Cover Gallery: Let’s Go to the Movies

With the Academy Awards around the corner, we found some Post covers that make us want to grab a bucket of popcorn and watch a great flick!

Movie goers watching a Charlie Chaplin movie
Charlie Chaplin Fans
By Norman Rockwell
October 14, 1916

 

In 1916, Charlie Chaplin’s star was still rising rapidly.  By 1916, at age 26, he was making $670,000 a year and in charge of his own studio. He had already appeared in 50 films, including his most well-known, The Tramp.

 

Girl having her picture taken
Lights, Action, Camera
By Lawrence Toney
March 31, 1928

 

The movie bug has bitten these kids early – looks like we have a budding director, cinematographer, and actress in the making!

 

Man sleeping in a movie theatre
Man Asleep in Theater
By Emery Clarke
July 27, 1940

 

He must have been watching Andy Warhol’s Empire.

 

Teenagers watching a movie
Movie Date
By Douglas Crockwell
April 4, 1942

 

Bags of popcorn have gotten larger and hair bows have gotten smaller since 1942.

 

G.I.s watching a movie projected on a tent wall
Army Entertainment
Stevan Dohanos
July 14, 1945

 

You can’t go wrong with a good romance, even in less-than-ideal circumstances.

 

Women cleaners reading out of a book
Charwomen
By Norman Rockwell
April 6, 1946

 

These cleaning ladies are at the theater, not the movies, but we couldn’t resist including this classic Rockwell illustration.

 

Cowboys outside a movie theater
Cactus Theater
John Falter
September 18, 1948

 

Illustrator John Falter grew up in the Midwest and started his career in New York, and most of his paintings depict these locations. This southwestern movie theater is an outlier, but reflected Falter’s later interest in western art.

 

A couple watching a drive-in movie
Drive-in Movies
By George Hughes
August 19, 1961

 

Riding in the “way-back” of your parents’ station wagon has gone the way of the dodo, but you can still find a few drive-in movie theaters here and there.