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A
PICTORIAL HISTORY
OF THE
MOVIES
by Deems Taylor
Marcelene Peterson and Bryant Hale
SIMON AND SCHUSTER • NEW YORK
About the Appearance of Books in Wartime
A recent ruling by the War Production Board has curtailed the use of paper by book publishers in 1943.
In line with this ruling and in order to conserve materials and manpower, we are co-operating by:
1. Using lighter-weight paper, which reduces the bulk of our books substantially.
2. Printing books with smaller margins and with more words to each page. Result: fewer pages per book.
Slimmer and smaller books will save paper and plate metal and labor. We are sure that readers will understand the pub- lishers' desire to co-operate as fully as possible with the ob- jectives of the War Production Board and our government.
SECOND PRINTING
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF REPRODUCTION
IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM
OR FOR ANY USE WHATSOEVER
WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE PUBLISHER
COPYRIGHT, 1943, SIMON AND SCHUSTER, INC.
PUBLISHED BY SIMON AND SCHUSTER, INC.
ROCKEFELLER CENTER, 1230 SIXTH AVENUE,
NEW YORK 20, N. Y.
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC., NEW YORK
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The publishers wish to thank the motion-picture companies, whose names appear in the captions, for their permission to reproduce copyrighted photographs. In addition thanks are due the Museum of Modern Art for generously making available the photographs on pages:
3 (above), 4 (below), 6 (below), 7, 8, 11 (above left), 14 (below), 18 (below left), 19 (above), 22 (above right), 23, 24, 27 (below), 28 (below), 30, 31 (above), 33 (above), 34 (above), 35 (above right and below), 36 (above), 38 (below), 39 (above right and below), 41, 42, 46 (above), 49 (below), 55 (below), 56, 61 (above), 63 (above), 65 ( above ) , 66 ( above left and below ) , 67 ( above right), 70 (below), 74 (below), 75 (below), 78 (above right), 80 (below), 82 (above right), 83 (above left), 86 (below), 87 (below), 90 (above), 92, 94 (below), 103 (above), 104 (above), 110 (above right), 111 (above right), 115 (below), 116, 117, 119, 122 (below), 123, 124, 127 (below), 130, 131, 134 (above left and below), 144 (below), 145 (above left), 146, 147 (above right), 148 (be- low), 149 (below), 150, 151, 152 (above), 153 (above), 158, 159 (below), 160 (below), 161 (above), 163 (above right), 165 (above), 166 (above), 168 (below), 169 (below), 170, 172, 173 (below), 175 (above), 179 (below), 180 (below), 182 (above left), 183 (above), 184 (above), 185,
186 (above), 188 (below left), 189 (above), 192 (above), 193 (above right and below left), 194 (above), 195 (below), 197 (below), 198 (above), 202, 203 (above left and below), 204 (above left and below right), 205 (above), 206 (above), 209 (below), 215 (below), 217 (below), 219 (above), 220 (below), 221 (below), 222 (above), 224, 225 (below), 227 (below), 228 (above), 230, 232 (above right and below), 238, 241, 245 (above right), 247 (below), 248 (above), 252 (below), 254 (below), 255 (above), 256 (above), 261 (below), 264 (above right), 266 (above right and below), 270, 271, 272 (above), 273 (above), 277 (above), 280 (above), 281, 282 (above right and below), 283 (above), 284, 285 (below), 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 295, 296 (above), 297 (below), 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303 (below), 304 below), 305 (below), 306 (below), 307 (above), 308, 309 (above), 310, 312, 313, 314, 315 (above), 316, 317, 318, 319, 320 (above), 322 (above), 324 (below), 325, 326, 327, 328 (above), 329 (above), 330 (below), 338.
The Picture Collection, The New York Public Library, kindly made available the photo- graphs on pages:
43, 166 (below), 187, 193 (below right), 240 (above), 244 (below), 248 (below), 250, 252 (above), 253 (above), 257 (below), 258 (above), 260 (above), 262 (below), 266 (above left), 267 (below), 275 (above right), 276 (below), 285
(above left), 294, 297 (above), 303 (above), 304 (above), 320 (above), 321, 322 (below), 323, 328 (below), 329 (below), 330 (below), 334 (above right), 335, 336, 337.
We also wish to thank the Historical Collection of the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles; and Philip T. Hartung, of the Museum of Modern Art Film Library staff, for his valuable assistance. Finally, Herbert R. Cahn planned the layout and typography, and Bart Keith Winer saw the book through press.
CONTENTS
1. BIRTH AND INFANCY (1893-1914) 1
2. GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE (1915-1919) 45
3. THE TWENTIES (1920-1927) 97
4. COMES THE REVOLUTION (1927-1928) 201
5. THE TALKING PICTURE (1929-1941) 213 APPENDIX 339 INDEX 341
This drawing of a running boar may be considered the common ancestor of all motion pictures— the movie to begin movies. It was drawn by an anony- mous artist, about twenty-five thousand years ago,
on the wall of a cave in Altamira, Spain. Whoever he was, this antediluvian Disney was capable of analyzing motion, and of making a brave attempt to convey it in terms of two dimensions.
INTRODUCTION
Twenty years ago, people used to excuse a bad movie by remarking that "the motion pic- ture is in its infancy." Today, whenever a par- ticularly bad picture swims into our ken, we say the same thing sarcastically, confident that we have thereby delivered a stinging rebuke to the unfortunate movies for not developing faster. Yet consider the motion picture's immediate an- cestor, the drama. Twenty-four hundred years ago, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, and Sophocles were writing dramatic masterpieces that must have been the culmination of centuries of patient trial and error by long-forgotten journeymen play- wrights. Fifty-four years ago (1943 speaking) the very first motion picture was put upon film. Forty years ago the first motion picture to tell a story, The Great Train Robbery, was re- leased. Its producer, Edwin S. Porter, died on April 30, 1941, at the age of seventy-one. David Wark Griffith, the great pioneer of the pictures, was sixty-three years of age in 1943. Now go back twenty-four centuries. Compare the prog- ress of the drama since the days of Sophocles with the progress of the motion picture in the half century of its existence. Do you feel a little more charitably inclined toward the shortcom- ings of the younger art?
For it is an art. Within the past two decades it has produced films that rank with the best work of our contemporary playwrights and pro- ducers. Viewing the average, run-of-the-mine motion picture, you may be excused for being skeptical on that point. But remember that it is an art that has the misfortune to be likewise an industry. It serves a public that is voracious and uncritical— the public that Shakespeare was serv- ing when he wrote the bitterly-titled As You Like It (I refer to the play, not the incidental poetry of the language ) . There are so many thou- sand movie houses, and there must be pictures to show in them. Considering the assembly-line conditions under which the average picture must be turned out, the wonder is, not that there are so few good pictures, but that there are any at all. Particularly is this to be wondered at in view
of the fact that the producer of a really first- rate motion picture is generally thankful if he can get his investment back, let alone make a profit.
Furthermore, here is an art that had to change its basic technique almost overnight. Up to 1927 the motion picture was pure pantomime, and had developed that art to an astonishing degree of effectiveness. Suddenly, with the production of The Jazz Singer, producers, directors, and actors were confronted with the necessity of combining pantomime with dialogue— two ele- ments that had hitherto been considered ir- reconcilable. At first they floundered. The earli- est talking pictures were, most of them, little more than animated photographs of stage plays. But "all-talking" pictures didn't work. The mys- terious quality of personality, which so helps an actor to hold his audience, is vastly diluted in a photograph, even though the photograph may move and speak. Scenes of uninterrupted dia- logue, without action, however effective they may have been in the theater, were a bore when they were transferred literally to the screen. On the other hand, the exaggerated gestures and play of facial expression, so indispensable to the silent pictures, looked ridiculous when they were accompanied by conversation. A new technique was imperative; and in an amazingly short time the makers of films worked one out. The mod- ern motion picture is about two-fifths dialogue, three-fifths mute action. The camera technique of the silents— close-ups, half shots, long shots, variety in lighting and camera angles— is re- tained; but the actors move, gesture, and "mug" much less than they do on the stage. Music and sound effects are an integral part of the picture, filling in the otherwise silent sequences and sometimes serving as a background for the dia- logue.
Such is the motion picture of today. This book is an attempt to trace, in visual terms, the evo- lution of that picture, and to show you its pres-
INTRODUC HON
ent status. It makes no pretense of being a criti- cal survey, nor is it, except in the most summary sense, a history of the movies. It is, as the title implies, a pageant, a chronological series of pic- tures in which the films tell their own story— that part of the story which took place in the United States. The limitations of space have forced us to decide, however reluctantly, to con- fine this record almost exclusively to American films.
Even so, the series is inevitably incomplete and far from detailed. In all probability no two readers of this book will agree as to exactly what
pictures and actors should have been included or omitted. But reflect: to show even a single shot from every motion picture made since 1903 would require approximately fifty volumes the size of this one. With such a vast storehouse of material to draw upon, the authors had no al- ternative but to make an arbitrary selection, choosing such pictures as, in their belief, would serve at least to high-light the outlines of a complicated and fascinating panorama.
So much for the newsreel. Now for the main feature
Deems Taylor
I
'-4
1. Birth and Infancy
a.d. 1835. An early-nineteenth-century attempt to show motion pictorially. By raising and lowering the lever, the spectator made the cow obediently raise and lower its head.
FmiIij Sound Effects. A mid-nineteenth-century view of the sound-effects department behind the screen of a magic-lantern show.
BIRTH AND INFANCY
Motion Has Its Picture Taken. During the 1870's Eadweard Muybridge, visiting Lcland Stanford's California ranch, erected a battery of twenty-four cameras along Stanford's private race track. A thread stretching across the track at various intervals was attached to each shutter. As a horse ran past the cameras, he broke the threads, therebv photograph- ing the successive phases of his action. For the first time in history, continuous motion was photographi- cally analyzed. Later, Muybridge made similar series of pictures, using multiple shutters on one large plate camera ( film had not vet been invented ) . The picture above is one of the many experiments he conducted for Columbia University in 1875 showing figures in motion.
BELOW LEFT
Muybridge published two books of his pictures, later entitled Animals in Motion and The Human Figure in Motion, and for years these were source books for artists and illustrators. Here he is, shaking hands with one of his models.
BELOW RIGHT
The First Movie Film. W. K. L. Dickson (figure with hand on the horse) produced this film— the "first" has been disputed— and Thomas A. Edison shot it on a film base provided by George ( "Kodak" ) Eastman. The year was 1889.
FRED OTT'S SxNEEZE (1893)
The First Movie Studio. Officially called "The Kinet- ographic Theatre," popularly known as "The Black Maria," the first movie studio was built for the Edi- son Company in West Orange, New Jersey, in 1893. Painted black both inside and out, it rested on a base that revolved, thus enabling it to follow the sun. In this way the actor was always brightly lighted against a dead-black background. The cost of this weird contraption— all of $637.67.
BELOW LEFT
The First Movie Exhibitor. The first important movie exhibitor, it was called the Edison Kinetoscope. You
saw the pictures by peering through the eyepiece at the top. Edison pinned his faith to the Kinetoscope and saw no future in pictures projected on a screen.
BELOW RIGHT
The First Movie Actor. Fred Ott, an erstwhile co- median who worked for the Edison Company in 1893, was the first subject chosen by Director Dick- son to enter the Black Maria and be shot doing his specialty— and he sneezed his way into history. (His right to the title of first actor has been disputed.) Fred Ott's Sneeze belongs to the ages.
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BIRTH AND INFANCY
thi. Wonderful Mutoscope showinc
MOVING PICTURES «««« FROM LIFE
The First Projected Picture. In 1894 Woodville Latham perfected a machine somewhat similar to the Kinetoseope, with the added feature of being able to project its pictures on a screen. He and his sons, Grey and Otway, figured they could make much more money from a picture if thirty or forty cus- tomers could see it at once, instead of waiting their turn to peep through the eyepiece of a machine. For their new apparatus they photographed a prize fight between Young Griffo and Battling Barnett on the roof of New York's Madison Square Garden and exhibited the result on May 20, 1895.
IN 5L0T-KEEP TURNING CRANK TO THE RIOHT,
AND VOU WILL SEE
How the Porto Rican Girls
Entertain Uncle Sam's Soldiers.
The lucrativeness of the Kinetoseope soon brought rivals into the field. Here is a poster (about 1895) for one of the most successful of these, the Muto- scope.
BELOW
The First Shocker. Among the peep-show epics of 1896 was this one, showing May Irwin and John C. Rice in the prolonged kiss episode from their stage success, The Widow Jones. Members of the clergy denounced it as "a lyric of the stockyards": it broke all attendance records.
THE EMPIRE STATE EXPRESS (1896)
A 1
t- it
Since the early motion-picture cameras were immov- able, the performers had to move within a sharply limited space. Here is Eugene Sandow— next to Sam- son the most famous strong man in history— doing his stuff for the Kinetoscope.
ABOVE RIGHT
The American Biograph Company made its debut at Hammerstein's Olympia Music Hall, in New York,
during the fall of 1896, with several action shorts, including The Empire State Express. The locomotive bore down upon the audience with such terrifying realism— so the story goes— that it emptied the first fifteen rows and precipitated a near-panic.
BELOW
In 1896 T. L. Tally opened a Phonograph and Vitascope Parlor on Spring Street, Los Angeles, where the customers could hear the latest recorded song hits and see motion pictures. So timid were most of the patrons about going into the darkened projection room that Tally had to rig up a partition facing the screen, with holes in it through which the public could view the pictures while remaining in the brightly lighted parlor. In the picture, the Kineto- scopes are at the left, the Mutoscopes in the center, and the phonographs at the right. Just behind the Mutoscopes is the projection-room partition, with three holes for the seated patrons and four for the standees.
BIRTH AND INFANCY
First CIiampionship-FigJit Picture. Here is the battle between James J. ( "Gentleman Jim" ) Corbett and Robert Fitzsimmons, at Carson Citv, March 17, 1897. Enoch J. Rector photographed it on film for the Veriscope, a machine built for the occasion. Notice the copyright sign painted on the edge of the ring.
ABOVE RIGHT I
In 1898 E. H. Amet built a scale model of Santiago Harbor and in it staged and photographed the sink- ing of Admiral Cervera's fleet by the U. S. Atlantic Squadron during the Spanish-American War. Since the battle had been fought at night, Amet claimed he had photographed it six miles away, using a spe- cial supersensitive "moonlight" film! The public be- lieved him!
ABOVE RIGHT 2
In 1899 William A. Brady, on behalf of the Ameri- can Mutoscope & Biograph Company, filmed the first fight picture made under artificial light— the Jeffries-
Sharkey championship battle. The heat of about four hundred arc lamps above the ring almost cooked the combatants. And the situation was not improved by the discovery of Vitagraph cameramen in the twen- tieth row, bootlegging pictures. The Vitagraph men got away with their fives and film, but the pictures did them little good, for Brady got out an injunction against them. This is from the pirated film.
BELOW
We of today think of the documentary film as a modern innovation. As a matter of fact, Edwin S. Porter anticipated it with The Life of an American Fireman, produced in the early 1900's. Porter was the first to use the "cut-back"— showing shots of the imperiled mother and child interspersed with shots of the fire department dashing to the rescue.
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903)
Landmark. This same Edwin Porter, in 1903, pro- duced die epoch-making film, The Great Train Rob- bery. Though in action and plot, it was a ten-cent thriller, it did tell a story— generally considered the first motion picture to do so. One of its actors, G. M. Anderson, later became famous as "Broncho Billy." The Great Train Robbery was followed by a string of similar melodramas— The Great Rank Rob- bery, The Bold Bank Robbery, and so on— attempt- ing to cash in on its tremendous success (even in those days motion-picture producers were seldom distinguished by striking originality ) . But they could not rob it of the distinction of establishing the mo- tion picture as a storytelling medium.
ABOVE LEFT
The Great Train Robbery featured George Barnes (not by name, of course), and he brought the story to the apex of excitement by discharging his gun full in the faces of the spectators.
ABOVE RIGHT
In 1907 an obscure actor named David Wark Grif- fith drifted into the Edison studios in the Bronx, New York. Our old friend Porter, about to make a one-reel thriller called The Eagle's Nest, cast him as the hardy frontiersman who rescues a baby from the clutches of a mighty eagle. Here he is. You will hear more of him shor'y.
BIRTH AND INFANCY
After 1907 Edison had many lively competitors. Alert showmen soon grasped the possibilities of the new form of entertainment, and many new companies came into existence. Among the best known and most successful were Biograph, Vitagraph, Melies, Kalem, Lubin ( in Philadelphia ) , Thanhouser, and Essanay and Selig (in Chicago). Here is a scene from the Vitagraph picture, Romeo and Juliet ( 1908 ). Notice the Vitagraph trade-mark on the canopy of Juliet's bed.
ABOVE BIGHT
Another scene from Romeo and Juliet— the duel be-
tween Tybalt and Mercutio. As a New Yorker might point out, the "public place in Verona" where the duel occurs bears a suspicious resemblance to the parapet overlooking the Bethesda Fountain in Cen- tral Park. The mustached Romeo is Paul Panzer.
Here is the infant star of The Eagle's Nest being carried off by a stuffed eagle and being pretty dis- agreeable about it. Distant landscape supplied by Richard Murphy.
ROMEO AND JULIET (1908)
Studios were becoming larger and more elaborate, but the tradition of Edison's Black Maria was by no means dead. Here is an early studio erected on the roof of a New York office building. The shed holds the camera, the frame at the other end holds the scenery, and the whole apparatus revolves on its
turntable so as to catch the sun— if any— all day.
BELOW
The Edison studios in the Bronx were more preten- tious. Since sound did not matter, two or more pic- tures, as in this view, could be shot simultaneously.
10
BIRTH AND INFANCY
In the late 'SO's H. H. Wilcox, a prominent citizen of Los Angeles, California— then a town of 25,000 inhabitants— owned a fig, apricot, and citrus ranch seven miles out of town. Mrs. Wilcox, traveling in the East, met a woman on the train who referred to her country place "Hollywood." The name struck Mrs. Wilcox's fancy, and on her return she named the Wilcox ranch Hollywood. This is Hollywood in
the early '90's. The road is Wilcox Avenue, looking north to what is now Hollywood Boulevard.
BELOW
The Wilcox ranch was eventually subdivided into building lots and by 1900 had a population of five hundred. Hollywood Boulevard, near Wilcox Ave- nue, looked like this in 1901.
THE NEW YORK HAT (1912)
11
Glamour Girl Number One. In 1908 a fifteen-year- old named Gladys Smith played a child part in David Belaseo's production of The Warrens of Vir- ginia. A year later she applied for a job at the Bio- graph Studios. David W. Griffith, who had aban- doned acting for directing, was struck with her looks and gave her a chance in The Lonely Villa, a one-reeler starring Mary Leonard (at the telephone in the picture above ) . The young girl was an instant success, and Griffith promoted her to leads. Motion- picture actors were anonymous in those days, and audiences knew her as "Little Mary" long before she emerged as Mary Pickford.
In 1909 Griffith, working for Biograph, took a com- pany to California— not to establish permanent quar- ters, but simply to escape the New York winter. He made several pictures on the Coast. One of them, in 1912, was The Mender of Nets, with Mary Pickford. Griffith's reputation as an artist was solidly grounded.
BELOW
Griffith paid fifteen dollars for a story by a San Diego high-school girl named Anita Loos and produced it, in 1912, as The New York Hat. Our Mary played the lead. Opposite her Griffith placed a promising young actor who had just returned from Paris, where he had been studying painting— Lionel Barrymore.
12
BIRTH AND INFANCY
William N. Selig, a Chicago producer, was the first man to build a motion-picture set on the West Coast. Needing brighter and more dependable sunshine than Chicago provided, he sent Francis Boggs, Thomas Parsons, and a small company of actors to Los Angeles in 1907. Later, on a roof at Eighth and Olive Streets they built this set— for a one-reel ver- sion of Carmen. The bull-fight poster was made from a tobacco carton.
ABOVE RIGHT
Here are two Selig stars, Robert Z. Leonard and Hobart Bosworth, in The Code of Honor. Leonard started in pictures in 1907, became a star, but even- tually tired of acting and turned to directing pic- tures for Mae Murray. His greatest directorial suc-
cesses, however, came after the advent of talking pictures. More of him later.
BELOW
There were signs of the coming trek to California. Adam Kessel had formed the Bison Company and in November, 1909, it arrived on the West Coast and established itself in a former grocery store on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Here are the pilgrims at their Thanksgiving dinner. At the extreme left sits Fred Balshofer, with J. Barney Sherry two places above him. The man with the snappy buttoned shoes, opposite him, is Frank Montgomery. Lifting his glass at the table on the right is Jack Conway, faced by Buster Edmonds. Looking out from behind Mont- gomery are Howard Davies and George Gebhardt. The cowboy in the right-hand background is Art Acord.
THE CODE OF HONOR (1907)
13
BELOW
In the same year Carl Laemmle organized his Inde- pendent Motion Picture Company, popularly known as IMP. An ex-clothing-store manager from Osh- kosh, Wisconsin (really!), he had arrived in Chi- cago in 1905 with $2500 to invest. With this he opened his first motion-picture theater on Milwaukee Avenue. When it prospered, he op ned others. In 1909 he decided to make his own pictures for re- lease in his theaters. One of the IMP's coups was to lure Mary Pickford and Owen Moore away from Biograph with promises of more money and more publicity. Up to the time she joined IMP, Mary's name had never appeared on a screen or poster. She left IMP for Majestic after a short stay and then returned to her first love, Biograph. Thomas Ince, later to become a producer in his own right, was one of Laemmle's directors.
m, JANEt14e
RIGHT
One of IMP's important stars was King Baggott, who had started as an actor in a stock company in St. Louis. Here is one of his posters. The man with the rope in his hand is Hayward Mack.
NQI MARY P.-CKFORD
2 OWEN MOORE—
3 KING BAGGOTT
4 THOMAS 1NCE"
5 JACK PICKFORD C ISABEL RAE —
7 LOTTIE PICKFORC 5 JOE SMILEY 9 WILLIAM SHAY- 0MP5.DAVID MILES JOE MACDONALD
12 HAYWARD MACK
13 MPS. JOE MAC00NALI
14 JOHN HARVEY I5GE0PGEL0ANETUCK
16 DAVID MILES
17 MRS PICKFORD
18 ROBERT DALEY
19 TONY GAUDIO
14
BIRTH AND INFANCY
The "girl" in the Baggott poster is Florence Law- rence (the famous "Biograph Girl"), whom IMP had captured from Biograph. Having played leads for Vitagraph, she then joined Biograph and became tremendously successful, particularly as a stunt act- ress. Here she is in a rather less strenuous, if equally exciting, mood.
In 1909, Winsor McCay, cartoonist for the New York American, exhibited a drawn motion picture he had made— Gertie the Dinosaur. Ten thousand draw- ings comprised the picture. Gertie was the first ani- mated cartoon of any consequence and she was sel- dom surpassed until Walt Disney came upon the screen twenty years afterward.
GERTIE THE DINOSAUR (1909)
15
Al Christie began his screen career as actor and director in "Westerns," as the above— shot in the vast prairies around Bayonne, New Jersey, about 1909-indicates. In the fall of 1911 Christie and a group of actors went West, arriving in Hollywood late in October. The company stopped at Blondeau Tavern, an old roadhouse at the corner of Gower Street and Sunset Boulevard. Christie was so struck by the beauty of the location that he closed a deal whereby, for thirty dollars a month, he was allowed to set up his cameras in the back yard and shoot his pictures against the semitropical vegetation sur- rounding the inn.
ABOVE RIGHT
Bosworth remained under the Selig aegis for many
years as director and leading man. Here he is (at right) in the 1909 production of The Count of Monte Cristo.
When Theodore Roosevelt was planning his famous African expedition, a Selig cameraman was supposed to accompany him to make an exclusive record of the trip. At the last minute Selig lost out. Nothing daunted, he rigged up his own jungle in his Chicago studio, made up one of the extras as Theodore, and, aided by a trained lion and some tropical props, shot Hunting Big Game in Africa. The public flocked to it and refused to believe they were not seeing a genuine travelogue. We are told that even Africans considered it authentic.
16
BIRTH AND INFANCY
This view of a Universal (ne IMP) set shows the observation stand where, for twenty-five cents apiece, visitors could sit and watch the picture being shot. ( It was not long before the overfrank comments, not to say snickers, of the visitors put an end to this practice. A present-day studio is as rigidly policed as a reform school. ) Harry Carey, hero of many a horse opera, is seen here protecting the ranch gal in a scene from Love's Lariat.
BELOW
The First Hollywood Comics. Having made West- erns in New Jersey, Christie, "logically" enough, be-
gan filming comedy shorts as soon as he arrived on the West Coast. His troupe was known as the Nestor Company, and the group below probably includes one or more of your old-time favorites. They are: standing, left to right, Harry Rattenbury, George French, Anton Nagy (cameraman), Al Christie, Eddy Barry, Al's brother Charles, unidentified cam- eraman, Horace Davis (director), unknown, and a Mr. Lyons; seated, Lee Moran, Ukulele Jane, Eddie Lyons, Betty Compson, Billie Rhodes, Ray Gallagher, Stella Adams, and Neal Burns; on the floor, Joseph J. Janecke, Gus Alexander, unknown.
JACKANAPES ( 1910)
17
Players in early mob scenes had to riot with a cer- tain degree of restraint, lest they kick over or ram through the architecture. This somewhat constricted melee is from another Bosworth film, Jackanapes. Bosworth is standing, second from the left.
BELOW LEFT
Nestor comedies were ground out as fast as one or two a week. Here is an early one, featuring (left to
right) Dorothy Davenport (later Mrs. Wallace Reid), Harold Lockwood, Donald MacDonald, and Eugenie Forde.
BELOW BIGHT
A later (1913) Nestor comedy, featuring Eddie Lyons, Betty Compson (who later achieved stardom in The Miracle Man), and Lee Moran.
18
BIRTH AND INFANCY
The same month (October, 1911) that Al Christie arrived in Hollywood, Dave Horsley also arrived, fell in love with the spot, and started construction of a permanent studio for the Nestor Company, on the corner opposite the Blondeau Tavern, where Chris- tie's group was temporarily lodged. This was the first studio especially built for a motion-picture com- pany in Hollywood. The spot became the first cen- ter of Hollywood production activities. To this day, the corner of Gower Street and Sunset Boulevard is known as "Gower Gulch" to the cowboy extras who still congregate there.
BELOW
To the movie fan of the early 1910's the name of John Bunny, Vitagraph's star comedian, meant what Charlie Chaplin's did a decade later. His enormous following (not to be confused with his avoirdupois) made his one- and two-reelers bonanzas at the box office. Today, stills from his pictures are almost un- obtainable. This one comes from a picture released by Vitagraph about 1911.
Remember?
Remember?
Remember?
FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS (1911)
19
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One of the most beautiful and popular stars of the period, Alice Joyce. She enjoyed an unusually long career, appearing as a featured player as recently as 1930.
BELOW
In its primitive years the motion picture made little pretense to authenticity in its settings. The Jersey or California countryside represented any landscape on earth, while architectural backgrounds, from draw- ing rooms to castles, were unashamedly painted on
canvas. In 1911, however, Kalem went in for authen- ticity on a scale hitherto undreamed of and sent an entire company abroad under Director Sidney Ol- cott. The trip covered many countries— including the Holy Land, in which From the Manger to the Cross was actually photographed. This scene shows Christ healing the blind man outside of Jericho. R. Hender- son Bland, in white, portrays the Saviour; Alice Hollis- ter, second from the right, is Mary Magdalene; Sidney Olcott, crouching, right, is the blind man, with Jack Clark, bending over him, one of the disciples.
