Norma Shearer Silent Film Man and Wife Original 1923 Production Still Photograph

Description

ITEM: This is a vintage and original Effanem Productions / Arrow Film Corp. production still photograph from the 1923 silent domestic drama film, "Man and Wife." Directed by John L. McCutcheon, the film stars a young Norma Shearer. The actress is seen here with Robert Elliott during a scene from the film.
This is a rare and unique piece of memorabilia from the film and this still comes from one of Shearer's own personal scrapbooks.
A Hollywood star from 1925 through 1942, Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated ingénues. She was the first person to be nominated five times for an Academy Award for acting. Reviewing Shearer's work, film critic Mike LaSalle called her "the exemplar of sophisticated 1930s womanhood ... exploring love and sex with an honesty that would be considered frank by modern standards." As a result, Shearer is celebrated as a feminist pioneer, "the first American film actress to make it chic and acceptable to be single and not a virgin on screen".
Photograph measures 9.25" x 7.25" on a glossy single weight paper stock.
Guaranteed to be 100% vintage and original from Grapefruit Moon Gallery.
More about Norma Shearer:
A child model and bit player in New York-based films whose appearance in "The Stealers" (1920) caught the attention of producer Irving Thalberg. Thalberg signed Shearer to a long-term contract with MGM in 1923 and she quickly became a popular star in such films as "He Who Gets Slapped" (1924), "His Secretary" (1925) and "The Student Prince" (1927), typically as a gentle but vivacious ingenue. Thalberg married his star in 1927, after which she had her pick of films, parts and directors. A striking and often lovely brunette actress with a great profile, Shearer compensated for a slight lack of conventional beauty with great poise, elegance and charm. She played a wide range of roles in a glittering array of films; among her most notable efforts were "The Divorcee" (1930), for which she won an Oscar, "A Free Soul" (1931), "Private Lives" (1931; an especially fine and rare comic performance at this stage in her career), "Smilin' Through" (1932; one of her loveliest performances, and most romantic films) and "Romeo and Juliet" (1936).
One of MGM's biggest stars of the 1930s, the ultra-chic Shearer eschewed the more innocent image of her silent stardom during the racy pre-Code period of the early 30s to play a series of wronged wives who fight the double standard by turning into silken sinners in films including "The Divorcee," "Strangers May Kiss" (1931) and "Riptide" (1934). She quickly became, along with Garbo, the studio's resident "prestige" star, and later in the decade played in several classy costume dramas, the most popular of which was "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" (1934, as poet Elizabeth Barrett).
Shearer lost interest in her career after Thalberg's death in 1936; this, coupled with a poor choice of roles (she turned down the leads in "Gone With the Wind" 1939 and "Mrs. Miniver" 1942 and opted instead for fluffy comedies) led her to retire from the screen in 1942. She did, however, leave her admirers with two excellent performances, easily among her finest, in two of her best-remembered films: as the tragic title heroine of the lavish, underrated "Marie Antoinette" (1938); and as the cheated-upon husband who must endure the "help" of her catty girlfriends in the all-star, all-female comedy, "The Women" (1939, in which she was first-billed over longstanding rival Joan Crawford).
As with Garbo, Shearer did receive offers after she left MGM and considered return vehicles to the cinema; in several cases, she backed out or else the projects never really got off the ground. Her glamorous image, though, was more accessible, less distant than Garbo's and so her absence from films never really contributed to any aloof star mystique; as the decades progressed she unjustly became somewhat forgotten and by the time the vogue in classical Hollywood nostalgia reached its apex her health had already begun to decline. Shearer did enjoy four decades of marriage, though, to her second husband, a former ski instructor and land developer she met and married in 1942. Her brother, Douglas Shearer (1899-1971), was a pioneering sound technician who won 12 Oscars and developed several key technical innovations.
Biography From: TCM | Turner Classic Movies
More about Robert Elliott:
Robert Elliott was an actor who had a successful Hollywood career. Elliott began his acting career with roles in such films as "Fair Lady" (1922), "Happiness Ahead" (1928) and "Lights of New York" (1928). He also appeared in "The Lone Wolf's Daughter" (1929), the George Bancroft crime picture "Thunderbolt" (1929) and "The Doorway to Hell" (1930). He continued to work steadily in film throughout the thirties, appearing in "The Midnight Patrol" (1932), the Buck Jones western "White Eagle" (1932) and "The Crime of the Century" (1933). He also appeared in "Heroes For Sale" (1933). Toward the end of his career, he tackled roles in "The Roaring Twenties" (1939) with James Cagney, the mystery "The Saint Strikes Back" (1939) with George Sanders and "Mickey the Kid" (1939) with Bruce Cabot. He also appeared in "I Stole a Million" (1939) and the Vivien Leigh smash hit dramatic adaptation "Gone With the Wind" (1939). Elliott was most recently credited in the comedy "Dr. T And The Women" (2000) with Richard Gere. Elliott passed away in November 1951 at the age of 72.
Biography From: TCM | Turner Classic Movies