THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH ☆ NSS POSTERS ☆ RINGLING BROS. BARNUM & BAILEY CIRCUS

Description

*****
Cecil B. DeMille's BEST!
RARE STYLE POSTERS!!!
UP FOR SALE
are two (2) of the rarest and most important 1950's movie posters ever offered on eBay:
A 1952 "The Greatest Show On Earth" ORIGINAL Rare style "C" One-Sheet [Circus Headliner's] poster, and, the extremely rare style "B" style Half-Sheet featuring the entire star-filled cast. Both of these posters were issued by the National Screen Service back in January of 1952, more than a full
YEAR
before it would received the Academy Award for
Best Picture
in 1953. BOTH of these posters are by far the best - and rarest - posters issued for this important film. I've specialized in collecting posters on this title. I have almost all of the US posters issued on this film. I even have the only known surviving original 24-sheet billboard, and so I've seen the entire campaign. There's no question, these specific two posters stand out for their unique designs that greatly differ from the rest of the campaign. ALL of the other posters are just variations on the generic looking "circus parade" artwork featured on the regular style one-sheet.
YOU GET TWO (2) UNIQUE POSTERS!
1 - THE RARE STYLE "B" HALF-SHEET:
This is a real gem. It's
THE
only poster issued on the campaign that pictures the stars. This shows EVERYONE, and in all their glory. Charlton Heston, Jimmy Stewart, and all the rest of the gang are pictured to perfection, including the ever so popular Elephants and the incomparable Emmett Kelly the clown!
It's also very nice to see they featured the legendary and ever so lovely Dorothy Lamour on this poster too.
This poster is
THE
piece to have on this film. Paramount Pictures was known to issue "very different" style "B" half-sheets in the 1950s. The best example would be "The War of the World's" campaign. It spawned a rare "B" style half-sheet that departed from the rest of the campaign. That poster now sells for over ,000. This poster is a similar departure in campaign design for "The Greatest Show On Earth." The entire sensibility differs from the other posters issued. Even the trapeze artwork that's used against the title treatment on this poster is different and more elegant than anything else released on the film. The whole execution of this poster is TOP-NOTCH!
A half sheet is a standard poster advertising format that dates back to the late 1800s. It's a printer's term for a poster 1/2 the size of a one-sheet. This half-sheet was printed and issued by the National Screen Service to the movie theaters upon rental. Motion picture half-sheets were designed to hang in the theater lobby. Half-sheets measure approximately 22x28 inches. This one is 22x28 and 5/16 of an inch to be exact.
2 - THE RARE STYLE "C" ONE-SHEET:
This is a remarkable item! Ringling Brothers had so many headline acts in the film, and, the film was so enrooted in the the Ringling Brothers circus world, Paramount decided to issue a special one-sheet [or 1-sheet] to honor the circus performers with proper poster billing. Following long-standing tradition, this poster was designed as an old-school circus poster broadside. It's printed VERY sharply with NO printing dots. I think it might even be a silkscreen. What's truly remarkable, is that this poster is not only an important and rare film poster, it's an important and rare circus poster. Actually, this turns out to be one of the
rarest
Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey lithos still out there today. That's because very few theaters ordered this special poster style - because it didn't have artwork, and so very few survived. Remember, these posters were rented for money back in 1952 to the movie theaters by the NSS (National Screen Service), and so they were not issued free. NSS charged the same amount of money for this poster as they did for the artwork style. Needless to say, most theaters ordered the artwork poster, making this RARE!
Interestingly, this poster marks the very peak of the circus as an institution here in the United States. This film was the biggest promotion of the circus and its arts worldwide in the long history of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey show, which sadly ended just a few months ago. When this film won the Oscar for Best Picture, it solidified the precise "moment" when the circus - as an American institution - actually peaked. Circus life was NEVER more famous or more fantasized about than when this picture originally played back in 1952. Both of these posters represent the circus, especially that of the Ringling Brothers, perfectly! And, on top of it all, you get stellar Hollywood motion picture representation too. Despite the many nominations he received, this would be THE only film in which the legendary director/producer Cecil B. DeMille would win an Oscar. He got it for Best Picture, which makes this title one for all the history books on motion pictures and Hollywood to come.
The one-sheet is in Very Fine+ condition. It was shipped to the theater folded. The theater hung it and then it returned to the theater poster exchange. I got it from the exchange directly in the 1980s and have had it ever since. It has only minor wear throughout. On verso there is minor staining from when it originally hung. It's all but invisible on front. You have to strain on close-up to see it. I debated about linen-backing this poster, but I found the slight defects and such something that actually added to the character of the poster, and so I decided to keep it as is. Certainty, if the new owner decided to linen-mount it the poster would grade a solid NearMINT. I have had the poster stored in a flat-pack between acid-free paper for 20+ years now. The poster will be shipped rolled, as to not weaken the folds. This one-sheet measures 28x42 inches.
THE HALF-SHEET POSTER HAS BEEN MUSEUM LINEN-BACKED WITH ACID-FREE PAPER!
