Skip to main content
A signed carbon typescript of Preston Sturges' Christmas in July, with a copy of the earlier playscript from which it was adapted image 1
A signed carbon typescript of Preston Sturges' Christmas in July, with a copy of the earlier playscript from which it was adapted image 2
Lot 32

A signed carbon typescript of Preston Sturges' Christmas in July, with a copy of the earlier playscript from which it was adapted

25 November 2013, 13:00 EST
Los Angeles

Sold for US$2,750 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Popular Culture specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A signed carbon typescript of Preston Sturges' Christmas in July, with a copy of the earlier playscript from which it was adapted

Carbon Typescript Signed ("Preston Sturges"), titled "A Cup of Coffee," 108 pp, 4to, on yellow foolscap, [Los Angeles], April 30, 1940, first two leaves containing information regarding preliminary casting, bound at upper margin, some wear. WITH: Carbon Typescript titled "A Cup of Coffee / A comedy about business / by Preston Sturges," 108 pp, [New York], 1931, bound in yellow Rialto Service Bureau wrappers with Paramount Story Department stamps to upper covers, some thumbing to leaves, covers soiled. AND WITH: Mimeographed Manuscript, Christmas in July censorship release dialogue script, 94 pp (lacking 3A1), legal folio, Hollywood, August 29, 1940, with Paramount story department stamp to upper right, disbound. In custom clamshell box.
Provenance: Serendipity Books (receipt laid in); the Richard Manney Collection.

The playscript and the screenplay of one of Sturges' best. Sturges followed The Great McGinty with another adaptation of an old playscript of his, A Cup of Coffee. The story is an essay on the "American Success Syndrome," and pits the exuberance of youth against the conservatism of the establishment. The last page of the April 30 carbon typescript gives tell-tale evidence of Sturges' unusual work habits: it reads, "Finished at 4:36 a.m./ Preston Sturges / Edwin Gillette / Ernst Laemmle / Witnesses."
UCLA's Preston Sturges archive has a script date May 1, 1940, which may be the mimeo version of our April 30 draft; they also have a copy of the 1931 playscript.

Footnotes

To learn more about this film, click here.

Additional information

Bid now on these items