Seeking collector/archivist help with a Chaplin project

[Michael J Hayde]

My next book, which is in the editing stage, will be CHAPLIN'S VINTAGE YEAR: THE HISTORY OF THE MUTUAL-CHAPLIN SPECIALS. It's the complete story of the Lone Star films, framed by the rise and fall of the Mutual Film Corporation, the height of "Chaplinitis" and the details surrounding the various acquisitions and releases these comedies have enjoyed for nearly a century. I've had a great deal of help from many knowledgeable people, and right now - with the manuscript 9/10ths complete - I have two gaps to fill.

For the filmography section, I'm using the lengthy synopses that Lone Star's publicists prepared for each short, which described not only the action but also intertitles. These were submitted to the copyright office as part of the registration when the films were originally released. The only problem is, the synopses for THE COUNT and THE ADVENTURER either disintegrated or "walked away" before the LoC had them microfilmed.

Does anyone know of ANYONE who might have copies of this for these two films, or a repository where they might have survived? MoMA didn't have them, and the John R. Freuler papers in Chicago appear to be solely concerned with Flying A. Did any fan publication of the era reprint them, either here or abroad? Anyone who can help will receive full credit in the acknowledgements and a free copy of the book.

Thank you,
Michael
http://mutual-chaplin.blogspot.com/

[Michael J Hayde]

Just heard from Kate Guyonvarch of Association Chaplin: "I'm sorry to say that we have absolutely none of the booklets you describe, let alone the two missing ones." I should also mention that NYC's Museum of Modern Art Film Studies Center also doesn't have them. (They have a photocopy of the booklet for THE VAGABOND, which derives from the Library of Congress's copy.)

I know these didn't get wide distribution, but I'm still hoping a private collector or long-time researcher somewhere can help!

Michael