ARLISS ARCHIVES

As far as we can determine, Mr. A’s final professional appearance was in a brief radio address urging his fellow citizens in Britain to volunteer to assist the war effort near the beginning of World War II. The address was presumably broadcast over the BBC, and judging from some references by Mr. A, it was made at some point between September 1939 when hostilities between Britain and Germany were declared, and prior to May 1940 when the bombing began. This period of the Second World War has been dubbed “the twilight war” or “the phony war” because although war had been declared, there were no clashes between the two countries. This calm before the storm ended with the Battle of Britain in May 1940.

An autographed photo of Mr. A taken at about the same time as his war address, circa 1940:

Please click on the arrow below to hear George Arliss’s appeal for the war effort:

Despite the war, in May 1940 Mr. A’s second volume of autobiography was published on both sides of the Atlantic. Here is the original dust jacket with color enhancement. Notice that it was not necessary to identify the author on the cover. In the UK, this delightful volume was called GEORGE ARLISS BY HIMSELF:

Since we’re in a military frame of mind, at right below is Mr. A in military uniform for THE KING’S VACATION (1933), and at left is a recent photo of the same tunic on auction. The fate of movie costumes is one of the more neglected areas of film study:

Here are more new images that have never been posted before on the Arliss Archives. First, an original color lobby card from THE LAST GENTLEMAN (1934). Left to right are Janet Beecher, Edna May Oliver, Mr. A, and Ralph Morgan:

The following two images are original color photos (we don’t know the process used) that document Mr. A’s one-year run in London starring in THE GREEN GODDESS from September 1923 to September 1924. In this photo the lady in distress is Isobel Elsom:

The cover of a British movie magazine that novelized current films and was illustrated with photos, here from THE WORKING MAN (1933). Apparently, these novelizations were based on the shooting scripts instead of the films themselves, and sharp eyed readers can spot scenes in the novel that were cut from the finished film:

Mr. A spent the winter months in California making films throughout much of the 1930s. He returned to his native Britain in the Spring of each year. This photo, circa 1929, shows his renting a western style home. Note Mr. A’s autograph near the bottom: