They both measure 16" x 24". I quite understand that odd sized posters are sometimes called "special posters" but I'm not really fond of that term. Thats just my personal view and not, in any way, criticism of anyone that uses it.
I would be interested in what everyone else thinks about the term "special poster". Also, when is a one sheet not a one sheet but a "special poster"? There are many examples of Australian one sheets that measure significantly less than 27" x 40". Should they also be referred to as "special"?
I think undersized is a better term for these, when selling them. In the poster world everyone has an idea of what "One Sheet" looks like size wise, and if you list it as a one sheet, you get some angry people.
I admit for my personal collection I am too lazy to measure anything, so for my own records these are special.
I dont know what the right term is, but if I was selling I wouldnt list them as one sheets...open to anyone who has more information?
Good work John . I was hoping someone would pick up on that fact.
Where then were the cards also used? The U.K, or New Zealand do spring to mind, Because of the covered over Australin censorship New Zealand must be a strong possibility as this is the sort of thing that they regularly did in removing Australian censorship classifications from posters used over there.
I am currently making enquiries with a knowledgeable U.K. poster contact, and shortly i will do the same with two contacts in New Zealand as well.
I have now established that the film was classified G by the New Zealand film censor in 1956. During that year Ray Films has a branch office situated in Wellington New Zealand listed as being D. R. Rankin, Brirish Film Imports.
I have no proof about the other 8'' X 10'' still scene cards that are without any censorship credit or distributors name, but I am certain that the above title card was Australian printed. Seeing though that the other scene cards have the same ''Desperado Or Hero?' wording and appearance I believe it is safe to say that they were Australian printed as well.
The triangle shaped Australian For General Exhibition Censorship rating format seen covered over above when screened in New Zealand, would have been originally similar to the censorship example that I have also displayed above as well.
I think undersized is a better term for these, when selling them. In the poster world everyone has an idea of what "One Sheet" looks like size wise, and if you list it as a one sheet, you get some angry people.
I admit for my personal collection I am too lazy to measure anything, so for my own records these are special.
I dont know what the right term is, but if I was selling I wouldnt list them as one sheets...open to anyone who has more information?
I have thousands of press sheets but can't find any reference that has an official term for these odd size posters so I guess thats why they are referred to as "special".
Good work John . I was hoping someone would pick up on that fact.
Where then were the cards also used? The U.K, or New Zealand do spring to mind, Because of the covered over Australin censorship New Zealand must be a strong possibility as this is the sort of thing that they regularly did in removing Australian censorship classifications from posters used over there.
I am currently making enquiries with a knowledgeable U.K. poster contact, and shortly i will do the same with two contacts in New Zealand as well.
The triangle shaped Australian For General Exhibition Censorship rating format seen covered over above when screened in New Zealand, would have been originally similar to the censorship example that I have also displayed above as well.
Agree or disagree?
It surprises me that they left a blank triangle when a triangle shaped sticker would have sufficed. I'm sure I've seen paper censorship classification stickers on posters before. Or am I imagining it?
Before I comment on the above remarks from Peter, I would like to hear from anyone else regarding them.
I would really like to hear from any other members regarding my March 23 comments on the Captain Thunderbolt 8'' x 10'' stills with their own thoughts.
As well. any comments on the earlier introduced ''special posters'' topic would be great.
Also, about special posters...I worked on many independent films from the 1980s onwards (Paul Cox films come to mind), and posters were quite often printed by the production company before they'd found a distributor. There were no hard and fast rules with smaller production companies that you had to follow the "One sheet" standard size (unlike NSS in the USA), so I'm not surprised that there were so many "special posters" printed, probably by a smaller printing company who didn't even know they had to follow the one sheet size tradition. Even daybills were quite often not standard sizes, but merely a vertical representation of the artwork that had been designed. Standardisation would have been nice, but not really practical when dealing with so many independent films. If your films were distributed by Hoyts, GU or Roadshow, then you stood a chance of standard printing by MAPS or some other company.
Hi Lawrence, the company is Girosign. I think its a UK company
Yes, they were based in Wardour St London. I'm pretty sure that a US dealer picked up a huge collection of English Front of House stills that must have originated from Girosign. They have been appearing on eBay for many years and I'm sure that the Captain Thunderbolt stills were part of that collection.
Interesting that we now have nine different scene card images. I'm not very familiar with these 8 x10 cards, but I had thought that the sets were normally eight in number.
Hi Lawrence, the company is Girosign. I think its a UK company
Yes, they were based in Wardour St London. I'm pretty sure that a US dealer picked up a huge collection of English Front of House stills that must have originated from Girosign. They have been appearing on eBay for many years and I'm sure that the Captain Thunderbolt stills were part of that collection.
Yes the Girosign Ltd. company was a UK independent company and cinema display agents that operated at least from the 1930.s up the 1960's. Following up on what John had mentioned, they were based at 88 Wardour Street, London.
They distributed 8 x10 F.O.H. lobby cards in matte, glossy and colour versions of U.K. and U.S.A. films in sets of 6 and 8 cards.. We can now add Australian 8 x 10 card material as well.
Hi Lawrence, the company is Girosign. I think its a UK company
Yes, they were based in Wardour St London. I'm pretty sure that a US dealer picked up a huge collection of English Front of House stills that must have originated from Girosign. They have been appearing on eBay for many years and I'm sure that the Captain Thunderbolt stills were part of that collection.
