Best Film Plays of 1943-44

New York: Crown Publishers, 1945. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED on the front endpage "For Bill Hays With the hope that he writes a million of im, Lamar Trotti Sept.19, 1945" Screenwriter and producer Lamar Trotti wrote films in many different genres: westerns, such as The Ox-Bow Incident (1943); historical epics, such as Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) ; comedies, such as Cheaper by the Dozen (1950); war films, such as Guadalcanal Diary (1943) and A Bell for Adano (1945); musicals, such as Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) and With a Song in My Heart (1952); and biographies, such as Young Mr. Lincoln and The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (both 1939). He won an Academy Award for his screenplay Wilson (1944), a biographical treatment of Woodrow Wilson's presidency, which is among the film plays in this book, along with his afore-mentioned The Ox-Bow Incident. Trotti's films were commercially and critically successful; they are seen often on television, and they are studied as classics in film schools across the country. Bill Hays was the son of Will H. Hays, most famously known as the first President of Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), which under his guidance published a blacklist of actors and workers studios should not hire, inserted moral clauses into actors' contracts, and published an informal list of suggested guidelines for film producers. When the Catholic Church formed its Legion of Decency and threatened nationwide boycotts of movies, Hays installed a more formal production code, called the Hays Code( later simply "The Code"), which became the virtual law of Hollywood until the 1960s. This book also contains the first printing of the Humphrey Bogart - Ingrid Bergman classic, Casablanca, two Preston Sturges scripts Hail the Conquering Hero and The Miracle of Morgans Creek, as well as Watch On the Rhine, Going My Way, Dragon Seed, and The More the Merrier. Lacking the dustjacket, the book is Very Good, spine faded but titles still legible, page block separating at head of spine, A unique piece of Hollywood film history, tieing together a screenwriter with the man Hollywood feared the most ! Inscriptions by Trotti are RARE. Bill Hays (Will Hays Jr.) did go on to become an author, writing 2 novels and Come Home With Me Now.The Untold Story of Movie Czar Will Hays By His Son. He also later became the Mayor of Crawfordsville, Indiana. I have many more titles from the Hays family estate, most are uniquely SIGNED AND INSCRIBED to WIll H. Hays. . SIGNED AND INSCRIBED. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/No Jacket. Association Copy.