ULTRA-RARE vintage matte-finish 10.2 × 13.2-inch black and white chest-up studio portrait by Edwin Bower Hesser, boldly signed and inscribed in blue fountain pen for the daughter of a studio figure in the 1920s. In fine condition, with minor paper loss to the lower left, and the lower right-hand corner lightly scuffed. This is the only signed photo we have ever encountered-- and the writing matches the only album page exemplar we have seen to date. Curly-haired brunette actress Dorothy Senastian began her career as a showgirl and good friend of Louise Brooks. She went on to play vamps and disreputable "other women" in silent pictures and dated Buster Keaton in the late 1920s, appearing with him in Spite Marriage (1929). In the 1930s, she appeared in films like The Women (1939) and Reap the Wild Wind (1939), in supporting roles. Alas, the beautiful actress generally grabbed the headlines not so much for her performances as her wild lifestyle, which came to a screeching halt with her early death of cancer at 53: She was married thrice and caught up in tax evasion cases; had a nasty divorce from William "Hopalong" Boyd; and got arrested for driving drunk after a party with Keaton. Little known fact: She had a small role with Gloria Grahame in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) that wound up on the cutting-room floor!

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