Multitudes: A Celebration of the Yale Collection of American Literature, 1911–2011

On view at Beinecke Library, Yale University, July 8 through October 1, 2011

Checklist and Descriptions: Film in the Archive

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Film in the Archive

There has long been a relationship between literary production and filmmaking—from the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathanael West toiling away to produce screenplays for the Hollywood studio system, to film versions of contemporary literary novels and short stories such as Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, and Annie Proulx’s “Brokeback Mountain.” The Collection documents filmmaking, with a particular emphasis on experimental projects, through the medium’s various paper trails: scripts, treatments, production materials, journals, stills, publicity ephemera such as posters and lobby cards, and, occasionally, rare footage of short films and home movies. Highlights can be found, for example, in papers relating to H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), Bryher (Annie Winifred Ellerman), and Kenneth Macpherson’s Pool Films and Close Up magazine, Stan Brakhage, Gerard Malanga, and the Gene Persson Collection of Dutchman Papers.

The Mark Wolff Collection of Photoplay Editions contains over 2000 volumes that document tie-ins between popular novels and motion pictures, ca. 1915–1960. A book is generally considered a photoplay if it features still photography from the film, or artwork depicting the film’s stars. Importantly, while the photoplay edition is often a reprint of a particular novel or play, or a novelization or adaptation from the screenplay, the earliest examples are sometimes the only remaining trace of lost films, especially silent movies. Moreover, given that past publishers such as Zebra, Saalfield, and Engel-Van Wiseman are somewhat obscure and that titles are often published in variant editions, the photoplay, as a genre, remains of interest to book lovers and cinephiles alike. The Mark Wolff Collection is complemented by modern first editions, other photoplays, and related manuscript material present in the Yale Collection of American Literature.

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Louisa May Alcott

Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott, illustrated with scenes from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture (Watford, Herts.: Bruce Publishing, ca. 1949; motion picture, 1949). Wolff Photoplay 11.

Little Women, or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa

M. Alcott, with photographs from the 1912 play Little Women by Marian De Forest (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1912). Wolff Photoplay 15.

Little Women Paper Doll Cut-Outs by Rachel Taft Dixon, used by permission from the RKO Radio Pic¬ture, Little Women (Racine, Wis.: Whitman Publish¬ing Company, ca. 1934).

Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott, authorized film edition illustrated with scenes from the RKO Radio Picture (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1934; motion picture, 1933). Wolff Photoplay 5.

Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo’s Boys by Louisa M. Alcott (Chicago: The Goldsmith Publishing Company, 1934). Dust jacket: Frankie Darro as “Dan” and David Durand as “Nat” in the Mascot Pictures film, 1934. Wolff Photoplay 56.

Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott, RKO Radio Pictures (New York: Books, Inc., ca. 1938; motion picture, 1933). Dust jacket: Katharine Hepburn, Frances Dee, Joan Bennett, and Jean Parker in a scene from the 1933 RKO film, Little Women. Wolff Photoplay 10.

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Southern Pastoral: Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, motion picture edition (New York: Macmillan Company, 1939). Wolff Photoplay +1.

Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind (New York: Macmillan, 1936).

Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, illustrated by Ben Stahl, anniversary edition (New York: Macmillan, 1961).

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Zane Grey and the Old West

The Light of Western Stars: A Romance by Zane Grey, illustrated with scenes from the Paramount Picture starring Richard Arlen (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1914; motion picture, 1930).

The Heritage of the Desert: A Novel by Zane Grey, illustrated with scenes from the Paramount Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1910; motion picture, 1924).

The Heritage of the Desert: A Novel by Zane Grey, illustrated with scenes from the Paramount Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1910; motion picture, 1932).

Fighting Caravans by Zane Grey, illustrated with scenes from the Paramount Picture, featuring Gary Cooper (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1929; motion picture, 1931).

The Border Legion by Zane Grey, illustrated with scenes from the Paramount Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca.1916; motion picture, 1924).

Lone Star Ranger: A Romance of the Border by Zane Grey, illustrated with scenes from the William Fox Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1915; motion picture, 1930). Wolff Photoplay 46.

Wildfire by Zane Grey, illustrated by Frank Tenney Johnson, with scenes from the Goldwyn Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1917; motion picture, 1922).

To the Last Man: A Novel by Zane Grey, illustrated by Frank Spradling, with scenes from the Paramount Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1922; motion picture, 1933).

Wanderer of the Wasteland by Zane Grey, illustrated with scenes from the Paramount Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1923; motion picture, 1924).

