crazy Vick, having quality time with your wife discussing movie posters. About 3% of the collectors in this hobby are women. The rest are men, and their wives simply DO NOT understand. As a dealer in the hobby for over thirty years, I cannot tell you how many times, in conversations with customers on the phone, I hear them say: "Do not tell my wife anything about me buying this poster." Seriously! Whether we participate in such obfuscation I cannot say.
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Whether we participate in such obfuscation I cannot say.
;D ;D
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http://www.mcwonline.com/pdf/705drv.pdf
THE NEW ZEALAND COLLECTION
"During the early part of 1999, a collection of Universal Pictures half sheets were discovered under the floor of a
house being renovated in Wellington, New Zealand. The posters were in an amazing state of preservation, with the
majority of them in very fine to mint condition. The family that found them realized they had something unique and
tried to sell them through a local antique publication for $25.00 each. They had one call regarding the posters and the man who called offered
to buy every poster the family had. The family became suspicious that they might have something far more valuable
than they realized, so they declined the man’s offer and went about finding a way to discover the true value of the posters.
Through the internet, they found several poster dealers, but couldn’t find any prices to compare their posters to
(hey guys anyone who has ever bought a high line poster can relate to this, can’t we?). They next contacted some of the
auction houses including, Christie’s South Kensington and Bonham’s. The auction houses promised them quite a
return on their posters and the family suddenly became aware of the posters true value. However, rather than
pay high commissions and wishing to keep their discovery somewhat quiet, they decided to sell their collection privately.
It was at this point the family contacted a private dealer who then contacted Cinema Icons. The dealer knew
that Ron dealt in very rare Universal horror posters and that he would make them a fair offer on their items. In June
1999, he traveled to New Zealand and purchased one complete set of half sheets (meaning both the A and B styles) of each title they had.
Upon his arrival back in the U.S., the posters were immediately sold into private collections. And that’s where the story should have ended…
Over the course of the next year, he began to hear rumors the people in New Zealand still had more half sheets.
The rumor was that there were multiple copies of some of the half sheets, and there was at least one other complete set
of what he had purchased the prior year. He discounted the rumors because the family asked him to keep our transaction
quiet. They didn’t want people to know the posters had already been sold. He assumed the set he had purchased
was the same set that collectors were saying was still available. During this time, he kept hearing about the posters
coming to auction, first Sotheby’s New York, then Christie’s South Kensington. But with each catalog that was issued,
the posters failed to materialize, and he came to the conclusion that the rumor was just that; a rumor!
In October 2000, the New Zealand family called Ron. They told him that they did indeed still have more half
sheets. They were tired of dealing with the auction houses and were getting spooked when strange people were
showing up on their doorstep in New Zealand and asking about the posters. They wanted to know if he was interested
in buying them out.
He went into negotiations with them and was able to purchase all of their remaining posters. Before Ron
did this, he managed to get a statement from them that this was indeed the last of the posters.
The following list of posters accounts for the entire inventory of the horror posters from the New Zealand Collection.
Although Universal didn’t mark their half sheets as A and B styles, for simplicity, we’ve denoted the style that
has the same image as the title card as style A.
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Style A – 2 copies
Style B – 3 copies (1 with the borders trimmed off)
The Raven (1935)
Style A – 1 copy
Style B - 4 copies
The Invisible Ray (1936)
Style A – 2 copies
Style B – 1 copy
Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
Style A – 3 copies (1 with a significant chunk out of the left side)
Style B – 4 copies
This find is amazing to read again... that so many HS from one studio (Universal) and from their horror films would be found in one place, and all in mostly prime condition, is truly astounding! The story never gets old. bed1
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I came across this pic on a Collectors Society thread from 2012 and figured this might be a good a place to post it as some of our members might be able to ID the seller, 'Bob.'
It's from Wondercon 2012, I believe...
http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=5548475&fpart=3 (http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=5548475&fpart=3)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w35/IITravel/RotJ.jpg)
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A Nipponese Trap! Oh my...
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I will synopsis the history of the movie poster hobby
someone bought a poster from a movie
and the hobby was begun
I'm thinking it probably started without actual buying. Printers, theater employees... taking home posters.
There had to be somebody, pre 60's, that was so taken with the images they began collecting...when possible.
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my longtime friend Robert Beerbohm
one of the original comic book dealers
I came across this pic on a Collectors Society thread from 2012 and figured this might be a good a place to post it as some of our members might be able to ID the seller, 'Bob.'
It's from Wondercon 2012, I believe...
http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=5548475&fpart=3 (http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=5548475&fpart=3)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w35/IITravel/RotJ.jpg)
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I will synopsis the history of the movie poster hobby
someone bought a poster from a movie
and the hobby was begun
I'm thinking it probably started without actual buying. Printers, theater employees... taking home posters.
There had to be somebody, pre 60's, that was so taken with the images they began collecting...when possible.
I will synopsis the history of the movie poster hobby
someone bought GOT a poster from a movie
and the hobby was begun
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I'm thinking it probably started without actual buying. Printers, theater employees... taking home posters.
There had to be somebody, pre 60's, that was so taken with the images they began collecting...when possible.
There is the famous anecdote about Forry Ackerman that in the mid 30s he had a memo from Universal President Carl Laemmle stating he could have anything he wanted. Unfortunately, it seemed he mostly took stills at that time and didn't start getting posters until later as most of his Universal collection consisted of 40s re-releases and realart material.
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Anyone get wind of the collection coming out of Australia now/soon?
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Anyone get wind of the collection coming out of Australia now/soon?
??? More importantly - WHAT'S in the collection?
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my longtime friend Robert Beerbohm
one of the original comic book dealers
I've heard his name before.
Maybe you have a story or two to tell us about Mr. Beerbohm?
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??? More importantly - WHAT'S in the collection?
Everything nice and sugar and spice. It's already out if your are talking about that fella Kerry...
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There is the famous anecdote about Forry Ackerman that in the mid 30s he had a memo from Universal President Carl Laemmle stating he could have anything he wanted. Unfortunately, it seemed he mostly took stills at that time and didn't start getting posters until later as most of his Universal collection consisted of 40s re-releases and realart material.
Thanks Crow, I never heard that one. Heartbreaking, but understandable he was just taking stills. I imagine stills were more popular than posters, back then, and something even non collectors wanted. Having stills of their favorite stars and such. The poster hadn't quite became a household item yet.
Just imagine the material he could've had. I'm sure that haunted him all the time. :)
No doubt people were collecting way before the hobby started. Probably way more than we think. The posters were way too beautiful and too many people had access.
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I was breast-fed on Famous Monsters and I was under the impression that he had quite a few early Universal posters.
In fact, I do remember reading an issue where he was displaying a few of the six different Phantom (1925) one sheets that he said he owned.
Does anyone remember this, the pics and/or what issue they appeared in?
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Oh yeah, I've seen pics were had some old universal stuff. Once into the 40's he started collecting the stuff he missed out on.
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The poster hadn't quite became a household item yet.
not true Anthony.
all through the 1800s it was very popular to have portraits of Geo Washington (aka poster prints), large maps, art posters, Lilly Langtree posters, posters of their favorite stage actors, William Shakespeare, Revolutionary or Civil War scenes, classic renaissance paintings done as prints.. there were lots of subjects that people had posters displayed and they were always the focal point of a home or establishment (like saloons), they just weren't called posters at the time
what these items had in common for the most part was that they were either famous scenes or portraits.
show or stage posters were plain broadsides with lots of text and maybe a small b&w portrait of a star
Actual posters of course really don't become interesting until color lithography becomes more cheaply available, increasing propagation into popular culture and becoming a stage for artists like Gustav Klimt, Toulouse Lautrec and Henri Fantin-Latour. This was the point at which it becomes common for a larger audience to more easily buy posters as the prices became affordable and the subject matter expanded. Probably the most common type of poster in someone's home in the 1920s, by which time color printing had afforded a preponderance of society to afford posters for the home, would be the illustrated calendar with a huge homey print, an image of a pinup girl, a railroad image or touristy location
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I was breast-fed on Famous Monsters and I was under the impression that he had quite a few early Universal posters.
In fact, I do remember reading an issue where he was displaying a few of the six different Phantom (1925) one sheets that he said he owned.
Does anyone remember this, the pics and/or what issue they appeared in?
I don't believe he had a Phantom poster as the two that turned up in Ohlinger's store in 1970s are the only ones I know of.
I thought that Borst got his Frankenstein one sheet from Forry though.
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I was breast-fed on Famous Monsters and I was under the impression that he had quite a few early Universal posters.
In fact, I do remember reading an issue where he was displaying a few of the six different Phantom (1925) one sheets that he said he owned.
Does anyone remember this, the pics and/or what issue they appeared in?
If it was in FM, Mr. Waines surely remembers.
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If it was in FM, Mr. Waines surely remembers.
I do remember Forry did have several early posters, he also saved the original sound disc's for the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula, Murders in the Rue Morgue, etc.
If anyone can remember the Famous Monsters issue number with the pics of Forry's posters, I'll post them up here, may have a look through a few copies if I get the time.....
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I think Forry Ackerman formed his collection when movie paper was not yet highly valued, and he used it mostly as working material for the magazine. He also treated some posters quite badly by modern standard, including backing them on foam or plywood! I really don't think that even if he had taken sackloads of Universal posters in the 30s that many of them would have survived or stayed in his collection.
But what's worse, he may have been a little too trusting with some of the many visitors to the Ackermansion, and it has been said that some people walked out there with stuff that not strictly belonged to them. He was also known for giving away stuff on the spur of the moment. So from what I understand, there was not really all that much of high value left at the end.
