Posters of the Golden Age : Movie Art Gallery in New York Honors 10,000 Ads for Hollywood’s Classics

Twenty years ago, Ira Resnick, a graduate of New York University’s film school, bought a movie poster for “Grand Hotel.” It wasn’t an original but a 1962 reissue.

That single purchase led to a collection of more than 10,000 vintage, original movie posters worth more than $1 million and to the opening 6 years ago of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery.

Resnick says posters at his Manhattan gallery sell for $25 to $50,000 each.

Resnick’s favorite is a rare poster for a 1929 Louise Brooks film, “Diary of a Lost Girl.”

Resnick says the most colorful posters were created during the silent film era. They were created in huge movie studio art departments by two or more unknown artists working together. Because money was no object, they were often lithographed.

Until the 1940s, film companies did their own advertising, produced the posters and lobby cards and distributed them.

“Theater owners borrowed posters from the studios for the run of the film,” Resnick says. “When the run was over, they were supposed to return the posters. Many, however, were lost forever because theater operators simply tossed them away.”

In the 1930s and 1940s, 20th Century Fox turned out stone lithos; RKO favored pastels; MGM featured red, black and blue, and Paramount’s preference was big faces, large letters and bright colors.

“After the studios began to break up and more independent films were produced and conglomerates took over companies, the quality of the posters went down,” Resnick says.

A “Grand Americana Movie & Memorabilia Show” featuring vintage posters will take place at the Griswold Hotel, 1500 S. Raymond Ave., Fullerton, Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission: $3. Information: (714) 835-1886.