Author: Postercowboy

A brief History of the Rockin‘ H Boot Company

By on January 21, 2026

At the end of World War II, American soldiers not only brought chocolate, cigarettes, and blue jeans to Germany, they also introduced Hillbilly Music and the cowboy dress code to the German people.

Reknown Hillbilly artists like Bill Haley gained immense popularity. There was a lot of blues, and a lot more to yodel away, so songs like Haley’s 1948 single YODEL YOUR BLUES AWAY (which can be heard HERE) became a major hit with German audiences. The Hillbilly singers’ wild outfits created the first wave of Western fashion in Germany, more than three decades before John Travolta‘s URBAN COWBOY.

Just like the Travolta movie in the 1980s, the hillbilly fashion of the late 40s created a vast demand for authentic Western boots, so in 1949 the Rockin’ H Boot Company was founded in Berlin. In it’s time, Rockin‘ H produced some of the finest handmade Western boots in Europe.

Here’s a vintage newspaper ad from the early 1950s:


The Western trend eventually faded away, Bill Haley moved on to become a moderately successful Rock ‘n‘ Roll singer, but the Rockin‘ H Boot Company persisted for almost 35 years.

As mentioned above, URBAN COWBOY created a massive demand for Western boots. While most US boot makers in the US managed to profit from the trend, Rockin’ H was suddenly confronted with cheap rip-off western boots from China and other places that flooded the German market.

Other high-end boot companies like Lucchese in San Antonio, Texas eventually compromised and came up with a ‘budget line’, but Rockin’ H refused to go down on their traditional quality and craftsmanship. To cut a long (and sad) story short, the factory eventually closed its doors in 1984.

Today, many iconic Rockin’ H designs are available again on a made-to-order basis from Korbinian Ludwig Hess at KLH Massschuhe Berlin. These boots are made by the exact same high standards as the originals from the 1940s.


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THE MYSTERIOUS POSTERCOWBOY Vintage Comic Book

By on January 20, 2026

Very few people even know about this, but the original Postercowboy had his own comic book series once, aptly titled THE MYSTERIOUS POSTERCOWBOY. This was an English language publication, produced and printed in Berlin, Germany by the Postercowboy’s own Rockin’ H Production firm.

The target group was apparently Allied soldiers stationed in Germany. In an attempt to cash in on the high value of the US-$, the book shows a price tag of 10c, which was the common price for a comic in the US. This equaled 42 Pfennig for German buyers, more than four times the usual going rate of a comic book at the time.

Unfortunately, the series was only a moderate success and the few surviving copies are so rare, they are not even listed in any of the big comic book price guides.

From the Rockin’ H Archives, here’s the cover of the very first issue from 1948:

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BERLIN OUTLAW BLUES – Soon to be a Major Motion Picture!

By on January 16, 2026

The Postercowboy has always been a fan of American International Pictures, the company who brought as landmark classics like I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF (followed by I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN in the same year), INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN, or ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE. AIP mainly produced movies for a younger audience and the drive-in circuit, which may be one reason they never received the appreciation they deserved. Also, people tend to forget that during the 50s and the 60s American International Pictures was the biggest independent film studio in the US.

The Postercowboy remembers of course, and he also remembers a interview with Samuel Z. Arkoff, co-owner of AIP he heard a couple of decades ago. Arkoff vividly described the AIP approach to making movies: First of all, they would dream up a catchy title (see samples above), next they would commission a movie poster, and when that was done they would start thinking about a script.

With that in mind, and always willing to learn from the Best, Rockin’ H Pictures presents the International Style A Advance movie poster for BERLIN OUTLAW BLUES, starring The Mysterious Postercowboy:

In good old AIP tradition, we’re not much further yet, but I have a strong feeling that the biggest part is already behind us. I mean, we have a catchy title, we have a great poster, so what could possibly go wrong now? Hello, Hollywood, anybody home?

And that’s not even all there is, we also had postcards printed that came in today:


I don’t want to give away too much about the story, but it will show a strong influence of Jean-Pierre Melville. Instead of Paris, the film will play in Berlin of course, and instead of gangsters it will have cowboys. But that’s all I will say at this point.

