Author: Bolen High

Hollywood Movie Memorabilia

When it comes to Hollywood Movie Memorabilia, much of WalterFilm’s vintage original stock might be considered “Hollywood” because a substantial amount of material either comes from Hollywood or references it. And when it comes to “Movie Memorabilia”, a large portion of what we offer could fit that description as well. But we do try to clearly define, describe and date each object we present as a vintage original poster, photograph, script, etc.

However, sometimes items come along that are difficult to define and ‘Hollywood Movie Memorabilia” provides an excellent catch all.

MGM Advertising Pull-Outs

The first three items are of particular note: they are vintage original 9 x 12″ (22 x 30 cm.) Metro-Goldwin-Mayer advertising pull-outs on card stock for three movies starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. 

They were created for the industry publication The Lion’s Roar by the famous  caricature artist Jacques Kapralik, They each were created in three dimension using elements of yarn, fabric, paper, buttons, sequins and miniature creations to highlight the themes and elements found in the film’s story.

BABES ON BROADWAY (1941)

See above photograph.

The film’s “let’s put on a show” theme was presented at its most spectacular in this Busby Berkeley extravaganza produced by Arthur Freed.

LIFE BEGINS FOR ANDY HARDY (1941)

Life Begins For Andy Hardy

The two stars are featured in a New York City setting when Betsy Booth (Garland), daughter to a Broadway actress, shows “Smalltown, USA” Andy Hardy (Rooney) the ropes of making it in the big city.

GIRL CRAZY (1943

Girl Crazy

The last and likely the finest of the grand MGM Mickey and Judy musicals featured a superb score by George and Ira Gershwin and a story set at a dude ranch college.

LUCIFER RISING (1972) 

Kenneth-Anger-(filmmaker,-artist)-LUCIFER-RISING-(1972)-Original-artwork-2
[Los Angeles, 1972]. Vintage original artwork on illustration board, 8 1/2 x 9 5/8″ (21 x 24.5 cm.) on 13 7/8 x 15 1/2″ (35.5 x 40 cm.). 

Kenneth Anger (filmmaker, artist) Original artwork used for the opening shot of Kenneth Anger’s experimental film LUCIFER RISING, which was his attempt to depict the age of the hippies. In this film, Egyptian gods summon the angel Lucifer to usher in a new occult age.

HOTEL SAHARA PRESENTS… CHRISTINE JORGENSEN (1953) 

Las Vegas: Hotel Sahara, [1953]. Vintage original 9 1/2 x 8 1/8″ (24 x 21 cm.) die-cut promotional flyer. A holograph note indicates that someone attended this show on Monday, November 16, 1953. Near fine.

“A New York Daily News article in late ’52 that brought instant notoriety to Christine Jorgensen, the first person in the US to become famous for having sex reassignment surgery. Celebrity agent Charles Yates teamed with Jorgensen to turn this notoriety into an unlikely nightclub act. The Sahara booked Jorgensen for a summer 1953 engagement with singer Marguerite Piazza and dancer Gene Nelson, but was fired when both Piazza and Nelson protested the co-billing.

Jorgensen sued the hotel.“Jorgensen was a controversial figure in the press, treated with sensationalism, praise, respectful curiosity, and indignantly. The Sahara’s firing was done with a public letter that began, ‘Dear sir’. Despite this, Jorgensen was rescheduled at the Sahara and opened in November that year. A mostly-positive column about the show in the Las Vegas Review Journal commented that Jorgensen was ‘either an opportunist of supreme magnitude or an individual of indescribable courage.’ Jorgensen returned to Las Vegas later for a show at Silver Slipper. 

ED EMSHWILLER (ca. 1980) Signed letter

[Los Angeles, ca. 1980] Original two page autograph signed letter, 11 x 8.5″ (28 x 22 cm.), folded once for mailing, near fine.

A letter from pioneering experimental filmmaker Ed Emshwiller to Doug Edwards, who was at that time the leading figure in Los Angeles for the showing of avant-garde film. In this fascinating letter, he lists each of the four films which he has selected for Edwards to screen, with a succinct paragraph describing each one: LIFE LINES (1960); THANATOPSIS (1962); RELATIVITY (1966); and SCAPE-MATES (1972).

