A friend of mine has been working on a book about Maria Montez for eons (though I still think it’s taking him less time than I took on Ann Dvorak). Like me, he also collects vintage movie memorabilia on his subject and has amassed a decent collection. Recently, he asked if I stopped collecting on Ann Dvorak once the book was done. The answer was a resounding NO! I’ve been a collector since birth and always will be. It’s just in my blood whether I like it or not. Sometimes, when I look at my cluttered home, I wish I didn’t collect, but then I acknowledge how cool my stuff is and get over it.

I will admit to scaling back on the Ann Dvorak collecting the past few years, but this had been more about becoming a parent and having to shift my financial priorities, rather than completing the Ann Dvorak biography. Also, after collecting on Ann for seventeen years, there does not seem to be much stuff floating around that I do not already own. Still, 2014 turned out to be a pretty good year for Ann Dvorak memorabilia. Most if it came in the form of photos, but considering I have over 2,500 original pics of our dear Ann, I was actually surprised at some of my cool finds this year. And so, here are some of the highlights from 2014.

Mine at Last

The portrait at the top of this post, and the majorette photo below are ones that have come up on eBay multiple times over the years and I have always been outbid! Finally, I nabbed them both in 2014. I am guessing the portrait, by Warner Bros photographer Scotty Welbourne, is just so darn pretty that it has had mass appeal. Anything remotely cheesecake is always popular regardless of the actress, which is why I have had to battle for this one over the years.

Brunette Molly Louvain

The Strange Love of Molly Louvain has always been a personal favorite of mine because it’s one of the few films where Ann is the bonafide star. I am especially partial to the first part of the film when she shares scenes with Leslie Fenton, who she was in the process of falling madly in love with. Most scene stills I have found come from the second half of the film when she is wearing a bad blonde wig, so I am always jazzed to find Molly Louvain images with her natural hair. I recently scored these two with co-star Richard Cromwell.

 

Warner Bros. Goodies

To know me is to know I love Heat Lightning. In fact, I love this Warner Bros. pre-Code so much that I will collect pieces from it that Ann’s not even on! Still, it’s oh so sweet to come across stunners with Ann,  like this pic of her and co-star Aline MacMahon.  I am less enthralled with Housewife, co-starring Bette Davis, but isn’t this portrait of housewife Ann with George Brent stunning??

Ann Land

I am always excited to find photos of Ann at her Encino ranch house, which is where I was married in 2007. I came across this lovely photo in a newspaper around eight years ago and was thrilled to finally locate a print.

The find was somewhat bittersweet though. As you can see from the above 2008 photo that even though the patio had been enclosed at some point, it was otherwise virtually untouched, down to the light fixture. However, the wall and picture window were taken down in 2014 in order to expand the dining room. At least we have these photographic remembrances!

Candid Ann

If I had found this photo of Ann and Leslie Fenton at the U.S. Experiment Station for sugar cane in Hawaii two years ago, it would have gone into Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel. Ann and Leslie had spent the 1934 Christmas holiday on a quick trip to Hawaii, and the impression it left on Ann was deep enough that she relocated to the islands 25 years later. I actually posted a similar photo on this site, as it ran in a newspaper, so it’s great to have an actual print.

Getting Personal

A couple of weeks back, I wrote about acquiring the remaining items from Ann’s storage unit that had been sitting at a North Shore antique shop. Those photos were not the only Ann Dvorak personally owned images in 2014. As some of you may recall, in 2013, just as the book was being prepared for publication, I was contacted by someone who had some of Ann’s stuff. You can read about that adventure here, but the main takeaway from that negotiation was Ann’s scrapbook from her 1932/33 honeymoon (which can now be purchased in book form). Well, I was recently contacted by the same person about items that didn’t make it into the first batch and managed to secure those. This bunch mainly consisted of more scrapbook pages and family photos of people I cannot identify. For me, the most interesting piece is this one of Leslie Fenton, circa 1941 in his Royal Navy uniform. On the back, Ann wrote “Just a snap darling – will send more soon. You must see him in his coat etc. Love xx oo.”

My guess is that this was either sent to Ann’s mom, Anna Lehr or Leslie’s mom. What’s interesting about this snapshot is that it is laminated. Many of the photos from the storage until are also laminated so I am wondering if this was something Ann did to protect the photos from the damp Hawaiian air. If so, I find it fascinating that she would preserve a photo of  Leslie Fenton decades after divorcing him.

Chorus Cutie

I always get a cheap thrill out of finding items from Ann’s MGM chorus girl days. Up until now I had only found one photo with Ann from the 1930 William Haines flick Way out West, and that pic her face is not visible. I was thrilled to find this little gem with a sassy Ann all the way over on the left. This isn’t the first time I have seen this photo though, since it was used on sheet music for the film.

This lobby card from Lord Byron of Broadway might be my favorite piece of the year. To find photos of Ann among the chorus is one thing, but a lobby card is a whole other ball game!

Just in case you don’t spot Ann on the left side, here’s a closer look.

There are certainly other things I picked up during the year, but I think this pretty well conveys that even though the book has been out for over a year now, I am by no means finished with Ann Dvorak.

Happy New Year!