The History and Rarity of Vintage Movie Posters
One of the most iconic pieces of film history is the movie poster. Designed to draw in audiences, these posters had to balance information with storytelling. Artists would hand-paint renditions of the actors in their iconic moments from the film, combining different elements to create something that evoked the same emotion as the film it was advertising. Collectors of vintage movie art, or movie posters, should be aware of the history of movie posters and how they came to be what they are today.
In 1920, the National Screen Service was founded to create and distribute movie trailers. This company would go on to provide additional advertising including movie posters. It wasn’t until the 1940s when most major movie studios had signed exclusive contracts with the NSS to provide these materials.
Movie posters created by the National Screen Service would be rented by individual theater owners. They would display the movie posters to bring in an audience until they were done showing that film and then return the movie posters back to NSS. That meant that these paper products were used over and over again by several different theater owners. When returning the movie posters to the NSS, the theater owners would receive a credit to be put towards future rentals.
The result of these posters being sent back and forth across the country meant that very few posters survived, especially in good condition. Remember, these were just posters created from paper, so even in good condition they can exhibit wear. Areas that would receive the most wear included the corners and edges, as they would brush up against the frames they were put in. Some posters even lost their bright color, fading if they were left in the natural sunlight too long.
Movie posters are graded on a ten point scale, with 10 being in Mint Condition. Due to the age of these vintage posters, even the finest known are generally graded between Fine (6) and Very Fine (8). In Very Fine condition, posters still have bright color and a clean appearance, with only minimal signs of fold wear. As restoration is common with posters, as they are pieces of art, all grades represent pre-restoration appearance.
Up until the 1980s, only a limited number of posters were produced. When the theatre that received the poster was no longer showing the movie, the poster would be sent to the next theatre. In the end the same poster was reused countless times. Only a small number of original movie posters were printed at the time of a film’s release, and many have been destroyed completely by their age. Printed on delicate sheets of paper decades ago, these original Hollywood movie posters are among the few that survived in remarkable condition.
Movie posters came in several sizes including one sheet, half-sheet, three-sheets, six-sheets, inserts, and lobby cards. Each film would have a variety of materials made on the movie studios behalf by the National Screen Service. In the early days of film, fewer movies were released and most theaters only had one screen. This allowed each film to have more space and time to be advertised with posters of different sizes and types.
The classic movie poster type is known as the one sheet, which measures 41 inches in height by 27 inches in width. This standard size fit glass cases across the United States, in single screen movie houses located at every major city. This size is still commonly used today.
Authentic vintage movie posters are difficult to come by, especially for the most popular film titles. Rare Collectibles TV has recently acquired some of these popular vintage movie posters.