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David Belasco

The Girl of the Golden West: The Story of the Celebrated Opera Play, novelized from the play by David Belasco (New York: A.L. Burt Company, 1911; motion picture, 1930). Wolff Photoplay 1.

The Girl of the Golden West: The Story of the Celebrated Opera Play, novelized from the play by David Belasco (New York: A.L. Burt Company, 1911; motion picture, 1930). The Girl of the Golden West, novelized from the play by David Belasco, a Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer photoplay starring Jeanette Macdonald and Nelson Eddy (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1911; motion picture, 1938).

The Girl of the Golden West: The Story of the Celebrated Opera Play by David Belasco, a first National Vitaphone Picture based on this story, starring Ann Harding (London: Readers Library Publishing Company, ca. 1931).

The Girl of the Golden West: The Story of the Celebrated Opera Play by David Belasco, a first National Vitaphone Picture based on this story, starring Ann Harding (London: Readers Library Publishing Company, ca. 1931). Wolff Photoplay 53.

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Edith Wharton

The Old Maid dramatized by Zoë Akins from the novel by Edith Wharton (New York: London, D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., 1935).

Edith Wharton, The Old Maid (The “Fifties”), decorations by E.C. Caswell (New York: Appleton, 1924).

The Old Maid: (The “Fifties”) by Edith Wharton (New York: Gros-set & Dunlap, ca. 1924; motion picture, 1939). Wolff Photoplay 26.

Edith Wharton, The Children (New York; London: D. Appleton and Company, 1928).

The Marriage Playground, photoplay title of The Children by Edith Wharton, illustrated with scenes from the Paramount Picture featuring Mary Brian and Frederic March (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1928; motion picture, 1929). Wolff Photoplay 49.

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Herman Melville

Moby Dick, or, The White Whale by Herman Melville, illustrated with scenes from the Warner Bros. Picture, starring John Barry-more (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1925). Wolff Photoplay 31. Moby Dick, or The White Whale; photoplay title, The Sea Beast by Herman Melville, illustrated with scenes from the Warner Bros. Picture starring John Barrymore (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1925; motion picture, 1926).

Moby Dick, or The White Whale; photoplay title, The Sea Beast by Herman Melville, illustrated with scenes from the Warner Bros. Picture starring John Barrymore (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1925; motion picture, 1926). Wolff Photoplay 30.

The Story of Moby Dick: The Great White Whale, adapted from the novel by Herman Melville, illustrated with scenes from The Sea Beast, a Warner Bros. Picture starring John Barrymore (Racine, Wis.: Whitman Publishing Company, 1934; motion picture, 1926). Wolff Photoplay 29.

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Slave Ship, photoplay title of The Last Slaver by George S. King (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca.1933; motion picture, 1937). Wolff Photoplay 48.

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Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or, Life Among the Lowly by Harriet Beecher Stowe, illustrated with scenes from the Universal Super-Jewel Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1927).

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American Imaginary: Thomas Dixon and D. W. Griffith

America, or, The Sacrifice: A Romance of the American Revolution by Robert W. Chambers, illustrated with scenes from the D. W. Griffith photoplay America (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1924). Wolff Photoplay 13.

America, or, The Sacrifice: A Romance of the American Revolution by Robert W. Chambers, illustrated with scenes from the D. W. Griffith photoplay America (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1924). Wolff Photoplay 12. America, or, The Sacrifice: A Romance of the American Revolution by Robert W. Chambers, illustrated with scenes from the D. W. Griffith photoplay America (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1924). Wolff Photoplay 14.

Thomas Dixon, Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan, illustrated by Arthur I. Keller (New York: Doubleday, Page, 1905). Special issue, stamped in gilt on spine. Presentation leaf tipped in before half-title. Postcard with author’s autograph mounted on back of frontispiece. Signature of F.N. Hoyt, 3/14/1905 on dedication page.

Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan by Thomas Dixon, Jr.; illustrated with scenes from the D. W. Griffith photoplay, The Birth of a Nation, produced and copyrighted by Epoch Producing Corporation, (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1905; motion picture, 1915). Wolff Photoplay 35.

Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan by Thomas Dixon, Jr.; illustrated with scenes from the D. W. Griffith photoplay, The Birth of a Nation, produced and copyrighted by Epoch Producing Corporation, (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1905; motion picture, 1915). Wolff Photoplay 36.

