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FOX: A STANDARD OF BUSINESS IN THE REALM OF ENTERTAINMENT [1926] Studio exhibitor book

Vintage original studio exhibitor book, 15 3/4 x 9 1/2″ (40 x 24 cm.), about 120 pp., cloth-backed boards with embossed label on front cover, very minor bumping to covers, free endpapers have toning but an overall nice example, complete and with bright colors, with various sepia-toned and also color plates tipped in, as well as some full-page and double-page color plates, NEAR FINE.

Such illustrious directors as John Ford, Friedrich Murnau, Raoul Walsh and Howard Hawks get pages devoted to them and to such films as Hangman’s House, Mother Machree (Ford), What Price Glory (Walsh) and Fig Leaves (Hawks). Westerns were a staple at Fox in the 1920s, as evidenced by double-page spreads in rich full color devoted to the movies of Buck Jones and Tom Mix.

PARAMOUNT STUDIOS Exhibitor book, Aug 1923-Jul 1924

Oblong octavo, 9 3/8 x 6 1/2″ (24 x 16.5 cm.), embossed yapped covers, 23 pp., printed on recto only, light creasing where once folded, NEAR FINE.

The book primarily consists of single pages each devoted to upcoming Paramount releases.

PARAMOUNT 1933-1934: SHOW BUSINESS IN THE HANDS OF SHOWMEN Exhibitor book

[Hollywood]: Paramount pictures, 1933. Oblong folio, 14 x 17″ (36 x 44 cm.), printed wrappers, spiral bound, minor wear to edges of covers, generally NEAR FINE. A massive, and opulent, promotional book issued by Paramount at the height of the Depression, with some enormous double-page spreads, each measuring 14 x 34″[…]

FRANCO FILM [French exhibitor book] 1929-1930

Red embossed boards, about 100 pp., light rubbing to boards, NEAR FINE in VERY GOOD+ binding. French exhibitor book for a distributor which handled a number of important films at the very end of the silent era, many of which receive mostly four page photomontage layouts, including CE N’EST QUE VOTRE[…]

MARCH FORWARD WITH COLUMBIA PICTURES THROUGH 1933-1934 Exhibitor book

Folio, orange boards, with embossed Columbia Pictures seal and 1933-1934 notation both in silver foil on front, about 90 pp., some rubbing and spine wear to covers, internally in virtually immaculate condition, just about fine in very good binding.

An extremely impressive book, with a plethora of double-page plates, all in very rich, dramatic colors, and with the typical kinds of sexually suggestive illustration characteristic of the pre-Code era, which would abruptly come to an end a year later. Columbia’s fortunes had greatly improved since the silent era, and this book reflects the higher levels both of ambition and of self-confidence at the studio. That self-confidence would soon be justified several months later, when their release of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, by Frank Capra, one of their leading contract directors, became a massive commercial and critical success (and, subsequently, a huge winner at the Academy Awards ceremony). There is a single page devoted to Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse (Disney was then being distributed at Columbia; this is a very rare early image of Mickey Mouse in color.)

Among the many remarkable double-page, richly colored trade ads (all of them about 14 x 22”, or 36 x 54 cm.: Frank Capra’s LADY FOR A DAY; THE 9TH GUEST; SHADOWS OF SING SING; horror classic BLACK MOON; pre-Code movie THE HELL CAT; 20TH CENTURY; MAN’S CASTLE; HELL BIG BOY (with distinctive artwork, unsigned, but clearly by John Held, Jr.; film got released as LADY BY CHOICE); and a double-page spread devoted to Carole Lombard, who was just emerging as a major film actress.

YOUR LUCKY STAR (1930-31 MGM) Exhibitor book

Folio, stiff pictorial boards, 54 pp., pages are beginning to start, there is some wear to top and bottom of spine, light soiling to covers, but overall a really nice copy of this rare book, near fine in vg wrappers.

With elaborate, richly colored artwork for such varied films as King Vidor’s early talking film BILLY THE KID, Cecil B. DeMille’s MADAM SATAN, TRADER HORN, and with strong Art Deco graphics throughout, this is a very visually striking book. There are full page and double page trade ads for: a proposed Lon Chaney film, THE BUGLE SOUNDS, which would have been a very ambitious production, but was canceled due to his untimely death; the musical GOOD NEWS, with the very distinctive artwork, unsigned, of John Held, Jr.; RED DUST, which, at this point, was being proposed as a Garbo vehicle; as well as full-page sepia-toned photographic portraits of such then major stars as Joan Crawford, William Haines, and Ramon Novarro.

COLUMBIA PICTURES A National Institution PRESENTING TO YOU Twenty Four Superior and Dependable Productions….Season 1926-1927 [EXHIBITOR BOOK]

] Folio, printed wrappers with large embossed Columbia Pictures seal on front cover, yapped wrappers on pebbled, textured paper, 32 pp., a little wear and smudging to wrappers, the dates “1926 -27” written in red on front cover, a few pages coming loose, generally near fine in vg+ wrappers.

Columbia was as yet a scrappy little studio, but one with substantial ambition, as the many full-page trade ads (mostly for films that are now lost, providing us with tantalizing peeks at them) demonstrate.

RKO’S VICTORY PROGRAM (1942-43) Exhibitor book

Folio, about 60 pp., limp printed, blue wrappers. Spiral bound, the wrappers originally had a kind of cellophane overwrap, parts of which have peeled off, there is some marginal wear to wrappers, overall very good+.

An impressive book, which touts many double-page trade ads. That includes large 15 x 22” (32 x 56 cm.) ones for Orson Welles’ JOURNEY INTO FEAR, a series of Tarzan films, and one for Disney’s BAMBI (which most Disney collectors would consider, hands down, the finest published illustration art for this film). There are also other large trade ads for ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON, THE BIG STREET, PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, THEY GOT ME COVERED. Notably, there are also single full-page ads for four Val Lewton horror masterpieces (CAT PEOPLE, 7TH VICTIM I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, and THE LEOPARD MAN). As well as a single page devoted to Walt Disney cartoon shorts.

THE MONOGRAM STORY FOR 1944-45 Studio exhibitor yearbook

[Los Angeles]: Monogram Pictures, [1944]. Vintage original studio exhibitor yearbook. Pictorial wrappers, 12 1/4 x 9 1/4″ (31 x 23 cm.), pictorial stiff wrappers, 14 pp., just about fine.

Monogram was a scrappy little studio. This promotional book highlights various low-budget films noirs (John Dillinger, Mobster, When Strangers Marry, Gang War), Westerns (including four Johnny Mack Brown films and four Saddle Pals and Cisco Kid films), and ongoing series (three Charlie Chan films and two films featuring The Shadow). I can find no listings in OCLC.