This poster was in
SOLID NearMINT Condition
before
I had it museum-mounted. I had it linen-mounted to smooth-out the standard folding. It worked like a charm because the poster came out perfect! I used the best conservator in the USA. He ONLY uses high-grade materials. The better materials cost more but make a real difference in the end result. It's flat as a pancake and as clean as can be. I've posted direct high-resolution scans of the poster here on eBay so you can see just how terrific this baby truly is - You won't find a nicer one!
LINEN-MOUNTING & CONSERVATION PAPER BACKING
is an accepted form of poster preservation by the Library of Congress and every Museum in the country. Except for one or two, every one of the top twenty 0,000.00 and up most expensive selling movie posters were all paper or linen-mounted. A lot of advanced poster buyers request and prefer mounted posters because it makes framing and displaying the posters much easier.
CHECK OUT PHOTO #10
:
The white you see in the photo
is the white of the Acid-Free paper
lining the half-sheet poster's border margin. You can see how easy it would be to damage the original poster without that extra margin of protection. The backing makes the poster much safer to handle -
it GREATLY reduces the risk of damaging the original
. Also, all of my backed posters have been stored FLAT so they DO NOT have a curl to them - They're ready for framing and display!
I've posted high-res photos of the actual posters you'll be getting here on eBay.
Cecil B. DeMille ... Producer/Director
Fredric M. Frank ... screenplay
Barré Lyndon ... screenplay
Theodore St. John ... screenplay
Betty Hutton ... Holly
Cornel Wilde ... The Great Sebastian
Charlton Heston ... Brad Braden
Dorothy Lamour ... Phyllis
Gloria Grahame ... Angel
Henry Wilcoxon ... FBI Agent Gregory
Lyle Bettger ... Klaus
Lawrence Tierney ... Mr. Henderson
Emmett Kelly ... Emmett Kelly
Cucciola ... Cucciola
Antoinette Concello
... Antoinette Concello
John Ringling North ... John Ringling North
Tuffy Genders ... Tuffy Genders
John Kellogg ... Harry
John Ridgely ... Assistant Manager
Frank Wilcox ... Circus Doctor
Robert Carson ... Ringmaster
Lillian Albertson ... Buttons' Mother
Julia Faye ... Birdie
James Stewart ... 'Buttons' A Clown
Lou Jacobs ... Lou Jacobs
The Alzanas ... The Alzanas
Trisco ... Trisco
The Flying Artonys ... The Flying Artonys
Lilo Juston ... Lilo Juston
The Chaludis ... The Chaludis
The Idnavis ... The Idnavis
The Realles ... The Realles
The Fredonias ... The Fredonias
Luciana & Friedel ... Luciana & Friedel
Buzzy Potts ... Buzzy Potts
Ernie Burch ... Ernie Burch
Felix Adler ... Felix Adler
Paul Jerome ... Paul Jerome
Miss Patricia ... Miss Patricia
Eddie Kohl ... Eddie Kohl
Tiebor's Sea Lions ... Tibor's Sea Lions
Mroczkowski's Liberty Horses ... Mroczkowski's Liberty Horses
The Zoppes ... The Zoppes
Bones Brown ... Bones Brown
Fay Alexander ... Fay Alexander
The Flying Concellos ... The Flying Concellos
Lola Dobritch ... Lola Dobritch
The Hemadas ... The Hemadas
Christy and Gorilla ... Christy & Gorilla
Tonito ... Tonito
The Bokaras ... The Bokaras
Prince Paul ... Prince Paul
Jimmy Armstrong ... Jimmy Armstrong
Paul Horompo ... Paul Horompo
Paul Jung ... Paul Jung
Charley Bell ... Charley Bell
Gilbert Reichert ... Gilbert Reichert
C.H. Lindsey ... C. H. Lindsey
Peterson's Dogs ... Peterson's Dogs
Rix's Bears ... Rix's Bears
Arthur Burson ... Arthur Burson
La Norma ... La Norma
Jeanne Sleeter ... Jeanne Sleeter
Billy Snyder ... Bill Snyder
The Flying Comets ... The Flying Comets
Veronica Martell ... Veronica Martell
Miss Loni
... Miss Loni
The Romigs ... The Romigs
Rusty Parent ... Rusty Parent
The Maxellos ... The Maxellos
Martha Hunter ... Martha Hunter
Truzzi ... Truzzi
Eugene Scott ... Eugene Scott
James Barnes ... James Barnes
Merle Evans ... Merle Evans
Frank McClosky ... Frank McClosky
Mike Petrillo ... Mike Petrillo
Peter Grace ... Peter Grace
Bob Reynolds ... Bob Reynolds
George Werner ... George Werner
Buying these posters is ECONOMY PROOF!
Why waste your money in the stock market? It can crash regardless of any decision you make and can even crash regardless of any decision made by the company related to the stock - leaving you with a near worthless piece of paper that won't inspire anyone! With the purchase of an historic document such as these two RARE DeMille posters it doesn't matter what happens to the economy, you'll still have the posters, which can be displayed and enjoyed. The magnificence of art and historic documents have an inherent value that relates to civilization and society. Unless civilization itself crashes then these items will hold their value, and, if civilization itself crashes - Who'll care about money? These posters are definitely
ECONOMY PROOF!
MRS.MINIVER WILL ACCEPT
TIME PAYMENTS
FOR MOST ITEMS LISTED
☆
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