PAUL ROBESON AUSSTELLUNG ZU EHREN SEINES 70 GEBURTSTAGE AM 9 APRIL 1968 German pamphlet

[East] Berlin, Deutsche Akademie der Künste zu Berlin, 1968. Printed wrappers, 24 pp. Light wear to wrappers, VERY GOOD+.

A pamphlet issued to honor Paul Robeson’s seventieth birthday. Contains photos documenting Robeson’s varied visits to the USSR and then-East Germany, as well as commentary on his artistic and political careers.

SHE’S A HE – Lynn Carter (1957) Vinyl record

New York: Fiesta Records, [1957]. Vintage original 12 x 12″ (31 x 31 cm.) vinyl LP record. Very good+ in pictorial sleeve.

The front sleeve states “Introducing Mr. Lynn Carter, America’s foremost female impersonator.”

Lynn Carter was a headliner in the Jewel Box Revue, a racially inclusive traveling revue of what were then dubbed female impersonators. The show was staffed almost entirely by gay men and one lesbian. OCLC only records one known copy.

AGNÈS VARDA (ca. 1965-77) Archive

Portrait of Varda (ca.1965) 7 x 5″ (18 x 13 cm.) black-and-white print still photo;

Collection of vintage original French promotional materials, all just about fine or better.

  • LE BONHEUR [HAPPINESS] (1965)  Pressbook
  • LES CRÉATURES [THE CREATURES] (1968) Pressbook
  • LION’S LOVE (1969) US two-sided poster, 23 x 19″ (59 x 49 cm.)
  • L’UNE CHANTE, L’AUTRE PAS (1977) Promotional book

female impersonator, George and Ira Gershwin, Hollywood Movie Memorabilia, Hollywood Musicals, Judy Garland, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, Mickey Rooney, sex reassignment surgery

Lon Chaney ­­– Man Of Many Faces

THE ABOVE PHOTOGRAPH – Vintage original 27 x 38″ (70 x 98 cm.) poster, Sweden. Lon Chaney, Loretta Young, Nils Asther, Gwen Lee, dir: Herbert Brenon, MGM. In the role of the circus clown who could not laugh, known as Pagliacci, Lon Chaney, in perhaps his finest film performance, ran the gamut in the story which spanned a 25-year period in the his life. 

Regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors in both silent films and talkies, Lon Chaney  (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, along with  his groundbreaking artistry with makeup.

Chaney had a breakthrough performance as “The Frog” in George Loane Tucker‘s The Miracle Man (1919). The film displayed not only Chaney’s acting ability, but also his talent as a master of makeup. Critical praise and a gross of over $2 million put him on the map as America’s foremost character actor.

[Los Angeles: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, ca. 1926]. Vintage original 10.5 x 13.5″ (26 x 33 cm.) sepia toned double weight glossy silver gelatin print still photo, USA. Minor border wear. Minor crease at bottom right corner, near fine.
This striking portrait of Lon Chaney is most likely to publicize his 1926 film THE BLACKBIRD. The film gave him the opportunity to play contrasting dual personalities: as the villainous deformed Blackbird and the saintly Bishop.

How Many Faces?

Makeup in the early days of motion pictures was almost non-existent, except for beards and moustaches to denote villains.­ Most of what Hollywood studios knew about makeup stemmed from the theater and actors were expected to do their own. Studio makeup departments were not yet in place prior to the mid-20s, 

In the absence of such specialized professions, Chaney’s knowledge and skill with makeup gave him a competitive advantage over other actors. He was the complete package. Casting directors knew that they could place him in virtually any part, and he would thrive. An extreme case of this was the film Outside the Law (1920), where he played a character who shot and killed another character, whom he also was playing. This ability to create elaborate makeup and prosthetics to completely transform himself earned him the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Faces.” 

