Subways

[cabmangray]

Very good interview! I once knew a man who worked at one of the printing plants that produced subway posters and he kept some of the nicer ones. I don't recall seeing very many recent subway posters come up for sale lately. The guys who put them up today could make a few extra dollars selling the leftovers.

[erik1925]

Erik, I'm dredging up an old topic here but yes, all subway posters came from the printers rolled at one time. They were glued to the walls down in the subway rolled. But because of their size and because storing them rolled is a nightmare, folding them is the easiest way to store them. Trying to lift a roll of 50 is like trying to lift a small tree trunk. Today subway posters are printed not on paper, but some kind of plastic sheeting material that can be stuck to the wall by removing the backing, exposing the adhesive.

So if all paper subway posters came rolled from the printer, then all of these that we see folded, were later "hand folded" by someone else, so they could be more easily stored? Or were some also printed and folded directly from the printer, too?

[cabmangray]

All the posters I saw from the man who worked at the printer were rolled. Everything that went up in the subway were rolled. I was told that 1 or 2 copies of each printing job were folded and kept on file in the warehouse for several years, then tossed out. I used to have rolled copies of many titles that turn up folded today (Conan, Pale Rider, Batman, Dead Pool, etc.). So yes, I would say the copies that turn up today were folded by hand.

Also different studios used different printers. My source had the contracts for Paramount, Warner, Universal, and occasionally a smaller distributor. Universal and Warner almost always used the 2-sheet size. Paramount used the oversized 1-sheet size (Hunt For Red October, Beverly Hills Cop, Raiders R82, etc.) Sometimes they used the large 2-sheet size for high profile films like Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. United Artists and 20th Century Fox used different printers so I never had subway posters for their films.

[erik1925]

Great info. Thanks, cabmangray.