Our third clue here was the film title, “Romeo and Juliet”, one of Shakespeare`s most popular plays, written in 1595-6.
However Shakespeare did not come up with the story all on his own, as the basic premise had been first written down in the 1470s as Romeo and Giuletta, but had actually come from older tales passed on in person.
This story was then further embroidered by Luigi da Porta, using details of his own thwarted love affair, and in that version are many of the details in the Shakespeare version, the feuding Capellettis and Montecchis, the secret love, the faithful Nurse, Romeo committing murder but going unpunished, the deadly potion, the failure of the written message, and their deaths, though in the original it is a slower acting poison which allows them a short poignant time of togetherness. Shakespeare simply fleshed all this out, added a larger cast of characters, made it less Italian, and made Romeo die first, though it is believed he had even got that angle from a translation in French.
Our card shows Leslie Howard as Romeo and Norma Shearer as Juliet, somewhat odd casting as Juliet was written as a thirteen year old. Romeo`s age is not stated, but he is thought to have been about twenty. This was subtly altered in more modern times so the pair were allowed to be thought of as both being about sixteen. However at the time of Shakespeare`s writing, thirteen was the age of consent.
This set was only ever issued in the medium size (61 x 53 m/m).It is a very attractive one too.