Inside the Mike Kaplan Collection

When Mike Kaplan started working as a Hollywood publicist in the 1960s, he didn’t just bring his love of movies to the job but his love of movie posters. “I always claimed that if a movie was good, there should be a way of making it commercially profitable,” Kaplan said. “And if it hadn’t been profitable, it was due to the fact that the campaign wasn’t correct, and the campaign largely rests on two things: the trailer and the key art.”

It was around that time that the kind of posters he loved as a kid growing up in the ‘40s and ‘50s – glossy illustrated images that allowed an artist some poetic license with the film – were being phased out in favor of posters that foregrounded photography or film stills.

The richly color-saturated posters of his childhood were in danger of being lost altogether, in fact, because after one poster would be displayed at a movie house during a film’s run it would travel with that film to the next theater where it was set to show. Wear and tear, if not the outright destruction of the poster, was inevitable.

So in the late ‘70s Kaplan started assembling what would become a collection of 4,000 to 5,000 posters, some of which were displayed in the largest exhibition of movie posters ever by a major art museum when they were put on view earlier this year at LACMA. Building off the success of his previous book “Gotta Dance,” Kaplan also released “Gotta Dance Too! The Art of the Dance Movie Poster,” and starting next spring 100 of those dance movie posters will be on display at the National Museum of Dance at Saratoga Springs, New York.

Click through the gallery to find out how Kaplan assembled the world’s greatest movie poster collection and what these images reveal about Hollywood history.

“2001: A Space Odyssey”

Before he started assembling the world’s greatest movie poster collection, Kaplan helped design a couple of iconic posters himself. “I’d never liked the original campaign of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ to begin with,” he said, referring to the way the film was marketed upon initial release in 1968. “I thought it was all hardware and it was nothing about what the film was about.”

For the relaunch two years later, Kaplan leaned into the cosmic and countercultural aspect of it with the new tagline “The ultimate trip.” And he built the image around the Star Child who appears at the end of the film – a poster that today we might say would call for a “spoiler alert.” But by 1970, the Star Child was such a fundamental part of the mystique of “2001” that it supported and extended the film’s must-see aura.

“A Clockwork Orange”

Kaplan said that the initial concept for the giant “A” on the poster for “A Clockwork Orange,” out of which Alex De Large looms menacingly, came from Stanley Kubrick himself. “Stanley pointed to a newspaper ad for [Costa-Gavras’s film] ‘Z’ and said, ‘Look at that. You can see that image now matter how big or how small it is on the page because of the graphic nature of and the strength of the letter Z.’ And then he wrote on a piece of paper the letter A. And he said, ‘The letter A has a similar quality and can appeal in the same way and attract people in the same way as the letter Z.”

Airbrush master Philip Castle created the design and spent a year adapting his unique logo in every language for the film’s foreign release. Kubrick re-sized the proportion between Malcolm McDowell and the Korova Milk Bar Girls countless times until Castle’s final art was locked.

Kaplan wants to set the record straight, however. He says Kubrick reluctantly agreed to allow the credit of “art director” for the poster to Bill Gold to help him out at that point in time – but Gold, who in a seven-decade career designed posters from “Casablanca” to “J. Edgar,” had nothing to do with designing the poster for “A Clockwork Orange.”

“Irish Eyes Are Smiling”

The very first movie poster Kaplan bought, the one that would kick off his entire collection, was one for the 20th Century Fox musical “Irish Eyes Are Smiling.” He purchased it in the late 1970s even though the film had come out in 1944. “I saw the film when I was a kid,” Kaplan said. “Its star was June Haver, who I had a crush on. I’ve never watched it again. But a lot of the posters that are in the collection are for films I’ve never seen either. I’m responding to them from what I know about the film and whether they qualify to me as good, or great, design.”

“A Night at the Opera”

Al Hirschfeld designed this poster for the Marx Brothers’ first MGM film after their successful run at Paramount had culminated with “Duck Soup.” “Hirschfeld’s always called a great caricaturist, but I’ve always felt even caricaturist isn’t the right word for him, because I think he’s a genius artist. His use of line is as important as Matisse’s in my mind. He captures the Marx Brothers’ anarchic quality and loved drawing all the comedians of the day: Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Buster Keaton, and Joe E. Brown. But Hirschfeld knew the Marx Brothers personally as well, particularly Harpo, from the Algonquin scene.”

“The Gay Divorcee”

“The Danish and Scandinavian posters are really in a class by themselves,” Kaplan said. “And this is one of the greatest Danish posters.” Cinephiles in the U.S. will know this 1934 film as “The Gay Divorcee,” and it was the second time Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers had been paired onscreen (after 1933’s “Flying Down to Rio” in which they had a glorified cameo). For Kaplan, this is a perfect example of how an illustrator can really capture the essence of a movie by taking some artistic license: this is a black-and-white film so you will not see Astaire wear a red tux or Rogers a green evening gown, but this poster aims to capture the champagne-fizzy vibe of watching the movie.

