COMING ATTRACTIONS

Got a clean copy of the original poster from 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz” tucked away in the attic? It could go for as high as $10,000 these days, because the prices for cinema memorabilia are soaring. Another example? A pair of Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the same film recently fetched home more than $100,000. “Prices have really gone to the stratosphere,” remarked Bob Colman, owner of the Hollywood Poster Exchange in West Hollywood. “In the last five to eight years, movie posters have become popular collecters’ items. Now (that) there just aren’t very many (posters) around,” prices have increased dramatically. A mint-condition poster from the 1942 classic “Casablanca” might have sold for $20 in 1970, but now the same “one-sheet” is going for $5,000. Colman said there are about 200 such “Casablanca” posters still extant. Factors other than the laws of supply and demand can affect movie poster prices, too, Colman said. “Bedtime for Bonzo,” from 1951, is up to $1,500 on the high end, “compared to its approximate $50 value if (Ronald) Reagan were not the president.”