Richard Boleslawski

Whenever TCM has a day of 30's pre-code movies I always try to record or watch.  Its a great period, usually wonderfully designed in art deco/ depression modern, with a "who's afraid of the big bad wolf" optimism mixed with the seedier realities of  life  before the production code squashed overt referances to that and everybody usually is dressed great.  Richard Boleslawski directed Beauty for Sale (beautifully photographed by James Wong Howe) was one I saw for the first time recently and totally dug. Set around the lives of beauty parlor girls in 1933 who look  like they could be in a Flash Gordon comic strip the film is filled with great outfits, wise cracking dialogue (tho one characters running jokes are as annoying to the viewer as the women) and some stunningly photographed tragic scenes. Some of my sketches from it.