[1])
COLLECTING MINI-WINDOW CARDS
BY DENVER W. SHERRY
EVERYBODY KNOWS about window cards, but only a handful of collectors
and dealers have more than a passing acquaintance with that size of
movie poster known as the mini-window card. I myself had been
dealing in movie posters for several years and had never knowingly
seen one. Then one day at a convention in Houston, fellow nostalgia
fantastic Robert Brown showed me a whole album filled with the
little gems, most of them on blockbuster titles and all of them just
gorgeous. Even then, I thought they were very nice, but had no
desire to own one. Nevertheless, being the opportunist that I am, I
kept my eyes open in case I could find one to sell or trade to
Robert. To my great surprise, I couldn't turn up even one in the
several months following.
So the next year at the Houston convention, I quizzed Robert
extensively on the little buggers. I even traded him out of a few of
his duplicates, and against my better judgment, I bought a couple of
them. I was hooked! I determined right then and there to collect as
many different ones as I could, and more importantly, to get at
least one more than Robert had, even if he got more. It has taken 12
years and many dollars, but that day has finally arrived. The actual
numbers are academic because Robert has not counted his lately, but
we both agreed at the Dallas Big D show in July that we have about
the same number. We are each closing in on 300 different. Whether I
have more than Robert or not doesn't seem to matter any more because
I know I am within striking distance. It's more important now to see
if I can get to the big three-oh-oh.
What is it about these midget cards, smaller even than lobby cards,
that attracts and enchants the few of us who collect them for their
own sake? I wish I knew. This article, besides telling you all you
ever wanted to know about mini-window cards but were afraid to ask,
will also be an attempt to answer this question.
The difficulty of capturing the essence of these little creatures
shows itself even in a rudimentary description of them. For example,
they can be anywhere from 8 1/2 x 11 inches to 8 1/2 x 14 inches,
depending on the artwork and on whether or not the theater imprint
has been trimmed off the top. The artwork of all of the early
Columbias and First Nationals, most of the Warner Bros. and MGM's,
and some of the RKO's and Paramounts, exceeds 11", leaving very
little room at the top for the theater imprint. The artists at
Universal, Fox and Twentieth Century-Fox hardly ever went over the
11" mark, and RKO and Paramount only rarely did.
Mini-window cards can be found then in four different ways: 8 1/2 x
14 untrimmed with or without theater imprint, 8 1/2 x 14 untrimmed
with one or more imprints pasted or stapled over a blank or earlier
imprint, and trimmed to any size down to 8 1/2 x 11. I personally
prefer them untrimmed in good shape with a theater imprint, although
there is probably little difference in value for any of the ways
they are found. More about imprints later.
The paper stock these cards are printed on is also a complicating
factor. In general, for example, when Warner Bros. printed the lobby
cards for a movie on linen stock, the mini-window card was done the
same way. Same for early Columbias and their coated stock. They were
all printed on a slightly smaller weight paper than the lobby cards
(nowhere near as thick as a regular window card).
One real mystery has developed which I hope to shed some light on
here. There are two different mini-window cards for THE ADVENTURES
OF ROBIN HOOD -- one flat and one on a linen-like paper. I have seen
both, and I don't really know why there is such a discrepancy. This
anomaly may also involve other Warner Bros. films, but none has yet
come to light. At first, I thought it was an "other company" piece,
but I ruled this out because the artwork is identical. Besides, I
know of no "other company" mini-window cards. Of course, since all
the lobby cards I have seen are on linen paper, the flat mini-window
cards from this title could be counterfeit, but this is not likely.
More probably, the flat one was either a purposeful experiment or a
mistake. Some of the mini-window cards somehow got printed on flat
paper instead of linen. The only other explanation I can think of,
which has been advanced by at least two collectors, is that the flat
one is a same year reissue. My own theory is that the flat ones were
not a reissue but a second printing, and that the printer had
temporarily run out of linen stock.
There are only two characteristics of mini-window cards that are
not controversial. They are always printed on the vertical, like an
insert, and they were hardly ever reissued. In fact, I know of only
one reissue mini-window card--the 1939 reissue of ALL QUIET ON THE
WESTERN FRONT. Moreover, this one may have been reissued because
when the movie first came out in 1930, there were no mini-window
cards.
