Beinecke Top Tens: Wilder at the Movies

April 2, 2013

By Nancy Kuhl

Promotional material for “Hello, Dolly!”, the movie musical based on Thornton Wilder’s play, “The Matchmaker.”  The collection consists of 3 programs, one American (Los Angeles, N.D.), one Japanese (Tokyo, n.d.), and one German (Berlin, 1969). Orbis Record: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11307474

Promotional photographs for “The Matchmaker,” 1958. YCAL MSS FILE 53,  Orbis Record: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11268623

Promotional material for “Our Town,” the 1940 film of the Thornton Wilder play. The collection consists of 8 American lobby cards and one advertisement, an Argentine poster, and a Spanish promotional flyer. “Our town” was released in the U.S. and Argentina in 1940 and in Spain in 1944. Orbis Record: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11305931
 
Promotional photographs for “Our Town,” 1940. YCAL MSS FILE 710. Orbis Record: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11277823
 

Promotional material for “Shadow of a Doubt,” the 1943 Alfred Hitchcock film which Thornton Wilder co-wrote. A collection of two lobby cards and one poster. Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville were credited for the screenplay, which was based on a short story by Gordon McDonell. The title for all three items: Skirball Productions presents Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a doubt. Orbis Record: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11306416

A Belgian poster for the film, “Shadow of a Doubt,” printed on the verso of a section of a German fortification map of the eastern part of Kent, England. Likely printed in Brussels in 1945. Titles on poster in French and in Dutch. The film was released in the U.S. in 1943 and in Belgium after it was liberated in 1944-1945 from its Nazi occupiers. Orbis Record: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11306500

Promotional material for “The Bridge of San Luis Rey,” the 1944 film of the Thornton Wilder novel. The collection consists of 7 lobby cards, a pressbook, a half-sheet poster and a one-sheet poster (mounted on linen), all from the United States, and one Australian daybill poster.  ”The bridge of San Luis Rey” was released in the U.S. in Feb. 1944 and in Australia in Nov. 1944. Orbis Record:  http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11306823

Promotional material for “The Bridge of San Luis Rey,” the 2004 film of the Thornton Wilder novel. The collection consists of 8 lobby cards, all with the French title of the film “Le port du Roi Saint-Louis,” and the printed envelope in which they were issued. The 2004 film version of “The bridge of San Luis Rey” was released in Spain (Dec. 2004) and France (May 2005) before it was released in the U.S. (June 2005) where, despite a distinguished cast (Robert De Niro, F. Murray Abraham, Kathy Bates, etc.) it was poorly received and quickly disappeared from American theaters. Orbis Record: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11308073

Promotional photographs for “The Bridge of San Luis Rey,” 1929. YCAL MSS FILE 54. Orbis Record: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11269751

Promotional photographs for “The Bridge of San Luis Rey,” 1943-1944. YCAL MSS FILE 52 Orbis Record: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11268525

Louise Talma Papers, Uncat Za MS 525, http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.talma
Correspondence, musical scores, audio tapes, printed materials, photographs; includes letters from Thornton Wilder; audio tapes and reel to reel tapes of performances, clippings, programs and other related papers.

Image: Thornton Wilder, Greta Thyssen, Paul Ford and Louise Talma at the opening of the film, “The Matchmaker,” from the Louise Talma Papers

Beinecke Top Tens gather (approximately) ten related items to give an at-a-glance look at some of the Library’s interesting, important, strange, compelling, beautiful holdings. To see more lists, click here: Beinecke Top Tens. To suggest a list subject, contact us: Top Ten Ideas.