20
BIRTH AND INFANCY
Because of its restraint and reverential spirit, From the Manger to the Cross became an immense suc- cess. Costing about $35,000, it made a profit of nearly a million dollars. Above is another scene from the picture. R. Henderson Bland is on the couch at the right, with Alice Hollister kneeling at his feet and Jack Clark leaning against the pillar in the back- ground. Between them is J. P. MacGowan, a Boer War veteran who later became a director. Another actor who turned director was Robert Vignola, shown here, in the left foreground, as Judas.
In 1912 came the film destined to establish the mo- tion picture as a work of art. It was Queen Eliza- beth, produced in France by Louis Mercanton and starring Sarah Bernhardt. Every stage actor's trag- edy is that his art dies with him, and the "Divine" Sarah quickly realized that this new medium would give her acting a permanence beyond the span of her life. Of Queen Elizabeth she remarked: "This is my one chance of immortality."
QUEEN ELIZABETH (1912)
21
Besides introducing Bernhardt to the screen, Queen Elizabeth laid the foundation for the spectacular ca- reer of one of filmdom's most famous and successful producers— Adolph Zukor. His idea was to produce "famous players in famous plays," and the Bern- hardt picture gave him his chance. After importing the picture from France, Zukor persuaded Daniel Frohman to become his partner in presenting it to the public, for Frohman's name was a synonym for the finest in the American theater.
BELOW
Queen Elizabeth opened at Frohman's Lyceum The- ater, in New York, at an invitation matinee on July 12, 1912. Zukor had guessed right. The names of Bernhardt and Frohman drew a crowd of political, artistic, and financial celebrities who sat spellbound through its unprecedented length (four reels) and cheered at the end.
22
BIRTH AND INFANCY
Although Queen Elizabeth was technically far ahead of anything previously seen on the screen, judged hy modern standards it was still a p/imitive effort. Most of it was photographed according to accepted stage technique— as if viewed from a fixed point in the middle distance. Because of the absence of close-ups, much of Bernhardt's wonderful play of facial expression was lost. Here is the nearest ap- proach to a close-up, showing Bernhardt as Eliza- beth and Lou Tellegen, her leading man, as Essex.
BELOW
Zukor and Frohman, after the success of Queen Elizabeth, began to make good their promise of
"famous players in famous plays." In 1913 their new producing organization, Famous Players, signed up Mary Pickford, who had left Biograph to play in David Belasco's production of The Good Little Devil. The film version of the play marked her first appearance under the Zukor banner. During her suc- ceeding years with Famous Players, Mary Pickford became world-famous. Here she is in the film ver- sion of In the Bishop's Carriage.
ABOVE RIGHT
Zukor teamed Mary Pickford with her husband, Owen Moore, at that time one of the screen's most popular male stars. They appear here in a scene from Caprice, made in 1913.
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(1913)
Here is a scene from D. W. Griffith's most ambitious production up to this point in his career, 1913. Like Queen Elizabeth, Juditli of Betliulia was a four- reeler. It was one of Griffith's first California pic- tures and featured Henry B. Walthall and Blanche Sweet (seen above).
BELOW
A 1913 shot of D. W. Griffith at work. The camera- man is the famous G. W. ("Billy") Bitzer. At the right, obviously desperate at having had his fifth consecutive wrong number, is Henry B. Walthall. The picture is The Escape.
24
BIRTH AND INFANCY
Famous Players was the first company to lay par- ticular stress on acting ability and, in pursuit of this policy, induced many stage stars to appear in pic- tures. James K. Hackett was one of its early recruits,, shown here in a 1913 production of The Prisoner of Zenda, with Beatrice Becklev. The picture was di- rected by Daniel Frohman and our old friend, the producer of The Great Train Robbery, Edwin S. Porter. Incidentally, motion-picture sets were obvi- ouslv becoming more realistic.
Essanay, meanwhile, was building up its own stars from the ranks of picture players. One of these was G. M. Anderson, who, starting from a small part in The Great Train Robbery, became a great favorite in Westerns as "Broncho Billy." He is shown here, taking it lying down in an Essanay epic of 1912.
BELOW
Or were the sets improving? The bread and cot are convincing enough, but the dungeon wouldn't fool anybody— except, perhaps, the prisoner, Edmond Dantes, played here by James O'Neill (father of Eugene) in a 1913 Famous Players production of The Count of Monte Cristo.
THE VAMPIRE ( 1913 )
25
To Kalem goes the dubious honor of making the first "vampire" picture, and to Alice Hollister ( the Mary Magdalene on page 20) goes the artificial palm for being the first of that evil brood. The typical screen vampire lived a painfully circumscribed life— while it lasted. She was not allowed to pat a dog, say a kind word to a child, or even notice one. She had to mess things up between the hero and his girl friend, knowing in advance ( if she had ever seen a vampire picture) that she was destined to lose him and to come to a bad end. A scene from the first of the se- ries (about 1913), entitled, oddly enough, The Vam- pire, is shown above, with Miss Hollister and Harry Millard. Millard's pose is suggestive of Fred Allen's definition of a gentleman as "one who never strikes a woman with his hat on."
Greatest of all the Essanay stars, the Clark Gable of his day, was Francis X. Bushman. After an early and indifferently successful career as clerk, miner, pro- fessional bicyclist, sculptor's model, and actor, he won a Most Handsome Man contest sponsored by The Ladies World. On the strength of this he got a job with Essanay in 1911. The women fell for him in droves, and Essanay costarred him with Beverly Bayne (whom he later married) in a long series of two- and three-reel society dramas. They are shown here in a typical scene, made in 1913. Bryant Wash» burn is the cynical young man at the left. Inciden- tally, take a long look at the extra girl at the bridge table, just visible to the left of Bushman. Her name is Gloria Swanson.
26
BIRTH AND INFANCY
Here is Miss Hollister again, vamping away in The Destruijer. The faintly wrinkled tights are a conces- sion to the 1913 moral code of the movies.
brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish (later Goldwyn), and a young stage director named Cecil B. DeMille, to form the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. Above, Lasky is looking dismayed at the Hollywood barn that was their first studio. It stood at the corner of Selma Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.
ABOVE RIGHT
The year 1913 saw one of the first foundations of what is now Paramount Pictures, Inc. Jesse Lasky started his career as a cornet player, doing the vaudeville circuit with his sister Blanche. Wearying of the cornet (as who wouldn't?), he became a booking agent, later branching out as the producer of a series of tabloid musical comedies for vaude- \ ille. With the money this brought him he financed a combination night club-review called The Folies Bergere. It was ten years ahead of its time— another way of saying that he lost his money. In the hope of recouping his losses he joined forces with his
BELOW
Lasky and DeMille decided to make The Squaw Man their first production. They bought the picture rights from its author, Edwin Royle, and persuaded Dustin Farnum, a famous star, to act in the film version. Below are the barn and the outdoor stage on the first day of shooting on The Squaio Man. De- Mille, in the light suit and hunting boots, stands be- tween the two tall cowboys in front of the stage a little to the right of the barn.
THE SQUAW MAN (1913)
27
Another view of the Lasky stage. Hollywood's ut- terly dependable sunshine, for at least eight months of the year, made it an ideal spot for picture mak- ing. Artificial lighting was unnecessary, and the open stages could be left exposed to the weather with no risk of monkey business by Jupiter Pluvius.
seated in the center. At the left sits Lolita Robertson and at the right Bessie Barriscale, Lasky 's leading lady. Standing, left to right, are: Oscar Apfel, direc- tor; Max Figman, leading man; Charles Richmond, actor; Wilfred Buckland, art director; Theodore Roberts, actor; Robert Edeson, actor; Edward Abeles, actor; and Cecil B. DeMille, principal di- rector.
BELOW LEFT
After a few weeks of shooting, DeMille and Farnum shipped the print of The Squaw Man to Lasky and Goldwyn in New York, and they lost no time in putting it on the market. Its success set the new company firmly on its feet financially. Their next picture, Brewster's Millions, proved a similar gold mine. Below is the West Coast production staff re- sponsible for all the early Lasky pictures. Lasky is
BELOW RIGHT
Lasky offered Dustin Farnum several thousand dol- lars' worth of stock in the new company to star in The Squaw Man, but Farnum decided to work on a salary. Had he taken the stock, it would be worth about a million dollars today. Here is a scene from the picture. The well-nourished figure at the right is the star.
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28
BIRTH AND INFANCY
Mack Sennett started his career as an actor with Biograph about the same time as Mary Pickford. Even in those days lie was bombarding Chief Direc- tor Griffith with ideas for scenarios— his principal one being that policemen were sure-fire comic material for pictures. Since his boss emphatically did not see eye to eye with him, Sennett had to be content act- ing in comedies with Mary Pickford and directing a few minor productions. In 1912 he left Biograph :o form his own unit, which he called the Keystone Company. Within a year his slapstick comedies were
famous, and by 1914 he had hi^own studios. Here are some members of the original Keystone troupe who won their spurs under Sennett. 1,-eft to right: Thomas Meighan, Mabel Normand, Ford Sterling, Teddie Sampson, Polly Moran, and Eddie Suther- land, Meighan's nephew and now a director and producer in his own right.
BELOW
Another still from The Squaw Man. Whatever squaw men died of, in those days, it wasn't starvation.
-^M-
TESS OF THE D'URBER VILLES (1913)
29
Another famous vamp of the early 'teens, Lucille Younge, is here in. the process of having her will of Charles West. An unfortunate optical illusion sug- gests that West is stealing Miss Younge's pearls. This is positively not so. Notice the Hiifdu oboe player in the back, without whom no scene of Sin was quite complete. More vamps, later.
BELOW
Another stage star to succumb to the lures of Zukor and Frohman was the great Minnie Maddern Fiske. Here is Mrs. Fiske in a scene from the Famous Players production (1913) of her stage success, Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
30
BIRTH AND INFANCY
Mabel Normand was an expert swimmer and diver, and her combination of athletic ability and pulchri- tude appealed to Sennett as having possibilities. They had. Mabel Normand was probably the best-loved comedienne ever seen on the screen.
ABOVE BIGHT
serial pictures appeared in 1912
The mother of a
and 1913. What Happened to Alary ran on the screen simultaneously with a monthly episode pub- lished in The Ladies' World. The star was Mary Ful-
ler, the one with the checked hat in the above still. Looking down at her with restrained passion is Marc McDermott. In the background, pretty sore about the whole thing, is Miriam Nesbit.
BELOW
appeared in his own pictures.
Sennett occasionally
In this scene from Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life Sennett is at the extreme right. The lady is, of course, Mabel Normand. The gent with mustache and sledge hammer is Ford Sterling.
AN ODYSSEY OF THE NORTH (1914)
31
Mabel was one of the original pie throwers, as is evidenced by this shot from A Misplaced Foot, made in 1913. The cross-eyed and slightly blurred victim is anonymous— which hardly seems fair. If she took all that punishment she might have expected at least a screen credit.
ABOVE RIGHT
Pies were not indispensable to Mabel Normand's brand of comedy. She could take her pie or leave it. Here she is, leaving it, in a scene with Raymond Hitchcock, from My Valet.
BELOW
Came the year 1914, in which many things hap- pened. To begin with an event of something less than cosmic importance, Hobart Bosworth left Selig, to produce his own pictures, featuring himself in a series of Jack London stories. Here he is, in An Odyssey of the North. The caption for this still reads: "Naass shows his interest in Unga," Unga being Rhea Haines. Audiences liked their heroes well fed in those days. The Gary Cooper-Jimmy Stewart type would have been acceptable only in Westerns.
32
BIRTH AND INFANCY
Myrtle Steadman, a former light-opera singer, joined Bosworth's company after leaving the Whitney Opera Company. She is depicted here as the wistful daughter in one of those skinflint-deacon-mortgage dramas, It's No Laughing Matter, with Maclyn Arbuckle as the harassed father.
BELOW
A popular team of 1914-15 were Lois Weber and her husband, Phillips Smalley, who wrote, directed, and
acted in their own pictures. They are shown here in False Colors. The gentleman whose suit Smalley is rumpling is Courtenay Foote. Miss Weber became one of the few really successful women directors, her most spectacular achievement being Where Are My Children? ( 1916), an earnest treatise on abortion, produced by Universal. Like so many other Holly- wood discussions of the taboo subject of s-blank-x, it evoked anguished protests from the godly and shekels from the box office.
A FOOL THERE WAS (1914)
33
The cycle of vampire pictures went merrily on its way, greatly abetted by a new producer, William Fox. Having undertaken to produce a picture sug- gested by a line of Kipling, "A fool there was," Fox was prevailed upon by his director, Frank Powell, to cast an unknown— Theodosia Goodman— as the vamp. Here she is, in A Fool There Was, with Edward Jose —but not under that name.
ABOVE RIGHT
Let's face it: who ever heard of a vampire named Theodosia Goodman? So Theodosia became Theda, and Goodman was swapped for another family name,
Barranger. The result, Theda Bara, vamped her way through some forty Fox pictures in the next three years, establishing a box-office name that was a boon to exhibitors and an unending source of worry to the censors. Above, Theda meets an old admirer on the docks in A Fool There Was.
BELCW
Here is Miss Steadman in Jack London's The Val- ley of the Moon, as made in 1914. Playing opposite her is Jack Conway, a young actor who later became one of M-G-M's ace directors.
34
BIRTH AND INFANCY
Theda Bara's career reached its climax, in 1917, when she appeared as Cleopatra. The above shot, showing her conception of Egypt's siren queen, is out of chronological order, to he sure, but it is at least ap- propriate to the subject.
Famous Players put forward their version of the vam- pire—Alice Dovey, shown here in The Commanding Officer. The hero, Douglas Gerrard, has created an appropriate scene of carnage up to now, but seems undecided what next to do. One can only hope.
THE WRATH OF THE GODS (1914)
35
Bosworth's production of London's John Barleycorn intrepidly exposed the evils of strong drink. It re- ceived the hearty support of the W.C.T.U. The cap- tion: "I made my first acquaintance with John Bar- leycorn at the age of five."
ABOVE RIGHT
The serials gained rapid headway. The most suc- cessful was The Million Dollar Mystery, made by Thanhouser, featuring Marguerite Snow, Florence LaBadie, and James Cruze. The story, about a mysteri- ously missing heiress, was first released as an actual news item and was headlined throughout the coun- try. It then ran serially in die Chicago Tribune
as the installments of the picture appeared. The Mil- lion Dollar Mystery cost about $125,000 to make, complete, and grossed a million and a half. The scene above, "The Episode of the Conveniently Placed Burning Glass"— or something of the sort- shows Marguerite Snow and Donald Gallaher.
BELOW
Thomas Ince, meanwhile, had abandoned acting and become a director and producer. One of his most spectacular productions was The Wrath of the Gods, which appeared in 1914. It was worthy of compari- son with the better efforts of Griffith and DeMille, as this still shows.
36
BIRTH AND INFANCY
Universal did its share of starting the epidemic of serials by producing The Trey of }iearts in 1914. Above is its star, Cleo Madison, with George Larkin.
i
Tlie Million Dollar Mystery had to have sequels, of course. One of them was Zadora, concerning which information is scanty, save that it included the scene shown above, right-hand-drive cab and all. The gen- tleman lurking at the right is James Cruze, whose fame rests more solidly on the fact that he later di- rected The Covered Wason.
Another recruit to the films' lighter side, Carter De Haven, long a favorite in vaudeville, made many a comedy short with his wife Flora for Universal. The studio shot seen here shows the De Havens being directed in a Western mellow drama by Walter Belasco, brother of the immortal David.
SWEDIE ( 1914)
37
By 1914 the success of the Keystone Comedies had started a wave of emulation. Essanay introduced a new comic— a young man who had gone from a Kansas farm to the circus as an elephant trainer; thence to New York, where he alternated between fe-
male impersonations and musical-comedy heavies. On the Essanay lot he met a "bit" girl named Gloria Swanson and married her. He is shown above, with Ruth Stonehouse, as a Swedish housemaid in the Swedie comedy series. His name is Wallace Beery,
38
BIRTH AND INFANCY
It was in this same year, 1914, that Mack Sennett, the proud proprietor of his own studio, realized his life's ambition— to prove that a policeman is good comedy material. No one who has seen the Keystone Cops in action on the screen would ever dispute him. Here they are. At the desk sits Ford Sterling. Fac- ing him, and reading, for once, from right to left, are Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle, Rube Miller, Hank Mann, Al St. John, and George Jesky.
A typical Keystone Cop comedy of 1914. Never mind the name. The girl is Juanita Hanson, with Bobbie Vernon on her left. At the desk is Ford Sterling, reputed instigator of the pie-throwing vogue. Legend has it that one day, when the company was filming a scene in a bakery, Sterling, finding at hand none of the customary ammunition— bottles, mallets, and felt bricks— grabbed a custard pie and hurled it. The rest is history.
FATTY'S FLIRTATIONS (1914)
Mack Swain was born in Salt Lake City— if you care. After twenty-two years of stage experience, he joined forces with Sennett in 1913. A year later he became a chief of the Keystone Cops, throwing pies, chas- ing the girls, and acting as a foil for Mabel Normand and Gloria Swanson.
ABOVE RIGHT
The scepter of Pie-Throwing King fell, however, from Ford Sterling's hands right into Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle's, who first appeared on the stage as a black- face monologist, began his movie career as a five- dollar-a-day extra on the Sennett lot. The Master promoted him, first, to a Keystone Cop and, later, to
costar with Sterling. Above is a still from Fatty and the Heiress.
BELOW
Fatty's career ended tragically through a scandal connected with the death of a girl named Virginia Rappe. He was-as the police investigation brought out-one of those present in the San Francisco hotel where she died; and the headlines did their work. A suddenly virtuous public demanded the exclusion of his films from all motion-picture theaters. Below, the King of Custard emotes in Fatty's Flirtations. The girl just above him is Mabel Normand.
40
BIRTH AND INFANCY
When Ford Sterling's contract with Mack Sennett expired in 1914, the famous comic decided to form his own producing unit. In his frantic search for a successor, Sennett finally got on the trail of a young comedian touring in a vaudeville act called A Night
at an Englisli Music Hall. Though the young man was loath to leave vaudeville for the precarious field of the movies, he succumbed to Sennett's offer of the unbelievable sum of $150 weekly to join the Key- stone Company. His name— Charles Chaplin.
CAUGHT
Nobody sensed it at the time, but Chaplin is one of the three authentic geniuses the films have produced. If anybody suspected it, Mack Sennett did. Here is Chaplin in one of his first Sennett pictures, Caught in a Cabaret.
BELOW
Many are the legends about the origin of Charlie's classic derby hat, baggy pants, oversize shoes, and
cane. One says that he deliberately chose the cos- tume to symbolize shabby gentility. Another holds that Chaplin hastily borrowed the costume from friends for his first day of shooting on the Sennett lot. In any event, here is the famous ensemble as exhibited in the 1914 production, Between Showers. Facing him is Ford Sterling. In the background, at the left, is Chester Conklin.
42
BIRTH AND INFANCY
In that same year of grace, Sennett was disturbed by reports that D. W. Griffith was preparing a film to be shot on a scale never before attempted (just how right the reports were, you will see shortly). Determined not to be outdone, Sennett started work on a comedy to be equally colossal in its own way. Marie Dressier had starred in Tillies Nightmare on Broadway, and it was that play and that star Sennett chose for his forthcoming screen classic.
Sennett spared no expense in making the picture, presenting a triple-threat cast— Dressier, Chaplin, Normand— and taking fourteen weeks to shoot it, in contrast to his usual procedure of grinding them out one a week. Tillie's Punctured Romance was a ter- rific hit. Besides presenting Marie Dressier as a defi- nite screen personality, the film established Chaplin as a great comic star.
TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE (1914)
43
In the gay nineties, Huber's Museum, on West Fourteenth Street, in New York, offered entertain- ment for man and beast that included a penny arcade, a vaudeville show, and a museum of horrors, complete with a dried mermaid. Later, rechristened Crystal Hall, it became one of Loew's earliest pic-
ture houses, though still retaining the penny arcade and the vaudeville show. Here it is, as it appeared in 1914. The feature is an Italian-made film. At the lower left you may discern an advertisement of the secondary feature, The Perils of Pauline, which ran, concurrently with the film, as a newspaper serial.
% Griffith Turns a Page
Nineteen fifteen was a momentous year for motion pictures, for ;t witnessed the production of a film that was, and still remains, a masterpiece of cine- matographic art. David Wark Griffith, like Chaplin, is certainly one of filmdom's true geniuses. His very first picture, The Adventures of Dolly, a one-reeler he directed for Biograph in 1908, revealed a sense of situation and dramatic logic rare in those days. An unerring casting director, he introduced many a future star— including Mary Pickford— during his Bio- graph days. Griffith is the greatest innovator the screen has ever known. Such devices as the close-up, the fade-out, the iris dissolve, back lighting, the soft-
focus close-up, the cut-back, and the last-minute rescue are accepted so completely as a matter of course by present-day audiences that it is hard to imagine a time when they did not exist. Yet every one of them results from Griffith's experiments and discoveries from 1908 to 1914. Moreover, he was the first director consciously to treat the motion picture as an art form. His pictures have the indefinable quality of "atmosphere" and are distinguished by masterful lighting and composition. Had he been a painter instead of a motion-picture director, he would have been equally great.
46
GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
The picture was, of course, The Birth of a X at ion. Opening at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles, on February 8, 1915, it revealed not only exciting en- tertainment, but also a document of what, today, would be called social significance. Griffith was born in Kentucky, January 3, 1875, the son of a Con- federate colonel, and was inevitably a fervid South- ern advocate. His picture, a lurid indictment of the carpetbag era following the War Between the States (you must not say "Civil War" in pictures), and an openly sympathetic chronicle of the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, could not fail to arouse heated contro- versy. Such liberals as Jane Addams, Charles Eliot, and Booker T. Washington attacked it because of its bias and its attempt to belittle the principles and ideals for which the war had been fought. No previ- ous picture had ever been so publicized, and millions flocked to see it. The Birth of a Nation long held the record for box-office grosses— more than fifteen million dollars. It is still shown occasionally and, propaganda or not, is still a great film. Here are its two stars, Lillian Gish and Henry B. Walthall.
BELOW LEFT
The cast was as brilliant as the direction. Besides Lillian Gish and Walthall (the Little Colonel), the cast included: Mae Marsh (the Little Sister), Ralph Lewis (Austin Stoneman), Elmer Clifton (Stone- man's son ) , Wallace Reid ( Jeff the Blacksmith ) , and Raoul Walsh (John Wilkes Booth). This scene shows Howard Gave, as General Lee, and Donald Crisp, as General Grant, at Appomattox Courthouse.
BELOW BICHT
One unknown starlet of the picture is visible in the background of this scene between Walthall and Gish. He was an extra, playing the part of a sen- try on guard outside a military hospital. As Miss Gish left the hospital, he gazed at her with such admiration, longing, and doglike devotion that the audience was convulsed. Griffith, always on the alert for a new find, ordered his assistants to discover the man's name and address. But it was too late. The picture finished, he melted into the horde of Hollvwood extras and was never heard of again.
THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
47
!
Griffith, abetted by his extraordinary cameraman, G. W. Bitzer, achieved a hitherto undreamed-of realism and excitement in the battle scenes.
It was Griffith, too, who first thoroughly explored the dramatic possibilities of the panoramic long shot. Notice the superb composition of this view of Sher- man's march to the sea.
48
GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
Motion-picture acting was steadily improving in quality. One contributing factor was Adolph Zukor's consistent policy of bringing prominent stage actors to the screen. Pauline Frederick joined famous Play- ers in 1915, making her screen debut in The Eternal City, and soon became a popular favorite both here and abroad. In England her pictures rivaled Mary Pickford's— no mean feat in those days. She is shown here in a scene from her greatest success, Zaza.
Meanwhile, Famous Players' pet star, Mary Pickford, continued serenely on her way. Her looks, charm, and those curls combined to maintain her as the screen's best seller. This studio still shows her with some of the contemporary glamour boys. Just to the left of her is Donald Crisp, minus General's Grant's whiskers. Douglas Gerrard stands directly back of her. The gloomy youth with his arms folded is Mar- shall Neilan.
ENOCH ARDEN ( 1915)
Under Zukor, the photography of her pictures im- proved immeasurably. Here is Our Nlary in soft focus. To understand Mary Pickford's importance to the motion-picture world, we should note her salary, and not in soft focus. In January, 1915, her contract with Famous Players gave her $2000 a week and half the profits on her productions.
ABOVE RIGHT
Kalem had its particular star in Swedish-born Anna Q. Nilsson, who came to America for a visit and worked as a servant and as a model. At the time this scene was shot, she had been with Kalem four years.
It is from A Sisters Burden, made in 1915. The woman in black is Alice Hollister.
BELOW
Wallace Reid had tried his hand at various jobs before drifting into pictures. He attracted little attention until his performance as the blacksmith in The Birth of a Nation induced Mutual to sign him up. Before long, he became one of the most popular male stars the screen has ever known. Here he is, with Lillian Gish, in a scene from Enoch Arden, which Christy Cabanne directed for Mutual in 1915.
50
GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
In 1915 Carl Laemmle (above, center) realized a long-cherished ambition by opening the new Uni- versal Studios in self-styled Universal City, about five miles northwest of Hollywood.
Oliver Morosco, long a prominent theatrical producer, took a flier in pictures, and with equal success. One of his gifts to the movies was Charlotte Greenwood, shown below in Jane, made in 1915. Forrest Stanley wears the buttoned shoes, and Howard Hickman the boiled shirt.
CARMEN ( 1915)
51
Lasky and Goldwyn scored a tremendous beat over Famous Players when they signed up Geraldine Farrar, then at the height of her Metropolitan Opera career. Zukor had put in a bid for her, but Lasky Features won out by offering her a private train to and from the Coast, a house in Hollywood, cars, servants, and $20,000 for eight weeks, during which three pictures were made. Her first vehicle was Car- men, with Pedro de Cordoba, shown above, and Wallace Reid, not shown.
The nation-wide publicity resulting from Miss Far- rar's entry into the movies was well worth the money Lasky and Goldwyn spent on her. Carmen, opening in New York in 1915, was rapturously greeted by both critics and public. Even the dramatic critics admitted that there might be something in motion pictures if they could so successfully convey Farrar's personality and acting ability. Here is another scene from Carmen. The man in the center is Horace B. Carpenter.
PAGE
William Fox, meanwhile, resolved to present his in- ternational vampire, Theda Bara, in his version of the Merimee classic. His Carmen opened in Novem-
ber, 1915. The critics agreed that Miss Farrar's pro- duction, direction, script, and acting were better. The Bara version got to first base, but never scored,
A TALE OF TWO CITIES (1915)
53
In 1915 another Hollywood institution, the beauty contest, reared its ugly head. In the silent days, as a matter of fact, there was some sense to a beauty contest. Since she didn't have to speak, any girl with an exceptionally pretty face and figure had a chance in pictures. With a director dictating every move, expression, and gesture, she could produce a reason- ably plausible imitation of acting. All of which does not apply to Clara Bow, Corinne Griffith, Claire Windsor, Mary Philbin, and Gertrude Olmsted, si-
lent stars who entered the movies via the beauty- contest route. Above, Al Christie (hatless, in the center ) is about to direct the very first beauty-contest picture. Note the absence of bathing suits.
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"It is a far, far better thing . . ." Maurice Costello goes to the guillotine in Vitagraph's production of A Tale of Two Cities.