A Heart Beneath The Horror 

As Quasimodo, the bell ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral, and Erik, the “phantom” of the Paris Opera House, Chaney created two of the most grotesquely deformed characters in film history. “Phantom … became a legend almost immediately,” wrote the Los Angeles Times in 1990. “The newspapers of the day reported that women fainted, children bawled, and grown men stepped outside for fresh air after the famous unmasking scene.” “The unmasking of the titular Phantom is one of the most well-known moments in silent film,” wrote Meg Shields in 2020. “Arguably, it’s one of the most horrifying images ever put on screen.” However, Chaney’s portrayals sought to elicit a degree of sympathy and pathos among viewers not overwhelmingly terrified or repulsed by the monstrous disfigurements of these victims of fate.

Ray Bradbury once said of Chaney, “He was someone who acted out our psyches. He somehow got into the shadows inside our bodies; he was able to nail down some of our secret fears and put them on-screen. The history of Lon Chaney is the history of unrequited loves. He brings that part of you out into the open, because you fear that you are not loved, you fear that you never will be loved, you fear there is some part of you that’s grotesque, that the world will turn away from.”

Learning From The Master

He also earned the respect and admiration of numerous aspiring actors, to whom he offered mentoring assistance, and between takes on film sets he was always willing to share his professional observations with the cast and crew. During the filming of The Unknown (1927), Joan Crawford stated that she learned more about acting from watching Chaney work than from anyone else in her career. “It was then,” she said, “I became aware for the first time of the difference between standing in front of a camera and acting.”

MGM At The End

In the final five years of his film career (1925–1930), Chaney worked exclusively under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, giving some of his most memorable performances. His portrayal of a tough-as-nails marine drill instructor in Tell It to the Marines (1926), one of his favorite films, earned him the affection of the Marine Corps, who made him their first honorary member from the motion picture industry.

And The Finale

During the filming of Thunder in the winter of 1929, Chaney developed pneumonia. In late 1929, he was diagnosed with bronchial lung cancer. Despite aggressive treatment, his condition gradually worsened, and he died of a throat hemorrhage on August 26, 1930, in a Los Angeles, California hospital.

His funeral was held on August 28 in Glendale, California. Honorary pallbearers included Paul BernHunt StrombergIrving ThalbergLouis B. MayerLionel BarrymoreWallace BeeryTod BrowningLew Cody, and Ramon Novarro. The U.S. Marine Corps provided a chaplain and Honor Guard for his funeral. While his funeral was being conducted, all MGM studios and offices observed two minutes of silence. 

Chaney was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, next to the crypt of his father. His wife Hazel was interred there upon her death in 1933. Ever the private man, In accordance with his will, Chaney’s crypt has remained unmarked.

A Legacy

His dedication to his craft and his unique ability to physically transform himself on screen set a remarkable precedent for future actors, particularly within the horror genre. His collaborations with directors like Tod Browning helped define the horror genre and laid the groundwork for future horror films. Chaney’s legacy continues to inspire actors and filmmakers today, reminding them of the power of exceptional performances and the importance of pushing the boundaries of character portrayal.

Approximately 102 of the 157 films made by Chaney are currently classified as lost films. A number of others exist only in extremely truncated form or suffer severe decomposition.

WikipediA

 

Julian Eltinge & The Feminine Mystique

In recognition of Gay Pride and as an observation of the state of “drag“ in America, the above photograph of Julian Eltinge and Mary PIckford appeared in the Washington Post on June 24, 2023, along with a profile by Randy Dotinga entitled “A century ago, this star ‘female impersonator’ made men swoon.”

The following is WalterFilm’s salute to Gay Pride and perspective on Julian Eltinge’s life, career and place in the evolution of the “the Gay.” It incorporates Mr. Dotinga’s thoughts, WikipediA’s knowledge base and WalterFilm’s photo archive of Mr.  Eltinge’s career.

Julian Eltinge - Portrait | Walterfilm

Julian Eltinge was indeed a star in vaudeville, where he toured Europe and the United States, even giving a command performance before King Edward VII. And while female impersonation was a standard act in vaudeville, Eltinge’s transformed his act into a musical performance. In addition, unlike many of the female impersonators at that time, he did not present a caricature of women but created the illusion of actually capturing the feminine mystique. 

Cousin Lucy

Thank God For The Cakewalk!

“He was born William Julian Dalton (May 14, 1881 – March 7, 1941) and began a career as a female impersonator, according to some reports, while taking cakewalk lessons, at the age of twenty, from a Mrs. Wyman’s dance studio where he demonstrated a remarkable ability to emulate females. It is said to be Mrs. Wyman who encouraged William to study the art of female impersonation.

