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.