54
GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
Came the time for the renewal of Charlie Chaplin's contract with Keystone, which had been for one year only. G. M. Anderson ("Broncho Billy"), acting for Essanay, offered him $1250 a week. Charlie took it, and arrived on die Essanay lot in Chicago amid a hailstorm of publicity. Essanay now had a gold mine in its triple-threat combination: Francis X. Bushman (left), heart throbs; Chaplin (center), belly laughs; and Anderson (right), Western thrills.
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Mack Sennett, though he had lost his blue-ribbon comedian, had plenty of others in his stable. This close-harmony group, for instance, mercifully made in the silent days, reveals: (left to right) Phyllis Haver, Jimmie Finlayson, Louise Fazenda, Ben Tur- pin, Heinie Conklin, and Paddy McQuire, with an unidentified songster at the end. The choir leader is Chester Conklin.
KEYSTONE COMEDIES
55
Mack Sennett's Keystone Cops were funny, but they lacked sex appeal. So the Old Master hit upon the idea of teaming his John Laws with a troupe of the prettiest girls he could find, in the least costumes the current Mrs. Grundys allowed. Gloria Swanson, Marie Prevost, Phyllis Haver, and many other subse- quent stars and starlets got their first exploitation as members of the Bathing Beauty Brigade. Here is Charlie Murray with a selected few. Vera Steadman is directly to his right and Phyllis Haver is on his left. The picture would be even more exciting if there were lines attached to those poles.
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The city limits of Hollywood are less than sixteen miles from the Pacific; and while the Bathing Beau- ties were not encouraged to take such a radical step as actually to go into the water, it was deemed ap- propriate to photograph them against an ocean back- ground. Eventually the trip to the beach became a bore, and Sennett built a swimming pool on the Keystone lot and shot the pictures there. In this photo, Mack Swain and Gloria Swanson are about to be surprised.
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The girls' costumes were the most daring— believe it or not— Seen in public up to 1917. Above, Chester Conklin is in the center or a scene of modified aban- don. Marie Prevost is on his right.
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If Chaplin had a successor on the Keystone lot, Ben Turpin was undoubtedly it. Thanks to a pair of mag-
nificently crossed eyes and an uncanny knack of tak- ing horrifying falls without killing himself, Turpin grew to be one of Sennett's most popular zanies. Misguided oculists urged Ben to undergo a slight operation that would cure his eyes. Being no fool, other than professionally, he always refused. He appears here in The Clever Dummy (1917).
THE CLEVER DUMMY (1917)
57
The beach at Venice, California, was the favorite location for shooting the Bathing Beauty pictures. Here is a scene in the making. The girl in the plaid skirt is Marie Prevost, with Heinie Conklin seated beside her. Back of him stands Bert Roach. To the right of him are Jack Ackroyd, Jim Finlayson, and Wayland Trask. The recumbent lifeguard is Ben Turpin. Victor Scheurich is the cameraman.
The Silly Symphonies and other animated cartoons— to say nothing of Screeno— have pretty well usurped the place held by the old two-reel slapstick come- dies. At least, that's what exhibitors will tell you. Just the same, when die newsreel theaters revive an old Chaplin or Lloyd roughhouse, the fans stay in tiieir seats. Here's another giggle-getter of the 1915 vintage, Gail Henry.
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Gloria Swanson, having served her apprenticeship as extra and bit player with Essanay in Chicago, went to Hollywood, where she started up the ladder of fame and fortune on the rather wobbly rungs of the Keystone Comedies. Here she is, with Bobbie Ver- non, in a 1915 Mack Sennett opus.
ABOVE RIGHT
One of the best-remembered serial queens was Ruth Roland, shown here with Marshall Neilan. You will see more of her. Neilan, born in Los Angeles, ran away from home at fourteen and, returning, worked as a chauffeur. He joined the Kalem Company, and his acting ability won him leading roles with Ruth Roland and Mary Pickford. You will hear from him again, too— as a director.
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Another sequel of The Million Dollar Mystery was The Diamond from the Sky. Its scenario, written by Roy McCardell, won a $10,000 prize contest spon- sored by the Chicago Tribune. The producers of- fered Mary Pickford $4000 a week to play the lead, but her contract with Famous Players prevented her acceptance. So they compromised by signing up her sister, Lottie. Opposite her they cast Irving Cum- mings, today a successful director. William Desmond Taylor, whom you surely remember as the victim of a still unsolved murder in 1921, directed the serial. Here is the company. In the first row, left to right, are: Charlotte Burton, William Russell, Oral Hum- phries ( on the floor ) , Eugenie Forde, Desmond Tay- lor (on the arm of the chair), Charles Watt (sitting next to Taylor), Lottie Pickford (at the piano), and Irving Cummings (leaning on the piano).
GETAWAY KATE ( 1915)
59
And who should turn up in the serials but the late Texas Guinan, whose "Hello, sucker" and "Give this little girl a great big hand" made her famous as the night-club queen of the dry '20's. She is shown here, having the best of a nasty argument, with Phil Ford and Kingsley Benedict.
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Helene Chadwick, before playing leads in feature pictures, served an apprenticeship in the serials. Here she is, widi Frank Redman, in Getaway Kate.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
"Take that, you cad!" In 1915 Jack Holt was playing serial villains, as witness the above humiliating en- counter with Francis Ford and Grace Cunard. Had the picture been made fifteen years later, Jack would be standing in Ford's place.
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In 1915 Thomas Ince, Mack Sennett, and David W.
Griffith pooled their resources to produce jointly Tinder the name of Triangle Pictures. A year later they acquired land on the ocean front north of Santa Monica, about fifteen miles from Hollywood, and there built their studios. The place was known as Inceville, and it was an ancestor of M-G-M.
INTOLERANCE ( 1916 )
61
The success of The Birth of a Nation had established Griffith as the industry's foremost producer— and had induced millions of people to take the movies seriously. Griffith now determined to make a picture that would far outdo his previous masterpieces and built a production that would give any studio pause even today. No one knew anything about the new picture, except that it was employing thousands of extras and a pretentious cast. The latter included Tully Marshall, Seena Owen, Sam DeGrasse, Elmer Clifton, Bessie Love, Joseph Henabery, Ralph Lewis, Mae Marsh, Robert Harron, Constance Talmadge, Erich von Stroheim, and Lillian Gish. In the picture above, Griffidi sits at the left. The girl behind the cameraman is Dorothy Gish, who probably dropped
in to kibitz.
Cooper is doing the acting.
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The new picture, released in the fall of 1916, was Intolerance. Griffith depicted the spirit of intoler- ance through the ages by means of four parallel sto- ries: the fall of Babylon, the story of Christ, the massacre of the Huguenots, and a modern story about capital and labor. To link the four stories he used Walt Whitman's lines "Out of the cradle end- lessly rocking, Uniter of here and hereafter," with Lillian Gish rocking a symbolic cradle. The set shown below— the court of Catherine de' Medici— is a good example of the detailed perfection of back- ground and costumes. Catherine, played by Josephine Crowell, stands directly in the center.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
Intolerance was a brave try, but it never prospered. The public was confused trying to follow four stories at once, and the shot of Gish at the cradle only added to the bewilderment. One of the players in the Babylonian sequence, Constance Talmadge, shown
above, had been doing extra bits until Griffith gave her the part of the Mountain Girl. The youth with the badlv tied shoelaces is Elmer Clifton, of whom you will hear later as a director.
INTOLERANCE ( 1916 )
63
The alumni association of Intolerance must include more than a score of present-day well-known actors, directors, and other celebrities. Here is Eugene Pal- lette, for instance, with Margery Wilson in a se- quence from the French story.
BELOW
For breath-taking magnitude this scene from the fall of Babylon has never been surpassed. It is hard to imagine that it ever will be. We see part of Belshaz-
zar's palace and the walls of the city. There were four thousand persons on the set the day this scene was shot. Among the dancing girls on tfie steps— if you could distinguish them— are Pauline Starke, Alma Rubens, Carmel Myers, Winifred Westover, and Mildred Harris (Chaplin). To get some idea of the depth of the set, compare the people in the fore- ground with those visible through the arch, on the farthest wall.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
One of the finest examples of Griffith's genius for composition and lighting is this scene of the mas- sacre of the Huguenots. Intolerance, though a fail- ure, was a magnificent one. It carried screen lech-
nique to a point that not even The Birth of a Nation had anticipated, and its settings and crowd scenes have served as the model for every spectacular picture made since.
OLIVER TWIST ( 1916 )
65
In 1916 Lasky Feature Pictures merged with Zukor's Famous Players. Under the name of Paramount Pic- tures the partners continued the policy of presenting famous stage stars in screen plays. One of their first productions was Oliver Twist, with Marie Doro in the title role. She is shown above, with Tully Mar- shall as Fagin and Hobart Bosworth, deserting ro- mantic he-man leads, as Bill Sykes. The man with the top hat is Raymond Hatton.
Every actress wants to play Juliet, whether on stage or screen. Beverly Bayne acted the role opposite the Romeo of her husband, Francis X. Bushman. An- other Juliet, Theda Bara, shown below, played the part in a Fox production of 1916. The Romeo is Harry Hilliard.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
The most spectacular Fox production of 1916 was Daughter of the Gods, which exploited the talents and figure of the swimming champion, Annette Kel- lerman. The picture was filmed in Jamaica, where Director Herbert Brenon practically rebuilt one end of the island, imported a troupe of camels, and re- stored a Spanish ruin. Word of these goings-on leaked out to the press, and the director was given far more publicity than the producer relished. When Brenon resigned, Fox ordered his name kept off the screen, whereupon Brenon brought injunction pro- ceedings. The injunction was denied, Fox relented and put back the screen credits, the picture made a lot of money, and everybody was happy.
Fox presented a starlet in the person of Shirley Mason, sister of a reigning favorite, Viola Dana. Miss Mason is shown above in a scene from Merely Mary Ann, in which she appeared in 1916.
Lewis J. Selznick brought another stage star to the screen in his production of War Brides— Alia Nazi- mo.va, who repeated her success in the theater. Her- bert Brenon directed the picture. Not shown in this scene is a young actor who played his first role in this film— Richard Barthelmess.
THE DUMB GIRL OF PORTICI (1916)
67
Oliver Morosco produced An International Marriage, overflowing with counts, earls, dukes, marquises, and American heiresses. Above, Courtenay Foote is try- ing to argue Rita Jolivet into something or other.
ABOVE RIGHT
The newly formed Triangle company was anything but idle. One of its stars was Douglas Fairbanks, who had come to pictures in 1915 with an estab- lished stage reputation in light comedy. He appears
above, with Bessie Love, in a scene from The Good Bad Man, a Triangle production of 1916.
BELOW
Universal brought the great dancer, Anna Pavlova, to the screen in its production of The Dumb Girl of Portici. In this scene she is seated, with Lois Weber and Douglas Gerrard standing beside her. Phillips Smalley, behind the camera, and Lois Weber di- rected the film.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
A Lasky star of this period was Blanche Sweet, shown above with Jack Conway. She was a Griffith find and had attracted widespread attention with her first leading role, iii Judith of Bethulia.
ABOVE BIGHT
Still another Triangle star was Belle Bennett, shown here in a scene from The Judgment of the Guilty, with Jack Livingston.
BELOW
Ruth Stonehouse had been a professional dancer be- fore signing up with Essanay in i910. For six years she remained the company's leading ladv. In the scene below, directed by Jack Conway, she is pro- tecting a protege from the strong arm of the law (J. P. Wilde). The young man she is defending hardly looks like star material, does lie? His name is John Gilbert.
THE INTRIGUE ( 1916)
69
Lenore Ulric has been flitting back and forth be- tween stage and screen since 1912. She appears here in a scene from a 1916 epic, The Intrigue. The vil- lain (villains always wear smoking jackets) is How- ard Davies.
The Westerns continued merrily along. Dustin Far- num did his bit in, among other things, The Parson of Panamint. In this scene he appears with Winifred Kingston ( second from left ) .
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
James Warren Kerrigan was another favorite of the day. He (the one facing the camera, of course) and the boys are engaged in a bit of mayhem from The Silent Battle, a 1916 thriller.
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The king of all the Western stars, and the one who stayed longest in public favor, was William S. Hart, who drifted into pictures about 1914 and became Thomas Ince's greatest star. Below, he appears witii Bessie Love in a scene from The Aryan.
THE SILENT BATTLE (1916)
71
The stagecoach holdup and die chase were sure-fire and practically obligatory episodes in any proper Western. Ken Maynard (left) is chasing, or being chased ( take your choice ) , in The Devil's Saddle (1927). The pianist is playing the overture to Wil- liam Tell.
ABOVE RIGHT
The nice thing about Westerns was that they put no intellectual strain on the audience. You had merely to look, without bothering to think. Incidentally, the looking was well worth the trouble, as witness this
still of Fred Thomson on his famous horse, Silver King.
BELOW
One feature that made the Westerns popular throughout the world was that American Western landscapes offered ready-made sets unequaled in any other country for picturesque grandeur. The shot above, from The Devil's Saddle, rather dwarfs the fracas between Ken Maynard and Tom Bay on top of the butte.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
According to Jack Hoxie, this is what the well- dressed cowboy wore— at least if there was a camera in the neighborhood.
ABOVE RICHT
Came 1917, and with it a new comedian. Harold Lloyd and Hal Roach struck up a friendship when they were doing' bits together for Universal and finally joined forces in an independent shoestring production, Just Nuts, with Roach as the backer and
Lloyd as the nuts. The picture was so successful that Lloyd signed with Pathe to do a series of comedies, in which Bebe Daniels (right) also appeared.
BELOW
Bebe Daniels started in pictures at the age of eight, playing child roles for Selig, and became Lloyd's leading ladv at fifteen. Below are Bud Jamison, Bebe, and Harold on the beach at Venice, California.
LONESOME LUKE (1917)
73
The Lloyd comedies were known as the Lonesome Luke series, and established both principals as star comedians. Judging from the shot above, Miss Dan- iels did the hard work.
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Harold Lloyd is the only comedian ever seriously to rival Chaplin as a box-office attraction. You will
notice that in the preceding stills he wears a mus- tache strongly reminiscent of the Chaplin foliage. As a matter of fact, not until he abandoned the mus- tache and became the earnest youth with the famous horn-rimmed spectacles did he reach his greatest popularity. This is one of the first films in which he appeared with the specs. Bud Jamison is the chef, and Snub Pollard stands in the doorway.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
Keystone had featured Chaplin, but had not starred him. Now, as a star under Essanay, he soon became world-famous. This is a scene from a two-reeler, The Immigrant, made for Mutual in 1917. The others are (left) Henry Bergman, Edna Purviance, and Eric Campbell.
BELOW
A Los Angeles youngster named Louise Fazenda played hooky from high school to be an extra in a Mack Sennett chase sequence. Sennett, so the story goes, noticed her at once, with the result, as seen below, that by 1917 she was starring in Triangle- Keystone comedies.
A SMALL TOWN GIRL (1917)
75
As long as it's 1917, the year in which Fox made the picture, how about one more shot of Theda Bara as Cleopatra?
1IELOW
Another Fox star was June Caprice, seen here in A
Small Town Girl, made in 1917. Movie stars were young in those days— what with Bebe Daniels, Lila Lee, and Constance Talmadge leading women at fourteen, and Miss Caprice a star at fifteen (three years before this film). An old hag of twenty-five could hope for little besides character parts.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
Perhaps the greatest female impersonator in history was the Emperor Heliogabalus. A close second, how- ever, was Julian Eltinge, undoubtedly the best of modern times. Paramount starred him, in 1917, in The Clever Mrs. Carfax— And, honest, would you have guessed?
BELOW
Paramount's most ambitious production of the year was Joan the Woman, Geraldine Farrar's fourth star- ring vehicle. It represented the best that the produc- ers had to offer in the way of script, production, and cast, which included Wallace Reid, Hobart Bos- worth, and Raymond Hatton. Below is the trial scene.
JOAN THE WOMAN (1917)
77
Cecil B. DeMille, who directed Joan the Woman, had, like Griffith, a fondness for combining the pres- ent with the past. In his version of the Jeanne d'Arc story, an English Tommy discovers a rusty sword, which sets him dreaming of Joan. When he awakes, the remembrance of her heroism and self-sacrifice inspires him to lead a daring raid upon the enemy
( these were war years, remember ] coronation scene from the picture.
Above is the
BELOW
DeMille always had a genius for handling crowds. The shot below gives a good idea of the elaborate- ness and realism of his battle scenes.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
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J. Warren Kerrigan appeared in other than Westerns. For instance, Universal starred him and Lois Wilson in good, clean, wholesome pictures, of which the above is a good sample. Miss Wilson went from teaching school to acting in pictures. To her sorrow she was always cast as a goody-goody girl.
ABOVE KIGHT
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, while not written for her, was obvious starring material for Mary Pickford. Paramount made it in 1917.
BELOW
Remember "Have you a little fairy in your home?" and the child's picture that accompanied the fa- mous Fairy Soap slogan? That was Madge Evans, who became a child star in the movies and was one of the few to play leading roles after she grew up. She appears here in a scene from The Adventures of Carol, made by World Pictures in 1917. Behind her are Jack Drumier and Kate Lester.
'
THE LITTLE AMERICAN (1917)
79
The war gave the female stars a chance to combine charm with excitement. A fair sample, The Little American, starred Our Mary in 1917. In front of her, either reading a map or his diploma, is Hobart Bos- worth.
The Pickford curls influenced the coiffures of the 1910's as profoundly as Garbo's long bob was to in- fluence those of the 1930's. Witness Vivian Martin's hair-do in Molly Entangled. The young man ignor- ing her is Harrison Ford.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
Skinner's Dress Suit, a Saturday Evening Post story based on the theory that clothes make the man, was filmed by Essanay in 1917. Bryant Washburn was the star. He is shown doing something or other to Virginia Yalli's dress. Whatever it is, Hazel Daly strongly disapproves.
BELOW
After his contract with Essanay expired, Charlie Chaplin signed up with Mutual for the Lone Star series, at the enormous sum of $670,000 for twelve two-reelers. Here is a scene from one of the best- remembered of these, Easy Street, made in 1917.
EASY STREET ( 1917)
81
NOTICE
QAll employes of the Universal 'Jiltii Company who enlist in any branch of the US. briny or Iky/ daring the present war crisis will hw their positions hU for then until mustered out of service.
(rf.Q&AYis
Vice President &
Ocnml in&nt&r ,
Universal ^ilm %nufcturtn$m
The year 1918, and we were in the war up to the Hilt. At the doors of Universal, as at the doors of so many other studios, this sign was posted.
f\ CUT
Standby
the President
In September, 1918, the Red Cross, for its drive in San Francisco, held a huge armv and navy parade. Here is Mary Pickford ( below ) leading it.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
There was, of course, a sudden eruption of war pic- tures. Paramount released one, Vive la France, that was no better and no worse than any other propa- ganda picture. Here is Dorothy Dalton in a scene from the film, made by Thomas Ince.
ABOVE RIGHT
Griffith, on invitation of the British government, made a propaganda picture called Hearts of the World. It was filmed both in England and at the front in France. In the scene above, the girl is Doro- thy Gish. The youth at the right is one Noel Coward.
BELOW RIGHT
BELOW LEFT
The Squaw Man had always been high in Cecil B. DeMille's affections, since the original screen ver- sion had signalized his entry into pictures. Accord- ingly, in 1918, he filmed another edition of the old Western classic, with Katherine MacDonald (left), Elliott Dexter, and Anne Little. (Look back to page 27.)
It wasn't a question of recruits— the draft had taken care of that— but of selling Liberty Bonds. And movie stars were great salesmen. Remember, this was before the days of the talkies; there were no public-address systems, no loudspeakers. When you addressed a crowd, you hollered through a megaphone. Mary did it (as shown here). So did Charlie Chaplin. So did Douglas Fairbanks.
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HEARTS OF THE WORLD (1918)
83
HE
Hearts of the World was laid mainly in a small French village overrun by the Germans. Prominent in it were three French children whose mother had been killed and who, not daring to venture outside their house, buried her in the cellar. The small boy at the left is Ben Alexander, a famous child actor of the time.
ABOVE RIGHT
The Vision of the Loved One was immensely popu- lar in those days. You could never be sure when her face might pop out from a blank wall or an open
fire. Bryant Washburn, for instance, shows no exces- sive signs of amazement at seeing Wanda Hawley peering out from the theme song of The Gypsy Trail.
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Clara Kimball Young was another favorite, her spe- cialty being wronged wives. Starting with Vitagraph in 1912, by 1918 she headed her own producing unit. In this scene from The Better Wife the man is Nigel Barrie (just back from serving in the BEF). The boy is Ben Alexander.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
Through a series of mergers, purchases, and deals, Adolph Zukor became head of his own producing company, Paramount-Artcraft Pictures. In taking over some of Triangle's producers, writers, and ac- tors, he acquired Ince, Griffith, Sennett, Anita Loos, and Douglas Fairbanks. Another of his acquisitions was the one-time extra, Gloria Swanson, whom he made a leading lady in a series of domestic dramas. One of the most successful was Don't Change Your Husband, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, in which Miss Swanson appears above, with Lew Cody. Cody came to pictures from the stage in 1915, starting as
a villain and ending as the love interest in light comedy.
BELOW
On the stage, "matinee idol" usually means a man. It's different with pictures. Take, for instance, this scene, from The Gray Cliiffon Veil. The man, Har- rison Ford, was one of the most popular leading men of his day. But the schoolgirls of that day went just as mad over Constance Talmadge, who is with him. They flocked to all her pictures and copied her clothes, hats, and hair-dos.
DON'T CHANGE YOUR HUSBAND (1918)
85
Sessue Hayakawa became the only Oriental actor ever to play romantic leads in American pictures. Because of racial prejudices, however, he always had to relinquish the girl in the final reel. He is seen here with Guy Oliver in Hidden Pearls.
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Quite a different type was Tom Mix, who was just hitting his stride as a popular hero when this pic- ture, Western Blood, was made in 1918. The girl is Victoria Forde.
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GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
Mary Pickford's contract with Famous Players ex- pired in 1918, and between Liberty Loan drives she seized the opportunity to become her own producer. She made three pictures, releasing them through First National. One of them was the famous Daddy Long Legs; another, in which she appears here with Ralph Lewis, was The Hoodlum (1919).
BELOW
Intolerance, despite its importance in retrospect, had been a costly failure for Griffith, and he was now
forced to consider expenses in making a picture. His production of Broken Blossoms, in 1919, proved that a Griffith picture did not have to be a spectacle to be a success. Founded on Thomas Burke's short story, "The Chink and the Child," the film was one of Griffith's most profitable, considering its compara- tively moderate cost. Sentimental as it would seem now, Broken Blossoms was a pioneer work, for it successfully handled a theme considered sordid and depressing. It served also to heighten Lillian Gish's reputation as a screen personality. She appears here in a scene with Donald Crisp.
BROKEN BLOSSOMS (1919)
87
Richard Barthelmess had been in pictures for three years, but it was his sensitive and touching perform- ance as the young Chinese who befriends the little slum girl, in Broken Blossoms, that set him on the road to a brilliant career.
BELOW
Gloria Swanson, having been graduated cum laude
from the ranks of the Sennett Bathing Beauties, was starred by Paramount in a screen version of Sir James M. Barrie's The Admirable Crichton. Director Cecil B. DeMille changed the title to Male and Female, with the explanation, so the story goes, that the original name might have led the average moviegoer to think that he was going to see a navy picture!
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Another scene from A/«/e «nc/ Female, with Lila Lee and Thomas Meighan on the ends and Gloria Swan- son very much in the middle.
BELOW
Bessie Barriscale, who had begun her career as a child actress, attracted such widespread attention by
her performance in The Bird of Paradise that she went to Hollywood in 1914 to join the Lasky Com- pany. In 1919 she formed her own producing unit, B.B. Features, and made several pictures, including an adaptation of Kathleen Norris' Josselyn's Wife. In this scene from it the man is George Hackathorne, and the boy is the inevitable Ben Alexander.
BLIND HUSBANDS (1919)
89
Of the three Talmadge sisters— Norma, Constance, and Natalie— Norma was the most consistently suc- cessful. She obtained her first dramatic experience in posing for illustrated song slides and then went to Vitagraph, where she played small parts in sev- eral Maurice Costello pictures. In one of these, A Tale of Two Cities, she attracted the public's atten- tion. Within four years she was a star. Here she is playing a scene, with Stuart Holmes, from The New Moon, made in 1919.
BELOW
Not so long ago a certain highly touted New York stage director was called to Hollywood, where he made a colossal picture that was an equally colossal failure. Did it ruin him? Far from it. As one Holly- woodian remarked, "Now he's one of the biggest
men in the industry. He's just cost his company a million dollars." The fantastic assumption that the director who spends the most money must be the best is probably based on the career of Erich von Stroheim, whose autocratic methods, ruinous pro- duction costs, millions of feet of extraneous shots, and genuine acting and directorial ability combined to make him a famous screen villain and producer. Von Stroheim came to America in 1909, eked out a precarious existence as a salesman, gardener, dish- washer, and so on, and then played extra bits in the movies. In 1919, he induced Universal to let him produce Blind Husbands, which he had written and then proceeded to direct and act. The picture was a success and established his reputation. This scene shows (left to right): Gibson Gowland, Francelia Billington, Sam DeGrasse, and von Stroheim.
GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
The Miracle Man, directed by George Tucker for Paramount in 1919, made stars of its three princi- pals: Lon Chaney (extreme left), Betty Compson (in the dark coat), and Thomas Meighan (thud from right).
here shows Alice
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The simple ceremony going on Lake as the bride and Herbert Rawlinson as the not- too-avid groom. Judging from his mustache, Ray Hanford (second from left) is playing Papa.
LOMBARDI, LTD. ( 1919)
91
Today Bert Lytell is a well-known actor of middle- aged roles. Twenty years ago he was playing roman- tic leads. He made his first appearance in The Lone Wolf, a Brenon-Selznick production of 1917. Two years later he joined the Metro Company, which featured him in a film version of the popular Lom- bardi, Ltd. Those slips looked pretty daring in 1919.
BELOW
Paramount made a picture called The Goat, in 1919, starring Fred Stone. He is not included in the scene shown here, but a young extra, dreaming over his ice-cream cone, is. He entered pictures as Ramon Samaniegos, of Durango, Mexico, and was destined to emerge romantically, later, as Ramon Novarro.
GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
Early in 1919 Mary Pickford, after having been suc- cessful as her own producer, joined forces with Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, and David Griffith to form the famous foursome known as United Artists. Each of the quartet was his own
producer, with entire control of casting, directing, and financing. United Artists is a pretty imposing title, but judging from this shot of three of the Big Four, Charlie, Mary, and Doug didn't take their ■aesthetic responsibilities too, too seriously.
POLLYANNA ( 1920)
93
Miss Pickford's first United Artists picture, Polly- anna, directed by Paul Powell, appeared in 1920, and its success vindicated her judgment. In the scene above, Helen Jerome Eddy stands at the fire- place (extreme left), Doc Crane is in the center, and Herbert Prior is second from right.
BELOW
Next to Mary Pickford, the most diminutive star on the screen was tiny Marguerite Clark, who came to pictures from the stage. Here she is, in Widow by Proxy, made in 1919.
94
GRIFFITH TURNS A PAGE
Miss Clark proved as popular on the screen as she had been on the stage and, had she continued her career, might have been a formidable rival to Mary Pickford. However, she retired in 1920 to become the wife of an army officer. One of her last pictures was A Girl 'Named Mary. The woman to her left, in the scene above, is Kathlyn Williams, star of a fa- mous Selig serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn.