Mrs. Wyman was correct in her observation as William, who became Julian Eltinge (He chose his stage name because it rhymed with “melting.”), was a very handsome man in his youth and able to transform himself into a beautiful woman and sing in a really lovely contralto voice. 

Mr. Lillian Russell

Audiences were convinced they were watching a female performer, even though they had been explicitly told that “this was a man.” His popularity soon earned him the moniker “Mr. Lillian Russell” in honor of the popular beauty and musical comedy star. As he became more and more successful, his name and reputation allowed him to fill theaters across the country, at one point earning as much as $5,000 a week. 

He toured simply as “Eltinge” which left his sex unknown and his act included, in addition to singing and dancing, making quick costume changes in a variety of female roles. At the conclusion of his performances, he would remove his wig, revealing his true nature to the surprise of the often-informed audience. And men, as the press loved to write, swooned over his onstage persona. “He is the swellest-looking dame that ever wore down the boards,” raved an audience member to a Cincinnati reporter.

On Broadway

It was on Broadway, in musical comedies written specifically for him, that he made his name. In 1910 he started in and as “The Fascinating Widow,” which was so successful that it caused  A. H. Woods , the producer, to give Eltinge one of the entertainment industry’s highest honors, having a theatre named for him. A year to the day that “The Fascinating Widow” opened, Woods opened the Eltinge Theatre on New York’s 42nd Street, now renamed the Empire Theater,. By 1910, Eltinge had reached the height of his fame. Sime Silverman, Editor of Variety, called him “as great a performer as there is today”

Julian Eltinge in "The Widow's Might" | WalterFilm.com

Drag Ain’t What It Used To Be

As Dotinga details in his profile, “In the 1925 silent comedy “Seven Chances,” Buster Keaton’s character is thrown out of a theater, with his clothes torn and his straw hat shoved down his head, after strutting inside in pursuit of a performer with a beaming smile and shapely legs. Clearly, he had made a pass, and it was intercepted.

What is so funny? As the scene reveals, the attractive beauty was Julian Eltinge, a famous female impersonator. Moviegoers would have gotten the joke — that is no lady! — because Eltinge was the first cross-dressing celebrity in the nation: a triple threat of movie star, accomplished singer and popular stage actor.

A century before the battles over drag performances today, Eltinge represented a unique form of the art, one that emphasized fidelity to femininity instead of risqué repartee, outlandish outfits or high-energy lip syncing. He made a mint onstage and toured the world, sometimes while wearing a 23-inch corset and size 4 high-heeled shoes.”

 Holywood Calls

Beginning in 1914, Eltinge expanded his career into silent pictures. However, it wasn’t until 1917 in “The Countess Charming” that he found success.  His role in the film was again a double role with him playing a man being forced by circumstance to disguise himself as a woman, a precursor to movies like “Some Like It Hot” and “Mrs. Doubtfire”.

Settling in Hollywood, Eltinge made three films in 1917 and 1918. During this time he wrote and produced a vaudeville group called “The Julian Eltinge Players”. With this group he returned to the vaudeville stage appearing at New York City’s Palace Theatre in 1918, where he was paid one of the highest salaries in show business: $3,500 a week. The next year he returned again in a new vaudeville review with sets by the French designer Erté.

By 1920, Eltinge was very wealthy and was living in one of the most lavish mansions in Southern California, Villa Capistrano. He appeared with Rudolf Valentino in the 1920 film “An Adventuress” (released as “The Isle of Love”in the U.S.). After filming, Eltinge continued touring onstage and did so until 1927. He also made two films, “Madame Behave” and “The Fascinating Widow” based on his stage play.

Who Was Julian Eltinge?

As mentioned in Dotinga’s article, Then, just as now, the gender-bending nature of drag performance made some people uncomfortable. As a result, Eltinge had to toe the line both in his stage and film careers. On one hand, he leaned into a role as a cultural icon and dispenser of blunt advice. “The woman who prides herself on being as nature made her is apt to be unnecessarily ugly,” he declared, uncharitably.

