more 30's film ads

I already posted some of these once, so here we go with another round of film ads from the early 30's (OK, there may be one or two from the late 20's).

We won an award!

Matthew, over at The Marx Brothers Council of Britain, has bestowed up this blog the "One Lovely Blog Award"! I heartily accept with great thanks. As per the rules of receiving this award, I must:

a) name the person that gave it to them,
b) post a photograph of themselves driving a tractor in a pinstripe suit,
and c) pass on the award to other deserving sites, letting their authors know that they have been chosen.

Seeing as I don't have access to a tractor and I have already done the first one, that only leaves the final option for which I have chosen 3 deserving sites:

1. John McElwee over at Greenbriar Picture Shows for his on going writings about classic films.

2. Amy Jeanne who offers us the super It'll Take The Snap Out of Your Garters! site which is one of the first blog I read when it was over at Live Journal. Her posts just keep getting better and better.

3. Finally, I must give recognition to Jonas over at All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing! for his continued great work to spread the word about early sound films.

Congrats to all the winners!

Janet Gaynor at the beach

These photos, originating from at least 2 different shoots, feature the LOVELY Miss Gaynor showing us what the well dressed beachcomber will be wearing in the early 30's.

"Can Anything Good Come Out of Hollywood?"

When I posted about this book back in March, I had just returned from Cinefest and hadn't had much time to go through it, but now I do so let's revisit it.

The book was published in 1923 and written by Laurance L. Hill and Silas E. Snyder and I initially thought it was a religious book touting the evils of Hollywood. After the quick read (it's only 64 pages) I found it to be a rather charming travel guide, trying to drum up commerce after the recent Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and William Desmond Taylor scandals (as mentioned inside).

Each section starts off giving a brief history of the city and goes on to present the case why in the early 1920's, Mom and Pop America shouldn't be afraid to come and enjoy the film industry section of "The Golden State". The religious and moral overtones ARE present throughout but always connected to present the city in the best light possible.

The best part of this book, for me, happens to be the numerous photographs showing the primitive Hollywood before structures covered nearly every square inch of earth and movie stars in candid poses. We also get to see some of the beautiful star homes in all their glory and without all the security needed today. I have left in the captions at the bottom of the pictures so one can see the religious angle of the book and have added some commentary where I think it fits.

Is that and early "H" from the "Hollywoodland" sign?

you can read all about the Studio Club here

what???

c'mon, no gossip???