April 3, 2025: Spring Auction
Presented is a handsome example of a movie lobby poster promoting the 1948 feature film “The Babe Ruth Story,” edition numbered artifact at 11-by-14 inches, noting a “Roy Del Ruth’s” role as director of an Allied Artists Production. Rushed into production at a time when the Hall of Famer was dying of throat cancer, the film turned to the affable William Bendix to serve as The Bambino, joined atop the marquee with Claire Howard and Claire Ruth and Charles Bickford. Note the curiosity of real-life names overlapping with the names portrayed on film. The offered poster shows Bendix as Babe shaking hands with a fan in the stands, a black-and-white image with spot colorizing that include pastel red and blue, along with skin tones on the four prominent figures. It presents in Good fashion, and as noted is an edition size of 48/1034. The Babe himself ultimately gave a nod to the, uh, unusual casting of Bendix in the starring role, and Ruth visited the set during filming and attended the premiere, dying three weeks later.
1948 The Babe Ruth Story Movie Poster
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