Eltinge hawked fashion tips through his own magazine, sold his own brand of cold cream and warned of the unspeakable horror of women’s shoes with low heels. There was always a danger that the public would think there “must be ‘something wrong’ with a man who wanted to put on women’s clothes,” as a newspaper reporter later wrote in a profile of Eltinge. To combat the perception he was gay, his publicists fed the press an image of a “cigar-chomping, womanizing, hotheaded braggart,” Beyelia said.

Eltinge sparred with boxer “Gentleman Jim” Corbett, and his own magazine in 1912 touted him as “a husky young man of 29, agreeable, manly and without the slightest trace of the sissiness one might expect to find in the nature of a man who impersonates a woman.” (The article fudged his age. He was actually around 31.)

Eltinge may have been a gay man, as Milton Berle and many others who worked with him believed. Actress Ruth Gordon stated in a New York Times article that he was “as virile as anybody virile.” There is no existing record of a lover of either sex, though stories did abound.

Eltinge was one of many show business figures to be hit hard by the 1929 stock market crash. By the 1930s, vaudeville as well as female impersonation, which he had built his career on, had begun to lose popularity. Eltinge resorted to performing in nightclubs.

Everything Old Is New Again 

As is happening today with the outrage and litigation over transgender surgery along with the increase in violence against the HTMLG+ community, it was the same with the crack down on cross-dressing in public – an attempt to curb homosexual activity – that prevented Eltinge from performing in costume.

As Dotinga reports,  Hollywood cracked down on explicit content and homosexuality on screen in the 1930s. “Sex perversion or any inference to it is forbidden,” the new film rule book known as the Hays Code declared. By 1937, Eltinge told a reporter he did not want to return to female impersonation. “Girls today don’t have charm,” he said, “so I find little to impersonate.” He preferred to act as a man, he said, “but producers can’t imagine me without a gown.”

Three years later, the Los Angeles Times reported that local police refused to allow him to perform as a woman at a “known hangout for women who hold women’s hands and men who hold men’s hands.” Instead, he took the stage to sing and point to his old outfits on a mannequin. “For this number,” he said at one point, “I would have worn this lovely dress.”

Eltinge died in 1941, of a cerebral hemorrhage. He had also suffered from heart and kidney problems. Years earlier, the Los Angeles Times reported, Eltinge had been told that his corsets were dangerous to his health. “I must,” he replied, “be a martyr to my profession.”

Eltinge’s Legacy

Eltinge leaves a legacy as an LGBTQ pioneer, said Hajdu, the cultural historian. “He is turning sexual desire upside down when men in the audience realize they are attracted to someone who is really a man,” Hajdu said. “He embodied the idea that gender can be constructed, a product of human agency.”

WikipediA – Julian Eltinge

cross-dressing celebrity, cross-dressing star, famous drag queens, famous female impersonators, vintage photographs famous drag queens, vintage photographs famous transvestites, vintage photographs of female impersonators

WARNER BROTHERS @100

Alexa Foreman Interview

For many years, Alexa Foreman worked with Walterfilm’s Woolsey Ackerman researching and producing a multitude of documentaries and on-air programing for Turner Classic Movies. She was Robert Osborne’s left and right hand in creating his on-air hosting segments and was the primary producer of the Turner Classic Movies on-camera archival interviews that told Hollywood’s history in the words of those who were there.

Robert Osborne and Alexa Foreman on Turner Classic Movies
Robert Osborne and Alexa Foreman on Turner Classic Movies

Her latest project as researcher on the book Warner Bros: 100 Years of Storytelling by MarkA Vieira celebrates Warner Brothers Studios 100th Anniversary. Here is her thoughts on its history and significance.

Thank you so much Woolsey! Please forgive me if I leave out anyone’s favorite Warner Bros. star, director or picture.

What, in your opinion, would be the keyword that would sum up the unique history and product of Warner Bros as a motion picture studio? (direction, production, editing, scripting, music, etc.)

Fearless.

Why?

The Studio experimented with sound, had a radio station KFWB, used current themes “ripped from the headlines”, corned the market on Depression musicals, and was the first major American studio to confront the Nazi threat in Europe, not to mention the studio’s award winning Animation department.

