1960 "The Wild One" 40 x 60 Re-released Movie Poster
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GUEST:
I used to work for Columbia Pictures Television in New York in, I guess, the '70s. And one of my colleagues was a big collector of posters, and he knew I loved Marlon Brando. And as he was leaving the company, he said, "Do you want this?" I've had it ever since.
APPRAISER:
When you first unrolled it, I saw this...
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
"R 60." That's usually the death knell for the value of a poster. It means "re-release 1960." The Wild One originally was released in 1953. But "292," that's the stock number for all advertising material having to do with this release of The Wild One. Now, in movie poster collecting, it's the original release that is the valuable poster. But rules are made to be broken, and there are a handful of exceptions to that rule. First of all, to give you a little bit of background about the format. This format is called a 40 x 60. The 40 x 60 is a very unusual format, and that's because only... less than a thousand of this format is ever printed, because only a handful of theaters would want them. They were very popular with drive-ins because of the large format.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
People could see them from a distance. Back then, whereas most movie posters were folded, the 40 x 60 was always sent rolled, because it would crack. All the advertising images come from what's called the key art.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
There's a basic layout that's made, and the regular poster, the lobby cards, the window cards all come from the key art. With the 40 x 60, because it has a larger format, it let individual studio artists have a little more freedom. The original release, 1953, Wild One poster makes no reference to motorcycles. They did not want it to be thought of as a biker film. When they re-released it, they were still rather shy about the biker image as far as the one-sheet went. And that goes for a hundred dollars. Now, I have been on the phone, and nobody has seen this poster.
GUEST:
I'm shocked.
APPRAISER:
I have been on the Internet, and nobody has found a 40 x 60 from the re-release of The Wild One. And it's a very strong biker image.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
This poster, if it came up for auction, I would estimate conservatively that it would sell between $3,500 and $4,000.
GUEST:
I'm doing the double take that I always see on TV, because I'm, like, going, "I can't believe it."
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
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