David Berg
DO 1870 10/84
1. WOULDN'T IT LOOK PRETTY TO HAVE THE TEXT ON THE BACK OF EACH POSTER IN COLOUR? They'll really be colourful then! A nice bright blue ink would look pretty on the back of one of those Heaven Posters. Doesn't blue always suggest Heaven to you?—And how about putting red on the back of that Tribulation Poster! Wouldn't that be suggestive? I like to kind of follow a theme. We can run all of the Heavenly ones in a nice bright blue or royal blue, whatever we find is easiest to read. We don't want too light a blue or it probably wouldn't be easy to read‚ but a bright blue, a strong blue. How about green for the back of the "New Heaven" or "Heaven on Earth" Poster?
2. I THINK OUR ARTISTS REALLY DESERVE A LOT OF CREDIT FOR THESE GORGEOUS VISIONS! They are visions, that's what the Lord called them, & He's reserved them for us! We have a monopoly on it, we have an exclusive on it! We're the only ones that have got it & are doing it & can show it! And every publisher loves an exclusive monopoly on anything, that's why they have copyrights. So let's be thankful & do a good job of it, & I mean a good job, & we have, because nobody else is going to do it or is doing it. They don't even know that much about it, how could they? As the old joke goes: "They don't even know the way to the post office, how can they tell'm the way to Heaven?" If they don't even know the way to the post office‚ how in the Hell could they tell them about Heaven?—But we're tellin'm! We're not only tellin'm, we're showin'm! So let's not hide our light under a bushel, let's flaunt it! Like we say about some of our beauties: "If you've got it, flaunt it! Let's see it!"
3. ALSO ON THE NEW HEAVEN POSTER, YOU KNOW ME & DASHES! Every place where we took off the "we's" needs a dash. To me, dashes emphasise! Dashes show you where to begin reading, & in a series of pictures they sort of show continuity. There should be a dash in front of every single one of those titles. Plus on that last picture in front of the word "dream" we could put "—And" to kind of wind it up. In other words, that's the closing clincher, "—And Dream of New Worlds to Conquer!" We're just kind of putting the finishing touches on now.
4. WE'VE GOT OUR WHOLE WALL PLASTERED WITH BIG BLOW-UPS OF THOSE GORGEOUS, BEAUTIFUL, FULL–COLOUR, SINGLE PICTURES IN THAT LARGE SIZE that our photographer makes for us, the size of our new Posters, & I was lying in bed studying them & thinking about them. They're absolutely gorgeous! You can dream your way right off & up & out with those great big ones! You know me, I'm always thinking about the Future, & some of those are so gorgeous with such beautiful detail, I think they would go over as single pictures blown up to poster size! Wouldn't that wow'm out there on sales to hold up one big picture like that which they can really see? These other Poster Combos we're getting out right now are just like samples, like a catalogue, sort of like a preview of what they're going to get!
5. I'M REALLY GOING POSTER-CRAZY! We've got so much gorgeous art here, I'm just crazy about it & I'm just going crazy to get it out! When we run out of the combos & they've seen the works in small size, I think posters of huge big single pictures would really go over! I'd like to see some samples of the prettiest ones! I'm thinking about the Future! We're just sending out samples right now, like a catalogue of all the gorgeous pictures they're going to get in full-size: "Suitable for framing for the wall of your home!" Absolutely! In the dimestores & the stores where they sell frames they use all kinds of old pictures to stick in'm just in order to have some kind of picture in the frame to show what it would look like. I might be willing to offer ours to those people free of charge! How about that? You may think I'm crazy, but I'm always full of crazy ideas just to get the Message out! Of course, I don't know whether they'd use'm or not, they might figure it might prejudice the people against buying the frame!—Ha!
6. WE CAN COOK UP HEADLINES & BYLINES FOR THE SINGLE PICTURES TOO! I like the little lines at the bottom, don't you think they're good? Those three little lines just about sum it up.—Like the "Three Little Words", remember the old song? (Sings:) "Three little words, that's what I live for, those three little words!—I love you!" Anyway, those three little lines really sum it up: I love you!
7. THE NEXT ONE WE'RE PUTTING THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON IS JAC'S COLLAGE OF FRAMED PICTURES CALLED "HEAVEN ON EARTH!" I think it's different, it's unusual, it's beautiful, it's a new arrangement & he's got some new subjects there that aren't in the others. They're all zeroing in, zooming in & are enlargements, which makes'm different, & I think this can definitely go over as a separate poster.