BELOW
Probably the first horror picture— and certainly the
first important one— was an importation, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an adaptation of Robert Wiene's story, produced by Decla-Bioscop in Germany, in 1919. Using distorted scenery, bizarre costumes, and unusual camera angles— to say nothing of superb direction— it achieved a sustained atmosphere of ter- ror that few pictures have ever equaled. Traces of Caligari are to be found in all subsequent horror films, both American and European, as well as in serious "atmospheric" pictures, such as The Informer and Citizen Kane. Hence its inclusion here.
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919)
95
But mere mechanics were not all of Caligari. The film achieved its full impact hv reason of fine acting by Werner Krauss as Dr. Caligari, Lil Dagover as the girl, and Conrad Veidt as the Somnambulist.
Despite the passing of twentv-odd years since its first showing, Caligari was, and remains, a master- piece of its kind.
3. The Twenties
Beginning in 1913, with What Happened to Mary, the serial film, a story told in weekly or biweekly installments, occupied a steadily increasing part of the public's affections. The opening of the second decade of the century saw this now-unimportant type of film apparently destined for immortality. The
unquestioned Queen of die Serials was Pearl White, whose Perils of Pauline brought her fame and, eventually, a villa in France. She is having a nasty bout with quicksand in this episode— one of the tamer ones of the series.
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98
THE TWENTIES
The gentleman about to end it all is George B. Seitz, who directed some of the Pearl White serials when he wasn't acting in them. Directing serials, with their constant demand for action and more action, was an exacting task, but a wonderful train- ing school. Seitz is now one of M-G-M's star direc- tors, with— among others— the Andy Hardy series to his credit. The man at the left is Walter McGrail, a famous 1920 villain. Next comes, of course, Miss White, with Wallace McCutcheon entering through the window.
BELOW
Warner Oland, born in Sweden, became, by a twist of Hollywood fate, a specialist in Oriental roles. Long before he plaved the benignant Charlie Chan, he was the principal menace in many a Pearl White opus. Here he is about to do something pretty sinis- ter to a lamp, oblivious to Miss White's rather pe- culiar choice of nook to rest in.
THE PERILS OF PAULINE (1920
99
Oland and White again. Here he seems to be in trouble of his own, with Miss White being hauled out of the trapdoor.
BELOW
Here the situation seems reversed. Pearl apparently thinks she has Oland where she wants him, but unless that spare pair of hands belongs to her— which doesn't seem likelv— she is due for a shock.
100
THE TWENTIES
It must have taken a good deal of faith in Miss Never a dull moment. Warren William is now a
White's luck to sit through a situation like this and prominent leading man, but in those days he spent
believe she was going to get out of it. his time coasting down millraces with Pearl White.
PLUNDER ( 1923 )
101
The previous shot was from Plunder, made in 1923. Here's another scene from the same picture, which gives you a rough idea of what a girl had to go through to make a fortune.
"To be continued next week." The idea was to end every installment with a situation so hopeless that wild horses couldn't have kept you from the theater the next week, to see how she got out of it.
102
THE TWENTIES
Another famous serial star, Ruth Roland, started in the theater at the age of four and arrived in the movies via Morosco and Belasco road companies. She appears here in Episode 3 of Ruth of the Rockies. The director of the series was George Marshall.
BELOW
Chaplin was the only member of the Big Four who made no productions for United Artists in 1920. In that year, Mary Pickford made Polhjanna, took time off to marry Douglas Fairbanks, and produced Suds. Here she is, with Harold Goodwin, in Suds.
THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920)
103
Douglas Fairbanks made two pictures that year. The first, The Mollycoddle, directed by Victor Flem- ing, gave him one of the breezy, go-getting roles that had established him as a stage comedian.
The second proved to be the first of the series of picaresque costume pictures with which his name was associated for the rest of his career. This is The Mark of Zorro. The girl is Marguerite De La Motte.
104
THE TWENTIES
In Mamaroneck, New York, on the shores of Long Island Sound, Griffith had built a replica of a New England farm. Here and in upper New York State he filmed one of the most famous tear-jerkers of all time, Way Down East. The story was sure-fire and exactly fitted the talents of his two stars, Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess. In the scene above, the stem head of the home orders the erring woman, Lillian Gish, out into the cold. Lowell Sherman, third from left, is the villain, and Richard Barthel- mess, at the end of the table, is tire hero who will
rescue her. In back of the flowers is Mary Hay (who became Mrs. Barthelmess) and next to her, with glasses, Creighton Hale.
BELOW
In 1920, Cecil B. DeMille directed a star cast in Feet of Clay. In this scene, Ricardo Cortez sits at the left. In the deck chair is Rod La Rocque, with Julia Faye just behind him. To the right of her is Robert Edeson, with William Boyd next to him. Between them, eying the captain with apprehen- sion, is Vera Reynolds.
FEET OF CLAY (1920 )
105
Conrad Nagel began acting with a stock company in Des Moines and progressed to New York and road- company productions. He quit to join the navy in 1918 and served on the U.S.S. Seattle. After the armistice he appeared in several plays and pictures, winning a long-term contract with Famous Players- Lasky for his performance in The Fighting Chance. In the scene above, Anna Q. Nilsson is with him.
ABOVE RIGHT
Another Paramount star was Mae Murray. Born Marie Adrienne Koenig, she started in the chorus,
where her dancing ability and beautv made her a featured dancer in The Ziegfeld Follies. Her danc- ing introduced her to Hollywood and her future husband, Robert Z. Leonard, the director. This scene is from Idols of Clay, made in 1920, in which David Powell played opposite her.
BELOW
Another scene from Feet of Clay, with Lillian Leigh- ton (left), Vera Reynolds (in the undies), and Lucien Littlefield.
106
THE TWENTIES
Mary Miles Mintcr's stage performance in The Lit- tlest Rebel established her as a famous child star. While still under twenty, she signed a contract with Realart to make twenty pictures in three years, for something over a million dollars. She appears above in a Realart film of 1920, Jenny Be Good.
Since Gloria Swanson had starred in Don't Change Your Husband, produced by Zukor in 1919, it was inevitable that she should also star in Wliy Cliange Your Wife?, directed by DeMille for Famous Players- Lasky in 1920. With her in this shot is Bebe Daniels (left), promoted from Harold Lloyd comedies.
HUMORESQUE ( 1920 )
107
One of the best pictures of 1920 was Humoresque, adapted from Fanny Hurst's famous story of the little Jewish boy who became a great violinist. Hearst's Cosmopolitan Pictures released it through Para- mount. Vera Gordon, shown here, gave a striking performance as the boy's mother.
Lon Chaney followed The Miracle Man with an equally successful performance as another cripple in The Penalty. Born of deaf-mute parents, Chaney attributed his gift for pantomime to his struggles to communicate with them. Whatever the cause, he was soon recognized as one of the finest actors on the silent screen and a master of make-up.
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THE TWENTIES
{Catherine MacDonald had a large and fascinated public, who followed her in a series of modern- sophisticate roles in provocatively named dramas such as The Woman Thou Gavest Me, The Beauty Market, and Passion's Playground. Here she is, with Nigel Barrie (you saw him with Clara Kimball Young in The Better Wife), in a 1920 production, The Notorious Miss Lisle.
BELOW
Elsie Janis began entertaining at an early age and became famous as a mimic and singing and dancing stage star. Her entertainment tours of France during the First World War won her the title of "The Sweetheart of the AEF." Here she is, with Owen Moore, in a picture made in 1920.
JES' CALL ME JIM (1920)
109
Charles Ray had been with Thomas Ince since 1909, and within ten years his portrayals of likable young bumpkins and the average fumbling young man made him a popular star. Here he is in An Old Fashioned Boy, made in 1920. The other man is Wade Boteler.
BELOW
Will Rogers began his stage career doing a straight
rope-throwing act in The Ziegfeld Follies. The wise- cracks that made him famous were an afterthought, thrown in to add variety to a turn that wasn't doing very well. His first important film roles were of the Honest John homespun variety, such as the one he plays with Irene Rich, in Jes' Call Me Jim, made in 1920. Not until the talkies arrived, to exploit his drawl and comic delivery, did he rise to his great- est fame.
110
THE TWENTIES
The much-loved Will Rogers came by his screen career honestly, for he served part of his appren- ticeship in the school that also graduated Lupe Velez, Jean Harlow, and Janet Gaynor— the Hal Roach Studios. Here he is in a Roach comedy.
ABOVE RIGHT
Dustin Famum's brother, William, had had a no less distinguished career as an actor, beginning with spear carrying for Booth and Barrett. His first pic- ture was The Spoilers, which he followed with a series of Westerns for Selig. Fox offered him $1000 a week and at the height of his career paid him ten times that sum. One of his most successful vehicles was If I Were King, released by Fox in 1920.
BELOW LEFT
Another Fox production of 1920 was Over the Hill,
a picture version of Will Carleton's lachrymose Over the Hill to the Poorhouse, advertised, somewhat dif- fidently, by the Fox press department as "the great- est human drama of all time." Mary Carr and Johnny Walker are here helping to make it so.
BELOW RIGHT
They say that press agents make stars. They can help, but they can't do the job unaided. Some press agent decided that the way to make Patty Dupont a star was to call her, simply, "Miss Dupont." This, he argued, would envelop her personality in a veil of mystery and intrigue, and the public would flock to see her. The public may have been mystified, but it refused to flock.
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THE KID ( 1920)
111
In 1920, Chaplin made one of his greatest pic- tures, The Kid, a tale of a derelict who becomes the inadvertent foster parent of a small boy. The picture introduced a child star who was as great a box- office attraction as Shirley Temple would be fifteen years later— Jackie Coogan. It is a tribute to his genius that Chaplin was able to hold his own against such a born scene stealer as Jackie.
ABOVE RIGHT
In 1921, the other members of United Artists all made productions. Griffith offered Dream Street, re- verting somewhat to the moralistic tone of Intoler-
ance, for the picture dealt with two brothers who listen alternately to the voices of good and evil. Evil was symbolized by a masked violinist. Ralph Graves and Carol Dempster, shown above, were two of the principals.
BELOW
Douglas Fairbanks, inspired by the success of The Mark of Zorro, produced a film version of Dumas' The Three Musketeers that was lavish alike in set- tings, costumes, and casting. This scene shows Fair- banks as d'Artagnan, Leon Barry as Athos, George Siegman as Porthos, and Eugene Pallette as Aramis.
112
THE TWENTIES
The three principal female roles— those of the lovely women of Louis XIII's court— were admirably cast. Barbara La Marr, shown here in a tense scene with the star, was the Milady. Miss La Marr entered pic- tures after a career as dancer and musical-comedy actress. Her performance in The Three Musketeers started her on a course that included leads in The Prisoner of Zenda, The Eternal City, and Trifling
Women. Her untimely death in 1926 cut short her successful career.
BELOW
The second role, that of Constance, was played by the distractingly pretty Marguerite De La Motte. She was one of Fairbanks' discoveries, also coming to pictures via the dancing route.
THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1921)
113
The classic features and natural dignity of Mary MacLaren fitted her perfectly for the role of Queen Anne. She is shown here, thanking d'Artagnan for the return of her jewels, stolen by Milady. Her act- ing ability won her a secure place in pictures, but she never attained the prominence of her sister, Katherine MacDonald.
BELOW
Mary Pickford's offering for 1921 was a highly suc- cessful version of Little Lord Fauntleroy, in which she played the dual role of Cedric Errol and Dear- est, his mother. The scene below shows her ( him ) with her (his) grandfather, played by Claude Gil- lingwater.
114
THE TWENTIES
I.
Harold Lloyd scored another big hit, with A Sailor- Made Man. In this scene, the girl with Lloyd is Mildred Davis, who became Mrs. Lloyd two years later.
BELOW
Fatty Arbuckle contracted with Joseph Schenck to
produce a series of two-reel comedies written and directed by the comedian, and in which he starred. These pictures were released through Paramount. Below, a scene from The Dollar a Year Man, one of Arbuckle's last pictures before the tragedy that ended his career.
CAMILLE ( 1921 )
115
Alia Nazimova had been in pictures since 1916, when Selznick introduced her in War Brides. While the theater was the only existing medium then for exploiting her extraordinarily beautiful voice, never- theless her compelling personality and eloquent pan- tomime made her unusually effective in pictures. She appears here in the death scene from Camille, made in 1921. The couple at the right are Patsy Ruth Mil- ler and Rex Cherryman.
BELOW
Harry Myers, as the Yankee, here astonishes the natives with his newly made Model T in A Con- necticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which Em- mett J. Flynn directed for Fox in 1921. Notice the license plate, bearing the year of its manufacture (a.d. 528) and its serial number.
116
THE TWENTIES
In 1921 Richard Barthelmess left the Griffith lot to work for First National. They put him in an adapta- tion of Joseph Hergesheimer's Tol'able David, which turned out to be one of the best pictures of the vear and, in the opinion of some, the best picture Barthelmess ever made.
But the picture that really made the year 1921 mem- orable to millions of movie fans was The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Richard Rowland, president of Metro Pictures, conceived the idea of
turning Blasco Ibanez' best-selling novel into a pic- ture. Against the advice of virtually the entire staff, who argued that the public didn't want war pic- tures, he bought the rights to the book and engaged June Mathis to adapt it. She turned out a script that was a masterpiece of its kind. On her advice, Row- land engaged a little-known director, Rex Ingram, and an even less-known actor, Rudolph Valentino, to star in it. The rest everyone knows. The public may or may not have wanted war pictures, but they certainly wanted Valentino. Below are Valentino and Alice Terrv in a scene from the film.
THE FOUR HORSEMEN (1921)
117
Valentino, born and educated in Italy, came to America in 1913. Working at whatever odd jobs he could find, he finally became a dancer in vaudeville and cabarets. In 1918 he reached Hollywood, where he got a chance to play extra parts and, eventually, minor leads. Miss Mathis' selection of him to play Julio in The Four Horsemen was a stroke of casting
genius. He was Julio, to an extent that even Ibanez could hardly have foreseen. In all three phases of the character— the dashing young Argentine horse- man, the tango-tea habitue, and the mature patriot —his colorful personality, grace, and forcefulness were irresistible.
US
THE TWENTIES
The picture earned Metro a fortune and made June Mathis, Valentino, and Ingram famous. Ingram had studied sculpture at the Yale School of Fine Arts, acted a bit in Vitagraph and Edison pictures, served in the war, and directed a few minor pictures for Universal. The Four Horsemen offered free rein to his instinct for mood, pace, and pictorial effective- ness, with the result that he turned out a picture that still sets a standard. The scene above shows Alice Terry (who married Ingram in 1922) and Valentino, both in riding habits; Stuart Holmes, Alan Hale, and Joseph Swickard to the right of the star. The man behind Valentino, wearing a black beard, is Jean Hersholt.
BELOW
Metro was not slow to cash in on its new find. Within the year, Valentino was on the screen again in an adaptation of another best seller, The Sheik. Concerning the literary merits of this effusion, it is kindest to be silent. Nevertheless, it gave the Ameri- can moviegoer— particularly the flapper, spinster, and housewife— what she yearned for: romance, terror, mystery, the spell of the tropics, the lure of the des- ert, and the perfect lover. There was no doubt of Valentino's draw, now. No other screen actor, before or since, ever had the peculiar intensity of adoration that he had from his fans. Agnes Ayres, seen with him here, was an object of bitter envy to a vast body of women.
NICE PEOPLE ( 1922
119
Not that Valentino was ever without rivals. Wallace Reid, for example, was long one of the idols of the silents. Here he is (left), with Bebe Daniels and Conrad Nagel, in. Nice People, which William De- Mille directed for Paramount in 1922.
BELOW
Another Reid vehicle of 1922 was The Dictator, directed by James Cruze. In case you hadn't guessed, he is the figure on the left of this ruckus.
THE TWENTIES
Clarence, an adaptation of the Booth Tarkington play, directed by William DeMille, was Reid's great- est success of the year. Agnes Ayres (left) played the governess, and May McAvoy was Cora, the flap- per.
BELOW
Mary Pickford's newest was Tess of the Storm Coun- try, an old stock-company favorite that gave Our Mary a golden opportunity to be sweet, wholesome, and optimistic.
THE IMPOSSIBLE MRS. BELLEW (1922)
121
As Lady Babbie in The Little Minister, Betty Comp- son scored a success that justified Paramount's mak- ing her a star after The Miracle Man. She was perfect as the titled young woman who preferred gadding about with gypsies to drinking tea in a castle.
Another of Betty Compson's pictures that year was To Have and to Hold, costarring Bert Lytell with her. The contrasting scenes, some at the court of James II, some in the Jamestown colony, together with Indian fights and pirate skirmishes, gave Direc- tor George Fitzmaurice an opportunity to show what he could do
BELOW
Doug Fairbanks' going to United Artists left a gap in the Paramount ranks that was filled by Thomas Meighan, whose star ascended steadily after The Miracle Man. Here he is in a scene from If You Be- lieve It, It's So, a crook comedy drama of 1922 in which Pauline Starke played opposite him.
BELOW
Gloria Swanson— with no trace of Mack Sennett left by now— had The Impossible Mrs. Bellew, a gaudy vehicle that enabled her to wear exotic clothes and consort with dukes and millionaires at a French watering place. Conrad Nagel, taking the whole thing very much to heart, is on the right.
122
THE TWENTIES
Remember that young extra in The Goat, back in 1919? Time passed, and by 1922 Ramon Samanie- gos, the extra, had become Ramon Novarro, the clashing young figure of Metro's The Prisoner of Zenda. Rex Ingram directed, with a skill and confi- dence born of his triumph with The Four Horse- men. Novarro is on the left, with Stuart Holmes on
the right. The girl is Barbara La Marr. That costume is a hobble skirt.
BELOW
Griffith had a not-too-prosperous year. His One Excit- ing Night, a mystery melodrama, fared mildly well. Audiences seemed to be growing tired of the help- less bit of innocent femininity who aroused the beast in men. Here is winsome Carol Dempster arousing.
ORPHANS OF THE STORM (1922)
123
Despite Broken Blossoms and Way Doun East, Grif- fith's productions as a whole had not been too profit- able since The Birth of a Nation. With the idea of recouping his losses with an elaborate best seller, he produced Orphans of the Storm, a screen version of The Two Orphans. The Gish sisters, Lillian and Dorothy, played the title roles.
BELOW
The cast of Orphans of the Storm was good, and the production— as the guillotine scene below illus- trates—was colorful and elaborate, but something was wrong. The picture was not a great success. The man in the straw hat on the scaffold in this produc- tion shot is Griffith.
124
THE TWENTIES
None of Nazimova's pictures ever made a gTeat deal of money. The public that means box office was not vet trained to subtle acting and adult stories. Never- theless, the general quality of her productions was 50 high that studios were glad to produce them as
prestige pictures. In 1922 she gave a striking per- formance as Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House, under the direction of her husband, Charles Bryant. Tins film was released by United Artists,
BLOOD AND SAND (1922)
125
Meanwhile Valentino scored fresh triumphs in an adaptation of another Ibaiiez novel, Blood and Sand. Again June Mathis wrote the script, but Fred Niblo directed. Nita Naldi, shown here with Valentino, played the titled Dona Sol who flatters and seduces the great matador when he is successful and leaves him as soon as his future looks precarious.
The story of Blood and Sand concerns a great Span- ish bullfighter who is killed in the arena because he overestimates his skill. Lila Lee, below, played his faithful wife. The scene shown is the closing one, in which the dying matador hears the applause for the new popular favorite who has replaced him. She tells him that the applause is for him, and he dies, believing her.
126
THE TWENTIES
Acting on the principle that there's nothing like warming over a good title, Erich von Stroheim fol- lowed his 1919 money-maker, Blind Husbands, with Foolish Wives. As before, he wrote and directed it, besides starring in it, for Universal. The public liked it. In the scene above, he is having trouble with Dale Fuller.
BELOW
Dorothy Dalton is said to have revolutionized the
vampire. Dorothv was a vamp, but there was noth- ing exotic about her. Just a good, wholesome, bad, home girl, you might say. Whatever the reason, the wickeder she got, the better the audience liked her. She began her stage career in stock and vaudeville and then went to California, where she played in a wide variety of pictures for Ince. After a while, she dropped the vamping altogether, to become a West- ern two-gun heroine. In this capacity she appears in The Crimson Cliallenge, made in 1922.
FOOLISH WIVES ( 1922)
127
Mention has been made of von Stroheim's lordly disregard of expense in his productions. Here is Exhibit A, the Monte Carlo set he used in Foolish Wives. It cost $200,000.
BELOW
John Gilbert played his first roles where so many
others did, at the Ince Studios. From Ince he went to Fox, where he was soon recognized as a coming young leading man. In 1922 Fox entrusted him with the lead in a new Monte Cristo, directed by Emmett J. Flynn. Though a success, he had yet to attain great popularity.
128
THE TWENTIES
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Ethel Clayton came to pictures with a solid stage reputation. In the movie versions of The Lion and the Mouse and The Great Divide, she established herself as one of the best emotional actresses on the screen. She appears here, with Theodore Roberts, in Exit the Vamp, made for Paramount in 1922.
The first feature-length, all-color picture to be pro- duced was The Glorious Adventure, filmed by the
Prizma process. J. Stuart Blackton shot it in Eng- land, as a starring vehicle for Lady Diana Manners (of The Miracle), the scene being laid in the time of Charles II and the Great Fire of London. Lady Diana's name, and the publicity attendant upon its making, gave it some success in England, but American audiences received it with little enthu- siasm. Its chief importance lies in the fact that it was the first of its kind and that it was one of Vic- tor McLaglen's first films.
LORNA DOONE ( 1922 )
129
The romantic costume picture rolled merrily on its way. John Bowers (kneeling) and Madge Bellamy (on the step beside him) were featured in an adaptation of Blackmore's Lorna Doone, directed by Maurice Tourneur.
BELOW
In the spring of 1922 it was obvious that tilings were
going on at the Pickford-Fairbanks lot on Santa Monica Boulevard. Hollywood had seen some colos- sal sets going up, but this was bigger, even, than Intolerance. An enormous medieval castle gradually took shape, grim with age, vine-covered, and com- plete with moat and drawbridge.
130
THE TWENTIES
What it was, of course, was the main set for Douglas Fairbanks' version of the tale of Robin Hood, the outlaw of Sherwood Forest, and his merry men. Not trusting too much to the settings, magnificent though they were, Fairbanks made Robin Hood a stirring tale of adventure and chivalry.
BELOW
Allan Dwan directed the picture, whose main story was projected against a background of the Crusades
and the struggle for power between Prince John and Richard the Lion-Hearted. One of the best performances was Wallace Reery's portrayal of Rich- ard. It was a conception too rough and forthright for some admirers of the great Plantagenet— and was probably the more correct. Up to that time, Reery had generally played villains. From Robin Hood on, his roles tended more and more to the sympathetic and humorous variety. Here he is, behind Fairbanks.
ROBIN HOOD ( 1922 )
131
Some idea of the enormous proportions of the sets may be gained from this scene inside the castle,
where Robin Hood manages to; escape from the archers of Prince John.
132
THE TWENTIES
Maid Marian, Robin's lady fair, was played by Enid Bennett. She became the wife of Fred Niblo, the director, and later retired from the screen.
ABOVE RIGHT
Constance Binney made her stage debut as a dancer in Broadway musicals. Then the films beckoned, and she played opposite John Barrymore in The Test of Honor. She attained her greatest success in A Bill of Divorcement, made in England. Here she is in Tlie Sleepwalker, a Realart production of 1922.
BELOW
In 1923 another picture star tried becoming his own producer. Charles Ray, sick of the monotonous coun- try-boy characterizations that had brought him such success and money, left the Ince Studios and sank a huge amount of money in a production of The Courtship of Miles Standish, with himself as John Alden. The picture failed, and Ray was never again able to regain his hold on the public. This repro- duction of the Mayflower will give an idea of the elaborateness of the film.
SAFETY LAST (192 3)
133
In 1923 Charles Chaplin undertook the unprece- dented step of writing, directing, and producing a picture in which he himself did not appear. This was A Woman of Paris, a film whose satire and real- ism were far removed from what the public had been led to expect of the typical Chaplin comedy. Adolphe Menjou played an urbane, cynical man of the world with a subtlety and consummate smooth- ness that carried no suggestion of the stock movie villain, while Edna Purviance created a polished demimondaine who bore no resemblance to the usual screen vamp. It was a courageous venture for its time, one that deserved success— and got it.
One of the most ambitious undertakings of Carl Laemmle's Universal Pictures, a film version of Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was lavishly produced in 1923. As Quasimodo, the hunchback, Lon Chaney further enhanced his reputation as a great character actor.
BELOW
Harold Lloyd had followed A Sailor-Made Man with another comic hit, Grandma's Boy, in 1922. Now he turned out another success, this time in seven reels, Safety Last. The picture, as you can well understand from this shot, contained hilarious and frightening situations that only Chaplin has ever equaled.
134
THE TWENTIES
Such pictures as A Woman of Paris and Nazimova's productions had shown that producers could film a serious story, with a fair chance of success. Thus it was that First National ventured to offer an adapta- tion of Eugene O'Neill's play Anna Christie, giving Blanche Sweet one of her best roles.
BELOW
Marion Davies started in the chorus, was featured in the Ziegfeld Follies, and made her screen debut in 1917. In 1923 Cosmopolitan Pictures starred her in Little Old Xetc York. In the scene below, she is the lad at the whipping post. At the left, Harrison Ford is giving Louis Wolheim his come-uppance.
Gloria Swanson, whose appetite for costumes seemed insatiable, played in Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, an adaptation of Ina Claire's successful stage vehicle of 1921. The story concerned a millionaire who- had divorced seven wives and taken an eighth. The Oriental sequences are pure movie. Huntley Gordon, above, played Bluebeard.
MERRY GO ROUND (1923)
135
Paramount very well knew the box-office value of a great name. Accordingly, in 1923 it featured the six- teen-year-old son of a famous screen star in Stephen Steps Out. Meet Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. With him is Harry Myers.
Merry Go Round started as a von Stroheim produc-
tion, but his extravagance was too much for Univer- sal, and they replaced him with Rupert Julian. The result, oddly enough, was one of the best of the von Stroheim series. The von Stroheim sequence shown here, with Sidney Bracey as the groom and Dorothy Wallace as the countess, suggests that it might have been a forerunner, God forbid, of Lady Chattcrley's Lover.
136
THE TWENTIES
By 1923 Cecil B. DeMille, fed up with directing custom-made stories to fit the talents of individual stars, decided he had had enough and proceeded to produce a super-spectacle. Using his own modifi- cation of the Griffith trick of storytelling— presenting a story of ancient times to parallel one of the present —he filmed The Ten Commandments, which accom- plished all that he hoped it would. Moses, shown here, was played by Theodore Boberts. ( The Com- mandments seem shorter, somehow, than one might think.)
BELOW
The Ten Commandments really deserved Holly-
wood's favorite adjective, colossal. The critics com- plained of its obvious and commonplace moralism, of its frequent vulgarity, and of its general ostenta- tiousness, but it certainly dragged the public to the box office. The scene of the parting of the Bed Sea was a nine days' wonder, and episodes of mass- production sin, such as this, the worship of the golden calf, thrilled the fans. DeMille had accom- plished what he had set out to do: establish his name as producer of a certain type of spectacular picture. To this day, he remains one of the few directors the public at large actually knows by name.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1923)
137
The second half of the picture, dealing with selfish- ness and greed, concerned two brothers. One, played by Rod La Rocque, is a young contractor who falls into the clutches of a— shall we say?— vampire. Here are La Rocque and Nita Naldi showing how the clutching is done.
