Original stationery created by David Bowie for The Man Who Fell to Earth, circa 1975
N.p.: N.p., 1975. Two vintage letterhead leaves created by David Bowie to promote Nicolas Roeg's 1976 film "The Man Who Fell to Earth," each with a trompe l'oeil image of Bowie's thumb at the bottom right corner. Includes two letterhead variants, one with the printed details of the film and a return address along the left edge, and one blank, with "Please reply to" at the top left corner. Included is a stamped mailing envelope addressed from the film's executive producer Si Litvinoff to writer and filmmaker Shade Rupe. Full provenance available. The bottom left corner of the letterhead bears the address of a Hilton Inn in Albuquerque, New Mexico, presumably the hotel used by Bowie and other cast and crew members during filming. The notoriously troubled production ran over its initial eleven-week shooting schedule due to a number of unusual problems, from camera issues to Bowie getting food poisoning after drinking bad milk. Bowie himself claimed to recall little from his time in the desert thanks to copious cocaine use, noting, "My one snapshot memory of that film [was] not having to act. Just being me was perfectly adequate for the role. I wasn't of this earth at that particular time." Based on Walter Tevis' 1963 novel, about an alien who travels to Earth in order to bring water to his dying home planet, only to become addicted to alcohol and television. Now viewed as one of the seminal science fiction films of the 1970s, "The Man Who Fell to Earth" is one of the few films from that era that successfully transplanted a rock musician to a new context--though certainly Bowie had been camera-ready for most of his career. Shot on location throughout New Mexico, in Albuquerque, White Sands, Artesia, and Fenton Lake. Both leaves measure 8.5 x 11 inches, mailing envelope measures 12 x 9 inches. Both about Near Fine, lightly edgeworn. Criterion Collection 304.
Bookseller: Royal Books, Inc.