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Poster Artists Could Get Carried Away At Times

HONDOHONDO
in Poster Printing, Distribution, and Display
 The Love Mart  ( 1927 ). The artist that worked on the above U.S. lobby card let his imagination take over from what was clearly visible before him to copy.

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  • papergathererpapergatherer
    edited June 2016
    I would more call this artistic license.

    Considering that Billie Dove was not a blonde, with long cascading locks going down her back, and as this image was used on the lower, left corner of the lobby cards, Im of the thinking that the artist decided to "push the envelope." And to make this generic image a bit more alluring & titillating (no pun intended). B)
  • DavidDavid
    edited June 2016
    Artistic license indeed!

     


    The Love Mart

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Directed byGeorge Fitzmaurice
    Written byEdward Childs Carpenter
    Benjamin Glazer
    Edwin Justus Mayer
    StarringBillie Dove
    Gilbert Roland
    CinematographyLee Garmes
    Edited byStuart Heisler
    Distributed byFirst National Pictures
    Release dates
    • December 18, 1927
    Running time
    		80 minutes
    CountryUnited States
    LanguageSilent

    The Love Mart is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by George Fitzmaurice and featuring Boris Karloff. The film is lost.[1][2][3]


    Cast

    Production

    This film had the original title of Louisiana, as surviving publicity materials indicate; it was First National Pictures' production #103.[4]

    Survival status

    No copies of this film are currently known to exist. However, the Library of Congress has preserved some footage related to the production featuring Billie Dove. The purpose of the footage appears to have been to test some of Dove's hairstyles for the film. Still frames taken from this 'Hair Test' were posted on internet forums in February, 2012.




  • DavidDavid
    Decided to look for the 'Hair Test' online (see Library of Congress note above) I found this on the nitrateville.com forum:


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    silentfilm

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    postMon Feb 13, 2012 8:25 pm

    George Willeman of the Library of Congress recently took some frame captures of a surviving "hair" screen test of Billie Dove for The Love Mart, directed by George Fitzmaurice.

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    (Thanks to George for allowing me to share these pictures.)

    The Love Mart is a lost film. It would be interesting to see for a several reasons. First of all, Boris Karloff had an early role in this film as a slave master or auctioneer.

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    Karloff's photos go quite high on eBay, but I think that he's the guy in the big black hat under the window here.

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    Since the film dealth with the selling of slaves, it would have been interesting to see how it dealt with the topic of slavery and how it treated its black characters. On this postcard, Raymond Turner is identified next to Gilbert Roland. The plot had to do with Noah Beery getting revenge on Billie Dove's father by declaring that she is an "octoroon" (one-eighth African American) and she is sold in the slave market.

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    And of course it had the beautiful Billie Dove as the star (with Noah Beery), getting billed over Gilbert Roland.

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    Billie Dove, Emile Chautard and Gilbert Roland.
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    entredeuxguerres

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    postMon Feb 13, 2012 9:08 pm

    Love those spit-curls. (Though Billie was even more ravishing, I think, with a finger-waved bob.)
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    Gagman 66

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    postMon Feb 13, 2012 9:32 pm

    Bruce,

    D This is wonderful! It would be nice if TCM would dust off at least one of Billie's surviving First National Silents. Maybe THE TENDER HOUR, or SENSATION SEEKERS. Does THE AMERICAN BEAUTY exist?
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    Gagman 66

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    postMon Feb 13, 2012 11:04 pm

    Bruce,

    o Interestingly enough, when I hit auto contrast and auto brightness, this was the result. No tint of any kind has been added, but suddenly it looks like faded Two-color Technicolor. I could have spruced this up some more, but other than removing some artifacts, I did nothing else. The 4rth one doesn't seem to have quite as much color information. 


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    bobfells

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    postTue Feb 14, 2012 12:04 am

    Here's an original color lobby card:
    image
    Last edited by bobfells on Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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    Gagman 66

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    postTue Feb 14, 2012 12:05 am

    Bob,

    D Great lobby-card. I think I have a couple of posters and a trade ad in here someplace. If you can fix the teeth on Blanche sure would appreciate it. I haven't been able too.
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    bobfells

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    postTue Feb 14, 2012 12:36 am

    Gagman,

    I will take Blanche to the dentist ASAP. I suppose we should mention that this photo of Blanche Sweet can be found on our own little Elba known as "Colorizing Photos" under Collecting and Preservation.
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    Jim Reid

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    postTue Feb 14, 2012 9:53 am

    bobfells wrote:I suppose we should mention that this photo of Blanche Sweet can be found on our own little Elba known as "Colorizing Photos" under Collecting and Preservation.

    Thanks for the warning.
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    silentfilm

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    postTue Feb 14, 2012 10:44 am

    Here's a herald for The Love Mart:

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    When I first started collecting stills, I stumbled across a few from this film, and have been lucky to notice when more were for sale. 

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    Billie Dove

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    Billie Dove and Gilbert Roland

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    Billie Dove and Emile Chautard

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    Gilbert Roland, Billie Dove and Armand Kaliz
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    Gagman 66

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    postTue Feb 14, 2012 11:04 am

    Bruce,

     These are great. Makes you wish that the film would be uncovered. How recently was the Hair Test fragment discovered? Do you know? Is it a fairly recent discovery? I think I have a few other stills. I'll look for them.
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    silentfilm

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    postTue Feb 14, 2012 11:53 am

    The "hair test" photos were taken with a color camera of an original B&W image. Some of the other images George took had some nitrate deterioration (I did not post those here), and the film may have just had a slight natural tint to it.

    I have about 30 photos from the film at my website.

    I don't know if it was just recently discovered, but it was just examined by George Willeman at the Library of Congress.
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    silentfilm

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    postWed Feb 15, 2012 12:49 pm

    This test is from Irving Willat's personal collection. He was married to Dove before Howard Hughes stole her away.

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    Here's a 1922 Kodachrome test of Billie Dove from the same collection, courtesy of George Willeman.
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    LouieD

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    postWed Feb 15, 2012 1:04 pm

    silentfilm wrote:This test is from Irving Willat's personal collection. He was married to Dove before Howard Hughes stole her away.

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    Here's a 1922 Kodachrome test of Billie Dove from the same collection, courtesy of George Willeman.

    Nice, any idea if they have screeners at the LOC for these?
  • HONDOHONDO
     The beautiful Billie Dove ( 1901 - 1997 ). You can certainly see why Howard Hughes was attracted to her. Not very well known today as most of her films were lost in a fire and the majority were silent films.
  • HONDOHONDO
     The Stolen Bride ( 1927 ). Love this Billie Dove poster.
  • DavidDavid
    edited June 2016
    That is elegant, I'd frame it.
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