Wonderful Mixed Lot of Cards and Photos and Programs and Book related to a woman named Frances Kaufman. There's a lot to unpack regarding this listing and will do our best to present it in a coherent manner.
The Background:
Frances Kaufman was born around 1898 probably NYC and passed in early 1996. Her parents were born in Hungary. She married Emanuel Stern and they had several children including Stewart Stern (1922-2015) the famous screenwriter including Rebel Without A Cause. Frances was also the sister of Lottie (Charlotte) Kaufman who married Adolph Zukor, the famous Film Producer and one of the original founders of Paramount Pictures. His impact on the film and movie industry is momentous and cannot be underrated.
So how did this collection come together?
Stewart Stern was screenwriter for many films including films starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. And from the Postcard within this collection the bond between the three was strong. In addition, Newman and Woodward were friends with Stern's mother Frances. So, when Frances passed in 1996 Stern sent this collection to Joanne and Paul as a gift with the handwritten postcard signed by Stern.
This is the first item - A postcard dated 5/31/96 with Stern thanking Paul and Joanne for their generosity and taking the path his mother wanted to take - and taking her along with them as she apparently lived her career vicariously through probably Joanne as Frances did not have a significant acting career from what we can tell or find.
The 'Souvenirs' include four Photos:
1) Cabinet Card not identified on photo but from the collection must be Frances. Age 3 is written on back. It measures approx. 4x6".
2) 8x10" Photo (some numbers on back) again must be Frances on Swing on a theatre stage
3) 8x10" Sepia Photo (back is blank) of Frances and another woman we believe is Marguerite Clark, the famous actress who worked for Paramount and Adolph Zukor
4) 8x10" Photo of Movie Still in Carriage woman sitting in it we believe is Frances and girl standing next to it is Marguerite Clark as noted along bottom of photo. Name of film was 'The Golden Bird' but we could not find any info about the production. It may have never been completed or name was changed. Back is blank.
5) Program for Rock-A-Bye-Baby 4 pg. Promotion at Nixon's Apollo Theatre. There are photos of cast within and believe one of the women pictured is Frances Kaufman though unnamed.
6) Hardbound Journal measuring 8 x 10.5" with Frances's name with Famous Players Co. address inside cover. The Famous Players Film Company was founded by Zukor in 1912. Marguerite Clark was a member and it appears Frances was one as well. There are a number of handwritten pages from what appear to be acting classes and other personal improvement techniques including Elocution. It is 152 pgs. many pages are blank but at least 30 pgs. have writing.
7) Circus Themed Birthday Card from Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman signed 2x with birthday wishes. One signature (on right in photo) is very likely written and signed by Paul. Note in upper left of card photo was likely written and signed by Joanne.
Item conditions are as follows:
All of the photos have wear the carriage photo has most wear along edges including small tears and piece we re-taped along bottom edge. The Program Promo has fair amount of wear creasing and foxing. The Journal has wear spine is fraying though still holding, tanning, and some looseness overall (handle with care), the Birthday Card has wear along edges, the Postcard from Stewart is in good shape. Zoom in on photos as part of description.
This is a outstanding collection on several Hollywood levels with a wonderful friendship among several famous people. We are selling the collection as one unit and will not sell pieces separately as each piece is integral as part of the collection. This will ship fast and FREE Signature required. It is also NON-RETURNABLE. So, please ask questions on top of any questions. Thanks for looking and please follow our store we have numerous unique Newman and Woodward items listed and will continue listing.