FILM

Typed Letter Signed "Cav" [Alberto Cavacanti, film director] to Edward Marsh, translator of Anouilh, Cocteau and others.

Author: 
Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti (1897-198, Brazilian-born film director and producer.
Publication details: 
[Headed] A.de A. Cavalcanti 13 Shooters Hill Road Blackheath SE [London], 25 April 1949.
£120.00

One page, obl. 12mo, good condition. He appreicates being told about the Georges Neveux play on the radio [French playwright], but "unluckily" he missed it. "I had a very pleasant surprise in Italy. As I was entering my room at the hotel a door next door to it opened and Neveux was staying there. I had a long talk with him and he said that some french p[roducers (friends of his) who are interested in the story, might like to have a talk about the possibilities of an English collaboration and they might come to London with Georges. Of course I haven't heard from him since [...]".

Attractive and colourful 1930s scrapbook, compiled by G. H. Manchester of Ashton-under-Lyne, mainly devoted to motoring, but with pages of footballers, boxers, cricketers, tennis players, aircraft, film and radio stars, pretty girls, dandies.

Author: 
[Geoffrey H. Manchester of Ashton-under-Lyne; 1930s scrapbook; motoring; transport; motor sports; football; Hollywood stars]
Publication details: 
Mostly compiled between 1934 and 1937, with a few pages at the end from the 1950s and 1980s.
£160.00

Several hundred images (most illustrations rather than photographs and most in colour), many carefully cut out, all laid down on 68pp. in an album made up from a ruled exercise book roughly 20 x 16 cm, including three fold-outs (the first, beneath a decorative flap that reads 'Birds Unfeathered | Worth A Bit Of Study', carrying eight 1930s illustrations women in underwear). The album has been attractively customised with printed illustrations of motor racing over board covers.

Nine items relating to the film 'Antonio Gaudi, The Unfinished Vision', from the estate of its producer Michael J. Cooper, including a treatment by Cooper, a story outline with covering artwork, a signed contract, a legal letter and five receipts.

Author: 
Michael J. Cooper [Prof. Juan Bassegoda Nonell; Hedger Wallace; Mark Wenborn; John Alaimo; Fernando Rey]
Publication details: 
Mostly from Cooper's company: Michelangelo Productions Ltd., 50 Gray's Inn Road, London. 1973 and 1974.
£320.00

Regarded as lost for 35 years this drama documentary, directed by John Alaimo, was discovered in a Barcelona bank vault in 2009, and has recently been released on DVD. The nine items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. One: 'Gaudi | Treatment by Michael J. Cooper | April 1974'. [i] + 4pp., foolscap 8vo, in plastic folder. Two: 'Story Outline' for 'Antonio Gaudi | The Unfinished Vision | A Special Television Film Production'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the 'actor-dramatist and film adapter' Forbes Dawson to the naval writer 'Bartimeus' [Captain Sir Lewis Anselmo da Costa Ricci], describing his credentials for adapting stories for film.

Author: 
Forbes Dawson (b.1866), English 'actor-dramatist and film adapter' ['Bartimeus' [Captain Sir Lewis Anselmo da Costa Ricci [in 1941 altered to Ritchie] (1886-1967)]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, 15 Merton Hall Gardens, SW20. 14 August 1934.
£150.00

1p., 4to. On aged paper. Printed in block capitals at head of letter: 'Experienced actor-dramatist and film adapter. Author of plays and films produced in England and America. Expert in "Dramatic Construction" gained in years of practical experience on the stage, and in films. Adapts stories to the talking films, the bigger the story with opportunities of being developed on a large scale, the better.' Addressed to 'Commander L. A. da Costa Ricci | Naval & Military Club, | 94 Piccadilly | W'.

Advance Prospectus

Author: 
North American Films Corporation; George Munroe.
Publication details: 
[c.1913]
£150.00

Advance Prospectus, four pages, 4to, bifolium, fold marks, small closed tears along folds, sunned, minor staining, good condition. A detailed view of the state and potential of the Motiuon Picyure Industry is give (commercial, entertaining, educational, growth, attraction of stage stars, etc.) but apparently the invention of a fraudster.

A large collection of assorted Christmas Cards (c.1200) addressed by all and sundry to Michael Balcon and his wife

Author: 
[Michael Balcon, film producer, 1896-1977
Publication details: 
1930s-1970s.
£600.00

CINEMA EALING STUDIOS FILM CINEMATOGRAPHY AUTOGRAPH

Typed Letter Signed from the English actor and film director Milton Rosmer to the artist Jean Inglis.