Seemed like a great guy and he came to Sweden several times - I wish I had been taken the chance and met him then!
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So, how many here recall the details of the auctions of the collection? I recall that at least some of it went on eBay and it sort of flooded the market. We only picked up one item from that auction, a Dolens painting, acrylic on Masonite of an alien sunrise. I don't recall any really great posters there, but the ones that were auctioned on eBay went above our thresholds.
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Eric, Forry was collecting starting at 13 years old. The magazine wasn't a twinkle in his eye yet
Jay, there was also an auction at Guernseys in 1989 at the Armory in NYC on 63rd st.
I was there for most of the auction but got nothing significant
I have the catalog, but it's buried somewhere
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Ron got his FRANKENSTEIN from Larry Edmunds on Hollywood Blvd. IIRC he paid a thousand bucks for it. The most paid for a movie poster at that time.
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Eric, Forry was collecting starting at 13 years old. The magazine wasn't a twinkle in his eye yet
True, but I think the magazine was started mainly to exploit the collection! Just about everything in there came from his personal collection, with the added witty taglines he was famous for...
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BTW, some ten years ago there were a few posters on eBay hailing from the Ackermonster collection. They were all backed (or more correctly, permanently glued on plywood I believe) and drastically cut down to whatever size Forry wanted them in... Again, this was done before there was much value in movie paper. If we all had hindsight in advance we would all be rich!
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Ron got his FRANKENSTEIN from Larry Edmunds on Hollywood Blvd. IIRC he paid a thousand bucks for it. The most paid for a movie poster at that time.
oh that's right.. don't know how I forgot that
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as a visitor to Forry's home I noted many things like that. On one narrow wall down in the basement, he had glued original Virgil Finlay drawings - about 20-30 of them I think. GLUED TO THE WALL
he had owned lots of science fiction pulp covers by Frank Paul at one point. as he sold them he had a friend recreate the paintings so he could replace the sold items
but forgetting Forry, when we used to go to comic book conventions in 1967-68-69 etc, we used to use tomato crates and no bags. We used to stack the books high on teh table like a used book store. I swatted a fly at my table once with a Spider-Man #1. None of us considered the material anything more than something that provided us with joy.
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I do remember Forry did have several early posters, he also saved the original sound disc's for the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula, Murders in the Rue Morgue, etc.
If anyone can remember the Famous Monsters issue number with the pics of Forry's posters, I'll post them up here, may have a look through a few copies if I get the time.....
He definitely had the sound discs for Frankenstein and Murders (not sure about Dracula) and on at least one occasion the Frankenstein was stolen and then the thief offered to sell it back to him.
He never had any original Phantom posters. Most of the individual photos of early posters printed in FM were from stills or pressbooks. The first time I saw a 1947 Dracula 1-sheet was in FM, but when I asked him about it, he confessed it was just a photo from a still.
There are lots of photos of the Askermansion all over the internet, so it is easy to look at some of the great things he did have. One of the best collections is here: http://www.fanac.org/Fan_Photo_Album/a02-p00.html
going through it you can see lots of original artwork and props, stills, etc and of course some posters.
Probably the best poster photo in the group is this one:
(http://www.fanac.org/Fan_Photo_Album/a02-021.jpeg)
You can see from it that while he did have an original Son of Frankenstein Pressbook (cover only) and a Raven TC, the Dracula and Dracula's Daughter half sheets he had were Realart releases (and there is a Phantom Realart posted below those), and his Old Dark House is a re-release also. The bad thing about his lobby collection is that he laminated the vast majority of them (and then thumbtacked them to the walls) so he didn't have to worry about them being damaged.
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He never had any original Phantom posters. Most of the individual photos of early posters printed in FM were from stills or pressbooks. The first time I saw a 1947 Dracula 1-sheet was in FM, but when I asked him about it, he confessed it was just a photo from a still.
Unfortunately, I do not have any of my old FMs, but I am sure that he was standing in front of one (or two) on the wall and the caption said that they were just two of the six different one sheets that he owned from the film's original release. This pic had a huge impact on me at the time as I was a kid and had just begun lusting after poster paper.
Maybe Quadfather Waines might be able to find the issue, which I'm guessing was somewhere between #25-#50 (if that narrows it down a bit, Paul).
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"I swatted a fly at my table once with a Spider-Man #1"
The Spider killed the fly.
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Great pic Sean thanks for digging that up!
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Unfortunately, I do not have any of my old FMs, but I am sure that he was standing in front of one (or two) on the wall and the caption said that they were just two of the six different one sheets that he owned from the film's original release. This pic had a huge impact on me at the time as I was a kid and had just begun lusting after poster paper.
Maybe Quadfather Waines might be able to find the issue, which I'm guessing was somewhere between #25-#50 (if that narrows it down a bit, Paul).
Just like Forry's Lon Chaney hat from London After Midnight, and his Karloff Mummy ring, not everything was as it seemed in Forry's collection.
Many of us, myself included, would not be collecting if it weren't for him - and while he did indeed have an amazing collection, it just did not contain some of the things we were led to believe.
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Just like Forry's Lon Chaney hat from London After Midnight, and his Karloff Mummy ring, not everything was as it seemed in Forry's collection.
Many of us, myself included, would not be collecting if it weren't for him - and while he did indeed have an amazing collection, it just did not contain some of the things we were led to believe.
As Forry's Children, we should start a thread about the man where we could detail and dissect the many photos taken of his collection -- separate some of the fact from the fiction.
Some scans from the pages of FM would be a plus if anyone can get 'em. hint...hint...
I've started gathering internet pics to upload and credit.
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As Forry's Children, we should start a thread about the man where we could detail and dissect the many photos taken of his collection -- separate some of the fact from the fiction.
Some scans from the pages of FM would be a plus if anyone can get 'em. hint...hint...
I've started gathering internet pics to upload and credit.
Great Idea Ted, and I'll have a look through my FM's over the weekend, and post in the Forry thread if I find the pics... :D
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Scary things is...we are making the history of this hobby right now. There may be others who spend more dough, or find more outrageous material. But, most of their stories will probably never be told publicly. Never forget that today's weird occurrences and random knee-slappers become tomorrow's history. Today's random finds and strange acquisitions are the kind of thing that some young collector will consider a gold nugget when we all have floating cars and replicant maids.
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Scary things is...we are making the history of this hobby right now. There may be others who spend more dough, or find more outrageous material. But, most of their stories will probably never be told publicly. Never forget that today's weird occurrences and random knee-slappers become tomorrow's history. Today's random finds and strange acquisitions are the kind of thing that some young collector will consider a gold nugget when we all have floating cars and replicant maids.
Dibs on Nexus 29 models!
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Is Kerry selling ?
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not true Anthony.
all through the 1800s it was very popular to have portraits of Geo Washington (aka poster prints), large maps, art posters, Lilly Langtree posters, posters of their favorite stage actors, William Shakespeare, Revolutionary or Civil War scenes, classic renaissance paintings done as prints.. there were lots of subjects that people had posters displayed and they were always the focal point of a home or establishment (like saloons), they just weren't called posters at the time
what these items had in common for the most part was that they were either famous scenes or portraits.
show or stage posters were plain broadsides with lots of text and maybe a small b&w portrait of a star
Actual posters of course really don't become interesting until color lithography becomes more cheaply available, increasing propagation into popular culture and becoming a stage for artists like Gustav Klimt, Toulouse Lautrec and Henri Fantin-Latour. This was the point at which it becomes common for a larger audience to more easily buy posters as the prices became affordable and the subject matter expanded. Probably the most common type of poster in someone's home in the 1920s, by which time color printing had afforded a preponderance of society to afford posters for the home, would be the illustrated calendar with a huge homey print, an image of a pinup girl, a railroad image or touristy location
I would classify most of the 1800's material as art prints, Rich. Yeah, some people like Roy Bean had their Lily's hanging in the bar but it wasn't a mainstream idea within a household. Most of it was just paintings. Of course people had material hanging their houses way before movies, but the poster, itself, didn't become mainstream in households until the culture changed. Once the stars of stage and screen, sports, starting dominating, then bedrooms became littered with posters. Not just the Washington painting over the mantle anymore. ;)
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Hmm...like Ted, I coulda swore I saw some pics of Forry with original material. I guess it's possible they were re-releases and I didn't know any better. Or a pic of him with someone else's collection?
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Thanks for that, Anthony... I'm too young to be senile. wynk
If memory serves me correctly, they were pics of him posing with two different Phantom one sheets and the caption said something to the effect that these were just two of the original six different posters that Forry owned from the film's original release.
I've been extremely busy this week, but I am still trying to scour the net to see if anyone has uploaded these pics.
I am sure that they exist somewhere.
I should have more time later tonight.
cheers
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Ted, I've been through about 30 issues of FM and the only Phantom poster one so far was Forry with the 43 Phantom poster, I've a fair few more to go through in that early section....I'll see if I get time myself later...
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Thanks for that, Anthony... I'm too young to be senile. wynk
If memory serves me correctly, they were pics of him posing with two different Phantom one sheets and the caption said something to the effect that these were just two of the original six different posters that Forry owned from the film's original release.
I've been extremely busy this week, but I am still trying to scour the net to see if anyone has uploaded these pics.
I am sure that they exist somewhere.
I should have more time later tonight.
cheers
Forry never owned any 1925 POTO one sheets that I know of
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Thanks for that, Anthony... I'm too young to be senile. wynk
If memory serves me correctly, they were pics of him posing with two different Phantom one sheets and the caption said something to the effect that these were just two of the original six different posters that Forry owned from the film's original release.
