Vintage RKO "Tom Brown’s School Days" Lobby Card

RKO Pictures, , 1940; 11" x 14" lobby card for RKO Pictures’ 1940 feature film adaptation of Thomas Hughes’ enormously popular 1857 novel "Tom Brown’s School Days," chronicling life at Rugby, the English boys’ boarding school. Widely credited with having established the genre, the book had reportedly reached near fifty editions by 1890. Shown here is school benefactor Squire Brown (Ernest Cossart), come to offer support to Headmaster Arnold (Cedric Hardwicke), who has come under attack for his disciplinary policies, as Mrs. Arnold (Josephine Hutchinson) looks on. Stamped "Independent Poster Exchange, 1323 Vine Street, Philadelphia," on the verso. Formerly, licenses were granted by studios to exchange services of this type to handle poster distribution for their motion pictures, and the exchanges made a profit from rental of the posters to exhibitors, a policy which in later years led to numerous anti-trust lawsuits and the cessation of the practice. Very Good, image bright and sharp. Pin holes in the blank margin at corners and bottom center, few small closed tears repaired with japan paper on the verso, tiny corner chip at lower right. An original poster of a landmark film, not a reproduction.