Woodstock posters on Ebay

[ddilts399]

Back the truck up, the one I had my hands on had no wax paper, thick, any other phrase you can come up with feel to them. It felt like the thin, 70's release paper to me. Granted I may only have 1000 or 2 from that decade in my collection.

[Bruce]

One real possibility is that they may have been printed for an actual re-release.

But whatever the answer, the seller seems to have an endless quantity, so its long term upside potential seems bleak to me.

Bruce

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

So here's some new information about a variant of the Woodstock poster.  I've been talking a seller on Ebay who claims he worked in a movie theater in the late 60s/early 70s.  He generally seems to be truthful and - more importantly - has a very rare 40x60 Butch Cassidy Style A from 1968 to prove it.  He claims that the theater gave out 27x41 Woodstock posters to movie attendees when the movie was playing.  He kept 27 of them and stuck them in a closet.  Now he's started selling them out of financial necessity.

[CSM]

These don't have that suspicious, infant-calibre rendering of the 'Style C' either...

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Some "breaking news" on the Woodstock "Style C" poster.

I received an email from a credible source explaining their origin.  I'm trying to call the guy to confirm but he sounds legit and it is consistent with other sources.

He says the theater chain in Ohio for which his father worked received 1,000 of these "Style C" posters as promotional giveaways for the re-release of the 35mm version of the movie Woodstock, which he says was a conversion from the original 16mm movie.  He can't remember the date but thinks it was late 70s or early 80s.   I can't find anything on the Internet about the 35mm version, perhaps someone else can.

He says very few patrons took the posters, his father was told to throw them away by the manager but he kept them, and he (the son) ultimately inherited them.  He sold the best of them to a collector in Nashville but still has some.

This story is consistent with the theater usher in San Francisco who kept 27 of the promotional posters.

It still does not explain the LPIU logo. LPIU merged into the GAIU union in 1973 and you don't see the LPIU logo on post-1973 posters.

The email contains quite a bit more detail and I may eventually just post the entire email.

[jayn_j]

I'm a bit suspicious of statements that the film was initially released as 16mm.  I know it was shot in 16mm, but most commercial theaters were not set up to project 16mm at the time.  I first saw the film at Elmendorf AFB in Alaska in the summer of 1971.  I knew the projectionist and am almost positive that a 35mm print was b3eing displayed.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

I talked to him for 45 minutes on the phone.

I'm convinced his story is legitimate.  He's been a projectionist for 40 years, currently living in Nashville and has a super-strong Southern accent to prove it.

He says he is certain his theater in Lima, Ohio received two thousand of these in early 80s for promotional giveaways. They were supposed to be distributed to the entire chain of theaters in the area but never were.  He moved to Nashville in 1997.  He sold 1,000 of them cheap three years ago to a collector in Nashville, who apparently resold them to dealers.  He still has 700 of them, most of them in poor condition with mold.  

He's not sure but he thinks that the theater received different versions of the poster.  The collector in Nashville told him that the "Style B" posters were printed for radio station promotions.

He cannot explain why they have the LPIU union logo (which ceased existence in 1973) but thinks they may have been printed in 1970, were stored in a studio warehouse after the movie first came out, and the studio later sent the warehoused posters out for promotion for the re-release.  He is certain it must have been after 1980 because that is when his theater converted from one screen to two screens.

He says they were poorly printed and were in poor shape when the theater received them.

He has some other posters from that era (e.g. Roger Moore James Bond) that he is trying to sell as well.

He says that everyone was aware that it was illegal to take these out of the theater and sell but everyone did anyway.

I'm still not clear on the 16mm/35mm issue.  He agrees that a 16mm print can't be shown at theaters, so I think he's just confused about that.

He said that most people didn't like the movie because it "was just a documentary."

He said each stack of posters was "tri-folded" but each poster was not separately tri-folded. That is consistent with the "soft folds" I've seen on my copy and every image I've seen.

