Remarkable DS, signed “David Wark Griffith,” two pages, 8.5 x 13, March 2, 1936. A marriage agreement between Griffith and his second wife, Evelyn Baldwin, in which Griffith “covenants and agrees to and does hereby sell, assign transfer and set over to said Evelyn Baldwin all the right, title and interest which said David Wark Griffith now has in and to, and which may hereafter accrue to him, under the annuity contract with the Aetna Life Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut…to pay annually to said Griffith the the sum of…$5,632.80, on the 1st day of March, 1923, and an equal amount on the 1st day of each and every succeeding March during the lifetime of said David Wark Griffith; and the said Evelyn Baldwin hereby agrees that the transfer and assignment to her of said rights and said annuity payments in and under said annuity agreement, and in consideration of the rights and interest sold…that the said property rights and interests shall be and are in lieu of all rights or claims of any kind or nature whatsoever in any and all property of which said David Wark Griffith shall die seized and possessed; and said Evelyn Baldwin hereby releases unto said David Wark Griffith and his heirs, personal representatives and assigns forever, all of her rights and claims in and to all property of every kind and nature whatsoever, except the property sold, assigned, and transferred to her in, by and under this agreement…Evelyn Baldwin hereby promises and agrees that she will not, at any time, make any claim or demand whatsoever, against the said David Wark Griffith, or assert any claim to any property now owned or which may be hereafter acquired by him other than as above stated, except such additional property as may be hereafter given to her by said Griffith, by his free act and deed without any claim, demand or attempt on her part to influence him in the making of said gift. This agreement shall become effective only on the consummation of said proposed marriage between the parties hereto and if such marriage does not take place, or is not consummated, then this agreement shall be null and void.” Also signed at the conclusion by Baldwin. Uniform toning, a staple mark to each corner of both pages, and an inch-long tear to the top edge of the second page, otherwise fine condition.
When Griffith met Baldwin at a 1927 New York charity event held at the Astor Hotel, it is said he walked around her checking photographic angles and declared, "You're Little Nell." He intended to cast her in The Old Curiousity Shop, but she never appeared in the film, appearing instead in the 1931 talkie The Struggle, a financial bomb which turned out to be Griffith’s final feature film. By that time, Baldwin and the famed silent film director were a couple…despite the fact that he was still married to his first wife, Linda Arvidson.
Arvidson was a young actress who worked with Griffith at the Grand Opera House in San Francisco. When the earthquake struck the city, she joined him on tour, reuniting in Boston where they married in 1906 at the Old North Church, but in 1911 she left him on the grounds of infidelity. Rumors circulated that she had married the director to escape the destitution of San Francisco and that her demands for money strained the marriage. He filed for divorce in his home state of Kentucky without notifying her; she tried to contest the filing, asking for an accounting of income.
After a messy and finically difficult divorce Griffith approached his second marriage with caution, requiring this prenuptial agreement with Baldwin, before they married in April 1936, one week before he received the first honorary Oscar. Later that year the Griffith Corporation slipped into receivership. Forced into retirement, Griffith, who had crafted the film classic The Birth of a Nation, sank into depression and alcoholism and in 1947, Baldwin would file for divorce. A truly one-of-a-kind document, and a highly personal look into the private world of the greatest silent film director of all time. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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