Vintage Horror Movie Lobby Cards, Posters, and More Going Up for Auction

Debi Moore |

Jun 27, 2015

A great opportunity for fans to pick up a piece of iconic Hollywood horror history is kicking off on Monday thanks to Profiles in History. The vast Morris Everett, Jr., collection of over 196,000 vintage movie lobby cards, posters, and memorabilia will be up for grabs in a series of auctions, and we have all the details right here. Get those credit cards fired up and ready!

From the Press Release:
Profiles in History is holding “Morris Everett, Jr., The Auction: Part I” on Monday, June 29 Lots (1-706), and Tuesday, June 30 (Lots 707-1406), beginning at 11:00 am PT both days. Amassed for over 53 years, The Morris Everett, Jr., collection features lots from 196,000+ vintage movie lobby cards, posters, and other memorabilia being offered in the auctions.

Essential and unique items of value in the collection (only this collection and absolutely no other known to exist) is its inclusion of virtually every vital and incredibly obscure early appearance for icons like Lon Chaney, Sr., Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, The Three Stooges, Houdini, Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey, plus incredibly important early films by directors like Erich von Stroheim, Joseph von Sternberg, Oscar Micheaux, D.W. Griffith, Victor Seastrom, F.W. Murnau, etc. It is often the case for early “character” appearances of great-stars-to-be that only one (if even that) lobby card from a usual set of eight will include Chaney, Karloff, Lugosi, Bogart, or other such luminaries. Mr. Everett went to great lengths to hunt down and acquire those one or two key cards, and they are represented in this sale.

“Sold in separate auctions, some of Morris’ exceptional and most valuable pieces, such as the 1927 silent movie and science-fiction epic Metropolis lobby card, are certain to procure substantial offers. Nearly as valuable is the poster of Babe Ruth from the 1927 Babe Comes Home. There are many other rarities, including lobby cards or posters for The Wizard of Oz (both the one from 1939 starring Judy Garland and a 1925 version with Oliver Hardy) and King Kong. There are posters from early Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin movies and classics like Gone with the Wind and Casablanca. All of these and many others will do extremely well as highlights in the future planned auctions,” said Joseph Maddalena.

Qualified bidders can participate in person, by telephone, submit absentee bids, or participate online in real time from anywhere with Internet access across the globe. For more information, visit ProfilesInHistory.com.

The horror crowd should be especially interested in the following. Note that the below images are just the tip of the iceberg; click the above link and peruse the artwork. It is unbelievably gorgeous and timeless.

– Color Lobby Card for Boris Karloff in The Mummy. (Universal, 1932). Widely considered the best in the set. In very fine condition. $10,000 – $15,000
– Color Lobby Card for Boris Karloff in Frankenstein. (Universal, 1931). One of the best cards in the set. Professionally cleaned with marginal repairs. Now presents as fine condition. $10,000 – $15,000
– Color Lobby Card for Boris Karloff in The Bride of Frankenstein. (Universal, 1935). One of the two best cards in the set, the introduction of “The Monster” to his “Bride” (Elsa Lanchester). Professionally cleaned with corner pinhole repair. Generally in fine condition. $10,000 – $15,000
– Color Lobby Card for Bela Lugosi in Dracula. (Universal, 1931). One of the best in the set, this triptych card features a menacing Lugosi on a staircase, bookended by three female vampire minions and Helen Chandler. Apart from nearly invisible pinhole repair at left corners, the card is entirely original and unrestored. Almost certainly one of the finest examples of this card in existence. In very fine condition. $8,000 – $12,000
– Other legendary horror titles, represented by posters and lobby cards from: Cabiria (1914); The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1922); The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (1925); King Kong (1933); Mad Love (1935); The Wizard of Oz (1925 and 1939), and dozens more.
– Extensive coverage of Alfred Hitchcock’s career from The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) all the way through to Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963).