Tlt t B1[cl( ] l l t t l HtPl0sl0t 01

tillIl$

GtRll[ illRTl]ltl, Dl[]lA illnil]llI, and ffl[RtS CllNIl

Gerald Martinez is vice president and creative director for Rotting Thunder pictures. Martinez has carried the RT missionto showcase fitms that are often overlooked. From a famity of taiented artists, he has produced art for Disney mercnan-dising' worked as a toy designer, and a designer of movie posters. His graphic design work appears in puLp Fiction, Touch,From Dusk 'Til Down, and Jackie Brown. Martinez is l.aunching the Rolting Thunder-Book Division with the book, what ItIs ... What It Was!

Diana Martinez is an award-winning journatist ' Martinez worked as an editor, producer, and news director before start-ing the communication company L.A' Media. An emphasis for L.A. Media is work that supports cultural understanding.Martinez produced the award-winning book cou-eing L.A.'s Majong, the first work to examine L.Ajs ethnic communitiesand media coverage. she produces L.A. Stoies for KiwB cgs ^iew;oro.

Andres chavez has worked as a producer and media manager for twenty-five years. currenfl.y co-owner of L.A. Media,chavez provides creative service to media and corporate ctients. Prior to joining L.A. Media, chavez was fi[m director forKABC-TV in Los Angetes. He's an aficionado of wortd cinema. Chavez's other passions inctude his wife and son, martialarts, and science. He is a member of the ptanetary Society.

Editors: Geratd Martinez, Diana Martinez, and Andres ChavezAssociate Editor: Jeri L. LoveArt Director/Designer: Geratd MartinezAssociate Designer: Mathieu Bitton

Cover iltustration (Cotton Comes to Harlem) by: Robert E. McGinnisBack cover illustration (That lvlan Bott) by John Solie

Copyright @ 1998, Geratd Martinez, Diana Martinez, and Andres Chavez

Att rights reserved' No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of thePublisher' Printed in the united states of America' For information address: Hyperion, 114 Fifth Avenue, New york, New york 10011.

The posters in this book are from the col,Lection of Ron Fintey.Additionat posters/ad material courtesy of: Mathieu BittonPhoto credits: Melvin van Peebles - chico De Luigi, Rimini, Itaty; cheryt Dunye - K. Brent Hitt; Ice-T - chris cuffaro

ACKNOWTEDGMENTSBob weinstein, Harvey weinstein, Mark Gitt, Julie Mclean, Leith Adams, Brian Ashcraft, Darius James aka Dr. snakeskin,Lydia Martinez, Atejandro M. chavez, Josh Olson, Art sims, Brian Quinn, GabrieLte Raumberger, Garo Nighossian, Frank andKim' Hama/culten Design, Nagata Design, creative Photo services, A Band Apart, Toby chi, Larry zerner, Lee stotlman,Rebecca saifer, Bumbte ward, carlos Goodman, David Ring, Austin stoker, non witctrlo, John Kisch, peter saphier, Ericcaidin-Hottywood Book & Poster, Shannon Mclntosh, Ray-Benttey, Donny and the Gobtin Market, Steve Mitchett, New yorkSociety of lttustrators, Rick Reece

Martinez. Gerald.what it is' what it was! : the BLack fitm explosion of the '70s in words and pictures / Geraid Martinez, Diana Martinez &Andres Chavez - lst ed.

p. cm.Filmography: p.isBN 0-7868-8377-41' Afro-Americans in motion pictures. 2. Afro-American motion picture producers and directors-InteMews. 3. Afro-Americanactors and actresses-Interviews. 4. Fitm posters, American.

I. Martinez, Diana. II. Chavez, Andres.PN1995.9.N4M32 19987 9 7. 43', 7 5', 089 9 607 3- dc21,

First Edition

10987665432

RON FINLEY

JOHN SOLIE

WALT REED

IABlT l |T

MELVIN VAN PEEBLES ..........

