Cat. #00050212: BELLE BENNETT

Highly rare handwritten, signed bit of personal advice on a 4x6-inch pale green autograph album page, acquired in-person in the early 1930s.  In good condition, with some wear to the left and right edges.  Lovely Belle Bennett had established herself in silent western shorts and features like Flesh and Spirit (1922) when she was hand-selected by Samuel Goldwyn from a list of 37 actresses to star in Stella Dallas (1925).  The film has been ranked as one of the finest motion pictures of all time.  She was thereafter pigeonholed in martyrly mama roles, memorable in Mother Machree (1928), The Battle of the Sexes (1928), The Iron Mask (1929), Recaptured Love (1930), and The Big Shot (1931).  In 1932, riddled with cancer, the silent star collapsed during a stage appearance and died shortly thereafter, aged only 41.  She was subsequently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.