Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 197

All this talk the last few days about the Other Company reminded me about one other piece of Ann Dvorak memorabilia I have that falls into the “studio authorized, unofficial” category. This title card from Ann’s first freelance film She’s No Lady, was more than likely produced by the Other Company and is from 1937, the same year as The Case of the Stuttering Bishop which we have recently taken an extensive look at. I bought this at a memorabilia convention many years ago and it took a long time for me to realize that what I had purchased was not the official Paramount poster. Unfortunately, I don’t own any of the Paramount cards from this film and only have the one-sheet which has already been covered. So, today is the lone day we’ll be looking at posters from She’s No Lady.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 196

The last few days, we have been taking a look at advertising art issued for the 1937 Perry Mason feature The Case of the Stuttering Bishop. For this film there were the materials produced by Warner Bros., along with those created by the Other Company, who had permission to manufacture items for markets where the official materials were less likely to be distributed.

The one restriction that was placed on the Other Company posters was that the name of the studio could not appear on the artwork. When it came to still photographs, the Other Company was at more of a disadvantage because Warner Bros. was not about to share their production stills.  That did not stop the Other Company from fulfilling their mission of providing advertising items to needy theaters. Instead, they found a photo of Stuttering Bishop star Donald Woods from another movie and superimposed a photo of Ann Dvorak from Massacre to make it look like they are sharing a courtroom scene together.

I have over 1,200 photos of Ann Dvorak, and this one stands out as one of the more bizarre of the bunch.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 195

I swear, we just have a couple more days of looking at memorabilia from The Case of the Stuttering Bishop. Yesterday, we covered lobby cards for the film that were issued by the Other Company. Today, it’s the official cards produced by Warner Bros.

Like the one-sheet, these lobby cards are simpler and have less graphics than their Other Company counter parts. In the late 1930s, Warner Bros. started using a linen-type paper for their lobby cards which have not aged well. Cards from this time period tend to be very brittle, which is why these ones in my collection have pieces broken off. Curiously, I have seen copies of the Other Company cards for sale multiple times over the years, but have seldom come across the Warner Cards.

In the film, Ann Dvorak wears a blonde wig as a disguise for a very short period of time, but whoever designed these cards must have been partial to blondes!

All three cards I own came from a defunct shop called the Hollywood Poster Exchange where I worked at one time. The shop was kind of a mess, which was part of its charm, and one day while I was rooting through a pile of paper on the counter, dug up one of these cards. “Look Bob,” I proclaimed to the owner, “Ann Dvorak!” He just rolled his eyes and went about his business. I checked the files and found the other two cards. I had another job at the time and usually worked for store credit at the poster shop. I eventually worked off the Stuttering Bishop cards, which were $15 dollars a piece.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 194

We’ve already spent a few days looking at official and un-official posters from The Case of the Stuttering Bishop, so what’s a few more? This was Ann Dvorak’s last film under her Warner Bros. contract, and since it was part of the Perry Mason series, it’s one of Ann’s more collectable titles. Considering Ann had been a thorn in the studio’s side through all of 1936, she was featured very prominently Warner poster art for this film.

Of course Warner Bros.’ attitude towards Ann Dvorak would not have been reflected in the Other Company art (an explanation of the company can be found here) who pretty much had free reign, other than not listing the name of the studio. They could, however, list that it starred Ann Dvorak (top billed here), Donald Woods – and a great cast. Here are few cards Other Company cards I own from the film.

Even though these Other Company cards are not official studio art, they tend to come up for sale more often than the Warner Bros. cards do. At times, I have seen them sell for upwards of $100 a card, though that’s probably because the buyer did not realize the card they were looking at was an authorized but unofficial poster supplement – with a great cast.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 193

Since we’re on the subject of  The Case of the Stuttering Bishop poster art (as covered in the Wednesday and Thursday posts), I figured we can keep rolling along because I  have a lot from this film.

Here is the official insert from the film. It’s the same images of Ann Dvorak and Donald Woods from the one sheet, and even though the red and green are still there, they’re much less pronounced than on the larger poster.

Sorry for the terrible photo. This was taken with an early digital camera around 2002 and I have not gotten around to re-doing any of these.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 192

Yesterday, we took a look at the Other Company poster for Ann’s last film on her Warner Bros. contract, The Case of Stuttering Bishop. Today, here’s the official Warner Bros. one-sheet for the same film.

