Greg this is a great read and wonderful piece of movie poster history on a personal level.
On Sat, Apr 8, 2023 at 5:41 PM Greg Douglass <pickmeis...@mail.com> wrote: > On the other hand: > I had a dear friend named Chuck Vergara who lived in Fairfax, CA. He owned > a local restaurant that was decorated with as many movie posters as he > could fit, mostly 20s & 30s titles. "They're just so damned pretty!" he > would enthse to me on a regular basis. (My fascination with 50s > horror/sci-fi eluded him.) > Chuck was driving his station wagon back in the late 70s on Market St. in > San Francisco. He saw some sort of activity going on at one of the many > triple-feature low-rent theaters there. The theater owner was tossing an > immense number of posters dating back to the 1930s. Chuck asked if he could > grab a few. > A couple of hours later, the suspension system in that station wagon was > being sorely tested by the massive weight of as many posters as it would > hold. He opened up a small poster store in one of his properties in town. > I'd stop by often to talk posters with Chuck (face it, guys; everyone else > thinks we're nuts for urinating away thousands of dollars on pieces of > paper. Chuck was simpatico.) I'd pick up a few titles; an 8-card set for > "Some Like it Hot" for 30 bucks, a "She Creature" half sheet for $15. It > was a tiny piece of heaven. > Years later, he called me to tell me he was liquidating has collection of > paper. He gave me first crack at everything. This was right at the > beginning of eBay so the timing was impeccable. He had contacts at > Lucasfilm so there was a hefty pile of mint Star Wars stuff. The prices > were dictated by him. I picked up a "Jaws" one sheet and asked "How much?" > "Gimme a buck", he shrugged. I argued with him; "We both know it's worth > more than that!" "Gimme a buck", he repeated Our Toyota was full and my > pockets were empty when I left Chuck's home. I sold most of the stuff > during what used to be the wild west days of Ebay. I made over $100,000 in > a year. > I found out later that Chuck knew he had prostate cancer and didn't have > long to live. He wanted his posters to go to someone he liked and who > appreciated them as an art form. He was tired of dealing with "pinhole > counters" (his wonderful expression) through Movie Collector's World. I > called to thank him for his incredible generosity but...he was already > gone. It broke my heart. > Greg Douglass > PS: Chuck called me one night. "Get over here NOW!", he yelled. I zipped > over and there, laid out on his living room floor, was the six-sheet from > the 1925 "Phantom of the Opera" (the masque scene). He had someone coming > over to buy it. The buyer bitched like crazy over the "outrageous" selling > price of $2,000. It remains one of the coolest things I've ever witnessed. > Chuck and his wife Hazel were the greatest. > > > *Sent:* Saturday, April 08, 2023 at 1:55 PM > *From:* "David Kusumoto" <davidmkusum...@hotmail.com> > *To:* MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU > *Subject:* Re: [MOPO] WB throwing away thousands of movie posters > I did the same. I joined Crew Stories like Bruce and did a deep dive and > couldn't find the screenshot image I web-hosted so others could see it > here. I think it's fake news as far as giving people the impression that > this happened last week - but I DO think this could've happened as far back > as the 1990s or as recently as two years ago. Warners bought MGM's library > in 1996. Two years ago, Warners (as Warner Media) - sold its movie > properties to Amazon - but hung onto Turner's original MGM library of > pre-1986 titles including pre-1950s Warners titles, pre-1950 RKO titles and > a bunch of other studio and TV libraries. Everything post 1986 and ALL of > UA's library including the James Bond series dating to 1962 was sold to > Amazon two years ago. - d. > > P.S. - That is Glass Bottom Boat on the floor in that picture. It would > not be among the titles Warners would keep after its sale to Amazon. The > whole thing is confusing. What matters is the idea of trashing movie > paper. It would be hard to fake an image of posters being strewn > everywhere in a cavernous hangar-type warehouse. Whether this happened two > years ago or 30 years ago, who knows. > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* MoPo List <mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> on behalf of Bruce > Hershenson <brucehershen...@gmail.com> > *Sent:* Saturday, April 8, 2023 10:33 AM > *To:* MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> > *Subject:* Re: WB throwing away thousands of movie posters > > Kirby > > My first thought on seeing that image was "looks kind of fishy to me"! > > I joined that FB group and that post is not there. I went to that guy's > profile, and it was not there either. And I found the same post in another > non-movie poster group. > > Looks like one more of those "I remember when poster exchanges had > Frankenstein and Dracula lobby sets" to me. > > But what do I know? > > Bruce > > On Sat, Apr 8, 2023 at 12:19 PM Kirby McDaniel <ki...@movieart.com> wrote: > Could be; I don't remember. > K. > > On Apr 8, 2023, at 10:59 AM, Roland Lataille < > roland.latai...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > > > > > Didn't Warner acquire many of the MGM films years ago? > > > On Saturday, April 8, 2023 at 11:26:24 AM EDT, Kirby McDaniel < > ki...@movieart.com> wrote: > > uhhhhh.... that is a half-sheet for THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT, which is MGM, > so why is that there if this is some kind of Warner's archive? Fake news? > > Kirby McDaniel > movieart.com > where ALL the news is REAL > > On Apr 7, 2023, at 10:59 PM, Alan Adler <m...@charter.net> wrote: > > This is obscene. Whoever inside the WB organization that decided in was a > good idea to trash its own history should be fired on the spot - and all > the way up the corporate ladder if need be. When I first heard about this I > thought the event took place 50 years ago. This level of stupidity is > disgusting. Why not just give it all to the Academy or any film school or > sane group of individuals and save the expense of trashing it? It’s akin to > book burning. And to then trash it in private when people wanted to save it > by hiding their actions is disgusting. This act reeks of high-level > corporate idiocy. I’ve seen this close-up, but I’d hoped we’d evolved > beyond the days of trashing art and artifacts for the sake of expediency. I > guess not. > > Alan > > On Apr 7, 2023, at 7:05 PM, David Kusumoto <davidmkusum...@hotmail.com> > wrote: > > > > > Yes, I saw that posted yesterday at the Crew Stories site - but I was > unable to confirm the actual date this happened. > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > *From:* MoPo List <mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> on behalf of Roland > Lataille <roland.latai...@sbcglobal.net> > *Sent:* Friday, April 7, 2023 6:30 PM > *To:* MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> > *Subject:* Re: WB throwing away thousands of movie posters > > > > > Friends of 70mm | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsof70mm> > > > > <https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsof70mm> Friends of 70mm | Facebook > <https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsof70mm> > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: > 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 > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