Maybe he had a picture with a Realart Phantom poster and a Hammer Phantom and it said two of the six original Phantom posters he owns...
Forry didn't have any 1925 Phantom posters, that comes not only straight from Forry's mouth, but long-time friends of his like Ron Borst and Jerry Weist (whose home was one of the stops on his famous cross-country tour).
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I think Paul has a complete run and if anyone can find it, he can.
I've searched the net and come up empty-handed.
And I don't believe it was the Claude Rains (or Herbert Lom versions) because at the time I was new to collecting posters (I was a kid) and when I saw the pics and read the captions, I was astounded that they actually printed six different one-sheets for just one movie.
That was this budding young movie poster collector's first... ahem... knowledge of multiples...
I remember that moment.... or, one just like it...
:-*
In the meantime, thanks for humoring me and let the hunt continue.
cheers
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Thanks for that, Anthony... I'm too young to be senile.
Yeah, we're not there quite yet. Good luck!
I'm not sure if it was Phantom material, it might've been. I just thought he had something Universal from the 20's or 30's.
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Hey Ted, still can't find the one you mention, gone through about 60 issues now, it's taking time as I have to un-bag them..
Anyhoo, here's that same pic again with the 43 Phantom, and another pic that might interest us poster fellows.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT1195_zpsde9fcaf3.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT1195_zpsde9fcaf3.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT1196_zps0a354c6e.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT1196_zps0a354c6e.jpg.html)
And I found this while looking through, someone back in the 70's had enough money to bind all his copies
of FM. A Comic shop was selling them all off, so he must have.....gown-up, or needed the money! If I
remember right it was the set up to the early hundreds. I bought this one as it had two issues of the 3 in it
I didn't have; And no I never broke the set up, 5 or 6 Volumes had been sold already..
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT1197_zpsb8de0e1d.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT1197_zpsb8de0e1d.jpg.html)
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Wow, I've not seen those pics in years.
What a blast from the past.
Don't knock yourself out on this while on vacation.
Crowzilla's the only one in a rush. wynk
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I'm actually quite enjoying it Ted, it's amazing how many pics and articles one forgets about, these haven't been out the bags in over 20 odd years...
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Very cool Paul. Keep mining that gold.
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Paul, I think next week we will make some inroads for your site - people need to see your collection!
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Paul, I think next week we will make some inroads for your site - people need to see your collection!
Please do.
cheers
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I am ( well A fellow Yvonne knows ) well on the way to getting the site up and running, but I need to get my photography set up, up and working.(Garage is a mess right now)
I've had some great advice from Adam, and I've bought some good bits of Kit with Harry's help, and the fellow is just waiting my nod, but all I have is my quickly
taken rubbish photos I've used on here... may have to use them for now and change those as I go.
It will take a few years to photograph it all, but I'll have a fair few bits on well before the years out.
Watch this space. :D
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Watch this space. :D
(http://31.media.tumblr.com/a70536a2a0bcc973227de89b88da239c/tumblr_mf6f2d4Dmv1rbhnqko1_500.gif) thumbup
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Great archeology Paul notworthy.gif
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(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT1196_zps0a354c6e.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT1196_zps0a354c6e.jpg.html)
WORCESTER, MA, BABY!! thumbsup.gif
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I am ( well A fellow Yvonne knows ) well on the way to getting the site up and running, but I need to get my photography set up, up and working.(Garage is a mess right now)
I've had some great advice from Adam, and I've bought some good bits of Kit with Harry's help, and the fellow is just waiting my nod, but all I have is my quickly
taken rubbish photos I've used on here... may have to use them for now and change those as I go.
It will take a few years to photograph it all, but I'll have a fair few bits on well before the years out.
Watch this space. :D
sm1
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(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT1196_zps0a354c6e.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT1196_zps0a354c6e.jpg.html)
Even back then all the kid could find were beat-up Realart posters (and I see Forry had his Realart House of Dracula hanging up).
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Heck, I'll take beat up Realarts anytime.
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Heck, I'll take beat up Realarts anytime.
Me too. Just commenting that even in the 60s it was tough to find Universal originals.
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How true, how true..
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Still no luck with the said pic, but here's a few others...
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT1201_zpsd334ae35.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT1201_zpsd334ae35.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT1202_zpsc7dd78cd.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT1202_zpsc7dd78cd.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT1205_zps79830f6e.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT1205_zps79830f6e.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT1204_zps945760dc.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT1204_zps945760dc.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT1203_zpsc5748abc.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT1203_zpsc5748abc.jpg.html)
T'was a Jollyfine mag...
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I'll take two of those Draculas thanks! Just ship to Canada and I will find them
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I'll take two of those Draculas thanks! Just ship to Canada and I will find them
Except of course that the Dracula isn't a picture of the poster. Compare to the one-sheet Heritage sold and you can see subtle differences.
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Except of course that the Dracula isn't a picture of the poster. Compare to the one-sheet Heritage sold and you can see subtle differences.
Can't I just compare it to yours Sean to be ultra certain?
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Can't I just compare it to yours Sean to be ultra certain?
C'mon over...?
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Still no luck with the said pic, but here's a few others...
T'was a Jollyfine mag...
Thanks for digging, Paul.
I'm sure that you'll find it.
Yes, it was a Jollyfine mag.
I was first introduced to it by issue #11 or #12 and from that point on, I would haunt the newsstands... always on the prowl for the latest issue.
Even though his puns were sometimes annoying, it was the B&W pics and the fascinating anecdotes that kept me coming back for more.
I met him at a Fantacon in Albany, NY in the late 80s and he inscribed my NM copy of the Frankenscience Monster, which immediately became one of my most treasured possessions. A few years later, I phone interviewed him shortly after his tragic vacation in Italy -- that was when he and his wife Wendayne were mugged. He attributed her subsequent death in the States to injuries suffered during the attack in Italy. There is some scuttlebut about her ceasing dialysis and dying as a result, but Forry maintained that it was the mugging that crippled her and led to her death.
He was a great guy and I hope he's hanging with Boris, Bela, Lon and the Gang in the great beyond.
Thanks again for digging, Paul. I'm sure you're not on a wild goose chase.
BTW, I am still searching the internet for any info and collecting pics that I'll be posting soon.
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Have we become part of the history of the hobby?
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Have we become part of the history of the hobby?
Shit yeah.
wynk
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Most definitely..
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I'm just a footnote ;D.
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And I'm an apology...
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I'm a typo :P
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We've made the infamous history of the hobby anyways...
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;D
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We've made the infamous history of the hobby anyways...
For sure! ;D
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Thanks for that, Anthony... I'm too young to be senile. wynk
If memory serves me correctly, they were pics of him posing with two different Phantom one sheets and the caption said something to the effect that these were just two of the original six different posters that Forry owned from the film's original release.
I've been extremely busy this week, but I am still trying to scour the net to see if anyone has uploaded these pics.
I am sure that they exist somewhere.
I should have more time later tonight.
cheers
Ted,
I have located the pic you are looking for, with Forry and another gent holding up 2 of the POTO OS. I will snap a pic and post it here, shortly. ;)
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Here's the pic. Not the best quality - a bit soft in the focus dept - but here are Forry Ackerman and Robert Block each holding a POTO OS. Block is holding a copy of the infamous "underwater" style and Ackerman is holding the rooftop style. Ackerman wasn't the owner of either copy. According to the photo's caption, both posters belong(ed) to film historian, director and instructor, David Bradley.
(http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q719/spitfire3992/DSC03265_zpsbb372f59.jpg)
As a side note, the young boy to the left is one of Karloff's grandsons. thumbup
I also had the opportunity to visit the Ackermansion in the Hwd Hills, on 2 occasions. The first time, Forry wasnt home but someone in the house let us walk around the lower floors where mags, stills posters and the props were all kept. We were totally alone! The second time, years later, i went with another friend, and she and I got the Forry tour of the house (along with about 10 others). It was great to see so much of what had been shown in FM.. as I was also hooked, when i discovered it at about age 12 at the local convenience store magazine stand.
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Good work, Jeff, and good to see you've returned. thumbup thumbup
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Good work, Jeff, and good to see you've returned. thumbup thumbup
Thanks and thanks, Brandon.
I knew I had seen that photo in a book I had here somewhere, and the digging paid off. :)
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Thank you, Jeff!
That is the pic I remember, though I had completely forgotten that Robert Bloch was also in the still.
Now, did you find this in a book (?) or an issue of FM?
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Thank you, Jeff!
That is the pic I remember, though I had completely forgotten that Robert Bloch was also in the still.
Now, did you find this in a book (?) or an issue of FM?
Yur welcome, Ted.
It wasn't in an issue of FM (tho it might be in an issue somewhere, methinks).
I found it in Ackerman's book called "Lon of a 1000 Faces," first published in 1983.
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Cool.
I haven't seen the book Lon of a 1000 Faces so I'm remembering the pic from an issue of FM.
It would be interesting to see if the caption was the same.
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Cool.
I haven't seen the book Lon of a 1000 Faces so I'm remembering the pic from an issue of FM.
It would be interesting to see if the caption was the same.
I will take a look in my FMs, too.
As far as when the pic was taken, Karloff's 2 grandsons, Michael and David Cotten, were born in 1960 and '61 respectively. The boy in the pic, only identified as one of Karloff's grandsons, looks to be about 5 years old. So maybe the pic was first in an issue of FM in 1965 or 1966? That at least could narrow the search down a bit.
