“We Are Sitting on the Top of the World.”

[Beverly Hills], 1927. One-page leaflet/broadside, 5” x 9” folded for mailing. With original mailing envelope from “The Fairplay Institute,” Los Angeles. Postmarked Jan. 4, 1927. Addressed to Harry C. Frank, Delaware, Ohio. Apparently issued to accompany the Beverly Hills “float” that won First Prize in the Rose Parade of 1927. Wagner humorously describes “shaded drives and beautiful homes wherein shine all the brightest stars of Movieland,” with “two swimming pools to every bible,” minus the “glue factories, lovely sewers, ridiculous building permits and other ‘advantages’” of the surrounding “Loss Angylees.” Wagner (1872-1942) was a left-leaning former newspaper artist who, upon moving to Los Angeles, began to write about the burgeoning film industry for the Saturday Evening Post. He wrote and directed films in Hollywood, became friends with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Will Rogers, Upton Sinclair, and Charlie Chaplin (he was also his publicist). In 1929, Wagner founded his own literary magazine, Script, a liberal publication containing interviews and film criticism with contributors including Dalton Trumbo, Walt Disney, and Ray Bradbury. A rare ephemeral imprint.