Heritage to Offer Oldest-Known Chaplin Poster at Auction!

Dallas, Texas: Heritage Movie Poster Auctions (HMPA) will offer the earliest-known poster featuring film legend Charlie Chaplin in their upcoming Signature Sale, to be held July 17, 2004, in Dallas, Texas.

"This is a spectacular find," said Grey Smith, Director of HMPA. "Chaplin began his career in comedy in 1908, at the age of 19, when he joined Fred Karno's Comedy Troupe, one of the leading music hall ensembles in Great Britain. In 1910, Karno sent a company to America, with future film legends Chaplin and Stan Laurel as headliners. The lead skit, entitled 'A Night in an English Music Hall', featured Chaplin as 'The Souse', a role for which he won rave reviews. The show played at Hammerstein's in New York for eight weeks and continued to run in America for the next three years. Booked throughout the Western states through the Seattle-based Sullivan & Considine vaudeville circuit, the show was a smash hit. Chaplin remained with Karno for several years before leaving the troupe to join Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios in 1913. He made his first film, "Making a Living", the following year."

Smith continued, "This stunning poster, to our knowledge the earliest Chaplin poster in existence and certainly the oldest to bear the performer's portrait, hails from Sullivan & Considine's Salt Lake City 'Empress' Theater. The date 'November 5, 1910' has been written in fountain pen in the upper left margin, and the poster shows signs of having been folded, but is in amazingly good shape for its age. Black and white portraits of the various artists, including a strikingly young Charlie Chaplin, make this poster a true gem for collectors of film or vaudeville memorabilia. This is a rare opportunity that may never again present itself."

For more information about Heritage's auctions, and a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit www.HeritageComics.com.

HCA specializes in rare, high-grade comic books, as well as vintage comic and animation art, illustration art, classic toys, movie posters and comics-related collectibles.

Prospective consignors and sellers of top-end comics material, toys, and original art are invited to call Ed Jaster at 214-252-4288 or Fred McSurley at 214-252-4293 to discuss their rare comics and original illustration and comic art. Or visit www.HeritageComics.com and click on the "consign" tab. Or simply email Ed Jaster at EdJ@HeritageComics.com or Fred McSurley at FredM@HeritageComics.com.

Movie poster consignors, please call Grey Smith at 214-668-6928 or email GreySm@HeritageMoviePosters.com.