Beschreibung:

Approximately 216 silver gelatin photographs, most 8 x 10 in., of Baby LeRoy in portraits and publicity shots which give a detailed look at his career as a child star, housed in a white 3-ring binder. Shirley Temple is featured in 17 of the photos. Some of the highlights are photos of Baby LeRoy with boxer Max Baer, actors Lee Tracy and Mary Martin child stars Spanky McFarland and Virginia Weidler, and with a large group of fellow Paramount child stars. Even a photo of Baby LeRoy's fingerprints is included in this collection, the photos of which were saved by his mother. Baby LeRoy began his career in 1933, before he turned a year old. Working with the likes of Maurice Chevalier and W.C. Fields, he became an overnight sensation, though Fields reportedly put gin in Baby LeRoy's bottle to calm him down. The studio was loathe to see LeRoy grow up; when his first tooth appeared, they reportedly pulled it to make him appear younger. An inscription on a signed photo of a slightly older LeRoy (he is all of 5 years old) foreshadows the decline of his screen career based on his age: "To one good man from another / Loads of love / Lonnie LeRoy." As an adult, he served in the Korean War and spent many years as a lifeguard, loving every minute of his privacy. Accompanied by The Child Stars by Norman J. Zierold (New York: Coward-McCann, 1965) with a passport-type color photo of a grown-up Baby LeRoy attached to the frontispiece. Provenance: the estate of Ronald "Baby LeRoy" Overacker. 8 x 10 in.