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Canton is home to vintage movie poster company
Canton is home to vintage movie poster company
As I travel the state and meet people who just moved here or are visiting, they sometimes ask questions such as, “What are some of the unique things about Oklahoma?”
The first statistic I enjoy sharing is that Oklahoma has more drivable miles on Route 66 than any other state, followed by “the Sooner State has more man-made lakes — around 200.” There are other fun facts about Oklahoma, of course, but there's one that is particularly fun for me.
On more than one occasion, I have written about my love of movies. My name is from an old Sal Mineo and Brian Keith film called “Dino.” So, let's begin my next unique thing about Oklahoma with a riddle: What Oklahoma town had a connection to the big Hollywood premieres of yesteryear and with advertising of movies in general?
The answer is Canton, and it is there you will find Movie Poster Service, a company that claims to have the oldest and largest collection of vintage original movie posters in the world.
Many of the posters promoting and advertising movies came from Movie Poster Service. Current owner Cleophas Wooley and his wife, Lou Ann, bought the business from the original proprietors in 1973, but Movie Poster Service has been around since 1926. Today, it still has one of the largest inventories of movie advertising paper, which is what posters were referred to in the early days.
Movie Poster Service at one time was the first independent poster exchange. Now customers are primarily collectors, dealers and individual movie fans around the world. They also have sold posters to people such as director John Landis and Randolph Scott's wife.
Through the years, common items collected by people might include baseball cards, comic books and stamps. Collecting movie posters started in the 1950s and has become a passion for many around the world.
Movie Poster Services' inventory is well over a million pieces.
“In the old days, there was at least 13 standard sizes of every movie release, plus special sizes for the big releases,” Wooley said. “And most people consider a one-sheet the most collectible size. But there are, three-sheets, six-sheets, 14 by 36, which is called an insert, lobby cards, sets of lobby cards, eight normally, a title card and seven-scene cards. There's black-and-white 8 by 10s, color 8 by 10s, press kits and press books. There are are 30 by 40's, 40 by 60's.”
By the way, a one-sheet
generally is a 27 by 40.
There are no reprints in the inventory.
“The only thing we handle is either an original or reissue, and most of it is original,” Wooley says.
The posters are a different kind of art form, especially those from films from the 1930s-1950s.
“It was advertising,” Wooley says. “It went to the theaters and was put out in the weather. And it was sent from one theater back to us, then out to another theater many times.”
“They look like Crayola work to me,” Wooley says. “But they were done on lithographs, not on offset, which made a difference. The colors are so vivid and to me, it looks like someone drew it out with Crayola and they are beautiful, but most people don't realize the beauty.”
The bulk of Movie Poster Services' inventory starts in the 1930s and runs to the 1970s. Wooley's son Brett now manages the business with his dad, and he says there are a few genres that are more popular with customers than others.
“It depends, but Westerns, sci-fi and film noir. Those are the big ones,” Brett says. “And that is broken down into one-sheets, then lobby cards or window cards are the most popular.”
In-person browsing at Movie Poster Service is by appointment only, but a good overview of its inventory is available on its website, http://www.movieposterservice.com/. But keep in mind there are about 2,000 titles on their website.
Hollywood and the movies have their own uncommon, fun and interesting history. And Movie Poster Service in Canton, Oklahoma, has its unique place in that fascinating history, as well.