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Bogey

The name perhaps means more things to more people than that of any other Hollywood hero. Bogart's ugly-handsome face, perpetual cigarette and rasping voice bespoke a man who was nobody's fool, a loner but never an outcast.

Humphrey Bogart was born in New York on January 23 ,1899. His father, Dr Belmont Deforest Bogart, was one of the city's most eminent surgeons. His mother Maud, was a magazine illustrator. After completing his studies at Trinity school, Bogart entered Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Expelled for bad behaviour, he joined the U.S Marines in 1918 and served several months. On his return to civilian life, he was hired by theatrical producer William A.Brady, who made him his road manager and encouraged him to try his hand at acting. His first appearances were somewhat unconvincing but Bogart persevered and gradually learned to master the craft

In 1929 he was spotted by a talent scout in Its a Wise Child and put under a year's contract by 20th Century Fox. At this period he was just a young stage actor with no particular following; the studio uncertain about how best to use him, tried him out in an assortment of genres. The results were uneven and unpromising and Bogart, after being loaned out to Universal for a brief appearance in Bad Sister (1931) - as a man about town who leaves his young wife in the lurch - returned to Broadway, convinced that he was through with cinema for good. Though he went on to make several movies on the 30's it was 1941 that catapulted him to one of the biggest, most immortal stars to this day.

In 1941, Bogart's luck suddenly changed for the better. He was given the lead in Walsh's High Sierra in place of George Raft (who had turned the part down). Although Ida Lupino had top billing and gave one of her finest performance, it was Bogart, in the role of Roy Earle an ageing and delusional gangster, who was the discovery of the film. For the first time he revealed a human dimension and depth which went beyond the requirements of the plot.

In 1941 this epitome of virile skepticism took on the features of Sam Spade. The character created in 1929 by the novelist Dashiell Hammett had already been twice adapted for the screen without success; however the third version of The Maltese Falcon, which was more faithful than the others to Hammett's novel, hit the jackpot. Surrounded by a brilliant cast, perfectly illustrated the ethics of the private eye. Intransigent, totally independent, indifferent to the police yet wholly unself-serving, his Spade had absolute authenticity. The Bogartian character had suddenly found its true physiognomy. He was and would remain a man who concealed his own needs behind a hard bitten exterior, who rejected all higher principles and distrusted all abstract causes. He was a loner who did not ask for help from anyone.

Casablanca (1942) and To Have and Have Not (1944) both cast him in the midst of a cosmopolitan and divided world. In these films, fascists, Gaullists and refugees of every kind attempt to obtain his support but Bogart remains very much his own man.

Original memorabilia from one of the big screens most important stars. He led a reclusive life and did not acknowledge his fans. He was known to refuse to sign autographs. Only on a rare occasion did he offer his autograph but usually to those who didn’t even ask for it and it was primarily to the working man or woman like th waitress or clerk that catered to his needs. In our Marlon Brando collection you will see we have two such prized treasures, both receiving the highest level of authentication PSA. And, as with all of our autographs we guarantee authenticity for life.

In addition, we have acquired some of the most historical and stunning original movie posters form his greatest work including “Godfather” , “A Streetcap Named Desire” and others.

Please let us know how we can help you build a museum quality collection.

Cary Grant (1904-1986)
Vintage Movie Posters, Autographs and Memorabilia
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British-born actor Cary Grant (born Archibald Leach) escaped his humble Bristol environs and unstable home life by joining an acrobatic troupe, where he became a stilt-walker. Numerous odd jobs kept him going until he tried acting, and, after moving to the United States, he managed to lose his accent, developing a clipped mid-Atlantic speaking style uniquely his own. After acting in Broadway musicals, Grant was signed in 1932 by Paramount Pictures to be built into leading-man material. His real name would never do for marquees, so the studio took the first initials of their top star Gary Cooper, reversed them, then filled in the "C" and "G" to come up with Cary Grant. After a year of nondescript roles, Grant was selected by Mae West to be her leading man in She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I'm No Angel(1934). A bit stiff-necked but undeniably sexy, Grant vaulted to stardom, though Paramount continued wasting his potential in second rate films.

Free at last from his Paramount obligations in 1935, Grant vowed never to be strictly bound to any one studio again, so he signed a dual contract with Columbia and RKO that allowed him to choose any "outside" roles he pleased. Sylvia Scarlett (1936) was the first film to fully demonstrate Grant's inspired comic flair, which would be utilized to the utmost in such knee-slappers as The Awful Truth (1937), Bringing Up Baby (1938), His Girl Friday (1939), and The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (1947). (Only in Arsenic and Old Lace [1941] did he overplay his hand and lapse into mugging.) The actor was also accomplished at straight drama, as evidenced in Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Destination Tokyo (1942), Crisis (1950), and in his favorite role as an irresponsible cockney in None but the Lonely Heart (1942), for which Grant was nominated for an Oscar -- he didn't win, although he was awarded a special Oscar for career achievement in 1970.

