Back in the 80's, it was still possible to stumble upon some incredible
finds. Let's say it was 1985.
An old guy called me up from a "Movie Posters Wanted" as I ran in a local
PennySaver-type weekly paper called The Recycler. He gave me a list of all
the posters he had over the phone and he subsequently agreed to sell
everything for $4000. Back in '87, $4000 was a really big chunck of change
for
me...I had to scramble to get that much cash together. The one thing I
remember about the guy after all these years is his wheezing..over the phone
and in person...must have had emphysema. When I met him, he was
chain-smoking cigarettes, which obviously was no big surprise. The one title
he told
me over the phone that stuck in my head was Dracula. "It's one of the big
ones", he said. I discovered early in our phone conversation that "the big
ones" were one sheets.
Anyway, I rushed across town in my old van with 4 grand stuffed in my
pockets. When I got to his house, he directed me out to a patio area and all
that was in my mind was the Dracula one sheet. I should say now that all
of these posters had been dry mounted to light board and were framed, but
there was no glass in the frames. The first poster I saw was a one sheet on
It Happened One Night ...(I was blown away, but I was still thinking
"Dracula...Dracula")---the next poster was a half sheet on
Scarface..("Dracula...Dracula..")--then a one sheet on The Iron Mask
(Fairbanks)...then The Devil
Is a Woman...then a beautiful Chaplin one sheet (sorry but I forget the
title)---all the time I still had Dracula on my mind....
I looked at poster after poster but couldn't find the Dracula one sheet.
The guy pointed in the direction of his garage. I didn't want to seem too
excited to him, so I as casually as I could walked over to his
garage....and suddenly I found what I'd been looking for....a Dracula one
sheet....a
1951 Realart Dracula one sheet, that is.
It seemed amazing to me then and it seems equally amazing to me now that
EVERY poster and lobby card I bought that day for my $4000 was original...It
Happened One Night, Scarface, The Devil Is A Woman, The Iron Mask...in all
probably 15 one sheets, a handful of 1/2 sheets and a couple dozen lobby
cards...many, many great titles that I can't recall because it's been 25
years...ALL were original EXCEPT the Dracula one sheet! Back then you have to
remember Realart material was thought to be just north of junk. (I sold
it a couple weeks later for a hundred and fifty bucks).
I'm sure many members of MoPo have similar stories to tell. Back then,
miracle deals like that would occasionally happen Hey, I don't have ONE
YEAR that stands out in my mind...I have a period of time,,,10 or 12 years
that stand out in my mind. Always hunting high and low for posters...knowing
that the next great deal was eight around the corner. Sorry to say this
but.....man, those were the days....
Rick
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
