September 2018
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LearnAboutMoviePosters.com September 2018 ATTENTION STILL COLLECTORS WHO PURCHASED EARLIER VERSIONS OF OUR MOVIE STILL IDENTIFICATION BOOKS… NOW AVAILABLE AT AMAZON U.S. & AMAZON INTERNATIONAL SITES Details page 3 ASTON’S EWBANK’S AUCTIONEERS UPCOMING WILL PRESENT ... AUCTIONS The Devon Star Wars Toy Collection Auction on Entertainment and Tuesday September 18 Memorabilia Auction Thursday, October 4 and and Entertainment & Memorabilia Auction Vintage Poster Auction Thursday September 20 Friday, October 5 Details pages 11 & 12 Details page 14 & 15 UPCOMING EVENTS/DEADLINES Aston’s Auctioneers The Devon Star Wars Toy Sept. 18 Collection Auction Aston’s Auctioneers Film & Music Memorabilia and Sept. 20 Comics Consignment Deadline Heritage Signature Auction - Sept. 25 November 17-18th Limited Runs – 4 day Pop Art Photo Show & posters Sept. 27-30 – Los Angeles eMovieposter.com 19th Annual Halloween Auction Sept. 28 Consignment Deadline Oct. 4-5 Ewbanks Entertainment and Memorabilia Auction Deadline for consigning to Bonham’s Entertainment Oct. 11 Memorabilia Auction December 11, 2018 eMovieposter.com 19th Annual Halloween Auction Oct. 28 - Nov. 4 Part I eMovieposter.com 19th Annual Halloween Auction Oct. 30 - Nov. 6 Part II eMovieposter.com 19th Annual Halloween Auction Nov. 1 - Nov. 8 Part III Nov. 17-18 Heritage Signature Auction eMovieposter.com’s December Major Auction Dec. (TBA) Accepting Consignments Now. Dec. 11 Bonham’s Entertainment Auction LAMP’s LAMP POST Film Accessory Newsletter features industry news as well as product and services provided by Sponsors and Dealers of Learn About Movie Posters and the Movie Poster Data Base. To learn more about becoming a LAMP sponsor, click HERE! Add your name to our Newsletter Mailing List HERE! Visit the LAMP POST Archive to see early editions from 2001-PRESENT. The link can be found on the home page nav bar under “General” or click HERE. The LAMPPOST is a publication of If you’d like to keep up LearnAboutMoviePosters.com with what’s happening Telephone: (504) 298-LAMP email: [email protected] at LAMP Copyright 20178- Learn About Network L.L.C. 2 NOW AVAILABLE! Collectors that bought our Movie Still Identification Book in the past can now expand their number of production codes to Over 58,000 Production Codes with our new Movie Still Identification Supplement! YES! If you bought the 2011, 2013 or 2 volume 2015 editions, the new Movie Still Identification Supplement will update your edition to over 58,000 production codes. Unfortunately, this is our first and last written supplement as it has become too large to release in print form. Order your copy now for $29.95 and we pay the shipping (SHIPPING IN THE U.S. ONLY) OUTSIDE THE U.S., we have made our new supplement available through Amazon International in your country. HOW TO ORDER: PAYPAL: To order through Paypal, use the account [email protected]. Be sure to include complete shipping instructions. CREDIT CARD: Credit cards can be used in our Square Store https://squareup.com/ store/Hollywood_On_The_Bayou/item/movie-still-identification-supplement or the information can be sent to us via email [email protected] CONTACT US FOR OTHER PAYMENT OPTIONS. 3 ATTENTION U.S. STILL COLLECTORS! EARLY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL We have had numerous collectors asking about getting our new Movie Still Identification Supplement without having one of the earlier editions! Unfortunately, that doesn’t work too well. So we decided to have an EARLY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL for those that need the entire set – so here’s our Fabulous Foursome. 2 vol. Movie Still Movie Still Production Code Identification Book Identification Basics Supplement This gives you the most current documented production codes for identifying unknown movie stills and costumes! We are offering this $120 value to our U.S. collectors only for $80 including shipping in U.S. HOW TO ORDER: To make your payment using Paypal, please use the account: [email protected]. If you need a Paypal invoice, please let me know. If you’d like to make payment using a credit card, please call (504) 298-LAMP or email the following information: credit card number; expiration; security code (found on the backside of the card) and the billing zip code. We would suggest that if you email the credit card info that you send it broken down in two or three emails. CONTACT US FOR OTHER PAYMENT OPTIONS. 