Authenticity is Everything
SPECIAL Gloria Swanson Double Weight Matte Soft Focus Portrait w Sunset Blvd Inscription
Hi All,
Gloria Swanson matte finish gelatin silver double weight 8x10 signed portrait with photographers embossed stamp lower right, dedicated and inscribed in blue fountain pen "To Dominick from Gloria Swanson, "Sunset Boulevard", 1949", which is well before the film was even finished being written. It was finally finished in January 1950 with major re-shoots - the original introduction began in a darkened morgue with Bill Holden's glowing drowned corpse under a sheet talking to a dead little drowned boy under a sheet and it freaked audiences out. At best some thought it was a comedy. It was eventually released several months later in a very altered form with a new intro and ending. I have a copyrighted 1949 production still showing the original unused bedroom ending scene (she looked TOO crazy!) which I will pair with this. What better example of an inscription giving a context - date and time and sometimes location? This pretty much IS "10086 Sunset Boulevard!" Really a two for one, as it is the films title as well ;)
And see below!
Note - the scan is looking a little light to me, at least on my laptop.
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Comment by Eric Keith Longo on October 15, 2022 at 1:15am
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And now for a super surprise! Now I know why she signed this "Sunset Blvd"! Its one of the photos Norma is signing in response to letters that Max writes. See the photos on the table in the scene from the film:
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Comment by Scott Paul on June 27, 2025 at 4:55am
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That is a great shot of her signing. This is my John Verzi card of Miss Swanson. Few will believe it but I actually got it because of her guest star role on The Beverly Hillbillies! I loved Sunset Blvd. but was proving too costly with Von Stroheim and Holden.
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Thank you Scott. I think it was David Lewis in another thread about this SP who suggested it might be unique in terms of what is shown in the film and SP.
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I think that is the perfect signed photograph for a Sunset Boulevard collection because she is signing those in the movie.
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If I told you how many years/watchings it took me to notice this...
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I can believe that because you would have expected Norma to have had a more "dramatic" pose. It makes me wonder was Miss Swanson actually signing those, so they used them instead of creating new ones for the movie.
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Comment by JK on June 28, 2025 at 8:34am
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I wonder if all copies of that image were from the stack in the movie.
It's certainly very interesting to see them in the movie scene.
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Yes, very intriguing. I have seen just one other now that I have looked some more - same photo, same pen, same date, no "Sunset Blvd". Sold at RR in 2008 with no mention of the film.
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Comment by eddy on June 30, 2025 at 6:24pm
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These are great!
I like this one as well. Album page c. 1951 ..... with a great self-caricature by Ms. Swanson.
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I missed this. Excellent Eddy~! I like that the focus is clearly the sketch.
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