1920s Jazz Age Kenneth Alexander Large Photograph Vintage Cloche Hat Lili Damita

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Thanks to all our eBay bidders! We are honored to be your one-stop, 5-star source for vintage pin up, pulp magazines, original illustration art, decorative collectibles and ephemera with a wide and always changed assortment of antique and vintage items from the Victorian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Mid-Century Modern eras. All items are 100% guaranteed to be original, vintage, and as described. Please feel free to contact us with any and all questions about the items and our policies and please take a moment to peruse our other great eBay listings. All sell no reserve!ITEM: You are bidding on a vintage and original c. late 1920's jazz age Kenneth Alexander photograph of beautiful and seductive actress Lili Damita. A stunning, early tinsel town portrait, Damita gives off a reserved and sophisticated charm in a stylish cloche hat, and bold furs. This superb, early Hollywood artifact comes from the personal collection of Lili Damita and was purchased at Abell Auction House in Los Angeles in the 1980's. A fabulous collection of one of a kind photographs, such as this one, from the star's estate and dating to the early years of her career. A stunning and exceptional stylized view with incredible and beauty and provenance. Measures 10 1/2" x 13 3/4" with margins on a glossy, double weight paper stock. Ink stamps on verso. CONDITION:� This original, large format, gelatin silver photograph is in fine condition. There are pinholes in each of the corners, creasing/softening at the corners, a 1 3/4" crease from repeated handling in the bottom left of the photo, and surface/handling wear visible mostly under raking light. Please use the included images as a conditional guide. ******************** Lili Damita (July 10, 1904 – March 21, 1994) was a French actress and singer who appeared in 33 movies between 1922 and 1937. Born Liliane Marie-Madeleine Carré in Blaye, France, she was educated in convents and ballet schools in several European countries, including France, Spain and Portugal. At 14, she was enrolled as a dancer at the Opera de Paris. By the age of 16, she was performing in popular music halls, eventually appearing in the Revue at the Casino de Paris. She also worked as a photographic model. Offered a role in film as a prize for winning a magazine beauty competition in 1921, she appeared in several silent films before being offered her first leading role in Das Spielzeug von Paris (1925) by Hungarian-born director Michael Curtiz. She was an instant success, and Curtiz directed her in two more films: Fiaker Nr 13 (1926) and Der Goldene Schmetterling (1926). Damita continued appearing in German productions directed by Robert Wiene (Die Grosse Abenteuerin; 1927), G.W. Pabst (Man Spielt nicht mit der Liebe; 1926), and British director Graham Cutts (The Queen Was in the Parlour; 1927). In 1928, at the invitation of Samuel Goldwyn she went to Hollywood, making her American debut in a film titled The Rescue. Leased out to various studios, she appeared with stars such as Gary Cooper, Maurice Chevalier, Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, and James Cagney. Her films included the box office successes The Cock-Eyed World (1929), the semi-silent The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929), and This Is the Night (1932). In 1935, she married a virtual unknown who would become Hollywood's biggest box office attraction, Errol Flynn, with whom she had a son, Sean Flynn (born 1941). Following the marriage, she retired from the screen. The couple divorced in 1942. (Barbara Hershey portrayed her in the TV film My Wicked, Wicked Ways [1985] based on Errol Flynn's autobiography.) While living in Palm Beach, Florida, Damita married Allen Loomis, a retired Fort Dodge, Iowa dairy owner, and spent part of each year living there. During the Cambodian Civil War (Khmer Rouge Reign), her son Sean Flynn was working as a freelance photo journalist under contract to Time magazine when he and fellow journalist Dana Stone went missing on the road south of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on April 6, 1970. Although Damita spent an... read more

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