Skip to content

Hondo's This And That

1121315171840

Comments

  • Henry Aldrich Swings it 10 x30 sans Richardson Studio credit.


    Andy my only MGM 10x30, off to see what else is out there:

    Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo


  • edited May 2020
    Argh...how could I forget....Lost in a Harem:



    A quick scan of Bruce's auction history I see about half a dozen or so MGM's.  GASLIGHT!  Noice!
  • Henry Aldrich Swings it 10 x30 sans Richardson Studio credit.


    HONDO said:
    Five Graves to Cairo - I can't remember where I got the image from.
    Nice rare image of Five Graves To Cairo. Thanks for revealing it Ves.

    As I had thought it turns out to be 10 x 30 in size. 

    The interesting thing here is that the poster doesn't have Richardson Studio name appearing on the poster. I earlier had mentioned that Aerial Gunner also had the Richardson Studio credit missing off its 10 x 30 daybill. This prompted me to check other 10 x 30 Paramounr daybills from around that period of time. I then also found the Salute For Three daybill was missng the Richadson credit also.

    What these three titles of Aerial Gunner, Five Graves To Cairo and Salute For Three have in common is that they were all printed by Offset Print around the same time in late 1943. This would certainly lead me to think that there would be at least one other Paramount 10 x 30 daybill image from around that period of time that is yet to surface, that also should be minus the Richardson Credit. Just out of interest the vast majority of Paramount 10 x 30 original colour daybills were printed by Hollander and Govett followed then by Simmons. Offset, apart from a small amount of colour Richardsons along with the non richardson photograpic styles. mainly created full colour 10 x 30 daybills for MGM. 




    Thanks for the Henry Aldrich Swings It ( 1943 ) image, and again this poster is also from Offset Print and without the Richardson Studio credit. This film was released in Australia in late 1943 so perhaps it was designed and printed along with the previous mentioned three titles at the same time from a 40 x 30 sheet.





  • Five Graves To Cairo is the earliest 10 x 30 Paramount daybill used for an Australian release in September 1943 and Bring on The Girls the last  Paramount 10 x 30 daybill used for an Australian release in August 1945 that I confirm at this time took place. 
  • edited June 2020
                                                                                                                                            




  • Looking forward to it!
  • sounds interesting


  •   




     feast your eyes on the following images.



    ( State Library Of Western Australia ) ( BA 3118 / 39 ). Grand Theatre Perth, Western Australia advertising the screening of King Kong in 1934.





    ( State Library Of Western Australia ) ( BA 3118 / 40 ).  The Grand Theatre Perth, Western Australia foyer display for King Kong in 1934. 

    Let's give you a more detailed look at the great advertising the theatre used to promote King Kong..



  • WOW!  That is simply stunning!
  • Awesome images but where's the freaking daybill!!!!
  • Matt said:
    Awesome images but where's the freaking daybill!!!!
    Some people are never happy!  :D
  • Grumpy old men never are! :p





  •  









    The above are either advertisements published in  Everyone's trade magazine in July 1933 that are advertising that King Kong was a coming attraction, or are newspaper advertisements placed for early screenings in July 1933 at the Capitol Melbourne Theatre Victoria and at the Civic Theatre Newcastle N.S.W. in August 1933.

    You will notice that all images have the special Censorship warning classification appearing on them. Two of the Capitol censorship advertisements have also added either '' and Not Suitable for General Exhibition''  or '' and approved as Not Suitable for General Exhibition'' following  after the main censorship classification. 


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               What followed later on regarding this censorship rating will be revealed shortly.



  •  





    King Kong was first screened in Melbourne Victoria on July 15 1933 featuring the special censorship warning on all publicity material and also on the screen preceeding the showing of the film in the cinema.

    Sydney NSW screenings at the State Theatre commenced the following month on August 19 1933. All publicity up to the 17th of Ausust, which was two days before the film opened, carried the special censorship warning. On the day beFore the Sydney opening this special censorship warning was removed and replaced by Suitable Only For Adults in publicity usage.