8. ONE LITTLE CHANGE I'D LIKE HIM TO MAKE IS ON PICTURES 7 & 8 WHERE HE DEFINITELY NEEDS TO BRING OUT THE FULL LINES OF THE PYRAMID, because it's a little difficult to tell what it is. I don't think it does it justice unless we give the full outline. Why should it be vague & hazy? I think that even in the colour that complete outline of the Pyramid ought to be clearer. I know he was trying to make it shine, but if you make the shine so shiny that it obliterates the figure‚ then it sort of defeats its own purpose. If you make it shine so much you can't even see it, that's not so good. I think the outline of the figure is even more important than the shine. So he needs to draw a line up there. It's still shining & it won't hurt the shine any, but just let's see the whole thing. We don't want it to shine so much you can't even see it! A diamond wouldn't look so beautiful if it was all sparkle & you couldn't even see what it is!
9. ONE OTHER THING ON PICTURE 8 THAT I'D LIKE TO CHANGE IS THAT BIG BLOB OF BLACK CLOUD ON THE LEFT! This is supposed to be really Heavenly & that looks almost evil! I think the little kids are going to ask, "What is that? Did they spill some ink on it or something?" Don't you think it looks kind of dark & evil in a day like that? It seems to me like the whole sky ought to be ablaze & aglow! There shouldn't be any great big black blotches in that picture. When that day is in existence, the New Heaven & the New Earth‚ I don't think there are going to be any huge, black‚ evil-looking clouds. They've even got an old hymn they sing in the churches: "Oh, the land of cloudless days!" Well, I don't know that there's not going to be any clouds at all, but there's certainly not going to be any great big black storm clouds! I was just really studying that & I thought‚ "Boy, I don't like the looks of that, it looks like a coming storm or something‚ when that's the day when the storms are all going to be over!"
10. I DON'T LIKE THOSE BIG BLACK CLOUDS & I HOPE WE CAN OBLITERATE'M! IN FACT, THAT ONE CLOUD LOOKS LIKE IT'S ABOUT TO SWALLOW UP THE EARTH!—And the Earth isn't even round there, it's sort of eliptical. The cloud looks like it's coming & gonna eat up the World! The little kids will notice that, believe it or not! They'll wonder, "What's all that big black stuff?—That cloud looks like the Devil's going to eat up the Earth!" We don't want anything black & dark & somber & evil–looking in that picture at all! Everything's supposed to be bright & heavenly & gorgeous & shining & beautiful!—No big black clouds any more! So let's get rid of'm!
11. I LOVE EVERYTHING ELSE ON THIS POSTER EXCEPT WHERE I WROTE IN THE PRICE IN THE UPPER RIGHTHAND CORNER: "—FOR ONLY A GIFT! (OR $1.00!)" That was just a joke! I was just experimenting to see what it would look like, but now that I see it up there I don't like it. The reason I put the dollar under there is I was afraid they'd misunderstand "For Only a Gift" & grab one free! I started to put "For a free gift" & I thought they'd sure misunderstand that, they'd think the poster was free! Then I thought‚ "For only a gift", well, they could still think it was free, so then I put the dollar. But under the circumstances, I don't like anything to sound so commercial, so I think it's better just to leave that off & leave it up to you salesmen as to what kind of pitch you make.
12. ALSO, ON PICTURE NUMBER 1, JESUS' HAIR IS THE WRONG COLOUR. As I said before‚ in all of these pictures of Jesus at that time, any time from the time John saw Him in Heaven, from then on, even in John's day, 2,000 years ago, He already had white hair! So please, I'd like to notify you artists everywhere, don't let me catch you making another picture of Jesus when He's supposed to be in Heaven or the way He looks now with dark hair! To have Him with brown or black hair when He was here, that's consistent, like the Sunday School posters & all those Bible stories, but now since He's Up There, John describes Him in detail & we ought to be as accurate as we can be to the text of that particular description. (Rev.1:13-14) Any pictures of Him Up There, He should have the white hair & white beard!
13. SOMETIMES WHEN HE'S FAR AWAY, LIKE IN PICTURE NUMBER 2, YOU CAN'T EVEN TELL, but where He's up close, like in Number 11, He's obviously supposed to be Up There! That's the way He looks now & has for 2,000 years!—And He looks that way all the time up in Heaven. So let's stick to that new head. I think these changes are important! We're working on the final finishing touches & we want to try to make it as perfect as we can!
14. SO WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THESE BEAUTIFUL SINGLE PICTURE POSTERS FOR THE FUTURE? Don't you think each of those pictures would be gorgeous?—Big, poster-size in colour? Of course, most of'm are horizontal, but so what?—So are lots of pictures on the wall. Instead of saying: "A poster for your wall", we could say, "Frame it for your wall!" They'll be gorgeous enough to frame! And we don't have to keep writing new texts for the back—although I don't suppose dear Apollos would ever run out of material—we could repeat the same text about Heaven on each one of them! If they've already read the text, okay, they can just slap it in the frame & stick it on the wall!
