[20th Century Photographer] — James Dunn and Sally Eilers

London: Fox, [Ca. 1930s]. Original hand colored real photograph issued as a postcard. 5.5 x 3.5 inches. Very Good+. Printed on verso: "Film Partners" Series, 85, Long Acre, London; No. PC 12. Made in Great Britain. James Howard Dunn (November 2, 1901 - September 1, 1967), billed as Jimmy Dunn in his early career, was an American stage, film, and television actor, and vaudeville performer. The son of a New York stockbroker, he initially worked in his father's firm but was more interested in theater. He landed jobs as an extra in short films produced by Paramount Pictures in its Long Island studio, and also performed with several stock theater companies, culminating with playing the male lead in the 1929 Broadway musical Sweet Adeline. This performance attracted the attention of film studio executives, and in 1931, Fox Film signed him to a Hollywood contract. Dorothea Sally Eilers (December 11, 1908 - January 5, 1978) was an American actress. Eilers was born in New York City to a Jewish-American mother, Paula or Pauline Schoenberger, and a German-American father, Hio Peter Eilers (an inventor). She had one sibling, a brother, Hio Peter Eilers Jr. When Eilers was young, she moved to Los Angeles with her parents, and in 1927 she graduated from Fairfax High School. She went into films because so many of her friends were in pictures. She studied for the stage, specializing in dancing. Her first try was a failure, so she tried typing, but then went back into pictures and succeeded. .