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Welcome
to the world of Movie Poster collecting and authentication. My name is Professor
Leonard Powers -- and I would like to tell you a little about myself and my
credentials in the field of poster authentication. Born in 1938 I found
myself at an early age having a penchant for art appreciation running the
gamut from photography to the art of the masters such as Monet, Van Gogh,
Rembrandt and so on. I also found myself having a discerning eye for what
was real & what was not.
My father was a consultant to the government on foreign matters (his
particular expertise was in detecting forgery in foreign currency), and so
our family was fortunate to be world travelers. While still a strapping
young man in my late teens I found myself drawn to the intoxicating art of
the cinema and began to acquire movie posters and memorabilia from movie
studio connections I had made when in Hollywood, California for a period of
time. My mother worked as a screenwriter and was well enmeshed in the studio
system, rubbing elbows with the elite of the movie industry.
After World War II, I studied for a
period of time at the prestigious Universite de Paris in France and
at graduation received recognition as a Summa Cum Laude graduate at
the top of my class. After recieving my Bachelors of Arts degree in
Studio Art, I continued to study in Europe and later obtained my MFA
and finally a PhD in Art, with an emphasis on printing and
publishing.
It
was during this period of my life that I began buying and selling vintage
artwork and poster memorabilia to supplement my income from the Graphic Arts
companies I had worked for. It was in the alluring city of Paris
 where
I met my soul mate and future wife Isabel; that meeting eventually led
us to reside in Cleveland, Ohio as Isabel's family home. This is where I found the ideal vocation for my tastes and my trade. I was immediately retained by the National Screen Service printing facility in Cleveland from 1965 through 1988, working in many
capacities. By this I mean that I was a man wearing many hats throughout my
duration at NSS ----- supervisor, consultant , designer and at times just liked to get my hands dirty helping on the printing lines with problems no one else was able to solve.
One of
the many "perquisites" of this job was to be working with my first
love ----- movie posters. Yet another was to have the privilege to overprint
whatever posters or lobby cards I desired to have for my hobby/side business
. Thousands upon thousands of posters had been "overprinted" upon
my orders to be added into my ever growing stock of memorabilia. There was
also an abundance of material from the forties and fifties that had been in
storage taking up space in the warehouse that NSS welcomed me to haul it
away as it was doing them absolutely no good. (You have to remember at that
time most people had no clue as to the future value of this type of
material).
It was during my
last few years at NSS and for several years after that I had sold
approximately 10 times more posters (in quantity & monetary value) than
Bruce Hershenson has in his short career in the field. Since this had mainly
been to eccentric wealthy private collectors I have not made this public
knowledge until now. Between 1984 - 1995 I have generated a significant
amount of revenue from sales of vintage movie posters and other related
memorabilia... and at the same time amassed a stunning
collection ranging from circa 1910 to present.
Upon leaving NSS in 1988 due to creative differences I set out as a consultant to
some of the more prestigious printing facilities in the United States, and after some minor health issues decided it was best to retire in 1996. However, the love of movie posters still courses through my veins. I've decided to come out of retirement and share with the world my experiences
& knowledge. This brings us to the current state of what's going on with
poster collecting ---- the exciting world of the internet, bootlegs, poster availability and on and on. I hope that I can answer your questions, lay many falsehoods and myths to rest and possibly serve as a resource for anyone interested in what really goes on in the fascinating world of poster
printing, production, distribution, authentication & collecting.
Respectfully Yours,
Professor Leonard Powers
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