I agree with you, Adrian, completely! There was a time I was even more snobby
and close-minded than some people already regard me - a time when I only stared
at country-of-origin posters in line with my tendency to chase "first issue of
publication or first printing or true first edition books." My "metamorphosis"
so to speak - came gradually - first it was my frustration with bootleg Star
Wars posters in the 1990s and I swore off of them completely, everything from
one-sheets to inserts, with only the half-sheet, three-sheet and six-sheets
unscathed. So I moved toward Australian daybills because the art was sometimes
equal if not better than the country-of-origin issues, particularly titles from
30-40 years plus old. I loved their portability did a complete "180" on them
regardless of country-of-origin status and bought several from dealers like
John Reid.
Then the Italians creeped into my mind, I'm thinking particularly the Hepburn
and Hayworth posters like those from "Sabrina" and "Affair from Trinidad" and
"Lady from Shanghai." Now of course these titles would be sought after anyway,
given their Hepburn and Hayworth pedigrees, but the art from these so-called
"foreign" posters looked awesome in person. Recently, Bruce H. had a Swedish
Citizen Kane for sale. I'm sure most of you saw it - and I felt that this was
arguably the best art for this title issued in the 1940s.
The only "slight" downside for me with Italian and French posters are the fact
that they are on the "bigger" side - which limits their display in large
quantities; at one time before our wildfires forced me to liquidate about 95%
of my collection, I had nearly 150 posters on DISPLAY (I rarely STORED what I
owned except for the hundreds of lobby and window cards I used to own) - and I
know that if I had a few Italians or French grandés hanging on my walls, I
would have want more of them but wouldn't have had the space. I've got vaulted
ceilings in my home, but I don't live in a mansion by any means.
As it stood, my collection at its peak just had one three-sheet on display on a
22-foot-high wall - it was from "The Quiet Man" and our glorious Sue Heim
framed it for me. Since there are no boxes to ship a 7-foot-high framed
poster, my wife and I borrowed a van and drove up to the L.A. area to visit
with Sue and then hauled it down to San Diego. Let me tell you, hanging that
monster on a huge wall while on a ladder was a miracle itself. Anyway, back to
the Italians; if I had to do it all over again, I'd chase the Italian "Affair
from Trinidad" and would have likely adopted the "less is more" approach to
collecting for display. Still, I have no regrets because although I didn't
have a Ralph DeLuca-type collection, I did have a good mix of popular
mainstream vintage titles. I envy guys like DeLuca all the time. -d.
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2013 06:47:49 -0500
From: jboh...@aol.com
Subject: Italian Apartment and much more....
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
It is extremely interesting reading the comments and thread on the Italian
Apartment poster that Kirby has.
In Morrie Everett's last auction there were a good handful of Italian posters
that were glossed over and went unsold.
In my opinion the Italian movie posters are amongst some of the best art work
for the respective films. Italian movie poster artists are the equivalent of
the romantic artists of the 18th and 19th century. Often the American and brit
artists for these movie posters are quite forthright with just an image of the
principal actors and actresses...the Italian artists put a lot more "art" into
the posters and yet because the language is not English these posters get over
looked - A poster I brokered last year was for Fighter Squadron - it was
beautiful - it went to a movie poster collector yet it would have been
fantastic in the Smithsonian in the back ground of a P47 Thunderbolt. The art
was superb.
Now I know historically the Italian's liked to sell a film and many Sean
Connery films had 007 like images on films that were made prior to Dr. No when
these films had their re releases. It was often the artist that created the
image that sold the film.
I am very pleased that the US dealers are taking notice of Italian movie
posters there are some wonderful pieces of art that are far more attractive
than compared to the US or Brit paper.
This Never Happened to the Other Fella....
Adrian Cowdry
jboh...@aol.com
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