Hammerstein, Oscar. (1895–1960) & Kern, Jerome. (1885–1945) & Ferber, Edna. (1885–1968) [Marx, Samuel. (1902–1992)]

"Show Boat" - Vocal Score SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY HAMMERSTEIN AND KERN TO SAMUEL MARX

New York: T. B. Harms. 1928. Vocal score to the beloved 1927 musical Show Boat, inscribed on the title page by both Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern to the film producer, writer and MGM editor Samuel Marx, and with a TLS from Edna Ferber (author of the 1926 novel on which the musical was based) to Marx mounted on the opposite page. The authors have penned two tongue-in-cheek inscriptions: "There are at least 17 errors in this 1st issue, so my friend Samuel Marx owns a bibliographical prize if not a musical one, Jerome Kern" and "Sam Marx always plays the score with at least forty seven errors! Oscar Hammerstein." Ferber's letter, dated November 23, 1938, reads: "Lovely lavish red roses, dear Sam. It was sweet of you to send them. I was sorry you couldn’t come in for dinner last week. It was sort of fun. Good talk, too." Hardcover, leather bound with gold stamping. Small tears along gutter to a couple of early pages, otherwise in fine condition. 268 pp. 8.75 x 11.25 inches.

Based on Edna Ferber's best-selling novel of the same name, Show Boat follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock workers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, over 40 years. With themes including racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love, the musical contributed such classic songs as "Ol' Man River", "Make Believe" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man". The premiere of Show Boat on Broadway was a watershed moment in the history of American musicals, representing a move away from light musical revues and towards "musical plays" that combined spectacle with serious themes.

Samuel Marx moved to Hollywood in 1930 to become a story editor for M-G-M, supervising a group of writers that included William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Moss Hart. While at the studio, he produced 13 movies for the studio, including the 1943 "Lassie Come Home." He was a story editor at Columbia Pictures for a year and during the 1950's produced several television series. His long career in the film industry is reflected in his books about Hollywood, among them "A Gaudy Spree: The Literary Life of Hollywood in the 1930's" and "Mayer and Thalberg: The Make-Believe Saints" and he was also the author of the 1976 book (with Jan Clayton) "Rodgers and Hart: Bewitched, Bothered and Bedeviled." (14534)

Signed Document/Item Printed Music TLS Song