Arcana:

(JUNIOR LEAGUE OF PASADENA). Junior League of Pasadena. Pasadena, CA: Junior League of Pasadena, 1927. First Edition. 4to. Stapled Illustrated Wrappers. Good.. np (110 + 6pp), profusely illustrated in sepia tone. In a protective clear acetate dustwrapper. Published at the height of The Roaring Twenties, this is the heavily illustrated program for the 1927 fundraising "Frolic" presented by the Junior League of Pasadena. Reflecting both the status of its blue-blooded members of Southern California's elite and the look of The Jazz Age, this is a fascinating early "advertorial" in which the wives and daughters of Pasadena's toniest families are photographed flapperishly styled and posed admiring of the wares of its paid advertisers. Featured in the highly staged portraits - primarily by Ray Huff-Richter's studio - are the likes of silent-era star Colleen Moore, Mmes. Donald and Stuart O'Melveny, Hancock Banning, Stephen W. Royce, Stanley Robinson, Franklin Baldwin, Miss Marion Williams, and scores of others. Amongst the more than one hundred businesses touting their wares in support of the Junior League are The Biltmore, Ambassador, Alexandria, Fairmont, Flintridge, and Huntington hotels; May Company, Barker Bros., Hales, and Crown Emporium department stores; E.F Hutton, Bond & Goodwin & Tucker, Wilcox Drake & Co., The House of Rollins, E.A. Pierce & Co., and Francis P. Graves & Company brokerages; Richfield and Union Oil companies; Roland E Coate and Florence Yoch & Lucile Council, Architects; The Hal Roach Studios, Vroman's Books, The Pig 'N Whistle restaurant, and many of the local luxury car dealerships. Additionally bound in with a silk tie is the detailed six page program for the December 6th, 1927 "Topics of the Day" benefit theatrical Frolic - "with a book and original lyrics to popular tunes by Madeline Blackmore and Charles Crouch" - featuring a bevy of Junior League of Pasadena beauties of all ages joined by Mrs. Forrest Tucker as "Miss America!" An internally most presentable example of this exceptionally uncommon item - not a single copy appears in either OCLC WorldCat or the holdings of the Los Angeles Public Library - starting to pull from the wrappers at the staples showing a dent at the head of the spine, notable wear and creasing, some dampstaining, and minor paper loss along the extremities of its illustrated pale blue cardstock covers. It has been priced accordingly. Inventory Number: 026727