74

20

24

31

32

WILLIAM MARSHALL ........ 40

PAM GRIER ..........."" """' 46

DAVID WA1KER........... "" ' 54

RoscoE 0RMAN..... """""' 62

RoGER CoRMAN ....""""" 70

J0HN SINGLEToN ....... ""' 76

KEENEN IVORY WAYANS .... 80

FRED WILLIAMSON .......... 88

HUDLIN 174

t22

728TOWNSEND

RAY MOORE

Lou$ STEVENSON ............. 160

SPEED . .166

L. JACKS0N ..... 178

TARANTINO .....T92

r

Whot It /s . . . is a book ofof those who made the movies.loved the era.

movie poster art from Btack cinema of the '70s with reflections by somefi[mmakers and artists who were jnfluenced by them, and peopte who simpty

This book grew oHong Kong New

WHAT IT IS^^^ B

nder Pictures's c

muttiptex. 0n this p'#ff;'iilffiWffiffiffi*fiWith our film retease of Detroit 9000. we

[ms that have been overtooked. Fromfare inhabiting the locat

reteasing was often timited.to provide more. We want to be more than ticket agents, we

.!i;a

,,,,.r.,' '+ii,

want to be tour guides. Our books witt hetp guide you on a jo-ul$ey not to just one fi lm, but witt introduce youto a whole genre that we hope you wi[[ explore and enjoy. -,J l.,-..

With this debut book we have the priviLege of taking.rft.ff i ' :e:ff inm phenomena. The Btack Fitmexplosion of the '70s and the art that helped def ine i t .

,

r , ; j_ " :

#. .bThe last gotden age of movie poster illustration parattet#tfraffimisebf tbffi.f. fitm exptosion of the'70s.Unknown to most, the movie poster was an art form where at times actor&4$iffid pose for the artists. Through

i+*i'{:.$.n-. .* i i

Theblgtthree rarG on this case!Theytethe onlyoncs

urho Gan

-,- 0fiffiill $yt[$ .*,i,riri".i:i:i;!. Lll0llill pALlJIll ,.,".,.,,, T,lir,*,i,i,,^!:,r*.j l|l[t [[l|t

*'**'l; FfiAl{l(Lltl C0$,f - **;: J0lll{ }ltyMA|[ u N0HMA|{ pRl00tt\

The art atso reflected sociaI change and theinftuence of civit r ights and the gtrrk powerMovement. As you may note, the poster for the ,60sftLn For The Love of Ivy shows'sidney poitier asa sophisticated, cuttured man about" town. Itc.nveys an image of a strong, assimitated Btackman. Many of the '70s posters it lustrate strongBtack men and women with a different stiength anda more defiant attitude.

The 150-ptus posters in the book recreate an erawhen things were superftied and funkified, thatremind us of the fun part of the eia. ih. p.op,.whose interviews make up the narrative of the bookremind us that there was a very serious side aswet[.

The '70s were a time of important transition, sociat_ty and potiticatty, with many successes-and faitures,and so too were the fitms. Without a doubt therewere stereotypical images in some of the moviesand there was a wett_made argument that white acommunity was calting out to improve mediaimages, who needed to see any image that coutd beyj:.:9 negative[y? It's unfortunJt. thrt duringthis time the term ,,btaxptoitation,,

was aLso coinedand incorrectty painted the entire period with one[arge negative and controversiat biush. The fitmswere.

.not that simple. If they were, the ground_breaking work of Melvin Van peebles would nothave caused such heated debate on col tegecampuses. The performances of Fred witt iamsonand Pam Grier woutd not stit l be praised today.There woutd not be those fitm treasuies born in theera like Cloudine, Cooley High, Corn Breia furt andMe, The Spook Who Sat By tie Door. Ihese films, aswetl as others, are classics.

