DS, signed “L. B. Mayer,” two pages, 8.5 x 11, April 10, 1929. Official letter from MGM Vice President Louis B. Mayer to famed cult director Tod Browning, which finds the studio delivering to him the sum of $25,000 as compensation for an earlier three-film contract with MGM from December 6, 1927, with Browning contractually obligated to render his services as director for an untitled third photoplay. Signed at the conclusion in fountain pen by Louis B. Mayer; the space reserved for Browning is empty. In fine condition, with some light irregular toning.
The third and final film of Browning’s contract was The Thirteenth Chair, a mystery starring Conrad Nagel, Leila Hyams, and Margaret Wycherly, which was released on October 19, 1929. Browning would work with Universal for his next three films—Outside the Law with Edward G. Robinson, Iron Man with Jean Harlow, and his influential horror hit Dracula—before returning to MGM to create what many consider to be his magnum opus, the controversial 1932 horror film Freaks.
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