Search Results: 1920s Cinema from Royal Books, Inc.

Beverly Hills, CA: Warner Brothers, 1922. Set of six vintage hand-tinted lobby cards for the 1922 film, including the title card. Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1922 novel. A young husband and wife spend money with aplomb, anticipating a large payout once the man's grandfather dies. Trouble ensues, however, when the patriarch passes away and they realize they have been left nothing in his will. Today considered a lost film. 14 x 11 inches. Very Good plus, some with pinholes to the corners.

N.p.: N.p.. Vintage portrait photograph of actress Claire McDowell to publicize the 1925 film "Ben Hur." With a mimeo snipe to the verso. 8 x 10 inches. Very Good plus, slightly wavy to the bottom edge.

Seattle, WA: Blue Mouse Theatre, 1926. Vintage newsletter for Seattle's Blue Mouse Theatre, Vol. 1, No. 4, for the week beginning Saturday, March 17, 1923. Newsletter features a two-color promotion for "The Beautiful and Damned" attached to the top left corner of the cover. The Blue Mouse Theater, still in operation today as the Tacoma Blue Mouse Jr., is Seattle's oldest movie theater. During the 1920s, the theater published a weekly newsletter every Saturday, promoting current and upcoming films, as well as Hollywood news and local interest. Promoted in the issue on offer here are the films "A Woman's Woman" (1922), "Suzanna" (1923), and "The Beautiful and Damned" (1922). 7.75 x 10.75 inches, one-color, bifold, with a two-color attachment. Very Good plus, with a faint horizontal crease and a tiny closed tear and chip to the top left.

Paris: Editions de la Sirene, 1921. First Edition. First Edition. Includes three original illustrations: two are primarily typographic layouts, one centered around Charlie Chaplin (each is lacking the applied paste-up elements, in the case of the Chaplin image, it lacks the photographic image that was pasted on and that appears in the finished illustration), and the third and most interesting is the original drawing for the illustration that appears on page 85, of three men. An seminal text on cinema, a reflection on then-current films by Epstein, one of the earliest and most important French critics. But just as importantly, a spectacular example of deco era typography and design by Claude Delbanne, utilizing elements of film culture, variations on posters, popular film culture, and Russian Constructivist design. Saddle stapled two-color wrappers, with illustrations laid in. A single tiny chip, else Near Fine.

Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers, 1923. Vintage double weight reference photograph from the 1923 film, showing actors Monte Blue and Marie Prevost. With manuscript pencil annotations regarding layout and the stamp of the N.E.A. Reference Department dated JUL 10 1924 to the verso. A young woman with a troubled marriage attempts to win back her husband. 7.5 x 10 inches. Very Good plus, with a small tear to the bottom edge and light soil to the border.

N.p.: N.p., 1929. Dialogue Draft script for the 1929 film. With manuscript pencil annotations on the front wrapper and throughout. Based on H.C. McNeile's 1920 novel "Bulldog Drummond." A former army captain bored with civilian life aids a young woman whose uncle has been wrongly committed to a psychiatric institution. The third Bulldog Drummond film to be released, following the silent films "Bulldog Drummond" (1923) and "Bulldog Drummond's Third Round." Actor Ronald Colman's first sound film. Set in London. Blue untitled wrappers. 59 leaves, with last page of text numbered 56. Mimeograph duplication, rectos only. Pages Near Fine, wrapper Very Good plus, bound with three gold brads.

Buffalo, NY: Pathe Exchange, 1927. Vintage reference photograph from the 1927 film, showing actress Eileen Percy. A nightclub dancer is suspected of killing a foreign spy. 10 x 8 inches. Very Good, with light wear and chipping to the margins (image not affected), and a light dampstain to the right edge.

N.p.: N.p., 1929. Vintage keybook reference photograph from the 1929 film, a late silent film combined with occasional musical and talking sequences, released by Paramount Pictures. Shot on location in San Gabriel, California. 10 x 8 inches. Very Good plus overall.

Los Angeles: Paramount Pictures, 1925. Vintage reference photograph from the 1925 silent film, showing actress Pola Negri holding a small goat. With a mimeo snipe on the verso. A dancer achieves sudden fame and wealth when she is discovered performing in a Spanish cafe and brought to New York, but soon finds life in high society is more difficult than glamorous. Now considered to be a lost film. Set in New York and Spain. 10 x 8 inches. Very Good plus, with light, even toning and edgewear.

Berlin: Ross Verlag, 1920. Collection of ten vintage UFA postcards, including two depicting scenes from F.W. Murnau's "Faust" (1926) and eight depicting scenes from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (1927). 5.5 x 3.5 inches. Lightly and evenly toned, else Near Fine.

Culver City, CA: Columbia Pictures, 1929. Vintage publicity photograph from the 1929 film, showing actress Ruth Taylor posing in a backless gown. With a mimeo snipe on the verso. Taylor was best known for her performance as Lorelei Lee in Malcom St. Clair's adaptation of Anita Loos' "Gentleman Prefer Blondes," alongside actors Alice White and Ford Sterling. Taylor also appeared in "Butter Fingers" (1925), "Flirty Four-Flushers" (1926), and "Just Married" (1928). 8 x 10 inches. Very Good plus overall, with a few nicks along the bottom edge.

