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The Devil's Sleep, the 1949 W. Merle Connell drug crime exploitation thriller ("Today's moral menace!.. Daring expose of the devil drug traffic in 'Bennies', 'Goofies' and 'Phenos' as it really exists"; "With a brilliant cast"; about the head of an illegal drug ring using a women's health spa as a front for his sleeping pill racket) starring Lita Grey Chaplin (she was a child actress working for Charlie Chaplin at age 12; by 16, she was pregnant by him, and he married her, and had two children before they divorced three years later, with her receiving the largest divorce settlement to that time; she married three more times, but she appeared in two movies as "Lita Grey Chaplin", trading off her ex-husband's famous name; she retired in the 1930s, but returned in this odd movie in 1951, playing a lady judge exposing the dangers of amphetamines and sleeping pills; she retired again and worked as a store clerk in Robinson's Department Store in Beverly Hills in the 1970s and 1980s, and passed away in 1995), John Mitchum, William Thomason, Tracy Lynne, George Eiferman (billed as "and introducing George Eiferman [Mr. America]") and Timothy Farrell. Note that the origins of this movie are shrouded in mystery! It was made in 1949 and apparently was first released as "The Devil's Sleep", but was sold to roadshow exhibitors, and at least some of them showed the movie as "Hopped-Up", and we don't really know much more about the movie's origin than this! The movie still exists and it has been distributed under the "Devil's Sleep" title, and we have auctioned a two-color one-sheet with the "Devil's Sleep" title from Screen Classics, which sounds like it could well be a re-release, and we have only had a local theater 40x60 with the "Hopped-Up" title. If anyone knows more about this movie, please e-mail us and we will post it here. Note that Timothy Farrell is completely forgotten today, but he had a fascinating life. He worked for 26 years for the Los Angeles County Marshal's Office, and was a movie actor at the same time! He mostly worked on low budget movies, including several for Ed Wood, although he did play a bailiff in the 1954 "A Star is Born", which was the ultimate typecasting, because he himself had been a bailiff, but he eventually rose to be the County Marshal. But in 1975, he was convicted of a felony (using deputies for political activities), and he was fired. He lived for another 14 years before dying of a heart attack. His life should be made into a movie, no doubt with Johnny Depp in the starring role!
NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography.

If you know who did the art (if any), please let us know.

Important Added Info: Note that we auctioned this poster once before, 6 years ago. Now the person who purchased it has re-consigned it to us, so it is still the only example of this poster we have ever auctioned! Note that it is unclear whether this poster is from 1949, or from a 1950s roadshow release (see above). Note that the poster is on a heavy board (it was created that way) and was likely created by a regional company that supplied posters for roadshow releases of low budget movies. It will need to be sent in a very large flat package.

Note that this item needs to be shipped in an oversized flat package. Most of these items absolutely can only be sent in flat packages, and could not possibly be rolled into a tube. Some of them might SEEM like they could be rolled in a tube, like a half-sheet, but they can't. The reason these items are in this auction is specifically because they CAN'T be rolled (because rolling any of them would damage them, even if they somehow can be rolled). So please bear in mind that this item must be sent in a LARGE flat package (the size of the package will depend on the size of the item when ready for shipping), and bear this added expense in mind before placing a bid on it.

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