Sage words, Rick. Well done!
All the best,
Michael
On 7-Sep-09, at 8:32 AM, [email protected] wrote:
From the frightened, desperate tones of some of the posts, it
sounds almost like an old Twilight Zone episode, where all the
townspeople (movie poster collectors) are convinced that the poster
world out there is a scary, scary place and only their "Fearless
Leader" can be trusted. Everyone...everyone else will lead them
into the dark pit filled with lies, repros and despair.
Sure, there are a lot of snakes out there...even some of the
bigger names in the hobby. But when I first started collecting
movie posters in the late 70's + early 80's, EVEN THEN we had to
deal with Portal Reproductions. Hey, back then Realart posters
were thought to be just above garbage ( I remember selling a
Realart Frankenstein title card for $50 or $75). Anyway, it took a
few years to LEARN THE HOBBY. I remember driving 100 miles to an
old woman's house who said she had a "Original Dracula" poster--
swore it had been in her family for 50 years! When I got to her
house, I knew IMMEDIATELY it was a Realart reproduction. but I
LEARNED from that mistake. I realized that before driving those
100 miles, I should have requested the poster's measurements. If I
had, I would have been ONE STEP CLOSER to realizing that what she
had wasn't authentic---at that time, I was aware of the
standardized sizing of US posters. I probably would have asked the
old lady a few more questions---she would have revealed that the
poster said "Portal Publications---Sausalito, CA" in the bottom
border---and I wouldn't have had to drive 100 miles. But way back
then, I NEVER got angry about these types of useless sojourns to
hell and back---because, in fact, they WEREN'T useless! Through
all the effort I put out, I was LEARNING THE HOBBY.
It's obvious that things are way more scary now out there now
than back then---repros everywhere. One thing to remember in Movie
Poster collecting, as in Life----99.9% of the time, if it looks too
good to be true, guess what---IT IS! A MoPo member poster a link
to an "Original 1942 Casablanca US 1/2 Sheet" for A HUNDRED BUCKS!
Hey, ain't no way if that was REAL, it would be up on eBay 10
MINUTES, let alone 3 days!
The bottom line is---if you're really serious about collecting
movie posters, you've got to invest some time in LEARNING THE
HOBBY. But I also found out along the way that as soon as you get
cocky and think you KNOW EVERYTHING, the hobby seems to throw you a
curve ball and you get burned. Such is life.
You pick yourself up, brush yourself off...and move on.
But WHEN FEAR TAKES OVER....and all the townspeople run to their
"Fearless Leader" (or Leaders) for safety and assurance that all
is well----I think they're MISSING OUT on finding the hidden gem
that's out there that no one else has found---the DIAMOND IN THE
JUNKPILE! Great movie posters are still out there if you look had
enough---if you really care about the hobby enough to LEARN IT.
Sure, it's an investment of TIME AND ENERGY....but doesn't anything
in this Life that's WORTH ANYTHING take some effort?
Sure, townspeople, you may find SAFETY in you run to your
"Fearless Leader(s)" to SAFELY bid on all of your movie posters----
but it's my belief that in the process you lose the JOY OF THE
SEARCH! That's always been the FUN PART of movie poster collecting
for me!
Instead of living in FEAR, make a concerted effort to LEARN THE
HOBBY. That way, you'll eventually be prepared to move out of fear
back to the joy and pleasure and fun that the search can bring!
Sincerely,
Rick Ryan
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
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