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A Tod Browning scrapbook image 1
A Tod Browning scrapbook image 2
Lot 872

A Tod Browning scrapbook

30 November 2016, 12:00 EST
New York

Sold for US$1,750 inc. premium

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A Tod Browning scrapbook

A large scrapbook with wooden covers bearing relief design of a ship, bound with cord, approximately 50 pp total with material pasted to 18 pp recto and verso, primarily clippings and photographs from 1913-1932 related to Tod Browning's early vaudeville comedy career and to his horror films. On the top of the first page with clippings, Browning wrote, "Just fun on a sailin' ship" in green ink. Notably, there is a telegram from actor Edward Van Sloan, who played Dr. Van Helsing in Browning's Dracula (1931), dated the day Dracula opened, February 12, 1931, addressed to Browning at Universal Studios, which reads: "Just saw Dracula congratulations it registered great regards / Edward Van Sloan." There are also several 1932 newspaper interviews with Browning conducted during the production of Freaks; in one interview, Browning makes rare and unusual public remarks about Lon Chaney for several paragraphs, discussing Chaney's skills as an actor and his irreplaceability. Stapled to one of these articles is a caricature of Browning pulling a two-headed monster from a hat, captioned "Tod Browning, The Edgar Allen [sic] Poe of the Movies." Browning also clipped and saved the Hollywood Reporter's incredibly vicious review of Freaks, headed "MGM's 'Freaks' Repellent / Appeal Mainly to Morbid," exactly the kind of press that undid Browning's directorial career. Browning saved a fan letter enthusiastically praising Freaks and dismissing the critics' vitriol. Coverage of Browning's vaudeville work includes programs to and clippings about the Whirl of Mirth burlesque show that he toured with cross-country, with an excellent 6 x 20 in panoramic photograph of the show's company featuring Browning, and reviews of Mutt and Jeff starring Browning, including a newspaper caricature of him in it. A 1910 love letter to Browning from a woman sent during the show's run has a follow-up letter from her husband, threatening to find Browning and physically attack him if he ever speaks to his wife again. Present also is a rare group of 13 black and white 9 ½ x 14 in advertising posters or flyers to Biograph comedy shorts from 1913-1914, in which Browning acted. Other materials include a snapshot of a young, clean-shaven Browning with a woman, possibly his first wife, and a 16 pp pressbook of The Virgin of Stamboul (1920) with Priscilla Dean with a clipping from its title page. With a small hardbound financial ledger, approximately 100 pp, notes in ink to 5 pp, 8vo, with ownership signature and address to front cover in ink: "Property / of / Tod Browning / Louisville / Ky / 2227 W Main"; a Christmas card from Lon Chaney, n.d.; several 8 x 10 in photographs of Browning, 1930s-1940s; an oversize portrait photograph of Browning's wife; 3 photographs of deformed women; a 2 pp pre-release newspaper advertisement for Dracula; and a Christmas card from Martha Morris, the armless girl from Freaks.
Scrapbook: 1 ¾ x 13 1/2 x 17 in

Additional information

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