The book has been reprinted several times, but here are the front and back cover from the First printing, in '83. The artwork on the back is THE bomb, imho. I wonder where that resides now? notworthy.gif :
(http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q719/spitfire3992/_57_zps8bbb12dd.jpg) (http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q719/spitfire3992/_57-1_zps1f5a6b1a.jpg)
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who does the book attribute the back cover to
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who does the book attribute the back cover to
Rich, the back cover art was done by artist, Bill Nelson.
http://billnelsonstudios.com/
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"so it begins..."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2858033/The-countdown-Terminator-Genisys-moving-motion-poster-released-ahead-trailer.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2858033/The-countdown-Terminator-Genisys-moving-motion-poster-released-ahead-trailer.html)
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I'll be impressed when they develop paper printed posters that will animate and have sound effects
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I'll be impressed when they develop paper printed posters that will animate and have sound effects
already here. They just have to scale them up and get the price down. OLED technology
(http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Lg-flexible-display-2-640x474.jpg)
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already here. They just have to scale them up and get the price down. OLED technology
(http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Lg-flexible-display-2-640x474.jpg)
about damned time!
Haven't these digitally animated "posters" been a round for a little while now? I seem to recall someone else posting about these, too? Dunno for sure, tho.
yes. The previous Terminator film had one
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about damned time!
yes. The previous Terminator film had one
The terminator poster was comprised of 871,000 small holograms. kinda the same principle as motion with lenticular posters.
Although not digital animation on this poster its close. Did they run the animation on Digital Bus shelters and Displays at the theatre too for Terminator Salvation?
I've seen some other movies that have some animation posters and working on something cool having to do with that, but that I hope to share that project by Spring.
http://www.youtube.com/v/s3rt_GOLlRc
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I've seen some other movies that have some animation posters and working on something cool having to do with that, but that I hope to share that project by Spring.
pcorn cool1
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https://www.youtube.com/v/VFRyTxcy79k
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Here's a gif of the Terminator: Genesys motion poster running on Tumblr.
(http://33.media.tumblr.com/e7b4857c27c4426041e19f29c6e24f05/tumblr_nfywnsHSF71rp0vkjo1_500.gif)
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Ron Moore posted this on MOPO...thought you guys would enjoy it. Or be sickened by it. Ha.
The One That Got Away…
August 1990-
Ken Schacter and I were speeding East across Arizona as fast as we could.
Our 1986 Ford Aerostar van was staying cooler than we were. I was born and
raised in the heat of Texas and was used to the 100 + degree heat, but Ken was
a Canadian and not used to the scorching air of the desert. The only songs on
the radio (when we could get a station) were “golden oldies”. It appeared that
Arizona hadn’t moved past 1959. “If you can tell me who recorded this song,
I’ll give you my Bride of Frankenstein insert,” Ken laughed. My knowledge of
music was vastly inferior to my knowledge of film- but our impromptu trivia
sessions helped pass the time.
We had already spent a month in New Mexico scouring the state for posters. We
checked every theatre from Truth or Consequences to Santa Fe. All we had to
show for our work was a whole lot a nuthin’- zilch, and “Nada”. We had started
the trip with a bankroll of $6,000 and now our pockets were about $3000
lighter. We had a couple of hundred bucks in quarters for the pay-phones and
even those rolls were running low. We knew if we didn’t find something soon,
our two month odyssey through the southwest was going to break us. New Mexico
was a bust so we decided to move on to Arizona.
The theory sounded good- “Let’s go look for posters where there aren’t many
collectors, no sign of poster exchanges, not many antique shops and remote as
it gets.” Where else but New Mexico and Arizona? The two states seemed to fit
the bill. Only problem; it wasn’t exactly a target rich environment. During the
1930’s and 1940’s the two states combined only had around 193 theatres. Most
of those were in a few large cities and the rest had about a hundred miles
between them.
Our little excursion in the summer of 1990 occurred in the days before cell
phones, GPS’s and laptop computers. We kept notes on the theatres we checked
out on a legal notepad. We started Arizona in the southern part of the state,
heading westbound on I-10 and I-8 and gradually worked our way north to I-40.
Along the way we had stopped in numerous towns and kept hearing the same
response- “Yeah, some feller come through here a few years ago and picked up
all the posters.” “Did he say where he was going?” “Nope.” “How about
what he was planning on doing with them.” “Nope.” “Does anyone else around
here know where we could find him?” “Nope.”The Gary Cooper impressions in
every city were getting old until Ken and I hit “paydirt” in Flagstaff. The
manager of the Orpheum Theatre slipped us a business card and stated that the
guy that had picked up all of their posters was a theatre owner himself.
Apparently, the fellow and his brother had gone all over Arizona picking up
the posters and had taken them back to their theatre in Snowflake.
118 Miles to Success, Victory and unknown Poster Treasures. Ken and I both had
visions of grandeur. At my driving speed that was two hours at the most. It was
already 8:00 pm but I figured we could easily make the city by 10:00.
Desperation pushed the peddle of the van past 80. We careened off the
Insterstate at Holbrook and screamed south towards Snowflake. By the time we
pulled into the city and made our way to the town square, it was already dark.
Sure enough, there was the theatre on the business card- The Snowflake Theatre.
And as luck would have it, there was a payphone in front of the theatre. I
quickly looked at the owners phone number on his business card and dropped a
quarter into the phone. He picked up after a couple of rings. “Hello?” “I’m
sorry to disturb you at this hour, but I just drove into Snowflake and wanted
to call you as soon as I could. I’m a collector of old movie posters and
understand that you might have picked up some posters around the state.” I
could feel my heart hammering waiting for the man’s response. “Yes. My
brother and I have picked up several thousand of them over the years.”My mind
reeled at that as I asked him more about the posters. I could see Ken waiting
anxiously for the result of my question and I gave him a thumbs up. Then I
returned to the conversation, “Really? Several thousand?” “Oh yes. We took
them all back to our theatre in Snowflake. Put them in the basement. But the
theatre’s gone
now.” I looked behind me at the theatre in the darkness. “The Snowflake
Theatre?” I asked? “Yes.” “I’m standing right in front of it.” “No you’re
not,” the man said sadly. “The theatres gone.” I was quite confused as I
stared at the marquee, the brick exterior and the poster in the theatres
display case. For a moment I thought the man had gone senile. The owner
continued, “It burned to the ground two nights ago. Go look through the front
window.” I was stunned! Ken and I went to the theatres door and looked
through. All we could see, where the roof of the lobby should have been, were
the Arizona stars in the evening sky.
The next morning the man agreed to meet us at the theatre so we could take a
look for ourselves. We wanted to see if anything could be salvaged. He unlocked
the door and we went inside. Every time we brushed up against anything we got
covered in soot and ash. As we went down the steps to the basement we held our
breath with anticipation. The basement floor was still covered by about two or
three inches of water- the last amount not picked up by the pumps after the
fire department had used their hoses. Along the wall ran stacks and stacks of
posters. The piles were about four feet high and ran the full length of the
room, about thirty yards. Ken and I tried to pull some of the piles apart, but
the water had fused them together into one massive block of paper mulch. “Yep,
this whole room was underwater for about twenty-four hours,” the owner sighed.
Ken and I knew there was no way the posters could be salvaged. We had looked
all over New Mexico and Arizona for two months trying to find where the posters
had been taken. And when we found them, we “missed” them by two days. Two days…
I felt like Walter Huston at the end of The Treasure of Sierra Madre; laughing
at treasures lost. We had made finds before and knew we’d find more posters in
the future. This was just a slight setback in our quest.
As we left Snowflake in the van’s rearview mirror, Ken tapped his foot to the
tune on the radio and said, “If you can tell me who recorded this, I’ll give
you my whole collection.”
Ron MooreCinema Icons
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haha great story.
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How the movie poster survived the digital age: A timeline (http://theweek.com/articles/537885/movie-poster-survived-digital-age-timeline)
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A fun read - thanks for sharing. Shock and awe is one strategy but I think the jury's still out though on how the movie poster will survive the digital age. I guess movie posters can only be as creative and influencial as the movies on which they are based, i.e. its hard to soar with eagles when you work with turkeys.
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Great read, Starling!
thumbup
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I had forgotten some of the great poster stories and historical anecdotes that were in this thread. And it would be great to find out more about the "Alhambra Find" that was mentioned, too.
Really Good stuff!! thumbsup.gif
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What a great thread! Just said cheerio to the best part of an hour reading through the various links. There are some wonderfully entertaining and fascinating stories here.
I'm also sure if they are like me they will have first rate security systems. In fact those with the deeper pockets will have systems that put mine to shame...
I have my wife. Does that count?
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Not sure if it is the right thread...
Here a great video about history of movie posters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xWAr1lZCy4
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Unfortunately, I do not have any of my old FMs, but I am sure that he was standing in front of one (or two) on the wall and the caption said that they were just two of the six different one sheets that he owned from the film's original release. This pic had a huge impact on me at the time as I was a kid and had just begun lusting after poster paper.
Maybe Quadfather Waines might be able to find the issue, which I'm guessing was somewhere between #25-#50 (if that narrows it down a bit, Paul).
Three and a half years later and still no pic of Forry in front of two original POTO posters.
Maybe now Brude believes he didn't have them?
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Three and a half years later and still no pic of Forry in front of two original POTO posters.
Maybe now Brude believes he didn't have them?