Recognition for the Btack-themed movies of the ,70shas been slow in coming and a footnote at best.But, the truth is the fitms had an impal on atl ofcinema. The musicaI score tor Shiyt tntluencedcountless film scores that fottoweO. itre use of thesoundtrack to market the fitm comptetely alteredmarketing practices for at[ future soundtiacks. Thesuccess of Melvin Van peebtes in producinq and

"pl$I0m il[Rfi"$p[m $ilil PftI['

.,"^", fi0BtRT l|tftIF0fl0.0lvl$i , : . : . : : i : : :n. : : t . . ;1:_i-r_j_: ; : ' . : j i :

i'#mn:\tr

creative imagination, innovative composition, andinspired design, the artist coutd etevaleln ad into:,n Irt form. The poster art had an intrinsic valuethat was comptetety separate from the movie itwas advertising. It,s amusing to note those caseswhere the movie poster was better than the actualfitm. As you'[[ see in the pages it ut fom*,the i[[ustration coutd convey 6runr.. power,excitement, and emotion. Unfoitunatety, today theitlustrated movie poster has been i.piu..O bvmovie posters created targety with photogripfrr.

-'

rf{tnllll tililflilt

wilaT tT ts.^. ro

marketing Sweet Sweetback's Baodasssss Songshowed the way for the independent fiLmmaker. Theraw, gritt ing look of many urban action thrit lers wasfirst seen in the Black action fi l .m of the '70s.

I t was a f i tm explosion. Between 1970 and 1980,over two hundred fitms were released by indepen-dents and major studios with Black themes. Theywere powerfu|', funky, exuberant, hip, and just plainfun. The f iLms ran the gamut f rom the thoughtfuI tothe ridicutous. AL[ genres and styles were represent-ed. FamiLy dramas, biopics, mysteries, horror, come-dies, and, yes, ptenty of action movies with lots ofsex and violence. Neither before nor since hasthere been so much activity and so much work forAfrican American actors. In addition, there weresome new opportunities for writers, directors,composers, and support crew. Within the AfricanAmerican creative community, this was a time ofcelebration. There was a feeling that the door toHotlywood had finaLty swung open and they wereabout to wa|'k through. But changes in distributionpatterns, the return of the Ho[[ywood b[ockbuster,polit ical pressure from groups opposed to "b[ax-ptoitation," and a Lack of fresh materiaI ended theera of Black Cinema in the '70s. It woutd be tenyears before we wouLd begin to see Afrjcan-American fi lms again. As you wi[[ read, the periodwas a meaningful one for many present day fi[m-makers. This book is not intended to be a definit ivework. It is a step in documenting this era.

To the people we interviewed, we are grateful fortheir reftections. We aLso understand and respectthose that chose not to ta[k. Some were deepLyhurt by the controversy and when the fi lmsstopped, they had diff icul.ty f inding work. Thereare many more stories to tet[ and we encourage newdialogue to preserve this period of cinema history.

Fina[[y, we conclude the book with our own giftto the period: An it lustrated movie poster paintedby Geratd Martinez of the filn Jackie Brown, todemonstrate our appreciation of . . . What It Wos!

UNFITMDI JOHN FORD

rnIK GITEROI

Tse h{NrcoroRrirrRry || U NTIR - corlvlNCEI0\V[RS - stlur BIJRKT\Y00DY SIR0Dt - JUAN0 HtRNANDtZ - aowrltrlir wrrLrs ooliiifr'l"riinrcx rom

lautsMRNIRl i i i i r i , " i r tLrs corortcr 'REGra D, JOHN FORD

Introducingffi$FmffiffiandW

SA|l4UIi OOLO\iflN JR,,.",

OflOFRiY lAfuiBfiIilff RAY[ll0l\lil 5IJAf;iltj[$. IAIVI|\I LOII{|IARTiililPiii llffli0'j, tililtiAiifftsfil\l,,,t0fi],ll,{0it,,.,f,,,,ifftl0lilpiK,..c$1il]Avl$:ltiii;;;,t fifi[,ilft|li!l$*.,,,,$ilt[,{aei]!Ri,1.ili.,,,,,,,$h|iil[i]L*\i1fitE,,",,0gli[ilA"v]".c0ii]fthl]clrxe" Hswrryr*r*i$i,..., ii l.i:_j,:;rf,;eit *l1 .Xf t' :!'i:t,1,'ll.i'ia,rr{!1,,;:t-y1iji:ntl

