JOAN CRAWFORD Horror Window Card I SAW WHAT YOU DID

VINTAGE WINDOW CARD FILM POSTER

COUNTRY OF ISSUE: USA

YEAR OF ISSUE: 1965

SIZE = 14 X 22"

Condition:  The poster is in Very Good condition. It has two folds.  There are some minor aging spots and minor soiling.  There is a brown spot at the top border. There is one tiny pinhole in each corner.

EXPLANATION OF AMERICAN CINEMA POSTER NAMES & SIZES

 Film Posters were printed by the Film Studios to Advertize and Draw an Audience into the Theatre to see their Latest Picture Release.  This has been the standard and practice since the very early days of the Silent Screen.  The graphics were often quite colorful and arresting with the film title and stars' names most pronounced.  These were generally placed behind glass outside the theatre hoping to get your dime or dollar!

Half-sheets measure 22" x 28" and are printed on heavy card stock, the same as inserts, and similar to that of lobby cards. They are often folded twice immediately after printing, and this is in no way considered a defect. Most movies have two different styles of half-sheets. One is almost always the exact same image as the title lobby card. The other is almost always an image that appears on no other size of movie poster for that movie!

Inserts measure 14" x 36", and are printed on heavy card stock, the same as half-sheets, and similar to that of lobby cards. They are often folded twice immediately after printing, and this is in no way considered a defect.

Window Cards measure 14" x 22" and were printed on heavy card stock (thicker than lobby cards, half-sheets, or inserts). Almost all window cards were printed with a blank space (usually 4") above the poster image, where a local theater could print in their name and play dates (sometimes they would glue on snipes, handwrite the information, or leave the top blank). Sometimes the top area (above the image, where the writing or labeling would be) is trimmed off, and this is only considered to be a minor defect.

ONE-SHEET FILM POSTERS are the standard movie poster size, what you see outside of any movie theater. From 1896 until roughly 1990, almost all actual theater-used one-sheets measured 27" x 41" (since then, most one-sheets measure 27" x 40"). Up until 1980 (or thereabouts) the vast majority of one-sheets were folded twice horizontally and once vertically (this is in no way considered a defect). Sometime during the late '70s, studios began printing one-sheets rolled. Most one-sheets after the mid-1980s are printed unfolded, though it is still possible to find some newer posters folded. Most newer one-sheets are printed double-sided (with a mirror image on the back) for use in a light box in front of the theaters. However, sometimes the studios print some posters single-sided.

TWO-SHEET FILM POSTERS are special posters that were made mostly for low-budget movies of the 1940s and 1950s. They somewhat resemble 40x60s, except these are truly two one-sheets merged together! They measure exactly twice the size of a one-sheet (41" x 54"), and they are printed on a single sheet, and they are always found folded. They usually have the same or similar image as the one-sheet, but are far more rare!

THREE-SHEET FILM POSTERS are posters that measure approximately 41" x 81".  When the studios began making posters, they could only print sizes up to 27" x 41". So, in order to make the 41" x 81" poster they printed three sections of the smaller size that could be combined to form the larger poster (this is why they are called "three-sheets"). Beginning in the early 1930s through the 1980s, new technology allowed for three-sheets to be printed with 2 sheets (usually one larger section and one smaller section). Sometime in the 1970s some three-sheets were printed with a single three-sheet-sized piece. The number of sheets this poster is composed of is noted above. The separate pieces were designed to overlap, so that when they were glued together (or nowadays linenbacked together) they match up so that they appear to be a single printed image. The image we show of non-linenbacked three-sheets has the individual sections overlapping each other to give you the best sense of the overall poster.