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Action and Adventure Films
Lot 109
A Vintage Pacific Title Card for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
4 – 14 June 2024, 12:00 PDT
Online, Los AngelesSold for US$768 inc. premium
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A Vintage Pacific Title Card for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
MGM, 1960. Acrylic on masonite, framed to 23 1/2 x 35 in.
This is likely a title card for Spartacus (1960) starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, and Tony Curtis. In the 1950s, MGM was undergoing major changes. Its studio head, Louis B. Mayer, had been ousted from the company and replaced by Dore Schary. No longer was MGM the studio who had "more stars than there are in the heavens," but a studio struggling after being number one for decades. In 1969, entrepreneur Kirk Kerkorian took over MGM and arranged an auction in 1970 of all the costumes and other memorabilia, signaling the end of an era.
Pacific Title Company was founded in the 1920s to provide title sequences for silent films. When the industry transitioned to sound, Pacific Title pivoted to focus on opening and closing credit sequences. The artists at Pacific painted title and credit material on large sheets of glass, which were then filmed before a painted backdrop or composited over a film's introductory shots. From the 1920s to the 1960s, Pacific Title and Art Company produced the lion's share of titles for the Hollywood film industry, until technological advances made the glass plate process archaic. The company archived its work over the decades, creating a living history of the American motion picture industry. This example comes to us directly from the Pacific Title archive.
Provenance: from the Pacific Title archives.
23 1/2 x 35 in.
This is likely a title card for Spartacus (1960) starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, and Tony Curtis. In the 1950s, MGM was undergoing major changes. Its studio head, Louis B. Mayer, had been ousted from the company and replaced by Dore Schary. No longer was MGM the studio who had "more stars than there are in the heavens," but a studio struggling after being number one for decades. In 1969, entrepreneur Kirk Kerkorian took over MGM and arranged an auction in 1970 of all the costumes and other memorabilia, signaling the end of an era.
Pacific Title Company was founded in the 1920s to provide title sequences for silent films. When the industry transitioned to sound, Pacific Title pivoted to focus on opening and closing credit sequences. The artists at Pacific painted title and credit material on large sheets of glass, which were then filmed before a painted backdrop or composited over a film's introductory shots. From the 1920s to the 1960s, Pacific Title and Art Company produced the lion's share of titles for the Hollywood film industry, until technological advances made the glass plate process archaic. The company archived its work over the decades, creating a living history of the American motion picture industry. This example comes to us directly from the Pacific Title archive.
Provenance: from the Pacific Title archives.
23 1/2 x 35 in.
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