Dwight Cleveland, a 65-year-old real estate agent, is parting with rare pieces of his extensive movie poster collection accumulated over five decades. A selection of his 500 posters will be auctioned by Heritage Auctions in Dallas on March 27 and 28.
King Kong, Casablanca, 2001: A Space Odyssey... The American Dwight Cleveland, who owns an extraordinary collection of movie posters gathered over nearly fifty years, is preparing to part with some of his most valuable pieces. This 65-year-old real estate agent is currently in London, where a selection of some of the 500 posters and mini-posters will be auctioned on March 27 and 28 in Dallas, USA, by Heritage Auctions.
“I love them all because each one was carefully chosen,” says Dwight Cleveland to AFP, who estimates that over the years he has handled about 150,000 items, including movie posters and “lobby cards” — photos taken from scenes of films, which were displayed in cinema entrances.
“These posters were designed to grab our attention and make us walk into a cinema,” he comments. But beyond that, he notes, they are also works of art, highlighting that these posters span 125 years of cinema history.
However, after nearly 50 years of collecting, it has become “increasingly difficult to find something to add,” says Dwight Cleveland, who believes he has reached the end of his “hobby.”
Exhibitions in Museums
“What sets me apart from other collectors is that it was always the artwork I fell in love with first,” explains this real estate agent. “I don't come from the film industry. Most collectors have a favorite star or director. For me, it didn’t matter if the poster was from a well-known film.”
His passion began in his teenage years. “During my last year of high school, an art teacher collected movie posters and displayed them in his office. We walked past them every day, and honestly, we made fun of him a little,” recalls Cleveland.
But one day, his attention was captured by a “lobby card” from The Wolf Song (1929), a film by Victor Fleming, starring Gary Cooper and Mexican actress Lupe Vélez.
He then became obsessed with convincing his teacher to sell him the small poster. In exchange, the teacher asked for a series of film-related items, which the teenager eagerly set out to find.
“In 1977, while searching for objects on his list, I became hooked on collecting,” he explains. His collection was featured in an exhibition in 2019 at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, and in San Diego, Los Angeles, and New York.
King Kong and Casablanca
Among the 32 pieces displayed in London, one of the most valuable is a Czech poster for the 1933 film King Kong, estimated to be worth between $40,000 and $80,000.
Another highlight of the auction is an Italian poster from 1953 for Casablanca, featuring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Most of the items have estimates ranging from $1,000 to $2,000. According to Heritage Auctions, the total sum raised from the sale could reach one million dollars.
Among the tens of thousands of pieces that have passed through his hands, many have been sold to other collectors, and many more have been donated to various film institutions.
After the Dallas auction, he will still have over 10,000 “lobby cards” and 500 posters remaining.
With AFP
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