Ron Finley is an innovotive fashion designer and owner of the L.A.-bosed DROPDEADCOLIEXION. He has design ed clothing for a number of Hollywood celebrities. Interwovenwith his pcssion for design is his fascinotion for his second endeavor-MIDNfGHT tt4ATfNEE-o collection of African-American movie posters and memorabilio, His collection of moyiePosters is featured in this book

I began co[lecting Btack movie posters and memorabi[ia because I was interested in the history of African Americansin fitm-their struggles and their many triumphs. I am devoted to satvaging and restoring items that hetdsignificance in the progress of the Black experience in cinema. I believe it 's important to share these images with a//peopte. Most don't even know this material exists.

WIIAT IT IS^^^

Actuatty it was never meant to be available to the pubtic. The National Screen Servjce distributed a[[ the movieposters and atl media press kits within the industry, After the movies were shown, the theaters were supposed to

return the posters and other promotional pieces, but many didn't. After the National Screen Service disbanded, theposters were disposed in various ways. Since not much value was given to them at the time, some posterrs were sold

bythe trucktoad. Many other posters were destroyed and thrown out. Some were even used as packaging material for

bombs during the war years. It is because of this great disregard for their future value that onty one or two posters

of certain movie tittes exist todav.

WITAT IT WAS^,

I get hetp in my search for more items for my col[ection by a

network of acquaintances and fettow coltectors who keep my

wish l ists and requests in mind when traveting around the

world. They respect and admire the importance of what I 'm

trying to accomptish and in choosing to se[[ to me instead

oi a dealer, they understand that my motivation is not for

financial gain, but a sincere love for the material and its

importance for future generations. There have been times when

I have had to choose between buying a certain item and

eating. I feet tike there are fewer and fewer opportunities to

run into some very scarce materiaI and when the chance to buy

comes atong, it is hard to Pass it uP.

lilelro'Coldwyn'Moyer presenb A Rolph Nelson Film

..;tFlr...f lF\. t df lf h.,iNTOWN 1URNS INTO ATIME.BOMB

,,ouins Jim Blown' George Kennedy' Fredric lllolchco-rtorring lynn Corlin-Don Stroud 'willen byJomes-Lee Bonetl

produced \ [olph Nehon ond Jornes lee Bonell ' directed by Rolph Nelson

?bncri$ixf ond tlaltotolor @"e" ' 'F

who had looked me up in the Yetlow Pages on the internet. so

the world is definitely shrinking. some coltectors are fanatical

and are very public about what they are searching for while

others hide behind purchasing agents'

the btaxpLoitation period-the 1970s-have

hot items. Interest has grown for SweetPosters frombecome very

WIIAT IT IS.,^

Sweetbock's BoadAsssss Song, Shaft, Superfly,The Mock, and Pam Grier's posters continue tobe popular. A favorite of mine is the ltalianposter version of Cffi.It is a big and g[oriousimage of Pam in a perfect Afro and she isextremety sexy and provocative. The piecerealty captures the period and the essence ofa strong B[ack woman.

I sometimes have a problem with the termblaxptoitation. Even if it is true that most ofthese Btack actors were only abte to ptay very

that the actors should be embarrassed about their work whi[e the characters they created became larger-than-heros and rote modets for the kids that grew up watching these films. But the shame was rea[. It is a tot Like

some African Americans about Stepin Fetchit. Atthough he is considered by many knowledgeable people in theindustry to be a "comedic genius," Stepin Fetchit is viewed by many African Americans as a negative stereotype,

Uncte Tom, a setlout: "0h, yoLl old Stepin Fetchit Nigge/' was a common insult. If Stepin Fetchit hadn't done whatdid, your Btack ass probabty woutdn't have a job. He took the first steps in fi[m for us and became one of the first

WIIAT IT WAS^,.

