Merleboy1963's Collection

Merleboy1963 · March 2016

Image: https://vintagemoviepostersforum.com/uploads/editor/l9/wakf01uluac8.jpeg

I picked these up when I was in LA a few years ago and brought them back on the plane with me

Eisenhower · March 2016

Very nice! :plus_one:

what size is the, "These Three"? Looks like one of those small release 40x60's. Original year pieces of that movie seem to scarce!

Paul · March 2016

Those are really nice, keep them coming..

Merleboy1963 · March 2016

Hey guys. Thanks. They're Melloy 40 x 60s .

Merleboy1963 · March 2016

Waited long and hard for these pieces

Bruce · March 2016

Here is the full scoop on the Meloy Bros 40x60s (almost all of the known ones were auctioned by us)

About Meloy Bros Forty by Sixties

Note that many years ago a poster dealer discovered an amazing group of special 40" by 60" posters that were created by the "Meloy Bros. Inc" company of Shelbyville, Indiana in 1935 and 1936! This company created special 40" x 60" posters that were distributed to theaters in the Midwest, and are NOT like 40" x 60" posters that were created by the studios at that time.
      The posters from Meloy Bros. are made on a very thick heavyweight board stock. The company would acquire photographic images from the studios, and then they would have them blown up, and then they would have them laid out with artistic design elements added with newly created titles and credits, and then they would have them printed onto the 40" x 60" heavyweight boards (in many ways, they look similar to jumbo lobby cards of the period, except that the titles and credits were created by employees of Meloy Bros., and not be studios).
      In 1935 and 1936, Meloy Bros. supplied these posters to theaters throughout the Midwest. It is interesting to note that they mailed the posters (or sent them by bus or freight), and that the theaters returned them to Meloy Bros. after they used them. No one knows how many different posters Meloy Bros. made during those years, or how many examples of each poster were made, but it seems likely that there could not have been all that many, as they were likely quite expensive to make! It also seems likely that most of these would not have survived, given how bulky they are, and given that very few people saved any sort of movie posters in the 1930s.
      Very few of these posters have ever been sold. In 1996, an example of the Meloy Bros. 40" x 60" poster from "The Petrified Forest" sold at Christie's auction house for $8,050, and we auctioned another example of THAT poster, plus 15 other Meloy Bros. 40" by 60" posters on 2/28/08, and the example of The Petrified Forest we sold that day sold for $7,900, and the other 15 posters sold for prices ranging from $66 to $1,235. Over the 3 years since, we have auctioned almost all of the remaining posters from this amazing find, and the last few of them will be auctioned in the Spring of 2011, and then there will be no more of these offered for sale.

Matt · March 2016

Yes, definitely keep them coming!

Bruce · March 2016

Here is a link to most of the ones we auctioned:

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/search/meloy/tag/xtype%3AForty%20by%20Sixty/sort/4/archive.html

There were a bunch in MUCH lesser condition, and those were auctioned in "bulk lots" (see the above gallery)

David · March 2016

Nice..!

David · March 2016

That Dark Angel is definitely a great looking poster.

Eisenhower · March 2016

Holy Schnike! Those Dark Angel pieces are just wonderful! Yes, more...

@Bruce, good stuff! I have a book, Rare Movie Posters which has quite a few of the Meloy paper. I like the "portrait" style they created.

Merleboy1963's Collection

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