A young Darryl F. Zanuck helped shape the studio and its product, and later producers Hal Wallis and Jerry Wald who were majors players.

There are so many others including cinematographers, editors and screenwriters, but I do want to mention composers Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Who were these Warner Brothers? Where did they come from and how were they uniquely apt to make movies?

There were four brothers involved with the studio: Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack. They came from a family of Polish Jews, and had tried everything from running a bowling alley to selling meat. Sam was the visionary who saw the future in moving pictures and bought a used Kinetoscope. That was the start.

Vintage original 12 x 8″ (30 x 20 cm.) midget/mini window card,
USA MARKED WOMAN (1937) MINI WINDOW CARD

For the studio which was incorporated formally in 1923, each brother had his own function: Harry was company president, Albert was treasurer and Sam and Jack were in charge of production.

It’s fascinating to wonder about how the studio would be different if Sam had lived. Of the 4, he was the pioneer.He pushed the brothers into sound pictures and other technology. Tragically – and unbelievably – he died the day before The Jazz Singer premiered in New York City.

Today, Jack is probably the most known and he was the one with the eye for talent, but he also wasn’t fair to his two remaining brothers in his later business dealings.

What. in your opinion, are a few of the WB best movies? Best picture or not? Movies that put them on the map?

I am going to play it safe here and list some of the studio’s most important pictures:

The Jazz Singer (1927) – the first “sound” picture established WB as a studio to be reckoned, Little Caesar (1931) – the studio’s first gangster picture, 42nd Street (1933) was the first in a series of wonderful Busby Berkeley choreographed backstage musicals. (Only WB would mix in “escapism” while still reminding audiences that it was the Depression!), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) – this was the first picture from a major studio to show American audiences that the Nazi threat was real, Casablanca (1942) was and is still the most requested movie on TCM, House of Wax (1953) – the first color 3D picture with stereophonic sound, Sergeant Rutledge (1960) a movie released by a major studio with a Black leading manFEARLESS.

Who are the great stars of Warner Brothers classic Hollywood contract days— what set them apart?

Rin Tin Tin was actually the first star at the fledgling studio. And, when the studio took over First National Pictures in 1929, it inherited stars such as Richard Barthelmess, and Loretta Young. Other early stars were Al Jolson, George Arliss, John Barrymore, and Mary Astor (later an Oscar winning Supporting Actress). Arliss, John Barrymore, and Mary Astor (later an Oscar winning Supporting Actress).

In the 1930s, there were Kay Francis (one of my favorites), Ruth Chatterton, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell, Paul Muni, James Cagney, Glenda Farrell, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn. and, of course, Bette Davis was one of a kind.

Vintage original 11 x 15″ (29 x 38 cm.) double weight matte finish hand-colored promotional poster for Warner Brothers Pictures, France. Near fine
BETTE DAVIS (CA. 1938) SPECIAL FRENCH PROMOTIONAL POSTER
Vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) black-and-white single weight glossy silver gelatin print still photo. Some wear and two tiny tears to the right side blank white margin, near fine.
DARK PASSAGE (1947) HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL

Then came Ida Lupino, Claude Rains, Eleanor Parker, and Jane Wyman. Joan Crawford arrived from MGM and won an Oscar right off the bat.

The late 1940s brought Doris Day, and during the 1950s and 60s came Burt Lancaster, Randolph Scott, James Dean, Tab Hunter, Natalie Wood, Alan Ladd, John Wayne and later Clint Eastwood. Plus, let’s not forget Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Sylvester and Tweety.

Three of the stars James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis actively disagreed with the studio’s rule of adding on time to their seven year contracts when they went on suspension. They went on suspension usually because they were being offered sub par roles — de Havilland sued and won. It is now know as the De Havilland Law.

ERROL FLYNN | DODGE CITY (1939)
Vintage original 10 1/4 x 13 1/2″ (26 x 32 cm.) black-and-white double weight glossy silver gelatin print still photo. Ink stamped “Please Credit ‘MUKY’ from Warner Bros”. Fin
ERROL FLYNN | DODGE CITY (1939) 

Who are the great character actors, what were their careers like under contract to WB?