I'JGM !:rrrNENrO,,SWEET JESUS PRTACHTR MAT{''sraring ROGER E. M0$L[Y.+y9111_14M SMTTH *MICHAEL PATAKI

vr'irlen'y STUART MADDFN.* JOHN CERULLO p,adurad uvDANIELCADY

iRi

nir;;q14sr tly HENNING $CHELLFRUP

lr,.t i,4[tu()c0tili] o*r* @

Btack milt ionaires. But ontyhe knew how much pain heendured, how much humi[ia-tion he put up with, andhow his heart bted. Most ofwhat he did in white fi lmshe did in Black films a$o . . .and it was funny.

This is same kind of thingthat happened to blaxptoita-tion movies. They followedthe same path as the whitefilms at the time. The subjectmatter of Btack films was asvaried as its counterparts-gangster, horror, love stories,Westerns, etc. Who Knewthere woutd be a movie likeBlockenstein?

I love to showcase myfavorite pieces in my designstudio and per iodicat [yswitch the images for theenjoyment of my clientsand myself. It's fun to seethe reaction of many of mycustomers when they firstvisit my shop. It's oftenvery unexpected and over-whetming to watk in and seeso many images that theyhave grown up with andhave fond memories of. Oneperson was so impressed bywhat she saw she needed to

step out and get some air. 0thers have litera[ty asked to come back to see more. Some have totat1y forgotten thattheir appointnient was not about posters. One person said, "I 've been looking for this att my tifel Where did you findit?" That makes me feel good to see people appreciate what I have put together. I have had exhibits, but nothingwhere the cotlection can be viewed on a regutar basis. I wou[d love to have a galtery/archives/1ibrary/research cen-ter/museum where a[[ coutd be viewed and stored.

WIIAT IT 15,..

Another aspect of interest to me about cottecting is exptoring the merchandising and marketing that went behind the

images chosen for these posters. I [ove to analyze what images woutd be most successful in making me, as a movie-

goer, reach into my pocket and pay to see a particutar movie. Also jt 's quite fascinating to see the changes made in the

poster art when the movies are marketed for certain groups-as in Btacks and whjtes. Some changes in the art are

subtte whi1e others, if you are paying attention, can be very btatant and insutting. For jnstance, guns and violence are

enhanced and gLorif ied for posters distributed in the inner cit ies, white they are downplayed for the predominately

white neighborhoods. (You can see one exampte of how the same movie was marketed differentty in B[ack and white

neighborhoods beLow.)

I wi[[ continue to cotlect and preserve my cotlection for as long as I can. It has become quite competit ive. Few out

there are buying and setting for the love of the art. Most are motivated by the money and are making a nice l iving out

of it.

I be1ieve in col,Lecting for allof our children's legacy. Every year more peop[e are coming into consciousness of who they

are and where they came from. A tot of the younger kids weren't around when these movies featured in this book were

released. They're seeing them on video for the first t ime and they are speltbound by the fact that there are movies [ike

Foxy Brown, Trouble Man, and Cooley High. }ut of some of this new fascination wi[[ be born the future collectors and

contributors to the historv of Black fi[m.

Ari srtfst flon wven {furww deawdmsu jrufuet $w$$m w#$ ffir}ffi wfl e#te mwjmn ersmwJe posfer f$frustrmtorsdurimg the oSSs mnd 'F#s" Sm#fw mrwm{md mwer Swsm fuc*rudred rmmw$e ps$*#fl$ da*ndmg tftis t$me, trru}sngwfufcft were Shm$t's ffifig Sumnm, ffih*m#t $rn &#rfimm, ffimrHcdffiwr$ S*rmffers* ffitasfi mmd TNTJnatcson,

