A scarce & collectible Marvin Gaye concert poster from Dec. 11, 1965 at the famous Eagles Ballroom in Seattle, WA.

This was a breakthrough year for the R&B legend, as he hit the #1 spot on the R&B charts earlier in the year with “I’ll Be Doggone.”

And then his second #1 R&B hit of 1965 was “Ain’t That Peculiar” – listed right below his name on this Marvin Gaye poster board.

Left off the poster were his previous hits “Can I Get a Witness,” “Pride and Joy” and “Hitch Hike”… but none of those were #1’s.

Serious collectors will recognize right away that this Marvin Gaye show poster was made by the Tilghman company out of Oakland. I’ve blogged many of their posters on this site before.

Most of these window cards made by Tilghman measured 14 by 22 inches, but this one has a nice visual advantage by measuring slightly larger – 16 by 24.

The famous Motown label didn’t get a mention on this Marvin Gaye billboard, but everyone knows Gaye is one of Motown’s most prolific artists ever.

That may be due to the fact that local musician Johnny Talbot takes up half of the poster; he was not known for releasing records, just gigging around locally.

Tilghman used the “split-fountain” printing technique on their Marvin Gaye in-person poster. The colors fade together starting with red at the top, black in the middle to blue at the bottom.

So, conveniently, you have the venue information in bright red and Marvin’s photo and lettering in straight black & white. It’s Talbot who comes out a little unusual here… his head is in B&W but his body is in blue & white! Still, it all looks cool.

I don’t want to neglect the third musician found on this Marvin Gaye show placard, that being Chris Marshall.

I couldn’t locate any info on Marshall, but it’s a good guess that he was one of De Thangs, the name of Talbot’s back-up group.

Collectors will tell you that this Marvin Gaye event poster is a prototypical boxing-style concert poster, a very popular sub-genre of the hobby.

It qualifies as a boxer due to its plain, straightforward presentation of the facts; the block lettering that it uses; the presence of pictures of the musicians; and the fact that it was made on cardboard, not paper.

I love the way this Marvin Gaye appearance poster comes from the legendary Eagles Ballroom in Seattle, Washington. Many a great poster has come out of that venue.

It’s so attractive the way so many different type fonts were used in the red venue information, including the obligatory “Show and Dance” in a separate, star-studded box.

Radio station KYAC got a nice plug on this Marvin Gaye tour placard. It states that it was a station anniversary presentation.

What it doesn’t state is that it was the soul-music / R&B radio station’s very first anniversary… they had just gone on-air the previous year, in 1964.

In the video, I move in for a close-up of my Marvin Gaye ticket poster, and you can see that one of the corners is damaged – probably from exposure to significant moisture.

That could easily be fixed by a poster restoration expert, especially since it doesn’t affect a photograph, just block printing. And that red lettering could easily be re-colored in once the restoration is done.

As a serious poster collector who’s studied these things for years, I’m always intrigued by the subtlest of design elements that go into them. For example, the opening act’s name is embellished by four nice little stars… why didn’t Marvin receive any of those?

And those rows of little boxed stars running the horizontal width of the poster… I think it’s great the way you have a red one (first), then a black one under Show and Dance, and down at the bottom, a blue one.

I guess if I could change one thing on my Marvin Gaye street sign, it would be the addition of more song titles. I think names of hit records give an old poster a tremendous visual boost, so it’s too bad there’s only one here.

I would’ve added in the three additional hit records I listed above, plus “Stubborn Kind of Fellow.” Would that have made this poster even more awesome, or what?

So it’s time to tell you that this Marvin Gaye fence poster was presented to you today by myself, Pete Howard, who wrote & produced the video (with pleasure). I can be contacted thru e-mail at pete@postercentral.com, or through Ma Bell at 805.540.0020. And please remember that I pay TOP DOLLAR IN THE HOBBY, period, for vintage R&B / soul music window cards like this. It’s what I do!

To see another great, vintage Marvin Gaye window card from 1964, just hustle over to this page right here on my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/rhythmnblues.htm

Thanks & best wishes,

Pete