15. WE NEED TO CHANGE JESUS' HAIR ON THE TRIBULATION POSTER TOO, & I'VE HAD ANOTHER PET PEEVE: A LOT OF THE ARTISTS KEEP DRAWING CARNAL, MATERIAL GOLD CROWNS WHICH ARE NOT AT ALL IN KEEPING WITH THE FACTS! I HAVE RECOMMENDED TIME & AGAIN TO USE A HALO! Even certain people in the World would understand it better if they saw a halo. I realise I've tolerated that for a long time when I shouldn't have, because I just didn't want to have to worry about them changing it. It was their idea & it was my idea too originally, but after I really thought & prayed about it‚ I realised that it wasn't that way at all any more. They had these crowns on there already & I didn't like the spikes, so on some of the first ones where they just drew an ordinary‚ usual king's crown‚ I changed the spikes, which looked kind of mean‚ to hearts, to give it a little more meaning.
16. BUT NOW I KNOW BETTER! THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE ANY KIND OF A MATERIALISTIC-LOOKING CROWN LIKE THAT‚ THEY SHOULD HAVE HALOS! A Crown of Life is not going to be gold carved with hearts! So please‚ Artists, from henceforth give these Heavenly kings crowns that look more like halos! Of course the halo that in this case Jesus is giving the girl on the Tribulation Poster looks to me like it's a little big fit for her, but it's possible, so I wouldn't worry about changing it now. It's also a little late to change the hair on the black-&-white Tribulation Poster‚ & besides, it wouldn't show up very good against that white background, so I guess we'll leave'm as they are. But on final colour Posters let's make sure we get a stick-on head that is more fitting!
17. I WANT TO GIVE'M AS MANY NEW COLOUR POSTERS AS WE CAN IN THIS FIRST BATCH OF FOUR! To have one old one, the old Heaven Poster, is almost enough. But since it's so beautiful & so important, I thought it should be one of the first. But I don't want to put in too many old–timers in this first batch. They'd be half old-timers if we stuck in one of those Calendar Posters, & they're not really the very best of all because they're such little pictures. They're good for a catalogue to take orders for big ones!
18. SO MAYBE WE COULD SEND OUT THIS "HEAVEN ON EARTH" AS ONE OF THE FIRST FOUR! It's a pretty one! Even though it's a repetition of some of the pictures, nevertheless it's different. Actually, it's not a repetition of any of the pictures in the old Heaven Poster, none of'm, so it's really brand new! These are only take-offs on the Calendars. So this is something brand new—unless they're already familiar with the calendars, which of course our folks are—but to the customers, so to speak, this will sort of be brand new!—And the poster itself is brand new even to our own people. I think it's beautiful & it'll be a new one & one of the best for this first batch!
19. WE WANT TO PUT OUR BEST FOOT FORWARD! We want to send you some of the very best that just can't fail so they'll really go over & you'll not get discouraged. So we'll have three on that Happy Place—the old Heaven Poster, the new Heaven Poster, & Jac's new Heaven collage of "Heaven on Earth!" I think that's a great idea! Whose idea was that?—Oh, mine! I just think those are three of the best & we need to get them out in this first batch!
20. AND WE'RE GOING TO USE PHOTO PRINTS AS ORIGINALS FOR PRINTING, JUST WHAT I WAS HOPING WOULD COME TRUE! I think these photo prints are gorgeous enough to use for originals—& there's no alternative so it's gotta work! We don't wanna chop up the originals with a pair of scissors, so there's no other way! And if this is possible, this is really going to simplify the making of further composites & collages in which we have to zoom in on a spot here & a spot there & we sure don't want to chop up & cut up paper dolls out of the originals!
21. OUR COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHER'S TECHNIQUE & HIS...I STARTED TO SAY ECSTASY, I MEANT TO SAY EXPERTISE—IT IS ECSTASY FOR SURE—IS REALLY COMING INTO ITS OWN IN THOSE COLOUR PRINTS! If Mordy is willing to use one of his colour prints as an original, he has finally arrived! Ha! GBH! He has really outdone himself on those gorgeous colour prints! He's gettin' to be something else! I hope he doesn't get his head so far in the clouds he takes off for Heaven, 'cause he needs to finish the job down here first! So learning colour photography paid off! I remember those days when we were trying to figure it out with our little hand pans & whatnot, & now we're really rollin' & they're gorgeous! They're so beautiful, I really believe that the single pictures will go over in the long run‚ one at a time! But in the meantime they can get these combinations & see how many pretty pictures we've got! If they want to order single ones‚ we can tell'm we can do that in the future! So "Heaven on Earth" is gonna be on the first roll of four!—And in the meantime you can get some of these black–&-white preview samples on the covers of the new GNs!—Like'm?—Roll'm!—Love, D.