Hollywood California All the Year

1922. Wraps. Very Good Plus. Oblong, 21.5 by 30 cm. Unpaginated, 48 pages of glossy leaves, 43 of which are dominated by photos, 15 of which are in full color, or colorized. Most other photos have a single color and white, as opposed to black and white. Most of the photo pages with a single photo, with a few featuring two photos, in two cases, with the second photo as an inset, and two pages with more than two photos. Issued at the inflexion point when it became manifestly clear that movie production and the base of major movie studios would be centered in Hollywood as opposed to the New York area, where throughout the teens, many movies were still being made. This was also the time when the movie industry had matured into a star system that was to serve it for many decades to come and the larger studios were becoming more corporatized, with a business model that had some resemblance of its structure later. And we can gather from this album that the image and renown of Hollywood as the glamorous capital of the film industry was gelling, with an souvenir album such as this not just reflecting that reality but in no small measure contributing to it. So while most of the photos don't touch on the film industry, and one can get a sense of what Hollywood was like before the film industry arrived, there is a page with 14 photos of the top movie stars of the day -- Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Jack Holt, Thomas Meighan, Betty Compson, William Hart, Jackie Coogan, Mary Minter, etc. Other photos relating to the movies are a picture of Grauman's Egyptian Theater, an aerial shot of United Studios, then the largest studio in the world, according to the caption,and which became the home of Paramount., which acquired the site in 1926. Another photo shows a scene from a pilgrimage play, "Life of Christ", which we are told was produced annually. Theatrical though that is, we see little connection to this long-gone tradition and the film industry. Many of the photos have some connection to real estate development of Hollywood. This was before there was a Hollywood sign, which was not completed until a year after the issue of this album. Of particular interest are the buildings that are no more, such as the gabled Christie Hotel and some of the mansions. One, the "Bernheimer" home on a Hollywood Hill, which looks like a Japanese temple, is today the Yamashiro Restaurant. Condition: slight darkening of the wraps on the front cover around its perimeter. Minor abrasion of the wraps in a few spots. Minor soiling of the first leaf and in a few other places. Mostly clean and bright, and one can sum up the condition issues as no more than light wear.