I had no interest in the movie industry, I didn't go to movies, and didn't care about movies, but I was freetancingand I heard they were [ooking for someone at Cotumbia. I went to Cotumbia Studios and met this guy, Lyte Wheeler,whom I had never heard of before. He was doing a movie ca[[ed Marooned. This was in the early'60s. I showed him myportfolio and he said he didn't have anv freetance work but he wanted me to work on this movie. God. I did not wanr

wilaT tT ts^^^

One of those stars was Jim Brown. I 'm a footbatl fan so

that was pretty exciting to me. In the composition for the

ad I was doing I had thjs rope looped around his Left shouL-

der and crossing over to his right side' When he put it on

he had i t on his r ight shoulder going in the other direct ion'

I said, "Excuse me, Jim, but the rope's got to go the other

way." So he took it off, turned it around and put it back on

the same way. I said, "No, no it sti l ' l has to go the other

way." Brown said, "We|.[, I changed it" 'I said, "l know but

i t 's st i t l going the wrong way." He said, " l changed i t . ' ' I

said, "Look Jim, don't piss me off because I can hurt you.' '

i thought that was obviously a joke because I came up to

his waist. But he gave me a look and I thought, "We'[[

[eave it the way it is Jim." You don't want to mess with

that man. He was big.

I did the poster for Shoft in Africa and there's a story with

that. They wanted a montage of Richard Roundtree

hol'ding this big stick. They were going to run a contest

that said, "Guess the tength of Shaft's big stick." The prize

was a free Shaft T-shirt. They decided maybe that was

going a Litt le far so they dropped that idea. Then they

decjded that for Shaft in Africo they wanted Richard

Roundtree in this costume and a montage of scenes from

Africa. They said, "Put the Eiffel Tower in there." I said,"l 'm not al.t that great at geography, but I thought that

was in France." "Yeah, yeah, yeah but we shot some stuff

in Paris, we've got to get our production value. You gotta

out the Eiffet Tower in there." I reptied, "lt 's going to say,'Shaft in Africa,' i t 's going to have a[[ these scenes in

Africa, and the Eiffel Tower?" "Yeah, yeah, gotta have

that." So i put the Eiffel ' Tower in the center and buitt

everything else around it. I made a point out of it so it

didn't look l ike we didn't know where it was. At the end,

they [ooked at it and said, "That's f ine, we love it '

However, take the Eiffet Tower and move it over there

behind this bui td ing." I said, " l f you put i t behind the

buitding, without the base of the tower, you can't tetl ' i ts

the Eiffet Tower. It [ooks Like an antenna." They said,"You're right. Make it a pyramid." If you look ctose at that

ad, around Shaft's legs you can stit[ see pieces of the Eiffel '

Tower.

I heard a story about why they stopped using i[ lustrations

on movie posters. Somebody at Co[umbja Studios said"Since fi lms are made out of f i l 'm we should use fitm for

advertising and we shouldn't use paintings anym0re"'

Whoever sajd it, i f this is a true story in the fjrst place, was

convincing enough so they said, "0kay, no more art onthe posters, we'[[ use film from now 0n." That's nowspread through the industry so that very l ittte paint-ing is done on movie posters, except for a Disney thingor something with animation where you are going tohave to use it. More than not often as possibte theyuse fi[m. The problem with a photograph is that youcannot distort it the way that paintings can be dis-torted. I think the painted posters were betterbecause you can make somebody look better. Withphotography, even with makeup and retouching thephotograph, you're stitl timited to the reatity of it.With painting you can make people larger than [ife,you can make muscles on the peop[e that didn't havethem. You didn't have to be Stallone, but vou couldtook tike Staltone.

Good movies are art and they should be sotd with art.The medium is entertainment, the medium is romance,and that's loosety termed romance, whether it's gunfights or kissing. An artist can do that and can se[[

and can feel that, and a computer can't and acan't. There are artists with cameras and I have

photographers who are great artists themsetves.just about anyone can learn to shoot a camera.anyone cannot learn to paint the pictures. Thewho learn to paint the pictures are so devoted to

they are witting to give up everything etse in

MSM Frcsenh A SIIRLING SILL"IFHANT'ROGIR LtWlS Prcduction'$FIAFT lN AFRIOA' Starrng RICHARD R0UNtifREt, VONITTA McGFI

