Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 100

Hard to believe that we are already 100 days into 2013. Even harder to believe that I have actually managed to write about Ann Dvorak for every day this year.

In honor of day 100, here is one of my favorite photos of Ann with James Cagney in The Crowd Roars. This image was used on one of the lobby cards for the film. It came up for action a few years back and was breathtaking. This was back in my pre-wife & mother days when I had some money to burn and bid $500. I did not get it, or you would be seeing it here instead of this still. This image was also used on the 24-sheet for The Strange Love of Molly Louvain with a banner of text blocking Cagney’s face.

That’s 100 down and 265 to go. Oy!

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 99

I work at the Central Library in Downtown Los Angeles which has an especially cool little shop on the premises. The Library Store has an assortment of unusual gifty things along with books (of course), and if you’re related to me you have probably received a B-Day or X-Mas present from the store.

One day while I was in line to purchase something, I had to stop myself from screaming when I saw this postcard. To the untrained eye, this may look like a bizarre photo of girls sprawled out on giant letters spelling out HOLLYWOOD REVUE. Well, it actually is that – but, I knew that this kitschy display was a “living billboard” set up at the corner of Wilshire Blvd & Shatto Place in June of 1929 advertising MGM’s all talking, all singing, all dancing Hollywood Revue of 1929. I also instantly knew that sitting on the first O in Hollywood is none other than Ann Dvorak.

I actually think the display was re-created somewhere on the MGM lot for this photo, because I don’t see how the photographer would have gotten this vantage point on the street where the billboard was built-up fairly high. Also, the girls look way too happy which leads me to believe they are not being exposed to the elements in this particular image. I have a photo of the actual street side display, which I am using in the book, and the ladies look miserable.

I ended up purchasing 3 or 4 copies of the postcard, but didn’t bother explaining to the cashier why even though I really wanted to. I would have probably confused and bored her if I did. I hung one card up in my office and have no clue where I put the other ones, meaning Ann Dvorak will pop up in the darndest place when I am cleaning out a closest at home.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 98

There was so much news about the book last week that I was sidetracked from posts about photos I had picked up over the years to use, but didn’t because they are not of Ann. Today’s entry is a still and postcard of Sylvia Sidney in costume for The Way to Love.

Sidney had originally been cast as Madeleine, a forlorn gypsy opposite Maurice Chevalier in this 1933 feature from Paramount. A combination of illness and studio difficulties caused Sidney to walk off the picture, and Ann was loaned-out to Paramount from Warner Bros. to fill in. Therefore, this first film Ann made after returning from an 8-month long honeymoon in Europe with Leslie Fenton was not for her home studio.

Sidney had worked on the film for around a month, which apparently was ample time for her to pose for publicity stills. Ann stepped in and can be seen wearing these same costumes in the movie. Ann later claimed that fans would sometimes mistakenly ask her to sign materials from The Way to Love with Sidney on them, which she found amusing.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 97

I am not exactly sure what the deal with jumbo lobby cards are. Unlike the standard 11″x14″ lobby cards, which were issued for all movies, jumbo lobby cards were created for select films and printed at 14″x17″ on a linen stock. In all my years of collecting, I have not come across too many jumbo lobby cards in general, so it’s rather amazing that I own three with Ann Dvorak. Two of them are from the 1935 20th Century feature Thanks a Million and the other is this one from Paramount’s The Way to Love. Both these titles were loan outs for Ann, and come to think of it, I can’t recall ever having seen a jumbo lobby card for a Warner Bros. film. Does anyone know if Warner put these out for any of their films? What I wouldn’t give for a Three on a Match jumbo lobby card, though I seriously doubt they were ever produced.

The Way to Love is not one of Ann’s best movies, but this card is so beautiful that it’s a favorite piece in my collection and occupies precious space on a wall at home. However, I’d probably take it down and replace it in a second if one of a coked-up Ann in Three on a Match ever showed up.