Yes the Columbia Noirs and the Universal B Boxset are very much aticipated,
looking forward to them.
And here's to hoping that Criterion get the rights to do the business with
Malicks 'Badlands'.
On the other note, it has not been a hobby for a long time now.
Simon
----- Original Message -----
From: "glenndamato" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2009 3:31 PM
Subject: [MOPO] SLOW DESTRUCTION OF OUR "HOBBY'
Folks-After this latest-dealer-restorer-consignor fiasco with the
"Dracula" one-sheet, I felt compelled to make this post. To me it seems
the movie poster biz has gone the way of New York City. In the seventies &
eighties, Both New York & the hobby were a little dirty, but still
relatively cheap and fun, and both were enjoyed by people who really
appeciated them. You could make poster finds relatively cheap, and you
pals would hold whatever posters you wanted to purchase from them until
you had the dough to pay. I remember old time dealers like Steve Sally,
Eric Caidin, Bob Coleman, Dino Sisto, and many others would say-"pay me
when you have the $$$". Friends would actually meet and discuss films and
posters. Many folks (myself included) collected 16 & 35mm film, the purest
form of cinema collectable. New York was the same. There were plenty of
cheap places to eat, shop & visit. Realtors would work to get you deals on
apartments. People were street smart & tough and didn't n!
eed 5'2" cops from East Cupcake to protect them. Only folks who really
loved the city were here. Then, during the late Eighties, something
happened. Certain individuals (in the case of movie posters, they were
ex-comic geeks & Wall streeters) felt they could exploit both the poster
biz and New York real estate market. The poster hobby was "cleaned up".
New York was "cleaned up". "Pretty people" starting moving into "the
hobby" and into New York. Prices rose slowly through the roof. From the
outside, everything looked rosy. But was it? Not really! Poster dealers
used corrupt auction houses to sell stuff. Realtors developed every piece
of land using crooked contractors and shoddy construction. Cheap ethnic
eateries, small businesses, and rent-controlled lessees were forced out.
Reasonable and free parking became non-existant. Old time poster
collectors were harrassed night & day via phone by high pressure dealers
demanding they sell there stuff. The fun was gone. Rarely did a!
high priced poster change hands between two collector friends. Auctio
n house fees went through the roof. Lots of "salt-of-the-earth" folks
abandoned the city. The degradation of both hobby & city mirrored each
other.Do you want to have an $8- glass of beer with a white-bread yuppie?
Do you want to discuss posters with some geek who has never seen the
movies? Does anybody want to be here anymore?
The first sign that the poster hobby was going down the tubes occured to
me in the early 90's at a major auction house. A "relative" of a man
running an auction had a slip-up while shilling one of the major items. I
knew we were in trouble after that. The vortex swirled down into the
cesspool gradually after.
As far as the current poster problems, I don't know what to do. We seem to
have all these restoration "experts", but does anybody know what is really
going on? About a year ago I purchased a "Werewolf of London" half-sheet
from this fellow Thomas Rega, who is alleged to have consigned this fake
"Dracula" one-sheet to Joe Maddalena. It was rolled, looked nice, but had
a little staining. I sent it off to Ted Eiseman Of Funny Face to be
cleaned. He promptly told me that the stains were printed into the poster,
that the item was fake, and that he doesn't do any work on
fakes/reproductions (quite admirable in these days & times!). I contacted
Mr. Rega and he proceeded to "beat around the bush". I filed a Paypal
claim, left him bad feedback, and said I would drive to his home. He
refunded my money. I called Ebay and told them about this perpetration.
They said they wanted nothing to do with it as long as Mr. Rega refunded
my money. Nobody cares. I, personally would never patronize!
a restorer who worked on fakes or made a mistake evaluating a $250,000-
poster. Whoever did the Haggard jobs should be blackballed by all. I had
an e-mail exchange with Haggard years ago and he quoted "my reputation
means nothing to me". Obviously! Any major auction house who doesn't step
it up to restore integrity (what little there is left!?!)should be
boycotted. Maybe one of these auction houses should hold a "sale"-where
fees are lowered for a time to foster good will (doubtful). Collectors
should be wary of buying from anybody who uses shills (including "friends"
who say "bid this up for me"). People should also not buy from anybody on
Ebay who "sells" something, and then the same item, same condition appears
again (often more than once!). Know who your real friends are. In years
gone by, folks cared about there family, friends, pride and reputation.
Nowadays, people care about Andrew Jacksons, Ulysses S. Grants amd
Benjamin Franklins. How sad.
On a good note, October will be a banner month for DVD releases. the
'52-'54 Shemp Stooges, the RKO Lugosi-Karloff box, The Columbia noirs, and
that much awaited box set Of "B" Universal Horror Movies will be released,
but maybe I'm one of the few who cares-have fun!
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
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