Tuesday, June 18, 2013

FLASH GORDON (1980) Lobby Cards

There's really no such thing as lobby cards anymore. Nowadays theaters have ugly Photoshopped movie posters in backlit frames and gargantuan cardboard displays to preview forthcoming releases. But in the days when you bought your tickets from a boxoffice out in front, many theaters displayed these now-anachronistic cards in their lobbies along with exquisitely-painted one-sheets. I like posting scans of these cards here not only because they often feature lesser-seen photos from familiar films, but also because they're yet another lost aspect of the 70s Star Kid experience.

Today I've got a handful of lobby cards from Mike Hodges' 1980 Flash Gordon feature film, which, as loyal Space: 1970 readers know, is a great favorite of mine. I hope you enjoy them!

7 comments:

  1. I have a set of those too!

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  2. I just bought the HD version on iTunes and watched it last week. Great movie! Holds up pretty well.

    Great music too.

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  3. The Pershing Theatre Manager in El Paso.Tx used to put these cards on the outside along with the promo posters. Any time an SF show was on these drew more of us kids in than the regular promos did.

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  4. I miss lobby cards -- the thrilling little flavour they gave you of the movie you were going to see when the doors finally opened. These are particularly nice.

    Thanks for sharing them. More please!

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  5. The last lobby cards I seen, and I got some of them from a friend at the theatre, were for Road to Perdition. Multiplex's should bring these back.

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  6. I miss souvenir program books, too. I think those dissappeared about the time lobby cards did.

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  7. I liked the souvenir books too, although the last one I bought was for E.T. The last one I remember seeing on sale here in the UK was for the 1987 reissue of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. Did they last much longer than that?
    All these things contributed to the sense that a movie was an event. It's hard to see films that way today, when you know another $200million dollar blockbuster will be along next week and it will be available for home viewing before you know it.

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