Postercowboy - The Postercowboy's Lament

Atrocities of the 1980s: Cat Leather Cowboy Boots

By Postercowboy on February 13, 2026

As discussed before in this blog, John Travolta’s URBAN COWBOY from 1980 started a Western clothing frenzy throughout the entire US and also in other parts of the Western world. For years to come, cowboy boot makers had a heyday, with sales going through the roof.

One of the more questionable aspects of this hype was that pretty much everything that could be skinned would be turned into cowboy boots at the time, including crocodiles, alligators, lizards, pangolins, elephants, frogs, and turkeys. Among the most questionable efforts was the cat leather boot, giving the term ‘Puss in Boots’ an entirely new meaning.

Fortunately, while many exotic leathers are still very popular today, the cat leather trend was rather shortlived. Also, initial rumors that immigrants would steal housecats to turn them into cowboy boots eventually turned out to be entirely pointless.

Here’s one especially uncomforting example:

The pair women’s boots shown here must’ve been any crazy cat ladies dream come true: They were made of hair-on cat skins, with ‘cute’ plush cat heads on the vamps. Looking back, it’s hard to imagine that someone would actually wear these. Then again, if there is one thing that can be said of the 1980s, there were no short-comings on fashion aberrations…

DENIM The Fabric that build America 1935-44 from Reel Art Press

By Postercowboy on February 10, 2026

While I have always been an avid reader, I have never been much of book collector. I have quite a library of movie poster related books, and they are great for shop deco, but beyond that, when it comes to coffee table books, I do not have much to offer.

Many, or actually most of my favorite movie poster books were edited by Tony Nourmand, founder and former mastermind of the Reel Poster Gallery in London, which rightfully called itself the world’s premiere movie poster place. Starting with his now legendary first publication, FILMPOSTERS OF THE 60s (which was subsequently followed by similar volumes covering the 30s, 40s, 50s, 70s, 80s and 90s) Tony has edited a large number of movie poster related coffee table books.

With his own company Reel Art Press he has long expanded far beyond that, covering all kinds of pop culture topics. If you are looking for a primer on how to do a coffee table book, simply pick up anything that says Tony Nourmand on the cover.

DENIM – THE FABRIC THAT BUILT AMERICA is another cooperation with denim authority and longtime partner in crime, Graham Marsh. It was published in October 2024 and, not unusual, the Postercowboy was somewhat late in the game for this one. I actually stumbled over this book while doing some private research into Japanese denim last year and immediately got me a copy.

To cut a long story short, Tony and Graham have dug themselves through the extensive photo archive of the American Farm Security Administration (FSA). 250 images, all taken between 1935 and 1944, were selected for this wonderful volume.

‘Marty, you’re a lowlife, no offence. You have no style. I don’t ever want to see you again.’ (Cosmo Vitteli)

Cosmo Vitteli is of course Ben Gazzara‘s character in John Cassavetes’ THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE. (On a side note, Cassavetes created all the movie posters himself, including my all time favorite Timothy Carey poster which can be seen HERE.)
Cosmo is a night club owner, a gambler, and a somewhat ‚controversial‘ character to put it mildly. But the one thing he has in abundance is STYLE. In Cosmo‘s (half)-world and in his personal set of values, a lack of style is THE WORST possible shortcoming.

If there is one thing pretty much everybody portrayed in this amazing coffee table book has in common, it‘s STYLE. If you are looking for a guide book on how to wear your denims (or blue jeans as we called them in the 1970s) properly, look no further, here it is.

If you have any interest in the history of denim, this volume is also a must-have. You will find plenty to like and a lot to learn within these pages.

And/or if you are anything like me and you simply enjoy revisiting a time when people still had faces you would remember for more than five seconds, this book is also for you.

Reel Art Press is a small independent publisher and their books sell out frequently, so don‘t wait too long or you may be sorry later.

Signed copies of DENIM – THE FABRIC THAT BUILT AMERICA are available directly from the publisher:

Postercowboy Comics #14: Back from the Dead!

