Ingrid Bergman, Angela Lansbury, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten (starring); George Cukor (director); Walter Reisch, John Van Druten (screenwriters); Patrick Hamilton (play)
Vintage reference photograph from the set of the 1944 film noir, showing George Cukor directing the arrangement of a set of replica British Crown Jewels. Mimeo snipe on the verso. Based on Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play, and a remake of the 1940 British film starring Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynard. Nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning two, including Best Actress for Ingrid Bergman. 10 x 8 inches. Very Good plus, with two staples on the bottom left edge, and brief wear at the corners. National Film Registry. Grant US. Selby US. Silver Classic Noir. Spicer US.
Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison (starring); George Cukor (director); Alan Jay Lerner (play, screenwriter); George Bernard Shaw (play); Stanley Holloway (starring)
Vintage photograph of actors Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, producer Jack L. Warner, composer Frederick Loewe, production designer Cecil Beaton, writer Alan Jay Lerner, actor Stanley Holloway, and director George Cukor at the premiere of the 1964 film at the Criterion Theatre on October 21, 1964. Printed mimeo snipe on the bottom margin of the recto. Based on the 1956 Broadway musical by Lerner and Loewe, itself adapted from George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play "Pygmalion." Winner of eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Rex Harrison, reprising his Broadway and West End role as Henry Higgins. 10 x 8 inches. Near Fine. Ebert III.
Vintage one-sheet poster for the 1961 Argentinian release of the 1953 film. Director Ed Wood, Jr.'s auspicious feature film debut took on a subject no less controversial than cross-dressing. Originally titled "I Changed My Sex," used here for the Spanish Argentinian release, it is generally considered one of the worst films of all time, but has maintained a solid cult following over the decades due to Wood's decidedly distinctive style and z-budget production values. Ephemera from the film of any kind is rare. The aim of the film's producer, George Weiss, was to capitalize on the story of Christine Jorgensen, who in 1952 became one of the first Americans to undergo sex reassignment surgery. The film's first half guides the viewer down a crooked path that includes multiple narration techniques, BDSM pornography, and a buffalo stampede, to convey a story about a man named Glen who occasionally cross-dresses and identifies as Glenda, and struggles to gain acceptance from his girlfriend. The second half, added largely at the demand of the distributor to include sex change in the content, is about a intersex person named Alan who fights in World War II in women's underwear, finally returning from the conflict to have the surgery they have always desired. 29.25 x 43.25 inches, folded as issued. With light edgewear, a few small closed tears to the extremities, and a touch of foxing to the bottom left corner, else Near Fine. Bright and unfaded.
Upton Sinclair
Vintage manuscript note signed from Upton Sinclair to Florence Welch, circa 1930s, on Sinclair's personal letterhead. Florence Welch worked as a newspaper journalist and activist for women's suffrage in Topeka, Kansas, later moving to California and marrying Wagner, then a prominent artist and magazine writer. In 1929 the pair founded "Script," a left-leaning, weekly literary film magazine. Lifelong Socialists and advocates for progressive causes, the Wagners' "Script" gave a voice to blacklisted screenwriters (including Dalton Trumbo and Gordon Kahn) and prominent leftists, including Sinclair, Max Eastman, and William C. deMille. After Wagner's death Welch would remarry early aviator James L. Breese, living with him in New Mexico and California until her death in 1959. 7.75 x 5.5 inches. About Fine.
Vintage "Neil Young in Europe 76 with Crazy Horse" German tour poster for the four German dates (March 18-21, 1976) of his Japan and Europe tour in support of the 1975 Neil Young and Crazy Horse album "Zuma," and featuring all nine of Young's solo releases up to that point along the bottom edge of the graphic. In 1975 Young reformed Crazy Horse, replacing the late Danny Whitten with Frank Sampedro on rhythm guitar, alongside Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, to record his eighth studio album "Zuma," named after Zuma Beach in LA, where Young owned a home. A return to a more commercial form, following Young's "Ditch Trilogy," 'Time Fades Away" (1973), "On the Beach" (1974), and "Tonight's the Night" (1975), "Zuma" contained some of the most pop-oriented tunes Young had created in years, as well as the brilliant seven and a half minute epic "Cortez the Killer," which contains some of Young's most extensive solo guitar work since his 1969 album "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere." In support of the new album, Young and Crazy Horse began a tour of Japan and Europe, his first full European tour as a solo artist, in Nagoya Japan on March 3, 1976. Following seven dates in Japan, they began the European half of the tour on March 15 in Oslo, Norway and played a total of 15 concerts, ending on April 2 in Glasgow, Scotland, which included the four German dates on the poster offered here, March 18 in Heidelberg, March 19 in Offenbach, March 20 in Cologne, and March 21 in Hamburg. 30 x 23.5 inches. Folded, as issued. Very Good plus, with some light creasing to the far top left and diagonal crease to the top far right.
