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HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1920) Pressbook

Mark Twain (source), Julia Crawford (screenplay) New York: Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, [1920]. Vintage original pressbook, printed wrappers, stapled, 16 x 11″ (41 x 28 cm.), 12 pp. Folded once across the middle (as issued), there are two distributor stamps at the top and bottom of both covers, with some smudges and scuffs scattered on the front cover and small separation at the right end of the horizontal fold, very good.

An extremely scarce promotional book (the OCLC records no known copy) for the first film adaptation of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Director William Desmond Taylor had previously helmed the film productions TOM SAWYER (1917) and HUCK AND TOM (1918).

HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1920) Half sheet poster

[Los Angeles]: Paramount Artcraft Pictures, [1920]. Vintage original 22 x 28″ (56 x 71 cm.) half sheet poster, This poster was backed with archival conservation paper; at the time, various primarily marginal tears and wear to the extreme edges were conserved, overall very good-.

This was the third of three feature films directed for Paramount by William Desmond Taylor, whose 1922 murder remains one of the most famous Hollywood scandals (and unsolved mysteries). Lewis Sargent and Gordon Griffith portrayed Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.

This was the first screen adaptation of Mark Twain’s novel. Many would follow. This is an exceedingly scarce poster — the only one which I have ever seen, and, in fact, the only poster in any format which I have ever known to exist.

ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, THE (1939) Lobby card

Mark Twain (source) [Hollywood}: MGM, [1939]. Vintage original 11 x 14″ (28 x 36 cm.) lobby card, JUST ABOUT FINE. 

Nice close-up of Mickey Rooney as Huck Finn in this MGM production directed by Richard Thorpe.

PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, THE (1937) Errol Flynn and Mauch brothers

Mark Twain (source) [Hollywood]: Warner Brothers, [1937]. Vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) glossy black-and-white print still photo, with mimeographed studio text in label affixed on verso, JUST ABOUT FINE.

A portrait of Errol Flynn with Billy and Bobby Mauch. After a couple of years of obscurity, he burst into prominence when he starred in Captain Blood (1935). The Prince and the Pauper was only his fourth starring role in Hollywood.

PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, THE (1916) Promotional flyer

Mark Twain (source) Hollywood: Famous Players Film Co., 1916. Vintage original 8 x 6″ (20 x 15 cm.) promotional flyer, 4 pp. USA, NEAR FINE. Marguerite Clark, a great film star of the 1920s, starred as both the Prince and the Pauper. This appears to be the earliest film adaptation[…]

ALEXIS SMITH (1943) Glamour portrait by Bert Six

Vintage original 10 x 8″ (25 x 20 cm.) black and white single weight glossy silver gelatin print still photo, USA. Original paper snipe on the verso and the ink stamp of Bert Six, Warner Bros. Slight edge wear at the top, slight corner creasing. ABOUT FINE.

Found in drama school by Warner Brothers scouts in 1940, Alexis Smith paid her dues at the studio for 3 years playing bits and roles in shorts. By 1943 she had been dubbed the “dynamite girl” and was moved to roles as leading ladies. She felt this label held her career back, but Warner’s sometimes cast her in rewarding roles which ran the gamut of comedy, melodrama, musicals, noir and costume pieces.

Portrait photographer Bert Six photographed her in the most glamorous of 1940s modes to promote her in THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN, the period biography which did allow her to show her acting range.