By Postercowboy on February 9, 2026

From the Rockin’ H Archives: Left for dead by his enemies in the last issue, a twist of fate brings THE MYSTERIOUS POSTERCOWBOY back one last time in issue #14, originally published in 1949:

And with this episode we will conclude our brief journey into the world of vintage comics books. It’s about time to get some real work done here…

February in Berlin

By Postercowboy on February 7, 2026

Sometimes a picture says more than a thousand words…

Rockin’ Comics #13: Death of a Postercowboy

By Postercowboy on February 2, 2026

From the Rockin‘ H Archives: Here’s #13 of THE MYSTERIOUS POSTERCOWBOY, originally published in 1949. Our hero has been on a downward spiral for several issues, and finally it looks like things are coming to a conclusion. Is this the end of the Postercowboy?

THE DARK CARNIVAL Exbition Spotlight #1

By Postercowboy on January 27, 2026

Galerie filmposter.net always intented to be more than just another vintage movie poster shop. The masterplan always was to turn the place into a sort-of movie poster and pop culture art gallery.

With that in mind, I created THE DARK CARNIVAL in 2023, a rather unique installation of vintage movie and circus posters, original poster art (for both circus and movie posters), folk and outsider art, pop culture icons, and personal memories.

Today, I sold another US Onesheet for THE WARRIORS. I first saw this movie on the big screen in the summer of ’79, when I was 15 years old and it has stuck with me ever since. The film even has a character named ‘Cowboy’… Somewhat similar to the Postercowboy, he goes widely unnoticed most of the time.

One of my favorite pieces in the exhibition (and also one of my favorite possessions) is an original 1979 US Subway Window Card for this film, here’s a link to my Google 360° view:

The Subway Window Card was a format used exclusively for display in the trains of the New York and Los Angels subway systems. As you will remember, the subway plays a central role in the movie, and this is the perfect size as well. This size is by far the rarest and (in my humble opinion) also the most desirable movie poster made for the film.

But it gets even better: The poster is signed by pretty much everybody who was somebody in the movie. And these are original 1979 signatures, not something collected at fan fairs or collector shows decades later.

I bought this on ebay maybe 20 years ago, and it has been framed and displayed ever since, first in my home and now at the shop. The ebay seller told me that she had found this at a Salvation Army yard sale. That’s the kind of event that has the goods on one side of the yard, and a chain that separates them from the potential buyers. When the chain is lowered, everybody jumps forward and tries to grab his favorite piece(s). The seller told me that she had had her eyes on the poster from far away and she immediately secured it. I did not ask her, but she probably paid a dollar or something. I absolutely wanted this, so I put in a VERY serious bid. Imagine my delight when I won this at a lousy $170!

Here’s a more detailed view of the signatures:

THE MYSTERIOUS POSTERCOWBOY Comics #2

By Postercowboy on January 26, 2026

From the Rockin’ H Archives: While the Postercowboy started out as sort-of good guy in the first issue , in the second instalment he has turned his back on society and now leads the life of an outlaw.

Back in the day, the good guys would wear a white hat and the bad guys a black one. Always a smart dresser, the Postercowboy now appears in an all-black outfit. This should become his trademark for the entire run of the series.

Here‘s the cover of THE MYSTERIOUS POSTERCOWBOY #2, published by Rockin‘ H Comics in late 1948:

New filmposter.net Postcards

By Postercowboy on January 23, 2026

For more than 20 years I have been printing give-away postcards, and if you ever ordered a poster from me you will have received one of them. In the past, they were usually based on vintage movie posters and they showed either the entire poster or sometime I used a partial image and played with it.

It got a little bored with this and decided I had to do something completely unique and use my own designs. Here’s the first set of new postcards, fresh from the printer:

A brief History of the Rockin‘ H Boot Company

By Postercowboy 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.

THE MYSTERIOUS POSTERCOWBOY Vintage Comic Book

By Postercowboy 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:

Author: Postercowboy