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Auction History Result

2z426 WEST SIDE STORY 1sh '61 1961 pre-Awards one-sheet with classic Joseph Caroff art!

Date Sold 12/8/2016
Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price.


An Original Vintage Theatrical Folded One-Sheet Movie Poster (1sh; measures 27" x 41" [69 x 104 cm]) (Learn More)

West Side Story, the classic 1961 Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins (winners of the Best Director Academy Award for this film) New York City romantic dance musical ("The screen achieves one of the great entertainments in the history of motion pictures"; "'Best Picture' Winner of 10 Academy Awards 1961"; "Based upon the stage play produced by Robert E. Griffith and Harold S. Prince" winner of the Best Picture Academy Award; with a sentimental script by Ernest Lehman, which borrows heavily from "Romeo & Juliet"; based on a book by Arthur Laurents) starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno (winner of the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for this film), and George Chakiris (winner of the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for this film). The wonderful music was by Leonard Bernstein and the equally wonderful lyrics were by Stephen Sondheim. Note that Natalie Wood's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon (who had also dubbed The King and I and The Sound of Music), and Richard Beymer's singing was dubbed as well. Recordings exist of some of Natalie Wood's singing, and she absolutely would have been fine, but Hollywood demands perfection!
NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography.
Artist: Joseph Caroff
Important Added Info: Note that some people have credited the art on this poster to Saul Bass, and it certainly IS "in the Saul Bass style", but it is actually by Joseph Caroff. In the case of this poster, we know that Saul Bass did other art for first release of this movie, and it does look like it could be by Bass, so that might explain some of the confusion. Also note that this poster is the first release one-sheet, which was from before the movie won the Best Picture Academy Award. After it won the Academy Awards, some of these posters had snipes added to the top left area, and other posters were printed that look the same, but have Academy Award information printed on them, and a 1962 copyright date. This first release pre-awards one-sheet with no snipe is far less common than the post-Academy Awards one-sheets.

Note that all but 28 of the folded one-sheets in this Part I of eMoviePoster.com's December Major Auction were consigned to us by legendary French dealer/collector Dominique Besson.

Dominique Besson started collecting movie posters in 1981, and became a dealer in French and European posters in 1994, and has remained as a top dealer ever since!

But in addition, 30 years ago, Dominique began collecting U.S. one-sheets, first those with Saul Bass art, and then adding Alfred Hitchcock posters, then Humphrey Bogart, and he finally ended up collecting in an amazing total of 47 different categories, purchasing the posters from all over the world!

Now the time has come to sell this wonderful collection, and Dominique has chosen eMoviePoster.com to do so, through our auctions!

As noted above, all but 28 of the folded one-sheets in this Part I come from this more remarkable collection (the 28 that do not were consigned to us by other collectors, and are clearly marked).

This is not all of the Dominique Besson collection we are auctioning. In addition, there are approximately 200 more folded one-sheets that will be in Part IV of this special auction (ones from the 1970s to present), and there are approximately 100 unfolded one-sheets that will be in Part III (including many great ones).

This is a very rare opportunity to purchase folded one-sheets (all of which have had no professional restoration) from one of the greatest one-sheet collections assembled!

Note that this one-sheet is from the category that Dominique Besson collected on that he labeled "1960s".

Condition: good to very good. There are pinholes around the edges of the poster and a few within the image. There is tiny paper loss at the crossfolds. The top 3" and the bottom 1 1/2" were folded back at one time. There is 3" of separation near the center of the top horizontal fold. There is an extra crease right next to the vertical fold between the middle and bottom crossfolds, and minor wear on the other folds. The poster can be displayed and enjoyed as it is, or one could choose to have the above defects corrected through linenbacking. Either way, the new owner will have a great poster to display on their wall!
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