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#NF-20 - “How I Broke into the Movies” - by 60 Famous Screen Stars - 1929 - $100.00 Copyright and privately published by Hal C. Herman, who for the next 20 years (minus a few during WWII), was a publicist for Universal Picture Studios and Universal Motion Picture Studios, this was Hal’s personal copy, and was only recently purchased by us from Hal’s widow. It is hardbound in red cloth illustrated and lettered in gold. It measure approx. 8” x 10.75” and has 127 pages. Note that the publication date is just about the time that “talkies were first appearing! Perhaps the most unique thing about the book is the way it was set up. This came about because of the importance Hal placed on certain aspects of his profession. Each actor or actress is afforded one page for a full size “head-shot” photo, and the facing page for their story... completed with a facsimile of their most commonly used signature at that time. Thus, it because a sort of universal autograph book... one that could be used to obtain a “real” autograph, without any inconvenience to the actor! 60 names would take up too much time and space here, but a partial list of notables includes: Wallace Beery, Clara Bow, William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy), Charlie Chaplin, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Lon Chaney, Marion Davies, Douglas Fairbanks, Greta Garbo, Hoot Gibson, Al Jolson, Buster Keaton, Tom Mix, Colleen Moore, Ramon Navarro, Mary Pickford, Will Rogers and Gloria Swanson. Many of these early head-shots are ones that are rarely seen today... or even in other publications during their tenure. The condition is VeryGood+, with light bumping and rubbing at the corners and edges. It appears that this book was privately published, on a limited budget, therefore the cover is somewhere between “soft” and “hard”. It is slightly flexible, but as stated above, completely covered in cloth for durability. The interior pages are all high-quality, glossy stock, and the binding and hinges are like new... clean, tight, bright and complete!