Nice catch, Jeff. I copied and pasted the title and failed to notice
the discrepancy. I asked my wife about it and she said she's already
called the publisher. It is the 1950's. The vast majority of the
hand painted posters were done during the silent era and the early
days of sound, but a few painters hung on into the '50's, often
reduced to painting signs and review blurb placards. Many of them
made the transition to commercial art in other areas.
There's a great story in the researching of the book: my wife, Lori,
was in northern California - Eureka, I think - interviewing a former
sign painter, a solid old guy in his 80's. He reminisced about the
days when he was active and when asked if he had any examples of his
work, he said he kept only a handful of the smaller signs he did in
the later years, doing signage for a drive-in. He brought one out, a
short quote from a review. It didn't even say what movie it was
from, but I deduced from the context that it was probably "What Did
You Do In The War, Daddy?" It did, however, have the critic's name:
David Goldman. Lori was floored: that is her father, who was the CBS
movie and theatre critic in New York at the time! Almost 40 years
later and clear across the continent, the connection was made. The
book has a number of these serendipitous stories, including the one
that brought the whole era back to light, the discovery of Batiste
Madalena's work, stored away in an attic for 50 years. Reading
through the book is like stepping through a doorway into the silent
era. Some of the posters there are the only remaining visual
representation of their movies. I heard that 50% of the movies
before 1950 were lost. Does anyone know if that's right? It's sad.
What I loved about the posters was how rich and colorful they
were. And some of them are amazing, stylized works of art. Since
they weren't run through the studio system, many of these artists had
a free hand in painting what they wanted, with the only instruction,
as George Eastman told Madalena, that they had "to be seen from the
street car." So the images are strikingly iconic. And many artists
were turning out six, seven or more a week!
Again, thanks...
Chris
At 12:23 PM 4/21/2007, you wrote:
i noticed that the cover title says, in part, "From the 1910's
through the 1950's". both your link and email say "through the
1940's." i am assuming that the cover of the book, on the link is
correct, when it specifies 1950's?
thanks, chris.
jeff
On Apr 21, 2007, at 9:20 AM, Chris Berthelsen wrote:
Over a year ago, I signed onto this forum while I was helping my
wife research a book she co-authored on hand-painted regional movie
posters. Since they were regarded as mere marketing materials,
produced and used only locally, they were just thrown out and the
whole history of this cottage industry slid into obscurity. My
wife and her cousin became fascinated by it when they were exposed
to the paintings of Batiste Madalena, arguably the most
accomplished of these regional artists. Almost by default they
became the only experts in this little known history and the Motion
Picture Academy approached them about doing a book on the subject.
"Now Playing: Hand-Painted Poster Art From the 1910s through the
1940s" is finally coming out next month. It's still on pre-sale on
Amazon.com, but you can see the cover and a description at the
publisher's site (they publish quite a few Hollywood-oriented books):
http://www.angelcitypress.com/nowp.html
While I was assisting in the research, members of this forum very
generously steered me toward historical sources that helped flesh
out the background for the book. I want to say a big thank you to
all who helped. Your forum may be more focused on studio posters,
but you've helped illuminate a sister niche in the history of movies.
Chris Berthelsen
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