Marlon Brando’s personally annotated script for the 1956 film The Teahouse of the August Moon, 132 pages, 8.5 x 11, August 10, 1955. The front cover bears an MGM script department label bearing a pencil identification notation in another hand, “Marlon Brando.” Annotations in Brando’s hand appear on a few pages throughout the script, including additions to the dialogue on page 35, “That’s O.K. boss” and “I call everyone now to hear your speech,” and another on the next page, “I call.” A sketch of a face in profile on the reverse of page 75 also appears to be in Brando’s hand. Various other annotations in unknown hands appear throughout the script, including many phonetic pronunciations of Japanese words. In very good to fine condition, with expected moderate handling wear. Accompanied by a secretarially signed transmittal letter, sending his correspondent “the script of the motion picture I have recently finished.” Starring Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford, and Machiko Kyo, The Teahouse of the August Moon satirizes the US occupation of Okinawa following World War II. The film cast Brando in the role of an Okinawan villager, and he spent two months studying the local culture, speech, and gestures; the phonetic spellings of Japanese words in this script are thus especially interesting.
