Reportedly, Tallulah Bankhead instigated William Faulkner's film career. During a 1931 visit to New York the sultry southerner approached the author to write a screenplay with a starring role for herself. Faulkner was broke and liked the idea of "easy money." In May of the following year he reported for work on the MGM studio lot. His career began inauspiciously when he left the screening room of his first project, Flesh, after only a few minutes stating that he "knew how it would turn out." However, Faulkner soon settled down to work producing preliminary outlines for films, otherwise known as movie treatments. One of his earliest treatments, Flying the Mail, revised an earlier work written by Ralph Graves and Bernard Fineman concerning a father and son pilot team. MGM never produced the film, but segments of Faulkner's treatment remain. One of these fragments is on display, a handwritten text with several discrete strips of typewritten sections pasted onto the page.

Famed director Howard Hawks admired Faulkner's short story "Turn About," which appeared in a 1932 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, so much that he immediately signed the author to a contract to convert the piece into a movie. Set in war-torn Europe, Faulkner easily adapted his story to the big screen with only minimal alterations, one being a title change to Today We Live. Hawks felt the film was the perfect venue to showcase the talents of a young Joan Crawford, although the actress had serious doubts about the project. MGM pulled out all the stops advertising the 1933 film and this display features a two-page advertisement as well as a promotional napkin. Illustrating its international allure, the case also contains a Danish program for the film.   [go to page 2 >>]