I have a couple of ideas who should play the Postercowboy, but it’s a tad too early to talk about that as well.

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The Postercowboy on the Telly

By on December 17, 2025

Regional RBB Berlin and Brandenburg television was here and did a feature on the gallery. I think it turned out quite well, short and pretty much on the point.

But judge for yourself, here’s the link:


They call me ‘Berlin’s hidden Cinema-Jewel’, so I guess the late great Billy Joe Shaver had it right and there may still be hope after all… Here’s a Youtube link:

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Galerie filmposter.net Virtual 360° Tour

By on December 6, 2025

For those of you who are unable (or unwilling) to come and visit Galerie filmposter.net in person and see my DARK CARNIVAL exhibition, here‘s a link to the next best thing, a 360° view on Google:

Galerie filmposter.net 360° View on Google

THE DARK CARNIVAL is a permanent exhibition, so with the exception of my (truly exceptional) original artwork for MATA HARI everything you see on display is not for sale.

Now I have a shop that has no regular opening hours, and you can‘t buy anything you see. True Postercowboy style and just the way I always wanted it!

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Imitation is the sincerest Form of Flattery or Did Stetson copy my Black Friday post?

By on November 29, 2025

Sorry for starting this post with what is called a ‘Rohrkrepierer’ or ‘barrel burst’ in German, but the obvious answer to the above question is of course NO, Stetson most likely did not copy my post. At least not that I know of. Actually, the entire quote is ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery mediocrity can pay to greatness’. I guess there are numerous things Stetson could be accused of these days, them being a worldwide corporation and all, but ‘mediocrity’ is certainly not one of them. At least not when it comes to their hats. They don’t come close to the quality of their 1950s models anymore, but the ones made in their original factory in the USA on mid-century machines are still top notch, no doubt about that.

So what brought this question up? I’m not the only one who couldn’t care less about the annual ‘Black Friday’ hype, so yesterday I came up with the idea to declare ‘Black Hat Friday’, and I thought of myself as mighty smart and the idea as mighty unique. Needless to say, my post did not include any kind of sale, which was part of the idea.

Imagine my surprise when I opened my Inbox this morning to see this message from Stetson, that came in at 7 am this morning, about sixteen hours after I posted my original entry:

I mean, take a look at this ad: Not only do they copy my Black Hat tagline, they also show a cowboy with a black hat, who’s wearing a bandana and hides his face, and they refuse to offer a sale as well.
Could this all be a coincidence? A case of ‘great minds think alike’ perhaps? Could it be that the great people at Stetson are actually following my silly little blog? Am I perhaps on to something really BIG here?

And while we’re at it: The Postercowboy is a life-long fan of Stetson hats, and he considers the Open Road one of the greatest cowboy hat designs of all time. There’s a reason that one has been around since 1937. That said, the black hat in yesterday’s post is NOT a Stetson, it was custom made by Texas Hatters just right outside of Austin, TX sometime in the late 90s.

So could Stetson’s ‘Black Hat Saturday’ ad be some kind of payback for not showing one of their hats in my post? Only The Shadow knows…

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DHL Germany never fails to impress

By on October 17, 2025

Sometimes, even a bad reputation is an obligation: This week a DHL parcel was returned to the sender as ‘recipient unknown’. The package was addressed to Galerie filmposter.net Helmut Hamm. It also included the correct street name, number and ZIP code, so there is NO DOUBT that the hired help driving the DHL truck must’ve been RIGHT IN FRONT of my shop.

The DHL return label states ‘Returned after address verification: The recipient could not be identified: Name not on doorbell/mailbox.’

You have to give to them, I do not have a doorbell and the mailbox is behind the green door, so TECHNICALLY the DHL moron was correct. What I DO HAVE though is a HUGE sign above a SHOP WINDOW and you would THINK that should be good enough for anyone, wouldn’t you? Better think again. Honest to God, where do they even find these people?

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