Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood »

IRA M. RESNICK, a professional photographer, started his impressive collection of vintage movie advertisements and stills while studying film at New York University in the 1960s. In 1982 Resnick opened the Motion Picture Arts Gallery, the first gallery devoted exclusively to the art of the movies. In addition to film posters and stills Resnick’s collection includes other pieces such as lobby cards, window signs, and inserts. Resnick is a trustee of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and was chairman of the board from 1999–2005. Resnick resides in New York with his family.

For four decades film historian Ira M. Resnick has been amassing a superb collection of 2,000 vintage movie posters and 1,500 stills, which has never before been published. Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood features the best of Resnick’s collection, with vivid reproductions of 250 posters and forty stills from the golden age of Hollywood, 1912 to 1962.

In a moving introduction, Resnick relates how his love of vintage movie art translated into a career as a collector and the founder of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery, the first gallery devoted exclusively to the art of the movies. Resnick’s firsthand account offers entertaining anecdotes about how he managed to acquire such stellar film artwork, as well as historical information about the stars and films shown on the pieces he collected.

Guiding the reader through the best posters and stills of his collection, Resnick provides a tour of cinematic history, starting in the silent film era and continuing up to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). By showcasing several posters for each performer—such as Lillian Gish, the Marx Brothers, Marilyn Monroe, John Barrymore, and Audrey Hepburn—Resnick offers a unique method of charting the evolution of each movie star’s career.

Organizing his account both chronologically and thematically, in later chapters Resnick discusses some of Hollywood’s legendary directors and films, and critiques fantastic graphic art from little-known films. Bonus material includes a list of Resnick’s fifty favorite one-sheets, helpful tips for the collector, and a glossary of terms and poster sizes.

A must-have book for every collector and film buff, Starstruck offers a beautifully illustrated, personal tour of a bygone age of the motion picture advertising industry.

Foreword

Introduction

1 The Education of a Collector

2 Falling in Love Again (and Again): The Development of a Collection

3 The Silents, 1912–1929

4 The Golden Age of the Talkies: The Women, 1927–1941

5 The Golden Age of the Talkies: The Men, 1927–1941

6 From Citizen Kane to Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1941–1962

7 Great Directors

8 Classic Films

9 Little-Known Movies with Great Graphics

My Fifty Favorite One-sheets

A Guide for the Movie Poster Collector

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

Index