The artwork is much more simple than the Other Company version with an emphasis on text over images. It is a nice photo of Ann, and I am amazed that Warner Bros. would feature her so prominently on the artwork, considering her legal battles with them for most of 1936 and the fact that by the time this film was released she was no longer under contract with them. The red and green is a weird combo and I don’t think I would hang this up outside of the holidays.

Even though the Other Company is, in my opinion, more aesthetically pleasing, collectors are particular so it’s the official Warner Bros. poster that is more in demand and commands a higher price tag. When it comes to Ann, I am not particular – I guess completest would be an accurate description, so I own them both.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 191

In 2002, I found this one-sheet for The Case of the Stuttering Bishop at a movie memorabilia convention. It was only $75, which seemed on the low side for a 1930s, Warner Bros., Perry Mason film, but I wasn’t going to question the price. I bought it and went on my merry way. Some years later, I found out why I paid so little so it – the poster was not an actual Warner Bros. promotional piece but was an “Other Company” one-sheet.

Back in early 1930s, the studios controlled most every aspect of movie distribution, which included the manufacturing and distributing of posters – a job that in the eyes of the studio was a bit of a drain on resources. Eventually, a company called the National Screen Service (NSS) took over this aspect of the business, and mass produced posters on a large scale, which is why items from the 1940s and beyond are much easier to come by than those of the 1930s. Before the NSS made it easier for theaters to get poster art, a small number of posters and lobby cards were produced and traveled from theater to theater with the reels of film. For some of the theaters in the less metropolitan areas, the posters would be in shreds or so massacred with pinholes by the time they arrives that they were unusable.

This is where the alternate poster companies came into the picture. In some places, theaters would employ individual artists who created unique artwork, and there is an excellent book available on this topic. Then there were companies who actually received permission from the studios to fill this gap for the smaller towns. Leader Press was one that was around in the early to mid-30s and as soon as they went out of business, the Other Company popped up (yup that was the name of the company).

The only restriction the studios seemed to have placed on these companies was that their name not appear on the posters. If you take a close look at this poster, you’ll notice that “Warner Bros.” is nowhere to be seen.  I’m not sure how long the Other Company was around or what studios they worked with. This poster appears to be a stone lithograph, and I actually think it’s much prettier than the Warner Bros. poster, which I also own.

Just because I have to come up with another six months of posts, I am going to wait until tomorrow to post the WB version and then you can decide which one you like better.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 190

Yesterday on eBay, I won the privileged of paying for this 8×10 embossed portrait of Ann by famed photographer George Hurrell. Money’s been a bit tight in our household lately, so I was hoping to get it for less than I did. But in all honesty I’m lucky it didn’t go for much more. Hurrell is one of those photographers that can cause collectors to go into a feeding frenzy.

A few years back, I wrote about the Hurrell’s in my collection that were personally owned by Ann. Since then, I have obtained three more Hurrell’s through various online auctions. I am actually kind of bummed that it’s autographed, mainly because it’s personalized and I have no clue who that person is. About nine years ago, there was a eBay dealer who had an unsigned copy of this same photo listed and he wanted $350 for it. When it didn’t sell, I contacted him and offered $150. He wouldn’t take it and something tells me it’s still at his place, collecting dust. If I have learned anything in 15 years of collection on Ann Dvorak, it’s that stuff always comes around again. It may have taken me almost a decade to add this photo to the collection, but I now have and at a price I can kind of live with.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 189

A Life of Her Own may contain one of the strongest performances of Ann Dvorak’s career, but it was a Lana Turner movie, and that’s how it was promoted by MGM. Of all the poster art that accompanied the film, I believe this lobby card is the only promotional piece that featured Ann. For as minimal as Ann’s appearance on the posters for A Life of Her Own may be, she still fared better on this film than Our Very Own where she didn’t even warrant a lobby card cameo. By 1950, Ann’s career was winding down which really was reflected in the poster art for her supporting roles.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 188

This window card from Dr. Socrates is one of those items I have had for so long that I sometimes take it for granted. In 2000, I was working at a memorabilia shop called the Hollywood Poster Exchange. The late, great Bob Colman, who ran the place, delighted in the fact that I collected on someone as obscure as Ann, and would tell everyone who walked through the doors about my interest. Long time customers would bring in Ann items to give me, and some of the other dealers would also bring in pieces to sell. This window card was one of those dealer items.

I think I paid around $125 for this window card, which was an astronomical sum at the time. However, considering I have not had the opportunity to obtain any other paper items from this film, I think the purchase price was worth it. This 10-year-old photo of the poster is rather lousy, but you’ll have to trust me that it’s impressive artwork in person and it’s not often that Warner Bros. posters featured Ann so prominently.