Ditto that sentiment Kirby. Richard was as lovely a person as you are ever likely to encounter. His passion & enthusiasm for movie posters & their history was inspiring & a pleasure to be around. I always felt very privileged to have the opportunity to talk to him or listed to him discuss our shared passion.
I am deeply sorry to hear of his passing. He will most certainly be missed by everyone in the movie poster word. Bruce, please send Barbara & his family my condolences. Regards, Sam sarowitz posteritati.com <https://posteritati.com/> 239 Centre St FL 4 | New York, NY 10013 | 212.226.2207 Instagram <https://instagram.com/posteritati> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/posteritati> | Facebook <https://facebook.com/posteritati> | Pinterest <https://pinterest.com/posteritati> > On Oct 1, 2018, at 3:04 PM, Kirby McDaniel <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello, All: > > First of all, thank you, Bruce, for reporting this. > > I am greatly saddened to hear of Richard Allen’s death. He was a wonderful > man, and he was so kind to me in the beginning days of my career selling film > posters. He was encouraging. He genuinely loved film posters, and your > assessment of his influence on the hobby is spot-on. The book he created > with Stephen Rebello is a wonderful book, and I’m sure that it helped to > spawn the many books that now exist on the subject, some of which are quite > fine, but none better than REEL ART. > > You are quite right about his personality, which was warm, friendly, > inviting, curious, genial, patient. > > I was lucky to have known him. My dad died when he was 97 also, and I can > tell you that that in itself is an accomplishment. > > Rest In Peace, Richard. > > Kind Regards to all on this list, and to you, Bruce, > > Kirby McDaniel > MovieArt Austin > > > >> On Oct 1, 2018, at 1:35 PM, Bruce Hershenson <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> It is with much sadness that I report that the world's foremost movie poster >> collector, Richard Carson Allen, passed away on September 19th. He was 97 >> years old, and he lived a remarkably full life, both personally and >> professionally. You can read much about him here: >> https://obituaries.pressherald.com/obituaries/mainetoday-pressherald/obituary.aspx?n=richard-carson-allen&pid=190354169 >> >> <https://obituaries.pressherald.com/obituaries/mainetoday-pressherald/obituary.aspx?n=richard-carson-allen&pid=190354169> >> >> I first learned of Richard Allen in 1988 when I saw the massive coffee table >> book he had just co-authored with Stephen Rebello, Reel Art. Great Posters >> From the Golden Age of the Silver Screen. In the mid-1980s I resumed >> collecting movie posters (after having stopped for a decade), and it was >> this amazing book that propelled my collecting into a much higher gear (and >> I have heard the same from many, many, other collectors over the years >> since). >> >> After buying the book, I very much wanted to meet Mr. Allen in person, and I >> did so the following year (legendary movie poster dealer Jose Ma Carpio set >> it up). Upon meeting Richard (as he insisted I call him!), I was at once >> struck by how humble he was, in spite of his many business accomplishments. >> And I also met his wonderful (and very supportive) wife, Barbara, whom he >> had married in 1943, and who was by his side when he passed away, after a 75 >> year marriage and three children. >> >> Over the next few years we had many business dealings, with my first >> auctioning much of his remarkable collection, and later we co-authored a >> large number of movie poster books, and later still we formed a partnership >> in leasing images of classic movie posters (the Hershenson/Allen Archive), >> and through it all, we never had a single disagreement. >> >> I have accomplished much during my career in the movie poster hobby, and >> whenever people ask me how I did it, I remember the words of Isaac Newton, >> who said, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of >> giants", and I say that in my case, "If I have done more in this hobby than >> others, it is by standing on the shoulders of Richard Allen"! >> >> Incidentally, Richard did not come first come into the movie poster hobby >> around the time of Reel Art. Growing up in Montclair New Jersey, he would >> attend great 1930s movies, and sometimes he asked the theater for a poster >> from a particular favorite, and he still had those when I visited him for >> the first time in 1989! When dealers first appeared on the collecting scene >> in the 1960s and 1970s, Richard was one of their best customers, searching >> out the finest posters from the finest movies. This is why Reel Art >> contained the most amazing assemblage of movie posters ever seen, because >> the collection had been formed over many decades. >> >> It is impossible to overstate how influential Richard's book, Reel Art, has >> been on the movie collecting hobby. It was the first to treat them as an art >> form rather than a collectible, and it is no coincidence that less than two >> years after the publication of this book the world's foremost auction houses >> were regularly holding major movie poster auctions, and that this little >> hobby grew from a few hundred people to many thousands. And for decades >> after its publication, Richard remained a "good will ambassador" for the >> hobby, traveling all over the country, telling everyone he could about this >> wonderful hobby. >> >> So thank you very, very much Richard, for all you did for the movie poster >> collecting hobby. You absolutely were the world's number one movie poster >> collector, and every collector the world over owes you a great debt of >> gratitude for all you did for our hobby! >> >> To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: >> https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1 >> <https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1> > > To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: > https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1 > <https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1> 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.