Charlie Chaplin (director, screenwriter, starring, subject); Upton Sinclair, Rob Wagner (subjects)
Vintage borderless vernacular photograph of actor Charlie Chaplin, writer Upton Sinclair, and editor and publisher Rob Wagner on the set of the 1918 silent film. Annotations in holograph ink on the verso identifying subjects. Wagner was the editor and publisher of "Script," a left-leaning, weekly literary film magazine published in Beverly Hills between 1929 and 1949. A lifelong Socialist and advocate for progressive causes, Wagner used "Script" to give a voice to blacklisted screenwriters (including Dalton Trumbo and Gordon Kahn) and prominent leftists, including Sinclair, Max Eastman, and William C. deMille. Wagner served as something of a father figure to Chaplin (who was about 17 years Wagner's junior) after the two men met sometime in the mid-1910s. The pair formed a close friendship, with Wagner serving as Chaplin's part-time secretary for a period, and accompanying the actor on his Third Liberty Loan tour through the American south in 1918. Wagner introduced Chaplin to Sinclair and Max Eastman, and together the three writers exerted a strong influence over Chaplin's political world view. Chaplin would go on to co-found the Motion Picture Relief Fund (which later became the Motion Picture and Television Fund) with Wagner in 1929. Approximately 5 x 4 inches. About Near Fine, lightly age toned.
Collection of 140 vintage silver gelatin and resin-coated press and reference photographs relating to computers and computer history. Every photograph with a dated Reference Library stamp on the verso, and many with mimeo snipes affixed to the versos. Dates span from the 1960s through the 1990s, although the balance date from the 1980s and 1990s. A varied and substantial collection, spanning computer use in homes, schools, businesses, and other aspects of American society. Included are images relating to calculators and palmtop computers, computer programs and applications, early "touchscreen" technology, CD-ROMs and disk drives, computer animation and screensavers, computer games and chess, printing devices, video teleconferencing, computer literacy classes, and computer-related merchandise. Collection also includes several photographs of computer and display manufacturing, and performance and endurance tests. All told, an impressive gathering of photographs relating to computer history from an important period of transition in both computer use and technology. Photographs range in size from 12 x 7.75 inches to approximately 5 x 5 inches, with the balance measuring 8 x 10 inches. Near Fine to Very Good plus, with light edgewear on some photographs, and resin-coated photographs evenly age toned.
Olivia de Havilland, Rob Wagner (subjects); Dick Whittington (photographer)
Two vintage photographs of actress Olivia de Havilland, publisher and editor Rob Wagner, and others, circa 1943. Both photographs with the stamp of photographer Dick Whittington on the verso. Although he enjoyed a lengthy career as a director, screenwriter, and magazine writer, Rob L. Wagner is best remembered today as the editor and publisher of "Script," a left-leaning, weekly literary film magazine published in Beverly Hills between 1929 and 1949. A lifelong Socialist and advocate for progressive causes, Wagner used "Script" to give a voice to blacklisted screenwriters (including Dalton Trumbo and Gordon Kahn) and prominent leftists, including Upton Sinclair, Max Eastman, and William C. deMille. Wagner also worked as the part-time secretary of Charlie Chaplin starting in 1915, and with Chaplin and others founded the Motion Picture Relief Fund (which later became the Motion Picture and Television Fund) in 1929, providing financial aid to film industry workers. Although we have not been able to determine the exact event, the photographs may have been taken during Olivia de Havilland's war bond tour with the Hollywood Bond Cavalcade in September, 1943. The cavalcade was a touring series of nationwide events to raise money for the Third War Loan in the US. 10 x 8 inches. Very Good plus, lightly curled and age toned.
Archive of 116 vintage evidence photographs (including 114 in black-and-white and three in color) of massage parlors in the Los Angeles area. Each photograph with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department stamps on the versos. Many photographs with annotations in holograph ink on the recto margins and on the versos, identifying locations, years, and subjects. Beginning in the early 1970s, Los Angeles saw the proliferation of massage parlors and adult stores, as well as an increase in prostitution by all genders. Provocative names-such as "House of Erotica," "The Institute of Oral Love," and "Tiger's Den," and the like-were used by the parlors to convey the idea that more could be obtained than just a massage. By the late 1970s, vice policing crackdowns on solicitation had a marked impact on the city's parlors, and many were shuttered by the 1980s. The archive on offer contains many images of massage parlor proprietors, managers, and workers, as well as a number of photographs of male clients, both immediately after being arrested, and later, while being held at the police station. Several photographs show police officers in uniform and in undercover plainclothes, at the parlors and at the station. The balance of the photographs, however, document parlor exterior advertising and interiors, with approximately 40 distinct locations represented. A fascinating artifact from a pivotal moment in Los Angeles history, capturing the heyday of the sex industry in the late 20th century. Approximately 5.25 x 5 inches. Near Fine, with color photographs lightly faded.
