Sir Cedric Hardwicke personal newspaper clippings

I got these a few weeks ago and been doing research on them. All the albums have his name on them and some pages have where he has written notes on certain newspaper clippings. All the clippings are from movies, TV shows, plays etc.
Do you think this was his personal collection ?

Thank You

Billy D.

 

This is a tough one, Billy. Normally this kind of thing is the work of a fan, but I've not seen one with those embossed covers.

I assume you've read his Wikipedia page, which says he died in 1964 in New York City. I have to wonder who might be interested in this collection now in 2018. Looks like there's a fair amount of water damage to the clippings in the last picture too.

Where did you find these?

 

His or a stalker's. Are the clippings from more than one country?

 

If it was a stalker, s/he has had nothing to so for a very long time.

 

I see some dates in the 20's and some in the 30's. Does the full range cover his entire life?

 

Yes, I would certainly think they were his (although they might have been assembled by an assistant or secretary.) Personalized scrapbooks, probably from a high-end provider like Smythson. He wasn't knighted until 1934 so can't date to before then.

Debora

 

Billy - what is that light colored book on the upper left of the first picture, the one without an embossed cover?

 

He was one of Britain's great character actors, by way. Can't imagine that someone wouldn't be interested.

Debora

 

Here's a sample of his handwriting if that helps.

Debora

 

It's also a newspaper scrap book

 

Looks similar, though most of his writing is in printing

 

I got these at my local clearance thrift store which brings things from Palm Springs California which is about a 40 minute drive.

 

Palm Springs is where old actors went to retire, back when. Educated guess says this was really his. If he didn't bring it there, a friend might have.

 

No, I don't think it's his handwriting. Perhaps put together for him by his agent. Someone would have had to subscribe to all those publications from throughout the UK and not the kind of thing an individual would do. Funny thing to end up in Palm Springs. But wait... His son Edward, the elder and an actor, died in England but the younger son Michael grew up in Los Angeles. Might have come from his estate.

Debora

 

Nah, Michael killed himself in 1983. Perhaps they came from the estate of Hardwicke's second wife, Mary Scott. Yeah, that works. She died in Riverside County
in 2009.

Debora

 

Look carefully, Billy, to make sure there aren't any old letters tucked away in there.

Debora

 

Oh yeah, Thanks for reminding me Debora. I will look through all of them carefully.

 

Going only by the few dates we can see handwritten on the clippings, it's safe to assume that whoever assembled it was British, not American.

 

or cheques

 

The clippings are also from British newspapers, the Reading Mercury, Berkshire (Berks) News, the Daily (Dly) Mail.