http://www.postercentral.com A fun, vintage Duane Eddy concert poster from 1960 from the pacific northwestern town of Klamath Falls, Oregon.
There was once a significant amount of Klamath Falls concert posters discovered decades after they had been printed, so it’s not uncommon to find a great old poster from that city.
This cardboard Duane Eddy poster board was manufactured by Tilghman Press out of Oakland, CA. Tilghman once made posters for the entire pacific northwest, including northern California.
Tilghman (pronounced “till-man”) posters had a distinct look and feel to them, one that collectors know well and that neophytes can appreciate.
This Duane Eddy placard measures the standard 14 by 22 inches and was manufactured on rigid cardboard, best for withstanding outside weather elements.
The body of this ‘tour blank’ poster was printed in simple black & white, but its appearance is spirited up nicely by having red venue information printed up top.
It’s a real kick that this Duane Eddy in-person poster is a LEAP YEAR poster, the show falling on February 29. You sure don’t see many of those!
And the promoters made the most of it – notice at the top it says, “Special Leap Year Dance.” The dance went until 12:30 AM… pretty late for a school/work night in a small town!
This Duane Eddy billboard has a whopping EIGHT song titles on it… about as many as you’ll ever see. That’s quite a lot, allowable only because there was no opening act to use up space on the poster.
“Playing All His Top Hits,” it proclaims… but there’s a huge catch: They didn’t list “Rebel Rouser”! His signature tune, a big Top 10 national hit from 1958, etc. etc. What were they thinking?
But this Duane Eddy window display does at least list his Top 10 hit from the previous year, 1959: “Forty Miles of Bad Road.” So that’s good.
And the poster gives its biggest song font to “Bonnie Came Back,” his most recent 45… but it only reached #26 on the national charts.
It’s nice to see that this Duane Eddy event poster carries a sharp picture of the guitar legend… a standard publicity photo of the day.
It’s also cool that it name-checks his band, The Rebels, although… would’ve loved to have seen a photograph of them, too.
The ticket prices found on this Duane Eddy show placard were changed by hand, as you can see. The way it was printed read, “Admission Before 8:30, $1.75 – After 8:30, $2.00.”
But someone decided to lower the price to sell more tickets in advance, and scratched out the “$1.75” and wrote in “$1.50” by hand with some kind of magic marker.
It’s awesome to have a Duane Eddy concert sign from the absolute peak of his career. This year, 1960, the readers of England’s “New Musical Express” magazine voted Eddy “the world’s #1 musical personality,” even topping Elvis Presley.
No wonder he’s in the Rock ’N Roll Hall of Fame, the Musician’s Hall of Fame and was awarded Guitar Player magazine’s “Legends” award.
I forgot to mention that it’s very unusual that this Duane Eddy boxing-style concert poster has a beige backdrop to it, instead of the standard white.
Often the original white has faded to tan under the glare of tube lights or direct sunlight for many years, but that’s not the case here… it actually was printed with a beige background.
This Duane Eddy ticket poster is shown to you today by Pete Howard of San Luis Obispo. That’s me, I’ve been a collector for decades, and I adore this old stuff. If you’d like to contact me about a rare collectible, use pete@postercentral.com or (805) 540-0020. Thanks and have a nice day!
