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Bela Lugosi 1951 DRACULA British tour signed publicity postcard

This was a recent sale on eBay. Wonderful image of Lugosi captured by the camera of Editta Sherman. Given the item location and the era of the signature, this would look to be a surviving artifact from Lugosi's 1951 British Dracula tour.

If not an outright bargain at selling for just over $1k, it at least seems quite a fair price. Fortunate for my not-so-deep pockets that I hadn't spotted it while it was an active listing! (-:

UK seller stated in item description:

"I did not have any certification when I originally picked this photo up. The dealer had cleared the house of an ex-employee of the long gone Barrett & Sons. They were dealers of all manner of curios, and resided at 9 Old Bond Street, London from 1878 until 1975".

https://www.ebay.com/itm/305520147845?itmmeta=01HWQW8PEMJHQ83ZE6XYR...

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 30, 2024 at 11:41am

Nice. I have not been able to figure out which version is scarcer, the ones with "XXXX William Morris Agency" whited out or intact. There might be three variants, It seems Bela had some printed himself. Photo by Edith Sherman. Looking back I found this which I regret not seeing:

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on April 30, 2024 at 12:09pm

I like those candid shots people took in the 1940s and 1950s.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 30, 2024 at 1:10pm

That candid is 1947, close to when Francis and Violet started I believe. I have some later 40's like the Bud & Lou.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on April 30, 2024 at 2:05pm

The Zane collection is amazing, and I have some photographs and album pages. I have a great Johnny Silver candid photograph of him pointing at the theater poster with his name on it. I remember your Bud and Lou photograph that is great.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 30, 2024 at 11:48am

The things that indicate the date of the signature, apart from the obvious, are the break often seen (but not always) after the "B", the lack of accent over the "e" something Lugosi stopped adding around 1944 and something Lillian seems to have never done), the "a" being roughly on the same angle of the "e" and the shorter paraph beneath the surname after the "g" only with an rather emphasized "i".

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on April 30, 2024 at 12:05pm

That is very nice. Would love to have his autograph but Bela is out of my price range.

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on April 30, 2024 at 12:30pm

It was interesting when some of my collector/dealer friends and myself were focused on studying the variances in his signing from the late20-50s. I had the privilege of seeing some great pieces during those times and learned quite a bit from those seasoned folks.

He definitely can still remain pricey!

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on April 30, 2024 at 12:38pm

Here's an interesting article on the photographer of the OP image, Editta Sherman . It's from when she celebrated her 100th birthday (Lugosi is given a mention). She died in 2013 aged 101. She sounds like she would have been a hoot to know!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2172822/Editta-Sherman-Pho...

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 30, 2024 at 1:30pm

Editta, thank you. On many prints it is cut off at the end or more than halfway up from the bottom as in the OP print.

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on April 30, 2024 at 3:33pm

Here's a proper first generation 8" x 10" handout of Lugosi that Editta Sherman did of him (with her credit in the bottom right corner). Not as sinister looking! Everybody wants DRACULA of course, but she captured him here looking very affable. It would also be reproduced on those smaller sized pieces (although degraded in sharpness through the reproduction).

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on April 30, 2024 at 3:42pm

...and a larger, sharper one of the OP image .... but with her credit being somewhat lost where the border meets the lower portion of the script (but with enhanced image clarity over the smaller one!). RR sold this at one point, but it's also been offered through PressPass and other dealerships since I do believe.