BELOW
The other brother, played by Richard Dix, keeps to the strait and narrow path— no romping with Miss Naldi. Here are the two brothers (Dix at the right), sitting before the model of a church La Rocque is building. He uses faulty cement, and the building collapses, killing his mother. (No, the lampshade is not resting on the spires. )
138
THE TWENTIES
Critics have complained of DeMille's tampering with history and his willingness to sacrifice dramatic logic for the sake of spectacle. His fellow producers, on the other hand, have always been openly envious of his ability to get by the censors. This orgy, for exam- ple, from The Ten Commandments, is scarcely a strawberry festival. However, the producer has al- ready pointed out how revolting it all is, so why carp?
Norma Talmadge and Conway Tearle (the child is Jeanne Carpenter) appeared in a story of Catherine de' Medici and Charles IX of France, called Ashes of Vengeance. It never quite came off, and, then, Wallace Beery, in an unsympathetic role, won the acting honors.
THE GREEN GODDESS (1923)
139
George Arliss, long recognized as one of the theater's finest actors, brought his latest stage success, The 'Green Goddess, to the screen in 1923. As the wicked,
Oxford-educated raja he was superb, with lovely Alice Joyce playing opposite him.
140
THE TWENTIES
In 1923 DeMille also directed Adam's Rib, a solemn treatise on flappers past and present, for Paramount. Anna Q. Nilsson (left) and Pauline Garon were in the cast.
BELOW
Here are Elliott Dexter, Wallace Reid, Theodore Kosloff, Gloria Swanson, and DeMille (seated at table) supposedly discussing Adam's Rib.
SALOME ( 1923 )
141
Under Charles Bryant's direction, Nazimova appeared in an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Salome in 1923. It was a beautiful production; the costumes, designed to suggest Aubrey Beardsley's drawings, were the
work of Natacha Rambova (Mrs. Valentino). With all its merits, it proved a critics' picture. Widely dis- cussed, it was not widely attended.
142
THE TWENTIES
Barbara La Marr, whom you saw in The Three Mus- keteers and The Prisoner of Zenda, went back to modern clothes in The Eternal City. Directed by George Fitzmaurice, the film also featured Lionel Barrymore and Richard Bennett. Shown with Miss La Marr in this scene is Bert Lytell.
BELOW
Many motion-picture directors began as actors, but
James Kirkwood reversed the process. After a long stage career, he became a director for Biograph in 1909 (he directed many of Mary Pickfords early films, also acting in them). Eventually he turned leading man— the rough-hewn, homespun hero type. He is shown here with Elinor Fair in The Ease's Feather, produced by Metro in 1923.
OUR GANG ( 1923
143
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The Torrence brothers, David and Ernest, were born in Edinburgh. Both came to America— David, after many years on the stage, entering pictures (he played with Mary Pickford in Tess of the Storm Country); Ernest singing baritone roles in musical comedy. Ernest, too, later went to Hollywood, where he became more prominent than his brother by his performances in Tol'able David and Captain Blood. He is shown here in Nortli of '36, made in 1924.
Many a mother must have muttered curses at the name of Hal Roach, whose Our Gang comedies used to turn the younger generation into slapstick come- dians after the Saturday matinee. Here is the origi- nal gang. Mary Kornman sits on the left of the chair, Farina on the man's knee. To the right of Farina are Joe Cobb, public menace number one, Mickey Dan- iels, and Jackie Condon. The man behind them is not Will Rogers, but Robert McGowan, their all- time director.
144
THE TWENTIES
Jackie Coogan's performance in The Kid made him the most valuable child actor in the industry. He was immediately starred in a series of pictures that exploited his wistful charm and exceptional acting ability. Daddy, in which he appears above, was filmed in 1923.
ABOVE RIGHT
In 1923 a serial story, The Covered Wagon, ap- peared in The Saturday Evening Post. Paramount
bought the story, and Jesse L. Lasky, after other directors had turned down the job, assigned James Cruze to film it.
BELOW
Cruze took his company to Snake Valley, Nevada, pitched a camp of five hundred tents, recruited his extras from the inhabitants of near-by counties, and spent eight weeks shooting the location sequences here.
THE COVERED WAGON (1923)
145
The picture's success is historic. Everyone connected with it prospered. It reaffirmed Cruze's reputation. James Warren Kerrigan and Ernest Torrence gained wider popularity. Lois Wilson ( above ) , given the best part of her career, turned in a fine perform- ance. The cutter of the picture, Dorothy Arzner, is now a director. The Covered Wagon is important, not only as a magnificent picture, but also because it began a cycle of pictures, depicting the saga of American pioneer life, that has not yet ended.
BELOW
No sooner was Robin Hood safely launched than Fairbanks started construction of another, equally
monumental set on the Pickford-Fairbanks lot. This one was a small village, suggesting the Arabian Nights rather than the Middle Ages.
And the Arabian Nights it was. For the new picture, released in 1924, was The Thief of Bagdad, one of the few screen attempts at pure fantasy ever success- ful. The motion picture is so much more a realistic medium than the stage (it's the close-ups that do it) that most filmed fairy tales seem heavy and literal. Thanks to Fairbanks' taste and imagination, The Thief kept his feet off the ground.
146
THE TWENTIES
There was a flying magic carpet, and tall vases pro- duced jinn, but these improbable appurtenances were taken so matter-of-factly that the audience was charmed. The role of the Thief was, of course, ideal for Fairbanks.
It gave Fairbanks ample opportunity to exercise the particular brand of athletic charm that no other
motion-picture actor has ever quite duplicated. He made impossible acrobatic leaps from balconies and towers, raced up and down flights of stairs, and had a generally glorious time. Incidentally, The Thief of Bagdad was an early film that used original music by a serious composer. Mortimer Wilson's score was excellent, and excerpts from it are still played.
THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1924)
147
The tale of the princess and the thief was played against a series of fantastic Oriental settings, de- signed by William Cameron Menzies, that were a triumph of the scenic designer's art. Above is Julanne Johnston as the princess. Miss Johnston was a Fair- banks discovery, having first attracted his attention as a dancer in the prologue to Robin Hood.
ABOVE RIGHT
Another acrobatic actor, in a somewhat different field, was Buster Keaton. In fact, he came from a family of acrobats and started bis career in vaude- ville, traveling in their act. On the screen he was long
a favorite, playing dead-pan comic roles in his own two-reelers. He and Joseph Schenck, his producer, eventually became brothers-in-law, for Schenck mar- ried Norma Talmadge and Buster married her sister Natalie. He is shown here in one of his most suc- cessful pictures, The Navigator, made in 1924.
BELOW
William S. Hart, meanwhile, entered upon his tenth year as a favorite player in Westerns. Here he is in Singer Jim McKee, a 1924 horse opera. The girl at the left is Mary Holden; at the right is none other than our former favorite Sennett bathing girl, Phyllis Haver.
148
THE TWENTIES
Hoot Gibson, another idol of the Saturday-after- school public, came to pictures from the circus. He is seen here, with a group of classmates, in Taming the West (1925).
BELOW
Born in Poland, Pola Negri went on the stage at
eighteen, then became a ballet dancer, then a violin- ist. She went into pictures in Germany, where Ernst Lubitsch made her a star. Her performance in Pas- sion, with Emil Tannings, attracted such wide notice in this country that her importation to Hollywood became inevitable. She appears here in Shadows of Paris, directed for Paramount by Herbert Brenon.
MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE (1924
149
Paramount had another female star in Estelle Taylor ( she later married Jack Dempsey ) . Her scene above, with Thomas Meighan, is from The Alaskan.
ABOVE RIGHT
Here's Miss Taylor again, in Tiger Love. The lucky man is Antonio Moreno.
BELOW
Valentino chose for his 1924 vehicle Booth Tarking- ton's Monsieur Beaucaire. His performance as the nobleman-hairdresser may have lacked something of the animal vitality of The Four Horsemen and Blood and Sand, but he never looked more beautiful. Neither, for that matter, did Doris Kenyon.
150
THE TWENTIES
Bebe Daniels, shown here with him, played the young noblewoman whose love cannot weather the apparent discovery that he is only a barber in dis- guise.
The ballroom scene at Bath, from Monsieur Beau- caire. It would be interesting to know how they managed that indirect lighting over the doors in the eighteenth century.
AMERICA ( 1924)
151
To millions of women, Valentino was the personifi- cation of romance. His studio mail was enormous, and from women in all strata of society. The young men sneered, but imitated his haircut and his man- nerisms. After all, fifty million women couldn't be entirely wrong.
BELOW
Griffith made two pictures in 1924. One was Isn't Life Wonderful, in which Neil Hamilton and Carol Dempster appeared. It was a sensitive story of
life in postwar Germany, but even six years after the armistice the public wasn't ready to view German troubles with a sympathetic eye.
ABOVE RIGHT
Griffith's other picture was America, with a story set in Revolutionary times. Lionel Barrymore played the role of the notorious Walter Butler, the British cap- tain who instigated the Indian massacres in upper New York.
152
THE TWENTIES
America was only moderately successful, and people began to say that Griffith was losing his grip. Just the same, as this shot indicates, he had not lost his particular genius for dramatic landscape scenes.
Gertrude Olmsted is now the wife of Robert Leonard, the director. In 1924 she was playing leads. She is teamed here with Wesley Barry in George Wash- ington, Jr.
HE WHO GETS SLAPPED (1924)
153
Norma Shearer and John Gilbert made a glamorous pair in the film version of He Who Gets Slapped, produced by the young firm of Metro-Goldwyn. Victor Seastrom directed, and Lon Chaney played the title role.
DeMille directed an elaborately cast flicker entitled Triumph, which employed the familiar DeMille de- vice of putting older cut-backs into a modern story. Rod La Rocque and Leatrice Joy, for instance, did a turn as Romeo and Juliet.
154
THE TWENTIES
Constance was the comedienne of the three Tal- madge sisters and was generally at her best in situa- tions involving suitor or husband trouble. She had it in The Goldfish, in which you see her with Zasu Pitts.
BELOW
Miss Pitts has always had a touch of the Chaplin genius for combining comedy with pathos. In Greed,
which von Stroheim produced for Metro-Goldwyn in 1924, she had little of the former. The picture, deal- ing with the lust for money and the destruction it causes, had considerable grim power and was one of von Stroheim's best. A von Stroheim touch was to color metallic objects a bright gold— including the large gold tooth at the left— to symbolize the theme.
THE SEA HAWK ( 1924 )
155
Milton Sills took his A.B. at the University of Chi- cago, went on the stage, and finally entered pictures, eventually playing leads with such stars as Clara Kimball Young, Geraldine Farrar, and Irene Castle. He is shown here, with Enid Bennett and Lloyd Hughes, in The Sea Hawk.
Mary Pickford tackled another grown-up role in Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall, in 1924. With her in this scene is Anders Randolf. It was a good, color- ful production with lavish sets, but the public didn't want their Mary to grow up. After Dorotluj she re- verted to little-girl roles, and everybody was happy.
156
THE TWENTIES
Then there was the boy who never grew up. He came to the screen in 1924, when Herbert Brenon directed Peter Pan lor Paramount, casting Betty Bronson (above) in the role made famous by Maude Adams. The picture also served to launch Mary Brian and to boost Esther Ralston on their careers.
BELOW
The pictures were growing up a bit, no doubt of it. They even ventured to kid themselves by producing Harry Leon Wilson's Merton of the Movies, with Viola Dana as the flapper and Glenn Hunter, who had created the role on die stage, as Merton.
THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE (1924)
157
The jazz era was well under way, and pictures were rampant with flappers, lounge lizards, and neglectful parents. Universal's current contribution was The Mad Whirl, with Jack Mulhall and May McAvoy helping with the whirling.
ABOVE RIGHT
This is a scene from a Metro production of 1924,
Thy Name Is Woman, with Ramon Novarro and Barbara La Marr.
BELOW
May McAvoy was so good an actress that she man- aged to escape being typed. From playing flappers she passed to the touching female lead in The En- chanted Cottage, which First National produced with Richard Barthelmess in 1924.
158
THE TWENTIES
The Covered Wagons success showed that there was money in films about American pioneer days, and the producers quickly took the hint. Another of these pageant films was The Iron Horse, produced by Fox and directed by John Ford in 1924.
BELOW
Josef von Sternberg, later Marlene Dietrich's direc-
tor, began his Hollywood career with a water-front story that he produced independently and released through United Artists in 1925. It was called The Salvation Hunters and established him as a young producer worth watching. The figure on the left in this scene is George K. Arthur, and the girl in the doorway is Georgia Hale.
BEAU BRUMMEL (1924)
159
This still from The Dressmaker from Paris is notable in that it shows an actress who had a great many fans in 1924 and another who had many fans ten years later. Leatrice Joy is on the left; on the right, Sally Rand.
BELOW
By the middle twenties, Justice, The Living Corpse,
The Jest, Richard III, Hamlet, and other plays had definitely established John Barrymore not only as one of the great actors of his day, but also as one of the great box-office attractions. Hollywood nat- urally grabbed him. Here he is (staring at his nails) in Beau Brummel, made by Warner Brothers in 1924.
160
THE TWENTIES
The year 1925 saw the emergence of a number of stars. Two of them were Norma Shearer and Wil- liam Haines. Miss Shearer had played opposite John Gilbert in He Who Gets Slapped, but it was the star of the picture, Lon Chaney, and Gilbert who got most of tire attention. Now you see her teamed with Haines as the young love interest in another Lon Chaney starring vehicle, The Tower of Lies (1925).
The picture was mostly Chaney, of course, but the two youngsters managed to show their abilities, too.
BELOW
Norma Shearer took another step up the ladder in a picture called Waking up the Town. Jack Pickford, Marv's brother, directed it for United Artists and also played in it opposite Miss Shearer.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925)
161
Probably the best-remembered horror picture of the twenties was The Phantom of the Opera. None who saw it could ever forget Lon Chanev's horrific make- up or the scene where the huge opera-house chande- lier came crashing down on the heads of the audience. The Phantom was filmed in 1925 by Universal. It
has recently been remade by the same studio.
BELOW
The love department of the picture was taken care of by Norman Kerry and Mary Philbin, seen here. Miss Philbin was one of von Stroheim's discoveries.
162
THE TWENTIES
Shortly after Cone With the Wind had opened, an interviewer asked Clark Gable, "How does it feel to be tlie screen's greatest lover?" To which the con- servative Mr. Gable replied: "It's a living." Here he is in 1925, starting in to make that living. At the right, just behind the bush, is Stuart Holmes, one of the principals in Strongheart. The extra in the din- ner coat, second from left, is Gable.
BELOW
Sally, Irene, and Mary, made in 1925, brought three girls into the limelight. On the right is Sally O'Neill, who became a star of the silents. The other two, Constance Bennett ( left ) and Joan Crawford, rose more slowly but stayed longer, for they had their greatest successes after talking pictures came in.
THE UNHOLY THREE (1925)
163
A study of our hero when he was just another dress extra.
ABOVE RIGHT
Chaney's makeup in The Unholy Three differed somewhat from that in The Phantom. Here, from left to right, we have Victor McLaglen, Harry Earles, and— you guessed it— Lon Chaney.
BELOW
Another who was playing extra and bit parts was Janet Gaynor. She is shown here, attending that famous prep school for movie actors, the Hal Roach Studios. Janet is the one in the center, with her finger to her cheek. At the left, superimposed on this still, is Maestro Roach himself.
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164
THE TWENTIES
Up to 1925 Colleen Moore had been associated mainly with light-comedy parts. But the screen adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel, So Big, gave her her chance. As the schoolteacher who marries a farm boy and then works in the field to support her child, Miss Moore ( at the right, in the above still ) revealed herself an uncommonly gifted young emotional actress. Wallace Beery and Gladys Brockwell played the farmer and his wife at whose house the school- teacher stayed.
BELOW
Beery gave another fine performance that year in a film version of Conan Dovle's The Lost World. In this scene, Lloyd Hughes and Bessie Love are with him. The film, directed by Harry Hoyt, showed a group of explorers discovering a lost world of saurians. It used rubber models and double exposures effec- tively.
THE VANISHING AMERICAN (1925)
165
In 1925 Warner Brothers brought Oscar Wilde's Lady Windemere's Fan to the screen, featuring Irene Rich, May McAvoy, Bert Lytell, and Ronald Colman (the last three are shown here). Colman, after serv- ing with the original BEF from 1914 until the end of the war, came to America in 1920. He made his screen debut in The White Sister, starring Lillian Gish, in 1923. A polished actor, he was already a featured player, but was only at die beginning of one
of the longest and most consistently successful careers in the history of motion pictures.
BELOW
Richard Dix gave up romantic leads long enough to demonstrate his gifts as a character actor by playing the Indian in The Vanishing American. The picture version of Zane Grey's novel was made on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Teamed with Dix were Lois Wilson and Noah Beery.
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166
THE TWENTIES
Charles Rav's disastrous Miles Standish had sent him back to homespun parts. We see him here ( at the left ) in a scene from Percy, directed by R. William Neill and supervised by Thomas Ince for Pathe in 1925. Notice the two-piece orchestra in the fore- ground. No self-respecting screen star could get into the proper mood without music, in those days.
The middle and late twenties saw the advent of the documentary film, which featured scenic effects and mass action rather than "plot" story or star perform- ances. Here is a shot from one of the first— and still one of the finest— Grass, directed by Merian C. Cooper in 1925. The amazing photography was the work of Ernest R. Schoedsack.
THE EAGLE (192 5)
167
Gloria Swanson had gone to Paris to make Madame Suns-Gene. She returned in 1925, having finished the picture and married the Marquis de la Falaise in the bargain, and made an entry into Hollywood that was a production in itself. Accompanied by the Mayor of Los Angeles, a motorcycle escort, swarms of movie fans, and a couple of brass bands, she swept triumphantly from the station to the Para- mount lot, where the studio employees, who had been waiting for two hours, pelted her with the wilted flowers that some mysterious agency had thrust into their hands. This was all part of a sinister plot on behalf of Jesse Lasky and Adolph Zukor to induce her to sign a contract calling for $17,500 weekly for seven years. You'd think almost anyone would fall for a plot like that, but not Gloria. She
had lots of money, a terrific following, and a new husband, and wanted to be free to enjoy all three. So she turned down the Paramount contract. Later she joined the reorganized United Artists, to produce her own pictures. Eventually, she lost all three. In this picture, Miss Swanson is standing, while in the back seat of the car is the chronicler of Hollywood, Louella Parsons. The man with the hat brim pulled down over his eyes is the Marquis.
BELOW
vehicle \
Valentino's current vehicle was a costume piece called The Eagle. In this scene, the lady casting a speculative eye over the young officer is Catherine the Great, as portrayed by Louise Dresser.
168
THE TWENTIES
Retreating strategically from such parts as Dorothy Vernon, Mary Pickford went back to an adolescent role in Little Annie Rooncy, which, judging from this still, was hardly a problem play. The fans adored it. The Pickford-Fairbanks couple did not rely solely on their personal popularity, but, in addition, gave the public productions that were the last word in technical excellence.
Chaplin's contribution to the year was one of his best pictures— to many people, the best— The Gold Rush. There are some, too, who find a parallel be- tween the story of the film and Chaplin's own rags- to-riches career. Be that as it may, the picture had many a scene over which veteran Chaplin fans still chuckle fondly— the dinner of boot soles and shoe laces, for example. Another is the dance-hall scene, shown here. The girl is Georgia Hale.
THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
169
Another Gold Rush scene, with Charlie and Mack Swain. Mack was one of the original Keystone Cops (see page 39). The Gold Rush, recently reissued with a sound track and music and commentary by Chaplin, did tremendous business.
ABOVE RIGHT
Dorothy Mackaill, English-bom, started as a chorus girl in the London Hippodrome, came to America,
and became a featured member of the Ziegfeld Fol- lies. Then Hollywood. She is seen here, with Jack Mulhall, in Joanna, made by First National in 1925.
BELOW
Harold Lloyd, too, came dirough with one of his best, The Freshman. If it wasn't quite up to Safety Last, it couldn't have been more than four laughs below it.
170
THE TWENTIES
When a tantasy is produced on tue stage, the me- chanical limitations of the theater force the producer not only to use his own imagination, but also to put the imagination of the audience to work. On the screen, there are practically no mechanical limitations; al- most anything the producer can imagine can be trans- formed into reality. As a result, picture audiences usually take everything literally— and are usually dis- satisfied. Perhaps that is why the screen version of Beggar on Horseback, directed by James Cruze— he of The Covered Wagon— did not possess the charm and persuasiveness of Winthrop Ames' production of
tne original play. In the trial scene shown here, Ed- ward Everett Horton, the featured player, is the one in the dressing gown.
BELOW
Stella Dallas, like Madame X, used to be sure-fire for any actress capable of playing a good, rousing, self-sacricing mother role. Belle Bennett played it to the hilt in a Stella Dallas production that Henry King directed for United Artists in 1925. She had, also, beautiful support from Ronald Colman and Lois Moran.
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THE BIG PARADE (1925)
171
Much of Pola Negri's success in American pictures is undoubtedly due to the shrewd direction of Ernst Lubitsch, who made the most of her exotic, Conti- nental personality. In 1925 she appeared in AWoman of the World, seen here.
fice. Mae Murray, she of the bee-stung lip, was Sonia, while Prince Danilo was played by John Gilbert— who thereby took another step to his ultimate posi- tion as the screen's great lover. In the group shown here, Roy d'Arcy is the one on the left.
BELOW
Franz Lehar's operetta, The Merry Widow, first came to the screen in 1925 through Erich von Stro- heim's agencies. He directed a screen version of The Merry Widow that brought standees to the box of-
ABOVE RIGHT
Then, in that same year, Gilbert temporarily aban- doned the glamour-boy roles and gave the perform- ance for which he is still remembered, as Jim Apper- son in The Big Parade.
172
THE TWENTIES
It took seven years for the public to cool off suffi- ciently to stand a war picture that was not wholly complimentary to the war. Then, thanks to an adult and moving script by Laurence Stallings, inspired direction by King Vidor, beautiful performances by the principals, and a stunning production bv M-G-M, The Big Parade took the country by storm. It ran for ninety-six weeks in New York alone. In this shot, the girl in the foreground is Renee Adoree as Meli- sande, next to her is Gilbert and, next to him, Karl Dane as Slim.
Adoree and Gilbert were a perfect pair, both acting with a touching sincerity that was irresistible. When the film reached England, there was a great outcry, in certain quarters, to the effect that since only American soldiers appeared in it, the whole thing was propaganda to show that America had won the war. The English public, however, realized that these were soldiers, regardless of what army they ap- peared in. As a result. The Big Parade ran longer in London than most American pictures ever did.
BEAU GESTE ( 1926)
173
The increasing percentage of above-the-average pro- ductions showed that the films were slowly growing up. The year 1926 saw one of the best silent pictures ever made, Beau Geste. Produced by William Le Baron and magnificently directed by Herbert Brenon, the picture told the exciting and moving tale of three brothers in the Foreign Legion. In this scene are the oldest and youngest brothers, played by Bonald Colman (left) and Ralph Forbes.
BELOW
The cast was superb. Noah Beery, Neil Hamilton,
Colman, and Forbes (right to left in order named) gave fine performances. William Powell (extreme left), a virtual unknown, got off to a flying start in his career by playing a bit part for all it was worth.
ABOVE RIGHT
Temporarily leaving the dramatic roles she custom- arily played, Norma Talmadge emerged as a come- dienne in Kiki, an adaptation of Belasco's play about a street waif and a dramatic producer. Ronald Col- man played opposite her.
174
THE TWENTIES
In an endeavor to repeat the success of Peter Pan, Herbert Benon directed Betty Bronson in another Barrie adaptation, A Kiss for Cinderella. This time the Barrie whimsicality didn't stand up under the solid realism of Hollywood.
BELOW
One of the auspicious screen debuts of 1926 was that of Eddie Cantor. He went to Hollywood that year to make the film version of his successful stage musical, Kid Boots. The girl with him is Clara Bow.
IRENE ( 1926 )
175
Harry Langdon was of the dead-pan, scarecrow school of which Chaplin was the founder— though, to his credit, it must be said that he made no attempt to copy literally the clothes and make-up of Charlie the Great. He developed a large following in a series of two-reelers, then graduated to full-length comedies, of which this, The Strong Man, was one. It was di- rected in 1926 by Frank Capra. Langdon was a grand zany, but for some reason could not sustain a feature-length comedy.
BELOW
There was a time when Colleen Moore was one of the highest paid stars in pictures, and she is still re- membered, although she retired some years ago. She got her start with the old Triangle Company, having been one of Griffith's discoveries, and was first starred as the flapper in Flaming Youth. She is shown here, with Kate Price, in Irene, a 1926 adaptation of the musical comedy.
176
THE TWENTIES
Yes, it's Gary Cooper, and this is how he looked in the first picture in which he played a leading role, The Winning of Barbara Worth, Henry King di-
rected the film for Samuel Goldwyn in 1926. Cooper made an immediate hit with the female fans, but as he wasn't a star yet, he had to give up the gal.
MISS NOBODY ( 1926)
177
"I'll have to do some fast climbing to get away from that brakeman" was the caption for this shot. The boy is Anna Q. Nilsson in First National's produc- tion of Miss Nobody.
Alma Rubens first attracted attention in The Half- Breed, with Douglas Fairbanks. Then she appeared to advantage in Humoresque. This is a scene from
Marriage License, directed by Frank Borzage.
178
THE TWENTIES
They used to call Barbara La Marr "the girl who is too beautiful." In 1926 she starred for First National in The Girl from Montmartre, with Robert Ellis playing opposite her. It was her last picture. She died in January of that year, two months before the picture was released.
ABOVE RIGHT
In that same year, too, Valentino ended a career that had lasted only six years. His last picture was The Son of the Sheik, an attempt— and not a very happy one— to recapture the glamour of his first starring film. Vilma Banky, the new Hungarian find, was his leading lady, but the picture had a prologue featur- ing Agnes Ayres, the female lead of the old Sheik. A few weeks after the picture was released, Valen- tino died, following an emergency operation. His funeral services in New York caused a riot; Camp-
bell's funeral parlor, where his body lay, was nearly wrecked by hysterical fans. Thousands of weeping women gathered at way stations across the country to watch the funeral train on its way to Los Angeles.
BELOW LEFT
Today, in De Longpre Park in Hollywood stands the only tangible evidence that Valentino existed, this bronze monument to his memory, paid for by small contributions from his sorrowing fans.
BELOW RIGHT
Another Latin star was the one-time extra, Ramon Novarro, whom you saw in The Prisoner of Zcnda, and whose star reached its zenith in M-G-M's pro- duction of Ben Hur. He is shown here, in the title role, being seized by the Roman guards.
BEN HUR ( 1926)
179
Ben Hur had a long and expensive history. Goldwyn bought the picture rights in 1922. June Mathis was the scenarist and supervisor; Charles Brabin was di- rector; and George Walsh was to play the leading role. The three were sent to Italy to start produc- tion. However, the merger of Metro, Goldwyn, and Mayer in 1924 necessitated a cancellation of the original plans. In place of the original three, M-G-M sent over Carey Wilson and Bess Meredyth, scenarists and supervisors; Fred Niblo, director; and Ramon Novarro. Altogether the finished picture represented
three years' work, in Italy and Hollywood, and an expenditure of over two million dollars. Here is the start of the famous chariot race. This scene alone, to build and shoot, cost a quarter of a million dollars.
BELOW
The cast included, besides Novarro, May McAvoy, Kathleen Key, Carmel Myers, and Betty Bronson. Francis X. Bushman, continuing as a villain, acted the role of Messala. This is the scene in the race where Messala, attempting to foul Ben Hur, lashes him with his whip.
