Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 253

I recently won this Sky Devils publicity photo on eBay, which arrived in the mail yesterday. It was issued by Howard Hughes’ Caddo Company and the snipe on the back of the photo refers to Ann as “Hollywood’s latest Cinderella.” In late 1931/early 1932, this, along with the variation of “Hollywood’s new Cinderella,” was a label applied to Ann often. She had endured the lowly role of chorus girl for over two years at MGM, but referring to her casting in Scarface as an overnight success made for better press. The columnists ate up the Cinderella angle, and even though Ann had been at her wits end at MGM for quite some time, landing the role of Cesca Camonte as her first speaking part was indeed rather fantastic.

Less than a year after snagging Scarface, Ann would be on a slow boat to Europe for a honeymoon unauthorized by her studio and the press would stop making mention of her Cinderella story.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 245

In honor of today’s holiday, here is a photo of Ann Dvorak and Leslie Fenton hard at work on their Van Nuys ranch in 1933.

Even though Ann & Leslie joined the Screen Actors Guild pretty early on, I don’t have a sense of how strongly they supported the union. As far as I can tell, they were not active or vocal members and they even withdrew their membership for a time, something that was almost unheard of, according to SAG’s archivist. They eventually rejoined, which was a decision that would serve Ann well in her post-retirement years.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 244

It’s so hot in Los Angeles this week that it was 90 degrees in the Valley last night at 9:00pm. I think we should all follow Ann’s lead in the 1947 photo and hang out in Malibu – with a giant bucket.

Hope you’re all having a marvelous holiday weekend!

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 231

I haven’t updated my log lately, (yes, I keep a log of all the Ann Dvorak items in my collection) but at last count I own over 1,100 photos of Ann-D. Some images are favorites just because they are beautiful or unusual. Others because of the circumstances under which I found them.

This photo of Ann in Our Very Own falls under that latter category. I found it in the bottom of a box at a junk shop in Las Vegas around eight or nine years ago. If I am remembering correctly, my friend Darin and I had made the trip because Virginia Mayo was appearing at a paper show. We were able to spend a few minutes with her, though her strongest recollection of Out of the Blue, the film she made with Ann, was that “it wasn’t much of a picture.” Neither one of us are much for drinking or gambling (though Darin can sure clean up at that Wheel of Fortune slot machine) so when we’re in town we usually hit the antique shops. We were at a particularly junkie shop with piles of paper all arounf when I started digging in a box and found this photo at the bottom of it. “Hey look!” I exclaimed to Darin, “Ann Dvorak!” He was not impressed.

It’s really not that great a photo, but it is one of the few I have from this film and has a much better story than “I bought it on eBay.”

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 230

Here’s another piece from my modest Anna Lehr collection. Lehr (on the left) was Ann Dvorak’s mother and a respected film actress in her own right in the 1910s and early 20s. Unfortunately her movies are not around, but every so often I am able to find a piece of Mama Lehr memorabilia. This is a photo from the 1920 feature The Valley of Doubt with Arline Pretty. The film was produced by Lewis J. Selznick whose son Myron would later be Ann Dvorak’s agent. His other son David would not cast Ann as Melanie in Gone With the Wind, though he thought about it for a millisecond.

Happy Sunday!

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 226

As far as I know, Ann Dvorak only appears on one lobby card from the Republic Pictures feature Manhattan Merry-Go-Round. This is not counting the title card where Ann’s head shares the card with stars Phil Regan and Leo Carillo, along with Gene Autry, Cab Calloway, and Joe DiMaggio, among others who made cameos in the film.

It’s fitting Ann is only on one card as she is barely in the film and disappears for a large chunk of it. This was Ann’s second film as a freelancer, and despite it having DiMaggio singing “Have You Ever Been Lonely?” at gunpoint, it’s fairly mundane and possibly had Ann pining for those halcyon days of Warner Bros.

It’s only slightly noticeable in the photo, but the lobby card has a giant crease in the upper right hand corner, courtesy of the United States Postal Service.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 223

As I discusses last week, one of the byproducts of collecting on Ann Dvorak is the small collection of items I have accumulated relating to her mother, Anna Lehr.

Here is a handbill I bought at some point for the 1916 Triangle feature Civilization’s Child directed by Thomas Ince. Anna Lehr is quite prominent on this piece and appears in the two circular photos above, as well as the one on the bottom left. She also appears on the cover.

Once upon a time, I had the luxury of spending hours on eBay doing searches for all of Ann Dvorak and Anna Lehr’s film titles, which is how I came across this piece. Those days are long gone, so I am glad I was able to do some Anna Lehr fishing while I had the chance.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 221

I have had this Blind Alley lobby card set for so long, that I have come to take it for granted. I look at the title card every day because it’s hanging in the hall on the way to the bathroom. Sometimes I stop for a split second and think, “hey, that’s a pretty cool card,” but most of the time it does not register.

However, in revisiting them here today, I have to admit it’s a pretty great set. Ann Dvorak is in six of the eight cards (well, technically she’s in all eight of you count the border art), and the portrait card with her and Chester Morris is downright stunning.

Heck, even the ones without her are pretty cool. Just look at Ralph Bellamy sizing up Chester Morris and trying to figure out when he can start using the powers of psychology to slowly drive him insane.

And how about Joan Perry conveying sheer terror in the name of publicity?

I bought most of these at a London shop in 2002. They had the whole set for sale and at the time I already had two of the cards, including the title card. They guy at the shop was really cool and had no problem letting me break up the set. He charged me ten pounds for each card with Ann on it, which was like 15 American dollars, quite reasonable. For the two without Ann, he only asked five pounds a piece, which is why I went ahead and bought them.

Blind Alley was the first film of any merit Ann Dvorak made after becoming a freelancer. Sure, the film is a bit hoaky, but it’s a good yarn with a solid cast and Ann gets to be a hard-nosed dame while looking stunning. And – she showed up on most of the lobby cards.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 217

Ann Dvorak made A LOT of movies in 1934. After walking out on her contract for 9 months in 1932/33, Warner Bros. made her stew for a few months, but then seemed ready to make up for lost time and put her to work. Overall, the roles she got were supporting ones and she usually wasn’t prominently displayed on the poster art. An exception was Murder in the Clouds co-starring Lyle Talbot. A while back, we took a look at the one-sheet which features a gorgeous image of Ann and Lyle. Today is a lobby card from the film, which includes Ann, even if she’s not too prominent.

Curiously, this is the only lobby card I have seen from this film, so I am not sure if she was heavily utilized on the others.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 216

While amassing a massive Ann Dvorak collection since 1998, I have also managed to put together a respectable amount of items relating to her mother, Anna Lehr, who was a silent film actress from 1912 though the mid 1920s. Since Lehr’s career is limited to early silents, it’s not easy to memorabilia from her films, so I am rather proud of what I have been able to scrounge up.

Lehr’s most notable film is probably Laughing Bill Hyde, which was Will Rogers’ film debut. My understanding is that this is a “lost” film, so all that remains are photos like this one.