Art Deco '28 Silent Film Comedy Lobby Card Harold Teen Alice White, Arthur Lake

Description

ITEM: This is a vintage and original First National Pictures lobby card advertising the 1928 silent comedy film
Harold Teen
. Based on the comic strip by Carl Ed,
Harold Teen
stars future "Dagwood Bumstead" Arthur Lake in the title role. Upon arriving in the big city to attend high school, the bumptious Harold soon becomes the most popular boy in class. This gives our hero carte blanche to indulge in all sorts of comic misadventures, from substituting an amateur cowboy movie for the annual school play to saving the town when the dam bursts. And, of course, Harold wins the Big Football Game with only seconds to spare.
Harold Teen
was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, who at that time was barely out of his teens himself, and also features Mary Brian, Lucien Littlefield, Jack Duffy, Alice White and Jack Egan.
Small posters on card stock (usually 11" x 14" in a horizontal format), lobby cards were generally produced in sets of eight, intended for display in a theatre's foyer or lobby. A lobby set typically consists of one Title Card (a lobby card of special design usually depicting all key stars, listing credits, and intended to represent the entire film rather than a single scene) and seven Scene Cards (each depicting a scene from the movie). Lobby cards are no longer used in theatres today.
Lobby card measures 14" x 11".
Guaranteed to be 100% vintage and original from Grapefruit Moon Gallery.
More about Arthur Lake:
His parents were circus acrobats and he became part of their act. When they changed to vaudeville and wound up in California, he got a job in the movies. The founder of Universal Pictures, Carl Laemmle changed his name to Lake. In silent films he played somewhat dimwitted youngsters, The long-running part of Dagwood in the "Blondie" series pretty much continued the the pattern into adult life. He and Penny Singleton also appeared in a half-hour "Blondie" radio series which ran from 1939 to 1950, airing on CBS, ABC and finally on NBC. The program's stylized opening line, delivered by Bill Goodwin became famous: "Uh-uh-uh. Don't touch that dial. It's time for ...[Lake:] Blond-dee".
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan
More about Alice White:
Alice White was born Alva Violet White on August 24, 1904 in Paterson, New Jersey, the daughter of Audley White and Marian Alexander. Her father abandoned the family and her mother, a former chorus girl, died in 1915. She was raised by her grandparents in New Jersey. Alice attended an all-girls school in Connecticut and went to Roanoke College in Virginia. When she was a teenager the family moved to California where she attended Hollywood high school.
She started working as a secretary but lost several jobs for being too "sexy". Eventually Alice was hired by Charlie Chaplin to be a script girl. He encouraged her to try acting and she made her film debut as an extra in The Thief Of Bagdad. She was offered a contract at First National and starred in the 1927 drama The Sea Tiger. The studio told Alice she needed to lose weight. Then she was given starring roles in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Show Girl. Alice had a bubbly onscreen personality and was often compared to Clara Bow. Her short blonde hair and flapper style would become her trademark. Audiences fell in love with Alice but critics were rarely impressed with her acting. It was rumored her singing voice was dubbed. She had serious romances with aviator Dick Grace and actor Donald Keith. In 1931, she took a break from making movies. The studio claimed she was unhappy with her salary and had become difficult to work with.
She became involved in a love triangle with British-born actor John Warburton and producer Sy Bartlett. She accused Warburton of beating her so badly she needed reconstructive surgery on her nose. Warburton told the press that White and Bartlett hired two thugs to disfigure him. A grand jury refused to indict but the bad publicity hurt her reputation. She married Bartlett in 1933 and tried to make a comeback. Unfortunately she could only get minor roles in films like Gift of Gab (1934). In 1936, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for two months. The following year her marriage ended. She married screenwriter John Roberts in 1941 but they divorced eight years later. In court she said he "threw things and wasn't very nice". The couple spent years fighting over alimony. Her last film role was in Flamingo Road (1949).
For many years she lived with musician William Hinshaw. With her movie star days behind her she went back to work as a secretary. In 1957, she fell off a ladder and landed on a pair of scissors. The accident left her blinded for several months. When she recovered she was offered a role on an episode of The Ann Sothern Show (1958). This was her final acting appearance. As she grew older, she stayed out of the spotlight but continued to answer fan mail she received from around the world. She died on February 19, 1983 after suffering a stroke. She had no children and left no immediate survivors.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Elizabeth Ann