Waterfront: A Novel by Budd Schulberg.

SCHULBERG, Budd [Sammy Davis.

$4,800.00

Item Number: 146924

New York: Random House, 1955.

First edition of the novelization of Schulberg’s Academy Award–winning screenplay for the classic 1954 film On the Waterfront. Octavo, original publisher’s cream cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper to Sammy Davis, Jr. in the year of publication, “For Sammy Davis Jr. A great artist who sings songs into life and life into song. Godspeed all the way, from your friend, Budd Schulberg Sept. 9 1955.” The recipient, Sammy Davis Jr. was a prominent American entertainer whose career encompassed a range of disciplines including music, film, and theater. Emerging from the vaudeville tradition, Davis achieved notable success in the mid-20th century through his performances in various genres, including jazz, pop, and Broadway. His association with the Rat Pack, alongside figures such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, further established his position within the entertainment industry. Davis’s career was marked by both significant professional accomplishments and personal challenges, including issues related to racial discrimination. Additionally inscribed by the author (at a later date) to actor Joe Pantoliano on the title-page, “For Joe Pantoliano, Here we go again. It’s an honor to meet his distinguished son of Hoboken. I’ve enjoyed our talk today. Here’s to many more. With my admiration and warmest wishes Budd Schulberg 5/5/06.” The recipient, American actor Joe Pantoliano has played over 150 roles across film, television, and theater. He is best known for portraying Ralph “Ralphie” Cifaretto on the HBO crime drama The Sopranos (1999–2007), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and Cypher in the sci-fi action film The Matrix (1999). Near fine in a near fine dust jacket without the usual fading to the spine. An exceptional double association copy.

Building on his Academy Award-winning screenplay of the classic film, Budd Schulberg's Waterfront is the story of ex-prizefighter Terry Malloy's valiant stand against corruption on the New Jersey docks. It generates all the power, grittiness, and truth of that great production, but goes beyond it in set and setting. It is a novel of strength and fallibility, of hope and defeat, of love and betrayal. "Intensely personalized, white-hot fiction with all the menace, suspense, narrative flow, fresh characterization and social message anybody could reasonably expect in a novel It’s the best of Schulberg, a full-fledged performance by a gifted American writer" (New York Times). Elia Kazan directed the film On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando and features Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, and, in her film debut, Eva Marie Saint. The soundtrack score was composed by Leonard Bernstein. received twelve Academy Award nominations, winning eight, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Brando, Best Supporting Actress for Saint, and Best Director for Kazan. In 1997 it was ranked by the American Film Institute as the eighth-greatest American movie of all time. In 1989, the film was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.