The Book May Be Done, But It’ll Never Be Perfect
Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 43
(Image from eBay)
I just won this portrait of Ann and Eric Portman on eBay. It’s from Squadron Leader X, a 1943 feature Ann made in Britain which is now a sought after “lost” film. Unlike Ann’s other films from the 1940s, photos from this one are really hard to come by, which is why I paid 40 bucks for it (I would love to know who the hell bid me up that high). I actually would have liked to use this in the book, and probably could have waited the extra week and a half before submitting the final manuscript in order to include it. However, there was no guarantee I was going to get it and, quite frankly, I just wanted to get the damn thing done and turned in.
It just goes to show that I could work on this project for the next 10 years, and it would never be truly perfect. As I mentioned in the last Biography Progress Report, the only photos I had access to of Ann’s last husband are lost in the mail somewhere and there are some other minor leads that I never followed-up on. Even in the final months of writing, there were key pieces of info that popped up, and I am sure people will come out of the woodwork with great stories once the book is published.
So no, by Ann Dvorak biography is not going to be perfect, but it’s damn close (and for all I know, this photo can get lost in the mail)!
“A work of art is never finished, it is merely abandoned” i swear it wasnt me who bid you up that high, wow $40 thats nothing to sneeze at for a still! on a completely diff note I watched Midnight Court last night for the first time…i enjoyed it for what it was, it reminded somewhat of the Warren William film The Mouthpiece, but not as good. Ann certainly didnt have much to challenge her in that role but she was great to see and elevated the picture just by being there. I still have 5 new-to-me Ann films here waiting for me 🙂 thats a shame about Squaron Leader X being lost 🙁