Long before a trailer could be streamed on a phone, cinemas relied on a small set of printed cards, displayed by the box office or in the foyer, to give queuing audiences a taste of the film they were about to see. These cards are now one of the most accessible and satisfying corners of poster collecting.
What they are, and what to call them
In the United States these are known as lobby cards. In the United Kingdom, the equivalent item is called a front of house card. The names describe the same basic idea, cards displayed in the customer-facing areas of a cinema, but the two traditions differ slightly in size and format, which is worth knowing before you buy.
US lobby cards
The standard American lobby card measures 11 x 14 inches, printed on heavy card stock, and issued in sets, most commonly of eight, sometimes running to as many as twenty for a major release. Many sets included a Title Card, reproducing the main poster artwork and production credits, alongside seven or more Scene Cards, each showing a different moment from the film. Lobby cards first appeared in the early 1910s, moved from black and white to hand-tinted and eventually full colour through the silent and early sound era, and remained a fixture of American film marketing through the 1980s, after which the tradition gradually faded.
UK front of house cards
British front of house cards were typically smaller than their American counterparts, most commonly 8 x 10 inches rather than 11 x 14, though larger examples do exist. Like US lobby cards, they were usually issued in sets of eight, mixing scene stills with, until around the 1960s, artwork borrowed from or based on the film’s main poster campaign.
Smaller US formats
America also produced its own smaller card format, generally called a Mini Lobby Card, sometimes referred to as a Midget, at 8 x 10 inches, roughly equivalent to a UK front of house card. At the other end of the scale, some studios, particularly before 1940 and again briefly in the 1970s and 1980s, issued Jumbo Lobby Cards at 14 x 17 inches for their highest-profile releases.
Why collectors love them
Lobby cards and front of house cards offer something a full-size poster can’t: a specific, captioned moment from the film, in a set designed to tell a small visual story of the plot before you’d even bought a ticket. Because a complete set includes several distinct images, they give a collector genuine variety to chase within a single title, at a size that’s much easier to store and display than a one sheet or quad.
Collecting tips
Complete sets are generally more desirable than single cards bought individually, though single cards featuring a film’s most iconic scene or a major star close-up often command a premium of their own. As with posters, check the card stock and printing method against known examples, and be aware that lobby card sets are among the more commonly reproduced formats, so buying from a specialist dealer matters just as much here as with any full-size poster.
