World’s Oddest Printery Publishes Papers For All Hollywood Film Sets

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 42, 30 April 1948, Page 3

World’s Oddest Printery Publishes Papers For All Hollywood Film Sets

Earl Hays is a Hollywood printer whose newspapers have the most readers in the world—even though their circulation seldom exceeds 20 copies each. He prints them to be used in motion pictures. His printery, on Las Palmas Ave. in Hollywood, was first established more than 20 years ago, not long after Hays himself, a printer working in a shop which made silent motion picture titles, was called upon to provide a scandal sheet for the picture “Speed Girl” in 1921. Since then he has printed almost everything required by producers. Lately, he produced a whole issue of The New "tfork Times (in the 1880’s), to be read and raved at by William Powell in Warner Bros. “Life With Father.” It was authentic in every detail, too, against the possibility that someone with a pair of field glasses might try to read it over Powell’s shoulder.

During his years as Hollywood’s versatile publisher, Hays has acquired an immense stock of authentic printed matter from practically every country in the world—hotel menus, railway tickets, marriage license forms and several thousand other items. He also has a large collection of authentic old ‘wanted’ bills such as used to be posted with reWard offers for Western badmen, escaped convicts or horse thieves. These are used in almost every Western picture made. There are some 400 file .boxes in Hay’s office, each filled with samples of printed matter that have been or may be needed for picture purposes.