Artifacts - King Kong Posters

 

Hollywood Lost and Found

Props and Artifacts

"King Kong" Posters
at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

What would seem to be the only matched set of extremely rare three-sheet posters from the 1933 movie "King Kong" are now in the collection of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, thanks to a donation by husband-and-wife Academy members John Landis and Deborah Nadoolman.

King Kong Poster

Academy members John Landis and Deborah Nadoolman, left,
Academy President Robert Rehme and Margaret Herrick Library
Director Linda Mehr

Director Landis, a long-time classic film poster collector, and costume designer Nadoolman formally presented Academy President Robert Rehme with one of the 6 1/2 foot x 3 1/2 foot original "Kong" three-sheet posters on April 25, 2001. It is believed to be one of only four copies that exist in the world, and it has been appraised at well over $100,000.

As was common in the 1930s, there were two different designs for "King Kong" three-sheets. An example of the other design, also apparently one of only four still existing, was previously donated to the Academy in 1999 by the Cecil B. DeMille Foundation.

Kong PosterKong Poster

The poster on the left was donated by husband-and-wife Academy members John Landis and Deborah Nadoolman to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in April of 2001. The Cecil B. DeMille Foundation donated the poster on the right to the Academy in 1999. Each poster is believed to be one of only four in existence - and this would appear to be the only matched set anywhere.

Both posters are currently on display at the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library - one in the main lobby, and one in an upstairs lobby. The library holds nearly 22,000 posters in its Charles M. Powell Repository of Motion Picture Marketing Materials.

- Steve Lee
14 August 2006

Source:

Pavlik, John. "Landis Gift Gives Academy Twin Kongs." Press Release, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, April 25, 2001


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