News, Manchester
HansonsA lifetime collection of cinema memorabilia, much of which survived an IRA bomb blast, is set to go up for auction.
The haul of 2,500 film posters, lobby cards and autographs was built up over 70 years by film enthusiast Steve Ellison.
Some of his collection had been on sale at his shop in Manchester city centre when the bomb exploded on 15 June 1996.
The collection, including posters which featured in TV sets for Coronation Street and EastEnders, will be sold by Hansons Auctioneers on Saturday morning.
Mr Ellison’s love of the big screen started as a young schoolboy, inspired by his father’s work as a cinema projectionist.
He soon built a reputation for his encyclopaedic knowledge of films, as well as his growing number of posters and star-studded autographs.
HansonsHe was soon supplying props for some of the UK’s biggest TV programmes.
“If any of the soaps need a poster for a particular set, they would call on dad,” said Mr Ellison’s daughter Jayne Maclean.
“If Coronation Street needed posters for, say, Dev’s bedroom, or EastEnders needed a poster for the Queen Vic dad would supply it.”
Mr Ellison was in his shop in the Corn Exchange when the IRA bomb exploded, injuring about 250 people.
Ms Maclean said: “Luckily dad wasn’t hurt but he remembers the glass shattering everywhere and landing on his beloved posters.”
HansonsAfter the bombing, the shop – dubbed Steve’s World Famous Movie Store – moved to Rochdale.
Eventually ceasing trading, he shipped the collection to his retirement bungalow in Wigan.
Ms Maclean said: “You couldn’t move for film posters – they were everywhere, jammed in every room and every doorway.”
Now the family have made the “painful decision” to sell the collection.
Auctioneer Steve Witts said: “I have never seen anything like it.
“There are boxes and boxes of some of the most iconic films ever made.”