Hey Sean, here are Forry and Robert Bloch each holding a POTO OS, shown in an earlier post of mine. This image is from Forry's book "Lon of a 1000 Faces." It's a pic of a pic from a page in the book, so no the best, clarity-wise.
http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,5773.msg160192.html#msg160192
(http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q719/spitfire3992/DSC03265_zpsbb372f59.jpg)
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pic doesn't show - but the emphasis here was that Forry didn't own any original POTO 1-sheets, which I think your post agrees with.
He actually owned very little original 20s-30s Universal material.
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pic doesn't show - but the emphasis here was that Forry didn't own any original POTO 1-sheets, which I think your post agrees with.
He actually owned very little original 20s-30s Universal material.
I'll have to check the pic caption again, too, to see if it gives any further info, but I dont think it does. In typical Forry fashion, he enjoyed pointing out that Karloff's little grandson was also in that pic with he and Bloch.
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Did he call him the Son of the Son of Frankenstein?
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Did he call him the Son of the Son of Frankenstein?
I think he actually referred to him as "The Grandson of Frankenstein." >:D
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I remember sitting around at 1970s comic conventions in Oklahoma and Kansas (there was a surprising amount of ephemera of all types at comic conventions back then) and listening to the stories of older collectors driving around all over middle America stopping at old movie theatres and finding a few to hundreds of posters. Of course, not all the posters were gems, though a few were. There was a WinterCon in Oklahoma City in the middle 1970s, if I remember the time right, and one of the dealers had a Casablanca one sheet, some nice Superman, Captain Marvel and other hero type posters, and a small stack of beautiful film noir one sheets that he had bought straight out of a theatre in western Oklahoma. I think the Casablanca was $100 and the others were $2 - $40. Another interesting thing I remember is sitting in the projection booth with my mom's first cousin who ran a theatre in rural Kansas. I was about 10 years old and there were quite a few posters still stored in the theatre. I bought a few comics off the rack back then, though never thought about grabbing any of the movie posters. Intriguingly, the Frankenstein window card that Heritage auctioned not too long ago was stamped from the theatre my mom's cousin had ran. I wonder if it was sitting there in the closet while we enjoyed those Hammer horror films as the projector purred away in the dark all those years ago? Or perhaps, it was stuck in a window in town in some drugstore or barbershop originally. Oh yeah, my family owned some of those in town as well.... Okie
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This past week I did some spring cleaning and decided to sell a handful of older things because the last 2 years have been such a rich acquisition period for me....I took a quick look at the auction Catalogs from 2015 until now...Morrie's 2 profile auctions, Ira Resnick's amazing collection, Osians Schrader archive clearing and a few others (not to mention the amazing collection of Universal horror related pieces being sold on ebay)...without even going into Heritage and emovieposter and their awesomeness...this is been such an incredible run of amazing collections coming up for sale...I've never seen anything like it
I'm pretty sure that I am going to look back on this time frame (2015-2018) as a "golden age" of collecting...at least when it comes to lobby cards....I've never seen anything even close in comparison in the 20 years I've been collecting...its not just the sheer voluminous size of these offerings.....it's also the rarity, scope and acquisition history of the collections themselves...what it took to build them was a monumental task to begin with...
Any thoughts?
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All the old timers are passing away or their collections are reaching the liquidation stage
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All the old timers are passing away or their collections are reaching the liquidation stage
Concise. But it sounded so much more elegant when Tait said it 8)
Having been in the hobby a good while now... I can agree that some very rare and important items have come out of the wood work lately.
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Concise. But it sounded so much more elegant when Tait said it 8)
Having been in the hobby a good while now... I can agree that some very rare and important items have come out of the wood work lately.
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/keJQxLbo7zc/maxresdefault.jpg)
:P
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Those weren't just old timers with decent collections...Morrie's was the greatest expansive collection of rare and one of a kind pieces (primarily lobby cards), Ira had one of the most discerning eyes for quality and taste (the collection he just sold at Bonham's was really amazing), The Osian's archive...well lets just say it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for those type of lots and by far the most Keaton's to ever be sold publicly...it was a rare opportunity for silent film collector's in general....Dr. Noir's collection at Heritage..that collection of horror pieces (with a ton of great universal lobby cards) on ebay!....all within a relatively short time frame...I'm sure I'm missing something....
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Helpful MOPO discussion:
*****
[MOPO] Nerdiest question ever....
MoviePoster Collectors Sun, 18 Feb 2018 13:13:43 -0800
Not sure why this percolated into my brain, but did the NSS Exchanges
systematically purge old posters (i.e.10+ years old) so that by the time
they shut down in the mid-80s they just didn't have older posters that were
not - or could not - have been rescued?
I heard an interview explaining that a Canadian exchange one day just
tossed out its older posters. I also read that somebody visited the Atlanta
(or Miami) exchange and it didn't have any older posters when it shut down.
If the surviving 1945-75 posters didn't originate one way or another from
the exchanges, where the he[ck] did they come from?
*****
Todd Sun, 18 Feb 2018 13:31:56 -0800
Not a nerdy question at all.
I can't speak for all of the NSS Exchanges but when I had my connection with
NSS in the mid to late 1970 and early 1980's, my connection was still able to
get posters going back to the 1930's.
No Casablanca's or Frankenstein's or other possibe Classic titles, but
definitely posters going all the way back to the 1930's.
Todd
***
Jeff Potokar Sun, 18 Feb 2018 13:41:45 -0800
Todd,
Did the NSS exchanges or regional locations have actual printing plants on the
premises? Or was the physical printing of the posters done offsite and then
sent back to the exchanges, where they were then distributed from?
Thanks,
Jeff
***
Todd Sun, 18 Feb 2018 13:46:04 -0800
Jeff,
>From what I understood, some of the larger NSS Exchanges had printing
>facilities and distributed the posters to the other exchanges.
Todd
****
Jeff Potokar Sun, 18 Feb 2018 13:48:50 -0800
Thanks, Todd.
Talk about a total, in-house operation!
Jeff
***
Cory Glaberson Sun, 18 Feb 2018 14:52:18 -0800
My understanding was that when they closed all the
Exchanges and ran the company out of Kansas City they
Ordered everything earlier than 1953 destroyed.
The rest of the posters were shipped back to KC.
Of course a lot of the exchange owners that were now out of
A job just kept the paper instead of dumping it.
Sent from my iPhone
***
Thanks for all the great responses!
The reason I focused on 45-75 MPs is because most of the preWW2 stock was
presumably destroyed in the paper drives.
Sent from my iPad
***
MoviePoster Collectors Sun, 18 Feb 2018 13:49:06 -0800
Thanks for info but I wonder why they weren’t purging old posters? Yep, I know
they re-released movies once or twice 5-10 years later but they usually printed
new posters. So they presumably had stacks of ancient posters that were never
going to be used...
***
Todd Sun, 18 Feb 2018 14:05:57 -0800
Many of them did purge, not only old posters but also 35mm coming attraction
trailers which, depending on the title, can be worth quite a bit today.
It would break any collector's heart to know of all the great material that was
just tossed out as garbage!!
Some facilities were more secure than others. I know the one in Paramus, New
Jersey was extremely secure. Others were less secure, like the one in Kansas
City, MO as I know of at least one collector there who was dumpster diving at
that facility.
Todd
***
Helmut Hamm Mon, 19 Feb 2018 02:26:36 -0800
Why would they? It would have been extra work, and as long as there‘s enough storage space, why bother?
Throughout the 60s and early 70s, things changed dramatically for the movie industry. With the growing influence of television, many cinemas had to shut down.
I figure it was part of that change that the NSS facilities started to clear their warehouses. In Germany, distribution was done by the individual corporations, but things went the same way: During the 70s and 80s pretty much all of them cleared their inventories of old paper stock. Some was saved by collectors, but the vast majority was discarded.
It‘s still happening today: I recently stumbled over newspaper article on the web that described how the entire inventory of a Progress Film warehouse had already been delivered to a paper mill, where a guy from the local university discovered and saved it. They are now planning to file it, like a million pieces or what.
Progress Film was the exclusively distributor for socialist East-Germany, and the collection was said to contains material from early 1950s until 1990.
***
Tom Martin Mon, 19 Feb 2018 12:42:07 -0800
the stone lithos where pinted onslabs of bavaian rock sheets so whenthey ground them tomake a new matrix it wore ofthat priorart,
the posters then were many like otis, tooker,, morgan many where inOHIO...
and one was left in cinci doing circus posters...
I stated in 1977 so i only know that NSS was the placeto go or direct to film companys..andthenth theater exchange like Bill Luton at theater poster exchenge..in tenn,,, and a few others... they seemed to be shared at cinevent and the showws liekRay courts and milqueen..in pllaces like east coast and west costs wheni started guys likeJeryOhlinger..and others that advertsed in Big reel and movie collectors worl,and classic images...
in the80s i had a part time gigas a wildposter for detroit..we would need to put theposters onold buildings or burned out etc for trafdficto see ..we would put liketwo roows of five onthe buildings..yousee them inmosy citys....they wanted us to use wheat paste glue but inthe winter in detroit it was not practical..so I used a hammer tacker staple gun..i got paid 1500.00 todo 10 visula locations..and got so many extra posters i could sell ortrade to otherdealers,,i did iron eagle and many norris films..and mostly cannon,tri start, andothers intathat ...like braddock..i would geta few really good one...i also did pine knob music concerts and i did CBS records as i did these huge true blue album for Madonna...theh company inLa i worked forwas supposed to be part owns by BOB Dylan...
the 80s prnters weher all over thepplace but many in ohio at contenental litho,clevland...and also gotham , on east coast and many on west cost...so ii think at the time they used plates vs digital printing and that explains the press runs could vary as thy sent the art all over..
the posters were shipped in tubes of 50...200 flats, and 400 triangle tubes..
