I'm in the Legion

N.p. N.p., 1935. Draft script for an unproduced film, with a single manuscript pencil annotation of screenwriter Jerry Wald's name on the registration page. Specially bound copy belonging to screenwriter Wald, with his name in gilt on the bottom of the front board.

Jerry Wald is best remembered for his long and successful association with Warner Brothers as both a screenwriter and producer of a number of notable films, including "Mildred Pierce" (1945), "Humoresque" (1946), "Key Largo" (1948), and "Flamingo Road" (1949). In the 1950s he moved to Twentieth Century-Fox, and was the producer there for "An Affair to Remember" (1957), "Peyton Place" (1957), and "Sons and Lovers" (1960).

Apparently, "I'm in the Legion" was in production with Warner Brothers studios in 1935, with the popular comic actor Joe E. Brown slated to lead. Ads for the production appeared in the July 6, 1935 "Motion Picture Herald," promoting the film as a followup to Brown's popular 1935 Busby Berkeley musical comedy "Bright Lights:" ""What comedian recently was seen in his happiest singing and dancing hit, and will soon step into an absolutely new locale, with a scorching hot idea—out where the Foreign Legion chases mirthful mirages and Joe's a legionnaire who gets rough with Riffs?," and headed an August 8, 1935 Louella Parson's column, "Joe E. Brown Is Slated To Star In I'm In The Legion." It appears as if the film never got beyond pre-production as we have been unable to locate any further information on the production. The project was possibly shelved for "Sons O' Guns," a 1936 Warner Brothers musical comedy starring Brown, with a script from Wald and Julius J. Epstein.

Wald and Epstein worked on a number of scripts together for Warner Brothers in 1935 and 1936 including "Living on Velvet" (1935), "In Caliente" (1935), "Broadway Gondolier" (1935), "Little Big Shot" (1935), and "Stars Over Broadway" (1935).

Bound in red cloth with maroon quarter leather binding, with five raised bands and gilt titles on the spine. Distribution page present, with receipt removed. Title page present, dated October 17, 1935, with credits for screenwriters Julius J. Epstein and Jerry Wald. 128 leaves, with last page of text numbered 123. Mimeograph duplication, rectos only. Pages Near Fine, binding Very Good plus, with faint toning at the fore-edge of the front board, and light rubbing at the extremities.

[Book #161436]