\A/riile* by STIRL ING SILLIPHAN| , Pruducerj bv R0G[R LIWIS .']X]*jl'g1gfl Dir*rtEql by JOH N GUll-L[Rl'4 I N' Meirccllcl Par ravis(,q ;?fr

staningN'C''ABD ROUIVOTAEEas

'OHI(SHAFT

ilt

life for that.

really look too much at posters today. If I'm in the theater, I'[[ look at the ones that are up on the wa[t.tr see that they are photography and I pass on by. That's not particutarly exciting to me. The old posters were,cases, better. What happened was the committee got too [arge. Pretty soon, there was not one person mak-

decisions anymore, there were so many peop[e making these decisions that they got watered down untiIimage anymore. It became the rendering of a bunch of stuff stuck together and something stuck togeth-committees had so much to say about these sorts of things that it kitted the creativity. Pretty soon you

Why shoutd I work so hard to come up with a concept if i t is going to become a polit icaI issue?over and over again and toward the end, it was happening a[[ the time. I finaLty went into it[ustratingpaid a lot less money but I got the freedom back again.

of the il[ustrator, I'm afraid its over, in almost a[[ commerciaI endeavors. They're usingcovers novv and they are going to continue more and more. As far as a painting iltustrator goes,

business. They can do so much more with computers so much cheaper, or at least they wittmoney is the bottom [ine in every commercial endeavor, they are going to go that way.

THE BrotherManin the Motherland,

Shaft is stickin'it,,,,all theway.

2T wttAT tT was^^^

B,laclrbodry-wlniteDitainlThe world 's f i rst braintransplant

cc

filtt A rhange of liuing.A rftange of louing...

Walt Reed is the owner of lltustration House, bosed in New York City, lllustration House isAmericol foremost galtery devoted to the aft and hixory of illustratioi and one of the leodingsuction houses deoling in illustrstion ort sponningthe post 150 years. Reed is a lesding expefton American illustrotors snd the author of the biok The lllusirator in America I gg0-l gg0.The period of the '70s is described as the golden age for the illustrated mavieporte,i

The very fact that itlustrated movie posters were used so much during the '70s provided a training ground and a bigmarket for motion picture poster art. It attracted some of the best tatents. Naturail.y, that resulted in some

wttaT tT ts..^ 24

WHO'$ COMTN'TO PUTAN INDTO DIRTYTRICKS,CROO|TD POTITICIANS AND LYIN' MAYORS!

wH0?AMIRICAs MOST GTAMOROUI

SEXITST TTMATI SUPTR$I{R!

"MOluls"ITIIABTEY

'nnilAzllucGRAGE''

exceltent work being produced. I think peop[e Like BobPeck and Bob McGinness and a few others whose work wasused a lot brought movie poster art to a high level. Thisposter art was extremely effective. I think they used thetop tatent of the day and the artists did a good job with it.But I think the '70s was a particularly interesting period,when the artists were doing an excetlent job of setting thefitms.

The bl'axptoitation art work is very similar to the art workbeing done by the same artists for other movies. You don'tsee any influence on the art on the Btack aspect of f i l 'm-making; I don't know if there was any way that it cou[dhave been done. Certainly the art is very effective in theway its being done, but I don't see that tatent was takenfrom the Btack art community to produce them. The art js

very typical of its time.

EYERY BOOMIS A LIYING TOMB

IN

fiilfr IIgU$E ONI crr tn i !

"MOMS' MABLIY. AMAZING GRACT"

,THERE'S A SEXUAL REVOLUTIONCOING ON...AND ALL THE

LEADERS ARE IN MY FAMILY.''

METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER p'. ," ' , i !A GEORGE SCHLATTER FILM

NEDD PEANIFOXX BAII.ffi

"ilonDralf... rs Trrar [ou ?'*ar. ing DENNIS DUGAN ' MICHAEL WARREN'TAMAM DOBSON VERNEE WATSON

.o-*a..rng JAYNE MEADOWS anc inrroducing WAYLAND FLOWERSscrecnprayby itON Ct-RRf & SAM BOBRICK "na

GEORGE SCHLATTERBased on the Broadway Play by RON CLARK & SAM BOBRICK

Produced and Directea uyGEORGE SCHLATTER

Original l '1usic Conrposed and Conducted by WILLIAM GOLDSTEIN I Lyr ics by RON l' l lLLER

t -""" '1 i "J, . ,* .* ' ' *

" j - -"*"*. t r* toa' I A"^,^-, , t -o" l] srng by i lYorf Y ROBINSON 'no sung by iHELl4A HousToN I t ' loTowN I

- -'_-l- |

A Lot of these posters are very similar to the artwork thatwas used on paperback novets with a [ot of interptaybetween the type of the novel and the characters in jt.Here we had the tit le of the movie and the characters init. So the type had a lot to do with the way the artistdesigned the poster. I think in the earlier days the typeptayed less important ro[e in designing the poster.Certainty it was always there from the beginning, asartists we're given a littte more authority at this time tolet the picture dominate the ad.

The artists were beginning in this period to use acryliccolors and they were certainty much more intense than theoits were or even the opaque water cotors-designercotors that they used before. There was a heightenedintensity of cotor and some introduction of psychedeticcotors but that was not universal.Ly empLoyed.

Tetevision has had a big effect on the way we look atthings, and it certainty affected the audience for illustration.In the days before tetevision, there was a retiance on theittustrator to hetp setl the fiction in the magazines. 0ncetetevision came atong, the fjction went atong withit, so the ittustrators were left high and dry without anaudience. The audience became more accepting of thephotography and the live action figures that it presentedand there was less retiance on the iltustrators to se[[ themovies because they weren't needed. Most peopte nowa-days don't know who the itlustrators are necessarity. Thatwas always the case with movie posters-the artists werenot given a bytine. Producers of movies wanted to be sure

the audience focused on who the actors were and whomovie company was rather than who did the posrer, s0artists names very rarety got on the poster. There were

few exceptions, such as when thev wanted Normanto do a movie poster-they wanted his signaturefor the most part, doing movie poster art was an

profession.

movie poster art of the '70s was very good art andhave continued, but unfortunatelv the powers that

to try a new approach. We're moving in realthese days, and ittustration is being taken over

approached toots more and more, I thinktti[soon come a time when nobodv witteven be ab[e SIPAGACOTTAY]fA

It sItEl{ZtOlike these fellows did.

ur n0M0* ilLt$,| WUI - i0N[! Ul8lfl

wilAT tT WAS^'

E lrlilpllilullGlllInE

IIE?EI!?IUE ?REIIIT,,,. YAPHET KCITT0 ' ALAII wEEKE'ANilTzETTE cHAsr

nl8lA !l Pt0001T0 0A

JBIiATHAII KApLAt'l ' FRE0 WEIiITRAUB ' PAUL HELLER{urc,ir oruascorl'im,',t#H ISAAC HAY[S TECHNICSLSR

( r ' t r r

l { t r :n l l ' l r t

AMfRtcAl{ tt'ttERt{Ait0t{A1,,,',., Pfioul,cT clt{EMATuSRAFI0A

part of this is a pendulum swing to something so-catled new. There'is not an audience for name il lustrators [ike there

used to be so the public doesn't necessari[y identify with the pictures they see. They just look for them to see who

the star is or what the action promised is. It's too bad but I'm afraid that's the case. It witt probabty come back but

in a tittte different variation. Every time there is a style, there's an eventual reaction against it and the search for

something new so it's hard to predict what that something new wi[[ be. After the photos start to [ook a[ike to every-

body, they're going to want to get a new [ook. Let's hope it's illustration.

wilaT lT 1s...

P[R[!seftf00|iil*a 0l

tnilr$I ilffif

IA C(IIUIIIBIA PICTURTS

I$tBtrllillTltil | ;;ini

WIIAT IT WAS..^