Authenticity is Everything
Bela Lugosi - Thoughts?
I've had this Bela Lugosi SP that I'm now focusing on more seriously. I see things l like. Some I'm not sure of ( esp. the "B" looking somewhat atypical...although it's connection to an authentic style "e" following it looks right).
That "a" in Bela looks right. I've also seen him make the break in his surname ("Lug osi"). This came out of a batch of authentic signed photos from this same collector "Mush" from the mid-1930's.
Any help would be appreciated!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by eddy on
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Yep, he would write the dates and places he met them if In Person. He would also make a notation of date received if Through The Mail and write the word "mail" next to that date. Those were usually much more carefully written out. I have an acquaintance who located years ago a cache of these photos. This fellow has a pretty fair number of them (where this Lugosi came from).
He apparently had a real "in" with stars of that early/mid. 1930s period and they seemed to respond favorably to him either way. Again, I can't help thinking that they might have seen the simple act of signing for him as a way of garnering possible favorable press if needed at some point.
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Permalink Reply by KaiMi on
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From me just one biographical aspect we shouldn't forget: I once saw an item at Markus Brandes' homepage, obtained in person 1939 in board the Mauretania. Therefore absolutely undoubtful. But Lugosi was fully loaded with booze and barely could write his name. That might explain some inconsistences in his sigs that cause us headache. Just saying.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on
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That is cool - Lugosi preferred Aquitania - there is a Ship's Reporter interview aboard her perhaps on YT. Mauretania is the ship I research and write about (latest work published this February) so very interesting to me.
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1939? That would be Mauretania 2. That would mean the autograph was signed between June 17th and October 2nd or so when M2 was requisitioned by the Government for WW2.
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Sorry, Eric, my mistake. Just checked my documents: The Lugosi I mentioned was collected aboard the Queen Mary, not Mauretania. It was obtained by a bar man or crew member whose album was bought by Markus Brandes. It contained between others Douglas Fairbanks sr and jr together on one page, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Lugosi, all from 1938 / 1939.
I can't really tell for the OP, but as far as I know Lugosi's sig slightly changed through the years, and considering his booze problem this one might have more aspects for yes than for no. The pitty is to me that this item is the most wonderful piece of him I ever saw - and therefore you would desperately wish you knew for sure ...
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KaiMi - So true about autographs. There used to be an exercise show called BODIES IN MOTION. The title says it all. Human beings, until breathing their last, are mobile beings with all sorts of factors weighing in on how they are at any given time in their lives (or even moment). We've all been rushed...we've also all been focused at times. Perhaps happy when signing something...perhaps not so much. A bit tipsy at premiere after a nice dinner....fully in command on a set the next day when approached for a signature.
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So true. Lugosi seems to have been sober when signing the OP. Maybe that's an explanation for his accurate handwriting and non-interrupted "remembrance". When you are asked to sign a pic like that you certainly make an effort.
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The "medical morphine" did not help! Below are two frames from my 35mm master print from Ed Wood from the film Glen or Glenda. While I have a signed portrait and an 11x14 portrait he owned and a Dracula still this would be my rarest Lugosi item by far. There is only the one master and I also have the negatives and soundtrack reels.
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Thanks so much for your examination of this, KaiMi. I agree that this is a very deliberate inscription and signature. Given the provenance, I think it does have some things going for it.
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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on
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I do agree that the personalization with such an odd name adds to the case it's likely authentic. As long as it's not a secretarial, why would a forger use that name reference?
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To create the effect it has had here? Some feeling of authenticity w/o even involving the signature. I mentioned Mush, then others rembered him so the name is out there.
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And another exemplar of the first name "Bela" looking very similar to the OP "Bela". This one was described at Heritage Auctions as the inscribee 'Don' being Donald H. Brown, a producer at Universal Pictures who worked on the 1942 film Lugosi starred in, "Night Monster." A very personal piece.
- Notice also how the final "e" in "pleasure" is formed differently than the other "e"s .... it trails off like the final "e" in the OP "remembrance".
- I'm also seeing the "n" in "not" on this photo looking like the same formation of the "n" in "in" in the OP.
These are small things...but sometimes they help to add up to a larger whole.
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