[A fascinating archive of 86 publicity photos for 59 silent movie and early talkie films preserved from the historic Portland, Oregon Egyptian Theater, erected by Graeper in 1924. The film photos preserved here, span the 1920s into the Great Depression, and include images for 23 films now considered “lost films” with no known complete, or even partial film archive copies. These films vividly portrayed the Jazz Age while being shown at the Union Theater and later the Egyptian Theater on Union Ave., starring such actors as Clara Bow, Rod La Rocque, Antonio Moreno, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Loretta Young, Gloria Blondell, Doris Kenyon, John Wayne, Richard Dix, Florence Vidor, Jackie Coogan, Lon Chaney, and many others.]

[Portland, OR: Union Avenue Theater; Egyptian Theater, 1914-1938]. 4to. [85 leaves (unnumbered).], archival mylar sleeves preserving 86 silver gelatin photographs, most w/ film, studio and star information at lower margin, w/in negative, or neatly typed on verso, many w/ annotations on versos, some w/ pencil rubbing, and one with long ALS from William Graeper to employee (many of the images w/ minor chipping to corners, occasional minor closed tears, some soiling and a few with loss, some thumbing, and a couple w/ thumb tack marks at corners). Recent cloth 3-ring binder, lettering stamped on front cover, still a VG- archive, w/ most images retaining excellent bright contrast. A remarkable survivor archive offering an excellent visual historical record of the silent movies played amidst the Vaudeville performances at the Union Avenue Theater and later The Egyptian Theater in Portland, Oregon from before World War I, until the late 1930s. Of particular interest are the 23 “lost films” represented here. These include the 1925 fantasy adventure, The Ancient Mariner starring Clara Bow, and Nigel de Brulier with film sets based on the woodcut engravings of Gustave Dore; the 1924 western The Border Legion based on the Zane Grey western, and set in Idaho starring Antonio Moreno, and Helene Chadwick; the 1914 D.W. Griffith film, The Escape, starring Donald Crisp & Edna Foster; the 1930 The Grand Parade an early talkie musical about a minstrel show artist starring Helen Twelvetrees and Fred Scott; Married Flirts which was a 1924 silent based on Vance’s Mrs. Paramor and considered quite daring at the time as a story center on husbands being lured away from their wives; the 1922 Oliver Twist silent film adaptation of the Dickens’ novel which starred Lon Chaney and Jackie Coogan believed lost until the 1970s; four photos of the 1928 Stool Pigeon silent film starring Olive Borden and Charles Delaney; as well as the 1924 Tarnish silent drama starring Ronald Colman, May MacAvoy, and Marie Prevost. On the verso of the Marry Me publicity photo, Graeper has scrawled a note to his employee stating he would pick up the set of sign cards for “[Madame] Sans-Gene” -- a 1925 silent film featuring Gloria Swanson and Emile Drain -- noting that he wanted “each set of cards alike, both in lettering and in size, as the last few cards looked like hell, with words spelled wrong and titles not according to copy.” Graeper (1875-1970) had taken over the management and ownership of the Union Ave. Theater at 539 Union Ave. in Portland before 1914, expanded its seating capacity in 1916-17 just prior to the US entrance into World War I. The Egyptian Theater was opened in 1924, adorned with exotic decorations such as Egyptian revival pillars, pyramids, and ornamental urns, with lotus flower motifs. The architect was Edward A. Miller, and featured 866 seats on the main floor and 344 in the balcony, closing after 1963 to become a warehouse. The musical accompaniment for the silent films and Vaudeville acts were from a Wurlitzer Style F (opus #855) pipe organ shipped by the Wurlitzer factory in July, 1924, later moved to the Scottish Rite Temple in 1936. Complete list of films and photos available upon request.