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A Charles Le Maire and Bertha Kelly archive image 1
A Charles Le Maire and Bertha Kelly archive image 2
A Charles Le Maire and Bertha Kelly archive image 3
Lot 748

A Charles Le Maire and Bertha Kelly archive

30 November 2016, 12:00 EST
New York

Sold for US$1,250 inc. premium

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A Charles Le Maire and Bertha Kelly archive

Comprising several hundred typed and autograph pages of the manuscript of Charles Le Maire's unpublished autobiography; a bound manuscript of Le Maire's autobiography, approximately 300 pp; with 3 audio cassettes labeled "Charles Le Maire Book" and numbered; approximately 200 photographs, most 8 x 10 in, many labeled to versos in pen; approximately 20 small family photographs, 1920s; approximately twenty-five 35mm transparencies, most color and depicting costume design drawings; approximately 35 scripts from radio shows including The Fashion Show of the Air and The LaSalle Fashion Show, 1936-1937, bound with staples; a signed ("Bette Davis") copy of Bette Davis's book The Lonely Life, inscribed "For Bertha Kelly / My Best, Always"; an autograph letter signed from Bette Davis to Bertha Kelly, postmarked October 26, 1966, with original transmittal envelope; 4 typed letters signed ("Joan") from Joan Crawford, thanking Le Maire for Christmas cards, dated 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972; other papers and correspondence related to Le Maire's career; and a binder of celebrity photographs. Charles Le Maire (1897-1985) ranks among Hollywood's foremost costume designers, having created the costumes for several hundred films over four decades. His key credits include Miracle on 34th Street (1947), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), and An Affair to Remember (1957). This lot includes many typed and handwritten pages of Le Maire's unpublished autobiography, My Life from Z to Z (Ziegfeld to Zanuck) co-authored by his publicity agent, Bertha Kelly. The photographs in this lot include many portraits and candids of Le Maire, including one of him in uniform in 1918. There is also a photograph of Le Maire with Edith Head and two others holding their Academy Awards® for All About Eve (1950). Also included is a binder of photographs, many oversize, most autographed, acquired by Bertha Kelly in the 1930s-1940s, including signed pictures of Gilbert Roland, Ronald Colman, Nelson Eddy, and Benny Goodman and other big band musicians.
Bertha Kelly photo album: 1 ¾ x 12 ¼ x 17 in

Additional information

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