THE WORLD'S GREATEST SHOWMAN: THE LEGEND OF CECIL B. DEMILLE

Two large (12" x 14-1/4") volumes bound by the California Book Binding Company in maroon leatherette with gilt lettering and decorations created as a posthumous tribute to DeMille containing the important elements of the 1963 television documentary that highlighted the life and cinematic career of the legendary filmmaker. Each volume contains a photographic frontispiece of DeMille. Each page is written or decorated by hand or contains original photographs or letters. The first volume's preliminary matter imitates the opening credits of films of the time with a sequence of title cards, followed by photographs of actors facing the ORIGINAL SIGNED LETTERS they wrote in response to being invited to be part of the documentary, all tipped on to heavy paper. These include Yul Brynner, Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Anthony Quinn, Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, Gloria Swanson, and John Wayne. In addition, Billy Graham is included. The rest of the volume contains glossy photographs of past DeMille films and a multi-page hand-written time table of the filmmaker's career. The letters are quite wonderful tributes to DeMille. Betty Hutton's is the only handwritten letter. She says, "He was one of the greatest and kindest men I've ever known. I consider my picture, 'The Greatest Show on Earth,' one of the highlights of my life because of him." Anthony Quinn, who was DeMille's son-in-law, discusses the technical dreams the filmmaker had and writes a very personal tribute. In part: "Only many years later did we look into each others [sic] eyes. I saw that he was in search of a friend and not a deciple [sic]. He was vulnerable to love." Barbara Stanwyck states, "It is well for all to remember what Hollywood, and the motion picture industry, owes to the foresight and the daring of Cecil De Mille and to those who, in 1913, first shared his vision. Or those who, after them, followed the trail he blazed." Gloria Swanson's letter is short but telling: "Inasmuch as I did 7 consecutive silent pictures with Mr. DeMille, and then acted with him in the one and only talking picture he ever appeared in, it would seem strange if I were not a part of his life story. Besides, ours was a friendship which spanned many years, my admiration for the great man going back to when I was 17 years old." Only John Wayne is not represented by a signed letter but rather an inter-office communication explaining how they were having trouble reaching Wayne by ship-to-shore radio as Wayne was on his ship, the Wild Goose. The second volume contains the ORIGINAL TYPESCRIPT for the documentary with each page mounted on the rectos only of the heavy paper. In addition, this volume contains 2 ORIGINAL PAINTINGS of the set, one double-page and the other triple-page. An impressive, unique production and an important artifact of the history of Hollywood. A few pages have the photos partly separated from the heavy paper due to the drying of the glue, easily remedied if one wished. Near Fine.…