[Bruce]

That's funny, Mel. I received a private e-mail a while ago from someone saying they know the sleazeball who created these well, and that they know the entire story of where and when. I told them that if THEY want to go public with it, they are welcome to, but I have no interest.

It sounds like this person is spending so much time with you because they know their fakes are almost "un-sellable" now, and they hope to get you on board to revive sales.

How about some receipts from the original printer, or any HARD evidence of any kind?

[CSM]

And I thought this was shaping up to be the new Summer of Love

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Well, I've left out quite a few details. I have his full name and number (a Nashville area code) and, based on a Google search, his history (former theater manager, union member projectionist) checks out. He says he sold his best copies for $2 each to the Nashville collector three years ago because his financial situation was "desperate" and his remaining copies all have mold, so they're not very valuable even if they are legit. He said he did not know they were being sold on ebay for $150. He's more interested in selling his other 200 70s/80s posters, including James Bond, Grease, etc. He said he'd send me pics of them, so we'll see....

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

This is the email (with identifying info deleted):

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brian P***** <*******@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 10:07 AM
Subject: Dead Woodstock Projectionist
To: "administrator@moviepostercollectors.com" <administrator@moviepostercollectors.com>

Hello,

I am the deceased projectionist from the style C, "Wood Stock Movie Poster" (lol)

Just thought I would clear up some facts for you.............I worked, along with my father as a union movie projectionist at a theatre in Lima, Ohio. I grew up in show business since I was 15 years old. I am now 56 years old. I do reside in Nashville TN. where I still thrive in show business as a union stage hand.

  All of these posters were sent to the theatre my father and I worked at called the "American Mall Theatre" It was one of several theatres owned by a company called "Selected Theatres" out of Cleveland, Oh. I remember the owners name was "Sam Schultz" if my memory serves me correct. I believe there were two brothers that owned this company. The other ones name was Jay. They are deceased for sure, as they were old when I was a kid at 15.

 Anyway if you know much about the Wood Stock Movie, it was originally a 16mm documentary that was filmed at the concert. The so called movie was just a fabrication/edit of that original 16 mm documentary, turned into a 35mm "movie" shown at regular movie theatres. I believe the 35mm movie was shown and made sometime in the late 70's or early 80's. I can not remember.........I started as a projectionist in 1973 at 15 years old. I remember that the manager at that theatre had died and she was replaced by another manager after I had graduated in 1975. This manager remained there until my dad became an operator/manager un till the theatre closed at a later time, after the Schultz brothers had passed.

  The original "one sheet" was the "Style C" poster. one of them always was put in the Marquee of course. They came wrapped in brown wrapping paper, trifolded, not creased. They came in bundles of 3/4 hundred per bundle. I remember the  give-a-way posters all came to our theatre by mistake. They were supposed to be sent to all of the  theatres owned by "Selected Theatres" but were not distributed. We laid the posters out for theatre patrons to have free as they left the movie. Hardly anyone took any of them. At the end of the run of the movie, the manager told my dad to throw all of them away. He instead loaded them in his truck and kept them for years. He had me try and find a value to them. I had no success at the time, as no one knew about these posters. No one new of their existence.

  After my dad passed, they were handed down to me. I usually gave away a few to close friends as a gift. I had around a thousand of them. I sold off the best ones to a guy in Nashville, a collector. I still have some left, not mint like the ones I sold off.

  I know that these posters are not a boot-leg, as I was there and saw them arrive at our theatre. I would guess that they were a re-run of the "One Sheet" as a promotion type give-a-way.......................??

They are defiantly old, and original.

  I hope this helps clear things up.............

Thanks,
Brian P********
615-***-****
 
PS: I have around 200 other posters of various 70's/80's movies
They of course were all folded ones, as that is how they came to the theatres back then......
Thanks again!

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Ah-ha!  I'd like to hear all the doubters explain this.  I consulted the Google God and look what he/she/it revealed was given away on May 23, 1972 in Lima Ohio:

[Ed_209uk]

Nice detective work Mel!

