first edition
1917 · Bayshore, New York and/or Brooklyn, New York
Bayshore, New York and/or Brooklyn, New York: M. P. Publishing Co, 1917. Near Fine. A well-preserved relic from the early days of Hollywood celebrity and fandom culture, with many photographs of the leading stars of the day, some still well-known -- Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, the most obvious examples -- others, more obscure today, as exemplified by the actress featured on the cover with a color photograph -- Clara Kimball Young. (We note that plenty of commercial films were still being made in New York, but the migration to LA was well on its way at the time.) 4to. 25 by 17 cm. 170 pp. -- pagination includes front cover, not rear. Generally articles were connected with a new release, but the focus might be more on a star of the movie or a more oblique aspect of the film. Probably the best known film today to be treated in this issue was also a Pickford vehicle, and among her most famous roles -- "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", no less. Articles could be short and snappy, and we can't possibly touch on even a fraction of them, but we note a few that stood out to us. is an appreciation by Howard Chandler Christy of the star of cliffhanging serials, Pearl White. There is a piece entitled "The Art of Slinging Pie", which of course zeroes in on a Silent Era staple, since the medium really had no choice but to rely on broad slapstick comedy to garner laughs. A comparatively long article that isn't a movie puff piece is "Making Money with a Motion Picture Camera". Another, "The Morality of the Motion Picture World", the slant of the piece easy to surmise, but nonetheless, coming out well before the crescendo of scandal that rocked the film industry in the early to mid-twenties. Besides copious photographs of the stars, both in movie character and as themselves, there are caricatures, cartoons, etc. Among the large photos there was one of a young Billie Burke, who was at the time much more of a stage star. The magazine and especially this issue offers an inestimable amount of pleasurable discovery to the movie buff. And not to be dismissed are the advertisements, both for movie studios and unrelated products and services. The lightest of wear. Light age toning.
(Inventory #: 19841)