If I Had to Keep 4 | Guest: Kendra

Like Rebecca Black would say: it's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday..etc etc...This time all the fun is brought to you by no other than Kendra from the globally beloved, ultra cool, informative and beautiful site Viv and Larry.

See the awesome items she picked, next:

1. This might be my prized possession. It's a scrapbook that was compiled by a woman called Emilie Davie. She was an American actress and New York socialite who became a member of London's prestigious Old Vic Theatre Company for the 1937-38 season. As a bit player, she acted opposite the greats: Laurence Olivier in Macbeth and Othello (when he played Iago), Emlyn Williams in Richard III, and Vivien Leigh in A Midsummer Night's Dream, among others.

The scrapbook is comprised of her personal memorabilia--personalized letters from theatrical director and part-time film actor Tyrone Guthrie and producer Michel Saint-Denis, autographs from Emlyn Williams and Laurence Olivier, original photos by Angus McBean and D.W. Debenham. It's a real piece of amazing theatre history and although very fragile, I still fell lucky to own it!

2. Before Vivien Leigh married Laurence Olivier, she had a fling with a man called John Buckmaster, Gladys Cooper's son. This photo, from 1950, is personally made out to him and autographed. Awkward? Maybe. Awesome? Oh, yeah. This was a gift from an author friend of mine.

3. One of the best things about running a fan site about someone/people you love is meeting people who equally share your passion for the subject(s). About three years ago, one of the visitors at vivandlarry.com was downsizing his collection, and sent this autographed card to me in the mail as a birthday present. I may or may not have totally cried, it was such a lovely thought!

4. One of my favorite things to do is rummage through old book shops--you know, the kind where old tomes are piled on the floor and a musty aroma attacks you as soon as you step inside the door. A couple of years ago on a solo trip to London, I stopped in one such shop in the Charing Cross Road. It's actually a theatre ephemera shop, run by a nice old man who knows everything he has in his enormous inventory. I asked for anything Laurence Olivier or Vivien Leigh. He handed me a shoe box full of old playbills. As I started digging through it, I came across a white envelope and inside was this gem.

It was one of the yearly Christmas cards the Oliviers sent out to their friends and family. The cover was designed by set designer Roger Furse (Hamlet, Henry V) and depicts a scene from the 1953 Terrence Rattigan play The Sleeping Prince, which the Oliviers staged for the Coronation year. The inside reads "To bring you the happiest wishes for Christmas and the New Year, Vivien and Laurence Olivier”.

Thanks Kendra for being part of If I Had to Keep 4! Hope you guys enjoyed this post as much as I did!

You can check the previous posts of this series here.

If you want to share your classic movie items with us, just send me an e-mail at kfercovic[at]gmail[dot]com.

PS: If you haven't checked Millie's post about some awesome home movies starring Lauren Bacall, Paul Newman, Natalie Wood, Anthony Perkins, Jane Fonda...well, I really don't know what's wrong with you :)

Keep rockin'.