Douglas Fairbanks (Artcraft Pictures, c.1918-1919). Fine/Very Fine on Linen. Three Sheet (42" X 80").. ...

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Douglas Fairbanks (Artcraft Pictures, c.1918-1919). Fine/Very Fine on Linen. Three Sheet (42" X 80").
Often stars would become so high profile that studios would create special 22" x 28" "personality posters", offering a head shot portrait of each star, so theaters could display them when they showed a movie with that star. On rare occasions studios would make similar one-sheets, but only with a really top star. However offered here is a similar three-sheet, likely one of the only times a studio so highly celebrated its most successful star with such a large poster! This magnificent stock three-sheet poster was used by theaters to advertise Artcraft Pictures Douglas Fairbanks movies, who was not only their top actor, but also a screenwriter, director, and producer, who at this time was the third-highest paid performer in Hollywood. After landing on Broadway in 1902 and becoming a well-known star on the stage, Fairbanks relocated to Hollywood in 1915 where he began to make his mark in motion pictures as an international icon. A charming and athletic individual, the actor starred in a series of comic roles and soon discovered his flair for swashbuckling adventures when cast in The Mark of Zorro in 1920, a portrayal that overnight elevated him further to superstar status. Famously married to Mary Pickford, the couple was once perceived as living proof of America's belief in happy endings, and later, along with Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith, the four together founded United Artists in 1919. A second time offer with Heritage, which likely dates to the year before the founding of United Artists, this poster has been skillfully restored and backed on linen. Touchup has been applied to the folds, a small chip in Fairbanks' face along the fold, two tears in the right border, and two tears in the left border.


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