OBSERVATION: What Book is Charley Chase "Reading"?

I have always loved this image of comedian Charley Chase. Not sure why exactly, but I do. So when I saw an original print for sale for a relatively sane price, I HAD to get it.

I scanned and started cleaning up various imperfections in/on the 90+ year old print. I then started wondering what he was reading. Since I now had a nice print, I tried to scan the book alone and see what could be seen.

The page seems to have separate, listed entries, like in a reference book. There are no paragraphs. It doesn't appear to be a Bible (I don't think Chase was a very religious person). So was Chase "reading" a reference book?  A book of motion picture information?  Biographies of actors, directors, etc?  Did the photographer just grab any book he had on hand to use as a prop? 

DOES IT REALLY MATTER??

Nope... but these are the things that grab my attention...