An original Four Seasons concert poster from a liberal-arts college in Pennsylvania, dating back to the spring of 1966.

This tall, thin specimen measures 14 inches wide by 28 inches tall, a good half-foot taller than your standard cardboard concert poster of the day (14×22 was the size usually used).

The company that made this cardboard 4 Seasons poster board is Posters Inc., out of Philadelphia – about 80 miles from Lancaster.

Their credit is the last line of the poster, down at the bottom… in a bigger type size than any other poster-printing company of the day (but not obnoxiously so).

No black ink was used in printing this Four Seasons window card… only blue and red inks, on a bright white background.

Thus you have an almost patriotic red, white & blue appearance to this advertising piece, and certainly one that caught the eye.

There’s a catchy group photo found on this 4 Seasons show poster… thank goodness.  A lot of old concert posters tried to get by on just words alone.

But there’s Frankie Valli himself, front and center, with group producer and chief songwriter Bob Gaudio off to the right.

It’s easier for us to identify with the personnel on this Four Seasons placard, now that most of us have seen either the movie or theatrical presentation of Jersey Boys.

I saw them both, the latter in Las Vegas.  It was only then did I realize how very important Bob Gaudio was to the group’s success.  We all knew about Frankie the front man, but wow, Gaudio wrote so many of their hits.

Notice how “The Student Union Board” is mentioned prominently at the top and bottom of this 4 Seasons in-person poster. This college was big on bringing hit attractions to their campus in the mid-’60s.

Other concert posters I found along with this one included the Beach Boys, Peter, Paul & Mary and James Brown.  All at Franklin & Marshall College.

It’s interesting to note the handwritten ticket information right under the group’s name on this Four Seasons tour poster. It was scrawled in something like magic marker, and has faded notably over the years.

But it does say, “Tickets on sale Fri. Mon. Tues. Wed., Campus Shop.”  Obviously, directing students to when they can purchase ducats – not on weekends!

Tickets were $2.50 in advance and three bucks at the door, as stated in red letters on this 4 Seasons billboard. Not bad for a group that had had about 10 big hits up to this point.

And then ticket mail-order information is given down below, asking for a check or money order, plus as SASE.  Very old-school, of course.  A first-class postage stamp was only about 5 cents back then!

It’s a shame this Four Seasons concert placard doesn’t have any song titles on it.  There was no shortage of candidates… “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Rag Doll”… all previous #1 hits for the group.

And they were just coming off “Workin’ My Way Back To You,” the 10^th Top 10 pop hit of their career.

But when Posters Inc. designed this 4 Seasons window poster, they followed their usual pattern: no song titles.  The company simply never used song titles as part of their game plan.

As I said, that’s a bit of a shame, because for me, the mention of hit songs really helps ramp up the nostalgia level when gazing upon an old concert poster like this.

Notice how the group’s booking agency got big love at the bottom of this Four Seasons broadside… those letters are rather tall for the WM. HONNEY AGY., also of Philadelphia.

But all in all, it’s a sweet piece of vintage music-concert advertising, and one that most people simply threw away after the show… thus giving collectors today a challenge in finding one that survived.

This 4 Seasons window display is discussed and shown to you in this video by Pete Howard, long-time music historian and collector on California’s central coast. That’s me, and to reach me, just freely use pete@postercentral.com, or call [805] 540-0020. Just keep in mind that I pay the very best prices in this hobby, bar none, for vintage materials of show advertising, along the lines of this Four Seasons event poster.

Thank you and have a nice day!