This brings me to my next point. When were they made? It seems that
they came in with the talkies and were killed by the returning World
War II soldiers and sailors. More likely, they were determined to be
useful when the neighborhood concept materialized early in the Great
Depression and they disappeared along with the bulk of the
neighborhood candy and cigar stores and cafes after the war as
people moved to the newly-built suburbs. They also could have
succumbed to the paper drives during the war, and as the smallest
poster size, were just never revived.
At any rate, my earliest card is dated 1932 and my latest one is
1947, and I have not seen any dated earlier or later. In a study of
the 276 different that I own, which is probably a pretty
representative sampling of those remaining, they average between 13
and 22 different for each year from 1932 until 1937, when I have no
less than 38. I have 22 dated 1938, and 43 for that glorious year
1939. There are 20 for each of the next two years, and then they
taper off gradually until 1947. What I know of Robert's cards bears
out these statistics. While there is some overlap, the percentages
are similar. The obvious, although unscientific conclusion, is that
they were used steadily until the war began, and then, like nearly
everything else during the war, they were gradually put on the back
burner.
A breakdown of my cards by major studios yields interesting results
also. The first and last years for each one follows:
Universal....1935-44
Paramount....1932-40
Fox/20th.....1932-44
RKO..........1932-40
Columbia.....1932-42
MGM..........1933-43
Warner Bros..1933-47
As can be easily seen, if this chart is accurate (and Robert's
cards change these statistics only slightly and on the later end),
it probably rules out both a Dracula and Frankenstein mini-window
card, but does not preclude one for each of the many sequels and
similar films through 1944. Moreover, there is a good probability of
the existence of a King Kong mini-window card. Indeed, I have seen
the pressbook, and there is a picture of one there. Whether any were
ordered by a theater or a poster exchange is another question,
however, and whether any were printed is even more tenuous.
Of even greater importance to many collectors is the likely
non-existence of any silent mini-window cards or any of the great
talkies before 1932 or those wonderful RKO film noir pictures from
1941 on (including Citizen Kane). Apparently, neither Paramount nor
RKO had mini-windows printer after 1940. Sadly, it seems that
Universal did not start using them until 1935, and then, along with
Fox, Columbia, and MGM, the studio bowed to the wartime paper
conservation. Warner Bros. was the only studio whose mini-window
cards can be found from the beginning to the end of the run. I
wonder if they knew that they were designing the last midget cards.
Finally, the four poverty row studio mini-window cards I have (three
World Wide/Tiffany cards and one Mascot serial card) date from the
early 1930s. Alas, no Republic or Monogram mini-window cards have
been reported, and very few cards of serials exist. Similarly, none
of the great Disney or Fleischer studios cartoons were captured in
the mini-window format.
As you would imagine, Warner Bros. mini-window cards are the most
common, but Paramount runs a close second. This is surprising, since
Paramount did not have a single mini-window card printed after 1940.
Next down the line are MGM, Twentieth Century-Fox, and Universal in
that order, with around the same numbers surviving (about two-thirds
as many). Then comes Columbia, RKO, and Fox before the merger with
Twentieth Century (about one-fourth of the surviving titles).
Finally, with only two to four known are Tiffany/World Wide and
Mascot. These figures include both blockbuster titles and non-star
titles, because I relentlessly pursue any title I don't have.
My goal is to have one untrimmed mini-window card for every picture
they were made for. As you can guess, this disease will be terminal.
By the way, for the purposes of this survey, First Nationals were
combined with Warner Bros., and Cosmopolitans were counted as either
MGM or Warner Bros., as appropriate. Finally, Fox and Twentieth
Century-Fox were arbitrarily kept separate.
Common sense would tell you that these tiny gems were used in tiny
places, and your logic has not failed you. Like regular window
cards, which were used in grocery stores and banks and other large
outside store windows to advertise the movie at the local theater,
mini-window cards were used in a similar way. They were mostly
placed in glass cases inside the store by the cash register in such
establishments as cafes, drug stores, cigar stores candy stores, and
the like--usually taped inside the case facing out.