“Flame of Love”

This Swedish poster for the Anna May Wong movie “Flame of Love” has a background created from gold paint – actual flecks of gold were mixed in to give it an especially lustrous texture. Wong was a huge star in Hollywood in the 1930s thanks to box office smashes like the Josef von Sternberg film “Shanghai Express”: a likeness of her was created in 1994 for the Four Ladies of Hollywood gazebo installation that marks the western end of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Four actresses from classic Hollywood were selected to show that diversity had been part of the industry since the beginning: in addition to Wong, Dolores Del Rio, Mae West, and Dorothy Dandridge were included.

“But I did not realize that Anna May Wong in Europe during the 1930s was considered as important a movie actress as Garbo and Joan Crawford and Mary Pickford,” Kaplan said. “She was also considered the best-dressed woman in the world.” One of her dresses was included in a Costume Institute exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art three years ago.

“Honolulu”

This French poster for the 1939 MGM musical is massive: 47 inches by 63 inches. And that’s typical for French posters: “If you see the American poster, it doesn’t compare,” Kaplan said. “Eleanor Powell was such an amazing dancer, and this really captures her dynamism.” The moment that’s been captured comes from a stunning sequence in which Powell does a three-part dance: a Polynesian drum dance, followed by the hula, and then a hula with tap. Today we might look at that sequence as discomforting because a white performer is appropriating dances from another culture. Powell’s skill is undeniable, though: try moving your hips, hula-style, like she does, while also doing a tap dance. It’s a level of dancing skill totally absent from the movies today.

“Forsaking All Others”

Austrian film posters were traditionally the largest of all. This one of the 1934 film “Forsaking All Others” – starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, and Robert Montgomery – is nine feet high by four feet wide. Kaplan started the Gallery of Film Poster Art at Cal State Northridge, and this poster was part of the core of the exhibition “Hollywood Worldwide” that took place there, which examined how Hollywood films are marketed around the world. When Lauren Hutton toured the LACMA exhibit she dubbed Crawford’s flamboyant gold gown in this poster “the macaroni look.”

“The Heiress”

William Wyler’s adaptation of the Henry James novel “Washington Square” is one of his finest achievements: it also won Olivia de Havilland her second Oscar. It’s very dramatic, but it has a lot more nuance to it than the tale of heartbreak and revenge it’s sometimes taken to be, and this French poster captures that subtlety. “In some ways it is a very sad, very morose film, even very depressing,” Kaplan said. “But on the other hand, when de Havilland’s character is smitten and in love with Montgomery Clift it’s very joyous. And this is the only poster of that film from any country that captures that joyousness. I also love that the credits are an intricate part of the artwork and the whole design – today, for contractual reasons, they’re all just slapped across the bottom of the poster in a squeezed text you can’t even read.”

“Les Girls”

The pinks and blues in this French poster for the late George Cukor MGM musical almost explode off the image. “It’s interesting too,” Kaplan said, “Because Gene Kelly is the lead in this film – and plays the leader of the act in the film – and yet he’s just as prominent being off to the side, though he’s not the center of attention.” One of its co-stars, Mitzi Gaynor, is perhaps best known for playing the female lead in the movie version of “South Pacific.” Today, at age 87, she is very active on Twitter. Roger Soubie, the most prolific French movie poster artist, captured the flavor of both Paris and the ‘Les Girls’ act.

“One in a Million”

Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie had won three gold medals by 1936 when she made her Hollywood debut and helped inaugurate a new genre: the skating musical. “She rented a venue in Los Angeles to put on her ice show, and she made sure that 20th Century Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck saw it,” Kaplan said.

Zanuck must have loved what he saw because he agreed to make her the star of a movie called “One in a Million.” It was a huge success and nearly a dozen other skating musicals followed, for which she became one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood. This Swedish poster for “One in a Million” had actual silver mixed into the paint for the background, “much like how gold was used in the paint of the Anna May Wong poster,” Kaplan said. “Silver is much more appropriate for Henie’s film because it suggests the coolness of ice.”

“The Scarlet Empress”

This rare American poster of Marlene Dietrich’s Josef von Sternberg-directed film “The Scarlet Empress” appeared in Kaplan’s LACMA show earlier this year. The film itself is stunningly transgressive and erotic. “It’s the best poster I’ve found of it,” Kaplan said. “I always look at it as if she’s got a dartboard in back of her with hearts around it. Instead of notches on a belt, this is a dartboard or archery board that records all of her romantic conquests.” And this cinematic version of Catherine the Great has many. “It’s simply Dietrich at her peak.”

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”

Kaplan isn’t certain of when this Soviet poster for Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was created. The film got an official release in Russia in the 1980s, but this seems to be from much earlier, possibly from the late 1930s. Sergei Eisenstein was a huge proponent of Disney’s film – and he and Disney were close personal friends – with it even influencing his own later live-action film “Ivan the Terrible, Part II.” Kaplan notes one thing that’s strange about this poster: “There are only six dwarfs represented here – what happened to the seventh one?”

