Abstract

«Dearest Dr. Rossetti, we learn from Dr. Lombardo of Titanus, who has been in communication with our American representatives, that LA FIERA DEL CINEMA would be interested in publishing serial excerpts from THE LION’S SHARE, by Bosley Crowther […]. Please let us know how many excerpts [...] you would like to publish». It was 1960 when the Director of the trade press La Fiera del Cinema (1959-1963) received this letter from the Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale (Ali): a leader in the foreign rights field. The fact that the Ali’s request is attributable to Lombardo and concerns Crowther’s history of «the inventions, artistic progress, commercial and social evolution of the cinema and the development and destiny of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer» (Crowther 1961) is quite significant. Published by Cronograph, an establishment aggregated to the Italian major, this house organ is the result of complex editorial strategies that hinged on the prestige of the company but were also complementary to the production guidelines promulgated by Lombardo