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Auction History Result f556 WILLIAM S HART STOCK linen one-sheet movie poster '10s stone litho! Date Sold 2/7/2006Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Original Vintage Theatrical Linenbacked One-Sheet Movie Poster (measures 28 1/4" x 41") (Learn More) a circa 1910s stock poster for theaters showing William S. Hart silent cowboy westerns. They would put in the name of the movie in the blank box at the bottom, either by writing it in, or by putting a paper snipe in that area. This way, a frugal theater owner could buy a single poster and use it for many different William S. Hart movies. It certainly makes sense that there would be a great need for this poster, because in the late 1910s, William S. Hart was incredibly popular, and his movies were shown over and over! He was born in New York in 1864, as the U.S. Civil War was coming to a close. He spent some time out West, but mostly lived in New York, working some as a postal clerk. Almost all screen cowboys who followed Hart have had strong western backgrounds, growing up on ranches, and participating in rodeos, but not Hart. He became interested in stage acting, and In 1899 he created the role of Messala in the first stage production of "Ben-Hur", and later the role of Trampas in the first stage production of "The Virginian". In 1913 or 1914 at the age of 48 or 49 (information is sketchy) he made his first movie and he began directing most of his movies, and within a few years was producing them as well. The movies were usually set in the West, but not always "westerns" in the modern sense, but almost all were elaborate moralistic melodramas, with tales of romantic betrayal, and long journeys by the hero to get vengeance and redemption. He WAS a big man with a very craggy face and he looked like a western hero (his nickname was "Two-Gun Bill"). His movies were extremely popular with the public in the late 1910s. By 1925 Hart had made around 75 movies, and he was now 60, certainly quite old for a screen cowboy. The public was tiring of his movies, and there were new younger western stars who had been in circuses and Wild West Shows (Tom Mix, Buck Jones, and Hoot Gibson) and they had far better cowboy abilities. Besides, Hart was involved in both a messy divorce AND a paternity suit, and that publicity was not helping him. Hart made one final film, Tumbleweeds, in 1925, and then retired. He lived until 1946, and he donated his large estate to the City of Los Angeles. His mansion is now a museum and has been preserved with its original fixtures and furnishings intact and the surrounding land is now a park. 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 this one-sheet measures 28 1/4" x 41". Please do not bid on this poster thinking it is 27" x 41". Condition: good. This poster was linenbacked, but it was either NOT linenbacked by a very talented restorer, OR it was linenbacked many years ago, and has received rough handling over the years, OR it had fairly significant defects that were not well restored. If it was restored, you can clearly see signs of the restoration even from a distance. This is a poster that would surely benefit from additional professional restoration. You can tell which of the above is the case for this particular poster by reading our "pre-restoration" description and also by looking at our "super-sized" image of the actual poster (we are the only major auction company we know of that gives accurate detailed pre-restoration information about linenbacked posters to our bidders, but we wish everyone did!). The poster had tears and small areas of paper loss in the vertical foldline between the top crossfold and the bottom crossfold. It had been folded in half an extra time, and there were a lesser number of tears and small areas of paper loss on the other foldlines. There were creases and some tears around the edges the poster, but very little paper loss. The poster was backed many years ago, and the restorer did a pretty good job of touching up the small holes on some foldlines, but the poster is "lifting" from the linen backing in several places, which has caused it to completely separate in a few small areas, and has also caused it to slightly "bubble up" from the linen in some areas near the sides of the poster. I know that any talented restorer could certainly remove this great poster from its current backing, re-linenback it, and after proper restoration, it would look incredible! Learn More about condition grades 
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