Aline MacMahon, Allen Jenkins, Charles Coburn, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, Guy Kibbee, Wallace Ford, Ruth Donnelly, Lyle Talbot, Conrad Veidt, Lee Patrick, Frank McHugh, Robert Barrat, Ian Hunter, Alan Hale, Andrea King, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. Legendary Hattie McDaniel worked at Warner Bros. at times despite her busy schedule with other studios.

Name a few of Warner Bros. top directors and a bit about their working techniques!?

Michael Curtiz, William Dieterle, Lloyd Bacon, Howard Hawks, Raoul Walsh, William Wellman, Edmund Goulding, John Huston, Vincent Sherman and for a short time, Alfred Hitchcock. It was a nonstop assembly line in those days and directors had to be able to handle every genre. Look at Curtiz: dramas, musicals, war movies, adventures, mysteries, comedies, westerns, horror and film noir.

Classic era studio’s involved themselves in community outreach particularly during World War II.

A Brief Story of Hollywood Canteen

Two of WB’s most dynamic stars, Bette Davis and John Garfield, started the Hollywood Canteen in 1942 for servicemen and women (black and white) to have an evening being entertained by and interacting with movie stars and personalities. It was an all volunteer staff of cooks, servers, and dishwashers made up of celebrities.

How do you go about doing your research for a book project like this and after all your years of discovering Hollywood history, what did you find to be the most surprising in you work on this project?

I use autobiographies, biographies, studio histories, the Motion Picture Academy website, the American Film Institute catalogue, and newspaper articles. When I started at TCM, there was no internet. I used books for my research. I still do mostly and I avoid Wikipedia and trivia that is on movie info websites.

I was most surprised about the history of fires on the Warners backlot. In 1934, a fire started near the set of Black Fury and destroyed part of the New York street, the studio’s crafts department, a prop warehouse and – tragically – original negatives from early Vitaphone and First National films stored in the vaults. Later, there were three fires in 1952, another in 1963, and another in 1983.

ALEXA FOREMAN

Alexa Foreman has used her skills as a researcher and producer primarily at Turner Classic Movies for over 25 years – starting with the launch of the network in 1994. While there, she was an integral part of TCM, which specialized in airing uncut and commercial free classic movies – the channel earning a Peabody Award in the process.

She is author of Women in Motion published in 1983, and co-author of In The Picture: Production Stills from the TCM Archives from 2004, as well as contributor to Leading Ladies, Leading Men and Leading Couples.

She has written, directed and produced a documentary entitled Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor, which concerns actress Mary Astor and her 1936 fight to gain custody of her daughter. The documentary premiered at the TCM Film Festival in Los Angeles in April 2018. 

Hollywood Movie Memorabilia

2023 63rd ANNUAL NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR

Welcome to all our clients and friends.

From April 27th-30th, Walter Reuben Inc. can be found in Booth B22 at the 63rd Annual New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, located in Manhattan at the legendary Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue (between 66th and 67th Street.

Our Book Fair inventory includes: Women’s Issues, LGBTQ, Ethnicities, Black Film History and Entertainment, as well as Classic Hollywood, featuring vintage original film scripts, photographs, posters, programs, pressbooks, letters, original art and entertainment memorabilia.

HERE IS A SELECTION OF HIGHLIGHTS

THE QUEEN

1968 British poster for landmark American film about trans people. $1,500.00


THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW 

Original 1974 typescript of legendary transgressive cult movie. $12,500.00


THE GODFATHER 

1972 British poster, with striking art of Brando.  $1,000.00


NINA SIMONE

Vintage portrait, ca 1959, of the legendary artist, at the beginning of her career.  $750.00


GAME OF THRONES

Two vintage scripts from Season 1 (VI, VII) belonging to Aidan Gillen (“Littlefinger’) offered individually at $1,500.00.


JULIAN ELTINGE PHOTO ARCHIVE   

Six vintage photos, ca 1915-1931, of the most celebrated drag performer of his time.  $1,800.00


THE LURE OF A WOMAN 

1921 poster for African American silent film shot in Kansas City. $4,000.00

African-American Memorabilia, Black Memorabilia, Hollywood Movie Memorabilia, Movie Star Photos For Sale, Original Vintage Movie Posters, Vintage Original Film Scripts, Womens Issues