The other day we made an online bid (for a whole $6.00 Australian) at an auction of vintage movie posters – and won!
So, coming into the collection is a nice little companion piece for the two copies we already have of Paul McCartney’s The Family Way soundtrack, a movie score he composed in 1966 – 60 years ago this year:
This is an Australian “daybill poster”. It would have been displayed in the cinema foyer, or in a glass case on the street outside the cinema at the time of release. Daybill posters measure 13 by 30 inches (or 33cm by 76cm). They have two folds in them and were sold to cinemas for 5 to 10 cents each.
Until the 1970s most daybills were printed, like this one, as lithographs on relatively thin paper and they’re sought after now by collectors for their rarity and unique artwork. This one is excellent condition and, as you can see, makes pointed mention that Paul (BEATLE) McCartney is involved:
See the film’s Wikipedia entry for a full background and storyline for this now quaint little British film:
The Family Way premiered in London on 18 December, 1966 but wasn’t shown until the following year in the US and in Australia – so that dates this daybill poster to 1967. In October 1967, film producer John Boulting claimed it was the most successful British film made over the past year. It was argued “the nude scene certainly didn’t hurt at the box-office, nor did the fact that Paul McCartney wrote the soundtrack.”
The soundtrack album was released in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada in 1967. What we have is a later Australian LP re-issue which comes on purple Decca labels:
The small print on the rear cover says “music by Paul McCartney, supervised and orchestrations arranged by George Martin.”
We also have the 2015 Record Store Day release on the Varèse Sarabande label, described as a “limited collector’s edition”. It comes on 180g vinyl and is a US pressing:
