On eBay, there is an American Venus movie herald for sale. Just about any movie herald
from the silent era is uncommon. Some are rare. What makes this particular
herald a bit unusual are its hand written annotations. They have a story to
tell.
The
American Venus was released in early 1926. This herald is dated
1927, apparently by someone who saw the film. That suggests that the two theaters
which showed the film in May of that year, one in Petersburg and one in
Blissfield (located less than 9 miles apart in Monroe County in Michigan),
showed it late in the exhibition life of the film. That was not usual for small
towns, which usually but not always got major films later than the bigger cities
and towns.
The film’s plot revolved around a beauty contest,
and as I have found out, many theaters sponsored their own beauty contests or
fashion shows in connection with the showing of the film. Such was the case
with the Petersburg and Blissfield Theaters.
Beauty contests, and to a lesser degree this film,
helped “define” the notion of beauty. The film’s star, Fay Lanphier, was named Miss
America in 1925, and as press coverage at the time indicates, she was
considered an ideal beauty. I have found many newspapers advertisements which
detailed Lanphier’s physical attributes, including her measurements. She is
shown, arms outstretched, in the interior of the herald. Esther Ralston,
another renown beauty, is pictured on the cover of the herald.
On the back of the herald is a custom message from
the sponsoring theaters which reads “The lady turning in measurements nearest
to the AMERICAN VENUS will be given—ten tickets to this theatre. Measurements
must be turned in on playing date—at box office.”
What’s interesting are the handwritten notations.
They record someone’s measurements in comparison to Lanphier’s. On the back, that
same someone recorded their weight throughout the 1930’s. That someone, who
weighed 169 pounds in 1939, held onto this herald for more than 12 years. The American Venus made an
impression. This battered herald, this scrap of paper, tells their story.
It's amazing that we still have access to these super classic movies. The American Venus Is something I want to watch now because it's just so old. Did this film help any of the actors in it start their career?
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