Above: Full view

Paramount pictures glamour photographer Otto Dyar captures pre-code starlet Adrienne Ames at her most glamorous in this large format, art deco gallery portrait. The press snipe on the verso evokes the sophistication with which Ames was identified, and her fashion icon status. “Brown and tomato red creates the striking color combination of this rough crepe street frock worn by Adrienne Ames in ‘From Hell to Heaven,’ a Paramount pictures.” Features photographer blindstamp lower right, and inkstamp on verso.

Above: Detail of Adrienne Ames

Biography by Hans J. Wollstein

Reportedly a real-life society debutante, beautiful brunette Adrienne Ames was always more noted for her offscreen escapades than anything she did on celluloid. Active in New York society after her marriage to stockbroker Stephen Ames, Ames (née Adrienne Ruth McClure) was discovered by a talent scout from Paramount and said to have been signed without even the hint of a screen test. Divorced from Ames, she married action star Bruce Cabot and their often-tumultuous home life frequently made the headlines. Onscreen, she usually played the “other woman” in major productions while headlining minor fare such as Guilty As Hell (1932) and The Death Kiss (1933). She left films in 1939 and later starred on New York radio.

Above: Verso ink stamp

Above: Verso press snipe