[marklawd]

Nice detective work Mel!

I agree. The projectionist's recollections are entirely credible on their own but that newspaper ad just about seals it for me......unless Bruce has something further to reveal.

Mark

[CSM]

Wonder how much Sharon and Gloria are?

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Wonder how much Sharon and Gloria are?

Ha-ha:

891-5701, 891-5701
Sharon, Sharon, you're the girl for me
You don't know me but you make me so happy


Seriously, I talked to Brian again, he said the Sharon Drive-In was across the street from his theater.  He doesn't know if it was part of his theater's chain.

He said he's "prepared to testify" that his story is true and his five siblings will back him up that he inherited these posters and he's been giving them away for years as presents.

Here's a link to the Sharon Drive-In page:

http://www.drive-ins.com/theater/ohtshar

It closed in 1994.

[CSM]

Looks like a #1 hit to me!

[Silhouette]

All you can eat BBQ, $1.89

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

I have a theater-used copy of I Love You Alice B. Toklas, the other poster being given away free.  Warner Bros. also distributed that movie, perhaps extras of it were also printed for promotional giveaways (?):

[Silhouette]

Love that Woodstock poster.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

I forgot that there was a major re-release of Woodstock in 1979.  It's somewhat unlikely but it's possible that Warner Bros. (or this particular theater chain in Ohio) in 1979 still had leftover stock of the posters given away in the early 1970s (printed before 1973 since they have the LPIU union logo) and continued to give them away as promotions in the late 1970s, which would resolve the time issues.  But I still think it's most likely these were given away in 1972 and Brian has confused the time line.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

More information on this:

I talked to Rick Frogge, a collector/dealer in Nashville with 21,000 posters in his collection.  He verified that Brian did sell him 400 of these Style C posters and he (Rick) resold and traded those posters.   He's convinced they are real.  He personally viewed Brian's stash of these and said they came in NSS bags.  He said Brian had many other posters from that era as well.

He traded some of these "Style C" posters to a collector in New Zealand and that collector said he had identical posters but with a New Zealand censorship stamp.

Rick had quite a lot of information about the hobby.  He's worked in the promotion industry for many years.  He bought out the Atlanta and Miami NSS warehouses when they closed in the 1980s.  He said the posters were difficult to sell in the 1980s and you had to sell them at flea markets.  He said there were no pre-1960 posters at the NSS warehouses when they closed.

He told me that NSS kept all the printing plates and throughout the 1990s reprinted and sold posters on demand.  For example, he said NSS printed and sold 1,000 Terminator posters to a dealer in LA (he thinks it was Greg Egbert) and thinks NSS probably sold Blade Runners and Back to the Future as well.   He personally saw the printed Terminator posters at the NSS Kansas City facility.

He said that the studios distributed theatrical posters to video stores in the early 1980s.  He said that studios would ship large quantities of posters to theaters for promotional purposes.

[CineMasterpieces]

Very interesting Mel. Thanks for the update. Your detective work is amazing!

[ddilts399]

and Terminator, Back the Future and Bladerunner price decline begins, I'm sure the Thing and Excalibur piles were there somewhere as well.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Some more information and trivia:

Warner Bros bought the rights to the Woodstock movie for $25,000 (as an afterthought on top of $50,00 for the album rights) and the movie has made over $200 million. It basically saved Warner Bros from bankruptcy. Warner Bros re-released Woodstock at least twice in the 1970s. The Woodstock organizers lost boatloads on the music festival itself but eventually made money thanks to the royalties from the movie. (They ran out of time and money and didn't even build ticket offices, although they did sell $1 million of tickets in advance. Most of the attendees walked in for free.)  The Woodstock filmmakers only had a $20,000 budget from their own funds and spent all the money on film stock.  Everyone agreed to work for free but would get double pay if the movie were successful.

Frogge told me that the manager of the Atlanta NSS warehouse offered him a box of advance Amadeus posters on the day the warehouse closed.  He turned it down and they were junked.