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Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace, the classic 1944 Frank Capra family relationship mental illness murder mystery black comedy ("From the stage play by Joseph Kesselring"; "Screen Play by Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein"; about a man with two crazy brothers, and people start dying, and he assumes it is his brothers, but he quickly finds out his kindly aunts are actually the culprits!) starring Cary Grant (as Mortimer Brewster), Raymond Massey (awkwardly playing the role written for Boris Karloff, who played it on the stage; as Jonathan Brewster), Jack Carson, Priscilla Lane (as Elaine Harper), Peter Lorre (as Dr. Einstein), Edward Everett Horton (as Mr. Witherspoon), James Gleason, Josephine Hull (as Aunt Abby Brewster), Jean Adair (as Aunt Martha Brewster), and John Alexander (as Theodore Brewster, who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt!). Note that this classic was actually filmed in 1941, but due to contractual agreements with the producers of the Broadway version (see below), it wasn't released to theaters until 1944 (though, interestingly enough, the film was still released to U.S. troops between 1941 and 1944!). The "contractual agreements" referred to above was with star Boris Karloff, who owned a portion of the Broadway version. He rightly assumed that releasing the movie version would hurt the box office of the Broadway version, so he wisely had written into the contract that the movie could not be released until the Broadway play stopped running (which usually lasted at most six months). But because this play was so incredibly popular, it ran on Broadway for three years, which meant the movie could not be released for those three years! Finally, note that during those three years, Warner Bros. had parted ways with star Priscilla Lane, so when the movie was finally released in 1944, they barely mentioned her on the U.S. advertising for the movie (she is given small third billing on the one-sheet, behind Jack Carson, and she is not billed at all on several other posters)!
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 have previously auctioned four examples of this insert, but only one in the last 15 years!

Note that this poster has been "gel backed". What does that mean? It means that a talented restorer backed the poster onto a gel material, and they then performed restoration to the above defects, and then removed the gel backing, and afterward the poster still looks and feels like an original poster (and it is!), with no backing at all. Many collectors prefer this method of restoration to paperbacking or linenbacking, because with those methods the poster no longer looks like it was not backed. Gel backing can't be used with posters that have major paper loss or other major defects, but for the posters it can be used on, it is really an excellent method of restoration!

Note that this poster was gel backed, and while it could be rolled and sent in a tube, we would worry that doing so would either damage the poster or bring back the folds. Therefore, we would much prefer to send it in a large flat package. However, if the new buyer insists, we will send it in a tube, but only if they accept responsibility for doing so.

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