Thomas Dixon, The Fall of a Nation, a sequel to The Birth of a Nation (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1916). “This novel is not a rehash of the idea of a foreign conquest of America based on the accidents of war. It is the study of the origin, meaning and destiny of American democracy by one who believes that the time is ripe in this country for a revival of the principles on which our republic was founded.”

Abraham Lincoln: His Life in Illinois, Being Year by Year Incidents from 1830 to 1865 written and compiled by H.E. Barker, illustrated with scenes from the motion picture Abe Lincoln in Illinois, starring Raymond Massey as “Abe Lincoln” (New York: M. Barrows and Company, 1940; RKO Pictures, 1940). Wolff Photoplay 9.

Robert E. Sherwood, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, a play in Twelve Scenes, with a foreword by Carl Sandburg (New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1939). Eugene O’Neill’s copy, with author’s presentation inscription to Eugene and Carlotta O’Neill, March 1939.

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The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby: A Paramount Picture, produced by Famous Players-Lasky Corp (New York City: Famous Players-Lasky Corp., ca. 1926). Photomechanical print lobby card for Herbert Brenon’s 1926 production of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925). Fitzgerald’s presentation copy to Gertrude Stein. With original dust wrappers (removed from Carl Van Vechten copy).

The Great Gatsby (Hollywood, CA: Paramount Pictures, 1948). “This material is the personal property of Paramount Pictures … [it is] private and confidential … return to Story Files,” pre- pro¬duction draft of Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum’s adaptation of Fitzgerald’s novel based on Owen Davis’ dramatization, dated January 29, 1948. First surviving rendering of The Great Gatsby to the screen.

The Great Gatsby: A Paramount Picture, produced by Famous Players-Lasky Corp (New York City: Famous Players-Lasky Corp., ca. 1926). Photomechanical print lobby card for Herbert Brenon’s 1926 production of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1950).

The Great Gatsby, Release Dialogue Script, September 1, 1948 by Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum (Hollywood, Calif.: Paramount Pictures, 1948). “Release Dialogue Scripts strictly for the private use of Paramount Pictures exchanges in checking the above subject.” Paginated according to film reels, of which there are nine: 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, and 5A.

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Oklahoma!

Lynn Riggs, Green Grow the Lilacs, a play (New York; Los Angeles; London: S. French, Ltd., 1931).

Richard Rodgers, Oklahoma! A musical play by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, based on Lynn Riggs’ Green Grow the Lilacs; book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II (New York, Random House, ca. 1943). Wolff Photoplay 58.

Richard Rodgers, Oklahoma! A musical play by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, based on Lynn Riggs’ Green Grow the Lilacs; book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II (New York, Random House, ca. 1943).

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Classics

Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, with illustrations by W.W. Denslow and scenes from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1939).

L. Frank Baum, Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with pictures by W.W. Denslow (Chicago; New York: G.M. Hill Co., 1900).

The Jazz Singer: A Story of Pathos and Laughter, novelized by Arline de Haas from the play by Samson Raphaelson, illustrated with scenes from the Warner Bros. Picture starring Al Jolson (London: Readers Library Publishing Company, 1928; motion picture, 1927). Wolff Photoplay 54.

In the Heat of the Night, screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, based on the novel by John Ball. Shooting script, with revision pages, for the 1967 film directed by Norman Jewison, starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, and Warren Oates. Stamped “Revised First Draft.”

John Dudley Ball, In the Heat of the Night (New York: Harper & Row, 1965). Uncorrected proof copy, with printing on recto only. Spiral bound. Pre-printed front wrapper, with blanks for title, author, etc. that have been filled in with typescript. Manuscript note in green ink by Langston Hughes on p. [1] of cover. From the library of Langston Hughes.

Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales of Mystery by Edgar Allan Poe, illustrated with scenes from the Universal Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1932). Wolff Photoplay 17.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, illustrated by Amy Drevenstedt, dust jacket illustrated with film still of Francis Lederer and Lynn Bari (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1927; motion picture, 1944). “This book, while produced under wartime conditions, in full compliance with government regulations for the con-servation of paper and other essential materials, is complete and unabridged.”

Goodbye, Mr Chips by James Hilton (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1939). Wolff Photoplay 52.

It Happened One Night, adapted by Robert Riskin from the Cosmopolitan magazine story “Night Bus” by Samuel Hopkins Adams, illustrated with scenes from the Columbia Picture It Happened One Night, starring Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert (Akron, Ohio: The Saalfield Publishing Company, ca. 1935). Wolff Photoplay 55.

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Suspense!

