Pretty vintage 6x9-inch photo on light-weight paper stock, boldly signed and inscribed in black fountain pen in the 1930s. In fine condition for its age, with heavy mounting remnants on the verso and scattered very mild handling bends along the right edge, barely visible and only minimally detracting from overall appearance. Charming Eve Arden was the silver screen's foremost "second banana," typecast, from Stage Door (1937) onward, as the all-knowing, witheringly sarcastic "best friend" who seldom got the leading man, but always got the best lines. Her film roles in the 1940s ranged from such typical assignments as sophisticated magazine editor "Stonewall" Jackson in Cover Girl (1944) to the more atypical role of athletic Russian sniper Natalia Moskoroff in The Doughgirls (1944). In 1945, she earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Joan Crawford's sardonic, but sympathetic business partner in Mildred Pierce. Three years later, she starred on the popular radio situation comedy "Our Miss Brooks" (1948), and audiences so adored long-suffering, but ebullient high school teacher Connie Brooks that a sitcom of the same name was launched in 1952, lasting for four seasons. Arden went on to memorable character roles in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) and, perhaps most notably, Grease (1978), hilarious as the no-nonsense Principal McGee.

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