Author: Sabu; Sabu Dastagir; Selar Sabu, (1924-1963)
Title: Sabu. Signed Photograph
Description: Circa 1930s. Vintage photograph signed in ink. 13 x 9 cm. Britain's first above-the-title film star of Indian origin - indeed, for many years India's only truly international star - Sabu's own life story was as unlikely and fantastic as that of many of the characters he played. Despite his lack of acting experience and a less than perfect command of English, it's easy to see from his opening straight-to-camera narration alone just why the veteran documentarist Robert Flaherty was literally charmed into casting him as Toomai, the title role of Elephant Boy (1937). His full name is the subject of some controversy. Most reference books have it as 'Sabu Dastagir', but his son Paul confirmed that his real name was Selar Sabu, although his brother's was Sheik Dastagir. Sabu was born on 27 January 1924 in Karapure, Mysore, in southern India and his early life has many parallels with Toomai's: his mother died when he was very young and he was raised by his father, a mahout, or elephant driver. When he too died in 1931, the six-year-old Sabu was taken into the service of the Maharajah of Mysore, first as a stable boy, then as a mahout in his own right, and it was when riding one of his beloved elephants that Flaherty first saw him when looking for someone to play Rudyard Kipling's Toomai of the Elephants (from 'The Jungle Book')..Sabu remained in Hollywood for the duration of World War II. He made a final film for Korda, The Jungle Book (US, 1942), which brought his London Films career full circle in that it returned to the source of Elephant Boy, the actor being as natural as Mowgli as he had previously been as Toomai. He remained in Hollywood after his contract expired, signing with Universal Pictures to make a quartet of films opposite Maria Montez, becoming a US citizen in 1944 and flying several missions for the US Air Force as a tail-gunner towards the end of the war. .
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See more books from our catalog: Ephemera
Title: Sabu. Signed Photograph
Description: Circa 1930s. Vintage photograph signed in ink. 13 x 9 cm. Britain's first above-the-title film star of Indian origin - indeed, for many years India's only truly international star - Sabu's own life story was as unlikely and fantastic as that of many of the characters he played. Despite his lack of acting experience and a less than perfect command of English, it's easy to see from his opening straight-to-camera narration alone just why the veteran documentarist Robert Flaherty was literally charmed into casting him as Toomai, the title role of Elephant Boy (1937). His full name is the subject of some controversy. Most reference books have it as 'Sabu Dastagir', but his son Paul confirmed that his real name was Selar Sabu, although his brother's was Sheik Dastagir. Sabu was born on 27 January 1924 in Karapure, Mysore, in southern India and his early life has many parallels with Toomai's: his mother died when he was very young and he was raised by his father, a mahout, or elephant driver. When he too died in 1931, the six-year-old Sabu was taken into the service of the Maharajah of Mysore, first as a stable boy, then as a mahout in his own right, and it was when riding one of his beloved elephants that Flaherty first saw him when looking for someone to play Rudyard Kipling's Toomai of the Elephants (from 'The Jungle Book')..Sabu remained in Hollywood for the duration of World War II. He made a final film for Korda, The Jungle Book (US, 1942), which brought his London Films career full circle in that it returned to the source of Elephant Boy, the actor being as natural as Mowgli as he had previously been as Toomai. He remained in Hollywood after his contract expired, signing with Universal Pictures to make a quartet of films opposite Maria Montez, becoming a US citizen in 1944 and flying several missions for the US Air Force as a tail-gunner towards the end of the war. .
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Price: US$ 125.00 Seller: Wittenborn Art Books
- Book number: 16-4022
- Book number: 16-4022
See more books from our catalog: Ephemera