ZIEGFELD FOLLIES (1946) Souvenir book

Vintage original 9 x 12 “ (22 x 30 cm.) paper cover book, 20 pages, USA. Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice, Judy Garland, Lena Horn, Gene Kelly, Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Esther Williams, William Powell, dir: Vincente Minnelli; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, The extravagant multi million dollar re-imagination of a Ziegfeld Follies show featuring the major MGM stars of musicals and comedy of the World War II era. So ambitious was producer Arthur Freed that the film segments spanned filming over a two year period— many of which were re-edited, re-arranged and then many which were completely cut. Bunin’s puppets animated William Powell’s history from Heaven introduction and the MGM dancers and show girls had constant employment for a long period while the various musical numbers were rehearsed and filmed. This is more than evident in the illustraions, which are presented in duotone, black and white and color. The sketch art of Lemuel Ayres are presented as is the Vargas art of Lucille Ball and the MGM dancers. Cover is lose and there is some soiling to front and back cover and a minor crease to the bottom left corner area which runs throughout the pages. NEAR FINE.