People always ask me what were the first posters I got. Well, I remember always looking at the posters in the window at the theater when I was growing up, but just never put two and two together to think I could own one of them. When I was in my first year of college I went to visit my best friend who was at USC and his roommate was a film student and I walked into the dorm room and my whole life changed. There was this gorgeous Chinatown one sheet on the wall and I remember gazing at it and asking where in the world he got that. He told me about Larry Edmunds book store on Hollywood Blvd. I was there early on the following Saturday morning before they opened with $20 in my pocket that I had allotted myself to spend. I spent the day going through boxes and wound up getting an original poster for Chinatown, Funny Lady (I was working on the first Filmex in L.A. and Funny Lady was the opening night premiere) and I got a one sheet for Spellbound. Each one sheet was $6 each. The killer is, in hindsight, there were two copies of Spellbound in the box but I didn't think about buying two copies.
That was it for me and I spent so much time over the years at Larry Edmunds, Ron's shop in Hollywood, Eric Caden's shop on Las Palmas and so on and so on. When I began to subscribe to Movie Collector World and the Big Reel, I met a whole universe of fellow collectors and know most of them to this day. I truly believe we all have the collector gene. I still love movie posters and, while I don't really buy any anymore, I still love to watch every auction and see all the beautiful posters and even a few new ones that surface every once in awhile. I often get asked what is my favorite poster in my collection and that's a hard one. I could narrow it down to maybe 5 of them.....How about you guys? What is your favorite poster in your collection? Sue Hollywood Poster Frames ________________________________ From: Alan Adler <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2020 12:35 AM To: Susan Heim <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [MOPO] Has anyone ever wonder this...? Howdy - Put me down for 1957 and a poster from I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF begged from Bob White, the manager of the Sunset Theater in Asheboro, North Carolina. The amazing thing is that posters were trash back then - only worth pennies - the price of manufacture and rental to NSS - but just plan disposable other than that - time and changing culture has made them art. Maybe in New York or LA old paper had some small bankable charm in the old days - but growing up in a small town in North Carolina - I was nothing more than a pest digging trough trash cans for garbage. My father supported my habit - he loved movies and helped me appreciate the art of the posters despite the lack of dollar value - He also understood the touchstone the posters were for further enjoyment of the film. I’d find a room full of posters and my father would rent a U-haul and hire a couple guys to dig them out so I could bring them home. But in those days - where I lived - most people thought I was just plain not right in the head (many still do) - but there was an odd aloneness to a hobby that no one else practiced or understood. After ten years of collecting, one day when I was in my early 20’s on a trip to DC I walked past a small poster store. The first one I’d ever seen or heard of. I did a double-take and almost fainted. In that single moment I realized there were other people out there that saw value in old movie posters, too. And I was no longer alone. I was vindicated. I went in the store and had everything they had. If only there’d been a Dracula or two I could have gotten them for a few bucks. But the line from Treasure of Sierra Madre sums of my feelings for those days. “Thanks, mountain!” I say. The movie poster gods have been good to me - and I’ve been grateful for a lifetime. At 71, I still sort and file nearly every day. And thanks to a bad memory, every time I open a box I have the thrill of finding something I forgot I had! Alan On Apr 13, 2020, at 5:08 PM, Susan Heim <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Great question Glenn.. I know I have customers who started collecting the the 1950's. I have one customer who's father was good friends with someone who ran a National Screen Service and, on weekends, they would drop by to see the friend and the friend would give my customer, who was about 10 or 11 in those days movie posters and lobby card sets. So, for any given film, and he particularly collected Elizabeth Taylor and Alfred Hitchcock, he owned the one sheet, 40x60, 30x40 and lobby card set for each of their films, all in mint, never used condition. My customer kept up with the friend over the years, and developed other film poster interests all the way back to the 1920's, and collected hundreds of posters. It's really amazing to hold in your hands a mint copy of something that is 60 or 90 years old when you go to frame it...... I know Ron Borst started collecting pretty early.....when I first started collecting back in 1973, I knew other collectors that had been collecting since the 1940's finding posters in old bookstores in Hollywood. Sue Hollywood Poster Frames ________________________________ From: MoPo List <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> on behalf of Glenn Taranto <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Monday, April 13, 2020 11:59 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: [MOPO] Has anyone ever wonder this...? Hello All - OK, Admittedly too much time on my hands... Have any of you ever wondered (or know) who is considered the earliest know poster collector? Forry Ackerman, perhaps? I can just imagine some kid standing in front of a Paramount theatre and staring at a Metropolis one sheet wishing they could own it. GT ________________________________ 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://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.american.edu%2Fscripts%2Fwa-american.exe%3FSUBED1%3DMoPo-L%26A%3D1&data=02%7C01%7C%7C55a668294b5449ab068008d7e00bcd3c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637224213595356665&sdata=j4rFirUGRdV54ORP4X1k2UCUAvo1PxoI%2F8QzmE%2BEYjM%3D&reserved=0> ________________________________ 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://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.american.edu%2Fscripts%2Fwa-american.exe%3FSUBED1%3DMoPo-L%26A%3D1&data=02%7C01%7C%7C55a668294b5449ab068008d7e00bcd3c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637224213595366673&sdata=864YBCpfI%2F0upkqJ7ncqLMIa9aGkFcpRv%2F5evsZZABw%3D&reserved=0> 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.
