THE GALLERY
Each month the Gallery features posters devoted to a different theme. This month, with the DVD release of the documentary "ART & COPY" and the upcoming new season of "Mad Men", we take a look at the link between film posters and the world of advertising - specifically the 'Golden Age' of advertising that is the subject of "ART & COPY" and the background of "Mad Men".
When creating posters, studios had historically relied upon illustrated portraits of stars, descriptive text ("SEE thousands of extras! SEE thrilling battles!") and a straight-forward, straight-faced depiction of whatever elements of a film the studio thought was most sell-able. But as the Sixties dawned, events on Madison Avenue began to change the look of advertising in America. For the first time, the walls between the art and copywriting departments within the agencies were removed, and that - along with a new generations of ad execs and consumers - brought a sea change to the entire media world. Young agencies, new ad men/"Mad Men", and people such as George Lois at Esquire magazine used an entire new aesthetic: in-your-face, witty, dramatic but not corny and charming but not coy. Photography was preferred over illustration and cleverness valued above all else. It was called the "creative revolution", and for the first time in Madison Avenue history, some agencies were being run by men (and the rare woman, notably Mary Wells) who had begun in the creative departments.
Eventually, the new sell was adopted by Hollywood. It didn't completely take hold and it didn't last, but film posters started appearing with strong, uncluttered, graphic images and clever copy - sometimes both. Prior to the Sixties, the height of clever taglines was arguably "Gable's back and Garson's got him!" for the 1945 film ADVENTURE (co-starring Clark Gable and Greer Garson). But in the Sixties we got "How Did They Ever Make a Movie of Lolita?", "Pray for Rosemary's Baby", "Every Father's Daughter is a Virgin" (GOODBYE COLUMBUS), "The Ultimate Trip" (2001) and many more. Paramount in particular, under the new regime of Robert Evans and Peter Bart, had a string of extraordinary posters (including ROSEMARY'S BABY, GOODBYE COLUMBUS, THE ITALIAN JOB and DOWNHILL RACER) within a two year period. Many of these were designed by Steve Frankfurt, who became head of Young and Rubicam in 1968 and went on to create some of the most memorable posters of the next decade or so (often working alongside Philip Gips). Among them: SUPERMAN, EMMANUELLE, ALIEN. And of course, independent filmmakers had much more freedom - and often more fun - in devising artwork for their posters. Some of the indie poster classics of the era include Robert Downey's PUTNEY SWOPE and the many images that Cassavetes commissioned for his films.
The posters here date from the early Sixties to late Seventies and range from groovy fun to stark drama. Some are iconic, some less well-known but they're all pretty smart, cool and attention-grabbing. In other words, they work - like Mad.
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