Toddy Pictures Co. "Racket Doctor" Poster, ca. 1940
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GUEST:
When I was younger, I used to always have an eye for looking for collectibles.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And I, I saw these posters, and I knew that they were something. I didn't know what they were-- I didn't know the movie, I didn't know the actors-- but I knew that they were African American movies. So, that's the reason why I kept them. I probably had it framed about 25 years ago.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And so everybody just looks at it, and it's just like a piece of the furniture.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
So, you know, hardly anybody asks any questions. They, if someone new comes to the house, they, they're curious. And, but, you know, I haven't been able to tell them a whole lot, except they see that, you know, "all colored cast," and that says a lot.
APPRAISER:
So, this is from a very, from a very interesting sub-genre of movies-- we'll just call them race films. And they were specifically films that were created for an African American audience, and they were popular between about 1915 to about 1950 or so. As a poster, it's interesting, but the art in it isn't terribly great. It's only printed in two colors. Whereas, for most other popular films of the time, they'd be full-color posters with fantastic art. But these films were created on a very modest budget, and advertising was probably where they spent the least amount of money.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
This is from the 1940 movie "Am I Guilty?", which was re-released by Toddy Pictures as "Racket Doctor."
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
It's about a young African American man who goes to, tries to start a clinic in Harlem. Well, this is actually one of the few cases where the star was actually a star. This fellow, Ralph Cooper, was the original emcee at the Apollo Theater.
GUEST:
Oh, see, I didn't know that.
APPRAISER:
Toddy Pictures bought up a lot of the rights to a lot of these race films and re-released them under different names...
GUEST:
Ah, I see.
APPRAISER:
...to try to make a few extra nickels out of it...
GUEST:
All right.
APPRAISER:
...without spending any more money on actors.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And the collectibility of posters and items related to these films...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...has gone up dramatically in the last few years. In this condition, we would estimate at auction, this would be a $400 to $600 poster.
GUEST:
Ah, okay, okay, okay. I had no idea. It's just been sitting on my wall in a frame, and... So, I probably should get the other one framed, as well.
APPRAISER:
Yes, you should.
GUEST:
(laughs)
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