Original portrait photograph of Rob Wagner, circa 1920s

Robert [Rob] Wagner (subject)
George H. Seeley (photographer)

N.p. N.p., Circa 1920s. Vintage double-weight borderless portrait photograph of director, editor, and writer Rob Wagner, circa 1920s. Insignia of photographer George H. Seeley from the negative at the bottom right corner of the recto.

Prolific pictorialist photographer George Henry Seeley attended the Massachusetts Normal Art School from 1897 to 1901 for painting, before a meeting with photographer F. Holland Day kindled an interest in photography. In 1904, his photographs were included in the First American Photographic Salon in New York City, and as a result of this showing he was invited by Alfred Stieglitz to join the invitation-only photographer's group the Photo Secession.

Although he enjoyed a lengthy career as a director, screenwriter, and magazine writer, Rob L. Wagner is best remembered today as the editor and publisher of "Script," a left-leaning, weekly literary film magazine published in Beverly Hills between 1929 and 1949. A lifelong Socialist and advocate for progressive causes, Wagner used "Script" to give a voice to blacklisted screenwriters (including Dalton Trumbo and Gordon Kahn) and prominent leftists, including Upton Sinclair, Max Eastman, and William C. deMille. Wagner also worked as the part-time secretary of Charlie Chaplin starting in 1915, and with Chaplin and others founded the Motion Picture Relief Fund (which later became the Motion Picture and Television Fund) in 1929, providing financial aid to film industry workers.

7.5 x 9.5 inches. Near Fine.


[Book #158543]