Robert Eisenstadt's
Antique Gambling
Chips & Gambling Memorabilia Web Site
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I COLLECT MOVIE LOBBY CARDS
(11 X 14 INCHES) WITH GAMBLING THEMES -- HERE ARE 21 OF MY BETTER
ONES -- NONE FOR SALE
| This is a typical lobby
card of the type I collect. I especially go for those where
the gambling is the focus of the scene, not just background. For
example, I am losing interest in L.C.'s of Westerns where some cowboys
could be arguing in a saloon, and there is just some poker playing at near-by
tables. I particularly like those LC's where the gambling chips
can be identified. In this card I could ID three different coded
inlaid generic poker/roulette chips on the roulette table. They
are shown in the upper left of the card, photocopies from Dale Seymour's
"Antique Gambling Chips" book. I only collect LC's with gambling
scenes; it isn't enough that the title or movie be gambling-related
-- there must be a scene. I have over 400 of them and am still looking
for more. (There is a glare from the lighting on the plastic sleeves
I keep the LC's in to protect them. Sorry about that.) |
| From about the 1920's to
the 1960's practically all the films produced in the U.S. had
lobby cards to advertise them. In the 1970's and 80's, the
studios slowly quit making them for U.S. distribution. Today
they are mainly used abroad. In their heyday, lobby cards were
usually issued in sets of eight, 11"x 14," on a fairly heavy stock of
paper. Full color LC's began about 1925 (note also that many black&white
films had colorized lobby cards). Most of the studios used the
National Screen Service Corp. to distribute the cards and films to
the theaters. Each film would be given a NSS number (ID code).
In the "Port of Wickedness" LC, above, the number (usually in
the lower right corner) is R54\255. "R" means re-release (the films
was originally released as "Barbary Coast" in 1935), "54" is the year of
re-release, and "255" means this was the 255th movie released and re-released
in 1954...... ....... ....Lobby cards were displayed in the theaters,
either on a board (as shown above) or scattered throughout the theater
lobby in separate framed windows. The above picture is taken from
this fine site which contains much movie lobby card, poster, etc. information
-- LearnAboutMoviePosters.com
...... ........ ......... As with gambling chips, most lobby cards
are worthless or worth a dollar or two, and others are worth
thousands of dollars! |
Starting at the upper left
and going clockwise:
¶ Joan Crawford and David Brian playing roulette
in "The Damned Don't Cry" (1950).
¶ Charlton Heston dealing blackjack in "Dark
City" (1950). Nice scene: banks of slot machines, wheel of
fortune and craps table in background.
¶ Humphrey Bogart and Lizabeth Scott playing
roulette in "Dead Reckoning" (1947).
¶ Playing 'put 'n take' in "Forsaking All Others"
(1922). There are two put and take tops on the table. The
woman standing is about to spin one; I can read "PUT 3" on one
side of that top! This is my only LC with a put and take top
in it. Click
here for a close-up of those put and takes.
| Clockwise from upper left: ¶ Ingrid Bergman, and Charles Boyer (standing, left), at baccarat table in "Arch of Triumph" (1947). ¶ David Niven (white suit, elbow on table), Marlon Brando (tan military suit, holding chip) and Shirley Jones at roulette table in "Bedtime Story" (1964). ¶ Clark Gable near craps table in "Any Number Can Play" (1949). Good gambling movie -- lots of shots of gambling equipment and chatter about gambling philosophy and gamblers. Great cast. William Conrad, Wendell Corey and Frank Morgan also seen in this LC. ¶ Lou Costello and Bud Abbott at roulette table in "Abbott and Costello in Hollywood" (1945). |
| Clockwise from upper left: ¶ Lana Turner is ready to throw dice in "Ziegfeld Girl" (1941). ¶ William S. Hart dealing faro in "White Oak" (1921). ¶ Cary Grant standing (at right) at bacccarat table in "To Catch a Thief" (1955). ¶ Ronald Reagan (standing at left) watching poker game in "Tennessee's Partner" (1955). Rhonda Fleming is near Reagan; John Payne is seated, at right. |
| Clockwise from upper left: ¶ Dick Powell (seated at desk, center right) in "Johnny O'clock" (1946). Great scene of casino floor. From the lower right and going clockwise are these tables: roulette, hazard, craps and black jack. ¶ Barbara Stanwyck throwing dice in "The Lady Gambles" (1949). ¶ Gregory Peck rakes in a baccarat pot in "The Great Sinner" (1949). ¶ James Cagney at Faro table in "Frisco Kid" (1935). |
| Clockwise from upper left: ¶ Frank Sinatra dealing poker in "The Man With The Golden Arm" (1956). ¶ George Raft (at left holding gun and girl; and at right standing near baccarat table) in "The Man From Cairo" (1953). ¶ Jane Russell (in casino) and Victor Mature in "The Las Vegas Story" (1952). ¶ Marlene Dietrich in "The Monte Carlo Story" (1957). |
| "The Lady Eve" (1941) -- great
card, even if a 1949 re-release lobby card. Poker chips, chip carousel,
playing cards. Returning from a year up the Amazon studying snakes, the
rich but unsophisticated Charles Pike (Fonda) meets con-artist Jean Harrington
(Stanwyck) on a ship. Here Fonda is performing card magic tricks, and con-artists
Stanwyck and Coburn act askance and amazed. They fall in love, but
a misunderstanding causes them to split on bad terms. To get back at him,
Jean disguises herself as an English lady, and comes back to tease and torment
him. |
| "3 of a Kind" (1944) -- This
is a re-release lobby card. Shemp Howard is one of the Three Stooges. |
| "The Shanghai Gesture" (1941).
Lobby Card from the re-release. Stars Gene Tierney, Victor Mature
(both shown here) and Walter Huston. Great movie, a lot of gambling
and sin. |
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