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1934; motion picture, 1946). “The novel on which MGM based its motion picture starring Lana Turner and John Garfield.” Wolff Photoplay 33.

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1934; motion picture, 1946). “The novel on which MGM based its motion picture starring Lana Turner and John Garfield.” Wolff Photoplay 34.

The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1931). The Paramount Picture, The Glass Key, starring George Raft, was released in 1935. Wolff Photoplay 38.

The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1931). The Paramount Picture, The Glass Key, starring Alan Ladd, was released in 1942. Wolff Photoplay 39.

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Carmen / Carmen Jones

Carmen by Prosper Mérimée, a Reader’s Library Film edition (London: Readers Library Publishing Company, ca. 1926). Motion picture produced by Films Albatros, distributed by Wardour Films, and starring Raquel Meller in the title role, 1926. Wolff Photoplay 59.

Carmen, based on Prosper Mérimée’s story, illustrated with scenes from the Paramount Picture, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Geraldine Farrar (New York: A.L. Burt, 1915). Wolff Photoplay 2.

Carmen Jones, 1954. Shooting script, with revision pages, for the 1954 musical film starring an all-black cast. The film, produced and directed by Otto Preminger and starring Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte, was based on the 1875 opera by George Bizet, the 1934 theatrical adaptation by Oscar Hammerstein, and the screenplay by Harry Kleiner. Two blank memo slips from Charles Bloch laid in.

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Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951)

Harry Sinclair Lewis was born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, where his boyhood home, at 812 Sinclair Lewis Avenue (formerly South 3rd Street), now functions as a museum. Lewis graduated from Yale in 1908, having written for the Yale Literary Magazine, and he published his first serious work, Our Mr. Wrenn, in 1914. Well known as a best-selling and prolific novelist, he also wrote plays, poetry, and short fiction, and collaborated on screen adaptations of his novels. His novel Main Street (1920) proved to be a publishing sensation, selling an estimated two million copies within just a couple of years. Lewis went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith (1925), which he refused, and in 1930 he became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Based for many years in Washington, D.C., Lewis spent his later years traveling throughout Europe, his literary reputation increasingly in decline in comparison with such great American prose stylists as Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner. He died in Rome following complications from alcoholism at the age of sixty-five. Sinclair Lewis Days are celebrated in Sauk Centre this year from July 10– July 16.

Sinclair Lewis, Nobel Prize Certificate, hand-painted certificate in case. Artwork by Olle Hjortzberg. December 10, 1930.

Talbot Studio photograph of Sinclair Lewis, n.d.

From the Sinclair Lewis Papers.

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Main Street

Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott by Sinclair Lewis, illustrated with scenes from the Warner Bros. Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1920; motion picture, 1923). Wolff Photoplay 41.

Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott by Sinclair Lewis, illustrated with scenes from the Warner Bros. Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1920; 1922 printing). Wolff Photoplay 42.

Studio photograph of Sinclair Lewis inscribed to Carl Van Vechten, May 27, 1924.

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Ann Vickers Ann Vickers by Sinclair Lewis (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1932). Pictured on the dust jacket is Irene Dunne as “Ann Vickers,” in the RKO Picture released in 1933. Wolff Photoplay 45.

Ann Vickers publicity card.

Manuscript example from “Ann Vickers” draft, incomplete, chapter 22 to end, undated.

From the Sinclair Lewis Papers.

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Babbitt

Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis, illustrated with scenes from the Warner Bros. Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1922; motion picture, 1924). Wolff Photoplay 43.

Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis, illustrated with scenes from the Warner Bros. Picture (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca. 1922; motion picture, 1924). Wolff Photoplay 44.

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Cass Timberlaine

Letter from Arthur Hornblow, Jr., MGM Studios, to Sinclair Lewis, April 8, 1947 (with envelope).

From the Sinclair Lewis Papers.

Sinclair Lewis, Cass Timberlane: A Novel of Husbands and Wives (New York: Random House, 1945). Variant dust wrapper.

Sinclair Lewis, Cass Timberlane: A Novel of Husbands and Wives (New York: Random House, 1945). Variant dust wrapper.

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It Can’t Happen Here

Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here: A Novel (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1935).

It Can’t Happen Here, a new version, by Sinclair Lewis, of the play by John C. Moffitt and Sinclair Lewis from the Lewis novel (New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1938).

Manuscript example, screenplay of “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sidney Howard from the novel by Sinclair Lewis, January 22, 1936.

From the Sinclair Lewis Papers.