Episode 30: Have an Extra Million Hidden in Your Sarcophagus? Sotheby’s Has the Poster for You!

Il-wey! While reading the weekly newsletter from Fine Books & Collections last week, I was immediately drawn to an article about a Sotheby’s online auction for an original lithograph film poster of The Mummy from 1932. The poster, which sold at auction in 1998 for over $450K, set the record for the highest bid for a movie poster at that time. The poster now has an estimated worth of $1 to $1.5 million. The auction for the iconic cinematic mummy poster in popular culture will close on October 31. 

Like the discovery of an intact royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the lithograph has become a historical artifact on many levels. First, movie posters from that era were not created to last. John Maher, Associate Specialist at Sotheby’s, discusses in First Look: The Mummy (YouTube video) the print process for movie posters, which were printed on thin paper, folded and sent to movie houses around the country. The cinemas would often glue the poster on a display panel and was then later glued over by the next movie poster. The early posters were created to be disposable, not collection pieces. Maher points out how well the poster has held up: the folds of the poster are still visible (but not obtrusive to one’s viewing pleasure) and the colors are still vibrant across the entire surface of the poster. 

Second, the lithograph is an exceptional example of early cinema illustrated movie posters. The poster was illustrated by Universal’s Advertising Art Director Karoly Grosz and includes many signifiers of that era: “vivid, painterly splashes of color, a dynamic composition, and minimal white space” according to Sotheby’s description of the poster. Although there appears to be little information about Grosz online, one can quickly assess that Grosz was well versed with the horror genre because he also created the movie posters for Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Bride of Frankenstein (1931 and 1935), Old Dark House (1932), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), and The Invisible Man (1933). Although not horror, he also illustrated the poster from the 1936 comedy, My Man Godfrey. Grosz’s poster designs represent several films within the Golden Age of Horror, which is a testament of his artistry to resonate with audiences in the 1930s and over the intervening decades.

Fourth, in studying the film behind the poster, The Mummy film signaled a cinematic shift. Along with the advent of sound, storytelling in movies moved from symbolism towards realism (Horror Film History). However, with the woes of the Great Depression and a general sense of unrest between two World Wars, audiences were looking to escape and leave their troubles in the movie house lobby. Hence, audiences were attracted to films where they could be “scared by largely supernatural monsters wreaking havoc on largely fantastical worlds, events far removed from the everyday realities” and in the U.S., “80 million people attended the cinema on a weekly basis in 1930, some 65% of the total US population” (Horror Film History). The posters for The Mummy and other horror flicks of the era “played a key role in horror films’ impact, defining the images that would haunt audiences and loom in the cultural memory” (Fine Books & Collections). 

Fifth, the poster and film have secured a place in the modern lexicon of popular culture. Both continue to inspire mummy stories as well as leave an indelible impression on creators in the horror genre. From an Observer article last week, film studies scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon stated, “Universal horror movie posters have a huge nostalgia factor. The posters convey a real sense of how iconic these characters became.” The nostalgia, coupled with a recent return to the Golden Age of Horror, probably explains why horror posters sell well at auction: collectors are seeking them out and are willing to pay top dollar. In a recent Sotheby’s interview with Stephanie Sporn, filmmaker Joe Dante noted that The Mummy featured the first complete music score in the initial Universal horror films of the early 1930s, and he explained that is why The Mummy seems to be more modern than the other well-known horror films of the time, such as Dracula and Frankenstein (“Horror Legend Joe Dante on The Mummy, Film Posters and Growing Up a Monster Kid”). The modern feel also came from the fact that the film did not incorporate a period setting; The Mummy was set during the same timeframe as its release. Additionally, most audience-goers probably remembered the headlines announcing the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter a short ten years before. 

It will be interesting to see how much the poster goes for this time around. And in case you wondered, this is one of three examples known to exist and remain in its original unbacked state. One of the other examples is owned by Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, according to Aaron Couch of the Hollywood Reporter. I wish I had an extra million to spare….

Senebti! 

Poster image from Google Images.

If you would like to read the referenced materials, please see below: 

Read Fine Books & Collections article here

See Sotheby’s auction listing here

See John Maher discuss the movie poster here

See “Horror Begins to Talk …And Scream” at the Horror Film History website here

Read Joe Dante’s interview here