Each day I used to walk up to school past a couple of cinemas with ‘Front of House Stills’ as they are called on show in a glass fronted cupboard near the Cinema Entrance

I loved them – still do – and I referred to them as ‘Scenes from the film’ which I consider a better title – they gave us a taste of what we were to see on the screen

The Rawhide Years & Others Lot (Universal International, 1955). Title Lobby Cards (6) (11″ X 14″). Western.
Starring Tony Curtis, Colleen Miller, Arthur Kennedy, William Demarest, and William Gargan. Directed by Rudolph Maté. Included in this lot are title lobby cards from The Capture (RKO, 1950), Fury at Showdown (United Artists, 1957), Jubal (Columbia, 1956), Many Rivers to Cross (MGM, 1955), and Barricade (Warner, 1950). lobby cards with bright colour

The above are all Westerns from Universal – but they are not ‘front of house stills’ – mainly Posters but the ones below are. Well, all but one anyway

The ABOVE is not so much a classic Front of House Still but more a scene being filmed – with Audie Murphy

ABOVE – I chose this still from ‘Cimarron’ mainly because here we have a picture of Maria Schell who had made such an impact a few years earlier in the film ‘So Little Time’ opposite Marius Goring

She played the loving but lonely Sabra Cravat in the 1960 Anthony Mann-directed remake of Cimarron.  It was a big western, spanning decades .  Its central theme was the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 but its emotional theme was the long but fractured marriage of Maria Schell and Glenn Ford.  She suffers throughout because he is always leaving her for long periods of time to pursue other interests. 

During the filming Maria Schell fell deeply in love with Glenn Ford and wanted to marry him.  Although he loved her as well, he was suffering because his marriage to Eleanor Powell was ending and he didn’t feel able to commit in the way she wanted.  She always said it was one of the great regrets of her life.