MAURICE CHEVALIER ON THE PARAMOUNT SOUNDSTAGE | ONE HOUR WITH YOU (1932) Oversized BTS photo by Bert Longworth

Hollywood: Paramount, [1932]. Vintage original 10 3/4 x 13 1/2″ (27 x 34 cm.) [blank white borders trimmed from 11 x 14″] black-and-white double weight glossy silver gelatin photo. Minor wear near bottom, blind stamp of “Bert Longworth, Hollywood” at bottom right. Studio and photographer ink stamp as well as attached paper information blurb on verso. Near fine.

The early 1930s — the years of pre-Code talkies — was the perfect venue for Maurice Chevalier‘s unique debonair air of flirtation, particularly in a string of highly entertaining, risqué musical frivolities at Paramount. These were the works of master filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch. A popular cabaret and film star in France, he achieved top box office status in America during a 5-year run. He returned to France in 1935 and did not make another American (though set in Paris) film till 1957, Love in the Afternoon.

This is a rare, moody behind-the-scenes image of what a soundstage at Paramount looked like in 1932.