Fashionable Hollywood Superstar Gloria Swanson Vintage 1937 Glamour Photograph
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:3482866 | Size: 8" x 10" |
| Country/Region of Manufacture: United States | Subject: Gloria Swanson |
| Original/Reproduction: Original | Modified Item: No |
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ITEM: This is a 1937 vintage and original Columbia Pictures fashion photograph featuring Gloria Swanson as model. The Hollywood legend is stylish in casual day dress that is accessorized with a studded belt, bracelets, and a unique hat.
The press snipe reads, "ATTRACTIVE COLORS of tile and cadet blue combine to fashion this attractive dress worn by Gloria Swanson, Columbia star. The one-piece frock is girded in at the waist with a blue suede belt with nail head studded design. Of additional interest is the flared fullness of the skirt and neckline. A tile colored hat and bracelets with matching shade jewels is also of interest."
Swanson was a top star in the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon. Throughout the 1920s, she was Hollywood's top box office magnet. In 1929, Swanson transitioned to talkies but personal problems and changing tastes saw her popularity wane during the 1930s when she moved into theater, and later television.
Measures 8" x 10" on a glossy double weight paper stock.
Filing ink stamp, pencil notations, Advertising Advisory Council ink stamp, and studio paper caption on verso.
CONDITION: Fine condition with mild corner wear, two spots of discoloration on the top of the image, and very nominal storage/handling wear. Please use the included images as a conditional guide.
Guaranteed to be 100% vintage and original from Grapefruit Moon Gallery.
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Gloria Swanson was born Gloria May Josephine Svensson in Chicago, Illinois. She was destined to be perhaps one of the biggest stars of the silent movie era. Her personality and antics in private definitely made her a favorite with America's movie-going public. Gloria certainly didn't intend on going into show business. After her formal education in the Chicago school system and elsewhere, she began work in a department store as a salesclerk. In 1915, at the age of 18, she decided to go to a Chicago movie studio with an aunt to see how motion pictures were made. She was plucked out of the crowd, because of her beauty, to be included as a bit player in the film The Fable of Elvira and Farina and the Meal Ticket (1915). In her next film, she was an extra also, when she appeared in At the End of a Perfect Day (1915). After another uncredited role, Gloria got a more substantial role in Sweedie Goes to College (1915). In 1916, she first appeared with future husband Wallace Beery. Once married, the two pulled up stakes in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles to the film colony of Hollywood. Once out west, Gloria continued her torrid pace in films. She seemed to be in hit after hit in such films as The Pullman Bride (1917), Shifting Sands (1918), and Don't Change Your Husband (1919). By the time of the latter, Gloria had divorced Beery and was remarried, but it was not to be her last marriage, as she collected a total of six husbands. By the middle 1920s, she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. It has been said that Gloria made and spent over $8 million in the '20s alone. That, along with the seven marriages she had, kept the fans spellbound with her escapades for over 60 years. They just couldn't get enough of her. Gloria was 30 when the sound revolution hit, and there was speculation as to whether she could adapt. She did. In 1928, she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role of Sadie Thompson in the film of the same name but lost to Janet Gaynor for 3 different films. The following year, she again was nominated for the same award in The Trespasser (1929). This time, she lost out to Norma Shearer in The Divorcee (1930). By the 1930s, Gloria pared back her work with only four films during that time. She had taken a hiatus from film work after 1934's Music in the Air (1934) and would not be seen again until Father Takes a Wife (1941). That was to be it until 1950, when she starred in Sunset Boulevard (1950) as Norma Desmond opposite William Holden. She played a movie actress who was all but washed up. The movie was a box office smash and earned her a third Academy Award nomination as Best Actress, but she lost to Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday (1950). The film is considered one of the best in the history of film and, on June 16, 1998, was named one of the top 100 films of all time by the American Film Institute, placing 12th. After a few more films in the 1950s, Gloria more or less retired. Throughout the 1960s, she appeared mostly on television. Her last fling with the silver screen was Airport 1975 (1974), wherein she played herself. Gloria died on April 4, 1983, in New York City at the age of 84. There was never anyone like her, before or since.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson
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