For four decades, Ira Resnick has been amassing a collection of movie posters, lobby cards, and stills. The collector and film lover owns more than 2,000 vintage posters and more than 1,500 stills - many of which have not been seen in decades. He has assembled, as they say in the trade, some “pretty choice stuff.”
Now, the best of Resnick’s collection has been brought together in a handsomely illustrated new book, Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood (Abbeville), published earlier this year. Inside are vivid reproductions of 250 posters and forty stills – including rare posters and lobby cards featuring the likes of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Lillian Gish, Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, Marlene Dietrich and many others. It is, for those who love old movie art, a must-have book.
The star of the book is Louise Brooks - whom the author describes as "one of my all-time favorite actresses."
Resnick, who made his name as a photographer and the owner of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery (the first gallery devoted exclusively to the art of the movies) in New York City, writes about his "passion" for Brooks and relays a couple of anecdotes behind his acquisition of some truly marvelous lobby cards, posters, one sheets, and stills.
For those keeping count, there are ten drop-dead gorgeous Brooks-related images in the book. And, courtesy of the publisher, a few of them are included in the slide show which accompanies this article.
A centerpiece of the book and of Resnick's self-described "Louise Brooks collection" is a 1929 film poster for Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen. This unique work promotes the premiere of The Diary of a Lost Girl in Vienna, Austria on September 27, 1929 - prior to its better known debut in Berlin in October of the same year.
Resnick found the poster in California, and writes about its exceptional draftsmanship and Brooks' "confrontational and submissive" pose. The collector adds, "For years it was the centerpiece of my collection, the first thing that a visitor would see upon entering the gallery. It was one of my most precious possessions."
However, after ten years and the pleasure of having owned it, Resnick sold it to a private collector for the record setting sum of $80,000. (Another modern poster adapting Brooks' provocative image issued by the Motion Picture Arts Gallery in the 1980's is also included in this new book. This latter day poster, reproduced in Starstruck, is signed by the legendary actress with the inscription, "To Ira Resnick love Louise Brooks, June 16, 83.")
While guiding the reader through the best posters and stills in his collection, Resnick provides a kind-of personal tour through the history of the movies, starting with the silent film era and continuing through Breakfast at Tiffany's. It’s obvious, though, that Resnick seems to be the most enamored with American films of the Twenties and Thirties, and with Louise Brooks in particular. She shines in this gorgeous new coffee table book.
Starstruck includes a foreword by director Martin Scorsese (one of Resnick's instructors at NYU), a list of the author's fifty favorite one-sheets, helpful tips for collectors, and a glossary of terms and poster sizes. If you love Louise Brooks, get this book.
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More info: The slide show which accompanies this article highlights a small number of the many posters featured in this new book. To learn more about this title, visit abbeville.com. And to learn more about the author, visit iraresnick.com. Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood is available on-line or through better independent bookstores.
Thomas Gladysz is a longtime fan of Louise Brooks, so much so that in 1995 he founded the Louise Brooks Society, an internet-based archive and fan club devoted to the silent film star. Gladysz has contributed to books on the actress, organized exhibits, appeared on television, and introduced her films around the country. Recently, he edited and wrote the introduction to the “Louise Brooks edition” of Margarete Bohme’s The Diary of a Lost Girl.
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