180
THE TWENTIES
Valentino was not the only Latin-type lover to be- come a favorite, although he led the field. One of the more fascinating villains of the period was Ri- cardo Cortez, shown here in a scene from a pirate picture, Eagle of the Sea, made by Paramount in 1926. Costarred with him was Florence Vidor, whose serene beauty made her a long-time favorite. She retired from films to become Mrs. Jascha Heifetz.
Clara Bow entered the films by the beauty-contest route and first attracted attention in Down to the Sea in Ships. But not until Elinor Glyn made her the "it" girl did her stock really go up. After that there was no stopping her until her voluntary retirement. She is here giving a demonstration of "it"— and a pretty convincing one, too— in Mantrap, a Paramount production of 1926— a year before she actually be- came the "it" girl.
THE SEA BEAST ( 1926)
181
Dolores Costello was John Barrymore's leading ladv in several of his pictures. Their scene here is from
The Sea Beast, filmed r>v Warner Brothers. Thev were married in 1928.
182
THE TWENTIES
In 1923 Laurence Stallings and Maxwell Anderson, respectively a literary columnist and an editorial writer on the old New York World, wrote a bawdy, tragic, hilarious war play that they planned to call None But the Brave, with the subtitle, "A Comedy with a Few Deaths." They sold it to Arthur Hopkins, who produced it in 1924 under the name What Price Glorij? Hollywood, however, would have none of it, thinking that the public didn't want war pictures. It took The Big Parade, by the same Stallings, to awaken Hollywood to the fact that there might be gold in What Price Glorij?
BELOW
And there was. Veteran playgoers insist that no one could ever equal the unforgettable performances of
■
Louis Wolheim and William Boyd as Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt in the stage version. Just the same, Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe ( shown in the preceding still ) were enormously satisfying. In this scene we have the heroine of the story, Char- maine, as played by Dolores Del Rio. The film was directed by Raoul Walsh and produced by Fox.
ABOVE RIGHT
Claire Windsor, like Clara Bow, was a beauty-contest winner who really made good in pictures. After play- ing extra parts, she started under Lois Weber's di- rection and eventually became a leading lady. Con- rad Nagel and Miss Windsor were teamed in Dance Madness, a scene from which is above.
THE BLACK PIRATE (1926)
183
Since The Glorious Adventure (see page 128) there had been various sporadic attempts to make pictures in color. None of them turned out well until Douglas Fairbanks made The Black Pirate, in 1926, in tech- nicolor. It was not perfect, but it was away ahead of its predecessors. Aside from the color, it was a typi- cal Fairbanks vehicle, full of love, adventure, and "How's he going to get out of it?" situations— of which this one is a good example.
In 1926 M-G-M filmed Brown of Harvard, featuring Jack Pickford. Also in the cast was a youngster named William Haines. In the role of a flip, wisecracking collegian, he ran away with the picture so completely that he was immediately assigned to a series of juvenile leads. He continued to play these roles, with great success, until his retirement to become an equally successful interior decorator. In this scene Haines is in the fur coat. The man in bed is Jack Pickford. Between them is Mary Brian.
184
THE TWENTIES
Robert Flaherty induced Paramount to produce a picture he had shot in the South Sea islands, Moana of the South Sens. It had virtually no plot, but thanks to its exotic atmosphere and beautiful photog- raphy was an artistic success.
ABOVE RICHT
Moana would be called a documentary film today. It celebrated the joys of the simple, outdoor life of primitive people. Among its attractions were shots of several authentic native dances, such as this.
BELOW LEFT
Bessie Love had an extraordinarily varied career. Starting with Griffith after graduation from high school, she played everything from home girls to dance-hall vamps. She had something of the little-
girl quality of Mary Piekford, yet could play the dope- crazed mother of Human Wreckage. She had some- thing, too, of the wistful charm of Lillian Gish, yet could be a hoofer in The Broadway Melody. In 1926 she created one of her most famous roles, shown here, that of Lovey Mary, in the picture of the same name.
BELOW RIGHT
Although Farrar's Carmen had been a pronounced success, the movies had always rather shied away from stories used as grand opera. However, Henry King finally directed a version of Murger's Scenes de la vie de Boheme, which Puccini had turned into an opera. Lillian Gish played Mimi; her fragile beautv was a perfect embodiment of the doomed lit- tle grisette. John Gilbert was an equally happy choice as the poet, Rodolphe, in La Boheme.
HOTEL IMPERIAL (1926)
185
Mauritz Stiller was invited to come to Hollywood as a director because of a film he had made in Sweden in 1923, called The Story of Gosta Berling. In the picture was a young actress protegee of his, and when he came to America he brought her along, with the understanding that she was to have a contract, She got the contract, but the studios paid no atten- tion to her for a while. She was Greta Garbo. In the photograph above, she appears with Lars Hanson in
a scene from the Swedish film. Stiller was also in- strumental in bringing Hanson to America, where he played leading roles, as in The Scarlet Letter.
BELOW
Stiller never quite succeeded in hitting the pace of the Hollywood mills. One of his most nearly success- ful pictures was Hotel Imperial, made in 1926. In this scene we see Pola Negri and Max Davidson.
186
THE TWENTIES
In 1926 Lillian Gish, directed by Victor Seastrom, starred in The Scarlet Letter for Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer. In this picture of the company on location, Seastrom is seated on the ground beside Miss Gish. To the right, in the black Puritan costume, is her leading man, Lars Hanson. Notice the violin-melo- deon-cello ensemble at the left. Even in the open
spaces of the Hollywood hills, music had to provide atmosphere.
BELOW
The climactic pillory scene of The Scarlet Letter, in which Lars Hanson, as the Reverend Dimmesdale, denounces himself as the father of Hester Prynne's child.
IT ( 1927)
187
It, according to a motion-picture trade journal, was "wholly lacking in literary excellences, while im- plausible." What it didn't lack was sex appeal, meaning Clara Bow, the girl from Brooklyn who
typified the twenties. The story was written for Para- mount by Elinor Glyn, who discovered the possibil- ities of "it," and the film was released in 1927.
188
THE TWENTIES
For 1927, Douglas Fairbanks shifted the scene of his annual chronicle of derring-do to South America, producing The Gaucho. It was a good vehicle, but no more than that. His leading lady was Eve South- ern—no newcomer, for she had mad'? her -creen de- but in Intolerance.
ABOVE RIGHT
Mary Pickford offered My Best Girl, based on Kath- leen Morris' version of King Cophetua and the beg- gar maid— in this case, the girl who worked in the five-and-ten and fell in love with the manager's son. Nobody concerned took the story too seriously, so Miss Pickford had a chance to employ her by no means inconsiderable comic gifts. In this scene, Lu- cien Littlefield, on the left, is her father, and Charles "Buddy" Rogers her new husband. It might be re-
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marked, in passing, that just ten years after this picture, Miss Pickford became Mrs. Buddy Rogers.
BELOW LEFT
Buster Keaton also made a war picture, a little item ■ called The General, which he released through United Artists. The point of view, the setting, and the period were somewhat different from Wings, as a glance at the accompanying photograph will reveal. The lighted fuse on the mortar should not be overlooked.
BELOW BIGHT
This same Buddy Rogers also appeared as the hero of Wings-, which was to the air force approximately what The Big Parade had been to the infantry. He is shown here, taking refuge in a shell hole after es- caping from his cracked-up plane.
WINGS ( 1927 )
189
The story of Wings concerned the part played by our air force during the battle of the Saint-Mihiel salient. William A. Wellman, who directed the pic- ture, was highly praised for his handling of the story and particularly for his masterly treatment of the fly- ing sequences. This was hardly surprising, as Well- man had been an aviator during the war. The cast of Wings also included Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, and Richard Aden.
BELOW
Douglas MacLean, after establishing himself with the public in Twenty-three and a Half Hours' Leave, in 1919, followed a career of ups and downs, culminat- ing in Going Up, which he backed himself. The pic- ture placed him near the front rank of the screen's comedians. In 1927 he entertained with Soft Cush- ions, ably abetted by Sue Carol. MacLean, by the way, is now a Hollywood producer.
190
THE TWENTIES
Nor were the other comedians idle. Eddie Cantor, for instance, followed his success in Kid Boots with
a not too severely realistic picture of the life of a postman, Special Delivery.
THE STUDENT PRINCE (1927)
191
Ever since Richard Mansfield produced Old Heidel- berg, early in the century, the tale of the royal stu- dent who falls in love with a serving maid and has to leave her to take his place on the throne has been a favorite with playgoers. When Dorothy Donnelly and Sigmund Romberg revamped it into an operetta, The Student Prince, its transference to the screen was only a matter of time. M-G-M filmed it (the operetta version) in 1927, costarring Norma Shearer
and Ramon Novarro, with Ernst Lubitsch as director.
BELOW
Corinne Griffith, "the orchidaceous star," as the press department liked to call her, was undoubtedly one of the loveliest girls ever to appear on the screen. She is shown here in a scene from Lady in Ermine. With her is the great lover of the 'teens, Francis X. Bush- man, in the role of, believe it or not, the villain.
192
THE TWENTIES
If one were to ask, "Who was the most beautiful woman ever seen on the screen?" there would be a chorus of answers, with few of them agreeing. One thing is certain: the lovely Hungarian, Vilma Banky, would be one of the selections. This beautifully com- posed scene is from Night of Love, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by George Fitzmauricc, and costarring Miss Banky and Ronald Colman.
BELOW
In the summer of 1927 Miss Banky married Rod La Rocque. At the time, she was Goldwyn's favorite
star, and to celebrate the occasion he gave her a wedding that is still a Hollywood legend. Practically every screen luminary in Hollywood attended, to- gether, needless to say, with a horde of rabid fans who literally tore the bride's gown to pieces. This picture of the newlyweds and their ushers will give you a chance to see what some famous screen per- sonalities looked like in civilian clothes. Left to right: Harold Lloyd, Ronald Colman, Donald Crisp, Sam- uel Goldwyn, Miss Banky, Rod La Rocque, Cecil B. DeMille, Victor Varconi, George Fitzmaurice, and Jack Holt.
UNDERWORLD ( 1927 )
193
Give Brook had been on the stage and screen in England before going to Hollywood, to become a favorite leading man. He and Florence Vidor were a popular pair on the Paramount lot and were co- starred. They are shown here in a scene from Afraid to Love, made in 1927.
ABOVE RIGHT
Brook appeared with Evelyn Brent in Underworld, a crook melodrama that Ben Hecht wrote for Para- mount in 1927. Miss Brent, seen here, began as an extra in 1914, then went to England and became a star. A good actress, she had her greatest success in talking pictures.
BELOW LEFT
Everything about Underworld was successful. Hecht's script was good, and Brook and Miss Brent were widely praised. The picture also made a featured player of George Bancroft (seen here) and added greatly to Josef von Sternberg's rapidly growing repu- tation as a director.
BELOW RIGHT
"The world's greatest actor as the greatest lover of all ages" is the way the press department diffidently described it. In other words, John— pardon— Mr. (as the studio always billed him) John Barrymore made Don Juan in 1926.
194
THE TWENTIES
A fine motion picture was King Vidor's The Crowd, distributed by M-G-M in 1928. The two protagonists of this simple, moving tale were Eleanor Boardman and James Murray, shown above.
BELOW
Of the productions that Mauritz Stiller directed in this countrv, Barbed Wire was the one most nearly a hit. The story concerned a French girl in the World War in love with a German prisoner. The war-engendered
hate of the townspeople is about to wreck their lives when her blinded brother returns to preach peace and tolerance. Clive Brook played the German pris- oner. In this scene we see Pola Negri as the French girl, Einar Hanson as her brother, and Claude Gil- lingwater as her father. The picture had tragic reper- cussions. Shortly before the picture was released, Hanson was killed in an automobile accident; and Stiller died a vear later.
FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1927)
195
John Gilbert was by now one of the most sought- after leading men in pictures. To play opposite him was practically star insurance for any girl. In Twelve Miles Out, he was teamed with young Joan Craw- ford. You'd hardly know our Joan, would you?
BELOW
But Gilbert was headed for a partnership that was to last for years and to become one of the most famous in the annals of the screen. Greta Garbo, Stiller's protegee, after waiting around for a while, was at last assigned to play opposite Ricardo Cortez in a screen version of ibanez' The Torrent (1926). Al-
most overnight she took her place as one of the most potent personalities in the history of pictures— a posi- tion that she still retains, by the way. Next she played with Antonio Moreno and Lionel Barrymore in The Temptress ( 1926). She found her ideal lead- ing man, however, when she appeared with John Gilbert, in 1927, in Flesh and the Devil, a scene from which. is shown here. The picture established them as the great lovers on the screen. One reason for Garbo's enduring popularity is undoubtedly that women are, if possible, even more fascinated by her than are men. Matinees mean box office.
196
THE TWENTIES
Janet Gaynor had been coming along steadily and had played a lead in The Johnstown Flood, in 1926. She got her great chance the following year, when she was teamed with Charles Farrell in an adapta- tion of Austin Strong's play about a Paris waif and
her sweetheart who worked in the sewers. Thanks to Frank Borzage's adroit direction and the appealing performances of the two principals, Seventh Heaven became the picture of the year. The two young stars were together in several subsequent films.
LOVE ( 1927)
197
That same year, Garbo and Gilbert appeared in a screen version of Tolstov's Anna Karenina, coyly disguised under the title Love.
Another notable picture in which Janet Gaynor ap- peared in 1927 was Sunrise, adapted from Hermann
Sudermann's A Trip to Tilsit. F. W. Murnau's excel- lent direction, the acting of Miss Gaynor and George O'Brien, and the beautiful lighting and photography resulted in an impressive film. This scene shows O'Brien, as the husband, setting out on the boat ride during which he intends to drown his wife.
198
THE TWENTIES
The chiller, The Cat and the Canary, was filmed by Universal in 1927, and directed by Paul Leni. In the scene above are Flora Finch, Creighton Hale, Forrest Stanley, Laura La Plante, and Arthur Carewe.
One of the year's most ambitious and daring pro- ductions was The King of Kings, the story of the life of Christ. Cecil B. DeMille produced and directed it, and he handled an extraordinarily difficult sub- ject with taste and reverence.
THE WAY OF ALL FLESH (1927)
199
To H. B. Warner must go much credit for the suc- cess of the picture. His performance in the role of Christ, far from giving offense, was a triumph of sensitiveness and beauty.
BELOW
It is not generally known that Emil Jannings, her- alded in his day as "the greatest actor in the world" (and he was a superb one) was born in New York. However, he was taken to Germany when he was
still a baby. He began his stage career in repertory companies and eventually in Max Reinhardt's com- pany. Going into films, he attained world-wide popu- larity by his performances in Du Barnj (Passion), The Last Laugh, and Variety. Paramount brought him back to this country and starred him in a num- ber of pictures, the first of which was The Way of All Flesh, a story of a bank cashier who was a de- voted father and good husband, but who went "the wav of all flesh" and ended as a derelict.
4. Comes the Revolution
It was in the late summer that the blow fell. A new contraption had been peddled around the studios, a device for producing pictures that talked, by means of a wax recording of the actors' voices, synchronized with the film projector. But the well-established pro- ducers did not fall for any such newfangled non- sense; besides, the cost of wiring all the theaters for sound would be prohibitive. It remained for the comparatively obscure and financially worried War- ner Brothers to take a chance on the new process,
which they named the Vitaphone. They hired Al Jolson, one of the most popular musical stars of the day, selected a maudlin play entitled The Jazz Singer, and went to work. However, this was not the first time that Warner Brothers had experimented with this process, for as early as 1926 they had pro- duced a silent film— Don Juan (see page 193)— with a synchronized musical score. And in May, 1927, Fox launched the Movietone Newsreel, using sound.
201
202
COMES THE REVOLUTION"
The Jazz Singer opened on the evening of October 6, 1927, and made history. It was not an all-talking picture, for a good part of it was silent.
For one thing, The Jazz Singer turned out to be a
box-office gold mine that made over two million dollars for the Warners and set them on their feet financially. It made a movie star out of Jolson. But above all, it turned the film industry topsy-turvy and consigned the silent picture to the scrap heap.
THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
203
One famous silent star never had to worry about the advent of talkies— Rin-Tin-Tin. Here he is in one of his pictures, made in 1927 for Warner's.
ABOVE RIGHT
The year 1928 was one of toil and tribulation for the producers. The success of the new talking pic- ture had made it ominously clear that the days of the silent film were numbered. New stages must be built, and new apparatus installed— and what about the silent stars? Could they read lines? Would they hold their public? Warner Brothers worried least. With their Vitaphone they had a head start on the
rest of the industry, and they had at least one star who was a genuine stage actress, and a good one- Pauline Frederick. Here she is, in a scene with Richard Tucker, from On Trial, an all-talking pic- ture produced by Warners in 1928.
BELOW
Many of the other stars, pending the frantic efforts of their studios to equip themselves for sound, came out with silent pictures. Greta Garbo, for instance, made The Divine Woman, under Victor Seastrom's direction. She is shown here with her director and with Lars Hanson (left), her leading man.
204
COMES THE REVOLUTION
Emil Jannings gave what some consider his finest performance, in The Last Command. This was a Paramount silent, directed by Josef von Sternberg, in which Jannings played an exiled Russian officer who becomes a Hollywood extra.
ABOVE RIGHT
Although Ernst Lubitsch and Emil Jannings had been director and star, respectively, in some of the finest pictures to come out of Germany, their paths didn't cross in America until 1928, when they made The Patriot for Paramount. In it Jannings had one of his best roles, that of the mad Tsar Paul I of Russia. His leading lady was Florence Vidor, shown here. Lewis Stone was Count Pahlen. When his contract ended, Jannings returned to Germany.
BELOW LEFT
With The Wedding March, a 1928 silent, Erich von Stroheim accomplished the difficult feat of breaking
his own record for extravagance. He started shooting in June, 1926, and stopped in late spring, 1927, with about twenty-two reels of film in the cans. He spent the ensuing year trying to cut it down to ten reels, with no success. The exasperated Paramount man- agement finally assigned several other cutters to the job. They managed to cut it to size, but the finished film was uneven and disjointed. Even so, much of the film was remarkably fine, and the photography was excellent. This scene shows von Stroheim as a Viennese nobleman; Zasu Pitts, as the lame princess whom he is forced to marry; and (left) Fay Wray as his true love.
BELOW RIGHT
Another picture Josef von Sternberg directed for Paramount in 1928 was Docks of New York. It was a story of the underworld, and featured Betty Comp- son and George Bancroft.
THE STREET ANGEL (1928)
205
Another star to remain silent during the year of the great transition was Lillian Gish. Here she is in the role of Letty in The Wind, a story of the Southwest that Victor Seastrom directed for M-G-M.
BELOW
Fox's bid to emulate Seventh Heaven's great success
was The Street Angel, in which Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell were again costarred. Despite the voung couple's charm and Frank Borzage's direction, it hardly equaled its predecessor in popularity. As this picture of Miss Gaynor shows, the film was dis- tinguished by some exceptionally fine camera work by Ernest Palmer.
206
COMES THE REVOLUTION
Norma Talmadge's silent for the year was Tlie Dove, mack- for United Artists. Here she is, with Noah Beery (right), who turned in a fine characterization, in a scene from the film.
Reverend Davidson, in a scene from the picture. Raoul Walsh, who directed the film, played the marine witli whom Sadie falls in love.
ABOVE RIGHT
For United Artists, also, Gloria Svvanson did an adaptation of the famous play, Rain, under the title, Sadie Thompson. She is seen here with Lionel Barrymore, who gave a superb performance as the
Joan Crawford got her chance in a flaming-youth opera entitled Our Dancing Daughters. It estab- lished her in a type of role that soon became asso- ciated with her name and made her a star.
LILAC TIME ( 1928)
207
Lon Chaney, forsaking horrors, went back to the clown characterization he had found so successful in He Who Gets Slapped. This time it was a variation of the Pagliacci story entitled Laugh, Clown, Laugh. Playing the ingenue lead was a fifteen-year-old youngster named Loretta Young, who had made her screen debut in Nauglity But Nice.
Lilac Time began as a silent starring vehicle for Colleen Moore. Then sound came in, and the pic- ture was revised, emerging with "synchronized sound effects"— meaning that appropriate noises and sounds were inserted at intervals after the film had been shot. In this scene, Colleen, disguised as a boy, is being scolded by Gary Cooper.
208
COMES THE REVOLUTION
Chaplin made a circus picture, too, in 1928. In fact, he called it The Circus. The great comedian was as funny as ever, although his picture was infinitely removed from the pie-throwing two-reelers of his earlier days. His costume alone remained unchanged. Otherwise, his people were no longer comic-strip caricatures, but real people. His performance was a
masterpiece of mingled emotions, a blend of farce and pathos so subtly contrived that the spectator hardly knew where one left off and the other began. The Circus is still one of his great pictures. He is seen here with his leading lady, one of his discov- eries, Merna Kennedy.
ABIES IRISH ROSE (1928)
209
Another synchronized-sound-effects picture of the year was the screen version of that record-run play, Abie's Irish Rose. In this scene, we have the two parents, played by J. Farrell MacDonald and Jean Hersholt, with Buddy Rogers as Abie, and Nancy Carroll as Rose.
Jean Hersholt also appeared as the storm center of another synchronized picture, Battle of the Sexes, directed by David Griffith for United Artists. Here, Hersholt, a fairly tired businessman who has become involved with Phyllis Haver, a blonde gold digger, is having a bit of an argument with Don Alvarado and Sally O'Neill. Everybody wore spats in those days.
210
COMES THE REVOLUTION
Fox presented Four Sons, the story of a family torn asunder by the war. Directed by John Ford, with the inevitable synchronized effects, it won places in several "best ten" lists of 1928. Its featured players, shown in this scene, were (left to right): George Meeker, James Hall, Margaret Mann, Francis X. Bushman, Jr., and Charles Morton.
BELOW
Beggars of Life, a screen version of Jim Tully's grim novel, produced by Paramount in 1928, differed from the average "sync" picture in that it had sev- eral sequences of actual dialogue. In this scene, we have Louise Brooks, Richard Arlen, and Wallace Beery. William Wellman directed the film.
THE SINGING FOOL (1928)
211
After his success in The Jazz Singer, Al Jolson natu- rally made another singing, talking picture— The Singing Fool. The critics agreed that it contained nothing new and was a mere repetition of the ef-
fects in The Jazz Singer. True enough, except for the detail that it grossed a million dollars more than its predecessor.
5. The Talking Picture
By 1929 Hollywood had begun to recover from its first panic and was grinding out sound films as fast as they could be shot. Most of them were pretty bad. The public, still fascinated by the fact that they talked at all, was not yet very critical of what they said. There were, however, good ones. Mary Pick-
ford, for example, chose wisely in selecting the title role of Helen Hayes' stage success, Coquette, as her first speaking part. She proved that her early training with Belasco had not been wasted. She was a good actress, not just a good movie actress. John Mack Brown, shown here, played opposite her.
213
214
THE TALKING PICTURE
Mary and Doug hud never been costarred in a film. They selected as their first talking picture together The Taming of the Shrew. The picture was signalized, among other things, for its immortal credit line: "The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, with additional dialogue by Sam Taylor."
Norma Shearer also chose an adaptation of a suc- cessful stage play for her first venture into the talk- ies. This was The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, and she played the role made famous by Ina Claire. Opposite her was Basil Rathbone, from the New York theater. The film was only partly a "talkie."
THE TRESPASSER (1929)
215
The first all-talking picture in which Joan Crawford appeared was Untamed. It would hardly deserve mention here, except for the fact that her leading man was a young actor named Robert Montgomery, who had come to Hollywood from the stage.
ABOVE RIGHT
Contrary to popular belief, Charlie McCarthy was not the first ventriloquist's dummy to appear on the screen. Here is Otto, with Erich von Stroheim, in the all-talking picture The Great Gabbo. James Cruze
directed this story of a man with a dual personality.
BELOW
Gloria Swanson took no chances, but wisely chose Laura Hope Crews to coach her for her first talk- ing picture, The Trespasser, produced in 1929. Thanks to Miss Crews' coaching and Edmund Goulding's direction— not to mention Miss Swanson's own talents— she made the transition with pro- nounced success. Purnell Pratt appears with her in this scene. i
216
THE TALKING PICTURE
Ruth Chatterton had, of course, been a stage star long before she went into pictures, and her theatrical training stood her in good stead in the talking ver- sion of Madame X. Lionel Barrymore temporarily forsook acting to direct it. Raymond Hackett is at the extreme right in this scene.
BELOW
George Arliss, being a consummate actor, became even more successful in talking pictures than he had been in silents. He is shown here, with Anthony Bushell, in a scene from Disraeli, directed by Alfred Green and released in 1929.
THE COCKEYED WORLD (1929)
217
What Price Glory? started an epidemic of soldier- pictures, many of them revolving about a feud be- tween two members of the AEF over a girl. The original feud between Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt was continued by Victor McLaglen and Ed- mund Lowe in a talkie of 1929, The Cockeyed World. The bone— if one may be so ungallant— of contention this time was Lily Damita.
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Jeanette MacDonald was teamed with a French musical-comedy star who had caught the movie public's fancy with his first picture, The Innocents of Pan's— Maurice Chevalier. Their combined talents, plus Ernst Lubitsch's sly direction, made The Love Parade an instant success.
218
THE TALKING PICTURE
Another musical was Rio Rita, which Luther Reed directed lor RKO in 1929. The screen version was as popular as the original stage production had been. The costars, seen here, were John Boles and Bebe Daniels. The comics Bert Wheeler and Robert YVool- sev were also in it.
ABOVE RIGHT
Sunny Side Up had a thin plot, but it had songs by DeSylva, Brown, and Henderson, lavish sets, and the current top romantic couple, Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor. And they talked and sang. The sum total was another big money-maker.
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Broadway, an adaptation of the famous prohibition- night-club play, wasn't exactly a musical film, but it had lots of singing and dancing in its cabaret scenes. Rather than go East for its Broadway atmosphere, Universal elected to build its own Broadway. This photograph will give you some idea of the incredible detail and perfection of Hollywood miniature sets. The stage hand, looming over the Palace Theater, will give you an indication of the scale to which the set is built.
HALLELUJAH (1929)
219
The letter, based on the Somerset Maugham story, was first filmed in 1929 with the stage star, Jeanne Eagels, in the lead. Jean Limur directed it for Paramount. In the shot above are Miss Eagels and Herbert Marshall. In the remake Marshall re-enacted his part, this time opposite Bette Davis.
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One of the finest pictures of the year— still one of the best pictures ever made— was Hallelujah, directed with masterly sensitivity and sympathy by King Vidor, for M-G-M. This story of the community soul of the Negro included this famous revival scene.
220
THE TALKING PICTURE
Another M-G-M contribution to 1929 was The Broad- way Melody. This was a story of backstage life, with plenty of singing, dancing, and chorus work intro- duced plausibly enough to delight a large public. Three of its leading actors achieved individual tri- umphs. Right to left, they are: Anita Page, just be- ginning her career; Charles King, musical-comedy
lead; and Bessie Love, who emerged brilliantly after a temporary eclipse.
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United Artists produced a screen version of Long- fellow's Evangeline that was part talkie and had a synchronized musical score underlining the story with great effectiveness. Furthermore, it had a beautiful setting, excellent photography, and Dolores Del Rio.
STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1929)
221
A year previously, in 1928, a young man named Walt Disney (he was then twenty-seven years old) had produced an animated cartoon— silent, of course —called Plane Crazy. Its principal character was a promising young actor destined to become famous as Mickey Mouse. In 1929, Disney again starred his precocious rodent in Steamboat Willie, shown here —the first Mickev Mouse with sound.