A question follows to John regarding the two cards credited to being his earlier on in this thread.
Did these two cards have the Girosign Ltd. identification details appearing on the reverse side?
Hi Lawrence, the company is Girosign. I think its a UK company
Yes, they were based in Wardour St London. I'm pretty sure that a US dealer picked up a huge collection of English Front of House stills that must have originated from Girosign. They have been appearing on eBay for many years and I'm sure that the Captain Thunderbolt stills were part of that collection.
A question follows to John regarding the two cards credited to being his earlier on in this thread.
Did these two cards have the Girosign Ltd. identification details appearing on the reverse side?
I think you guys have about covered Girosign, bar one thing. Quite a few films had a 12 card set. Some were two sets of 6, and there's usually a small A or B marking the sets, and some sets were just a full 12 cards. Yes, on the whole 8 is the Norm.
As an example, here's my first release 7th Voyage of Sinbad 12 card set.
You may find it interesting though that on Google a Rare Film Posters And Greg Edwards U.K. website called www.rarefilmposters.com it states on a Reluctant Heroes black and white UK. foh. cards iiem that Girosign procuced f.o.h. stills of 6 rather than the standard set of 8.
Not sure where Greg got that from, as I have quite a few Girosign sets, and all have 8 cards. Does he give a year from when this started, as I have 70’s ones still in sets of 8.
No date of commencement of sizes found, Briefly checking through the available images I located the following sets of 8. There were black and white sets from the 1950's, both b&w and colour sets from the 1960's and colour sets from the 1960s. I also saw a colour set of 6 from the 1940's which may have been just missing two cards.
My final thoughts on the Captain Thunderbolt black and White 8'' x 10'' cards is as follows.
The known nine cards were printed in Australia for use here, but we also also sent to New Zealand and the U.K. for cinema display purposes there as well. It is also possible the cards may have ended up in some other countries also if the film was released elsewhere.
The title card being the only one originally displaying Australian censorship had this covered over for usage outside of Australia. The name of the Australian distributor Ray Films was deliberately left of all the cards.
Comments
Ves on her website has Bingo Bridesmaids and Braces credited as being a special poster.
A question for John is what is the size of the two posters in question? I had only assumed by appearance that they were one sheets.
I would be interested in what everyone else thinks about the term "special poster". Also, when is a one sheet not a one sheet but a "special poster"? There are many examples of Australian one sheets that measure significantly less than 27" x 40". Should they also be referred to as "special"?
In the poster world everyone has an idea of what "One Sheet" looks like size wise, and if you list it as a one sheet, you get some angry people.
I admit for my personal collection I am too lazy to measure anything, so for my own records these are special.
I dont know what the right term is, but if I was selling I wouldnt list them as one sheets...open to anyone who has more information?
I have now established that the film was classified G by the New Zealand film censor in 1956. During that year Ray Films has a branch office situated in Wellington New Zealand listed as being D. R. Rankin, Brirish Film Imports.
I have no proof about the other 8'' X 10'' still scene cards that are without any censorship credit or distributors name, but I am certain that the above title card was Australian printed. Seeing though that the other scene cards have the same ''Desperado Or Hero?' wording and appearance I believe it is safe to say that they were Australian printed as well.
The triangle shaped Australian For General Exhibition Censorship rating format seen covered over above when screened in New Zealand, would have been originally similar to the censorship example that I have also displayed above as well.
Agree or disagree?
Peter
I would really like to hear from any other members regarding my March 23 comments on the Captain Thunderbolt 8'' x 10'' stills with their own thoughts.
As well. any comments on the earlier introduced ''special posters'' topic would be great.
Peter
More on this topic in the future after I hopefully hear from some other members who will share their thoughts here as well.
A closer look at cards - front and back
Two possible clues on the back of the card. Sone assistance required though.
The company name isn't 100% clear. Can you help in clarifying the name.
Is that a censorship stamp of some description?
They distributed 8 x10 F.O.H. lobby cards in matte, glossy and colour versions of U.K. and U.S.A. films in sets of 6 and 8 cards.. We can now add Australian 8 x 10 card material as well.
Did these two cards have the Girosign Ltd. identification details appearing on the reverse side?
Two unusual things regarding the cards.
Nine known cards exist, instead of the usual eight.
Why are there two cards that have very similar scenes
As an example, here's my first release 7th Voyage of Sinbad 12 card set.
You may find it interesting though that on Google a Rare Film Posters And Greg Edwards U.K. website called www.rarefilmposters.com it states on a Reluctant Heroes black and white UK. foh. cards iiem that Girosign procuced f.o.h. stills of 6 rather than the standard set of 8.
Briefly checking through the available images I located the following sets of 8. There were black and white sets from the 1950's, both b&w and colour sets from the 1960's and colour sets from the 1960s.
I also saw a colour set of 6 from the 1940's which may have been just missing two cards.
My final thoughts on the Captain Thunderbolt black and White 8'' x 10'' cards is as follows.
The known nine cards were printed in Australia for use here, but we also also sent to New Zealand and the U.K. for cinema display purposes there as well. It is also possible the cards may have ended up in some other countries also if the film was released elsewhere.
The title card being the only one originally displaying Australian censorship had this covered over for usage outside of Australia. The name of the Australian distributor Ray Films was deliberately left of all the cards.
Anyone agree or disagree? Please ley us know.