This fact alone accounts for the wholesale decimation of the
mini-window card population, regardless of the print run, because
these places tended to be mainly frequented by people from the
neighborhood who would want to know what was playing down the street
Tuesday and Wednesday at the Roxy. In fact, they might have no other
way of knowing unless they happened to pass the theater and check
the marquee. And if the star on the card happened to be a favorite
of a good customer, the proprietor of the store would gladly give
the poster to him to keep his business. Besides, it didn't cost him
anything. Then, when the theater manager came to collect the
mini-window card to send back to the poster exchange, if the
shopowner had given it away, it wasn't any big deal because it only
cost him three cents. You have to come to the conclusion that the
very nature of their use contributed to the eventual destruction of
thousands of these posters.
Another contributing factor to the small number of mini-window
cards remaining was the subsequent treatment of them by theater
poster exchange, movie memorabilia dealers, and even collectors. I
heard one horror story of a poster exchange folding them in half and
using them as alphabetical markers for one-sheets and lobby cards!
Again, probably because of their size, their low cost, and their
general flimsiness, theater managers and poster exchange operators
tended to give or throw them away. Alas, mini-window cards became
victims of their own beauty and economy. Similarly, they were
largely ignored or treated as step-children by poster dealers who
obviously thought that they would not be wanted by any serious
collector. Collectors themselves unknowingly continued the
destructive process by buying or trading for them only as fillers
until they could get a larger piece on that particular film.
Moreover, while a particular size of poster is even today typically
in an upswing or a downswing of a cycle, mini-window cards have been
since their inception on a perpetual downswing, never reaching
anywhere near the popularity of first one-sheets, then lobby cards,
and now three-sheets and foreign posters. Finally, there never were
very many of them in the first place. There is no way, of course, to
get an accurate print run, but an educated guess based on
discussions with several collectors puts it at from 100 to no more
than 500 for each title. Allowing for all of the destructive
possibilities described above, there are probably only from zero to
20 remaining today for any one title. Exceedingly rare, to say the
least.
When I first started collecting these midget jewels, I was amazed
when I would go up to a big dealer from New York or California and
ask him if he had any mini-window cards, and he would say, "What?"
When I would describe them further, he would invariably answer, "Oh.
No, I never see those." On the other hand, when I would approach a
dealer from the middle West or the Southwest, I would often find one
or two, or at least not have to describe them to him. Moreover, as I
began noting theater imprints, I found them proclaiming such grand
movie houses as the Kozy Theater--Granite, Oklahoma or the
Orpheum--Lancaster, Wisconsin or the Deluxe--Spearville, Kansas or
my personal favorite--the Empress Theater in Waurika, Oklahoma. I
soon discovered that the vast majority of the surviving imprints
came from the middle part of the country, and not from the two
coasts or Chicago, as you might expect. In fact, I have found only
one from the West Coast and none from the East. The Nifty Theater in
Waterville, Washington is the lone coastal imprint.
It is my conclusion that most mini-window cards were ordered by
small-town theaters in America's heartland, where there was only one
theater per town. The rest, a small minority, were sent to
neighborhood theaters in larger cities, but have since been lost
through the processes described above. Another reason for their
prevalence in the Southwest (and Oklahoma especially) may have been
because the Smith Brothers, who operated a theater poster exchange
in Canton, Oklahoma for many years, liked them and kept them (or
sold them to Robert in Oklahoma City).
Incidentally, there is yet one more anomaly regarding mini-window
cards. Many pressbooks will have a picture of one, but this is no
guarantee that it was ever ordered or even printed. Furthermore,
even though they may have been printed and used, there is no
guarantee that any still exist today. Conversely, even though the
pressbook may not list it, it may still exist. Some pressbooks were
not very elaborate, and others may not be complete, either missing a
page or not taking the trouble to have a photo of such a small,
insignificant piece. At any rate, the pressbook should not be used
as a bible; it is not infallible.
