• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Get Sports Collectors Daily via EMail
    • Advertise with SC Daily
    • Write for Sports Collectors Daily
    • Write About Your Sports Collection
    • Where Can I Sell My Baseball Cards?
  • Hot on eBay
    • Most Watched Graded Rookies
    • Most Watched PSA 10 Cards
    • Most Watched BGS, BVG Cards
    • Most Watched SGC Cards
    • Most Watched CSG,CGC Cards
    • Most Watched Baseball Cards
      • Most Watched 2023 Baseball Cards
      • Most Watched 2022 Baseball Rookie Cards
      • Bowman Chrome Cards
      • Ronald Acuna Jr. Cards
      • Shohei Ohtani Cards
      • Mike Trout Cards
      • Fernando Tatis Jr. Cards
      • Babe Ruth Cards
      • Hank Aaron Cards
      • Jackie Robinson Cards:
      • Mickey Mantle Cards
      • Willie Mays Cards
      • Vintage Baseball Card Sets
      • T206 Cards
    • Most Watched Basketball
      • Top 100 Most Watched Basketball Rookie Cards
      • 100 Hottest 2022-23 NBA Rookie Cards
      • Victor Wembanyama Cards
      • Michael Jordan Cards
      • Kobe Bryant Cards
      • LeBron James Rookie Cards
      • Nikola Jokic Rookie Cards
      • Giannis Antetokounmpo Cards
      • Luka Doncic Rookie Cards
      • Prizm Basketball Cards
      • Panini National Treasures
    • Most Watched Football Cards
      • Most Watched NFL Rookie Cards
      • 2023 NFL Rookie Cards
        • CJ Stroud Cards
      • 2022 NFL Rookie Cards
        • Brock Purdy Rookie Cards
      • 2021 NFL Rookie Cards
      • 2020 NFL Rookie Cards
        • Joe Burrow Rookie Cards
        • Justin Herbert Rookie Cards
        • Jalen Hurts Rookie Cards
      • Josh Allen Rookie Cards
      • Patrick Mahomes Rookie Cards
      • Tom Brady Cards
    • Most Watched Hockey Cards
      • Top 100 Most Watched Hockey Rookie Cards
      • Most Watched 2021-22 NHL Rookie Cards
      • Most Watched 2020-21 Rookie Cards
      • Most Watched 2019-20 Rookie Cards
      • Connor McDavid Cards
      • Wayne Gretzky Cards
      • Bobby Orr Cards
    • Most Watched Soccer Cards
    • Most Watched UFC Cards
    • Most Watched Golf Cards
    • Most Watched 1 of 1 Cards
    • Most Watched Topps SuperFractors
    • Most Watched Racing Cards
    • Top Sports Card Dealers on eBay
    • Most Watched Memorabilia
      • Vintage Sports Memorabilia
      • Vintage Sports Tickets, Stubs
      • Most Watched Autographs
  • Ending Soon on Ebay
    • Baseball Cards
    • Basketball Cards
    • Football Cards
    • Hockey Cards
    • Soccer Cards
    • Golf Cards
    • UFC Cards
  • Top - Ad

Sports Collectors Daily

Sports Collectors Daily

Sports collecting news - Sports cards and sports memorabilia industry news.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.com.

  • Sports Memorabilia News
  • Sports Card News
    • Modern Sports Card News
      • New Sports Card Release Calendar
      • Shop Talk
    • Vintage Sports Card News
      • Affordable Vintage Cards, Collectibles
      • Old Baseball Card Sets
      • Old Basketball Card Sets
      • Old Football Card Sets
      • Old Hockey Card Sets
      • Vintage Pack Facts
  • Business/Industry News
    • Sports Memorabilia Business News
    • Sports Memorabilia Industry News
  • Around The Hobby
    • Editor’s Blog
    • David Cycleback’s Identification and Authentication Advice
  • Popular Stories
  • Sell Your Cards
You are here: Home / David Cycleback's Identification and Authentication Advice / Collecting Sports Movie Ephemera

Collecting Sports Movie Ephemera

December 29, 2015 By David Cycleback

The Galloping Ghost Red Grange one sheet poster
One sheet poster for The Galloping Ghost starring Red Grange.

