Title
Cinema advertising poster for "Bugsy Malone"
Reference
1998-5137/4
Creator
- W. E. Berry LtdBiographyBiography
W. E. Berry Ltd was a significant producer and printer of film posters based in Bradford, England. The company was set up in 1888 at 13 Currer Street, Bradford, by William Berry. Berry's son William Edward Berry (W. E. Berry) took over in the early 1900s. After a split from his father's business partner, William Edward Berry set up his own business as W. E. Berry Ltd.
During the 1920s, W. E. Berry was introduced to Fred Martin at Paramount and the pair started a business relationship that cemented W. E. Berry's position as one of the leading producers and distributors of film posters.
Notable litho posters from the company's early period of production were for railway companies and for Bertram Mills Circus. Once the landscape "quad" was established as the standard British size for film posters, W. E. Berry was one of a handful of printers with sizeable market power in this business. The company printed most of Rank's overseas posters and had major contracts for Disney and Colombia.
Some of the films W. E. Berry Ltd produced posters for included The Ten Commandments (1923), Wild Beauty (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), It's Not Cricket (1949), Carry on up the Khyber (1968), The Way of the Dragon (1972), Star Wars (1977), and Flash Gordon (1980).
By the late 1990s, W. E. Berry Ltd was a flourishing business employing around 140 people. However, financial losses in 2000 and 2003 put the company under substantial strain and the company went into administration and ultimately closed in 2004.
Scope and Content
Cinema advertising poster for the film 'Bugsy Malone', 1976, directed by Alan Parker and featuring Jodie Foster and Scott Baio. Poster printed by W E Berry Limited of Bradford.
Extent
Overall, 758mm x 1011mm
Physical description
Fair
Level of description
ITEM
Repository name
National Science and Media Museum, Bradford
Conditions governing access
Access is given in accordance with the NSMM access policy. Material from this collection is available to researchers through the museum�s Insight facility
Conditions governing Reproduction
Copies may be supplied of items in the collection, provided that the copying process used does not damage the item or is not detrimental to its preservation. Copies will be supplied in accordance with the NSMM's terms and conditions for the supply and reproduction of copies, and the provisions of any relevant copyright legislation.