Why some billboards were put up by paperhanging companies

Although something like this is commonly called a billboard, technically it's a poster. That is, something that is hung up like wallpaper, as opposed to something that is painted. It's a small point, but it's something that they insisted that I learn at ASU when I studied advertising and graphic design back in the '80s.

This billboard (or poster if you prefer) is from 1916 and is advertising the movie "The Adventures of Peg O' the Ring", which means "Peg of the ring" as in a three-ring circus. Peg is the name of the heroine, and I'm assuming that's the actress who played Peg, Grace Cunard, there behind the words Judith Theatre. Her leading man seems to have a blank look, but you can't blame the A.B.C. Paint Company, as all they did was hang it up, like wallpaper. Their job was to keep the seams straight, and not hang the paper upside down.

You don't have to look very carefully to see the sheets of the poster, and this technique was used for billboards right up until the invention of the modern electronic eyesores of today.

Of course, putting up billboards became a very big business, and specialty companies did most of it. But it looks like the A.B.C. Paint Company, which did paperhanging, did some of it, too!

The greatest film show on earth!

Image from the Duke University Library Digital Collections.

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