Off-stage, most of Grant's co-workers had nothing but praise for his craftsmanship and willingness to work with co-stars rather than at them. Among Grant's yea-sayers was director Alfred Hitchcock, who cast the actor in three of his best films, most notably the quintessential Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest (1959). Seemingly growing handsomer and more charming as he got older, Grant retained his stardom into the 1960s, enriching himself with lucrative percentage-of-profits deals on such box-office hits as Operation Petticoat (1959) and Charade (1964). Upon completing Walk, Don't Run in 1966, Grant decided he was through with filmmaking -- and he meant it. Devoting his remaining years to an executive position at a major cosmetics firm, Grant never appeared on a TV talk show and seldom granted newspaper interviews. In the 1980s, however, he became restless, and decided to embark on a nationwide lecture tour, confining himself exclusively to small towns in which the residents might otherwise never have the chance to see a Hollywood superstar in person. It was while preparing to lecture in Davenport, IA, that the 82-year-old Cary Grant suffered a sudden and fatal stroke in 1986.

Bela Lugosi shot to stardom in the title role of the 1931 film version of Bram Stokers Dracula and set the standard for movie vampires. A successful stage actor in his native Hungary and in Germany, he emigrated to the United States in the 1920s and played various character roles until grabbing the lead in the stage production of Dracula in 1927. Lugosi's talent for playing a villain led to a career of playing monsters and mad scientists, and it's generally accepted that he made a lot of bad choices. Some of his more memorable movies include The Black Cat (1934), Ninotchka (1939, starring Greta Garbo), The Wolfman (1941) and Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). In 1955 Lugosi committed himself to an institution, admitting an addiction to methadone. In his last years his personal life and career were on the skids, but he still worked a little in television and low-budget films. He died while working on what has been called one of the worst movies ever made, Plan 9 From Outer Space (released in 1959).

Today Bela Lugosi original vintage memorabilia including vintage movie posters and authentic autographs are highly sought after by collectors and command some of the highest premiums in the collecting industry. We hope you enjoy our exceptional Bela Lugosi Collection that we have built over the past 20 years

In his youth, George Reeves aspired to become a boxer, but gave up this pursuit because his mother was worried that he'd be seriously injured. Attracted to acting, Reeves attended the Pasadena Playhouse, where he starred in several productions. In 1939, Reeves was selected to play one of the Tarleton twins in the Selznick superproduction Gone With the Wind (1939). He made an excellent impression in the role, and spent the next few years playing roles of varying sizes at Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Paramount. He was praised by fans and reviewers alike for his performances in Lydia (1941) and So Proudly We Hail (1943); upon returning from WWII service, however, Reeves found it more difficult to get good roles. He starred in a few "B"'s and in the title role of the Columbia serial The Adventures of Sir Galahad (1949), but for the most part was shunted away in ordinary villain roles.

In 1951, he starred in the Lippert programmer Superman vs. the Mole Men, playing both the Man of Steel and his bespectacled alter ego, Clark Kent. This led to the immensely popular Superman TV series, in which Reeves starred from 1953 through 1957. While Superman saved Reeves' career, it also permanently typecast him. He made an appearance as wagon train leader James Stephen in Disney's Westward Ho, the Wagons! (1956), though the producer felt it expeditious to hide Reeves behind a heavy beard. While it is now commonly believed that Reeves was unable to get work after the cancellation of Superman in 1957, he was in fact poised to embark on several lucrative projects, including directing assignments on two medium-budget adventure pictures and a worldwide personal appearance tour. On June 16, 1959, Reeves died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. The official ruling was suicide -- and, since he left no note, it was assumed that Reeves was despondent over his flagging career. Since that time, however, there has been a mounting suspicion (engendered by the actor's friends and family) that George Reeves was murdered.

Soon to be released Holywoodland is based on the George Reeves story.

One of the most beloved Hollywood superstars, Jimmy Stewart became an American icon, due to his idiosyncratic style, ineffable charm, plus the good fortune of
having worked with many of the greatest directors in Hollywood, including Frank Capra, Ernst Lubitsch, Anthony Mann, George Stevens, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Ford. Stewart was a star in essentially two distinct incarnations. He was a light-comedy leading man of the late 1930s and much of the 1940s and then a western and action star in the 1950s.

Though he had acted while in college in the Princeton University Triangle Club, he did not take his performing seriously until his fellow classmate Joshua Logan convinced him to give the theater a try after graduation. Stewart agreed and joined Logan's University Players. With such members as Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan, it was quite a group. Stewart had a short and modest career in the theater before Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper discovered him, touting his naturalness to MGM. After a screen test, the stuido signed him and gave him a small part in The Murder Man (1935).