Author: 
Milton Rosmer (1881-1971), British actor, film director and screenwriter [Gaumont-British Picture Corporation Ltd]
English actor and film director Milton Rosmer
Publication details: 
20 September 1933; on letterhead of the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation Ltd.
£28.00
English actor and film director Milton Rosmer

4to, 1 p. 15 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. In green ink. He is pleased that her 'footsteps are treading in high places', and hopes that this 'leads to as much golden reward as it seems to suggest'. He will see her friend 'Mr. Kennerley', but he cannot be 'encouraging' as he is not at present 'casting any picture', and will not be doing so for 'a month or so'. His 'activities now never seem to bring [him] to Hampstead', he hopes she will see him when she visits his 'neighbourhood'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Gilbert Parker.') to 'Mr Anderson'.

Author: 
Sir Gilbert Parker [Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker] (1862-1932), Canadian novelist and British politician [early cinema]
Publication details: 
5 April 1922; on letterhead of 24 Portman Square, [London] W.1.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. On aged, worn paper with small area of loss at head (not affecting text). He will be 'pleased to act on the Committee to judge of the stories for filming', and is glad that 'the work will not be onerous'. In a postscript gives the version of his name he wishes given for announcing ('Right Hon. Sir Gilbert Parker Bt.'). According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, no fewer than sixteen of Parker's novels were filmed. As head of British propaganda in America, 1914-1916, Parker had a direct involvement with the medium.

Typed Letter Signed to the actress Mary Lawton.

Author: 
Samuel L. ('Roxy') Rothapfel [Rothafel], American theatre impressario
Publication details: 
29 December 1917; on letterhead of the Rialto, Times Square, New York.
£56.00

One page, quarto. On paper discoloured with age. Attached along one edge of blank verso to card mount. Reads 'To simply tell you that your work is good would be putting it mildly. Things that I have heard all about me as I sat and watched the performance for the first time, from a loge seat, if you heard them, make [sic] you very very happy. | Your appearance is majestic; your enunciation beautiful; your reading and interpretation a delight. I cannot tell you how proud I am of you.

Autograph Signature ('H de Vere Stacpoole.').

Author: 
Henry de Vere Stacpoole [Harry] (1863-1951), Anglo-Irish novelist, best known for his often-filmed book 'The Blue Lagoon' (1908)
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£23.00

On a piece of thin card roughly 8.5 x 11.5 cm. Very good. Good signature, 7.5 cm long, neatly centred.

[Pamphlet] "Natural Photograph" Studio

Author: 
[William Friese-Greene; cinematography]
Publication details: 
203 Western Road, Brighton, [1908]
£100.00

Four pages, 12mo, mainly printed but made out in MS (by Friese-Greene?) to the client "Mrs Baldwin . . . no. 5508, paid 3/[3] . . . 7.9.08, rustmarks where a pin held it in a diary (loss of a letter os two), some wear and tear but mainly good. It gives information about Appointments, proofs, notices from periodicals and newspapers on his "Children's Portraiture", Copies, Enlargements and Miniatures, List of Terms, etc. On the first page it states "This department entirely managed by Mr.

Photographic portrait, with Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Arnold Korff (1870-1944), Austrian film actor who continued his film career in Hollywood on emigrating to America in the early 1930s
Publication details: 
Wien 25. Oct. 1923'.
£120.00

The sepia photograph, 10 x 7 cm, shows Korff's head and torso. He is dressed in the costume of a flying ace, with leather coat, gloves, googles and scarf, and is striking a match while staring moodily at the viewer. It is mounted on a leaf of cream paper (24 x 20 cm) removed from an album. In very good condition and attractively mounted, with a piece of nicely-patterned paper (12 x 8.5 cm) beneath the photograph acting as a frame. Korff's large, bold signature runs across the page beneath the phtograph, reading 'Arnold Korff | Wien 25. Oct. 1923'.

Photographic portrait by Letzer of Vienna, with Autograph Signature ('Raoul M. Aslan:') and quotation.

