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Auction History Result n066 MEET JOHN DOE linen insert movie poster R40s Gary Cooper, Capra Date Sold 9/26/2006Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Undated (probably early 1940s) Re-Release Vintage Theatrical Linenbacked Insert Movie Poster (measures 14" x 36") (Learn More) Meet John Doe, the classic 1941 Frank Capra political populist romantic newspaper journalism mistaken identity melodrama (about a female reporter who writes a fictional story, which she presents as fact, about a man who is planning to commit suicide in protest of the world's treatment of downtrodden people; when the column is a giant hit, she must find a man to portray the writer and hires ex-baseball player Gary Cooper) starring Gary Cooper (in the title role as John Doe), Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, Spring Byington, James Gleason, Gene Lockhart, Rod La Rocque, Sterling Holloway, Irving Bacon, Regis Toomey, J. Farrell MacDonald, and Ann Doran. Note that in the original story this movie was based on (by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell), it concludes with John Doe standing on the roof, preparing to jump, and the Barbara Stanwyck character, Nan, tries to talk him out of doing it, and he is unshakable, and he says "I'll always love you, Nan" and she replies "I'll always love you, John". He then looks out at the crowd, which is singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and when the clock strikes midnight, Nan looks at where he was standing, and it is now empty, and she has "a look of pride and great joy". Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin did not want this ending, because it involved the character committing suicide, and they felt that the Catholic Church would strongly object to that, which might make the movie unable to get distribution. Capra filmed five different endings and previewed at least two of them. In one, they had the suicide take place, and ended with Walter Brennan holding John's dead body. In another, it ends at the John Doe Convention, with John Doe disgraced, and the editor saying "Well, boys, you can chalk another one up to the Pontius Pilates." Another had Nan talking John out of committing suicide. In another, John convinces the corrupt publisher to change his ways and join John in his crusade. But none of those four seemed right. At one of the previews where they showed one of the above endings, a viewer suggested ending it with the John Doe members telling John that they had never stopped believing in him, and Capra then filmed that ending, and this is the ending that is on the movie's final version! 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 is a Warner Bros. title where there are both "linen" and "flat" finish lobby cards, and in this case of this movie and a few other Warner Bros. titles of the very early 1940s, also inserts. Some people have suggested that both versions are from the very first release of the movie. One leading expert we know says that he believes that the "flat" finish lobby cards and insert are probably from a later 1941 release of this movie (probably when Capra re-shot the ending which is the ending people are familiar with). This would make the flat insert from the equivalent to a roadshow release. At this point, no one knows which of the above is correct, so please do not bid on this insert, unless you can accept the uncertainty about exactly when it was first used! Condition: very good. This poster was linenbacked, and one of the following is true: either the poster had minor defects, and was well backed, OR it had more significant defects, but they were extremely well restored, OR it had some very minor defects that were not completely restored, and are slightly noticeable. You can tell which of the above is the case for this particular poster by reading our "Pre-Restoration Defects & Quality of 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 a series of light extra horizontal creases evenly spaced, as though the poster was rolled at one time and was roughly handled. There was very minor wear along the regular foldlines and these light extra creases and a few other creases and smudges in the image (mostly in the solid background areas). There were many creases, smudges, and tiny tears around the edges of the poster and some faint water stains in the upper right border. Overall, the poster was in good to very good condition prior to linenbacking. The poster was well backed. Linenbacking minimized the creases, and the restorer left alone the smudges, because they truly are not very noticeable. Looking at the poster from very close up, you can see all of the above described defects, but from any distance away, you really mostly only notice the top regular foldline and the one below it (because they are in Cooper's face), and you expect to see foldlines in an insert, so I don't consider that surprising. I think this great poster will display well on anyone's wall as it is, or of course, an expert restorer could re-back it and perform additional restoration. Learn More about condition grades 
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