    After this for the screenings of King Kong throughout its very successful Australian season the Suitable Only For Adults was commonly used, but a good deal of cinemas that screened the film continued to use the original special censorship warning material that had been supplied to them when promoting and advertising the film in newspapers and other media sources.  





    The above cinemas complied to the application of the altered censorship rating of Suitable Only for adults in newspaper advertising.




    Even as late as in March 16 in the following year 1934 when this newspaper advertisement was placed  for two screeningd in a small country town in Western Australia, the original classification was still being used.


    What occured above makes very interesting reading, but I wonder what happened between 1933 and 1936 that had the Federal film censor change his mind, and to again allocate special film censorship ratings to be applied to Dracula's Daughter ( 1936 ) and also The Walking Dead ( 1936 ).

     It was the same chief censor Creswell O'reilly that did the backdown in 1933 with King Kong that was responsible in allocating the two new special censorship variations of  '' Censorship Certificate - Suitable only for adults.. except the highly nervous''  and ''Censorship Warning.. nervous and excitable people should avoid this '' Horror picture'' ''.

    Were there any other films classified in this similar manner? If there were I am not aware of any.




    One of many fascinating pieces of information regarding Australian film history that I am pleased to have briught to light.




  • Fascinating is right!  Thanks for the wonderful information.
  • Define "highly nervous"!




    Here is a handy checklist to help tell eMoviePoster.com apart from all other major auctions!
    HAS lifetime guarantees on every item - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS unrestored and unenhanced images - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS 100% honest condition descriptions - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS auctions where the winner is the higher of two real bidders - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS "buyers premiums" - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS "reserves or starts over $1 - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS hidden bidder IDs - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS no customer service to speak of - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS "nosebleed" shipping charges - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS inadequate packaging - NOT eMoviePoster.com

  • wish i had some daybills for these titles. Is there an image for the 1930s original release of King Kong daybill or one-sheet?
  • Rick said:
    wish i had some daybills for these titles. Is there an image for the 1930s original release of King Kong daybill or one-sheet?

     

    The only images of the one sheet I have been able to locate from the 1933 Australian release. Sorry but nothing found for the original daybill though to show what the daybill looked like..


                                                                                                                                          


  •   

    MOVIE POSTER ARTISTS

                                           
  • Oh wowee! A pet passion for me.  Cant wait!


  • MOVIE POSTER ARTISTS 

    First of all as there is little information available on Australian film poster artists who signed their work , apart from the John Reid contribution, I have decided to expand this subject matter a little more. I throughly recommend John's Moviemem.com website and his image exhibition titled The Australian Movie Poster Exhibition. To those who may not have checked it out it is certainly worth a visit, particually for anyone interested in the subject of Australian poster artists who actually got to sign their work. 

     I will attempt in my forthcoming presentation to use images where possible that John doesn’t have in his exhibition,  and so far I have collected a large selection, including some really nice ones that fall into this category. John’s exhibition I believe encouraged me to try and expand on this subject with finding and including a little difficult to find history on some of the artists, as well as showing film poster images. I will also include, where applicable, some graphic artwork from many fields other than film related artwork that some of the poster artists  were involved in over many years of their working life. A big question here for me is how many images are too many to include? 

    I  had originally thought I would commence this series with perhaps highlighting one of the most well known Australian commercial film  poster artists Wynne W. Davies. As I have only just become aware of some very interesting information regarding his career, which I intend to check out further, I have now decided to commence with another commercial poster artist who I believe may have been responsible for the original 1933 King Kong daybill artwork. This initial Part 1 entry will now cover Norman McMurray who had a big RKO Radio connection with poster artwork and publicity, starting with the commencement of RKO Radio operations in Australia in 1929.

  • Looking forward to it!


