Unseen photographs of silent Hollywood stars including Charlie Chaplin to be auctioned for £1,000

A treasure trove of never-before-seen photos of historic silent film stars, including Charlie Chaplin and “forgotten” stars Leslie Stuart and Gloria Swanson from the early days of Hollywood, have been unearthed.

More than 200 never-before-seen snapshots provide a candid, behind-the-scenes look at what life was like in the golden age of cinema, creating, according to auctioneers, an important record of film history and life in Hollywood and Beverly Hills for more than a century. . until the 1950s.

Several of the photos, from Stuart’s personal photo album from a century ago, show Leslie and Charlie together in 1919 at Chaplin’s Studios in Los Angeles.

Leslie Stuart (left) and Jack Conway recline outside the set

Chaplin inscribed ‘To Leslie Stuart, from your sincere admirer Charlie Chaplin’ on a photo

One photo is of the two of them arm in arm and Chaplin inscribed ‘To Leslie Stuart, from your sincere admirer Charlie Chaplin’ on the front.

Stuart replied and wrote ‘To the father, from Leslie’.

Other photos in the historical collection show American actor Douglas Fairbanks with boxer Spike Robinson and photos of Douglas with notorious boxer Kid McCoy.

Those photographs are believed to have been taken when Fairbanks was making the film The Knickerbocker Buckeroo (1919) and hired Robinson, Montana and McCoy to help him get into stunt shape.

Leslie is also pictured with a young Gloria Swanson, with whom he starred in the 1918 film The Secret Code.

In another image, he can be seen surrounded by a group of young women on a beach, including the silent film actress Clarine Seymour, who died in April 1920 at just 21 years of age.

The impressive array of photos belonged to one of Leslie’s distant relative’s friends and has been passed down to that same family for decades.

The album is expected to sell for £800 – £1,000 when it goes up for auction at Ewbank’s Auctioneers in Surrey later this month.

Denise Kelly, specialist at Ewbank’s Auctioneers, said: “These are not purely promotional photographs issued by studios, but personal images taken by and of a man who was at the center of Hollywood life, both professionally and socially, from the very end. from World War I onwards.

“They are packed with iconic stars like Chaplin, Swanson, Valentino and Fairbanks, but also people who were once in the Hollywood spotlight but have since disappeared, each with a fascinating story to tell.

“The personal nature of this album combined with the inclusion of so much Hollywood history makes it endlessly fascinating and uniquely appealing to auction attendees.”

Leslie Stuart can be seen surrounded by a group of young women on a beach, including silent film actress Clarine Seymour.

Chaplin poses with a young Jackie Coogan between takes

The photos are expected to fetch over £1000 at auction.

The Manchester-born Stuart, a contemporary of Chaplin, died in 1977 and had a film career that spanned from about 1918 to 1925. But he apparently disappeared into the mists of time and is not as well known as Chaplin or his own father, the composer of the same name.

It is known that he was living in London in 1950, when he wrote to Chaplin proposing the use of his father’s music in a new film project.

But he eventually returned to Los Angeles where he died.

The album will appear in Ewbank’s Entertainment & Memorabilia auction on February 24, with bids available. online.