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Auction History Result 2y0216 ROMEO & JULIET pressbook 1936 Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Barrymore, Shakespeare, rare! Date Sold 9/27/2022 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Original Vintage Theatrical Movie Pressbook (pb; measures 14" x 20" [36 x 51 cm]; 28 pages). Also included is an exploitation section that has 36 pages (see below). (Learn More) William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the 1936 George Cukor Italy romantic family feud tragedy melodrama ("The world's greatest love story!"; nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award; based on the classic play by William Shakespeare) starring Norma Shearer (nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for this film; in the title role as Juliet), Leslie Howard (in the title role as Romeo), John Barrymore (as Mercutio), Edna May Oliver (as the nurse), Basil Rathbone (nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for this film; as Tybalt), C. Aubrey Smith (as Lord Capulet), Andy Devine, Ralph Forbes (as Paris), Reginald Denny (as Benvolio), and Violet Kember Cooper (as Lady Capulet). Note that one complaint of this film adaptation was that Shearer and Howard were far too old for the characters they played. Howard was 43 years old, and Shearer was 34, whereas Romeo was around 16, and Juliet 13! NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography. Important Added Info: Note that we have never before auctioned this pressbook! As with many MGM pressbooks from this time, the interior pages of the "regular" pressbook are printed on newsprint, and are almost always found to be extremely fragile (like old newspapers from that time). But MGM also made an "exploitation section" that is printed on much better paper, and sometimes this second section is present, and sometimes it is not. In this case, the regular pressbook has 28 single-sided pages and the exploitation section has 36 single-sided pages. Note that in December 2021, we were consigned a truly remarkable collection of pressbooks (the first 37 were auctioned in our December Major Auction, and the most expensive one sold for $17,500!). In our regular auctions since, we have auctioned hundreds more from this collection. Now we continue to auction more of these pressbooks, which is absolutely the finest collection of pressbooks we have ever been consigned. In this set of auctions, most of the ones we are auctioning are larger pressbooks, mostly 11" x 15" or larger. Some of them were folded at one time, but they were stored unfolded for many years, so we left them unfolded, and unless the new owner requests otherwise, we will send them unfolded, because re-folding them would likely lessen the condition. Many of these are ones we have either never auctioned before or only once auctioned before, sometimes many years ago. These were collected decades ago, which was the only time that many of these could be found, and after these auctions are over it may be years (or decades!) before some of these are offered again. They ARE that rare! Note that pressbooks from the 1930s are almost never found in great condition, and some of them (especially those printed during World War II, including all the MGM ones from that time) are printed on newsprint, and are hard to find in even lesser condition. We have several images from each pressbook. We have given each an overall grade, and ask that you look at our images to get a good sense of the condition of that pressbook, because, since they have many pages, it would take forever to describe their condition in detail. However, EVERY one of these pressbooks is complete and uncut! Note that MGM, being the foremost studio of the 1930s felt they did not need to create wonderful posters for their movies, because they had so many top stars, so often their 1930s posters have simple artwork against a white background with a duotone photo of the top stars! However, they knew that they needed theater owners to book their movies, so they spent quite a bit more money on their pressbooks, often making them close to window card size, with an exact color recreation of the window card image on the cover of the pressbook, and the posters on the back cover in full color, and often a full-color sample herald, "tipped in" to the inside of one of the covers! However, they economized on the interior on these large pressbooks and used newsprint for the interior pages, which in almost every case has aged greatly and is fragile, if not brittle (see below for the exact condition of this pressbook). Note: We have 17 images of this pressbook, but due to a space limitation, only TEN of the 17 images are displayed above. However, there is a "supersize" link to the right of those images that lets you see the other 7. Condition: fair to good, NO CUTS. The pressbook is complete and uncut. However, the interiors of MGM pressbooks from this period were printed on a newsprint that was exactly like what was used in newspapers at that time, and it almost always ages terribly, resulting in incredibly brittle insides. The color covers were printed on a better paper, but they tend to chip around the edges. In this particular pressbook, it has extremely fragile interior pages that are chipping and tearing around the edges. Both the regular pressbook and the exploitation section were once in a bound volume, and you can tell that at the spine of each. The pressbook had a tipped-in herald that is no longer present (of course, one could find another example to replace it with). 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