Author: 
Raoul Aslan [Raoul Maria Aslan-Zumpart] (1886-1958), Austro-German actor of Turkish extraction
Raoul
Publication details: 
Wien, Oktober 1923. -' [Photograph stamped at foot: 'Letzer | WIEN | VII. HOFSTALLSTR. 5.']
£120.00
Raoul

The sepia photograph, 10 x 7 cm, is a head and shoulders shot of Aslan staring at the viewer in the character of Hamlet holding Yorick's skull. It is neatly mounted on a leaf of cream paper (24 x 20 cm) removed from an album. The whole attractive and in good condition. In a firm, bold hand Aslan has written, across the page beneath the photograph: '"Zu was für schnöden Bestimmungen | wir doch kommen, Horatio"! - | (Hamlet) | Ein Erinnerung | [signed] Raoul M. Aslan: | Wien, Oktober 1923. -'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Osbert') to 'My dear James'.

Author: 
Osbert Sitwell [Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet] (1892-1969), English writer and aesthete
Publication details: 
Monday' [no date]; on illustrated letterhead of Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire (amended by Sitwell to 'Renishaw | N[ear]. Sheffield').
£120.00

12mo, 2 pp. Very good. Attractive letterhead with engraved illustration of 'Renishaw Hall | Derbyshire' (last word crossed out by Sitwell). Written in purple ink. Asks if there is 'anything to be made of a curtain-raiser, or short film, which wd. show Napoleon catching the cold, which lost him the Battle of Waterloo? . . It is an amusing idea.' He considers that it is 'sure to have been some very silly person who sneezed at him . . . Or is the idea nonsense!'

Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to unnamed male correspondent. With manuscript English translation.

Author: 
Eugenie Nau, French actress, active in the cinema between 1908 and 1924
Publication details: 
10 March [1919]; on letterhead of the Hotel Thorndike, Boston.
£75.00

Octavo, one page. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with the merest hint of a damp stain. English translation in contemporary hand on separate piece of 12mo paper, with slight loss at head (not affecting text). She has received no acknowledgement from him for 'the autograph which I sent you and a little book of verse sold for the benefit of the soldier who wrote them. The little book ought to be sold for at least 75 cents.

Autograph Signatures ('Gertrude Lawrence.', 'Ivy St. Helier' and 'Joyce Carey').

Author: 
Gertrude Lawrence (1898-1952), Ivy St Helier (1886-1971); Joyce Carey (1898-1993); English actresses associated with Noel Coward
Publication details: 
Dates and places not stated.
£85.00

On a leaf of cream paper, 8.5 x 12 cm, part of a bifolium taken from an autograph album. Very good. All three signatures are bold and clear. The signatures of Lawrence and St Helier are on one side of the leaf, and that of Carey is on the other. Lawrence's signature is in ink, and the other two in pencil. Three signatures,

Autograph Signatures ('Laurence Olivier' and 'Gladys Cooper').

Author: 
Laurence Olivier (1907-1989), English stage and film actor; Gladys Cooper (1888-1971), English actress
Publication details: 
Dates and places not stated.
£48.00

On piece of cream paper, roughly 8.5 x 12 cm, removed from an autograph album. Good, on paper with a few light marks. Bold, firm signatures in pencil, one on each side of the leaf. Two signatures,

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972), French actor and entertainer
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£35.00

On piece of pink paper roughly 8.5 x 11 cm. Laid down on slightly larger leaf from an autograph album. Good with a little paper and glue staining to the mount. Good bold signature, diagonally across the page.

draft typed letter signed to a Frenchman named Brandel

Author: 
Gerald Wynne Rushton
Publication details: 
3pp, 8vo, 27 August 1947, Haddiscoe Manor, Norfolk.
£100.00

English army officer and agent in the film business. Long and informed summary of 'the necessary points of our conversation'. Begins with description of Indian film industry: 'I have checked with India House these figures, and discovered that my sources of information are far more up to date than the Government's'. He encloses (not present) one of the stories he has found to 'make into Arabic films': 'Enslaved' by the Poet Laureate John Masefield. 'I have his written permission to make it into an Arab film'.

typed card signed to Robert Swan,

Author: 
Emlyn Williams
Publication details: 
17 June 1941, with Brixton postmark.
£15.00

Welsh actor, dramatist and theatre director (1905-1987). One page, 16mo. "I am afraid I am filming at the moment as well as playing in the theatre, and could not fit anything else in - I am so sorry."

Typed Note Signed to Malcolm Mackenzie, [The Empire Art Council].

Author: 
J. Arthur Rank.:
Publication details: 
London, 26 November 1951.
£25.00

One page, 4to, , sl. worn, text as follows: "I beg to acknowledge your letter of 21st. November, and I am glad to learn that the Council is doing such valuable work. Many thanks for keeping me in touch with the various activities.

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