Movie Star News
Movie Star News was a New York City landmark and is a collection of vintage pin-up, bondage, and Hollywood publicity photos amassed over the course of 73 years by Irving Klaw, his sister Paula Klaw and nephew Ira Kramer– nearly 3 million images and 250,000 negatives, including 1,500 prints of Bettie Page, known as the queen of pin-ups. The bulk of the film collection covers the years 1938 to 1979 with many photos dating back to 1915; 11,500 movies and 5,000 actors are represented. Beginning The family business, which eventually became Movie Star News, began in 1938 when Klaw and his sister Paula opened a struggling used bookstore at 209 East 14th Street in Manhattan. After he observed teenagers frequently tearing out photos from his movie magazines, he saw an opportunity and started selling movie star stills and lobby photo cards. He set up a small box of used movie stills. When these quickly sold, he contacted the studios for more stills. Irving approached the studios directly back when most Hollywood studio publicity departments lined Manhattan's 11th Ave and discovered they were in the habit of throwing away their publicity materials after a film had had its run. Irving bought