Banque Notes:

(Employee Profile)

"Step Into the Old West with Mike Racosky"

Most people like to personalize their offices with items that express their interests and liven up the environment. One of the more intriguing areas to visit in the Main Building is the Print Shop, where you'll see unique exhibits from the collection of Print Shop manager Mike Racosky. Mike collects old movie posters. But you won't find films like "Casablanca," "King Kong" or "Citizen Kane" in his collection. Instead, you'll see less-than-classic, second-feature Westerns and episodes of afternoon serials starring such not-so-well-known actors as Bob Steele, Johnny Mack Brown, Buck Jones and John ("Dusty") King.

At the Theater

Mike's interest in old movie posters isn't hard to trace. He was an usher at the old Globe Theater in South Bethlehem in the 1940s, when being a movie usher was quite a prestigious job. "Ushers were big time," he laughs, "and the Globe Theater was the biggest theater on the South side."

One would think that ushering at a theater that ran Grade A, big-studio features would sway Mike toward posters of movies with recognizable titles. Mike doesn't see it that way. "You can get 'Gone With the Wind' anywhere," he says. "The big ones aren't rare." That's why Mike collects posters with such titles as "Dynamite Canyon" and "The Roaring West." Mike says he buys most of his posters (originals, not lithographs) at trade shows. Some of the posters hang in the Print Shop simply because he ran out of wall space at home.

According to Mike, the movie studios would mail posters to the theater to display outside. Most were returned to the studio. But some were stored in the basement. He thought there was a good chance some posters were still at the Globe and was going to call the closed theater's owner to ask if he could rummage around. Sadly, the Globe (and any memorabilia stored there) was destroyed by fire before he had the chance to inquire.

One of the more obscure posters Mike has is from a long-forgotten cowboy saga titled "Gun Smugglers," starring Tim Holt. This poster showed up recently on the now-defunct Robert Blake TV series, "Hell Town," adorning the wall of the character played by Blake. "I really got a kick out of that," Mike says.

A Love for Trains

Part of the interest Mike shows in Western movie posters stems from the memories they stir up of life in the 1940s. Another of Mike's hobbies has its roots even further back. As a child, Mike loved trains; but as he got older, he outgrew Lionel toy trains and needed to find a substitute. What better hobby for a grown man than collecting ceramic Jim Beam bottles molded in the shape of old-time train cars?

Mike first saw these bottles at a Washington D.C. expo in 1979. There, he saw a replica of a Grant locomotive engine. When he got back home, he began to collect the passenger cars that belonged with the Grant.

When he tried to purchase the engine, however, he couldn't find one in the Lehigh Valley. Mike discovered that only a certain number were struck, then the cast was destroyed. He finally located the Grant he wanted in Arizona.

Mike also has a complete freight car set with a J.B. Turner engine. The price for each piece can range from $30 to $80, depending on the intricacy of the design and workmanship and its availability.

These beautifully crafted ceramic cars increase in value (even without the liquor), especially after the cast is destroyed. Mike discovered that it's safer to empty the bottles right after he buys them. "If there are any flaws on the inside," he explains, "the liquor will eat away at it until the bottle cracks."

The locomotive cars were on temporary exhibit in the Print Shop last Christmas. The posters, however, are still there and continue to lend an air of rustic charm to the Print Shop.