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Meet John Doe, the classic 1941 Frank Capra political populist romantic newspaper journalism mistaken identity melodrama (about a female reporter who writes a fictional story, which she presents as fact, about a man who is planning to commit suicide in protest of the world's treatment of downtrodden people; when the column is a giant hit, she must find a man to portray the writer and hires ex-baseball player Gary Cooper) starring Gary Cooper (in the title role as John Doe), Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, Spring Byington, James Gleason, Gene Lockhart, Rod La Rocque, Sterling Holloway, Irving Bacon, Regis Toomey, J. Farrell MacDonald, and Ann Doran. Note that in the original story this movie was based on (by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell), it concludes with John Doe standing on the roof, preparing to jump, and the Barbara Stanwyck character, Nan, tries to talk him out of doing it, and he is unshakable, and he says "I'll always love you, Nan" and she replies "I'll always love you, John". He then looks out at the crowd, which is singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and when the clock strikes midnight, Nan looks at where he was standing, and it is now empty, and she has "a look of pride and great joy". Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin did not want this ending, because it involved the character committing suicide, and they felt that the Catholic Church would strongly object to that, which might make the movie unable to get distribution. Capra filmed five different endings and previewed at least two of them. In one, they had the suicide take place, and ended with Walter Brennan holding John's dead body. In another, it ends at the John Doe Convention, with John Doe disgraced, and the editor saying "Well, boys, you can chalk another one up to the Pontius Pilates." Another had Nan talking John out of committing suicide. In another, John convinces the corrupt publisher to change his ways and join John in his crusade. But none of those four seemed right. At one of the previews where they showed one of the above endings, a viewer suggested ending it with the John Doe members telling John that they had never stopped believing in him, and Capra then filmed that ending, and this is the ending that is on the movie's final version!
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Important Added Info: Note that this wonderful candid still shows a romantic Warner Bros. studio portrait by Scotty Welbourne of the two leads of this classic movie!

Note that this still measures 10 1/2" x 13 1/4" [27 x 34 cm], but it has not been trimmed. Also note that this is a deluxe still printed on double weight paper stock.

Note that we are currently auctioning over 100 ultra rare 11x14 stills (some measure slightly smaller) that are mostly from the 1930s, all in separate auctions! The highlight of these is the 58 of them that were consigned to us by a collector who acquired them many years ago, and they feature wonderful images of many of the greatest 1930s Hollywood stars, including James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Edward G. Robinson, and many others! These are many times more rare than 8x10 stills, and are very rarely offered for sale or at auction, and many of these may be "one of a kind"! This is a very rare opportunity to acquire one or many of these extreme rarities!

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Bruce Hershenson,
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