movie posters and the like

[filmlover]

I was thinking on the way to work today while listening to the Rhino CD soundtrack of Ben-Hur that we do not get as many soundtracks of films offered as before. Logically, I reasoned it out to the fact that for the cost of a CD, a person can buy the actual film on DVD. And this in turn made me reason that the lack of cinema books today that I mentioned in another thread from what we had in the Sixties and Seventies is because you can just buy the film now. Back then, we couldn't (unless you were a 16mm collector with a bunch of cash) and so we lived vicariously through the heavily-illustrated film books.

 

These thoughts made me think of another great obsession of the period of the Sixties and Seventies, which was being able to buy classic movie posters and lobby cards fairly cheaply. One connection I had was somebody who bought from National Screen Service (I think it was called that), which distributed posters to theaters on a rental basis. I am not sure how he did it because they were suppose to return them to the studios, I believe. Anyway, I was able to buy from him posters and mint sets of 8 lobby cards from a number of lesser Bogart films (and other actors) from the 40s and 50s, usually still in the envelope, for about $7.50 a set or less. Now that hobby has become so expensive, I wouldn?t be able to afford even one card.

 

I ended up selling pretty much all of them when money was needed and I only kept a three-sheet to Deadline USA, not because it was a great film but because it was the first Bogart film I ever saw. Now, with eBay auctions and the like, the price of almost anything good is in the thousands of dollars. I regret now some of the things I gave up, like 2 Mark of Zorro (Power) lobby cards I bought for 25 cents each, but one thing I purchased back then that I never could display because of its size, was the 24-sheet of Spellbound. A 24-sheet is what they would use to plaster on billboards by the side of the road. But the one I think I regret selling the most was a one-sheet from Meet John Doe, which I sent to Frank Capra and Barbara Stanwyck in the Seventies, and they each signed it (Stanwyck was great in that she also sent along a nice color photo of herself from the Seventies personally inscribed. Classy lady).

 

I?d be interested in seeing posting from others who had this hobby, too, or fond memories from back then.

[ChelseaRialtoStudios]

Filmlover, if you're into soundtracks you should check out my website, www.chelsearialto.com

 

We've released dozens of scores (as opposed to scores of dozens!) of classic film scores by Steiner, Newman, Tiomkin, Friedhofer and others. My company's productions are released through Screen Archives Entertainment, who also releases the Film Score Monthly soundtracks.

 

As for the hobby aspect, I'm still a voracious collector of both 16mm prints and accessories thereof (posters, pressbooks etc). We're selling our loft in NYC and my wife selected a huge French poster for NOW, VOYAGER to display in the living room.

[ChelseaRialtoStudios]

wrong link - it's www.chelsearialtostudios.com

 

SORRY!

[MattHelm]

I used to have a lot of horror/sci-fi movie posters growing up. One that I prized was a Dawn of the Dead poster signed by Tom Savini at a convention. That one got water damage and was thrown out. Today all that survives is a poster for La Dolce Vita, a lobby insert for Some Came Running, a British quad poster for The Night of the Hunter, two lobby cards from 4 for Texas, one lobby card from Artists and Models, and a press kit for Home from the Hill. Other than that I have a collection of Ray Harryhausen, Planet of the Apes, and Universal Monster figures.