Description: You
are viewing a wonderful vintage Keystone Film Nickelodeon Poster.
It reads: KEYSTONE FILMS at the Hennepin Ave. new Gem Nickelodeon / The
Bathing Costumes Are Skimpier Than Ever / Are you Wearing the Keystone
Smile? / A New Keystone Weekly / September 1913 / Featuring: Mabel Normand
- Al St. John - "Fatty " Arbuckle - Mack Swain - Hank Mann /
Ford Sterling - And an Amusing New Comic - Charlie Chaplin. Flanked
on the sides are ladies in swimsuits diving, it reads: World-Famous Players /
Mack Sennett - Director / Blushing Bathing Beauties / One and Two-Reel
Comedies / Open Daily Seats 5 cents / Clever, Amusing Subjects. This
great poster lists the most popular silent-film stars of the era. The
print is in black and light brown and looks as though it were set by hand
because the lettering is not perfectly straight, if you look
closely. It has been reframed in the past. The black wood
frame and cardboard backing are newer. I don't know if this is
actually from 1913, but because of the uneven type-setting and the
browning to the back of the item, it looks that way to me. This is a wonderfully unique
silent film movie history treasure to
admire and pass
on to your children.
Silent
Film History: Silent
Films are the films of the early era that were
without synchronized sound, from the earliest
film (around 1891), until 1927, when the first 'talkie', the Jazz
Singer was produced, although there were a few other 'silents' later
on, such as City Lights (1931).
Calling them silent films is something of a misnomer - movie theatres
and other dream palaces provided pianists, wurlitzers, and other sound
machines, and some films were produced with complete musical scores. Most
early silents were accompanied with a full-fledged orchestra, organist or
pianist to provide musical background and to underscore the narrative on the
screen. Some even had live actors or narrators. Unfortunately, many of the
early classics have been lost to decomposing nitrate film bases and outright
destruction.
Many early silent films were either dramas, epics, romances, or comedies
(often slapstick). One-reelers (10-12 minutes) soon gave way to four-reel
feature-length films.
Dimensions: Approximately:
15 " H, 12 " W
Condition: Very Good, just one
small tear (1/4 ") near the bottom-left framed picture. There is some
smudging of the black ink that looks like it happened when printed.
Some browning around the edges to the back of the paper. The frame
has some paint missing, looks nice that way, it fits the poster.
This is a wonderful vintage poster tribute to
the silent era film stars. |