Douglas Sirk’s signature on the 24-page (!) contract he signed with Universal before making Imitation of Life, which Leo Lensing rescued from a Baltimore book dealer.
In signing the contract, Sirk agreed “to conduct himself with due regard to public conventions and morals and to agree that he will not do or commit any act or thing that will degrade him in society or bring him into public hatred, contempt, scorn or ridicule or that will shock, insult or offend the community or ridicule public morals or decency.” Imitation of Life would prove to be Sirk’s final feature, though he’d go on to make three short films in Germany while teaching at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film in Munich, including Bourbon Street Blues with Fassbinder; it’s hilarious imagining his stalwart admirer signing a similar contract.
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