Hello, Marc...
Thanks for your message. It's not my book - it's my wife's, but I am
"proud and prejudiced" with regard to her accomplishment!
There are no examples of the films you mentioned in the book. The
era of the hand-painted regional posters was almost exclusively
limited to the silent and early sound eras. The book goes into the
1950s in order to thoroughly cover the final years when the practice
finally died out.
One of the remarkable things about the posters is that the artists
had almost never actually seen the movies they were
advertising. They worked pretty much exclusively form advance
marketing materials from the studios, so they were free to imagine
the movies in the context of their own movie experience. As a
result, the works are like a window into the mind of the regional
movie-going culture of the time. Although the majority of the
posters are for popular films, some are for other exhibitions at the
theatres, like orchestra performances, dance, lectures from returning
world adventurers. One of the stories told is of a film shown at a
theatre in New York. Instead of promoting the major actor who was in
the lead, it headlined a secondary actor who happened to be from the
neighborhood! Reading the book is like strolling along Main Street
America in the 1920s. And Anthony Slide does an excellent job of
illuminating the evolution of the craft and the influence of both the
major art movements and the commercial world of advertising on the artists.
That was a exceptional little trilogy of movies Tyrone Power and
Linda Darnell did in 1940-41, wasn't it? And I've always had a
fondness for Greer Garson. Do you know if any of the films she did
for the BBC's television experiments in the '30s exist? Or if there
were any posters done for them?
Thanks...
Chris
At 06:07 AM 4/23/2007, you wrote:
Hi Chris,
Your book sounds fascinating. Do you know if there is specific
information about painted posters for 'Pride and Prejudice' with Greer
Garson and Lawrence Olivier, and "Brigham Young' with Tyrone Power and
Linda Darnell?
Thanks, Marc
Marc K. Invergo
J-1 Scholar Advisor
Office of International Affairs
211 Bradley Hall
Lexington, KY 40506-0058
Office: (859)257-4067 ext. 240
Fax: (859) 323-1026
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.uky.edu/IntlAffairs
-----Original Message-----
From: MoPo List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chris
Berthelsen
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2007 1:24 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Thank you to the Forum for your help on a book...
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
>>
>> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
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