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Constance Talmadge was a top actress during the 1910s and 1920s. Her father died when she was just 10, and her mother took in washing, and her 14 year old sister Norma got a job as a model, and helped take care of Constance and her 12 year old sister Natalie. All three of the sisters broke into the movies in the 1910s, and Constance and Norma became big stars. Constance's big break was as the Mountain Girl in D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance". Her sister Norma married studio executive Joseph Schenck in 1916, and Natalie married Buster Keaton in 1921, which caused her to quit acting, but Norma and Constance continued making movies and were big stars in the 1920s, but both sisters abruptly quit the movies when talkies began, and the official story was that they wanted to retire "at the top", but it seems more likely that their harsh New York accents did not adapt well to sound movies, so they wisely retired. Constance was married many times and in later life fell on hard times, and passed away in 1973 at the age of 75.

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Important Added Info: Note that this poster, unlike the vast majority of personality posters, was printed on a thin paper (but now it has been backed, so you can't easily see that), and not the heavy stock that the others are printed on.

Note that starting in the very early 1910s (around 1912, when studios realized that people were more likely to go to a movie if it had a star they liked in it), studios created sets of special "personality" posters, which theaters that showed their movies could hang in their lobbies. These had a big advantage over posters for specific movies, because they could be used whenever a movie with that star was shown, which meant they could be used over and over! Because studios realized this, they made these posters on a high quality paper stock, sometimes with a "linen" texture, and sometimes with elaborate border designs, and almost always with great quality color printing. They almost always measured exactly 22" x 28", the same as "half-sheets" (which were then known as "displays", except that they were taller than they were wide, and that the images almost always had a "full bleed", meaning that there were no blank borders. They almost always showed a head and shoulders image of the star, and the image on these posters is often very close to actual life-size! They almost always have the name of the star and the studio they worked for at the bottom. Even though there were many sets of these from many studios over a period of approximately 30 years (they were rarely made after the early 1940s), very few survive, likely partially due to World War II paper drives, and partially due to the fact that they were never folded and the paper they were made of sometimes aged poorly. We at eMoviePoster.com were just consigned a very special collection of 99 of these "personality" posters, which we are auctioning in separate auctions. They were collected starting in the mid 1980s, and the collector who assembled this collection tried to "upgrade" condition whenever possible over the years, so many of them are in excellent condition (sometimes likely the best surviving example), and on the ones where they are in lesser condition, it is because the collector never could find one in better condition! Now he has consigned them to us, and they will find new owners. If they were kept together, they would surely make an incredible display for the walls of any place where lots of people gather, like a museum, a restaurant, or any similar place. Of course, it is more likely that these will find many, many separate new homes, but we hope that they end up publicly displayed wherever they end up!

Note that First National became a leading Hollywood studio in the late 1910s (when they acquired the services of Charlie Chaplin), and remained in the forefront of Hollywood until they merged with Warner Bros. They had a great lineup of stars, and they created at least two sets of personality posters to promote them. The earliest of these is likely from the late 1910s, and the other that we know of is likely from the mid 1920s. You can tell their different sets in two ways. One is that all of the posters from a set have the same border design and the stars and studio names are written in the same font and layout. The other is that you can look at the age of the star in the image (although that might possibly be deceptive, because they might have sometimes used a slightly younger version of a star!). These posters are extremely rare as it is likely few theaters ordered them, and fewer still saved them, and in addition, they could be easily torn, and if they were not stored carefully, they would become fragile, and it is likely many were damaged and discarded for that reason! Note that the high quality paper stock these posters were printed on does not always age very well, and can become fragile (usually resulting in chips around the edges of the poster). Because of their fragile nature and their age, we intend to send all of these personality posters in large flat packages, and never roll them into tubes (unless the buyer insists)! PLEASE DO NOT BID ON THIS POSTER, UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO PAY THE COST OF SHIPPING IT IN A LARGE FLAT PACKAGE! Also note that this poster has been paperbacked. What is paperbacking? This means the poster was backed onto a paper backing (acid-free), that is similar in feel to that of the original poster (except somewhat heavier). It is a similar process to linenbacking, except that most collectors use linenbacking for one-sheets and paperbacking for half-sheets, inserts, window cards, and lobby cards.

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