Author: Bolen High

SHIRLEY TEMPLE & JUDY GARLAND – DOLLS FOR THE AGES

Hollywood Movie Memorabilia encompasses a fascinating range of material that appeals to an extraordinary number of collectors from almost every country.

In last December’s blog, “1939 – HOLLYWOOD’S GOLDEN YEAR OF MOVIES & DOLLS,” Woolsey Ackerman (Walter Films’ Film Researcher & Curator) shared an article he wrote for the 2019 United Federation of Doll Clubs Convention Souvenir Journal.” It focused on the dolls that related to the classic movies and stars of 1939 that were available for purchase during that Christmas season.

A good number of our readers expressed how much they enjoyed reading it and we thought that, given our current trying time, not unlike the Great Depression, Woolsey might like to share his thoughts and his extraordinary collection of dolls celebrating two of the greatest stars of that period, now icons of the entertainment world: Shirley Temple and Judy Garland.

Arthur Freed, Betty Grable, Busby Berkeley, Carmen Miranda, children's literature, Depression, film merchandising, Film Musicals, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, MGM musicals, movie costumes, movie dolls, movie posters, movie props, Movie Scripts, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, Rita Hayworth, Shirley Temple, THE WIZARD OF OZ, Turner Classic Movies, Vincente Minnelli, World War II

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10 LGBTQ PERFORMERS IN THE 1970’S

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 rising tide of LGBTQ performers that “came out” to express their unique take on music, theater and sexual (transgender) identity. Here are 10 of those performers and a brief look at what they contributed to the movement and to our culture. Click on the image to learn more about the performer.

LGBTQ Original Vintage Film & Theater Poster, LGBTQ Performance Videos

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2020 New York International Antiquarian Book Fair

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 history, black memorabilia and LGBTQ social history. As a result, we will be featuring the finest selection of vintage original movie postersmovie star photoslobby cardsmovie scripts & rare books, Hollywood movie memorabilia, African Americana and LGBTQ cultural history.

Here is a sampling of the areas that Walter Reuben represents:

African-American Memorabilia, Collecting LGBTQ Hollywood Movie Memorabilia, Collecting Movie Scripts and Screen Plays, Hollywood Movie Memorabilia, Original Vintage Film Posters, Original Vintage Lobby Cards, Original Vintage Movie Posters, Vintage Original Film Scripts

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WALTER REUBEN CATALOG 45|2020

WalterFilm.com’s fourth catalog (#45/2020) contains 96 pages that include vintage original photographs, posters, programs, pressbooks, lobby cards and film scripts. The categories encompassed are: Featured, Film Noir, Directors, Poster Art, LGBTQ, Comedy, Women, Literature and African Americana.

The catalog’s cover (above) is the original poster from the play PORGY by Dorothy and Dubois Heyward, which became the source for the opera PORGY AND BESS with book by Dubois Heyward and music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin.

African American Film Scripts, African American Movie Posters, African-American Memorabilia, Black Memorabilia, Collecting LGBTQ Hollywood Movie Memorabilia, Collecting Movie Scripts and Screen Plays, Film Comedies, Film Directors, Film Noir, Hollywood Movie Memorabilia, LGBTQ Original Vintage Film Scripts, LGBTQ Original Vintage Movie Star Photographs, Literature Into Film, Movie Star Photos For Sale, Original Vintage Lobby Cards, Original Vintage Movie Posters, Poster Art, Women In Film

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FIVE GAY ACTORS IN MID-CENTURY HOLLYWOOD

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, fearsome psychiatric studies, and Conservative diatribes decrying perversion.

Hiding In Plain Sight

Still, in spite of it all, gay men managed to make their way to very top of the acting profession in the gilded closets of Hollywood. In this covert context, bigtime careers and personal lives proceeded with a calculated risk that can fascinate us today. Here are five of the most noteworthy examples of gay actors in mid-Century Hollywood.

Anthony Perkins, Gay Actors, gay male movie stars, Gay Movie Stars, George Maharis, Liberace, male movie stars, Rock Hudson, Stephen Sondheim, Tab Hunter

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