Lot 1062: James Whale: British-born film director

James Whale: British-born film director (1889-1957) who helmed such horror classics as Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man. After a series of strokes left Whale physically weak, he committed suicide by throwing himself into his swimming pool. His career was the subject of the Academy Award-winning 1998 film Gods and Monsters. Original pen and ink sketch (with additional ink washing and pencil detailing) for a character named Mrs. Blow to be played by Ethel Lodge for the 1920 production of Abraham Lincoln: Sketches From Behind The Footlights by Simon Cameron in Ireland in May 1920 on an off-white 6.5 x 7.5 sheet, all drawn by Whale and signed in fountain pen, "J. Whale 1920." In fine condition. A decade before telling man-made monsters where to go, Whale had garnered acclaim for himself as a set and costume designer on the British theater scene. Having enlisted in the army during World War I and commissioned a second lieutenant, he was captured and made a prisoner of war in 1917. It was during this imprisonment that Whale discovered a flare for staging theatrical productions, leading him to an eventual encounter with Frankenstein's monster! A great sketch from the "first" career of the famed director.