Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 176

Yesterday, we discussed the lack of Ann Dvorak on the lobby cards for the “lost” British War-time film, Squadron Leader X. The same cannot be said of Escape to Danger, the other lost British war film distributed by RKO and starring Eric Portman. For this title, Ann is on five of the lobby cards and I am assuming she is also on the title card, which I have not seen.

This film looks like it had a lot of Ann, so hopefully, it will turn up some day.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 175

When Ann Dvorak was in England during World War II, she made two films co-starring Eric Portman that were distributed by RKO – Squadron Leader X and Escape to Danger. Both films are considered “lost” and sought after, with former being on the British Film Institute’s list of most wanted films. I was once contacted by an RKO lawyer trying to find the film. Talk about desperate!

Even though both films were shown in American theaters, memorabilia from Escape to Danger seems to be much more plentiful. I have quite a few pieces from that film, including lobby cards, both half sheets, and a few stills. The one-sheet for Squadron Leader X pops up every so often, but I only have two photos and one of them was just purchased a couple of months back. About nine years ago, I had the opportunity to buy the entire lobby card set from Squadron Leader X and purchased it site unseen. Ann is one of the stars after all, so I figured she’d be good for at least three of the seven scene cards, and definitely the title card.

I remember the day the lobby car set came. My sister and I were leaving somewhere and we stopped off at the mailbox on the way to the car. My apartment was upstairs and the mailbox on the ground floor, so rather than going back up, we hopped in the car and I tore into the package. One by one we looked at each card while I kept shrieking from behind the steering wheel, “She HAS to be on at least one of these.” And she was…on ONE of them. Eight cards, and Ann Dvorak is only on one of them. Well, at least it’s a really pretty card.

The bright side of it all is that I have never come across this card again, so if I hadn’t taken the plunge and bought the whole set, I probably would not be able to share it now.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 173

By the fall of 1936, Warner Bros. had pretty much given up on Ann Dvorak. She had not made a movie with them for almost year because of illness, suspension, and lawsuits. Her days with the studio were numbered, so it’s surprising they would so prominently feature Ann on the poster art for Midnight Court, her penultimate film with them. Like most of Ann’s film during her tenure in Burbank her role in Midnight Court was a leading lady one in support of the male star of the film – in this case John Litel.

It’s not a great film, but moderately watchable and features the ugliest costume of Ann’s career which I have gleefully talked about before. If nothing else, Midnight Court afforded this Ann Dvorak collector a pretty poster.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 172

Here is another photo signed by Ann, but this one is a little different. It’s a portrait from the mid 1940s, around the time of Private Affairs of Bel Ami, which is one of the most glamorous sittings Ann ever did. The inscriptions reads, “With all my love, to Mama.”

I found this in an antique store on the North Shore of Oahu. The owner of the shop had acquired the contents of Ann’s storage unit a year or two after she died, and this photo was among the contents. Ann’s mom, Anna Lehr, had passed away almost six years before Ann did, and there is something rather sad about this photo being tucked away in a storage space. I’m certainly happy it’s now part of my collection.

I was actually going to use this photo in the last chapter of the book. However, once I received images of Ann towards the end of her life, this one was sacrificed. I was torn to see it go, but in the end I think it was the right decision.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 167

I have been in Las Vegas for the last couple of days, so in honor of my trip – here is a photo of Ann Dvorak and Joseph Schildkraut hitting the casino tables in Flame of Barbary Coast.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 166

We’ve spent a few  days looking at Ann’s signature over the years. For those of you interested in getting an authentic Ann Dvorak autograph here are a couple of photos to be aware of – the studio issued images signed by a secretary.

Both of these are from the later 1940s, measure 5×7, and appear to have been signed by the same person. These two are the images I have seen most often, so they are definitely floating around. Compared to the signatures we looked at yesterday, these are a much more fluid and flowery script.

What should an Ann Dvorak autograph cost? I my opinion, a cut signature should be around $15, and $20 would be pushing it. An 8×10 around $40 and an 11×14 around $75. Of course it also depends on the quality of the photo and who the photographer was. I have a number of Ann’s film and radio contracts and don’t think I ever paid more than $30 for any of those. I think the most I ever spent on an Ann signature was a 5 page letter she wrote to her agent in 1951 and that was around $100.

Ann was not stingy with here autograph, so they’re out there. Just be sure not to pay too much, especially if she was not the one doing the signing!

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 164

Yesterday, we looked at Ann’s signature from the early 1930s. Sometime around 1936, she altered it because someone had been forging her’s on checks. I looked through my mountain of photos and did not find any with the alternate autograph, so here are some paper examples.

The first one is off a 1950 talent agency contract and the second is a 1949 cut. The signature is much more loose than the earlier one, with the biggest difference being the large “D” with part of “vorak” residing within the first letter.

This last cut is from 1964, so you can see that Ann altered her signature very little over 30 years.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 163

Yesterday, we took a look at the first autographed photo of Ann-D I ever bought. Unfortunately, it turned out to not be her signature, but was probably signed by a studio secretary. Today, we take a look at the real deal.

Here we have two 11x14s signed by Ann sometime between 1932 and 1936. I know this because around 1936 Ann changed her signature. Apparently, someone was forging her signature on checks and so she altered her autograph. Here’s a closer look at the signature on the second photo.

The top photo I did not pay a dime for. A local dealer who I have known for years obtained it in a lot of other photos which he made a huge profit on, so he just handed it over to me one day!

The second photo I bought from an eBay dealer. As I recall, I had purchased some Ann item from him and asked if he had anything else, and he came up with this gorgeous shot. He wanted $120 which I really could not afford at the time. I offered $75 and once he realized that I was an obsessive fan and not a dealer who would try to turn a profit, he let it go for the $75. It has hung up in every place I have lived ever since.

The above cut signature is currently listed on eBay and is another example of Ann’s pre-1936 autograph. The asking price is $99 which is a bit high. The photo that’s with it usually goes for around $30-45 (assuming it’s original) and the cut should not be more than $20, so $50 is a more accurate price.

Tomorrow, we’ll dig up Ann’s post 1936 signature.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 162

This was the first autographed portrait of Ann I ever purchased. It was around 1998 or 1999 and I bought it in the main dealer room of a memorabilia show at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn. I opened up a binder and there she was with a mere $35 price tag. This was in my novice days of collecting and I had not yet developed my poker face, so when I started doing my happy dance the dealer half-jokingly asked if I would step away for a moment while he changed the price.

Turns out, the signature is fake.

I don’t think it’s a deliberate forgery. It looks like a vintage signature, so it was probably signed by a studio secretary. Still, it was a drag when I realized this a few years later but at least it a nice portrait…that has been kind of ruined with an unauthentic autograph.

It just goes to show that one should always be leery when purchasing any sort of celebrity signature that is not on an official document.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at what Ann’s signature actually looks like.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 161

Yesterday, I mentioned that I had started rescanning some of the photos that have been posted on this site for over ten years. I dove in with Scarface, and was amazed by how many cool portraits I have of Ann as Cesca Camonte. This was Ann’s first big role and looks striking with teased up hair and 5 feet of make-up piled on her face. She never looked quite this way again which is why these photos are some of my favorites.

So, here’s a little gallery of Cesca, along with a couple of Ann’s mentor Karen Morley as “Poppy.”