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Cotton Comes to Harlem movie posters, lobby cards, album art

Contributed by Florian Hardwig on May 26th, 2023. Artwork published in .
One Sheet (27″×41″) poster
Source: movieposters.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

One Sheet (27″×41″) poster

Eightway is so named because it was drawn with eight different shadow directions – North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, etc. The movie logo for Cotton Comes to Harlem, a 1970 American neo-noir action comedy thriller, alternates between the Shaded Northeast and Northwest styles, creating an oscillating perspective effect.

The posters for the blaxploitation movie directed by Ossie Davis and produced by Samuel Goldwyn Jr. additionally feature another shaded all-caps grotesque from the Photo-Lettering catalog: the names of “Coffin Ed” (Raymond St. Jacques) and “Gravedigger” (Godfrey Cambridge) are set in Davison Display. They are enclosed by text in Helvetica Inserat, also known in digital form as Swiss 921 and Nimbus Sans Condensed Black. Venus Light Condensed is used for the credit block.

Half Sheet (22″×28″) poster
Source: movieposters.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

Half Sheet (22″×28″) poster

Lobby card set of 8 (11″×14″)
Source: movieposters.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

Lobby card set of 8 (11″×14″)

The original motion picture score composed by Galt MacDermot was originally released by . Eightway is here filled with pink and supported by . Art direction by . The image shown here is a later re-release by  (1986) with a largely identical design, signed by . [More info on Discogs]
Source: movieposters.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

The original motion picture score composed by Galt MacDermot was originally released by United Artists Records. Eightway is here filled with pink and supported by Folio. Art direction by Frank Gauna. The image shown here is a later re-release by MCA Records (1986) with a largely identical design, signed by Robert McGinnis. [More info on Discogs]

Back cover of the soundtrack album, with the track names and credits in
Source: movieposters.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

Back cover of the soundtrack album, with the track names and credits in Helvetica

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