    Peter
  • edited July 2020




    MOVIE POSTER ARTISTS



    NORMAN MCMURRAY  ( 1891-1959 )   

         

    Norman McMurray appears to have had a long stint working at RKO Radio Pictures, from when they opened their first branch in Sydney in 1929 until an unknown period of time. I have been able to find signed RKO daybills printed up to at least circa 1947

    Norman was the RKO art director, confirmed to be in at least 1935 & 1936. Everyone seems to mention the Simmons daybills, along with the Richardson Studio / Paramount  daybills as having the best artwork on the vast majority of their at least earlier product.
    We always praise the Richardson  daybills, but now a lesser known artist named Norman McMurray can receive the kudos he richly deserves for his artwork, along with his team as well. Everybody knows that with the Richardson Studio daybills that they were all credited with the Richardson Studio name throughout many decades, but with Norman we really don't know, apart from the ones that have been identified, which exact titles he personally designed. 

    Some of Norman's known signed 1930's daybill output are included below.

     ( Moviemem.com )

    The Donald Duck stock poster adapted here for Sea Scouts ( 1939 ) with an added image, was also used earlier for the daybill of Donald's Oshrich ( 1937 ). We really don't know for sure if the boating scene on Sea Scouts completed years later was added by Norman or one of his team.






    ( Theartofmovieposters.com )

    Becky Sharp ( 1935 ) ( 2 designs ), Spitfire ( 1934 ), The Lost Squadron ( 1932 ) and State's Attorney. ( 1932 ).




    Including the following Spring Time ( 1936 ) daybill image this will then total thirteen displayed daybills of Norman's that were credited as being his. Seven we have proof of by having the signed daybills as proof but the remaining six black and white images we don't know for sure if he signed any or all of them.  There are also some other signed daybill images that you can locate by finding them on Moviemem.com or Movieposter.com. The titles are Bachelor Apatrtment ( 1931 ), Victoria the Great ( 1937 ), The Story Of The Vatican (1941 ) and Joe Lewis Vs Jersey Joe Walcott ( 1947 ).




    Although the above two full page Everyones advertisements aren't signed they appeared in the same December 23, 1936 issue  on following pages after the Norman at work on Spring Time article above.

    Norman's RKO advertisements appeared in Everyone's magazine, but I believe not often signed. Three  signed ads follow from 1929 and 1930. He also had at least one advertisement appear the The Film Weekly trade magazine that I am aware ot

    .


    Norman also did a couple of ads for non RKO film distributors in the 1930s.


    Little to be located outside his RKO poster work, but I did find the following pre RKO from the 1920s.







    I really wish I could have found more information and images on Norman McMurray, but it is a lot more than is available on some of the other poster artists I intend to cover in the furure.At least  we now know what a great contribution he made to the film poster industry in the 1930s particularly. 

    Back to his film poster involement once more with my thoughts on the often mentioned and much sort after King Kong daybill of 1933.  In my mind it has a higher that average possibility that it would have been designed by Norman himself considering his role with the company at that time. We most likely will never know unless something turns up in print like the earlier Everyones information, or an original 1933 daybill turns up that possibly he got to sign.



    The Everyones Ad of Sweepings appearing on the right appears without a signature sighted on it has to be from Norman McMurray as well. The artwork looks the same as what appears on the daybill which is credited as being Norman McMurray's. The majority of the RKO Everyones daybills and advertisements I have located were unfortunately never signed. Just how many of the daybill posters, and perhaps one and three sheets if any were actually designed by Norman will remain unknown seeing it certainly appears signing of posters by him was very much limited. 

    It would be great if any of the six Everyones credited by Everyones Normam McMurray film posters  Sweepings, The Animal Kingdom, The Penquin Pool Murder, Swing Time, Where Sinners Meet and Max Baer V Primo Carnera daybills will ever turn up to see if any or all of them were signed of not.





    According to the above details were the three 1933  daybills The Silver Cord, Diplomaniacs and The Great Jasper personally drawn by Normam McMurray or someone else in the RKO art department? The wording doesn't make this clear.



    One Man's Journey, Midshipman Jack and two Morning Glory daybills. Did Norman McMurray possiibly design these 1933 film daybills which are only credited as being executed by RKO Radio Pictures, one has to wonder?   

