US six sheet [81" x 81"] for SINCERELY YOURS (Gordon Douglas, USA, 1955)
Designer: uncredited
Poster source: Heritage Auctions
“In 1955, Liberace was at the height of his career when tapped by Warner Bros. for his first starring motion picture, “Sincerely Yours,” a remake of The Man Who Played God (1932), with George Arliss as a deaf concert pianist… When "Sincerely Yours" was released in November, the studio mounted an ad and poster campaign with Liberace’s name in huge, eccentric, building-block letters above and much larger than the title. "Fabulously yours in his first starring motion picture!" was a tag line. The other players and staff were smallish at the bottom. The film was a critical and commercial failure; Liberace’s eccentric stage charisma did not translate as leading man to the screen. Warners quickly issued a pressbook ad supplement with new billing. "Starring" below the title, in equal plain letters: "Liberace, Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone." In response to the latter. TCM’s Robert Osborne recalls a more dramatic demotion: When "Sincerely Yours" played first run at the Orpheum in Seattle, the billing was altered even more: Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone and Alex Nicol above the title (with big head shots of all three) and below the title in much smaller letters: "with Liberace at the piano." [Wikipedia]