Guide to the Albert Joseph Guérard Research Materials on Lya de Putti and Lois Moran, 1923-1996

Processed by Special Collections staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Steven Mandeville-Gamble
Department of Special Collections
Green Library
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford, CA 94305-6004
Phone: (650) 725-1022
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
© 1998
The Board of Trustees of Stanford University. All rights reserved.

Guide to the Albert Joseph Guérard Research Materials on Lya de Putti and Lois Moran, 1923-1996

Collection number: M0897

Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Stanford University Libraries

Stanford, California

Contact Information

  • Department of Special Collections
  • Green Library
  • Stanford University Libraries
  • Stanford, CA 94305-6004
  • Phone: (650) 725-1022
  • Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
  • URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
Processed by:
Special Collections staff
Date Completed:
1997
Encoded by:
Steven Mandeville-Gamble
© 1998 The Board of Trustees of Stanford University. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Albert Joseph Guérard Research Materials on Lya de Putti and Lois Moran,
Date (inclusive): 1923-1996
Collection number: Special Collections M0897
Creator: Guérard, Albert J. (Albert Joseph), 1914-
Extent: 1 linear ft.
Repository: Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

None.

Publication Rights

Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item] Albert Joseph Guérard Research Materials on Lya de Putti and Lois Moran, M0897, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Biography

Albert Joseph Guérard (1914- ) is an emeritus professor of English at Stanford University and a novelist. In 1924 he went with his family to spend his father's sabbatical year in Paris. During Christmas vacation, Guérard's mother took him to Davos, Switzerland, where he met the Hungarian silent film star Lya de Putti, who took the 10 year-old Albert to a ball. This encounter was woven into several of Guérard's writings,. AJG's interest in de Putti and her life was revived upon seeing her obituary in 1931.

Scope and Content

The Research Materials on Lya de Putti and Lois Moran Collection consists of 1 manuscript box. The collection contains Albert J. Guérard's materials on Lya de Putti, a Hungarian silent screen star whom he met in 1924. Included are correspondence with Lois Moran, a young American actress that was in Paris in the 1920s who did one film with Lya de Putti, publicity photographs and photocopies of articles about Lya de Putti, transcripts of correspondence between AJG and de Putti's daughters and other people who were connected with her, and transcripts of interviews. There are also 5 articles or excerpts of works written by AJG which illustrate his use of de Putti in fiction and non-fiction and a biography of de Putti written by P. Herzog and R. Tozzi and dedicated to AJG. AJG's own comments on the collection and its usefulness are also included in the collection and cited in the finding aid.

Access Terms

Putti, Lya de, 1896?-1931.
Moran Young, Lois.
Zeilinger, Johannes, 1948- . Lya de Putti, Ein vergessenes Leben.
Tozzi, Romano. Lya de Putti, Loving life and not fearing death.
Herzog, Peter. Lya de Putti, Loving life and not fearing death.
Authors, American.
American literature--20th century.
Motion picture actors and actresses.
Silent films.
America--Intellectual life--20th century.
"Davos in Winter." The Past Must Alter. "Was Lia de Putti dead at 22?" "The Past Unrecaptured: the Two Lives of Lya de Putti." Christine/Annette. "Snow White and Rose Red."


Box 1, Folder 1

Albert Guerard's comments on collection. 1996

Box 1, Folder 2

25 letters to Albert and/or Maclin Guerard from Lois MORAN Young (LM). 1980s

Box 1, Folder 3

28 newsclippings sent from LM to Guerards. 1980s

Scope and Content Note

Most are her "Down at the Barn" column for the local Sedona, AZ, newspaper. Originally sent with letters in Folder 1.
Box 1, Folder 4

Synopsis of Snow White and Rose Red, an unwritten long article/short book contrasting the life of Lya de Putti (LDP) and LM. 1986

Box 1, Folder 5

3 notecards with photos of LDP.

Box 1, Folder 5

1 b&w photo with both LDP and LM.

Box 1, Folder 5

6 photocopies of LDP's life; screen shots.

Box 1, Folder 5

1 photocopy from German book with film shot of LDP.

Box 1, Folder 5

1 photocopy of Bioscope magazine, 20 March 1929, with screen shot of LDP in The Informer.

Box 1, Folder 5

1 photocopy of LDP's funeral announcements. 28 Nov., 1931

Box 1, Folder 6

Photocopies of Section 114-122, concerning Albert Guerard and Lya de Putti, in Johannes Zeilinger, Lya de Putti, Ein vergessenes Leben. (Leipzig: Karolinger, 1991). 1991

Box 1, Folder 7

LM materials:

 

Front page of Stanford Daily, 3 July 1951. 1951

 

1 photocopy of photo from book; unidentified actors.

 

Photocopy from LM's album - at F. Scott Fitzgerald's house party in her honor, 1927.

Box 1, Folder 8

LM materials:

 

Publicity photos

 

Photocopies and photos of LM in Maurice 1923

 

L'Herbier's 1923 film, La Galerie des Monstres, her first film at age 14-15.

Box 1, Folder 9

Correspondence with daughters of LDP. 1979-80

Physical Description: 6 letters.
Box 1, Folder 9

Transcription of taped interview with LDP's daughters regarding the story of an empty grave.

Box 1, Folder 10

Correspondence with Myna Lockwood about LDP. 1980

Box 1, Folder 10

1 letter from Lockwood and 1 story about LDP.

Box 1, Folder 11

Guerard's first letter to LM. 10 Dec. 1979

Box 1, Folder 12

Correspondence between Guerard and various people about LDP. 1979-80

Physical Description: 17 items

Scope and Content Note

including transcripts of interviews. Some letters evoke the Hungary of the 1920s as well as the world of film.
Box 1, Folder 13-17

Guerard's use of LDP in fiction and non-fiction.

Scope and Content Note

5 examples of his work, as described by Guerard: "In 1) and 2) [items in folders 13, 14] I was recasting in fiction a real event, and my focus is on the effect of a glamorous actress on a young boy. In 3) [item in folder 15] I discuss the ways in which the real event took various forms in my fiction. 4) [item in folder 16] reflects research to find out what, behind my fantasizing, was the real non-fiction life of Lya de Putti, and turns to the surviving daughters who, as children, were led to believe their mother was dead when in fact she was in Berlin, then Hollywood as a famous actress."
Box 1, Folder 13

Guerard. "Davos in Winter," 1933. 1933

Biography/Organization History

Won intercollegiate short story prize, The Hound and Horn (Oct. 1933). "Written during my second year at Stanford. This is the most autobiographical of my fictions and reflects a real incident of 12 Jan. 1925.
Box 1, Folder 14

Guerard. Excerpt from The Past Must Alter, (London: Longmans, 1937; New York: Holt, 1938).

Physical Description: 1937-38

Note

"A recasting of the same material, but now as a crucial incident in the psychological development of the main character."
Box 1, Folder 15

Guerard. "Was Lia de Putti dead at 22?" (TriQuarterly, Winter 1971). 1971

Scope and Content Note

An essay on the way the Putti story developed in my imagination.
Box 1, Folder 16

Guerard. "The Past Unrecaptured: the Two Lives of Lya de Putti," (Southern Review, Winter 1983)

Box 1, Folder 17

Guerard. "Lya de Putti's last appearance," from Christine/Annette (Dutton, 1985),

Scope and Content Note

p. 276-77.

Note

"She also appears in earlier parts of the novel."
Box 1, Folder 18

Herzog, P. and Tozzi, R. Lya de Putti, Loving life and not fearing death. (NY: Corvin, 1993).

Note

Dedicated to Albert J. Guerard and signed by authors.