Draft script for the 1975 radio episode. Copy belonging to actor Gilbert Mack, with his name on the title page, and his annotations in holograph pencil throughout. CBS Radio Mystery Theatre was a radio drama series created by Himan Brown in 1974. It was broadcast on the CBS Radio Network every weeknight until 1982, with 1,399 episodes in total. This episode follows an elderly man who unexpectedly falls into a coma during a routine surgery as a result of medical negligence. Lacking wrappers, possibly as issued. Title page present, undated, with credits for director Himan Brown and screenwriter Ian Martin. 47 leaves, with last page of text numbered 47. Xerographic duplication, rectos only. Pages Very Good plus, unbound.
Archive of 38 letters and nine telegrams to publisher and progressive activist Florence Welch (then Florence Wagner), sent in response to the sudden death of Florence's husband, publisher and artist Rob L. Wagner, in 1942. Almost all letters and many telegrams with Welch's annotations in holograph pencil, identifying senders. Additionally included in the archive are two photographs, one showing Rob Wagner with an unknown man, and the other showing Wagner's son Thom. Welch worked as a newspaper journalist and activist for women's suffrage in Topeka, Kansas, later moving to California and marrying Wagner, then a prominent artist and magazine writer. In 1929 the pair founded "Script," a left-leaning, weekly literary film magazine. Lifelong Socialists and advocates for progressive causes, the Wagners' "Script" gave a voice to blacklisted screenwriters (including Dalton Trumbo and Gordon Kahn) and prominent leftists, including Upton Sinclair, Max Eastman, and William C. deMille. After Wagner's death Welch would remarry early aviator James L. Breese, living with him in New Mexico and California until her death in 1959. Archive includes telegrams from Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover, writer Upton Sinclair, director Ernst Lubitsch, producer David O. Selznick, actors Warren Williams and Charles Coburn, actress Dolores Costello, theatre mogul Sid Grauman, and manuscript letters from actor Edward Everett Horton, journalist George Cecil Cowing, writer Ernie Rydberg, actress Marjorie Noble, Federation of Jewish Welfare Organization president Jay B. Jacobs, journalist and editor Grace Kingsley, and African American actress Mary Alice Smith. Materials Near Fine to Very Good plus, with light creasing and edgewear.
Alexandra Tolstoy [Tolstaya]
Vintage manuscript letter signed from Alexandra Tolstoy, daughter of Leo Tolstoy, dated October 29, 1959, and addressed to Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist C.D. Batchelor. Included with the letter is the original mailing envelope. A warm letter, thanking Batchelor for a drawing and expressing wishes to meet again and gather mushrooms at "Friends Advice," the Maryland home of General Albert C. Wedemeyer. Alexandra Tolstoy was the youngest daughter of Leo Tolstoy. Serving as her father's secretary (and the eventual executor of his will), Tolstoy managed to save her father's estate during the Russian Revolution, although she herself was arrested five times and spent a year in prison for aiding an anticommunist group. Emigrating to the US in 1931, she founded a refugee aid nonprofit with fellow Russian expatriate Tatiana Schaufuss in 1939, and became a naturalized US citizen in 1941. Letter 5.5 x 4 inches, with text on recto and verso. Envelope 5.5 x 4.5 inches. Letter Fine, envelope Very Good plus, with dealer annotations in holograph ink on the front.
Vintage broadside advertising a motion picture show held at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Caughdenoy, New York, circa 1902. Thomas Edison patented the Kinetograph (a motion picture camera) and the Kinetoscope (a single-user, peep hole film viewer) in 1897. The latter would eventually give way to projection devices that would allow larger audiences to view films. The Edison Manufacturing Co. (later known as Thomas A. Edison, Inc.) not only built the apparatus for filming and projecting motion pictures, but also produced films for public consumption. Most early examples were "actuality films," short motion pictures showing famous people, news events, disasters, new modes of travel and technology, and expositions, as the broadside on offer attests. As audience enthusiasm for "actualities" faded, the company's production emphasis shifted to fictional films, mostly comedies and dramas, by 1903. 5.5 x 14.5 inches. Very Good plus, with faint foxing at the bottom right corner.