Los Angeles: The Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1929. Final Continuity script for the 1929 film. Copy belonging to assistant director H. Bruce Humberstone, with his manuscript pencil annotations on the front wrapper and several pages, mostly regarding sequencing for scenes. The film was released in silent and sound versions, and included with the script are ten sets of dialogue intended for use in the sound release, housed in a tan card folder. Based on the 1928 novel by Blair Niles. A prisoner on fictional Devil's Island is selected as a house boy for the wife of the prison warden. The two begin to fall in love with each other. Set in fictional Devil's Island, shot on location at Catalina Island, California. Red titled wrappers, rubber-stamped copy No. 11. Distribution page present, with receipt removed, noted as Sound Version. Title page present, noted as Final Continuity. Approximately 130 leaves, with pages missing page numbers. Mimeograph duplication, rectos only. Pages Near Fine, wrapper Very… Read More

Beverly Hills, CA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM], 1927. Vintage reference photograph of actress Dorothy Sebastian from the 1927 film. With a mimeo snipe to the verso. The exploits of a wealthy woman blackmailing her fiance into marriage. Now considered a lost film. Set in Paris. 8 x 10 inches. Very Good plus, with light edgewear.

N.p.: N.p., 1928. Vintage linen-backed borderless reference photograph from the 1928 film, showing actors Florence Vidor and Lawrence Grant. Based on Warwick Deeping's 1927 novel. Believing his beloved will accept his marriage proposal, a lonely farmer cuts down and sells wood from a beloved stand of trees to update the farm for her. After considering the hardships of farm life, however, the woman chooses to marry a wealthy banker instead, a decision she later comes to regret. Set in Sussex. 7 x 9.25 inches. Faintly toned, else Near Fine.

Los Angeles: Paramount Pictures, 1921. Vintage reference photograph of actress May McAvoy from the 1921 silent film. With the stamp of Realart Pictures on the verso. Today considered a lost film. 8 x 10 inches. Very Good, with a few small one inch tears and accompanying creasing to the edges.

Los Angeles: Paramount Pictures, 1921. Vintage press portrait photograph of Nita Naldi to publicize the 1921 film. With a seller stamp on the verso. Based on the 1914 Broadway play. A moral allegory, wherein Youth (Richard Barthelmess) leaves home at the urgings of Ambition, guided by Experience and Opportunity, and (hopefully) not waylaid by Pleasure, Beauty, Temptation, or Chance. 8 x 10 inches. Very Good, with a horizontal crease to the bottom edge, and light, even toning.

Los Angeles: Metro Pictures Corporation, 1923. Vintage reference photograph from the 1923 film, showing actress Mae Murray in a large beaded headdress and yoke. With the stamps of Wide World Photos and King Features Syndicate to the verso, along with a mimeo snipe dated 12/13/23. After emigrating to America, two Russian peasant sisters begin very different lives, one posing as a princess and marrying a millionaire, the other continuing to live in poverty. 8 x 10 inches. Very Good, slightly wavy, with the bottom left corner chipped, and a one inch closed tear to the top right corner.

N.p.: N.p., 1924. Vintage reference photograph from the 1924 film. Annotations in manuscript pencil on the verso. A blind sea captain takes his revenge on the cruel pirate who separated him from his wife 18 years prior. 10 x 8 inches. Very Good, lightly age toned, with a vertical tear affecting the center photograph, repaired with paper tape on the verso.

Los Angeles: Paramount Pictures, 1926. Vintage reference photograph of actress Arlette Marchal from the 1926 film. Based on the 1927 novel by Zane Grey (not published until a year after the film's release). A fugitive is left in the desert to die by his outlaw partner, but is rescued by a young rancher, unaware that romantic entanglements with a neighboring rancher's daughter will complicate their friendship. Now considered to be a lost film. Shot on location in Hurricane Bluffs, Utah. 10 x 8 inches. Very Good, with light toning and edgewear, and a small chip to the right edge.

N.p.: N.p., 1925. Four vintage portrait photographs of actress Blanche Sweet, likely to publicize the 1925 film "The Sporting Venus." Three with the stamp of King Features Syndicate to the verso, and with mimeo snipes to the versos of two of the images. Sweet made her breakthrough appearance in D.W. Griffith's 1913 film "Judith of Bethulia," and went on to star in a number of silent films, including "The Unpardonable Sin" (1919), "Anna Christie" (1923), and "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (1924). As with many of her contemporaries, her career began to flag with the advent of sound film, and she retired from Hollywood in 1930. Three photographs 8 x 10 inches, one photograph 7.5 x 10 inches. Three photographs Very Good plus, slightly wavy with light edgewear and toning, one photograph Very Good, with small tears to the bottom edge.