Fabulous personal guest book of Brian and Eleanor Aherne spanning almost 30 years from 1948-1977. This very nice leather-bound guestbook was the personal property of the Ahernes, measures 10 x 13, has 121 total pages, with ninety of the pages bearing signatures, some signed on both sides of the page.
The opening page of the book bears a very nice hand-done colored ink presentation reading “Brian Aherne, In appreciation of your fifth appearance on our Screen Guild Players radio program, October 8, 1945, Motion Picture Relief Fund.” Highlights of the book include a wonderful full-page profile sketch done by Alfred Hitchcock, and a very interesting self-portrait sketch of Marlene Dietrich, adding a sketch of an Academy Award statue, with Dietrich writing “Oscar Night-1967.”
Among the plethora of other notable signers in this one-of-a-kind book are: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce (who has signed on the same page as Rathbone), Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly, Sharon Tate, Boris Karloff, James Whale, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Louis B. Mayer, Hal Roach, John Huston, Ronald Colman (2), Rosalind Russell (2), Cedric Hardwicke, David Niven (2), Norma Shearer, George Sanders (6), Rex Harrison, Lili Palmer, Merle Oberon, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Edgar Bergen, Alan Napier (2), Alec Guinness, Alan Jay Lerner, Laurence Olivier, Joseph Cotten (4), Henry Fonda, Van Johnson, Lewis Milestone, Irene Dunne (2), Greer Garson, Jane Wyatt, Olivia de Havilland, Deborah Kerr, and many more. In overall fine condition.
Aherne was an Oscar-nominated stage and screen actor who was one of the top cinema character actors from the 1930s to the 1950s. He made his movie debut in 1924, and by the mid-1930s had moved to Hollywood, where in 1940 he was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for Juarez (1939). Clearly Aherne’s talents extended off the screen into that of party-giver and much-visited host, as this veritable who’s who of Hollywood can attest. The stars came to the Ahernes to enjoy themselves, and their appreciation and sense of fun still resonates within these unique pages. RR Auction COA.
