The first poster that I purchased, or at least the first poster I remember purchasing, occured in May of 1968 or 1969 at the annual Cinevent Convention in Columbus. I arrived early and was watching the dealers set up their tables in the Dealers Room. Don Leet was pushing a cart with a group of shrinkwrapped 1-sheets, and on the outside was a stunning stone litho 1-sheet to CRUEL, CRUEL LOVE. I stopped Don before he reached his table, asked the price, which was $175, and bought my first poster of any real significance, on the spot. I believe it is the earliest extant Charlie Chaplin poster. CRUEL, CRUEL LOVE is a Chaplin one-reel comedy, made for Keystone. It was released in March of 1914, three months after Chaplin arrived in the United States. I believe it was the 7th short film Chaplin made, and I've never seen a 1-sheet (or any original publicity material) on any of the six earlier titles. I do have a stock 1-sheet from one of the earlier titles, but I believe they were used for the on-going re-releases of Chaplin's early films. CRUEL, CRUEL LOVE is especially interesting because it was so early in Chaplin's career that he was not even billed on the poster! I also remember my friend Scott Eyman ridiculing me for paying so much money for a poster. His words were something to the effect of, "You could have bought a 16mm print of the film for less than $175!" Forty-plus years later, the poster remains one of my top five favorite pieces in my collection.
________________________________ From: Evan Zweifel <evanzwei...@comcast.net> To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2013 12:33 PM Subject: [MOPO] A question for you 18 yr olds.... In honor of MOPO's birthday, I ask a question: what was the very first movie poster that you obtained? For me, it was the very rare insert for the James Stewart classic film "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation". I bought this treasure from none other than Bruce Carteron at the Denver poster store "Cinegraphics". Which if you are keeping score, was (sad to say it closed) next door to Chipotle #1. If you want see a picture of the store, visit your local Chipotle and look at the pictures on the wall, its in the background (preserved for eternity). Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at http://www.filmfan.com/ ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
