Tom Chantrell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                           Dave, Tom Chantrell and Sam   ( photo 1 )

 

 

We were introduced to Tom Chantrell at a London film fair in September 2000 and chatted away for a couple of hours about his career. After posing for a couple of photos, Tom gave me his phone number and I phoned him a few times in late 2000. Knowing I was a poster collector, he was more interested the pricing of posters, why some were so expensive and what made them collectable and why nobody was buying his artwork. I tried to explain that most poster collectors didn’t collect artwork and could barely afford the posters.  At the time Tom Chantrell had a list of posters and original artwork that he was trying to sell and I kick myself now for not buying more but I just didn’t have the money. I did manage to get a short interview out of him, its not much but here it is.

 

                        A chat with Tom Chantrell by Dave.

Dave– The first poster you produced was in 1938

Tom– Yes, ”The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse” , I had only just got started on posters when the war came along. I ended up in bomb disposal.

D– I have always wanted to know but they did have 30x40 horizontal quads back in the 30s because collectors aren’t to sure when they started.

Tom– Oh yes, definitely in the 30s.

D– After the war you worked on titles like “Brighton Rock”

Tom– You know I did a self portrait, with me working on “Brighton Rock” and I look a bit like the way Richard Attenborough looks on the poster.

D– You then did a lot for 20th Century Fox. and Warner Bros.

Tom– I did a lot of the Marylyn Monroe’s and I was the first to put Elvis Presley on posters here.

D– On one of the Elvis posters you play about with the famous Chantrell signature by having your signature jiggling about a bit like Elvis.

Tom– I used to do this sometimes, just a bit of fun, there’s a poster were my name is upside down because the film was set in Australia.

D– I think that might be “The Sundowners” and you did the same on “The Nanny” with a wavy signature.

Tom– That’s because your seeing it from under the water.

D– Sometimes you didn’t sign the artwork, why was that?

Tom– Well sometimes there just wasn’t enough room but to be honest a lot of the time I just forgot. You know I forgot to sign the artwork for “Star Wars” and they weren’t very happy because they had asked for me and I think they wanted my name on it. So they got me to sign about half a dozen bits of paper and these were sent out all over the world so that an artist could put my name on by hand. It was all very funny.

D– By the mid 60s you were doing a lot of the “Carry ons” and “Hammer” and you got into a bit of trouble with “Carry on Cleo” and “Carry on Spying”.

Tom– The people who made the “Bond” films objected to “Carry on Spying” because it was similar to one of their posters but I got away with that one. I remember there was something to do with the gun barrel because I had to straighten it or bend it or something because I had it tied in knots and that was rejected so I had to change it. The poster for “Carry on Cleo” was definitely pulled and I still don’t know why. They said I copied “Cleopatra”, it was a send up but all of the posters had to be destroyed, I still managed to keep a few though.

D– What was it like working for “Hammer” and James Carreras.

Tom– I worked next door to them and got on very well, it was a busy time and did a lot of work for “Hammer”. I was sometimes working on 5 posters at one time.

D– That would be the “Warner-Pathe” double bills,  you had the double bill, two full quads and a couple of double crowns. The silk screen posters weren’t very attractive, what was the point of doing them when you had a full colour poster.

Tom– I think somebody at “Warner-Pathe” had a brother in law who owned a printing works. The artwork for those posters were done in black and white and the colour added in at the printing process.

D– One of my favourite posters is “One Million Years BC” do you still have the original artwork for that.

Tom– Well no, the artwork of Raquel Welsh was reused when they reissued it with “She”.

I simply cut her out and stuck it on to the new artwork, but I did do completely new artwork for Ursula Andress. Raquel Welch sent her husband round , I think it was her husband, but she wanted me to do all of her posters from then on.

D– But why cut out such a lovely piece of artwork and reuse it.

Tom– Just to save time.

D– “Dracula Prince of Darkness” quad is unsigned but that is your work.

Tom– Yes that’s one of mine. Do you know that is me on “Dracula Has Risen From The Grave” and not Christopher Lee.

D– Why’s that?

Tom– Couldn’t get any good photos of Christopher Lee, so I just posed myself with my fists clenched, it looks ok.

To be honest I’d rather draw the ladies, I was always better at drawing women, just loved them.

D– You should write a book on all of this.

Tom– I’am afraid I’m not very interesting. I think someone was wanting to do a book on me and have an exhibition of my work but I haven’t heard anything else about it.

                                            End                                                                  

       I was hoping to meet up with Tom Chantrell in 2001 and record a much longer interview but sadly Tom Chantrell died in July 2001.

  I’am glad I got the chance to meet and talk with him.

 

  Tom Chantrell was born in Manchester in 1916, apart from working on the Hammer posters already mentioned on this site he worked on posters for a lot of very good films. Six of the best “Carry On” movies, along with “Star Wars”, “Bullitt”, “Bonnie and Clyde”, ”Love Me Tender”, “Bus Stop”, to name but a few. Ironically he also did the British design for “Cleopatra” a couple of years before getting into trouble over his parody of the American poster for the movie.

 Very few poster artists were regarded as highly among collectors as Tom Chantrell and when I met him I said that I had always wanted to meet the man behind the famous Chantrell signature to which he replied-

   “ I must be a bit of a disappointment” 

  I can honestly say after all of these years, no not a disappointment at all.

                                                                    Dave.

            

                            Dave, Tom Chantrell and Sam.  ( photo 2 )