by David Ehrenstein The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community against a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. Wikipedia What followed in the 1970’s was a ri…

Rare & Valuable Books, Manuscripts, Autographs, Graphics, Photographs, Print Ephemera & Much More From March 5-8, 2020, Walter Reuben Inc. can be found in Booth D20 at the 60th Anniversary New York International Antiquarian Book Fair located, as always, in the  legendary Park Avenue Armory, Manhattan at 643 Park Avenue (between 66th and 67th Street). Our focus is on the glorious history of the European and Hollywood motion picture business as well as African American cultural his…

by David Ehrenstein Now that gay actors like Nathan Lane, Jim Parsons, Victor Garber, Jonathan Groff, and Neil Patrick Harris are “out of the closet” and on the rise, it’s hard to imagine just how different things were in the relatively recent past. Not only was the notion of being openly gay and having a viable career unimaginable, but gayness itself was also a concept polite society couldn’t countenance. “Homosexuals” subsisted on society’s margins, mentioned only in whispered gossip, fears…

Imagine it’s Christmas 1939 and you, as a movie aficionado, or just someone who loves going to the pictures, have enjoyed a year of groundbreaking brilliant entertainment.  You have no idea that in 80 years “1939” will be the year that the world will crown as, “Hollywood’s Golden Year.” Also, just imagine that under your Christmas tree there are a plethora of toys and dolls created in the likeness of those Hollywood movie characters presented as marketing tools and designed by those who would…

WalterFilm.com’s third catalog (#44/2019) contains 84 pages that include vintage original photographs, posters, programs, pressbooks, lobby cards and film scripts. The categories encompassed are: Warhol, LGBTQ, Movie Musicals, African Americana, Pre-Code Hollywood, Literature, Film Directors and Women. The catalog’s cover (above) is graced by a in-flight image of a dancing Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth (attributed to photographer George Hurrell) from the 1942 poster of Columbia Picture’s “Yo…