Stanley and Livingstone

Beverly Hills: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.. Very Good. (c.1937). First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket, probably as issued) [modest shelfwear, small stain on front cover, slight fraying to cloth at spine ends, one-time owner's name in ink at top of front endpaper]. Although one might reasonably expect this to be the screenplay for the 1939 film of the same name (with Spencer Tracy as Stanley), in fact it's another animal altogether. First, it's primarily in prose form -- essentially a longish treatment (77 pages), or perhaps we could call it a novellazation. Secondly, the writers credited here -- Sam Hellman and Hal Long -- were not the credited screenwriters on the finished film (Philip Dunne and Julien Josephson). Wikipedia (quoting Dunne) summarizes the production history thus: "The film was originally envisioned as a vehicle for Tyrone Power as Stanley with the script prepared accordingly. Darryl F. Zanuck, head of production at 20th Century Fox was sent a memo suggesting the project be changed to be about a more cynical Stanley who looks for Livingstone as a publicity stunt, then becomes idealistic after meeting him. Zanuck agreed and got Dunne and Julien Josephson to rewrite it." This narrative presumably, then, reflects that earlier conception of the film, but leaves this question unanswered: what would have been the impetus for the studio to publish this item at all? I've seen it speculated that it was issued as a "promotional" item for the film, but in my opinion the very plain format and design doesn't support such a conclusion. (Who would have been the target audience for such a thing? Not the public, a full two years before the film itself was ready for release. And the studio wouldn't have been looking to attract "investors"; that's just not how things worked back then.) A Foreword -- which appears to have been tipped in; an afterthought? -- briefly relates the factual background for the script and movie. .