Original Warner Brothers One Sheet Poster (27×41) for Alfred E. Green’s biography THE EDDIE CANTOR STORY (1953) starring Keefe Brasselle, Marilyn Erskine, Marie Windsor and Aline MacMahon. This was one of a series of biographies that were popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s on the likes of show business phenomenons like Al Jolson and Will Rodgers. These were often highly white-washed films that contained a nostalgic and sentimental tone chiefly celebrating the music and comedy of acclaimed performers of the past. In this one, the audiences is reminded of such Cantor classics as “Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider” and “If You Knew Susie.” This poster for THE EDDIE CANTOR STORY is folded and in very fine condition.

Original six sheet poster for the Alfred E. Green film THE EDDIE CANTOR STORY, starring Keefe Brasselle as the legendary vaudeville star. Eddie Cantor emigrated to Hollywood from the New York Stage to make elaborate musical funnies for Samuel Goldwyn – films like PALMY DAYS and WHOOPEE. By the 1940s his star had diminished if not faded. But by the 1950s, Cantor was, like many of his peers, starring again on network TV. The King of Comic TV, Milton Berle, in his book of sketches about comedians, B.S. I LOVE YOU (1988, McGraw Hill) wrote that Cantor was not a natural comedian, but that he wanted very much to be funny. To serve that end he hired legions of writers to keep him that way. Berle wrote also “He [Cantor] had respect for the poor guy who reached deep in his pocket to come up with the money for a ticket. A dollar was a lot of sweat in Cantor’s day. Knowing this, he was among the first Broadway stars to play past the critics to the audience. The critics may have grimaced when Cantor rolled his banjo eyes. The audiences roared with laughter. Cantor defied the dictum of the first three decades of this [the last] century that a show could be a hit only if it pleased the critics.” By 1953, Cantor was such a well known personality that Warner’s fashioned this film in the mode of THE JOLSON STORY and other successful show business biopics. The real Cantor even appears in a short prologue to the movie, shown appearing as if coming to work to the studio in his car. This poster is a very nice example of Jacques Kapralik artwork on a large format poster. Six sheet posters are printed (usually) on four separate panels. We have photographed each panel and assembled the poster photographically using photo software. Very fine condition, never assembled.

Original United Artists One Sheet Poster (27×41) for the Alfred E. Green murder mystery, COVER UP (1949) starring William Bendix, Dennis O’Keefe, and Barbara Britton. Insurance investigator O’Keefe arrives in a small town to check out an apparent suicide. But from the beginning, he begins to think this suicide is a cover up for a murder. The believable rapport between O’Keefe and Bendix, the charms of leading lady Britton, and the flavor of a small town at Christmas—all combine to create an unusual and entertaining mystery. This original stone lithograph one sheet poster is folded and in fine plus condition, with vivid colors and only some minor edge distresses and small tears in the border area only.

Original United Artists Stone Lithograph One Sheet Poster (27×41) for the Alfred E. Green military academy drama, THE DUKE OF WEST POINT (1938) starring Louis Hayward, Joan Fontaine, Tom Brown, and Richard Carlson. The titular “Duke” is actually an American raised in England and schooled at Cambridge who goes to West Point only because of family tradition. But the “snob” does have a heart of gold, and the audience largely sees him through the eyes of his “everyman” roommates (Brown and Carlson). This original stone lithograph one sheet poster is in good condition.