WALT DISNEY SNOW WHITE & 7 DWARFS HERALD AD POSTER

WHAT IS A FILM HERALD?

Heralds were made from the 1910s to the 1960s. Theaters would order heralds by the thousands (they usually cost around $3 per thousand!). They would then hire people to stand on busy street corners and pass them out to all who walked by. Since the vast majority of people looked at the herald for a moment and then threw it away, it is not surprising that not many heralds survive. In Europe many heralds were simply printed on a two sided piece of paper.  One side was printed with graphics (often colorful) and artwork from the film and the back side could be blank or in many cases would have information about the film and/or where or when it was playing.  Most American heralds were on a single sheet of paper that was folded in half, creating four small pages. The front of the herald usually has just the title of the movie and images of the stars (like a small poster) and the two middle pages usually have a lot of information about the movie along with more images (and sometimes these images are found nowhere but the herald). The back page is usually blank for the theater to print in their name and play dates, to let people know where the movie was playing and when. Sometimes one or more of the pages were full-color, and often some of the pages were two-color. A herald is usually the most inexpensive way to get an original item from a classic movie! Most pressbooks would have a sample herald glued in to the first or last page of the pressbook.