What films were midget cards produced for? Robert Brown says all of
them within the years noted above for each studio, but that seems
impossible. That would mean thousands and thousands of cards have
been lost with no trace, since there are less than a thousand known
titles. It seems more likely that there was some systematic way of
deciding which movies needed them and which didn't. This is probably
the most exasperating and unanswerable question of all.
Something needs to be said about the artwork itself. It should be
remembered the mini-window cards were posters, not scenes from the
film. They were designed, like the other posters, to get people to
see the movie. Sometimes they were exact reductions of the
one-sheet, and sometimes they were very similar to it, with minor
color variations or rearrangements of the elements. Often they were
completely different from all the other posters in the ad campaign.
There is not much consistency, even within one studio, although
Twentieth Century-Fox favored drawings rather than photos, and
almost always simply reduced the one-sheet. Although each studio
eventually developed a distinctive look, at any given period during
the life of the genre, it could have drawings only, with no stars,
or drawings with stars, photos only, or any combination of these.
The only consistent thread running through 99% of them is that they
are knockouts--even the non-name titles, but especially the linen
cards. they all have fresh colors, no folds, and with the imprints,
they are brimming with history. In a word, they are simply
beautiful.
Finally, a little bit about pricing. First, there's the
interminable argument about trimmed vs. untrimmed. My preferences
having already been demonstrated, a slight premium is not
inappropriate for an untrimmed mini-window card. Having said that, I
realize I might have just cost myself several hundred dollars, but I
have to be honest. Untrimmed cards are just more attractive. The
final judgment remains, however, between the buyer and the seller,
and it will always be so. Regarding price as related to one-sheets,
lobby cards, etc., my opinion is that they should be priced about
the same as, or a little more than, a title card. I've discussed
this at length with many collectors and dealers, and the range has
been surprisingly small. To a man, we agree that they are probably
worth not less than the value of a scene card and not more than an
insert form the same movie. From here on--caveat emptor!
Before I close, I would like to thank several people specifically
for things they have done for me during my quest for these
posters--Robert Brown for getting me started and for keeping me
going during the lean years; Gene Andrewski for first calling
attention to their importance in the early days and for being one of
the first real collectors; Steve Sallye for finding me my only
serial card and for pointing me to midget cards at shows; Jon Warren
for selling me a lot of early Paramounts at a reasonable price and
for giving me the opportunity to finally get these thoughts down on
paper; Lee Brinsmead for trading me a nice lot of cards and for
being an all-around good guy about letting me have first shot at any
he gets; Gary Vaughn, who kept Saratoga for me until I could get it
back and who brokered the deal that lost Casablanca but got so many
great others; and mostly Gene Arnold, who sold me the absolute best
one in my collection and who still saves them all for me until he
sees me; and all the other good guys who do the same. You know who
you are. Thanks.
In conclusion, let me make the standard disclaimer. This article
was written by picking the brains of several collectors and dealers,
pooling all our ideas, and, using the information collected, coming
to what I hope are logical conclusions. The information here was not
gleaned from any written source, because I couldn't find anything on
them; the conclusions are my own, and I take full responsibility for
them.
However, if anyone out there has any information or opinions
regarding any aspect of mini-window cards, please write me at the
address at the end of this article.
Specifically, I need data on new titles, new imprints,
discrepancies with what I have said here, errors, locations of
theaters, the flat vs. linen controversy, reissues, earlier or later
studio dates, opinions on pricing, information on print runs or
uses, mini-window cards for sale or trade, want lists, whatever. Let
me hear from you.
Denver W. Sherry
349 Elysian Fields Road
Nashville, Tennessee 37211
On Thu, Dec 15, 2022 at 7:03 PM Morris Everett Jr.
<[email protected]> wrote:
I went to a flea market in Canton, Ohio last weekend and bought a
mini window card on Navy Blues 1941. Stamped on the back were the
names Kenneth Lawrence and Denver Sherry, both historical figures in
the history of movie poster collecting. Kenneth owned the Movie
Memorabilia Shop Of Hollywood. Denver was the king of the mini
window card collectors. For me it is pleasing to remember these
important collectors.
Someone should do a book on the great collectors of movie
memorabilia.
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