What color were lobby cards?

[Jack]

I've seen pictures of them in red ink, and in black and white. Also, how big were they, and what kind of paper where they printed on (glossy paper, or just plain old card-like paper)?

I'd like to know what these things really looked like.


Jack :confused:

[Paul Penna]

Originally posted by Jack
I've seen pictures of them in red ink, and in black and white. Also, how big were they, and what kind of paper where they printed on (glossy paper, or just plain old card-like paper)? I'd like to know what these things really looked like.

Lobby cards were 11 X 14 inches and printed on heavy stock, not usually glossy. In almost all cases, lobby cards for live-action films used color illustrations, even if the film itself was in black and white. Originally, these were (even often in the case of color films) black and white photos (production stills) which were colorized(or "hand-tinted" in the terminology of the time).

[Matthew Hunter]

There are some of those I've seen on ebay from the same seller, and they are all printed on glossy photo paper, yet sold for high prices. Are the cards so valuable that even a fake reproduction sells well?
-Matthew

[Jerry Beck]

I think JACK was refering to the Warner cartoon "Lobby cards/insert publicity art" (not Lobby cards in general).
The Warner Bros. cartoon pieces were printed in red ink on "poster paper" (the standard one-sheet movie poster paper stock on the 1930s through 1970 - which is not the glossy stock used in the 1970s or the type used today). These "inserts" measured 8" wide by 7 3/4" long and were pasted onto a little space on stock one-sheet Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies posters in the 1930s and early 40s. The animation studio provided at least 2 of these pieces of publicity art for each cartoon (actual stills of production cels were sometime created as well for publcity purposes).
Apparently from the mid-40s onward they were offered to theatres as publicity stills. Most of you younger fans, may not recall that theaters used to display posters, lobby cards and still pictures in the lobby for each movie they were playing.

[Naraht]

Originally posted by Jerry Beck
Most of you younger fans, may not recall that theaters used to display posters, lobby cards and still pictures in the lobby for each movie they were playing.

heh, next you'll be saying there was no color, no sound, and a guy playing the piano durring movies...HAHAHA! You're funny!


Seriously, they still have the posters...

Although, I really really REALLY wish they'd bring back animated shorts between movies...

Sitting for 45 Minutes waiting for LotR to start is really boring.

*Sigh*

[Matthew Hunter]

I've seen them go so far as to air *COMMERCIALS* before movies! Previews are at least interesting, but the car commercials have got to go. And here, my local "amc" theater has trivia and coke ads before the show...for about 10 minutes. Why don't they buy old cartoons and play those? I remember seeing a movie when I was very young, and they had a Sylvester and Tweety cartoon (I believe I pieced together my memory of it and decided on "Tugboat Granny".) It was probably done in celebration of Bugs Bunny's 50th birthday, but the audience sure liked it. Same with when I saw "Shrek", there was a preview for "The Ice Age", a new CGI animated movie, that was made into a 3 minute short about a prehistoric-looking squirrel trying to open a nut. Think Chuck Jones' "Much Ado about Nutting", only the squirrel causes an avalanche. The audience loved it, they didn't laugh that hard at Shrek, and that was a funny film.
-Matthew

[Jack]

Originally posted by Matthew Hunter
There are some of those I've seen on ebay from the same seller, and they are all printed on glossy photo paper, yet sold for high prices. Are the cards so valuable that even a fake reproduction sells well?
-Matthew
You mean Gremlin Animation Art? Who sells them at starting prices of 70 something bucks on ebay? (but only 25 dollars on their site :rolleyes: ). I don't think they are so valuable that they warrant that much money, which is why I don't think I'll purchase one of those.


Originally posted by naraht
heh, next you'll be saying there was no color, no sound, and a guy playing the piano durring movies...HAHAHA! You're funny!

Seriously, they still have the posters...
They don't have publicity art to the extent they did in the 30s-50s, though. Some second run theaters don't have many posters at all, and most large theaters just put a few little posters outside. I never see lobby cards and things like that.

I wish they'd show shorts too, the lame Coke trivia ads are boring, they run them almost contually between movies at my local theater (which is now the only theater in the county :( ). They also run TV commercials. Then to top it all off they played Lord of the Rings with the left side and bottom run off the screen, some of the subtitles were cut off!!!

And thanks (why in the world did I type "that's"????) for answering my question, Jerry Beck.

Jack :D