Stewart's first starring role was in a "B" movie, Speed (1936), and it took two directors outside of MGM to recognize Stewart's talent and appeal. Loaned out from MGM, George Stevens put him in two romantic comedies at RKO, the first with Ginger Rogers, Vivacious Lady (1938), and the second, The Shopworn Angel (1938), with pal Margaret Sullavan. Both were hits, and Stewart had become a bona-fide Hollywood leading man. But it was Frank Capra at Columbia who turned the leading man into a star with You Can't Take It With You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). The latter film brought Stewart his first Oscar nomination.

MGM continued to loan him out, this time for the comic western Destry Rides Again (1939), another hit. The actor's remarkable string of hits was finally abetted by MGM, which happily paired him with Margaret Sullavan in two excellent films, The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and The Mortal Storm (1940). That same year he also joined Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in The Philadelphia Story (1940), this time winning his one and only Best Actor Oscar.

Stewart made several other films before leaving Hollywood to join the war effort, but none were hits. When he returned from the service (he was a bomber pilot who made 20 sorties over Germany), he found that his charming innocence no longer appealed to movie audiences. His first film after the war, Frank Capra's inspiring It's a Wonderful Life (1946), was a box-office disappointment, though Stewart won another Oscar nomination for his performance in the film. Finally, in 1948, Stewart stopped his slide by playing a tough detective in Call Northside 777, but with his career still lacking focus, he made several more films of questionable quality. The change began when he starred in the surprise hit western directed by Anthony Mann, Winchester 73 (1950).

Between 1950 and 1955, Stewart starred in six westerns, all but one of them directed by Mann. Every one was a hit, and they presented a new Stewart persona. Instead of the sweet innocence of the 1930s and 1940s, he exhibited a hard edge of cynicism, anger, and violence. The actor starred in the first of his four Hitchcock thrillers in Rope (1948), but the movie was a flop. In the 1950s, however, Stewart starred in three of Hitchcock's best films of that decade, Rear Window (1954) with Grace Kelly, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and Vertigo (1958). Thanks to the westerns and Hitchcock films, 20 years after his motion picture debut, he was the number-one box office draw in the world.

He starred in Harvey (1950), a role he originated on Broadway, and the now much-admired The Spirit of St. Louis (1957). After his fifth and final Oscar nomination for his performance in Antomy of a Murder (1959), Stewart's career finally began to slow down. His work with director John Ford was noteworth, though only The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) was a fully realized masterpiece and money-maker. The actor clearly enjoyed himself starring along with his old friend Henry Fonda in a couple of minor westerns, Firecreek (1967) and The Cheyenne Social Club (1970), but the rest of his career was spent in featured supporting roles in movies such as The Shootist (1976) and The Big Sleep (1978). He also starred in a TV series and made numerous guest appearances on the little screen. James Stewart died in 1997. We hope you enjoy our James Stewart Collection as much as we do. .. . . This month we feature a video tribute to James Stewart, narrated by George Kennedy.

Although this tribute was produced just prior to Mr Stewart's passing we think it is quite special and we thought you would enoy it.

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]]> Site Admin (Kevin MC) http://www.cvtreasures.com/leading-men-john-wayne-c-66_79_134 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:40:57 -0400 http://www.cvtreasures.com/leading-men-charlie-chan-collection-c-66_79_160 Charlie Chan
Original Vintage Memorabilia - Vintage Movie Posters
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Charlie Chan appeared in six novels by Earl Derr Biggers published from 1925 to 1932. The first three novels were each adapted to film during the 1920s by different studios with George Kuwa, Sojin, and E.L. Park playing Charlie Chan. The best-known Charlie Chan movies are those of the long-running series that began in 1931 with Charlie Chan Carries On, starring Warner Oland for Fox Film Corp. Oland starred in a further fifteen Chan movies, up to the time of his death, after which the mantle passed to Sidney Toler. By this time, Fox had merged and been succeeded by 20th Century Fox, which produced eleven more Charlie Chan films through 1942. Toler then bought the screen rights himself, and arranged a new series for Monogram Pictures in 1944. Monogram made another eleven Chan films starring Toler and then six starring Roland Winters after Toler's death. The progression of Chan films from Oland to Toler (under the two incarnations of Fox), and especially to Monogram's films (whether with Toler or Winters), involved lower budgets and variable scripts, and generally less modern respect.

]]> Site Admin (Kevin MC) http://www.cvtreasures.com/leading-men-charlie-chan-collection-c-66_79_160 Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:11:14 -0400 http://www.cvtreasures.com/leading-men-rudolph-valentino-c-66_79_154 Site Admin (Kevin MC) http://www.cvtreasures.com/leading-men-rudolph-valentino-c-66_79_154 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:35:22 -0400