DUKE STEPS OUT, THE (1929) Set of 13 photos

[Hollywood: MGM, 1929] Set of thirteen (13) vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) black-and-white print still photos, several with studio descriptive text on back, JUST ABOUT FINE.

William Haines was a great movie star in the mid-1920s to early-1930s at MGM. He specialized in comedies and romantic vehicles and was, at one point, the single most popular star at the studio.

However, as he came under increasing pressure to enter into a studio-arranged fake “lavender” marriage, to dispel knowledge of his homosexuality, he refused — and MGM in time canceled his contract.

Haines had a successful afterlife as an interior decorator. He remains an icon in Hollywood LGBTQ history.

THE DUKE STEPS OUT is a college boxing sports romantic film. Sadly, it is lost.