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| Marion Davies in Fur |
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| Artist: | Clarence Sinclair Bull |
| Date: | 1930s |
| Medium: | Gelatin silver on Buff Matte Photostock |
| Dimensions: | 10 1/4" x 13 1/4" on 13" x 15" presentation page |
| Condition: | |
| Original Use: | Hollywood Glamour Art |
| Price: | $850.00
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| Above: Full view of photograph |
Never looking more glamorous, Marion Davies is captured in this 1930s original photograph by Clarence Sinclair Bull, one of the most prestigious of the glamour portraitists of the jazz age. The favorite photographer of Greta Garbo, Bull is remembered for his restrained style and incredible attention to bringing out the personality in the eyes of the stars he photographed--as seen in this endlessly seductive view. This large format gallery still on buff matte double weight photostock with beveled edges was created in this custom print size and format specifically for Davies by Bull, and comes from her personal collection. The photograph was displayed in Davies' personal album and retains the orange cardstock backing from her collection.
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| Above: Detail view |
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| Above: View of still on Davies' presentation mount |
Biography by Hal Erickson
American actress Marion Davies became a Broadway chorus dancer through the auspices of her brother-in-law, the powerful theatrical producer George W. Lederer. There are many stories of how Davies came to the attention of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, the most popular of which relates how, when watching her perform as a solo singer-dancer in the 1916 edition of Ziegfeld Follies, Hearst became so enchanted that for eight weeks thereafter he never missed a performance, reserving two seats per show (one seat for his hat). Hearst, who in addition to his publishing empire also dabbled in moviemaking, cast Davies in the 1917 silent film Runaway Romany. For the rest of her career, Davies appeared only in Hearst-produced movies, a professional association which spilled over into her private life; she became Hearst's mistress, and might very well have married him had Mrs. Hearst not refused him a divorce. The Hearst press promoted Davies' film career to the point of the ridiculous, overpraising each movie as though it were the Second Coming; in retaliation, rival newspapers mercilessly panned Davies, suggesting that she'd still be a chorus girl without Hearst's sponsorship. The truth lay somewhere in between—when viewing such Davies films as Show People (1928), Blondie of the Follies (1932) and Cain and Mabel (1936), one is struck by her deft comic skills and superior musical talent; at the same time, she was not the actress promoted by the Hearst publicity machine. Davies retired from the screen after Ever Since Eve (1937), settling down as the popular hostess of San Simeon, Hearst's gigantic estate on the California coast. After Hearst died in 1951, Davies married Capt. Horace G. Brown of the California State Guard and divided her time between managing her considerable financial holdings and maintaining the Marion Davies Childrens' Clinic, a charitable organization. Davies was much loved by her friends and by Hollywood in general; alas, most people today "know" Davies only through the vulgar, abrasive character of "Susan Alexander" in filmmaker Orson Welles' thinly disguised chronicle of William Randolph Hearst's life, Citizen Kane (1941).
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