From Raging Bull to Breaking Away a great number of motion pictures since the silent era have been about sports. Further, many sports stars have appeared in movies, some even making multiple appearances, including Babe Ruth, Jim Brown, Sonja Henie and Johnny Weismuller.

This column looks at some of the standard types of ephemera from movies, whether it’s The Pride of the Yankees, Rocky or Casablanca.

Movie Posters

Needless to say, the standard movie and most visually commanding movie memorabilia are the movie posters used to promote and advertise the movies. Rare movie posters can be the centerpieces of even the most advanced collection. The following are the standard types of movie posters:

Original 1980 Raging Bull one sheet poster
Original 1980 Raging Bull one sheet poster with fold lines.

One sheet poster (27×41 inches for older movies, 27 x 40 inches for modern ones) — This is the standard and most collected type of posters. Originally, posters were this size. Early posters were folded and will have fold lines, while starting about 1980 studios shipped photos rolled and these will have no fold lines. First produced in the late 1980s, doubled sided posters allow light to shine throw allowing them to be displayed in a light box.

Three sheet poster
: 41 x 81 inches: This is three 27 x 41 inches posters posted side by side.

Half sheet posters (22×28 inches) These were movie posters displayed behind the concession stand inside the theater.

Insert posters
(14 x 22 inches): These were displayed on sandwich boards outside the theater.

Related theater display pieces

Lobby Cards: 11 x 14 inches, though 8×10 inches in the early days. On card stock, these usually were made in sets of eight and showed scenes from the movie, with title and credits at the bottoms. These are like mini movie posters and were displayed throughout the theater lobby.

The Joe Louis Story lobby card
Lobby card from The Joe Louis Story.

Window cards: These were ad posters displayed around town, promoting both the movie and the theater showing it. They are usually 14 x 22 inches, but can be found larger and smaller.

Still photos
: Usually 8×10 inches though sometimes 11×14 inches, still photographs showed still images from the movie, along with shots of the actors and sometimes behind the scene scenes. A popular and often easy to obtain area of sports movie memorabilia, they often have the movie title and credits along an edge. They were displayed throughout the theater and also sent to newspapers and magazines as press photos for use in movie coverage and reviews.

The Sandlot 8x10 movie still publicity photo
8×10 still publicity photo from The Sandlot.

Studio portrait photographs (usually 11×14 or 8×10 inches). Showing glamorous poses of stars, these were photographed by often famous photographers hired by the movie studios. The backs will often have the studio’s stamp and the stamp of the photographer. Famous and highly sought after portait photographers include George Hurrell, Clarence Sinclair, Eugene Richee, Clarence Sincair Bull, Ruth Harriet Louise and Freulich, Roman. Top examples can fetch good money and are considered works of art.

 Johnny Weissmuller studio portrait Tarzan the Ape Man
Studio portrait of swimming star turned actor Johnny Weissmuller for the 1932 movie Tarzan the Ape Man.

Re-releases: Many big movies, such as Gone With the Wind, The Godfather and Casablanca were re-relased in theaters in later years and new versions of the posters, cards and stills were made. These are often identified by a print or photograph expert, but often also have the modern date clearly on the item.

Postcards: Postcards have long been popularly collected and there are a wide variety of postcards, both ink printed and real photo, of movies and movie photos. As movies were a world-wide phenomenon, movie postcards can be found from all over the world, even Eastern Europe.

1930 German real photo postcard Babe Ruth Harold Lloyd Speedy
1930 German real photo postcard of Babe Ruth and actor Harold Lloyd in the movie Speedy.

Fan photos: Photographs with faux signatures were sent to fans who requested them. These sometimes come with the original mailing envelope.

Joe E. Brown fan photo faux signature original mailing envelope
Actor/comedian Joe E. Brown fan photo with faux signature and the original mailing envelope.


News photos
: Photos by newspapers and news services including United Press, Associated Press and ACME can be regularly found. They will usually have the source’s stamp and/or paper caption tag on back.  Different from publicity photos, these images were typically captured by photographers working for wire services, magazines or local newspapers.