I know as i moved many ofthem and pulled chest muscles onthem..
the 50 tubes are a no brainer ...but the flats where nuts,,as i would stack them up to 5 foot high..and wheni started getting video one sheets in 90s they used theaterical many times liekcontact and many wb titles... so whenthey all went 27x48 vs..the 227x41 they all became the same....
earlysmall videos where small and had type and ads and looked unattractive,,butsoon they looked as god as theatrical and a fe times better...
when NSS started closing down many were able to getstoclk by paying offhe dump orworkers and so they got them as wellas many industry peoplesold themout theback door or some studios sent some..andmany theater owners helped get them avainlible...
its been a industry wide normal thing to give away posters as the licensingwas never inplaceto sell them...as then the artist,actors directors etc would all geta residual...
s thats why itwas geeky collectors andtheater owners and industry peple tat started saving them as many people used them forattic insulation,floor shims..wall insulation ebbecause they weher free.. for the pickens...
ther still seems liekhodes of titles out there thatsimple dont sell...
so its curious as to when they will ripen...even with mass storage,,it coss money..my warehouse which was cheep was 250 a month or approx 3k a year do that 10 years thats 30k...i decided to sell them off the videos that is..100,000 13 pallets 5 foot tall each..thats was a lot of posters...
I hope i saved someclose encounters as itwas a cool poster..
but whats funny is the posters seem to be floatingaround the usa still of many titles...andifthere is no interest well then we are at mercy ofthebuyers..unless you have cheap rent ora huge warehouse...andcan liveto your 90....lol:) so far i dnt see any guys with posters leaving witha U haul behind thier car...so i hope i can sell this stuff before i croak or myson will sell it inthefuture
***
Susan Heim Sun, 18 Feb 2018 13:52:06 -0800
I know two large companies in particular that bought huge amounts of paper from
a couple of different NSS location when they began to go out of business in the
1970's and 1980's. One in particular told me that they attended an event at a
NSS facility back east and there were pallets of paper stack everywhere and it
was sold for like 25 cents a pound and you would just buy the pallet of paper.
He bought paper that looked the oldest. He bought enough paper that, a few
years back when I was at their facility, they have a large storage container,
like the kind you see on freight ships, filled wall to wall with paper. I know
in particular there was a lot of old stuff because he has the good stuff. I
know he sold the original half sheet for Bride of Frankenstein to Ron Borst
back in the 1970's.
So, I know there were many companies that were a part of this "clearance" of
paper at the various NSS facilities. So, I'm sure this is one outlet that old
movie posters are still coming from, that "clearance" stock....
Sue
Hollywood Poster Frames
****
Phillip Ayling Sun, 18 Feb 2018 14:34:10 -0800
"If the surviving 1945-75 posters didn't originate one way or another from
the exchanges, where the he[ck] did they come from"
It's important to note that there were numerous private poster services in
the US and Canada; some as early as the late 1920's.
NSS didn't get into the 'poster' business until the late 1930's and they
didn't handle posters for all the different studios as a virtual monopoly
until several years after World War II. Among the last studios to come
aboard were Columbia and Republic. Even then, NSS continued to sell to the
private exchanges for about 15 more years until freezing them out
completely.
Many pre- 1965 posters that are now in collections came by way of these
private poster services. In 1960, when I was 10, I dealt with 4 different
poster services just in Oklahoma City alone.
The stock in these exchanges (excluding materials made by the "Other
Company" or other non-studio printers) was generally acquired by an exchange
in four different ways:
A. From the studios themselves; or the Litho Companies that had been
authorized to sell to exchanges on behalf of a given studio.
B. From movie theatres who had purchased materials officially from a
studio to cover a release and now no longer needed them.
C. From the merger or acquisition of another exchange.
D. From NSS as they gradually became dominant and then a monopoly.
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1960s (undated?) live again! Here are Forrest Ackerman (left, sci-fi writer) and Robert Bloch (right, author of "Psycho") holding two different 1925 POTO one sheet (27"x41") movie posters. (The child is the grandson of Boris Karloff.) Both posters - each worth $200K+ now - belong(ed) to film historian, director and instructor, David Bradley.
(https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/36728141_10155613326922113_2113245843753533440_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=1fddec2c32c63ab76f6fa5de24b0c214&oe=5C0EEAD6)
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Cool picture, Mel.
T
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Cool picture, Mel.
T
Yeah but Rich found it, I just promoted on social media.
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Rich's original thread, from back in Jan:
http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,12703.0.html
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Video interview Morris Everett Jr, who administers Cinevent:
http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,12124.msg221179.html#msg221179 (http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,12124.msg221179.html#msg221179)
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/Screen%20Shot%202017-06-03%20at%2010.44.15%20PM_zpspog1oyan.jpg)
***
As posted on MOPO, here is a new lengthy interview with legendary collector/dealer Ron Borst:
http://www.newsandmoviesradio.com/podcast/5-9-2016-interview-news-movies-radio-interview-collector-ron-borst-of-hollywood-movie-posters-located-in-hollywood-california-talks-about-collecting-horror-fantasy-and-science-fiction-movie-memorabilia-over-the-years-and-his-book-graven-images (http://www.newsandmoviesradio.com/podcast/5-9-2016-interview-news-movies-radio-interview-collector-ron-borst-of-hollywood-movie-posters-located-in-hollywood-california-talks-about-collecting-horror-fantasy-and-science-fiction-movie-memorabilia-over-the-years-and-his-book-graven-images)
Borst is the author of Graven Images:
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LjEQNLyNjrQ/maxresdefault.jpg)
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The LC that reveals the morbid demise at the end, removed from most distributed LC sets and extremely rare, somebody on NS4 said he had been looking for it forever:
(https://us.v-cdn.net/5021828/uploads/editor/mv/7ytq5nvk9uco.jpg)
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Buried in a recent EMP bulletin:
Did you know that large theaters in big cities in the 1920s and 1930s almost never used the studio issued posters on their theater fronts (or in their lobbies)?
When I (Bruce) purchased my first movie posters and lobby cards WAY back in 1969 (from Tannar Miles, a legendary early Texas dealer of movie memorabilia, who is still alive and well!), I naturally assumed that those movie posters and lobby cards could have been displayed in ANY movie theater in the U.S., since it seemed only logical that they all used the same posters (after all, why set up a huge nationwide distribution system if all the theaters didn't use it?).
Of course, once I started to think about it, I remembered that the two movie theaters in my home town of Great Neck, New York only seemed to display one-sheets when I went there from the late 1950s through the early 1970s, but that might have only meant that some theaters only used some of the posters available, but that they all worked with the same group of posters made by the nationwide poster exchanges.
It wasn't until the very early 1980s, when I started collecting "exhibitor magazines" (special magazines only sent to theater owners) that I began to realize this just wasn't true! The leading exhibitor magazine was MOVING PICTURE WORLD and almost every issue from the late 1910s to the early 1930s (at least) has a great section called "Selling the Picture to the Public", which shows lots of images of theater fronts and theater lobbies (almost all from big theaters in big cities), and I quickly saw that they all only had displays they made themselves!
Now in some cases those home made displays incorporated studio issued posters into those displays, but usually they were mostly cut up and used in pieces. And LOTS of those home made displays were INCREDIBLY elaborate! For example, when it was a jungle picture, they might have lots of real plants and vines all over to create a 3D faux jungle, and they also made "deserts", "tropical islands", "jail cells", etc.
And they would often have mannequins incorporated in their displays, and sometimes the outdoor displays would be positively MASSIVE, sometimes covering the entire side of a multi-story building! But let me stress that I only saw this on good sized theaters, usually in big cities. When I would see images of smaller theaters (or ones that did not show movies on their first run), then those WOULD almost always have the studio issued posters and lobby cards on display.
What likely accounted for this? I have been lucky enough to have had several consignors who ran movie theaters in the 1940s, and they told me that labor (and materials) was incredibly cheap in the 1930s (especially during the Great Depression), and that movie theaters were very profitable at that time (just about everyone went to theaters almost every day, in those pre-TV days, especially because most theaters were air conditioned and most homes were not!).
So a theater owner could well afford the extra expense of really going the extra mile to make their theater front look super cool, and there was lots of reason to do so, since there was usually other theaters within a few block in a big city, and that great advertising might make people choose your theater over another one.
In the past few months we were lucky enough to have auctioned hundreds of candid photos of theater fronts and theater lobbies from the late 1930s and early 1940s. These came from an amazing scrapbook that was discovered, and sadly they are just about all sold now. But you can see these candid theater front photos (and a few others we had previously auctioned) by going to http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/search/theater%2520front/tag/xtype%253A8x10%2520still/archive.html
And if anyone reading this has ANY candid photos showing theater fronts or theater lobbies, we would love to auction them (and as you can see from the above link, some have auctioned for over $100 each!). Go HERE to learn about consigning.
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/8x10_curse_of_frankenstein_a_BM09335_T_zpsk79xbwoq.jpg)
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Yeah but Rich found it, I just promoted on social media.
Oh yeah, I vaguely remember something about it.
T
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I can only tell you from my own personal experience that when NSS cleared out of their Camden NJ warehouse and moved to Englewood, NJ in the mid 1980's, they would keep a backlog of posters from only the previous 3 years. Anything older was trashed yearly. Sometime in the first 3 months of the year large, construction site dumpsters would appear and slowly be filled with boxes and boxes of unused trailers, ad slicks, all kinds of promo items, and finally 1-sheets. They would just toss everything in, except Disney animated 1-sheets; they didn't care anything about the live action films. When SNOW WHITE was reissued in the mid 90's, I came across about 15 rolls of 1-sheets that were taken half way out of their boxes and torn in half, insuring they would never fall into the wrong hands. Right before NSS was bought by Technicolor the only films they had were the independent's like Miramax, Lions Gate, etc.
