A Classic Stock Poster

By Ken Trombly - Thursday, December 1, 2022


While Harry Kellar, Chung Ling Soo, Servais Leroy and others promoted their shows with beautiful stone lithograph posters that were custom printed for them, what did the average Joe do?

During the Golden Age of Magic (c. 1875-1925) the vast majority of performers—who could never afford custom designed posters—relied on stock posters, generic advertising often featuring widely performed effects, to which a performer would add his name and advertise the show.

Here is a well-executed stock poster printed by Great Western Printing Co of St. Louis, from probably 100 or more years ago. Featuring the spirit cabinet and a host of classic apparatus, this is a colorful iconic poster to which any performer would be pleased to affix his name along the header at the top.

I think when I found this gem on eBay, it was unmounted, and missing portions, especially a piece from its northwest corner. As I was unaware of an intact copy of the same poster in anyone’s collection to aid in its restoration, I left it to my go-to poster restorer, Sei Petersen, of Poster Repair Co, in Baltimore, MD, to use his imagination in coming up with the devilish figure to replace whatever was in the missing upper left corner. Given that I have still not seen a complete version of this poster, if anyone out there is aware of another one to which I might compare this one and see how close Sei got in imagining what was in that missing corner, please email me at kmtrombly@verizon.net. Many thanks.

Classic Stock Magic Poster © Kenneth M. Trombly, All Rights Reserved

Did you enjoy this? Other examples of posters from Ken’s collection can be viewed on Instagram or at his website, magicposters.com


Reader comments:

MJ

Wednesday, 01 February 2023 17:21 PM - Reply to this comment

Nice! In a way, this was still going on when I started in magic. I suppose it could STILL be done. In the 1980s (and presumably earlier), Ed Harris, the magic clip-art king, had many "posters" available. They were basic 8.5X11 black & white drawings that left space for the magician's name. My guess is that many people used them, although I had him design several just for me. At $50 each, it was the bargain of the century!

Leave a comment

Log in or sign up to post a comment about A Classic Stock Poster.


Back to blog homepage

Similar posts on the blog:

Boneyard Bedevilry

Boneyard Bedevilry

Ken Trombly - Thursday, May 12, 2022

Category: The Art of Magic


Read more

What's in a name?

What's in a name?

Ken Trombly - Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Category: The Art of Magic


Read more

Metamorphosis!

Metamorphosis!

Ken Trombly - Thursday, January 20, 2022

Category: The Art of Magic


Read more

Sibling Revelry

Sibling Revelry

Ken Trombly - Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Category: The Art of Magic


Read more