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That same year, Disney produced The Skeleton Dance, the first "Silly Symphony." Its historical im- portance lies in the fact that it was the forerunner of his Fantasia, for it was an animated interpretation of a standard orchestral work— in this case, Saint- Saens' Danse macabre.
222
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Of all the important stars, Garbo alone persisted in appearing in a silent film. Though praetieing Eng- lish, she felt that her speech was not yet good enough to risk in a talkie. In 1929 she starred in A Woman of Affairs, a screen version of Michael Aden's popu- lar novel, The Green Hat. John Gilbert (on the right) was again her leading man.
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The year 1930 saw the production of what most agree is one of the greatest war pictures of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front. It brought fresh
laurels to virtually everyone connected with its mak- ing—to the author, Erich Maria Remarque; to Carl Laemmle, of Universal, for his courage in producing a picture dealing with the German side of the World War; above all, to Lewis Milestone, whose handling of the story put him in the first rank of motion-pic- ture directors. Louis Wolheim was magnificent, and Lew Ayres, as Paul, the protagonist of the drama, gave a performance that made him a star. Seen here are (left to right): Ayres, Russell Gleason, Wolheim, William Blakewell, and Ben Alexander (whom we saw in so many pictures as a youngster).
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930
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No one who saw it will ever forget the heartbreak- ing scene in which Paul, coming upon a French sol- dier in a shell hole, stabs him in panic, only to realize that both of them are merely bewildered and fright- ened human beings. Here the Frenchman is trying to give Paul his papers to send back to his wife and children. The role of the dying soldier, played by Raymond Griffith, was another of the masterful per- formances in the film. Griffith later gave up acting to become a successful director. Universal rereleased All Quiet in 1939, with an interpolated sound track having an unseen narrator talking about the horrors of war. This addition considerably detracted from the picture's effectiveness.
BELOW
Greta Garbo was a source of great worry to M-G-M. Though she spoke English, she did so with a strong Swedish accent. After anxious consideration, Metro cast her in O'Neill's Anna Christie, where her accent would be quite in keeping. The picture, directed by Clarence Rrown, was a complete success, and Garbo became, if possible, an even greater favorite with the fans. She was ably seconded by Marie Dressier, as Anna's hard-drinking friend. Miss Dressier had come a long way from the days of Tillie's Punctured Romance to become a serious actress of force and skill.
224
THE TALKING PICTURE
Marie Dressier was by no means confined to serious roles. M-G-M cast her in a series of slapstick senti- mental comedies, costarring Wallace Beery, that proved as effective box office as the offerings of other more glamorous teams. One of the best was Mm and Rill, from which the above scene is taken. George Hill directed. The girl is Dorothy Jordan.
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Hill directed another Beery picture of 1930, The Big House, from a scenario by Frances Marion about an attempted prison break. Thanks to fine acting by Beery and by Chester Morris (shown here with Beery) and Robert Montgomery, the picture was rated one of the best of the year.
JOURNEY'S END ( 1930 )
225
Miriam Hopkins made her screen debut in Fast and Loose, an adaptation of a play by David Gray and Avery Hopvvood. The story concerned a rich girl who fell in love with a workingman, if you care. Miss Hopkins is shown here in a scene with Charles Starrett, with Frank Morgan and Carole Lombard at the extreme left. Carole wasn't even mentioned in the billing.
The success of All Quiet inspired Tiffany Pictures to buy and produce R. C. Sherriff's equally fine Jou,- nei/s End. Colin Clive, the original Captain Stan- hope, came from England to repeat his performance on the screen, and James Whale, who had directed the play in London, directed the picture version as well. Clive is shown here (right), with David Man- ners ( extreme left ) .
226
THE TALKING PICTURE
Two other promising youngsters attracted consider- able attention in 1930. They were Fredric March and Claudette Colbert, both of whom had been in pictures for about a year. Paramount remade Man- slaughter, a former Thomas Meighan silent, and fea- tured them in it.
ABOVE RIGHT
Nancy Carroll starred in Paramount's Stolen Heaven, with Phillips Holmes, the son of the stage favorite, Taylor Holmes, as her leading man.
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Warner Brothers, with Little Caesar, started that cycle of gangster pictures that made "taken for a ride," "on the spot," and a dozen other underworld phrases such household words during die early thir- ties. It was this picture, too, that started Edward G. Robinson on his long career of tough-guy impersona- tions. Little Caesar was directed by Mervyn Le Roy from an adaptation of W. R. Burnett's novel. In this scene are Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
MOROCCO ( 1930)
227
Ann Harding's long, authentically blonde hair, her well-modulated voice, and her transparent sincerity made her as popular in films as she had been on the stage. She retired temporarily from the screen to marry Werner Janssen, the orchestral conductor, but recently returned. She is shown Jhere, with James Rennie, in The Girl of the Golden West.
ABOVE BIGHT
The wave of musicals that had engulfed 1929 sub- sided somewhat a year later, but the producers still reckoned that there was gold in them thar trills. The call went out for opera singers. Lawrence Tib-
bett went from the Metropolitan to make the suc- cessful film, The Rogue Song. M-G-M then put him in The New Moon, with Grace Moore (shown here). Tibbett went on to greater popularity, but the pro- ducers shook their heads over Miss Moore. She was not, they said, photogenic. More of that, later.
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Marlene Dietrich's first American picture, Morocco, made her a sensation. Josef von Sternberg directed, as he did so many later Dietrich films. Gary Cooper was starred opposite Dietrich in this Paramount production.
228
THE TALKING PICTURE
The life of Abraham Lincoln has been the basis of many pictures. One of the best was Abraham Lin- coln, directed by D. W. Griffith in 1930 for United Artists. Walter Huston played the title role, with Una Merkel as Ann Rutledge.
BELOW
In Son of the Gods, Richard Barthelmess went back
to the Oriental atmosphere of Broken Blossoms. This Warner Brothers production had elaborate sets and intricate lighting that outreached even Hollywood's usual extravagant standards. In this view of one of the sets, Barthelmess and Constance Bennett are in the immediate foreground.
'LILIOM (1930)
229
Another Barthelmess picture of 1930 was the suc- cessful The Dawn Patrol, an aviation picture di- rected by Howard Hawks. Here are Barthelmess (left) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., in a scene from the film.
ABOVE MGHT
From the musical-comedy stage came Dennis King, in one of his former stage triumphs, The Vagabond King. Just to make sure of its being a hit— which it was— Paramount filmed it in technicolor, and co-
starred him with Jeanette MacDonald.
BELOW
In photography, the impossible is so simple to achieve that most attempts at transferring phantasy to the screen have left nothing to the onlooker's imagina- tion. Fox's production of Liliom, with Charles Far- rell and Rose Hobart, was painstaking and elaborate, but it failed to capture the imaginative persuasive- ness of the Theater Guild's original production.
230
THE TALKING PICTURE
Warners starred John Barrymore in a version of Mel- \ ille's great novel, Moby Dick, notable for Barry- more's extraordinary make-up and distinguished act- ing. Barrymore had played this role in the silents, the film then being called The Sea Beast.
BELOW
Howard Hughes sank well over a million dollars into Hell's Angels, which he began as a silent film in 1927 and finally released in 1930. When sound came to stav,
he was obliged to scrap much of what had already been shot and begin over again. Accidents and the difficulty of retaining the services of his actors for long periods of time were other handicaps that Hughes had to face. He was determined, however, to make this air thriller of thrillers, and eventually he succeeded. The flying sequences (the airplanes were the real stars of the picture) have seldom been surpassed.
HELL'S ANGELS (1930)
231
Greta Nissen was originally cast as the vamp of Hell's Angels, but either because of her accent or because she was no longer available, she had to be replaced. Jean Harlow, who had been playing minor roles, was given her chance in the part and revealed herself as a good actress and the embodiment of sex appeal. With her in this scene is Ben Lyon.
BELOW
Fox brought John McCormack, the great Irish tenor, to Hollywood and starred him in Song d My Heart, released in 1930. You see him here. In the carriage is Maureen O'Sullivan, whom the director, Frank Borzage, had discovered in Dublin.
232
THE TALKING PICTURE
Another scene from Song o' My Heart, showing Me- Cormack and lovely Alice Joyce, who played oppo- site him. This was the only picture he ever made. His own explanation tor the shortness of his screen career was, "They said I had no sex appeal."
ABOVE BIGHT
It was inevitable that, sooner or later, Jackie Coogan, whose performance in Chaplin's The Kid had made him a child star, should grow up to play America's legendary boy character, Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer.
This he did, in a talking picture of 1930, ten years after his screen debut. The girl with him, above, is Mitzi Green.
BELOW
Elmer Rice's grim play, Street Scene, reached the screen in 1931, in a faithful adaptation directed by King Yidor. Sylvia Sidney played the role Erin O'Brien Moore had created on the stage. This is the set, a perfect reproduction of a shabby New York street, on which most of the action took place.
A FREE SOUL ( 1931 )
233
M-G-M remade Eugene Walter's old play, The Easiest Way, with Constance Bennett playing the role that Frances Starr had created in the theater. Anita Page played the honest, hard-working sister ( who wasn't in the original play ) , with Clark Gable, a promising leading man, as her truck-driver hus- band (who wasn't in the original plav). Here he is ordering Constance Bennett out into the night with her baby who wasn't in the original plav).
Norma Shearer had already embarked on a series of sophisticated roles. One of her 1931 pictures was A Free Soul, from the novel by Adela Rogers St. Johns, in which the daughter of a brilliant criminal lawyer falls in love with the gangster whom her father has saved from the chair. Lionel Barrymore played the father, and Clark Gable, shown here with Miss Shearer, acted the gangster in a manner that estab- lished him as a definite box-office draw.
234
THE TALKING PICTURE
Another of Norma Shearer's pictures was Noel Cow- ard's brilliant, slightly bawdy, and roughhouse Pri- vate Lives. She and Robert Montgomery took the roles originally played by Coward and Gertrude Lawrence.
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Douglas Fairbanks' 1931 picture was, surprisingly
enough, not a costume piece but a straight melodrama, called Reaching for the Moon. This in no wise 'pre- vented him from performing the characteristic Fair- banks gymnastics and turning the decks of a" trans- atlantic liner into a one-man track meet. He is shown here in a moment of comparative repose. Jack Mul- hall is on the left.
FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
235
Lon Chaney's death in 1930 robbed the public of a great master of grotesque make-up. However, Chaney had a successor in Boris Karloff (born Charles Ed- ward Pratt), who chilled millions of spines with a
bloodcurdling performance as the monster in Frank- enstein (1931). It was such a success that Universal followed it with The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and The Son of Frankenstein (1939).
236
THE TALKING PICTURE
Someone once remarked that the present younger generation is going to grow up with the firm con- viction that all the great men of history looked like George Arliss. In 1931 the distinguished actor con- tinued his gallery of historical portraits with Alex- ander Hamilton, with Doris Kenvon as his leading lady.
Depressing as most persons find it, Tolstoy's novel Resurrection has been adapted several times for the screen. Dolores Del Rio made it as a silent in 1927, with Rod La Rocque playing the male lead; and Lupe Velez (of all people) remade it in 1931, with John Boles. Here is Miss Velez in a production shot from the 1931 version.
THE FRONT PAGE ( 1931 )
237
Garbo, still wisely sticking to roles in which her— by now— slight accent was no handicap, made Inspira- tion, adapted from Daudet's Saplw. Clarence Brown directed, and Lewis Stone and Robert Montgomery played the other leads. Garbo appears here, with Stone, wearing one of the exotic gowns Adrian de- signed for her.
ABOVE RIGHT
Motion pictures won a distinguished actor in 1930,
when Warner Brothers persuaded Otis Skinner to play his original stage role in a screen adaptation of Kismet.
BELOW
Hecht and MacArthur's rowdy epic of the news- paper world, The Front Page, was a natural for the screen. Howard Hughes produced it and Lewis Mile- stone did the directing. Pat O'Brien, shown here, made his first appearance in pictures, playing the role of Hildy Johnson, the star reporter.
238
THE TALKING PICTURE
The authors made no secret of the fact that Walter Burns, the loud-talking managing editor of the pic- ture, was a fairlv faithful portrait of one of their old bosses in Chicago. Adolphe Menjou, dropping his
usual man-of-the-wprld role, played the part to per- fection. The combination of good story, fine acting, and superb direction made the picture one of the year's best.
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE (1931)
239
On page 115 you saw Harry Myers in a 1921 silent version of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Ten years later, Will Rogers made it as a talkie, under the title A Connecticut Yankee. This is the famous scene in which the Yan- kee saves himself from the stake by predicting an
eclipse that occurred several hundred years before lie was born. With Rogers is Frank Albertson.
BELOW
In 1931 Walt Disney made his first animated car- toon in technicolor. It was called Floivers and Trees, and it won an Academy award.
240
THE TALKING PICTURE
After long persuasion, that great stage couple, Al- fred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, reluctantly consented to make die film version of Molnar's The Guards- man. Despite the success of the picture, directed bv Sidney Franklin, they never made another. Here are Lunt and Fontanne, with Jessie Ralph.
BELOW
The filming of Trader Horn was Hollywood at its tragicomic best. M-G-M sent an entire company and
crew to Africa, in order to ensure the authenticity of the location shots; then, when the company re- turned to America, reshot most of the scenes on the M-G-M lot. The tragic phase of the episode was that Edwina Booth, who played the role of the white girl turned native priestess, contracted an obscure tropical malady from which she never fully recov- ered. Miss Booth appears here with Duncan Renaldo and Harry Carey, who played the title role.
PUBLIC ENEMY ( 1931 )
241
The flood of gangster pictures continued. One of the better ones was Public Enemy, in which James Cagney demonstrated that one way to charm the ladies in the audience is to be rough with the ladies on the screen. Cagney is shown here, watching Eddie Woods get his.
The success of Moana encouraged Paramount to re- lease another South Sea island picture, Tabu, which was directed by F. W. Murnau from a story by him- self and Robert Flaherty. It was one of the most glamorous and beautiful pictures ever made.
242
THE TALKING PICTURE
Jackie Cooper raised himself to stardom by his engag- ing performance of a comic-strip character brought
to life— Percy Crosby's Skippy. Norman Taurog won an Academy Award for his direction.
THE CHAMP (1931)
243
Beery also costarred with Jackie Cooper in a story, by Frances Marion, about a drunken ex-champion prize fighter who is regenerated by his little boy. Entitled The Champ, it was one of the lachrymal hits of 1931.
BELOW
Blonde Ann Harding, here gazing wistfully from behind a tree, played in that aged tear-jerker, East Lynne.
244
THE TALKING PICTURE
The Lunts were not tne only distinguished new- comers from the theater in 1931. Irving Thalberg, one of the M-G-M bosses, finally induced Helen Hayes to give the screen a chance. Her first picture, The Sin of Made! on Claudet, whose screen play was written by her husband, Charles MacArthur, estab- lished her as one of the screen's finest actresses and won her the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award for the best performance of the year.
In this scene we have Jean Hersholt, Jackie Darrow, Marie Prevost, and Miss Hayes.
BELOW
Helen Hayes' second film, Arrowsmith, established her even more firmly as a star on screen as well as on stage. Samuel Goldwyn produced this excellent picturization of Sinclair Lewis' novel, and John Ford did a superb job of directing. United Artists released the film in 1931.
CITY LIGHTS (1931)
245
In 1931 Chaplin released his first picture since The Circus. Naturally, there was much speculation about whether he would talk, now that sound was here to stay. But the great master of pantomime was in no hurry to alter the technique that had made him world-famous. The long-awaited picture was City Lights, and the actors, including Chaplin, did not speak. There was music on the sound track, how- ever. The story concerned a derelict who falls in love with a blind flower girl and goes through a series of silly and pathetic adventures to raise the money for the girl's rent and for an operation to restore her sight. Virginia Cherrill, shown here with Chaplin, played the flower girl.
ABOVE BIGHT
Some of the most diverting moments in the picture were supplied by Chaplin and Harry Myers, the lat- ter playing a man about town who is Charlie's bosom friend when drunk but refuses to recognize him in his sober moments.
BELOW
Under Wesley Ruggles' direction, RKO made a spec- tacular and genuinely impressive picture out of Edna Ferber's novel of the Oklahoma land rush, Cimar- ron. This scene shows the homesteaders lined up for the starting signal. In the foreground are Richard Dix and Irene Dunne.
246
THE TALKING PICTURE
Cecil B. DeMille, feeling that it was about time for him to be delivered of another spectacular picture, produced The Sign of the Cross, a combination of mob scenes, religion, sex, and movie stars that was heralded as being "bigger than The Ten Command- ments." The critics didn't care much for Nat Pen- dleton's strolling through the picture, using Ameri- can slang, but the public loved all of it, especially the Christian-eating lions. In this scene we have
Fredric March, Elissa Landi, and, just behind her, Nat Pendleton.
BELOW
A scene from The Sign of the Cross in the making. Tommy Conlon ( the boy ) has been dragged from his dungeon to be tortured; Nat Pendleton is hold- ing him; and to the right of him, looking on, is Ian Keith. DeMille is in the director's seat on the boom, with the cameraman in front of him.
DR. J E K Y L L AND MR. HYDE (1932)
247
Plays began to reach the screen in increasing num- bers. Dolores Del Rio made The Bird of Paradise for RKO, an adaptation of the well-known play.
ABOVE BIGHT
Tallulah Bankhead, after a vain struggle to get her acting talents recognized at home, went to England and rapidly became one of the foremost attractions of the London stage. Brought back by Paramount, she made a number of films which— largely because of miscasting and indifferent stories— were not suc- cessful. She is shown here in one of her 1932 pic-
tures, Thunder Below, with Charles Bickford (left) and Paul Lukas.
BELOW
Clowns traditionally want to play Hamlet. Occasion- ally, too, a leading man forsakes glamour and takes a fling at gooseflesh-raising. John Barrymore made a silent Dr. Jekijll and Mr. Hijde, in 1920, that terri- fied his fans, and in '32, Fredric March starred in the same story, giving a performance that estab- lished him as a first-rate actor and won him an Academy award. Compare this shot of him with the one on page 246.
248
THE TALKING PICTURE
Two of the most successful zanies on the screen are Laurel and Hardy, whose short pictures have been contributing to the hilarity of the movies since the silent days. One of the best and most idiotic of their melees was Brats, produced by Hal Roach.
Here is a famous team, George Sidney and Charles Murray, in one of the Cohens and Kelhjs series, which resulted from the earlier Abie's Irish Rose. This one, Cohens and Kelhjs in Hollywood, was filmed by Universal in 1932.
STRANGE INTERLUDE (1932)
249
Still another play to reach the screen that year was Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude. It was no easy job to compress a play that took five hours to per- form into a film lasting about two, but M-G-M's director, Robert Z. Leonard, managed it. He even made the asides intelligible to the audience. Norma Shearer played the lead, with Clark Gable, here kiss- ing her hand, as the doctor.
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ABOVE RIGHT
In 1932 Garbo played the ill-fated international spy, Mata Hari, in the M-G-M picture of the same name. Ramon Novarro played opposite her.
BELOW
Another play filmed in 1932 was Philip Barry's The Animal Kingdom. RKO made it, with Ann Harding and Leslie Howard in the leading roles.
2C0
THE TALKING PICTURE
Rasputin and the Empress brought together the three Barrymores, John, Ethel, and Lionel. Richard
Boleslavsky directed this famous trio for M-G-M in 1932.
MORNING GLORY (1932)
251
Katharine Hepburn first attracted Hollywood's atten- tion when, an unknown and virtually inexperienced actress, she scored an instantaneous hit in the stage version of The Warrior's Husband. Brought West, she disregarded all rules of the game, went about in overalls and a hired Rolls Royce, snubbed her fellow actors, sassed her director, refused to do the routine publicity stunts, made an all-round nuisance of her- self—and made an immediate success in A Bill of Divorcement. RKO promptly starred her in Chris- topher Strong and then in Morning Glory, a scene from which is shown here, with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., as leading man. Hepburn received the Academy award for her performance in Morning Glory.
BELOW
"Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!" exclaims one of the characters in Night After Night. To which Miss West remarks, "Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie." Miss West, after a tumultuous stage career as author, director, producer, and actress, in the course of which she managed to land a jail sen- tence, went on to triumph in her first picture, play- ing but a small part. She appears here, in a scene from the picture, with George Raft. The two women at the table in the foreground are Alison Skipworth (left) and Constance Cummings.
252
THE TALKING PICTURE
In 1932 came the film that reintroduced the musical craze, Forty-second Street. This was the old story of the star who breaks an ankle and the unknown must take her place, but the acting was good, the direc- tion swift, and the production numbers were lush. Lloyd Bacon directed for Warner Brothers. The man with the handkerchief, in the scene above, is War- ner Baxter. The girl second from left is Ruby Keeler, who played the unknown. The girl who was to start
a different sort of musical cycle was featured in a small part. She's fifth from the right— Ginger Rogers.
BELOW
Paid Muni has long been one of the most expert character actors on the screen. One of his early successes was / Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, which Mervyn Le Roy directed in 1932. This War- ner Brothers picture was also notable for handling a socially vital theme intelligently and movingly.
ONE-WAY PASSAGE (1932)
253
Warner Brothers also produced one of die screen's best love stories in 1932— One-Way Passage. William Powell and Kay Francis played the lovers, under Tay Garnett's sensitive direction.
BELOW
One of the most ambitious productions of the year,
M-G-M's adaptation of Vicki Baum's Grand Hotel, enlisted the talents of a group of Hollywood's big- gest stars. Shown here are Joan Crawford, as the stenographer, Wallace Beery, as the industrial mag- nate, and Lionel Barrymore, as the man who has only a few months left to live.
254
THE TALKING PICTURE
And here we have John Barrymore, as the titled jewel thief, with Greta Garbo, as the ballerina whose career is ending. Some said that it was a mistake for Garbo to accept such an unglamorous part. Her answer was to play it superbly.
Irene Dunne's work in Cimarron had established her as an exceptionally talented actress. Universal starred her the following year in Back Street, based on a Fanny Hurst story. John M. Stahl directed. In the scene above, George Meeker is with Miss Dunne.
SHANGHAI EXPRESS (1932)
255
Marlene Dietrich appeared in Shanghai Express, which Josef von Sternberg directed for Paramount. Despite its authentic-looking settings and beautiful photography, the Chinese considered it a misrepre- sentation of Chinese customs. Miss Dietrich is seen here in a scene with Warner Oland and Clive Brook.
BELOW
Edgar Rice Burrough's character Tarzan made the sound films with Tarzan the Ape Man. The title role
was played by Johnny Weissmuller, formerly a swim- ming champion, who so succeeded in identifying himself with Tarzan, in the minds of the younger fans, that he could play nothing else. There have been a number of sequels, and they have all been popular. This scene from the first Tarzan shows Maureen O'Sullivan (destined to become the mate of the simian-reared hero), Neil Hamilton, and Johnny Weissmuller.
256
THE TALKING PICTURE
About as handsome a trio as you'd care to meet were Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, and Miriam Hopkins, as they appeared in the sophisticated comedy, Trou- ble in Paradise. Ernst Lubitsch directed it for Para- mount in 1932.
BELOW
Founded in 1927, with its membership comprising producers, directors, actors, writers, technicians, and executives, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents series of annual awards for distin- guished achievement in the motion-picture field. The bronze statuettes, or "Oscars," as they are irrever- ently called, that symbolize the awards are highly
prized not only in themselves, but also because an Oscar is a very handy thing to have around when discussing salaries and contracts. This picture, taken at the Academy dinner of 1932, shows the three ma- jor award winners of the year. At the left is Frank Borzage, who won the prize for the best direction for Bad Girl. Helen Hayes won the award for the best performance by an actress for The Sin of Made- Ion Claudet, while Fredric March received the cor- responding award for actors for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At the time this picture was taken, Miss Hayes was working in A Farewell to Arms, under Borzage's direction.
A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1932)
257
The screen version of Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms was as successful as the stage adaptation had been. Credit for its faithful picturiza- tion goes both to the principals and to its director, Frank Borzage. Shown above are Gary Cooper as Frederic Henry, Helen Hayes as Catherine Barkley, and Adolphe Menjou as Lieutenant Rinaldi. All three gave superb performances. It was produced by Para- mount in 1932.
BELOW
Jesse L. Lasky left Paramount in 1932 to join forces with Fox. Here he produced a number of pictures that were a credit to his taste. The first, Zoo in Budapest, released in 1933, with Loretta Young and Gene Raymond, was particularly notable for some beautiful photography by Lee Garmes,
258
THE TALKING PICTURE
More than a dozen screen writers and more than half a dozen directors, including Ernst Lubitsch, Norman Taurog, Norman McLeod, and James Cruze, worked at concocting If I Had a Million. Paramount produced it in 1932, with an all-star cast that in- cluded Gary Cooper, George Raft, Charles Laugh- ton, Mary Boland, Jack Oakie, and W. C. Fields. It was something of a hodge-podge, and ushered in no new era in picture-making, but it was undeniably entertaining. In the scene above, Mr. Fields, abetted
by Alison Skipworth, is realizing his lifetime dream of wrecking cars driven by road hogs.
BELOW
In bringing Noel Coward's Design for Living to the screen, Ernst Lubitsch contrived the difficult feat of steering the tale— that of a lady who loves two gen- tlemen simultaneously— past the censors and still preserving much of its original ribald humor. Here are the three principals, as interpreted by Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins, and Fredric March.
LADY FOR A DAY ( 1933 )
259
Frank Capra is one of a handful of motion-picture directors whose names on the marquee of a theater mean something to the moviegoer. He started as an odd-job man with Christie comedies, worked for Columbia, became a Hal Roach gagman, and directed Harry Langdon pictures. At Columbia he finally hit his stride to become one of Hollywood's most suc- cessful directors. One of his pictures filmed in 1932 was The Bitter Tea of General Yen, in which Bar- bara Stanwyck and Nils Asther, shown here, were the love interest.
BELOW
Frank Capra is famous for directing a picture with such charm and humor that the audience hasn't time to notice the holes in the story. His first big success, Lady for a Day, came out in 1933. It featured May Robson as Apple Annie, shown here collapsing on discovering that her daughter is on the way to Amer- ica. The story was adapted by Robert Riskin from an original Damon Runyon yarn.
260
THE TALKING PICTURE
M-G-M filmed Dinner at Eight, from the play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman. George Cukor directed an all-star cast, including John and Lionel Barrymore, Marie Dressier, who was miscast, Wal- lace Beery, Jean Harlow, Edmund Lowe, and Billie Burke. Critics were agreed that Beery and Harlow —here shown— turned in the best performances.
BELOW
Ernest B. Shoedsack and Merian C. Cooper, the
producers of the unusual documentary picture, Grass, collaborated in 1933 to direct another that was equally spectacular, though in a very different way. This was King Kong, the story of a colossal, gorillalike creature who causes an enormous amount of trouble before he is finally cornered on top the Empire State Building. King Kong remains a master- piece of miniature work and trick photography.
THE INVISIBLE MAN (19 3 3)
261
Another Lasky production of 1933 was an adapta- tion of die stage success, The Warrior's Husband. Elissa Landi, shown here with Marjorie Rambeau (left), played the role originally acted by Katharine Hepburn.
ABOVE RIGHT
David O. Selznick produced Dancing Lady, a story of backstage life, for M-G-M in 1933, starring Joan
Crawford, with Clark Gable and Franchot Tone. Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy played insignificant sup- porting parts. Miss Crawford is shown here as a burlesque beautv.
BELOW
H. G. Wells' fantastic novelette, The Invisible Man, finally reached the screen, with Claude Rains, shown here, playing the title role. James Whale directed.
