Okay mopo..Tom stereo broad cavity
... Consider this When I started selling posters in 1977
Banker laughed at me When give me alone
Instead what makes you think you can sell Hollywood memorabilia from
Toledo Ohio
I started in my booking agency office With the box full of posters,Some
1920s photoplay movie magazinesThen we moved to a house at 3502 Watson
Toledo, OH 43612
The house is now museum As it was built in 1825And I think was
originally a stable
It was thought to be the oldest house in West Toledo
So we printed our own sales sheets With gestetner printer Like a
mimeograph machine
We used Pulp tabloid paper Like they used to do flyers and comic books
On My first run of 10,000 catalogs Into color We jobbed it out to a
newspaper familier with printing
It was printed like a comic book In saddle stitch Staples
It Cost me hundred dollars a page For the typesetting And they have half
tones made Of all the photographs
I think it was about 38 pages long May have been more can't remember
Plus the postage to mail
As I said we sell son 10,000 catalogs out People paid a dollar apiece to
get the catalog
That offset the cost of mailing And printing
We had a 30% response rate Which I was told his very high in the mail
order industry
But we were always under finance
I only had one bank loan for $10,000
However I grossed over $5 million in sales over though Last 43 years
So how did finance?? Well I would plow back back on my sales back into
the business
, I would speculate a new poster titles
Before new the movie was going to be successful Since I started in 77
You can tell what movies were coming out
At the time it was Star Wars,Close encounters
Jaw's been out in 75 Raiders of the lost Ark in 81
The first poster I bought quantity Of a single title
Was Conan the barbarian Arnold Schwarzenegger
I like Arnold And I liked Frank Frazetta art or are
Back in 78 to 81 I paid an average of $3 -Six dollars upholster
This was before all the reprints of bootlegs
Which came out in the 80s With posters like this style a Star Wars With
the hair in the grind
Is where all printed by litho process..so When the bootlegs came out
They were second generation shot off originals
It usually contains errorsBlowers
Since the posters from national screen service
Came from many different printers Many people got confused and thought
they were bootlegsWhen in fact they were originals
Lucasfilm themselves reprinted many of their posters Off the original
plates
I remember when the reprint guys needed a copy of searchers video
poster They told me they bought their copy from me And use that to make
the reprints Buy the digital reprints actually look as good or better
than the original posters Because they can digitally enhancedThe
tightness of the colors
So that's why people want a folded poster
We are trying to seek out an original
As role posters were very uncommon
However I had rolled posters the way back to the 20's
So it's all over the place
Then you get into printing processes
Like stone litho versus Enamel coated stock
Versus flat stock You'll never find plates for the Stone leftover
because they recycled
The Bavarian slab of rock that used to add some posters soon
Would be ground down in reused..I only know onePrinterThat still uses
the old process
Inquirer printing in Cincinnati Credit Circus posters
For Cole Brothers Circus
So it's been an incredible business
To watch the poster prices rise And see how they turned into a lucrative
business for many people
I was one of those dealers been trying to appeal
To the common Man But also serve the advance collectors
That's why defended the reprints Yes most of the titles I still have
Of Like harold Lloyd Charlie Chaplin, Reprinted in Germany By Mr.
Mueller Posterart publications
Printed over 40 years ago believe it or not.. He was a very kind man
I tried to contact him a few years ago Got a to sender letter
Then was told that he died
The the future posters.. I think there's aMarket still
Yes it's a feel-good item for people An adult version fromThe chaos in
society right now
Alright what the hell do I know
I've been taking so long to heal my eyes
Almost a year is gone by But I didn't manage to sell a few postersGarnet
here
I've hope that if I get online endless things
I'll continue to get buyers
Since my inventory is from Mostly years people want material
It's kind of interesting
As I looked through boxes
They were all popular titles
Most people won't believe I even had
Foreign,Classics, Every genre..Some I forgot I had
So I wish I never bought
Some where bad when I bought them And still could be wrapping paper
I is the use movie posters to pack my orders Specially when I had
100,000 video posters
I still have video posters But I always kept a select amount of titles I
thought really good
I never thought the video industry would change So drastically
I'm sure the buggy whip manufacturers Didn't The car industry coming
either
The best thing about what I've been doing 43 years
That I salute entire Movie industry...
I was not a wise speculator But Like all of you
I love movies And I was happy to just speak outA decent living
Doing something that I love
So in summary, I don't like to see if everybody panicking
Over the economy, The political spectrum
Wars, Viruses, And all the otherCraziness
I notice at having an affect on people my age baby boomers
..I think if you just go back in time
And reflect on why you got in the business
And Just do over what you did back then
Give people fair prices,Honesty Intrigued people guy
Just like you're starting over again
I have to start all over again After divorce
Health issues,Losing my building
And all I can tell you is With friends and family
In my customers, And Suppliers
And all the people I've worked with over the years
They come you And support you
In many different ways
Sure there are some real trials andErrors
But We all can improve
And many opportunities I got way back in 77
I didn't really deserve Is my knowledge on movies
Is very limited, I am almost embarrassed
But Johnny Paris told me I'll Boston rock'n roll
If you do something long enough You can't help but learn something
So it was all the collectors
Who has educated me on the limited knowledge I do have Plus at one point
I had a library of 3000 books On the entire history of motion pictures
From pre-cinema Zoetropes
Always laugh and say all my knowledge and $.10 Might buy me a cup coffee
That's why of Babble on like a crazy man on mopo
Because all my teachers Wrote so many cool books
On the film pioneers who made the industry..I found it fascinating
Plus in 1993 My first lawsuitBeing challenge on my trademark
I had to prove with evidence The relativity between comic books, And
movies
Nobody would agree with me That dream factory Have been the nickname for
Hollywood
Longwith Tinseltown,, variety magazine even said they never heard of
it.. Editor for a comic book Collectors Magazine Comic buyers guide Told
me they never heard of it This was 1993 remember
However One of the largest comic book distributors in the US
Diamond distribution -Founder Steve Geppi Said sure Tom Everybody
knows comics
And movies are so intertwined Does animation Going back to Gerty the
dinosaur
Anyways I also say good thing I'm not the fresh produce business As I
would've been out of business years ago
So being slow Has expanded benefits... Just ask the tortoise and the
hair
You know the highest paying star in Hollywood's been
Yep. Mickey Mouse
Since the 20s
Any still on top And has been buying up all Hollywood In of properties
Likes Star Wars,Marvel comics,Jim Henson.20th Century Fox..And much more
Never under estimate a mouse :)
Okay back to your normal channel viewing
Return you Like Outer limits
Same bat time same bat channel :)
If you consider What all the moviemakers
Salvador Dali,The castle,Michelangelo.Leonardo da Vinci
edison,Henry Ford , Tesla, PT Barnum By the way I just got friended by
his cousin On Facebook
I think I attract attention deficit people Autistic people And dyslexic
people
Steven Spielberg found out he was dyslexic at 65
Dysfunctional people Are my people
I think they're very talented When you give them a chance
They think outside the box You can solve world problems
Making credible Moving pictures Inspired Others for generations
Liked Walt Disney has done
In the Beatles, And almost any other creative forceIn history
Is the beatle said: And In the end "the Love you make is equal to the
love you take"
Best to mope..
----
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