Movie Stills

[Dewey]

Thanks for the information. In asking the question I learned I don't even know what differentiaties a still from a file copy from a lobby card. So much to learn. Babe soaring through the air is a sight to behold!

[Lordstan]

Here are a few from the 1938 movie Rawhide. Lou Gehrig starred with Smith Ballew. Most are movie stills, but some are promo shots and one is applying makeup for the movie.

[Lordstan]

Now for some Pride of the Yankees photos. Same deal as before, many movie stills mixed with some promo shots.

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by Dewey

Thanks for the information. In asking the question I learned I don't even know what differentiaties a still from a file copy from a lobby card. So much to learn. Babe soaring through the air is a sight to behold!

I wish I was technical enough or had the patience to photoshop a cape on him. HA! Do you have any to share with us?

[Dewey]

Babe Ruth plays an ice delivery boy? Classic. These are great.

Wow Mark, those are phenomenal. Love Lou's smile in the first one.

I'm working on it, Ben. I found myself looking for shots of the Baseball Furies from The Warriors. Prewar (Desert Storm). Haha.

Originally Posted by Forever Young

I wish I was technical enough or had the patience to photoshop a cape on him. HA! Do you have any to share with us?

[Exhibitman]

Keeping the Gehrig theme:

Lou signs to do Rawhide:



Two stills from the production:

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Dewey

Thanks for the information. In asking the question I learned I don't even know what differentiaties a still from a file copy from a lobby card. So much to learn. Babe soaring through the air is a sight to behold!

The very basics since I'm far from an expert.

Lobby card - usually printed and on cardstock, a good deal larger than 8x10 (Too lazy to measure mine or look it up, plus it may have varied over the years or by studio etc) They were ads that were meant to be shown in the lobby of the theatre. Just like the posters of upcoming movies just smaller.

Publicity still. - Usually 8x10 and black and white until.....1990s? Not sure, but black and white way past when you'd maybe expect color. Sent out in sets in press packs that included some stills, a description, usually a list of stars, and also usually clip art advertisements. The ones shown that have the title and a bunch of information at the bottom as part of the photo are newer, ones with less info are usually older. With exceptions, I have had some TV ones from the 80's that are very plain but have an attached news release on the back. All stuff intended to be passed along to the press either directly or by the theater owner so the papers could run ads or maybe illustrate an article.

File stills - Stuff taken during production, either to make the promotional stills from, or perhaps to help with continuity, I think the Marilyn Monroe one shown is that sort. So they'd have a record of stuff like which side of a table a vase was on during yesterdays filming. Sort of embarrassing if you've put together multiple clips to make a scene and stuff is moving around on its own.
These also probably don't have readily understandable info written on them, if there's any at all.

There are also fan stills, simply photos taken from a film for sale to fans or some other purpose. (And maybe licensed maybe not. Image quality will usually be really good on licensed stuff, and the whole range on unlicensed.)

Personally I'd find the ones used in production more interesting, but that's just me.

Steve B

[Dewey]

Thanks, Steve. That's very helpful. And it answers a question I kept having about why Field of Dreams stills I came across were black and white.

[mr2686]

Here's my only still...from Pride of the Yankees.

[Exhibitman]

Don't forget the re-releases. If a film becomes a cult favorite it was often re-released with new publicity materials made. Here is a lobby card from Monkey Business, a 1931 film, but it is actually from the re-release in 1949. The notation at the bottom says so:

[mr2686]

I think the re-release material "usually" has the newer date on them, although that may not always be true. I did notice on the re-release of Pride of the Yankees (and what looks like on Monkey Business) when there are numbers like 142/300 etc that the re-release numbers are larger and darker than the original release counterparts. Don't know if that's the norm or not.

[71buc]

Here is John McGraw and Hugh Jennings in 1917 the movie was titled The Pinch Hitter