When I first started collecting in the mid 70's, I was lucky enough to make a connection with a old time collector who had posters from the mid 40's right up to the newest releases and had just so much material that it made my head spin. He told me he acquired it all by bribing the security guards who kept an eye on it all. Once I wanted to get any 6-sheet I could get on a Bogart film; he had mint, unused and never opened copies for THE ENFORCER, BATTLE CIRCUS, and DARK PASSAGE that he had acquired back in the day. He had boxes and boxes of posters, piled up 4 or 5 boxes high. Lord, I miss the old days!
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I can only tell you from my own personal experience that when NSS cleared out of their Camden NJ warehouse and moved to Englewood, NJ in the mid 1980's, they would keep a backlog of posters from only the previous 3 years. Anything older was trashed yearly. Sometime in the first 3 months of the year large, construction site dumpsters would appear and slowly be filled with boxes and boxes of unused trailers, ad slicks, all kinds of promo items, and finally 1-sheets. They would just toss everything in, except Disney animated 1-sheets; they didn't care anything about the live action films. When SNOW WHITE was reissued in the mid 90's, I came across about 15 rolls of 1-sheets that were taken half way out of their boxes and torn in half, insuring they would never fall into the wrong hands. Right before NSS was bought by Technicolor the only films they had were the independent's like Miramax, Lions Gate, etc.
When I first started collecting in the mid 70's, I was lucky enough to make a connection with a old time collector who had posters from the mid 40's right up to the newest releases and had just so much material that it made my head spin. He told me he acquired it all by bribing the security guards who kept an eye on it all. Once I wanted to get any 6-sheet I could get on a Bogart film; he had mint, unused and never opened copies for THE ENFORCER, BATTLE CIRCUS, and DARK PASSAGE that he had acquired back in the day. He had boxes and boxes of posters, piled up 4 or 5 boxes high. Lord, I miss the old days!
Great story, cabman! To think they actually partially tore those OS just to make sure they were damaged.
Amazing.
Let alone reading how boxes and rolls of material were all just tossed in the trash. And then multiply this scenario by the number of NSS facilities that probably did the same thing. All that poster goodness now in landfills. :'(
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I know for a fact that when NSS was still in Paramus NJ, area collectors were just starting to catch on that the dumpster diving there was good, which NSS eventually got wind of. Then then gave ALL the posters tossed out either the drill press or band saw treatment. They spared NOTHING, not even pressbooks. Let me tell you, what I saw blowing around loose on their front lawn was a painful sight to see!
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I know for a fact that when NSS was still in Paramus NJ, area collectors were just starting to catch on that the dumpster diving there was good, which NSS eventually got wind of. Then then gave ALL the posters tossed out either the drill press or band saw treatment. They spared NOTHING, not even pressbooks. Let me tell you, what I saw blowing around loose on their front lawn was a painful sight to see!
Just reading this recollection alone is painful. :o
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I know for a fact that when NSS was still in Paramus NJ, area collectors were just starting to catch on that the dumpster diving there was good, which NSS eventually got wind of. Then then gave ALL the posters tossed out either the drill press or band saw treatment. They spared NOTHING, not even pressbooks. Let me tell you, what I saw blowing around loose on their front lawn was a painful sight to see!
Well, you will disagree but 90% of MPs are and were "generic/forgettable/disposable" advertising! Too bad they made no effort to preserve the better/best.
The Theater Poster Exchange in Memphis never closed and has been selling its old stock for years:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/weln/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_ipg&_from&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684 (https://www.ebay.com/sch/weln/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_ipg&_from&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684)
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/HereComesMongo1968178/Screen%20Shot%202018-07-25%20at%207.21.23%20PM_zpsnj1zcrdu.jpg)
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/HereComesMongo1968178/Screen%20Shot%202018-07-25%20at%207.21.38%20PM_zpsgb0ngpc6.jpg)
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/HereComesMongo1968178/Screen%20Shot%202018-07-25%20at%207.21.55%20PM_zps74un3uer.jpg)
*****
These did sell but most IMO are wrapping paper!
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I still have some of Bill Luton's old catalogs. The depth of his stock back then was amazing. He was among the first, along with R. Neil Reynolds, to have mail order auctions several times a year. Some nice bargains could be had too. They both stopped their mail auctions about the same time, which was right at the advent on eBay.
Another old timer from the 1980's was Eben Rodgers Poster Emporium in Kansas City. His catalogs were organized by year and release number; basically his stock was organized by using the NSS code system. He did have some 1-sheets but he was loaded with inserts and 22x28's. Most of the really good stuff was gone by then but you could still get rolled, absolutely mint 22x28's and inserts to films like KISS ME DEADLY, UTOPIA, FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER, LOVING YOU, at extremely fair prices.
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I still have some of Bill Luton's old catalogs. The depth of his stock back then was amazing. He was among the first, along with R. Neil Reynolds, to have mail order auctions several times a year. Some nice bargains could be had too. They both stopped their mail auctions about the same time, which was right at the advent on eBay.
Another old timer from the 1980's was Eben Rodgers Poster Emporium in Kansas City. His catalogs were organized by year and release number; basically his stock was organized by using the NSS code system. He did have some 1-sheets but he was loaded with inserts and 22x28's. Most of the really good stuff was gone by then but you could still get rolled, absolutely mint 22x28's and inserts to films like KISS ME DEADLY, UTOPIA, FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER, LOVING YOU, at extremely fair prices.
Ah, I remember R. Neil Reynolds' sales as well, Cabman! He used to have a shop in Alexandria, Virginia. Good memories! Okie
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As mentioned, the Theater Poster Exchange in Memphis, Tennessee has been selling its remaining stock on Ebay ("wein" on US Ebay) for years and today I got an unused "Tiger Woman" (1945 US 1S) from it!
(https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/38289173_10155675882737113_2069222819811557376_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=1d8357afa0e33fa8c74f62b2c2ff6314&oe=5C13B11D)
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(https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/38405255_10155675883007113_8289442419225657344_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=b605a311e1f1848c5cb0426263f29b03&oe=5BFF9401)
(https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/38503204_10155675883217113_2544916638554128384_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=be472c41148640bc7aea2224afa4eb4b&oe=5BD24D2C)
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Another old timer from the 1980's was Eben Rodgers Poster Emporium in Kansas City. His catalogs were organized by year and release number; basically his stock was organized by using the NSS code system. He did have some 1-sheets but he was loaded with inserts and 22x28's. Most of the really good stuff was gone by then but you could still get rolled, absolutely mint 22x28's and inserts to films like KISS ME DEADLY, UTOPIA, FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER, LOVING YOU, at extremely fair prices.
Rebooted info:
http://www.posterguide.org:81/browseposter.php?browse=8 (http://www.posterguide.org:81/browseposter.php?browse=8)
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/2014%20BEST%20MPS/Screen%20Shot%202018-08-03%20at%206.24.59%20PM_zpsm1piacdx.jpg)
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1979 article: MUST READ
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/2014%20BEST%20MPS/p211_zpssvlniyk4.jpg)
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/2014%20BEST%20MPS/p221_zps8yyx6x86.jpg)
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/2014%20BEST%20MPS/p2311_zpso4eapxtc.jpg)
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/2014%20BEST%20MPS/p241_zps6etj9qfe.jpg)
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Great article Mel - thanks for sharing
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Old email from a veteran collector:
I, myself, never bought from the NSS closeouts, but I have bought large quantities of posters from individuals that did. A lot of that NSS liquidation took place in the 70's and early 80's and I was a bit too young at that point to participate. There are companies that distribute movie posters for certain studios today that routinely "destroy" existing stock when directed by the studio to do so. I have stood in a parking lot and seen pallets of movies posters have a garden hose turned on them to "destroy" them. It was like a stake driven into my heart!! Never quite understood the reasoning of that other than they did not want them getting out to the public....
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(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/2014%20BEST%20MPS/Screen%20Shot%202018-07-25%20at%203.10.50%20PM_zpsdnz1aahy.jpg)
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(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/2014%20BEST%20MPS/Screen%20Shot%202018-07-25%20at%203.10.50%20PM_zpsdnz1aahy.jpg)
Thanks for the repost, Sundance. Ron's collection in his book, Graven Images, calls to me regularly from my bookshelf! Okie
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Great article, Sundance. My own experiences with NSS was, when I first started collecting in the mid 70's, it was always rejection - "No, no, we ONLY sell to theatres! Sorry." Which, out of frustration lead to late night dumpster dives in Paramus then later in Englewood. Sometimes a somewhat sympathetic theatre manager would give me a pressbook, but no posters.
As I mentioned, at the NSS Paramus location in the mid 70's they would routinely destroy everything tossed out but when they moved from Camden to Englewood they would just toss everything out intact. Their yearly clean-outs was when you could just drive up at night and quietly grab whatever you wanted. They made no attempt to destroy anything. Sealed boxes of 1-sheets were there for the taking; ED WOOD, AMERICAN HISTORY X, SONATINE, PULP FICTION, sometimes a good Disney title would slip through like advance 1-sheets for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Throughout the rest of the year NSS would also toss out UPS returns from various theatres. If UPS attempted to deliver a tube of 4 or 5 1-sheets to a theatre and couldn't get a signature for it, it was returned to NSS where they would just toss it out. Sometimes the posters would be a little damaged, but if it was a larger order a couple of posters could be salvaged. Once a week they would junk the returned 35mm trailers. The boxes would be opened, the trailers for upcoming films taken out and the rest discarded. When a major movie like TERMINATOR 2 or INDEPENDENCE DAY opened, you could be sure the trailers would get tossed within a month of it's release.
