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
(Click here for
my second web page of lobby cards )
| 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). The card is undated, but is from the circa 1949 re-release.
The re-release lobby cards had "Shanghai Gesture" in red. The
original lobby cards from the original release had those words in blue
(see the card below). Stars Gene Tierney, Victor Mature (both shown here)
and Walter Huston. Great movie, a lot of gambling and sin. |
| "The Shanghai Gesture" (1941).
This card (not mine) is a reproduction of a card from the original
release of the movie (see above). |
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