“White Cargo”

Even though it’s not a musical, this Italian poster for “White Cargo” puts Hedy Lamarr in a dance pose. Kaplan often includes unexpected actors in dance mode in his exhibitions of his dance posters, such as one earlier this year at Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts. “I actually like to put this one next to the Snow White poster, because Lamarr was the visual model for Disney to create Snow White’s look.” When you put the two of them together, it becomes quite clear that the glamorous actress was a visual inspiration to the animators.

Snow White’s movements, however, were inspired by another actress, and a most accomplished  dancer, an 18-year old Marge Champion, who was the movement-model for Snow White. Later on, Marge and her husband Gower became the movies’ last great dance team.

“The Sound of Music”

“The Sound of Music” is in many ways the last gasp of the grand Hollywood musical – though it would kick off a new era of roadshow musicals, some of which would be quite successful (including the 1968 Academy Award winner for best picture, “Oliver!”) – but its German poster is the only one that conveys much Old Hollywood grandeur. Gold was used in the paint for the background here, with Julie Andrews given an oval frame. “I think this German poster really elevates the movie, and presents it as if it is part of the grand tradition of Hollywood musicals that came before it,” Kaplan said.

“Sunny Side Up”

Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell were the most popular romantic pairing in Hollywood at the very beginning of the sound era. This poster for their Fox Movietone musical “Sunny Side Up” is kind of like the alpha to that “Sound of Music” poster’s omega. But instead of being framed, Gaynor’s red dress bleeds into the red background via a fading technique. Adjusted for inflation, “Sunny Side Up” grossed the equivalent of over $100 million in 2018 dollars.

“Sweet Charity”

This Polish poster for Bob Fosse’s directorial debut, “Sweet Charity,” was not approved by the U.S. distributor, Universal, as most worldwide marketing materials were starting to be at that point. American films that were released behind the Iron Curtain starting in the late 1960s relied on local artists to lead their PR campaigns. “Artists in Poland made very little money in this period from their own work,” Kaplan said. But they could survive by creating posters, and with American distributors having little authority over the campaigns for their films, these artists were allowed free rein to do what they wanted. “A lot of Polish painters created work for posters that had nothing to do with the films they were promoting but were just interesting as standalone works of art.” This one dramatizes the brassy jazz
dance choreography that was a 
Fosse trademark.

“The Entertainer”

UK distributor British Lion Films, which released Tony Richardson’s “The Entertainer” around the world, almost certainly had no input as to how the credits for the film would appear here, scattered as they are like word salad in this Polish poster. “The lettering almost becomes just graphic elements in the overall work,” Kaplan said. All the names are in different sizes and they seem to bounce off the check pattern in Olivier’s suit.

“The Unsinkable Molly Brown”

This French poster for “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” – billed as “The Queen of Colorado” in France – is a favorite of Kaplan’s when it comes to curating dance-movie posters, like the exhibition at Jacob’s Pillow. This is a recreation of the “Belly Up to the Bar, Boys” number from near the beginning of the film, “And it captures Peter Gennaro’s choreography,” Kaplan noted. You would not have found an American poster for a movie musical to be this dynamic from this period. “By then, all the best graphic designers were working on rock-album covers.”

“Things to Come”

This Swedish poster for William Cameron Menzies’ ahead-of-its-time science-fiction film “Things To Come” (1936) is unique for taking elements of avant-garde art movements and presenting them in a more mainstream way to the movie audience at large. “It combines the German Expressionism and Russian Constructivism schools,” Kaplan said. “I could do an exhibit just on the Swedish posters because they look as modern, they look as advanced, today as they did in 1930.”

“Oklahoma!”

Fred Zinnemann’s 1955 film adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” received a release in the Soviet Union in 1960, prompting this dramatic Russian poster. Though the film starred Shirley Jones, the woman featured prominently here looks absolutely nothing like her. But her dramatic gesture calls to mind that on both stage and screen “Oklahoma!” is a story told largely through its dance – particularly the extraordinary dream ballet choreographed by Agnes de Mille. Perhaps it was due to this that it was thought “Oklahoma!” might appeal to the ballet-loving Russian audience?

Kaplan’s long career as a marketing strategist and producer included a multi-film collaboration with Robert Altman and a role as the producer of Bette Davis’s last film “The Whales of August.” For the last eight years, finding a permanent home for the entire poster collection has been a top priority for him. “It could be between LACMA and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for where the whole thing will end up,” Kaplan, who is a longtime Academy member, said. If it doesn’t end up at just one home, Kaplan fears he will have to auction off the posters, splitting up the collection. “Or at least a good part of them,” Kaplan said. “I know this collection could never be assembled in this way again. I think it’s important for film history, for art history, for the collection to stay together.”