Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 88

On March 29, 1933, Warner Bros. sent Ann Dvorak a letter officially reinstating her contract. Ann had been suspended after walking out on her contract the previous July to go on an extended honeymoon with her bridegroom, Leslie Fenton. They had returned to Los Angeles on March 22, and the studio was anxious to resolve the issues with their wayward actress, who they had recently invested $40,000 in after purchasing her contract from Howard Hughes.

Considering Ann skipped town and made some unfavorable comments about the studio system to the press, Warner Bros. was actually fairly generous towards Ann. The exercised all her options while she was away and even though she was technically on suspension, Ann came back to a raise in pay. Additionally, they did not tack the suspension time onto the end of her contract, a common practice in those days. It probably helped that Ann had fired her agent, Charles Feldman, who had encouraged her to leave and talk to the press, replacing him with Myron Selznick. Even though Selznick could play hardball like no other, he could see that Warner Bros was offering a good deal, so Ann signed the March 29th letter, agreeing to the terms.

Now that Ann was back on the payroll, all she needed was a movie to act in. Five months later, she was still waiting…