Movies and shakers
A collection of classic film posters looks set to fetch a pretty penny at auction
THE lousy weather saw us seek solace in the local cinema last weekend… twice. But how things have changed. I remember paying thruppence to catch a bus to town to watch the Saturday matinees (the Lone Ranger was a particular favourite); buying tickets from a person sitting behind glass marked with the word and being shown to my seat by an usherette with a flashlight.
It’s all gone. No ticket booth – you buy your tickets from a bank of computer screens set into the wall; if allocated, you find your own seats, otherwise sit where you like, and what happened to the ice cream seller who came round in the interval?
Worst of all, though, was the complete lack of film posters advertising next week’s blockbuster.
Now, it’s more computer-generated images on massive screens festooned around the place.
I’m just sorry I didn’t have the presence of mind to beg a few of the posters from my childhood.
Judging by the estimates listed on a collection of the things coming up for auction in December, the £160,000 the sale is expected to raise could constitute a second pension.
Andy Johnson, 56, fell in love with film posters while working as a photographer for Christie’s in London, taking images of them for their auction catalogues.
“I loved the collectors’ departments at Christie’s, especially the decorative arts and the pop and film memorabilia,” Andy says.
“I became friends with the head of the decorative arts department and started collecting 60s Poole and Troika pottery.
“I would visit antique fairs and bric-a-brac shops to find ceramics, but after 250 pieces or so I started to go off the boil with the ceramics, so I started to look for something new to collect.”
It was his late wife, Maria, who pointed the way.
“She was a big fan of movies and drew my attention to film posters.
“Funnily enough, I brought my first film poster from an Art Deco fair.
“I had the choice of buying The Jungle Book one sheet or Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” he says.
“I ended up buying The Jungle Book – what a mistake.”
Then, as luck would have it, Christie’s decided to have its first standalone sale of movie posters.
“While I was photographing the posters, I fell in love with many of the titles and images. I started to buy a few items here and there but had no real direction with what to collect.”
In 1995 Tony Nourmand was hired as Christie’s film poster consultant and later became the co-owner of the Reel Poster Gallery alongside Bruce Marchant.
“I became good friends with Tony and apart from undertaking all the photography for their books and catalogues, I travelled all over the world and purchased movie posters with him,” Andy says.
“One of the highlights of my photographic career was meeting and working with the legendary Ray Harryhausen, the father of stopmotion animation – he would call it ‘Dynamation’.
“I still work for the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation to this day.”
Now, however, 35 years on, Andy has decided to sell his outstanding collection of more than 400 posters.
The sale will be held at Ewbank’s Auctions in Surrey on Friday, December 6.
“After 27 years collecting and, in the words of Dennis Wheatley, my favourite author, who started his three memoirs with these words, ‘The time has come’,” Andy says.
Dedicating the sale to Maria, “without whom this would not have been possible”, Andy says his collecting tastes have been informed by favourite films, directors and designs.
Most of the star lots reflect his interest in crime, science fiction and horror movies, ranging from classics such as Frederico Fellini’s 1963 masterpiece ‘8½’ to the
Star Wars franchise and Dracula and Zombie flicks, together with a particular nod toward the best of Hammer Horror, produced by Hammer Film Productions.
As a specialist, Andy took particularly good care of his posters, acquiring only those in the best available condition and ensuring that they were properly backed, conserved and preserved in optimum conditions.
“And if I found another copy of the same poster in better condition I would upgrade, buying it and selling off the other one,” he says.
Ewbank’s entertainment memorabilia specialist, Alastair McCrea, says Andy’s passion shines through in the collection.
“He was in the rare position of being in the right place at the right time when Christie’s started dedicated film poster sales and he developed a highly attuned eye for the best available pieces. This is an exceptional offering.”
The most valuable poster in the sale is expected to be a quad (30 x 40 inches, 762× 1016 mm landscape format) promoting the 1962 first James Bond movie Dr No, which is estimated at £9,000-12,000 while for the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger, another quad, is expected to fetch £3,000-5,000. Both starred Sean Connery.
Other highlights are also pictured here.
■ Viewing for the sale at Ewbank’s in Send, near Woking is on Wednesday and Thursday, December 4-5 and all the posters can be seen on the auctioneer’s website, which also offers online bidding as the sale proceeds. For further information, telephone 01483 223101.