PBS Masterpiece Theatre

Year: 1977.

Size: 30 x 46 inches

Derek Jacobi starred in this imaginative memoir of an ancient Roman Emperor, but evil was the real star of the show. A cup of poisoned wine and a serpent with a fatal bite were two of the tools of betrayal, and Chwast arranged them atop an ingenious portrait of Claudius constructed as a crumbling mosaic.

Year: 1983.

Size: 30 x 46 in./76.2 x 116.8 cm

Condition: A

In the English-village mysteries popularized by Agatha Christie everyone is so cozy and the roses bloom so prettily that one almost neglects to notice the specter of mayhem. Alcorn announces a Mystery! series of these murderous romances and criminal comedies with the image of a sweet young thing in a frame resembling fine Haviland china.

Year: 1968

Size: 30 x 46 inches

Printed in the mid-1980s, it advertises PBS's presentation of Everybody Rides the Carousel, "an animated look at the merry-go-round of life created by John and Faith Hubley, and based on the works of Erik Erikson."

This particular show was hosted by Cicely Tyson.

Year: 1981.

Size: 30 x 45 inches

This poster advertises the second season of PBS' Mystery! anthology series.

Year: 1981

Size: 30 x 46 inches

Printed in 1981, it advertises the PBS production of The Flame Trees of Thika based on Elspeth Huxley's memoir. The caption reads "As a child she left the misty shores of England for an eden in Africa." It starred Haley Mills.

Year: 1983.

Size: 30 x 46 inches

A nine-hour broadcast on two nights, this was the televising of the marathon English production that brought Dickens to Broadway. The penniless title character is seen here, played by Roger Reese, trying to make sense of life as a host of side characters make their way all over him. Chwast's humorous line seems especially well-suited to this bunch of tatty theatrical troupers, criminals, cripples and pure-hearted maidens.

Year: 1979.

Size: 30 x 45 inches

You can almost smell the lilac face powder and feel the silk-clad legs of this English flapper fatale who generates her own irresistible glow. Mel Martin played Lydia in this Masterpiece Theater tale of obsessive love; opposite her, several years before he seemed to burst on the scene in Brideshead Revisited, was a young Jeremy Irons. Since Wilkinson's painting and illustration studies at New York's Pratt Institute School of Art and Design, he has been recognized with many exhibitions and awards in the art and communications fields.

"We cried all the way through Lydia." - John Lennon on Love for Lydia

Year: 1980.

Size: 30 x 45 inches

In addition to memorable series that were being shown for the first time, the 1981 anniversary season also included several outstanding repeats which Masterpiece Theater dubbed "Festival of Favorites." This poster makes use of Chermayeff's original 1972 design for a dramatization based on Honoré de Balzac's bitter tale of a spinster who deliberately destroys the romance between her young niece and a Polish sculptor, masking her jealous frustration behind a façade of good will. Four hearts—each ruined in a different way—evoke the emotional devastation.

Year: 1981.

Size: 30 x 46 inches

The centerpiece of Masterpiece Theater's tenth season was a 13-part drama titled UXB (unexploded bombs). Set in England during World War II, the gripping series gave us our first look at Anthony Andrews before he went on to make his career in another Masterpiece Theater presentation Brideshead Revisited. Chermayeff uses stencil-style lettering and spattered paint to create a graphic explosion.

Year: ca. 1970s

30 x 46 inches

This is an ORIGINAL FIRST PRINTING of this poster designed by the artist Richard Mantel. Printed in the 1970s, it advertises the PBS Mystery! production of Francis Durbridge's Melissa.

The caption reads: "no one really knows her--except her murderer." It was a multi-part mini series hosted by Vincent Price.

Year: ca. 1980s

Size: 30 x 46 inches.

This is an ORIGINAL FIRST PRINTING of this poster by the famous artist Edward Gorey.

Printed in the 1980s, it advertises the Mystery PBS presentation of Father Brown. Hosted by Vincent Price, this is a fabulous piece of television history.

Year: 1972

Size: 30 x 46 inches

Printed in 1972, the poster advertises the PBS Masterpiece Theatre production of Henry James's The Golden Bowl. The caption reads: "Two marriages too close for comfort." It was a six-part mini series.

Year: ca. 1986

Size: 30 x 46 inches

This is an ORIGINAL FIRST PRINTING of this poster by David Palladini. Printed ca. 1986, it advertises the PBS/Mobil Mystery! presentation of Malice Aforethought, based on the novel by Francis Iles. Hosted by Vincent Price, the caption reads: The story of a country doctor whose hobby was murder.

Year: 1980

30 x 46 inches

Printed in the 1980s, the poster advertises the PBS Mystery! production of The Seven Dials Mystery, an Agatha Christie thriller. The caption reads: "The alarm was loud enough to wake the dead." It was a two and a half hour dramatic television program starring Cheryl Campbell and Sir John Gielgud. It was hosted by Peter Ustinov.

Year: 1986

Size: 30 x 46 inches

Printed c. 1986, it advertises the PBS/Mobil Masterpiece Theatre presentation of The Duchess of Duke Street. The caption reads: At her London hotel the cuisine was deliciously simple and the scandal simply delicious.

Year: 1982

30 x 46 inches

With a cult following, Gorey’s designs bring to mind macabre Edwardian and Victorian sensibilities, always with a side of wicked humor. In 1980, he was commissioned by PBS to create a variety of posters for its ongoing Mystery! series, as well as its animated introduction. With far less detail than his other images, this chilling design for the Demon Barber of Fleet Street strikes a delightfully ominous chord.

Year: 1980

30 x 46 inches

This is an ORIGINAL FIRST PRINTING of this poster by Ivan Chermayeff and Geismar. Printed in 1980, it advertises the 10th Anniversary season of PBS's Masterpiece Theater, highlighted by their Festival of Favorites.