Today is a sad with the loss of Marvel’s Stan Lee and now word of the passing of movie memorabilia dealer, Jerry Ohlinger. Ohlinger is a New York legend who spent years dealing rare movie memorabilia, everything from posters to press books, photographs to signatures and everything in between. Jerry was a character of sorts, always with a cigar in mouth and very knowledgeable about every genre of movie. If he couldn’t answer your question, then no one could. Jerry opened up is original store location back in 1978 on West Third Street and eventually moved to West Thirty-fifth in the Garment District. Over the years I’ve spent countless hours in Ohlinger’s Movie Material store buying unused movie promotional goods to build an incredible collection of everything from Kung Fu and Blaxploitation to Porn and Horror posters, lobbies and photos. For many collectors, Ohlingers was mecca who filled our wants to add to our ever growing collections of nostalgic memories from cinema’s greatest times.
Jerry will surely be missed and I’m sure most of us are happy that we knew him and had the opportunity to spend time with him. I only wish I could have completed the interview that I set out to do with him.