The
following is an abbreviated excerpt of the Foreword by David Frangioni from his
book, Clint
Eastwood: ICON (reprinted with permission
from Palace Press). The book is a lavish collection of rare Eastwood international movie advertising materials from the author's extensive personal archive.
There are two types of people in the world:
those who collectand those who
don’t.
I’ve found that the group of people that
don’t collect anything really doesn’t “get” how we collectors think, act, or
obsess. So I’ve come to appreciate the collectors of the world, and what makes
us tick. We’re a passionate bunch, inspired by the idea of completion around a
subject—whether its manifestations be art, books, cards, coins, stamps, posters,
toys, or the like—and we devote ourselves to realizing this idea. Driven by
this need for totality (some would say perfection), we pursue our desire to
possess by trying to find everything on our “want list,” not resting until
we’ve achieved the immediate goal of acquiring a particular object—with the
eventual aim of completing our ideal collection. We define ourselves through
this search for rare and unique items and the archive that results from the
pursuit.
And then there’s the high you get from
collecting. Lists and notations aside, collecting is a visceral business, too.
That rush of discovering a rare item is a feeling that all collectors
understand.For instance, I remember
flipping through the Heritage Auction catalog back in 2001 and seeing listed,
for the first time, three Dirty Harry
standees. They were barely even mentioned in the official 1971 Dirty Harry pressbook, and I had never
seen any of them for sale, much less two. Talk about rare! I had a feeling they
were quite special, and knew I had to
have them. If you’re a fellow collector you know exactly the feeling I’m
talking about—and how driven I was to obtain these items! Fortunately, I won
the standees......I’ve never seen their likes again, either for sale or in
someone else’s collection. I still get “that feeling” whenever I take them out
and view them.
You’re probably wondering, though, how I
discovered my passion for movie posters, and particularly Clint Eastwood
memorabilia. It actually started very early on—when I was eight. It was 1975,
and my mother had begun taking me to the twenty-five-cent Saturday matinees at
the Regent Theater in my hometown of Arlington, Massachusetts. The Regent was a
second-run movie house, but the movies were new to me and there was no home
video at the time.
Every Saturday, like clockwork, I’d see a
new movie—and a new movie poster. It was a special form of ritual for me, and
the movie posters with their different styles of artwork became important
features of my weekly pastime. I remember seeing the “Coming Soon” posters
outside the theater and in the lobby and being overcome by a feeling of
excitement. All of the cool, pop-culture graphics would pump me up for what I
was going to see next week or next month. I loved the art, the emotions that they
evoked, and the promise of big-screen excitement that the posters represented.
To me, they seemed an integral part of the filmgoing experience. I didn’t know
it at the time, but I was hooked!
The manager of the Regent Theater was a man
named Mr. Gunn. He and I would chat every week and eventually got to know each
other pretty well. One day, I started talking to him about my interest in the
posters that were on display at his theater. He kindly offered to give me the
posters for films whose runs had finished at the Regent. He did this nearly
every week for two years. Thanks to his generosity, I had started a collection—without
even realizing it.
Around the age of fifteen, it became apparent
that I’d begun gravitating toward Clint Eastwood movie posters and my
collection began to take focus. It was the 1980s, and Eastwood was one of the
most popular (and prolific) stars in the United States. Like many people, I
really connected with the characters that he played onscreen. Bronco Billy, for
example, was a character I was touched by—and could relate to. I completely
understood how a guy with an undying passion for Westerns and cowboys could
pursue his dreams at all costs, and still never lose his heart or compassion.
Billy was someone that would do anything to break out of his mundane, dead-end
city life to follow his dream.
Clint’s other iconic characters from the
era also resonated with me: The Man With No Name’s isolated, no-nonsense approach
to life; Harry Callahan’s “rebel with a cause” attitude; Terry McCaleb’s heart,
which was so big he was willing to risk his life to help someone in need. The
list of characters that express the values that were at the core of the
Eastwood image goes on and on and on.
