Between the Covers

Hardcover. First edition. Octavo. Blue cloth with printed paper spine label. Label a bit toned, else near fine lacking the dust jacket. Author and critic Barrett H. Clark's copy with his ownership initials. The play adaptation of Somerset Maugham's story "Miss Thompson" which was a great Broadway success – it's the play Paul Muni can barely tear himself away from in *Scarface* when he goes to kill Boris Karloff. Basis for several films, including the 1928 version directed by Raoul Walsh and featuring Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore. Although uncredited, Walsh's screen adaptation was based directly on Colton and Randolph's version. The better known 1932 Lewis Milestone version featured Joan Crawford and Walter Huston, with a screen adaptation by Maxwell Anderson (Colton, Randolph and Maugham are all credited for the original source material). Other versions of the play that followed, *Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A.* (1946), and *Miss Sadie Thompson* (1953 with Rita Hayworth, Jose Ferrer, and Aldo Ray) were generally adjudged less successful.

Item #564761