1954 Associated Press wirephoto Joe DiMaggio Marilyn Monroe marriage
1954 Associated Press wirephoto of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe on their wedding day.

Other: There are countless other types of ephemera to be found, including advertising signs, matchbook covers, trading cards, magazine and more.

A Final Photo Gallery:

Safe at Home movie poster Roger Maris Mickey Mantle
1960s Safe at Home Movie Poster Mickey Mantle Roger Maris
Lobby card 1927 Babe Comes Home movie
Lobby card for 1927’s Babe Comes Home.
Book 1925 football comedy The Freshman
Tie-in book for Harold Lloyd’s classic 1925 football comedy The Freshman.
1972 lobby card A Touch of Mink
Cary Grant and Doris Day on the New York Yankees’ bench in this 1972 lobby card fot A Touch of Mink.
1952 Lobby Card The Winning Team Ronald Reagan Doris Day
1952 Lobby Card for The Winning Team starring Ronald Reagan and Doris Day.
MGM Studios publicity photo Esther Williams
MGM Studios publicity photo of swimming star turned movie star Esther Williams.
1950 Spanish language lobby card The Jackie Robinson Story
Rare 1950 Spanish language Cuban lobby card for The Jackie Robinson Story.
1944 poster Fuzzy Settles Down Buster Crabbe
1944 one sheet poster for Fuzzy Settles Down starring Olympic Gold medalist turned B-movie star Buster Crabbe.
Lobby card Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) Johnny Weissmuller Maureen O'Sullivan
Lobby card for Tarzan the His Mate (1934), starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan.
Play Ball movie poster Babe Ruth
Play Ball: Original 1920s Babe Ruth movie poster.
Movie poster Crazylegs starring Elroy Hirsch
Movie poster for 1953’s Crazylegs starring Elroy Crazylegs Hirsch.
1920s strip cards athletes movie stars
Many trading card issues, such as these 1920s strip cards, included both athletes and movie stars.
Advertising card Babe Ruth'Headin' Home
Rare 1920 advertising card for Babe Ruth’s Headin’ Home
Lobby card Manhattan Madness Jack Dempsy
Lobby card for silent movie starring heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Facebook Messenger

Related Stories:

Notes: Full Capacity in Philly; CSA Back This Month; ESPN on Famous Missing Memorabilia Muhammad Ali 1966 wire photoPhotos Through the Telephone: A History and Guide to Wirephotos Cubs 2016 World Series program Wrigley Field2016 World Series Program Includes 3 Different Versions A Guide to Early Mounted Photographs The Many Forms of Vintage Sports Lithography Free Downloadable Guide to Identifying Materials in Antiques Home Runs, Brawls and Foul Balls Collecting Sports Prints by The Masters: How and Where to Do Your Homework

About David Cycleback

David Cycleback is an art and artifacts historian and an internationally known authentication expert. He has authenticated artifacts for major institutions, was a writer for the standard academic reference Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Photography, and teaches courses in art authentication. Reprinted by Beijing's Three Shadows Art Center, his guides "Judging the Authenticity of Prints by the Masters" and "Judging the Authenticity of Photographs" were the first comprehensive books on the subjects published in China. He can be reached at [email protected].

Filed Under: David Cycleback's Identification and Authentication Advice Tagged With: David Cycleback, movie posters, vintage sports memorabilia, wirephotos

Primary Sidebar

Our articles may contain affiliate links. When you click on links to merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. 

Shop Sports Cards on Ebay
  • Football
  • Basketball
  • Baseball
  • Hockey

High End Cards and Memorabilia

  • BBCE Authenticated Boxes, Packs opens in a new window
  • Graded pre-War Card eBay Auctions
  • PWCC Premier Auction
  • PWCC Fixed Price Marketplace
  • Graded Rookie Cards on eBay opens in a new window
  • Authenticated Photos on eBay opens in a new window
  • Graded Tickets & Stubs opens in a new window

