What Music They Make

What kind of music am I talking about? The kind that you hear when horror fans are looking at horror memorabilia! Okay, maybe not the more recent fans might make those sounds after those big-headed toys that are flooding the market, but I’m talking about old school memorabilia, like original posters and lobby cards. Now, someone of my stature and income, would never be able to afford to even touch some of these items, let alone buy them. And if I did have that kind of money, I wouldn’t be able to sleep with the knowledge floating in my head that there is a piece of paper in my house that is worth thousands and thousands of dollars! That, my friends, is why I love poster books. These give fans a chance to see items that they’ve never seen before, in all their beautiful and colorful glory. But also, the more important aspect of these kind of books is that they archive these images. Some of these posters are already close to a hundred years old, so we know as the years go by, they are going to be harder and harder to even see. Because of these kinds of books, future generations will be able to gaze upon the incredible artwork that was used on these posters and other different kinds of promotional material. It is part of our movie history and one that needs to be kept alive.

One of the guys doing that is James Gresham. I first met James last year at the Cinevent Classic Film Convention in Columbus, Ohio, when he came by our table and we started talking about books and movie posters. Such a wonderful and friendly guy and so much fun to chat with. As we were talking, he mentioned that he had put out a couple of books on movie posters, Children of the Night, which came out in 2007, and then followed in 2010 with They’re Already Here! Children covered the horror films of the ’30s, ’40s and into the ’50s. The second book focus mainly on the science fiction posters (though quite a few of them we know are really horror!). Each one is filled with images of posters, lobby cards of a wide variety and are just amazing to look at. To his amazement, I told him that I actually had copies of both of those books and that I would have to remember to bring them to the next show to have him sign them, which I did!

Now he has a brand new edition out, a sequel in fact to Children of the Night, this time called What Music They Make, which includes 1500 color images of posters, lobby cards, and so much more.

I will warn you that these books are not cheap. In fact, this new volume is $129. But when you look at what the first two volumes are going for, I can pretty much guarantee you that this is a good investment. These are amazing hardcovers that are laid out just beautifully. But as I mentioned, these books are archiving these images for future horror fans to sit and page through, with eyes wide open admiring the images therein. You’ll get to see posters, half-sheets, inserts, lobby cards, foreign posters, and so much more. If you are a fan of classic horror, then this will be a treat for you to sit and slowly page through this book. It’s a great investment and highly recommended.

You can order your copy from the author himself, through the website What Music They Make by clicking HERE.