This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/28/2024
[HART, William S. (1864-1946)]. The Cold Deck. A Unique Pair of Large Color Lobby Boards with Hand-Painted Highlights. Indianapolis: Brown Art Co. for Doll-Van Film Corp., 1917. Both with “Brown Art Co. Indianapolis” signed in the lower right corners. Color stills on wooden boards with hand-painted enhancements, one depicting Hart as gambler Jefferson “On the Level” Leigh and a female character (possibly Mildred Harris as his impoverished sister, Alice), the other depicting Hart with a Jewish pawn broker (“Solomons Exchange” sign is clearly visible in the upper background - this still has a plaque at the upper center frame, “Doll-Van Film Corp. Presents Wm. S. Hart in ‘The Cold Deck’”). Both in original gold-painted wooden frames. Sight approximately 29 ½ x 39 ½”. Frames approximately 35 ¼ x 45 ¼”. Minor wear to frames. Brown Art Co. paper labels on versos. Fine. A rare and unusual pair, these depict scenes from this Western melodrama about a reformed gambler (Hart) who is cheated (“cold-decked”) in a card game, and tries to rob a stage coach to get money for his sister, Alice. One of his accomplices shoots and kills the driver, framing Leigh for the murder. Leigh is tried and imprisoned, but escapes and later captures the murderer, clearing his own name.