4 LAMP Article 1st of a 3 part series With the release of our first and last Production Code Supplement, we thought that over the next couple of months we would also present a series of articles on the use of production codes for those that are not familiar with them. So, for this first installment, we present: Assessing the Code Major Studios Each major studio would assign a specific code or number to their individual film projects, based on the studios unique numbering system in place at the time. This code was used as a control number for all filming assigned to that particular film production. For still collectors and archivists, this code number becomes an important tool for still recognition. Many of the stills in the master book or key set have the production code, then a dash and number on the still. Let's step through the process. Here is a still to use as an example. There is no identification except for the still itself, and for the purpose of this article, let's say that there is nothing on the back. (Quite often, there is other information that is printed or written on the back of a still that may be helpful.) Of course, Clark Gable and Joan Crawford are quite recognizable but we want to use the production code for identification of the film. The image on the right features the lower right corner of the still above. It shows the film’s production code which is 795-12. 5 The first number (sometimes it is a letter or series of letters) is 795 which identifies the film production number. The second number, 12, is the still number out of the Key Set. This production code helps to identify this still from the 1934 film Forsaking All Others. This is the standard simple production code – quick and easy. Another area dealing with major studios that you should be aware of is what we call "pre- release codes.” Sometimes during the initial filming, or if the title has not been selected yet, filming will begin using a temporary code such as the initials of the director and number of his film, or the initials of the major star and number of his film (i.e. 4 - for his 4th film). This also happens if the studio has a production contract with a smaller production company Then during the selection process for the key book, the codes are assigned to the title. Let me give you an example: We were asked for help to identify some cast members on some early stills from the teens. The stills had a studio stamp, the title, a recognizable star, a well-known director and a good production code number, so we “thought” this would be a piece of cake! After our initial search, none of the regular sources had the cast members, so we contacted the studio archivist. We sent over the title and production code and received a shocking report: THEY HAD NO RECORDS OF THAT PRODUCTION. We said: “Wait, here’s a copy of the stills with the studio stamp and you can see the production codes!” The studio archivist said: “We have no record of that.” If you handle a lot of stills, you will quickly come to the conclusion that it was not uncommon for the studio to completely re-number and re-title the project during the keybook process. The problem is that the pre-release codes and documentation were basically eliminated and NO records kept once they were reassigned. So pre-release stills CAN GIVE YOU NIGHTMARES! As a side note: it appears that it was a lot more common for production codes on pre-release stills to start with LETTERS instead of numbers. 6 Outside the Major Studios The term “production code” and the system used were designed for the major studios. Once you move outside of that system, things do not work quite as smoothly, and there are numerous additional problems. So let’s take a look at some of them. Production Companies The major studios had all of the departments to handle every step of the process, BUT the small production companies didn’t. They didn’t have advertising departments and art departments and publicity departments, etc. They rarely dealt with anything like special photographers and exclusives. During the planning stage and meetings, the production code would be established. It might be the director’s initials, the stars’ initials, a character series, or whatever code that was decided on for that film. Whatever it was, it was normally put on the stills very similar to the system described earlier except on a smaller basis. If the production company already had a distributor, they would send over the stills and the distributor would handle the other areas. If the production company DIDN’T have a distributor, then the best stills were picked out and used to create a package to present to try to secure a distributor. If no distributor was signed before the end of the production, then material was compiled and decisions made on how to promote the film. Distribution Companies Outside the major studios, the term should actually be changed to production and distribution code, because the DISTRIBUTOR had total control over the code number.