EXPRESSIONISM

[Erich von Stroheim's lost film.] 'Final Shooting Script' of his adaptation (with Leonard Spigelgass and Geraldine Nomis) of Dawn Powell’s ‘Walking down Broadway’, for which he was sacked by the studio, the film being reshot as ‘Hello, Sister!’

Author: 
Erich von Stroheim (1885-1957), Austrian director and actor in Germany and Hollywood; Dawn Powell (1896-1965), author; Fox Film Company, California; Leonard Spigelgass; Geraldine Nomis
Publication details: 
'Fox Film Comp. / California'. 9 August 1932.
£450.00

Fox agreed to the film on condition that von Stroheim was limited to shooting 85,000 feet of film (around an hour and a half of screen time). The studio was pleased when he brought it in on time (he tied a thread around lead actor James Dunn’s genitals, and tugged on it every time he wanted him to show emotion) and on budget, but a screening left them appalled at the morbid content. Von Stroheim was sacked and the film was rewritten and renamed ‘Hello, Sister!’, with three-quarters of the original retained. It was a flop and von Stroheim chose never to direct again.

First printing of his essay '[Ur-Gerausch]' ['Primal Noise'].

Author: 
Rainer Maria Rilke
Publication details: 
In 'Das Inselschiff' (Leipzig: Im Insel-Verlag, October 1919).
£35.00

The magazine consists of 48 pages, octavo, in original yellow printed wraps. Dogeared, and on aged paper, and with the grubby wraps quite heavily worn. 12mo publicity handbill loosely inserted. Rilke's contribution, dated 'Soglio, am Tage Mariae Himmelfahrt 1919', is on pp 14-20.

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