Evil Dead Lobby Cards and Fotobuste

As a collector, one of the best things it is that you can collect objects of a specifical kind (of course maniacally :D).  In my Evil Dead collection these "things" are Lobby Cards (and italian Fotobuste).

A Fotobusta is a kind of advertising for movies used inside cinemas. The word "Fotobusta" is the composition on "Foto" (Photo, pic) and "Busta" (envelope): this name is due to the fact the poster is considered a sort of container with text, graphics and pics. For every movie there will be several lobby cards with pics of different movie sequences (italian source: http://www.asscotennis.it/collezioni-of-soci/fotobuste/ ).

For my personal experience I would distinguish the "fotobuste" (Italian) from "lobby card" (rest of the world :D).

Lobby cards (source: http://www.ehow.com/about_6607104_lobby-card_.html ) are a form of movie advertising that were used from the early days of film. While no longer regularly produced for U.S. distribution, lobby cards have remained an aspect of movie advertising, being occasionally used to add a retro touch to a campaign, and are now collector's items.

Lobby cards measure 11 inches by 14 inches, mini lobby cards measure 8 inches by 10 inches and jumbo lobby cards are 14 inches by 17 inches, making them small enough to be easily stored and carried by collectors.

Italian fotobuste have a higher sizing: we start from the classical format 50x70cm, then talk about  "soggettone" (literally "big subject" - 100x70 cm) !!!
There are also other forms of advertising, but out of the lobby cards scope  . A striking example is this "La Casa" poster which consists of 6 sheets (sorry, but I do not remember where I found this pic. I only remember that it was part of an American collection) !!!

Here it is the interesting explanation that Caterina, my Italian supplier of fotobuste, gave to me:  movie advertising sets are composed of a variable number of subjects:

• playbill
• 2 sheets 4 sheets and posters
• soggettone (not always present)

Then there are greatest poster as the one above that are showed in the streets : there are 6, 12 and 24 sheets !!! Clearly these are very hard to find and often they came in bad condition as result of the glue with which they was attached to the wall displays.

Here it is a quick overview of my collection. I have three collectors of different sizes:

one for smaller lobby card  (A4 sheet size)

one for bigger card lobby card  (A3 sheet size)

one for italian fotobuste !!!

Here it is a pic to show different sizing

Here it is a poster

and here a "soggettone" !!!

I will not bore you with all pictures of the lobby that I own:  Book of the Dead Rob has done a great job (visit herehttp://www.bookofthedead.ws/website/collectables_main.html#advertising , you will also find some scan in PDF)

If you are interested on how to find the lobby card, write me in comments. Usually a simple search on ebay with the "Evil Dead Lobby" keyword is a great start point. An interesting info for you all: buying Creepy Images magazine issue 8 ( http://www.creepy-images.com ) you can find an article related to 1983 Spanish lobby card set (very hard to find!!!)