Eric has also uncovered a 6-sheet poster (81" x 81") also depicting Houdini's Harvey Hanford frozen in ice. He didn't have the table space to open it in full, but he offers this taste of the colors below.
It's very likely these were Houdini's personal copies and are, to my knowledge, the only surviving examples. The only poster the Ransom Center has not turned up (yet) is the massive twenty-four sheet (246" x 108") shown in The Man From Beyond pressbook below.
Due to COVID-19, The Harry Ransom Center is currently closed until March 30. But the Houdini Collections are available to search via finding aids at the HRC's official website.
Thank you Eric!
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WOW! What a stunner that 1-sheet is indeed. And that 6-sheet is such a tease! Can't wait to see that beauty in all it's glory. Well done yet again Eric!
ReplyDeleteWhat one would to for a copy of those.... :)
Wow, that 1 sheet is quite the ice breaker. What an amazing collection of posters. Hopefully one day we can see the 6 sheet in its entirety.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Eric! The colors are rich and vibrant! This chopping from the ice scene has me wondering about an injury HH sustained filming this picture. Don't remember where I read it but it had something to do with his arm getting hit by an ax.
ReplyDeleteFound it in Silverman, HH was accidentally chopped in the arm by a hatchet while working on TMFB. Might it have been this scene depicted by the poster?
DeleteNice find, Leo. I think you may be right. There is a shot of HH in the ice where it appears to him and not a dummy, and the actor is chopping pretty hard. I would actually love to know just how frozen in the ice HH really was. Or maybe it wasn't ice? But it sure looks like it.
DeleteWhen I read it in Silverman page 263 I wondered where in the film it might have been. I doubt that's real ice he's under. The set would have had to have been as cold as a walk in freezer.
DeleteSimply Incredible! Wow is right! Truly beautiful poster!
ReplyDeleteThat poster really is breathtaking (thanks Eric, and thank you, John). It reminds me so much of a scene from one of the Frankenstein sequels where the monster is discovered frozen in ice (I strongly suspect this scene from "The Man from Beyond" was the inspiration for that.) Delighted that we get to enjoy these incredible treasures, but it's sad that so many of the staff artists who created amazing artwork like this remain nameless and essentially anonymous to us (although their styles might be recognizable to some graphic artists today who are knowledgeable about artists from that period).
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