by August » Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:10 pm
I've been a collector for a long time... the first posters I got were as a little runt in 1973, when my mom took me to my first convention (WorldCon at the St. Francis Hotel). I scored my first movie posters at that show, Half Sheets for VARAN and FCTW (actually, my Mom bought them for me). A few years later, when I was a teenager, I heard about the now-defunct Cinema Shop, and it was all over.
Of course, conventions were always a great source for movie posters, and back then, not only were they not expensive (you'd never pay more than $20 for a DAM one sheet), but you'd also have dealers like Ron Borst and Eric Caiden, that had great foreign materials, too. I scored a Nikkatsu English/French overseas sales brochure for GAPPA, and a ton of German posters, way back in 1976! I even scored a pristine, original Japanese poster for GAMERA VS. JIGER for $15 at one show.
I didn't have everything, but I had a lot, including an original One Sheet for GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS! (which was a present from our local Horror Host, Bob Wilkins). My collection was fairly well-known, because of appearances on local television and events, which would feature my posters on display, and in the mid-1980s, some jealous fans managed to steal most of it from the house I was living in at the time. One Sheets, Three Sheets, Half Sheets, Six Sheets, Inserts, Lobby Cards, Stills... a lobby standee for GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER... an original, mint Toho Speed poster for THE MYSTERIANS... you name it, they got it.
So, over the last twenty years, I've had to rebuild my collection, and while I'm no longer the rabid completist that I was, there are still a few holes in my collection that I would like to fill. It really sucked to start all over, because I pretty much had 85% of every US poster, pressbook, etc. for every Japanese Fantasy Film released in the US up until that point (and, as I mentioned earlier, a ton of European and Japanese materials, too).
For the older, rarer Japanese posters I lost or never snagged, I just don't feel like doling out thousands of dollars for them. A few hundred, cool. But, some are retarded. So, to me, even the Toho/Daiei-issued reprints are fine. If I find a great piece at a decent price, I'll snag it, and if I already have a reprint of said piece, I'll replace it. The Toho reissues are nice posters, and the prices aren't too crazy if you find them in Japan (I scored a 1973 KING KONG ESCAPES last time I was there for $30 USD and a 1970 MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA for $60 USD). The Japanese posters I posted above are originals, btw (I'll post more when I get good scans of them).
But, even after getting ripped off, life goes on... Since that time, I've realized that you can't have everything; but with that being said, there are certain gems I would still like to track down, so I can frame and admire them and share them with others (as long as they don't try to steal them!). I don't plan on selling this stuff for a turn over or retirement; I just collect because I love the art and the films. They eventually will end up being donated to a museum or an archive.
August Ragone
Showa GAMERA Special Features Producer
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