DANCE HALL

Original British 30 inch x 40 inch Quad Poster for the 1950 Charles Crichton Ealing Studios Drama DANCE HALL starring Natasha Parry, Jane Hylton, Petula Clark, Diana Dors, Donald Houston, Bonar Colleano, Gladys Henson, Sydney Tafler, Hy Hazell, Ted Heath and Geraldo.

A film in the familiar Ealing format, following the lives of various individuals who mingle at a London dance hall. The un usual aspect is the foregrounding of the women, of whom Natasha Parry, a genuine Ealing discovery, is the most memorable.

Poster design by Arpad Elfer (1910 – 1999). Elfer was born in Hlohovec, Hungary, and at the age of six lost his father in the First World War. At 15 he attended the famous college of art, and went on to become an art director. In 1933 he was lured to Paris to be art director of Dorland and Crawfords, leaving two years later to join the London firm of Colman, Prentis and Varley (CPV) as creative artist. In 1946 he was promoted to art director at CPV and travelled round the world helping to develop their export advertising business. By the early 1950s he had produced such long-lasting images as the “face in the flower” for Dickins & Jones, the Jaeger logo and the D.H. Evans “Fashion-wise” Underground posters. He died London 25 July 1999.

Printed by Graphic Reproductions Ltd. (Ealing’s main printer through the 1940s and 1950s)

The poster is in good folded condition with small holes at the two top centre cross folds, a small piece out top centre and other minor faults.