Also, unless you were a collector or were savvy enough to figure it out, the general public had no clue where the posters came from. NSS stopped printing their stupid "warning" on the posters by that time. Only the "NSS" in small print on the bottom of the poster. Conversely whenever I dealt with Consolidated Posters or Donald Velde, there was never a problem and I always got what I wanted with no questions asked.
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Great article, Sundance. My own experiences with NSS was, when I first started collecting in the mid 70's, it was always rejection - "No, no, we ONLY sell to theatres! Sorry." Which, out of frustration lead to late night dumpster dives in Paramus then later in Englewood. Sometimes a somewhat sympathetic theatre manager would give me a pressbook, but no posters.
As I mentioned, at the NSS Paramus location in the mid 70's they would routinely destroy everything tossed out but when they moved from Camden to Englewood they would just toss everything out intact. Their yearly clean-outs was when you could just drive up at night and quietly grab whatever you wanted. They made no attempt to destroy anything. Sealed boxes of 1-sheets were there for the taking; ED WOOD, AMERICAN HISTORY X, SONATINE, PULP FICTION, sometimes a good Disney title would slip through like advance 1-sheets for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Throughout the rest of the year NSS would also toss out UPS returns from various theatres. If UPS attempted to deliver a tube of 4 or 5 1-sheets to a theatre and couldn't get a signature for it, it was returned to NSS where they would just toss it out. Sometimes the posters would be a little damaged, but if it was a larger order a couple of posters could be salvaged. Once a week they would junk the returned 35mm trailers. The boxes would be opened, the trailers for upcoming films taken out and the rest discarded. When a major movie like TERMINATOR 2 or INDEPENDENCE DAY opened, you could be sure the trailers would get tossed within a month of it's release.
Also, unless you were a collector or were savvy enough to figure it out, the general public had no clue where the posters came from. NSS stopped printing their stupid "warning" on the posters by that time. Only the "NSS" in small print on the bottom of the poster. Conversely whenever I dealt with Consolidated Posters or Donald Velde, there was never a problem and I always got what I wanted with no questions asked.
But how would you sell pre-eBay? Flea markets?
And why did you think there would be wide general demand for these pre-eBay? Almost all video posters are worthless, by comparison.
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P33ZDoHiSTA/hqdefault.jpg)
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Worth reading and viewing links to see "lost" MPs, although pervasively water-marked >:D:
Did You Know... that we have added nearly 2,400 poster images from pressbooks to our Auction History?
In 2011, we started our Cool Item of the Week archive where I would share one item with you each week (mostly from my collection of tens of thousands of pressbooks!), the type of items you almost surely have never seen before, and which might not come up for sale for DECADES!
We know (and you likely know) that lots and lots of these pressbooks often contain images of posters we've never auctioned before (and a LOT of them are surely ones where NO example exists)! In our Cool item feature, we show one or more pages of images of posters, but they are usually very tiny, and hard to see details. We heard from a number of collectors, practically begging us to show larger images of these ultra-rare posters!
So a while ago, we started adding those images to our Auction History in a section called our "Hershenson Pressbook Collection", but we soon got so busy that the project got put on the back burner. But now we have some extra time, so we have started going through all the old "Cool Items" and adding larger images of many of those items to the Auction History, and it now contains more than 2,400 images of these incredibly rare posters we've NEVER auctioned!
We will continue to get caught up on any old "Cool Items" that were missed, and every week when we post a new Cool Item, we then add the poster images from it to this archive as well! You can browse these 2,400+ images at the following link:
http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/publication/Hershenson%2520Pressbook%2520Collection/sort/7/archive.html (http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/publication/Hershenson%2520Pressbook%2520Collection/sort/7/archive.html)
(http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u536/HereComesMongo1968/2014%20BEST%20MPS/Screen%20Shot%202018-08-04%20at%205.17.41%20PM_zps3hxdlg6y.jpg)
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Hi Sundance, Did you go to conventions pre-internet and see all the posters for sale? Just about every convention I went to as far back as I can remember into the early 1970s had at least some movie posters for sale. Also, pictures and stories of conventions going back to the early science fiction conventions had movie paper now and then. Okie
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Back in ye olde ancient times, before eBay became the powerhouse it is, there were conventions almost every month, and mail order catalogs. Someone with a stock of posters would cull the addresses and phone numbers of dealers through Movie Collectors World or the back pages of John Kisch's Movie Poster Price Database, print up a bunch of catalogs or a list of what you had to sell, and mail it out. Flea market's were usually a waste of time. It's all much easier and faster today.
The general public at that time couldn't care less about them. High school or college kids who wanted something cool to tape up on the wall maybe. But if you were a dealer who's business was selling posters, this is exactly the sort of arrangement you would want. As an ex-dealer I can tell you I got a couple of strange requests. One time a lady wanted to get her husband a western poster for their anniversary. She said "I don't care who the star is, as long as he's riding a horse and holding a gun. And I would like it in a long thin sized poster". I ended up getting her an insert from a 50's B western and she loved it. And each year she would want another poster for their anniversary.
The shot of the guy in the dumpster is pretty close to what it was like. It wasn't foul at all, just a lot of cardboard and paper inside. Back then, this is what you sometimes needed to do to get what you wanted. Besides, you just can't argue about the price! Whatever you found and could sell was gravy.
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1) But how much did they sell for? What % vs. today's prices? (Considering inflation) Was it really profitable considering time, travel, etc.?
2) I'm only 49yo! In my teen years - early 80s - I DID order a few original MPs from one dealer's snail-mail catalog - which had few pics - but I didn't understand or appreciate "originality"! I gave all those away pre-95.
As I've said b4, in March 2009 in Denver CO I randomly discovered and walked into one of the very few physical MP stores left in the US. Otherwise I would have never collected MPs.
(https://mtviewmirror.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/What-If.jpg)
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1) But how much did they sell for? What % vs. today's prices? (Considering inflation) Was it really profitable considering time, travel, etc.?
2) I'm only 49yo! In my teen years - early 80s - I DID order a few original MPs from one dealer's snail-mail catalog - which had few pics - but I didn't understand or appreciate "originality"! I gave all those away pre-95.
As I've said b4, in March 2009 in Denver CO I randomly discovered and walked into one of the very few physical MP stores left in the US. Otherwise I would have never collected MPs.
(https://mtviewmirror.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/What-If.jpg)
The store in Denver was great, Sundance! I bought a one sheet for Apocalypse Now there signed by Bob Peak and Copolla. Cool that you made it there. That was John Caruso's store. https://www.denverpost.com/2015/02/26/hollywood-posters-a-colfax-avenue-fixture-is-closing-after-35-years/
I think the most surprising change in prices by percentage to me is on the really nice posters from countries other than U.S. Also, many of the Western cowboy posters are a better price now compared to their popularity among the older collectors back then. I personally could have saved and bought some of the more expensive posters then, but not now. Also, imagine some stacks of posters for $2 or less some of which sell for low thousands today. 1950s weren't that long ago back then. Okie
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What the posters sold for depended on what the poster was and how much the dealer paid wholesale to get it. Back then, the general rule of thumb was $4. - $6. for a new poster wholesale, which meant you had to sell it for $10 - $12. retail to make a decent profit on it. Of course the major films like any Star Wars, Bond, or a good Eastwood poster would wholesale for more, so the dealer in turn had to sell it for more. That's why any dealer with a good connection into NSS was coveted; whatever NSS had, that dealer could get and usually in quantity.
A long time ago, the Cleveland Comic Book Company had direct entre with Continental Lithograph, which printed the posters for NSS. They had giant amounts of everything - 1-sheets, lobby sets, inserts, 22x28's everything. They used to have package deals like 100 different 1-sheets for $250, 50 different inserts for $75, etc. Several times I would order 50 or 100 different inserts, take out the better titles and hold them for the Christmas season. The rest I would put on backings and bags from Bags Unlimited and blow them out at $6.00 or $7.00 each. Of course, the guys at Cleveland weren't stupid. You never got any Star Wars, Clint, or OO7 at that price, but you did get a nice amount of sellable, mainstream titles and always in mint condition.
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Thanks for all this great poster history, cabmangray and Okie. You are true boatloads of awesome information, as well as relaying it from firsthand experience and being there in the pre-ebay/pre-internet days. thumbsup.gif
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Thanks for all this great poster history, cabmangray and Okie. You are true boatloads of awesome information, as well as relaying it from firsthand experience and being there in the pre-ebay/pre-internet days. thumbsup.gif
Thanks, Jeff! I was fortunate in that a few older collectors took me under their wings in the early 1970s and set me on a good path. I was a young guy with lawn mowing money burning a hole in his pocket. Those gentlemen kept me away from the sharks and steered me to the good guys and gals. Okie
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Thanks, Jeff! I was fortunate in that a few older collectors took me under their wings in the early 1970s and set me on a good path. I was a young guy with lawn mowing money burning a hole in his pocket. Those gentlemen kept me away from the sharks and steered me to the good guys and gals. Okie
Sort of like getting in on one of the more ground floors. Sounds like some good guys steered you in the right direction, too. And that shows to this day, with the posters youve gotten and collected along the way.