Two of Mabel Normand's 8 x 10 Photos of Tragic "Bathing Beauty" Marie Prevost. Few Hollywood tragedies were more grim than t... (Total: 2 )

Description

Two of Mabel Normand's 8 x 10 Photos of Tragic "Bathing Beauty" Marie Prevost. Few Hollywood tragedies were more grim than that suffered by Marie Prevost, who basically starved to death in 1937 -- so pitiful a demise that it sparked the full activation of the Motion Picture Relief Fund. Her nearly-starved dog shared her apartment with her, and had nibbled on the corpse -- was the dog trying to awaken Marie, or...? At any rate, here are two remarkable pictures from Mabel Normand's collection, each showing Marie Prevost at her loveliest during her Bathing Beauty days for Mack Sennett. The first is an expansive, superbly atmospheric shot of Venice Beach, California, with Marie sitting on the sand as Ben Turpin comically collapses as a life guard. The film crew and camera equipment appear in this wonderful shot. Normand's secretary (presumably) had written on the verso in pencil, "Taken at Venice, the beach about which I have written you before. The girl is Marie Prevost no longer with us." The second shot shows a full gaggle of Bathing Beauties, with a life-saver bearing the legend "Mack Sennet Comedies," and features a charmingly mugging Marie Prevost along with Phyllis Haver (prominent, casting a fishing line) and Kathryn McGuire -- all identified on the verso in pencil. Both shots are glossy, with only minor creasing and a tiny tear on the right margin of the shot with Haver. Very Fine+ condition. Mabel Normand is not in either shot. Superior evocations of early Hollywood comedy and, based on the sad fate of Marie Prevost, rather haunting ones.

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