1932 MYRNA LOY PRE CODE MASTERPIECE LARGE FORMAT CLARENCE SINCLAIR BULL STUNNING

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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 changing assortment of antique and vintage items from the Victorian, art nouveau, art deco, & 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 1932 highly sophisticated art deco masterpiece of film photography, exquisitely posed, unusual blonde view of Myrna Loy, by Clarence Sinclair Bull, the MGM portraitist who had an uncanny ability to capture the magic of character in still photography. This unusual view is best described on paper caption on verso: "For her role in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer "The Wet Parade" Myrna Loy dons a blonde wig - which she wears in a modern fashion that features the seven points of beauty, the "widows peak" over the forehead - the two points over the temple and before each ear - and also the two beauty points in the knape of the neck. To emphasize these features the hair is dressed close to the head with a few tendril curls brought out at the sides and on one side of the forehead - and the ends done in a low knot at the back." Measures 10" x 13" on a semi-glossy double weight paper stock. This particular impression was used in Photoplay magazine May 1932, and comes from the Photoplay archive. It is inkstamped by Bull on verso with his pencil inventory number written beneath, the back features printers crop notations, the image itself is pristine, rare, and beautiful. 100% guaranteed original and vintage as always from Grapefruit Moon. CONDITION: This 1st generation original Hollywood photograph is in very fine condition, astonishingly pristine. ****************** Myrna Williams, later to become Myrna Loy, was born on August 2, 1905 in Radersburg, Montana. Her father was the youngest person ever elected to the Montana State legislature. Later on her family moved to Helena where she spent her youth. At the age of 13, Myrna's father died of influenza and the rest of the family moved to Los Angeles. She was educated in L.A. and the Westlake School for Girls where she caught the acting bug. She started at the age of 15 when she appeared in local stage productions in order to help support her family. Some of the stage plays were held in the now famous Grauman's Theater in Hollywood. Mrs. Rudolph Valentino happened to be in the audience one night who managed to pull some strings to get Myrna some parts in the motion picture industry. Her first film was a small part in the production of What Price Beauty? (1925). Later she appeared the same year in Pretty Ladies (1925) along with Joan Crawford. She was one of the few stars that would start in the silent movies and make a successful transition into the sound era. In the silent films, Myrna would appear as an exotic femme fatale. Later in the sound era, she would become a refined, wholesome character. Unable to land a contract with MGM, she continued to appear in small, bit roles, nothing that one could really call acting. In 1926, Myrna appeared in the Warner Brothers film called Satan in Sables (1925) which, at long last, landed her a contract. Her first appearance as a contract player was The Caveman (1926) where she played a maid. Although she was typecast over and over again as a vamp, Myrna continued to stay busy with small parts. Finally, in 1927, she received star billing in Bitter Apples (1927). The excitement was short lived as she returned to the usual smaller roles afterward. Myrna would take any role that would give her exposure and showcase the talent she felt was being wasted. It seemed that she would play one vamp after another. She wanted something better. Finally her contract ran out with warner and she signed with MGM where she got two meaty roles. One was in th... read more

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