As I became more serious about my
collection, and about Clint Eastwood posters in particular, I discovered that a
lot of the artwork I had been drawn to as a kid was very much in demand. I
started reading Movie Collectors World
(MCW) and, through that paper, met
other collectors and dealers—many of whom I still stay in touch with to this
day. Through correspondence and the occasional in-person meeting, I became part
of a real international community. In those early days in the 1980s, as my
hobby began to get serious, I would draft letters to people with my handwritten
“want list.” There were few fax machines, and phone calls were too expensive to
make on a regular basis, so we collectors simply wrote to each other, asking
for leads and letting each other know when we had found something we thought
would appeal to their varied interests and help round out each others’
collections. Through the years (and with more up-to-date technology), this
network of fellow collectors and dealers has expanded greatly, but the shared
feeling of camaraderie persists. I’ve found that we all feel a sense of release
from the everyday “real world” when we discuss and think about our collections,
plus we all agree that collecting is tremendous fun. The consistency and purity
of these feelings provide the foundation for a world that continues to have a
real brotherhood or “club” feel.
A good example of the shared passion for
collecting and willingness to help each other happened to me in the early days
when I started corresponding with the MCW
crowd. Browsing the advertisements in the paper, I quickly discovered that one
of the dealers lived in my hometown. I dialed the number he’d listed and we set
up a meeting for him to show me some of the cool Eastwood items he had. During
this meeting, he advised me to go to New York City and visit one of the best
movie memorabilia shops that he knew of in the Northeast: Jerry Ohlinger’s
Movie Material Store.
Original Italian photobusta poster for Dirty Harry, one of hundreds of rare posters on display in David Frangione's new book.(Photo: David Frangioni Collection)
I couldn’t afford to go to New York at the
time, but I filed the idea away in the back of my mind. About two months later,
my girlfriend’s parents invited me to join their family on a weekend trip to
New York City. Little did they know that I had chosen a destination that wasn’t
the Statue of Liberty (although I did want to see that too)! Her family very
kindly indulged me, and we all went to Jerry’s, whose store was located on the
lower west side of Manhattan. I remember thinking how small it was—though
absolutely packed with posters. I was
in heaven.
That day I bought my first Clint Eastwood
pressbook, as well as my second—one each for Dirty Harry and Magnum Force (1973).
Those turned out to be great choices because there were so many styles of
artwork in the pressbook that I hadn’t seen before, and that I didn’t know even
existed. I quickly developed the basis of what would become my “want list.”
Two years after my first trip to Jerry’s, I
had accumulated a long list of items that I wanted to pick up from him. I was
ready for another trip. I convinced two of my fellow bandmates (I had been
playing drums professionally since my teens) to get in my Mercury Zephyr
station wagon and drive to New York for the day. We woke up early and drove
down Interstate 95 directly to Jerry’s, spending the whole day sorting through
posters, 8″ × 10″ press stills, pressbooks, standees, and more. Then, after
eight hours at Jerry’s, we drove back.
In
recent years, trips like that to Jerry’s and shops like it have become less
frequent for me and for other collectors. With the advent of eBay, online auctions
have become the primary means for finding Eastwood material (and collectors’
items in general). EBay is a collector’s dream. The number of sellers and
buyers is so diverse, and many amazing items pop up there. I remember one day I
discovered a Magnum Force banner for
auction that was neither pictured in the pressbook, nor had I ever heard of it
(and still have yet to see another one). I didn’t even have to think about it—I
just got that feeling, again, I had
to have it. Online forums have made it easier for collectors to get a hold of
unique items, and to get that collecting high more and more often. It’s a great
time to be collecting. The world has shrunk and collectors are able to unite
now more than ever.
I began talks with people at Warner Bros.
about the idea of pursuing a book project involving my collection to
commemorate Eastwood’s incredible film career. And so here we are, with the
help of Insight Editions. The reality is
that if it weren’t for the great films that Clint Eastwood has made, the
inspiring and interesting characters that he has played, and the fabulous
artwork that his films have inspired, there would be nothing for me to collect
and share. All I did was pursue my passion for assembling a collection that
pays testament to a great American icon: Clint Eastwood.
David Frangioni
May, 2009
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