A lot depends on the printer, I have some 50's paper that is almost card stock, and the 50's were renown for very thin paper, being so soon after the war. Paper generally thickened up by the 60's, and through the 70's, to around the mid 80's leading on to what we have now.
Unfortunately as with all British paper, there's no definite start and finish, just very rough guide lines. Clear as Mud Matt... What is the 60's Quad?
One of my Favourite Quads Matt. The non-folded are still originals, the folded ones were actually Cinema used, which is always better I think.
As you may have read, there was a larger print run of it as Hammer gave them away if you wrote off to them. They did it with some other films too, all in the name of Publicity...
Maybe Hondo can help me here. Why didn't they do a print run of the Good the Bad and the Ugly Aussie three sheet? They did for the first two but not the third.
One question that's been puzzling me for some time doesn't relate to scarcity but abundance. Why is it that some daybills that are 30+ years old are so common (eg. When a Stranger Calls) yet presumably had similar print runs to other films released within weeks of other films that are all but impossible to find?
I don't believe all films had a similar print run. Hopefully I am correct in saying ( not in the mood for checking ) When A Stranger Calls was a Roadshow release so one would think a large print run was done. Films from the smaller distributors that seemed to specialise in the film titles you are seeking knowing they would have trouble in obtaining a great number of film bookings probably opted for a smaller run of posters. No proof and it well not be the case but this is my thinking.
It's the $64,000 question, isn't it? How many daybills were printed for any particular release? I've read (probably on this site) that people involved in the production of Aussie posters seem to suggest that print runs were somewhat standard, but you'd have to think that niche foreign and genre titles couldn't have had the same number of posters done as Jaws or Star Wars.
But wI wonder if there are other factors. For example, I think that you can always find the daybill for Halloween because it was so popular at the time that people then wanted the poster and therefore a larger number than the 'usual' have survived. Conversely, Z Grade schlock daybills were no doubt torn down straight after the film's showing and dumped.
I think some of it has to do with luck. For instance there are a few RKO titles like Cry Danger, On Dangerous Ground, Outlaw etc. where for whatever reason stacks of these particular titles were found. With respect to Cry Danger there is a noticeable printing defect on all the copies I have seen which may explain why that poster has survived in such abundance (i.e. it was never sent out to theatres)
I think there are a number of reasons for the abundance of some daybills. One person who worked for the distributors in Queensland was known to save as many daybills as he could. He sometimes took bundles of posters for certain titles he liked and when he passed away about five years ago, they were all offered for sale as part of his estate. The amount of posters he had was beyond belief and they included US and British posters and lobby cards, press books, etc etc - even US door panels. The collection was offered to "selected" dealers and collectors and I think it was the largest and most impressive collection of movie posters ever seen in Australia.
Another massive collection turned up in NZ when 20th C Fox distributors closed down. They sold all of their posters to an antique dealer and there were bundles of some titles, including large quantities of US one sheets.
There have been plenty of other massive finds of posters that included bundles of certain titles that had been salted away by people who had connections with the distributors.
Two obscure RKO released in Australia films were Guilty? & Captive Women. For both films no images posted on the web as far as I can see ever posted but as I previously mentioned on a VMPF thread I know someone who has 49 unused copies of Guilty? that have never seen the light of day. Not trying to make a point only to deliver the facts.
What is the noticeable printing defect with Cry Danger? Mind sharing what it is?
You can just barely make it out in Bruce's photo - notice the red line that goes between Rhonda and Dick's head (yes I really just wanted to type Dick and head together )?
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But wI wonder if there are other factors. For example, I think that you can always find the daybill for Halloween because it was so popular at the time that people then wanted the poster and therefore a larger number than the 'usual' have survived. Conversely, Z Grade schlock daybills were no doubt torn down straight after the film's showing and dumped.
I guess we'll never know for sure
I think there are a number of reasons for the abundance of some daybills. One person who worked for the distributors in Queensland was known to save as many daybills as he could. He sometimes took bundles of posters for certain titles he liked and when he passed away about five years ago, they were all offered for sale as part of his estate. The amount of posters he had was beyond belief and they included US and British posters and lobby cards, press books, etc etc - even US door panels. The collection was offered to "selected" dealers and collectors and I think it was the largest and most impressive collection of movie posters ever seen in Australia.
Another massive collection turned up in NZ when 20th C Fox distributors closed down. They sold all of their posters to an antique dealer and there were bundles of some titles, including large quantities of US one sheets.
There have been plenty of other massive finds of posters that included bundles of certain titles that had been salted away by people who had connections with the distributors.