    A sad fact here is that of the thirteen black and white RKO daybill images shown above, not a single one, to the best of my knowledge, has had an original full colour daybill image available to see in it's full beauty. Our film poster history in Australia, particuarly from the 1920s and the 1930s, certainly is highlighted here as having a huge number of daybills missing in action, and in most cases many will never be seen again, which would be a crying shame.

    One last thing is that the Australian RKO daybill of X ... The Unknown ( 1956 ) is credited by at least three sources as having the artwork being designed by Normam McMurray. I cannot sight his signature anywhere on the poster and the daybill has the artwork credited as being produced  by Southern Studios and printed by F. Cunninghame. This one is a mystety to me.


      at some time or another depending on the interest in this enrty.
  • Great stuff!


    Peter
  • Excellent research and presentation. I love seeing rare images!




    Here is a handy checklist to help tell eMoviePoster.com apart from all other major auctions!
    HAS lifetime guarantees on every item - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS unrestored and unenhanced images - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS 100% honest condition descriptions - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS auctions where the winner is the higher of two real bidders - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS "buyers premiums" - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS "reserves or starts over $1 - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS hidden bidder IDs - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS no customer service to speak of - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS "nosebleed" shipping charges - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS inadequate packaging - NOT eMoviePoster.com

  • Very informative and interesting.  Thanks for sharing Lawrence
  • Thanks very much for taking the time to look into this very interesting and for me fascinating subject.
    Those Becky Sharp daybills will haunt me till the end of my days it seems!

    I love the early RKO posters, and would put them on par (and in some cases) ahead of the Richardson Studio stuff.  Once you've seen and collected a few, they become very same same (except for the the really early stuff) whereas the RKO stuff has variety.

    Great to see some of the wonderful early artists getting attention.  We poop on the poor quality of the daybill images, but its hard to beat some of artwork on some of the early stuff!

    Loved it and looking forward to the next one.

  • I love the early RKO posters, and would put them on par (and in some cases) ahead of the Richardson Studio stuff.  Once you've seen and collected a few, they become very same same (except for the the really early stuff) whereas the RKO stuff has variety.

    We poop on the poor quality of the daybill images, but its hard to beat some of artwork on some of the early stuff!
    .
    I SO agree with this! I especially love the few early RKO daybills that have surfaced this far, and hope for many more down the line.




    Here is a handy checklist to help tell eMoviePoster.com apart from all other major auctions!
    HAS lifetime guarantees on every item - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS unrestored and unenhanced images - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS 100% honest condition descriptions - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS auctions where the winner is the higher of two real bidders - IS eMoviePoster.com
    HAS "buyers premiums" - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS "reserves or starts over $1 - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS hidden bidder IDs - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS no customer service to speak of - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS "nosebleed" shipping charges - NOT eMoviePoster.com
    HAS inadequate packaging - NOT eMoviePoster.com

  • Exceptional information.  One long daybill that he didn't do from that early period was Of Human Bondage. That art was done by an American Walter Seaton who did a few RKO and RKO/Pathe posters in the 30s.
  • edited July 2020


    darolo said:
    Exceptional information.  One long daybill that he didn't do from that early period was Of Human Bondage. That art was done by an American Walter Seaton who did a few RKO and RKO/Pathe posters in the 30s.
    Great additional information.The decision to use the overseas Walter Seaton artwork design must have been because of the excellent artwork involved, one would have to believe. There are some very subtle differences within the two below designs if one looks closely. A question that springs to mind though is who copied it here. Was if Norman McMurray, one does have to consider the possibility?   
                                                                                                                                                                                   

    A big thank you to Dede, Bruce, Chris, Ves and Darolo for their kind words which were very much appreciated.

    A toss up with me as to which artist follows next. There is a very long queue of poster artists that are eligible here to be covered. The favourite with me to follow is Fred Brodrick, occassionaly incorrectly refered to as Broderick. He had a long time connection with various forms of Universal Pictures advertising material here in Australia. in the 1920s and the 1930s, but we will see.
Sign In or Register to comment.






Logo

For movie poster collectors who know...

@ 2021 Vintage Movie Posters Forum, All rights reserved.

Contact us

info@vintagemoviepostersforum.com

Get In Touch