Bargain Corner

  • Michael Jordan cards $5 and less opens in a new window
  • Kobe Bryant cards $5 and less opens in a new window
  • Mickey Mantle Cards Under $150 opens in a new window
  • Graded T206 Cards Under $150 opens in a new window
  • Pre-War Cards Under $100 opens in a new window
  • Pre-1980 Graded Baseball Cards $10 and Less opens in a new window
  • Pre-1980 Graded Football Cards $10 and Less opens in a new window
  • Vintage Graded Basketball Cards $25 and less opens in a new window
  • Vintage Graded Hockey Cards $10 and Less opens in a new window
  • Complete Sets $20 and Less opens in a new window
  • Baseball Hall of Famers for $5 or Less opens in a new window
  • Football Hall of Famers for $5 or Less opens in a new window
  • Hobby Boxes Under $30 opens in a new window
  • Pre-1986 Rookie Cards Under $1 opens in a new window
  • Buy Boxes Directly from Topps opens in a new window

RSS Auction Report

  • Icons Auctions Current Auction of Soccer Autographs Ends Dec. 3, 2023
  • PWCC Weekly Sunday Auction – Ending December 3, 2023
  • Iconic Auctions Current Auction of Autographs & Memorabilia Ends December 2, 2023

Footer

Categories

  • Around the Hobby
  • Business/Industry News
    • Sports Memorabilia Business News
    • Sports Memorabilia Industry News
  • David Cycleback's Identification and Authentication Advice
  • Editor's Blog
  • Featured Articles
  • Hobby Shop Talk
  • National Sports Collectors Convention
  • Popular Stories
  • Rich Klein's Ramblings
  • Sports Card News
    • Modern Sports Card News
      • New Sports Card Release Calendar
    • Vintage Sports Card News
      • Old Baseball Card Sets
      • Old Basketball Card Sets
      • Old Football Card Sets
      • Old Hockey Card Sets
      • Vintage Pack Facts
  • Sports Memorabilia News
  • Uncategorized

Sponsor Links

  • Sports Card Forumopens in a new window
  • Buying Vintage Sports Cardsopens in a new window
  • Championship Rings For Saleopens in a new window
  • Autographed Baseballsopens in a new window
  • Vintage Graded Baseball Cardsopens in a new window
  • Sports Collectors Storeopens in a new window

Pages

Ending on eBay Soon
  • Baseball Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon
  • Basketball Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon
  • Football Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon
  • Hockey Card Auctions Ending Soon on eBay
  • Vintage Sports Memorabilia on eBay Ending Soon
Top 100 on Ebay
  • Top 100 Most Watched Baseball Rookie Cards on eBay
  • Top 100 Most Watched Basketball Rookie Cards for Sale on eBay
  • Top 100 Most Watched Hockey Rookie Card Auctions
  • Top Authenticated Vintage Unopened Sports Card Boxes, Packs on eBay
Most Watched on eBay
  • 100 Most Watched Graded Rookie Cards for Sale on eBay
  • 100 Most Watched Tom Brady Card Auctions on eBay
  • 50 Hottest Hobby Boxes at Auction on eBay
  • 50 Most Watched Golf Trading Cards on eBay
  • 50 Most Watched Wrestling Trading Cards on eBay
  • 75 Most Watched Bowman Chrome Cards
  • Most Popular Bobbleheads on eBay
  • Most Watched 1/1 Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Basketball Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Complete Baseball Card Sets at Auction on eBay
  • Most Watched Football Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Football Rookie Card Auctions
  • Most Watched Goudey Baseball Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Hockey Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Racing Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Soccer Cards for Sale on eBay
  • Most Watched Sports Autographs on eBay
  • Most Watched Sports Jerseys on eBay
  • Most Watched Unopened Sports Card Boxes, Packs on eBay
  • Most Watched Vintage Sports Memorabilia on eBay
  • Hottest Panini National Treasures Cards on eBay
  • Hottest PSA 10 Cards for Sale on eBay
  • What’s Hot on eBay
Sports Memorabilia
  • Sports Card Bargain Bin
  • Sports Memorabilia Auctions Ending Soon on eBay
About Sports Collectors Daily
  • Advertise with SC Daily
  • Contact Us
  • Get Sports Collectors Daily via EMail
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
Sell Your Cards
  • What’s It Worth
  • Where Can I Sell My Baseball Cards?

Copyright © 2023 SportsCollectorsDaily.com | Web Design by Wickam Groupopens in a new window