Vintage original 27 x 41 in. US one-sheet poster from the 1920's Limehouse music hall-themed comedy/drama romance, DREAM STREET, released in 1921 by United Artists and directed by D.W. Griffith.
The artwork depcits the film's three major characters: James "Spike" McFadden (Ralph Graves), Gypsy Fair (Carol Dempster), and Spike's younger and gentler brother, Billy (Chales Emmett Mack), which is complimented by the silhouettes of various Chinese men with the Street of Dreams above them and shown in perspective.
This one-sheet is a stone lithograph, which produced very fine details and rich, vibrant colors. It has been professionally linen-backed in fine condition. This is the only known example of this one-sheet that we are aware of.
*"Dream Street is a 1921 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith, and starring Carol Dempster, Charles Emmett Mack, and Ralph Graves in a story about a love triangle set in London, and based on two short stories by Thomas Burke, "Gina of Chinatown" and "Song of the Lamp". The cast also features Tyrone Power, Sr.
Dream Street is a 1921 American silent romantic drama film directed by D.W. Griffith, and starring Carol Dempster, Charles Emmett Mack, and Ralph Graves in a story about a love triangle set in London, and based on two short stories by Thomas Burke, "Gina of Chinatown" and "Song of the Lamp". The cast also features Tyrone Power, Sr.
The original 1921 version of Dream Street is notable for a brief sequence when D.W. Griffith steps out in front of a curtain at the beginning of the movie, and talks to the audience about the film, using Photokinema, an early sound-on-disc process developed by Orlando Kellum. Some films made in the Photokinema process, including Griffith's Dream Street introduction at the beginning, are preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
The silent version premiered on April 12, 1921, at the Central Theatre in New York City. On April 27, Griffith and Ralph Graves recorded their respective sound segments at Orlando Kellum's Photokinema office at 203 West 40th Street. The premiere engagement of the sound version of Dream Street took place on May 2, 1921, at Town Hall in New York City, with Griffith's introduction. The film reopened on May 15, now also with two other short sound sequences — Ralph Graves singing a love song, and background noise in a scene showing a craps game. No other theaters could show the sound version of the film, for no other theaters had the Photokinema sound system installed.
On Sunday, May 29, Dream Street opened at the Shubert Crescent Theater in Brooklyn with a program of short films made in Phonokinema. However, business was poor, and the program soon closed."
*(source: Wikipedia)