While Richard is correct that most of us could
not have seen Thief of Bagdad with Fairbanks in
1924, it is also correct that I saw this film at
the tender age of 11 years old on PBS in NYC as I
did silents like Caligari, Metropolis, Siegfried,
Phantom of the Opera and many more.
Unihorror was regularly shown on TV as were 100s
or 1000s of classic movies as well. So while we
didn't see these movies in 1931 or 1941, we did
in 1961, 71 and beyond. The difference today is
this: young folks (under 35) aren't interested in
watching b&w movies, and movies "without words"
as I hear many young'uns call silents are as far
from their viewing schedule as I am from the
Ukraine. As such, these types of films are not a
part of their public consciousness as they are of ours.
However my good pal Peter is also partially
incorrect in his post. It isn't that the hobby is
imploding entirely - it's that the vintage part
of the hobby is. These younger collectors who
come in to the hobby want Star Wars, or Toy
Story, or Pulp Fiction because they do go to
contemporary films. They just aren't interested
in "classics", and that doesn't just extend to
old b&w movies. Most of them will never watch Ben
Hur, or GWTW, and while they do all watch vintage
cartoons (cartoons have a more timeless quality)
I doubt many of these children understand they
were made in the 30s & 40s. Unlike our
generations, most of them don't know King Kong
was first filmed in 1933, or that the Psycho that
they know is not the Psycho that we know
But it isn't limited to movie posters. Comics
books, baseball cards, post cards and many other
fields are experiencing the same loss of culture
for all of the same reasons above. Boiled down to
it's simplest terms, they aren't interested in
history.. unless it's the history of Yoda or the Twilight Saga
Rich
At 01:34 PM 7/21/2010, Richard Evans wrote:
"If you didn't see the movie when it first
came out, and remember seeing the poster for it
hanging in the theater lobby, then you might
still appreciate the poster, but you are not
going to have that gut-level strong nostalgic
pull to fork over big bucks for it."
I honestly can't think of a single poster I've
bought that I was old enough to see at the
cinema, and mostly I didn't even exist when the film was released.
Isn't that the same for most of us?
People passionately collecting 50's Sci-Fi
aren't in their seventies, Todd and Jim Gresham
aren't in their nineties, or Ken Schacter pushing a century.
I flicked through Hollywood Posters 1 from 1990 the other night.
Huge percentage of 20's and 30's material,
extremely small amount of anything later, and it
only got as recent as a Forbidden Planet 1 sht.
I think it's much the same through to Hollywood Posters 6.
I can imagine the hoots of derision when at some
point not too much later someone had the crazy
idea of suggesting 60s and even 70s posters could be sold at auction.
Looking at those posters from the 20s, they are
beautiful, but look irrelevant.
Everything moves on, and I can't imagine there
being the connection to the film or the style of artwork.
It's the same with antiques/furniture. Edwardian
and Victorian out, continued popularity of
modern design, Mid Century, or earlier or later.
Although what initially hooked me, the screening
of the classics on TV in my youth isn't there to
the same degree to hook young people, won't
people who love film still exist and seek out
and appreciate earlier movies ? (They may even
learn to master subtitles and B&W.)
And, aren't they likely to still find appeal in
the art of whatever genres that will go in and out of fashion.
Though yes, I wouldn't necessarily expect much
from anyone, (in disposable cash or taste) until they reach their thirties.
On 20 Jul 2010, at 21:50, James Richard wrote:
Peter,
I would tend to agree with your feeling that
poster collecting is not expanding, logic seems
to indicate it, but on the other hand you see
some stuff that can't be otherwise explained.
An example would be original posters for the
Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films. The
prices for those posters, while not ultra-high,
have remained firm, even though the first of
those posters came out 10 years ago. Surely it
is younger people buying/collecting those and
similar items and keeping the prices up? I
think the real question -- one that cannot yet
be answered -- is how many of those younger
buyers will *remain* movie poster collectors
and, perhaps as they grow older, become
interesting some of the great older posters?
After all, great poster art is great poster
art, regardless of when the film came out.
But there is no denying that simple nostalgia
is the *big* driver in all forms of memorabilia
collecting. If you didn't see the movie when it
first came out, and remember seeing the poster
for it hanging in the theater lobby, then you
might still appreciate the poster, but you are
not going to have that gut-level strong
nostalgic pull to fork over big bucks for it.
-- JR
peter contarino wrote:
I think all of Rons questions are excellent
and on point. I also think that the answer is
all the above. The economy is awful, supply
outweighs demand, the high-rollers have
acquired many of their pieces and the younger
generation(s)would rather text and tweet than
watch a film(literally- I was at a theater
recently and the kid a few seats in front of
me texted for the better part of the film).
And after all, like who, you know, would want
to, like, watch a black and white film anyway
and stuff
dude.
I dont know whether the hobby is expanding;
you guys would know more about that. My sense
is that it is not. I cant imagine it is
bringing a lot of younger people in. I think
the target is 35+ years of age. Maybe older.
For example, my wife and I were spending the
weekend with some friends of ours who just
built a getaway home. They will be retiring in
10 years or so. We got to talking about the
website Ken and I have and then the questions
started coming: What does the poster to Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof look like? Do you have it?
And so on. Bottom line is that they want to do
at least one room and maybe more with vintage
paper from films that they love. These are
professionals with money and grew up on
classic films who never knew that this paper
existed. I have some ideas about how to tap into that demographic.
Regarding the images that Heritage provides, I
have to say that they are spot on. I spoke
with Ken Schacter about this yesterday and we
both feel that the photo/scans are by far the
most accurate and highest quality of any site,
auction or not. The catalogs are unparalleled
and are collectable in themselves. Great reference material.
Its an uncertain market to be sure but as
Bruce and Grey have pointed out it is a great time to buy.
Peter
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