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THE TALKING PICTURE
Greta Garbo, who had returned to her native Swe- den for a vacation, talked of retiring from pictures. She returned, however, in 1933, to find M-G-M waiting for her with Queen Christina, a script based on the life of the famous ruler. Her leading man was John Gilbert. Rouben Mamoulian directed.
In 1933 the girl who had been briefly featured in Forty-second Street (see p. 252) was promoted to be Fred Astaire's dancing partner in Flying Down to Rio. So began the career of the screen's most famous dance team. Here are Fred and Ginger in one of their cozier moments. Thornton Freeland directed the picture for RKO.
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TUGBOAT ANNIE ( 1933)
263
The success of Wallace Beery and Marie Dressier and received a warm welcome from the fans. This in Min and Bill made a follow-up to that picture was one of the last pictures Miss Dressier made. She inevitable. It emerged in 1933, as Tugboat Annie, died in 1934.
264
THE TALKING PICTURE
Another Lasky production of 1933 was The Power and the Glory, in which lie starred Colleen Moore and Spencer Tracy.
ABOVE BIGHT
W. C. Fields had become famous as a tramp juggler and pantomimist first in vaudeville, then with the Ziegfeld Follies, when Poppy, a musical comedy in which he appeared with Madge Kennedy in 1923, revealed that he had not only a speaking voice, but also an unerring gift for delivering comic lines. When talkies came to Hollywood, so did Fields. We
see him here in International House, which Edward Sutherland directed for Paramount in 1933.
BELOW
Mitchell Leisen began His picture career as a de- signer and then as art director for Cecil B. DeMille, a post he held for twelve years before becoming a director on his own. His first picture was Cradle Song, for Paramount. It featured Dorothea Wieck, who had been brought to Hollywood as a result of her touching performance in Madchen in Uniform. She is shown here.
LITTLE WOMEN (1933)
265
Louisa May Alcott's classic, Little Women, was screened in 1933, under George Cukor's direction. Here are die feminine members of die cast (left to right): Jean Parker (Beth), Joan Bennett (Amy),
Katharine Hepburn (Jo), and Frances Dee (Meg). Spring Byington, as dieir mother, is seated in the center of the group.
266
THE TALKING PICTURE
Paramount brought Alice in Wonderland to the screen in 1933, with an all-star cast that included Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, Jack Oakie, Richard Arlen, Alison Skipworth, Edna May Oliver, and, as Alice, Charlotte Henry. Norman Mc- Leod directed. Despite all this array of talent, the picture was disappointing. Everybody was masked ( the Plum Pudding, shown above, is a good exam- ple), so that the actors had only their voices to rely on, and the whole production was heavily literal and left nothing to the imagination.
ABOVE RIGHT
Eugene O'Neill's fine play, The Emperor Jones, has
also been produced in an operatic version composed by Louis Gruenberg and as a picture. The film was directed by Dudley Murphy and released by United Artists in 1933. It starred Paul Robeson.
BELOW
Mae West's first picture, Night After Night, had made her a star. Her second, based on her own play, Diamond Lil, and rechristened by Paramount She Done Him Wrong, was far more successful. Lowell Sherman directed it, and Gilbert Roland, here being compromised, played one of the leads. It was in this picture that Miss West delivered that immortal line: "Come up and see me sometime."
NANA ( 1933)
267
Mary Pickford produced Secrets, a heart-throb story of pioneer days, for United Artists in 1933. Seated with Mary is Leslie Howard.
BELOW
That same year, Samuel Goldwyn unveiled a new Russian actress, Anna Sten, who, he thought, was going to become another Banky, Garbo, or Dietrich.
She was undeniaoly beautiful, as eloquently evi- denced by the scene below with Lionel Atwill, but her acting was hardly expert, and her all-too-Rus- sian accent was better suited to comedy than to tragedy. Her first American picture, an adaptation of Zola's Nana, didn't help much, either, being slow and on the dull side. Dorothy Arzner directed.
268
THE TALKING PICTURE
Walt Disney won another Academy award in 1933 with Three Little Pigs, still one of the most popular cartoon shorts ever made. It is a source of regret that the third little pig cannot be shown here. He is busy elsewhere, building a wolf-proof house.
Speaking of love interest, Marlene Dietrich played
in an adaptation of Sudermann's The Song of Songs, under Rouben Mamoulian's direction. Others in the cast were Brian Aherne, playing his first picture lead, and Alison Skipworth, shown here. A life-size statue of the star, in the nude, was featured in the picture, and reproductions of it were displayed in a great many theaters showing the film. Still, the pic- ture was not successful.
VOLTAIRE ( 1933 )
269
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George Arliss added another celebrity to his list of characterizations with a picture entitled Voltaire. With him in this scene are Margaret Lindsay and Doris Kenyon.
Frisco Jenny, starring Ruth Chatterton, was a story of mother love, with the San Francisco earthquake thrown in for good measure. Here is a scene from the picture, showing the earthquake— or was it fire?
270
THE TALKING PICTURE
RKO's production of W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage, in 1934, starred Leslie Howard, but it made a star out of Bette Davis. As the schem-
ing waitress, Miss Davis gave a memorable per- formance that established her as one of the most talented of the younger Hollywood actresses.
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
271
iws-j
Richard Barthelmess forsook his customary roman- tic roles to play in a Western melodrama about In- dians and the wrongs done them by unscrupulous government agents, Massacre. He is shown here in the trial scene, with Dudley Digges as the prosecu- tor. The girl is Ann Dvorak.
BELOW
In 1934 came the immortal It Happened One Niglit, directed by Frank Capra for Columbia. Its two ro-
mantic stars, Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, turned in comic performances that won them Acad- emy awards for the best performances by actress and actor. The picture itself won the award as the outstanding production of the year; Capra won the award for his direction; and Robert Riskin won the award for the year's best screen play. Here are Miss Colbert and Gable in the famous auto-camp scene.
272
THE TALKING PICTURE
Clarence Brown directed Chained for M-G-M in 1934. It featured a popular trio— Otto Kruger, Joan Crawford, and Clark Gable.
Here are Jean Harlow and Franchot Tone in a scene from Girl from Missouri, made by M-G-M in 1934. Miss Harlow's untimely death in 1937 cut short an acting career of unusual promise.
THE THIN MAN (1934)
273
Dashiell Hammett's detective novel, The Thin Man, was a leading best seller and, naturally, had most of the studios bidding for it. M-G-M finally got it and entrusted the film version to Myrna Loy and William Powell, with Hunt Stromberg producing and W. S. Van Dyke directing. Its instantaneous success, how- ever, exceeded the wildest speculations of its spon- sors. The idea of treating a murder mystery in terms of high comedy was fresh and appealed to a public that was weary of conventional whodunits. More- oxer, to a movie audience that had been brought up to see marriage, in the films, an an ordeal, the sight of two ultra-smart, sophisticated people very much married and very much in love was reassuring and oddly moving. In this scene, Powell is comforting
Maureen O'SuIlivan, with the cynical Miss Loy los- ing no detail of the tender episode.
BELOW
The Thin Man, besides producing such sequels as After the Thin Man and Another Tliin Man, boosted the reputations of its two stars. Myrna Loy, after a career that had consisted largely of a dreary succes- sion of Oriental seductresses, revealed herself as an irresistibly adroit comedienne. William Powell, who had been known chiefly as a heavy, emerged as the perfect type of polished, urbane man of the world. In this group are Miss Loy, Miss O'SuIlivan, Henry Wadsworth, and Powell, to say nothing of Asta, the scene-stealing wire-haired, whose reputation was also established bv The Thin Man.
274
THE TALKING PICTURE
Gloria Swanson temporarily gave up the drama to appear in a Fox edition of the musical-comedy suc- cess, Music in the Air. In this scene are June Vlasek (later, and more pronounceably, June Lang), Doug- lass Montgomery, Al Shean, and Miss Swanson.
BELOW
The couple eving each other in apparent consterna-
tion are Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Cheva- lier as they appeared in Ernst Lubitsch's produc- tion of The Merry Widow, made by M-G-M in 1934. The picture was so expensive that only a box- office miracle could have made it profitable. The miracle did not occur.
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THE ORPHANS' BENEFIT (19 3 4)
275
Though she had appeared in pictures earlier, Shirley Temple first gained attention in a Fox revue of 1934, Sfana Up and Cheer, which featured Warner Baxter, Madge Evans, and James Dunn. Miss Temple ap- pears here with Dunn. Her next picture, Little Miss Marker, released the same year, definitely established her as a box-office draw.
VBOVE RIGHT
The greatest tear-jerker of 1934 was Fannie Hurst's Imitation of Life, starring Claudette Colbert and
featuring Louise Beavers. John M. Stahl directed for Universal.
BELOW
The year 1934 was memorable for the unheralded debut of one who was destined to become a world- famous star. His name is Donald Duck, and he made his first appearance playing a small part in Walt Disney's The Orphans' Benefit. As this picture shows, the old master of the squawk looked different in those days.
276
THE TALKING PICTURE
Will Rogers was another screen favorite whose screen career was nearing an untimely close. This scene, with Stepin Fetchit, is from Judge Priest, a picture made in 1934, based on Irvin S. Cobb's well-known series of short stories. Rogers, with the aviator Wiley Post, wus killed in a plane crash the following year.
John Ford directed an all-male cast in The Lost Patrol. The film featured taut direction and a num- ber of fine performances, especially by Reginald Denny and Victor McLaglen. In the above scene are McLaglen, Roris Karloff, not a monster this time, but a religious fanatic, and Wallace Ford. RKO pro- duced it in 1934.
THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET (1934
277
Metro brought Katharine Cornell's stage success, The Barretts of W impale Street, to the screen in 1934. Frcdric March played the poet Browning, Norma Shearer, Elizabeth Barrett, and Charles Laughton, her father. Sidney Franklin handled the direction.
Jesse L. Lasky, producing for Fox, turned out an excellent screen version of John L. Balderston's play, Berkeley Square, directed by Frank Lloyd, with Leslie Howard playing the role he had created on the stage. Howard is shown here, with Valerie Taylor and Heather Angel.
278
THE TALKING PICTURE
As has been noted, when Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore appeared together in The New Moon, Tibbett was an immediate success, while Miss Moore was not. Columbia cast her in a story about the operatic stage, One Niglit of Love, of which little was expected. The picture was an instant hit and made a star of Miss Moore. Tullio Carminati, shown in this scene with the star, also scored a success
with his performance as her romantic singing teacher.
BELOW
Madame Du Barry was an elaborate and lavish chronicle of the life and adventures of the famous j courtesan, with Dolores Del Rio in die title role.! This production still shows a group of technicians studying the lighting of one of die boudoir scenes.
ONE NIGHT OF LOVE (1934)
279
On page 10 we showed you a photograph of Wil- cox Avenue, Hollywood, looking toward Hollywood Boulevard, as it appeared in the 90's. Here is an airplane view of that same spot as it appeared in 1935. Wilcox Avenue is the first cross thoroughfare at the bottom of the picture, with Hollywood Boule- vard cutting a perpendicular line almost exactly down the center. Although most of the important studios have moved to less thickly populated dis- tricts, the name Hollywood still means motion pic- tures the world over. It is a geographical curiosity in
that it has no official existence, being merely a com- paratively small district of the sprawling city of Los Angeles.
BELOW
Hollywood's first nights were world-famous, and the most spectacular of all occurred at Grauman's Chi- nese Theater, on Hollywood Boulevard. Here is a night shot of a typical premiere at the Chinese. No- tice the lights of the long line of cars on their way to the entrance, the cordon of police, and the crowd awaiting the arrival of the screen stars.
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THE TALKING PICTURE
The year 1935 saw the first feature-length picture to be made entirely in the newly developed three- color technicolor process. This was Becky Sharp, a screen version of Thackeray's Vanity Fair, with Miriam Hopkins in the title role. This view, taken during the filming of the picture, shows Becky together with Rawdon Crawley. The technicolor camera is in the center— much bulkier than the ordinary black-and-white camera, since it exposes three negatives simultaneously. In the right fore- ground is the sound engineer, who keeps the "level"
of the dialogue uniform as it is transmitted to the sound booth. Rouben Mamoulian, the director, wear- ing glasses, is seated in the center, clasping his hands.
BELOW
Marlene Dietrich appeared in The Devil Is a Woman, with the screen play by John Dos Passos, and it was not a success. Here is Miss Dietrich with Lionel Atwill. This was the last picture of the Dietrich-von Sternberg combination made for Paramount.
DAVID COPPERFIELD (1935)
281
One of the best pictures of the year was M-G-M's David Copperfield, produced by David Selznick. Un- der George Cukor's direction, it held strictlv to the Dickens story, with admirable results. Frank Lawton played the grown-up David; Edna May Oliver, Bet- sey Trotwood; Lionel Barrymore, Peggottv; and
Basil Rathbone, Mr. Murdstone. The child David was played by a newly discovered youngster of great talent, Freddie Bartholomew, while W. C. Fields contributed a fine portrait of Wilkins Micaw- ber. The last two are shown here.
282
THE TALKING PICTURE
Another good performance in the picture was that of Roland Young as Uriah Heep, a characterization that proved him to be an expert villain as well as an adroit comedian.
ABOVE BIGHT
Since Hearts of the World, Noel Coward had not appeared in an American picture until Ben Hecht and Charles Mac-Arthur induced him to join forces with them in a film they wrote, directed, and pro-
duced— The Scoundrel. It turned out to be the year's artistic success. Here are Coward and Julie Haydon.
BELOW
One of the thrillers of the year was Paramount's The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, based on the auto- biography of Yeats-Brown. Henry Hathaway directed the film in a masterfully tense fashion. In this scene are Kathleen Burke, Cary Cooper, Lionel Atwill, Franchot Tone, and Richard Cromwell.
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935) T
283
Frank Lloyd directed the exciting Mutiny on the Bounty for M-G-M, with a cast that included Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, and Dudley Digges. It won the Academy award for the best production of the 1934—35 season. In this scene, the central figures are Gable, Digges, and Laughton.
In a totally different vein was Laughton's perform- ance, as the valet won in a poker game, in Ruggles of Red Gap, which Leo McCarey directed for Para- mount. The front-row players shown here are Laughton, Zasu Pitts, Roland Young, Charles Rug- gles, and Leila Hyams.
284
THE TALKING PICTURE
Liam O'Flaherty's novel The Informer was filmed by RKO in 1935, and won Victor McLaglen the award for the best male performance of that year. Not only the acting was superb, but also the direction,
for which John Ford was responsible. Here are Joe Sawyer, Una O'Connor, Heather Angel, and Mc- Laglen in a scene from the picture.
CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935)
285
Private Worlds, made by Paramount, dealt with mental derangement and psychiatrical therapy and handled this difficult theme with skill and sympa- thy. Gregory LaCava directed this Walter Wanger production. Above are Charles Boyer and Claudette Colbert in a scene from the film. Joan Bennett also gave a memorable performance.
•\BOVE RIGHT
Ginger Rogers had gone to Hollywood after scoring a hit in George Gershwin's Girl Crazy. There, after various roles, she was teamed as a dancer with Fred
Astaire, whose sister-partner, Adele, had deserted her career to marry into the British peerage. The two speedily became the most popular dance team in pictures. This shot is from Top Hat.
BELOW
Another spectacular sea picture of the year was a screen version of Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood, produced by Cosmopolitan-First National and fea- turing Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. As this shot indicates, it was a boon to the extras.
286
THE TALKING PICTURE
Ronald Colman had one of his most congenial and successful roles as Sydney Carton in the 1935 screen version of A Tale of Two Cities. In this scene, Carton is descending from the tumbril on his way to the guillotine. The girl is Isabel Jewell.
The picture was notable for the size and historical fidelity of its sets. Here is one of the film's most impressive sequences, the storming of the Bastille, as reconstructed by M-G-M.
THE STORY OFLOUIS PASTEUR (1935)
287
In 1927 Garbo had played Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, with John Gilbert as her leading man— a silent pic- ture, of course, and entitled Love. Eight years later she remade Anna Karenina, this time with Fredric March as Vronsky. Clarence Brown directed this version for M-G-M.
BELOW
What is a "character actor"? He is an actor who :an step completely out of his own personality to Decome, for the moment, a completely different per-
son. He may be good or bad. He may be a ham, or he may be a great actor. Paul Muni is a character actor, and a first-rate one. In 1935 he made what was, at the time, a daring experiment— The Story of Louis Pasteur, the life of the great scientist with no concessions to the supposedly indispensable "love interest." The picture won him an Academy award and embarked him on a series of biographical pic- tures. This scene, with Dickie Moore, will give you an idea of his realistic make-up.
288
THE TALKING PICTURE
Samuel Goldwyn produced The Dark Angel in 1935 and starred Merle Oberon, Herbert Marshall, and Fredric March in it.
BELOW
In the summer of 1934 Max Reinhardt staged a spec- tacular production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Hollywood Bowl. The great Max had never considered the films, but confessed that he found them "interesting." It was no surprise to the know-
ing ones, therefore, when he agreed to collaborate with William Dieterle in a screen version of the play, for the Warner Brothers. The cast was large, the ballet was trained by Bronislava Nijinska, Erich Korngold wrote the music, and Hal Mohr did the photography, all of which cost well over a million dollars. Unfortunately, the public was not amused. Here is a scene from it, with James Cagney, as Bottom, holding the stage.
MODERN TIMES (1936)
289
By this time, Shirley Temple was a veteran picture star, with a following of faithful admirers that num- bered millions. The child's uncanny charm was ad- mirably exploited in The Little Colonel, made in 1935. This is the famous scene where she dances downstairs with the great hoofer, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
BELOW
Came 1936, and with it the first Chaplin picture in five years. Again Charlie stuck to his guns and pre- sented a picture in which— except for one sequence of unintelligible jargon-he and the rest of the cast remained silent. For a lesser artist the risk might
have been fatal, but to his fans Chaplin could do no wrong. Modern Times was a tremendous suc- cess. This scene gives a good idea of the weird set- tings for this machine-age picture. The figure at the left is Chaplin's old coworker from the Mack Sen- nett days, Chester Conklin.
ABOVE RIGHT
The plot utilized the basic Chaplin formula-the picked-on little man befriending a waif who is worse off than he. This time the waif was Paulette God- dard, a newcomer to pictures and' one of his dis- coveries. Here is Miss Goddard in one of the dance- hall sequences.
290
THE TALKING PICTURE
King Vidor directed, produced, and collaborated on the story of Texas Rangers for Paramount. Basically, it was a horse opera, but done on a grand scale that raised it above the level of the ordinary Western. As this shot of the company on location indicates, some of the credit for the picture's success should go to nature's well-designed settings.
BELOW
An important Thalberg production of 1936 was
Romeo and Juliet. Having planned it as a vehicle for his wife, Norma Shearer, he gave it a magnificent production with a cast that included, besides Miss Shearer as Juliet, Leslie Howard as Romeo, Basil Rathbone as Tybalt, John Barrymore as Mercutio, and Edna May Oliver as the nurse. Incidentally, Miss Shearer surprised many of the prophets by giv- ing a skilled and sensitive performance.
ROMEO AND JULIET (1936)
291
The production was notable for the historical accu- racy of its settings and costumes, for Thalberg had sent research men to Italy to verify every detail of architecture and clothing. Shown here is the square in Verona where Mercutio and Tybalt are killed.
BELOW
In Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Gary Cooper, relieved
of the necessity of playing the strong, silent man, went to town on his own hook and revealed him- self as an engaging and talented comedian. Frank Capra directed the picture brilliantly from a script by Robert Riskin. This picture contributed the word "pixilated" to the language; and here is Mr. Deeds talking to the two old ladies who invented it.
292
THE TALKING PICTURE
Spencer Tracy, under Fritz Lang's direction, gave a fine performance in Fun/, an uncompromising study of mob madness that had many a thrilling moment. This is one of them, where the mob tries to break into the jail in order to lynch one of the inmates. Failing to get its intended victim, the mob burns down the jail.
One of the best comedies in recent years was My Man Godfrey, which Gregory LaCava produced and directed for Universal in 1936. William Powell gave a polished performance, while Carole Lombard turned out to be one of the best zanies on the screen. In this scene we have Eugene Pallette, Miss Lombard, Alice Bradv, and Mischa Auer.
ONE HUNDRED MEN AND A GIRL (1936)
293
[n Three Smart Girls, a hitherto unknown youngster >amed Deanna Durbin leaped into instant popular- ty. Universal promptly featured her in One Hun- ired Men and a Girl, with Leopold Stokowski. It nade a star of her, and she became one of Univer- ial's biggest money-makers. Thanks to exceptionally
intelligent handling by her producer, Joseph Paster- nak, and her director, Henry Koster, she appeared in a series of pictures that took her through the difficult years of adolescence with undiminished popularity.
294
THE TALKING PICTUR1
Lloyds of London made a star of Tvrone Power overnight. Henry King directed this historical film for Twentieth Century-Fox in 1936. Heading the cast were Freddie Bartholomew, Madeleine Carroll, and Power.
BELOW
Universal remade the Edna Ferber-Terome Kern mu-
sical Show Boat in 1936 and did a splendid job James Whale, taking time out from horror pictures directed it. Here are Irene Dunne, as Magnolia Allan Jones, as Gaylord, Charles Winninger, as Cap tain Andy, and Helen Westley, as Mrs. Hawk; Helen Morgan, not shown, repeated her stage role
THE GREEN PASTURES (1936)
295
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From a volume of short stories by Roark Bradford, Marc Connelly fashioned the play The Green Pas- tures, which ran for years in New York and on the road. The film version, produced by Warners and directed by Connelly and William Keighlev, was almost as successful. Here is a view of the fish fry in heaven in the making. Notice the battery of sun- light arcs, the studio cop in the background, the
interested audience in the foreground, and the cam- era, on a boom, in the middle distance toward the left.
BELOW
Two years after their initial triumph in The Tliin Man, Myrna Loy, William Powell, and Asta ap- peared in its successor, After the Thin Man. For once, the sequel was up to the original.
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296
THE TALKING PICTURE
It took courage for Columbia to transfer George Kelly's Pulitzer Prize play, Craig's Wife, to the screen, for the theme— that it is no virtue to be too good a housekeeper— ran contrary to the best movie traditions. Although nothing like a smash hit, the picture fared encouragingly well, thanks to an un- compromisingly honest performance by Rosalind Russell and to fine direction by one of Hollywood's few women directors, Dorothy Arzner. Here is Miss Russell with Jane Darwell.
BELOW
San Francisco, produced by M-G-M in 1936, was easily one of the biggest thrillers in years. The cast included Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Jeanette Mac- Donald, and Jack Holt, with W. S. Van Dyke direct- ing. This shot is from the twenty-minute earthquake sequence, one of the most exciting ever created for the screen.
THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1936)
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Robert E. Sherwood's The Petrified Forest was trans- ferred to the screen by Warner Brothers in 1936. Archie Mayo directed the film in a slow but tense style. The performances were also first-rate, espe- cially Humphrey Bogart's. This was his first film, and he played the character that he had created on Broadway. In this scene are Charley Grapewin, Genevieve Tobin, Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, then well on her way to becoming Hollywood's most ac claimed actress, Bogart, and Joe Sawyer.
BELOW LEFT
Another successful transference from stage to screen was Sidney Howard's Dodswortli, from the Sinclair
Lewis novel. William Wyler handled the direction, and Walter Huston, Mary Astor, and Ruth Chatter- ton turned in excellent performances. United Artists released this Goldwyn production in 1936. Below are Huston and Miss Astor, who contributed one of her best performances.
BELOW RIGHT
Despite a rather sickening advertising campaign, "Garbo loves Robert Taylor in Camille," it was a first-rate refilming of the old Dumas fih classic. Garbo's performance was one of her best, and George Cukor's direction one of his best. Metro re- leased the film in 1936. Below, Garbo is loving Tavlor.
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The really super-production of 1936 was M-G-M's screen biography of Florenz Ziegfeld, The Great Ziegfeld. Robert Z. Leonard handled the massive job of direction, and William Powell played the name part, with Myrna Loy as Rillie Burke. Here are Powell and Nat Pendleton, "Sandow the Great."
BELOW
When Anthony Hope wrote The Prisoner of Zciula,
the Edison Kinetoscope had just been exhibited to the public. The two— the story and the moving picture— were to meet many times in future years. Ramon Novarro, for one, played it in 1922. In 1937 it reappeared on the screen, this time with Ronald Colman in the title role, with Madeleine Carroll as the heroine. John Cromwell directed it for Selznick. This duel scene shows Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Colman.
DEAD END ( 1937 )
299
With Victor Fleming directing, M-G-M produced a film version of Rudyard Kipling's epic of New Eng- land, Captains Courageous. Spencer Tracy won an Academy award for his performance, while Freddie Bartholomew proved that his success in David Cop- perfield had been no accident. They are shown here, with Lionel Barrymore handling the binoculars.
Sidney Kingsley's dramatic hit, Dead End, was brought to the screen by Samuel Goldwyn in 1937, with settings that were a faithful extension of Nor- man Bel Geddes' original set. William Wyler was the director. The Dead End kids, who had been such a striking feature of the play, were brought to Hollywood en masse. They appear in this scene with (at the left) Joel McCrea and Wendy Barrie.
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Another spectacular production, still one of the high lights of motion-picture making, was M-G-M's adaptation of Pearl Buck's novel of Chinese life, The Good Earth. Irving Thalberg, the producing head of M-G-M, sent a cameraman to China to make background and atmosphere shots. Sidney Franklin directed the picture, and Paul Muni as Wang, and Luise Rainer as O-Lan, gave superb performances.
Altogether, The Good Earth was three years in the making (the actual production took eleven months). Thalberg never saw the completed film, for he died before it was finished. The picture remains a monu- ment to his taste and imagination. This scene shows Wang and O-Lan in the wheat field, just before the coming of the locusts.
LOST HORIZON ( 1937)
301
Columbia's Frank Capra made a beautiful and gen- erally impressive picture from James Hilton's mod- ern fairy tale, Lost Horizon. The cast was uniformly good. In this scene are H. B. Warner, Ronald Col- man, Thomas Mitchell, Isabel Jewell, and Edward Everett Horton.
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Outstanding, both for acting and make-up, was Sam Jaffe's performance as the two-hundred-year-old High Lama. He is shown here with Ronald Colman.
302
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In writing the screen play for A Star Is Born, Doro- thy Parker, Alan Campbell, and Robert Carson dis- proved the old movie superstition that the public is not interested in stories of movie life. Expertly directed by William A. Wellman, the film offered a deeply moving performance by Fredric March as the fading picture star whose career ends in drunk- enness and suicide as his actress wife rises to star-
dom. March is at the extreme left in this scene. Lionel Stander is at the bar.
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The picture was a triumph for Janet Gaynor. Prior to its production there had been much gossip that Miss Gaynor was "through." Her touching perform- ance as the wife established her more firmly than ever in the public's affections. Here she is talking to the picture producer, played by Adolphe Menjou.
A DAY AT THE RACES (1937)
303
This is a scene from the film that started the Andy Hardy plague, and here is Andy Hardy, played by Mickey Rooney. The film was not called Andy Hardy blank-blank, but A Family Affair. George B. Seitz directed for M-G-M, and year was 1937. Inci- dentally, Lionel Barrymore, not Lewis Stone, was the first Judge Hardy.
Only a short while ago the Marx Brothers announced their retirement from pictures, "anticipating a pub- lic demand." Whether or not the retirement is per- manent remains to be seen. Here are the three fa- mous clowns in M-G-M's A Day at the Races. Left to right: Harpo, Esther Muir, Groucho, and Chico. Zeppo, originally the fourth Marx, quit the team to become a motion-picture agent.
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The same year saw the screen advent of Enilyn Williams' psychopathological chiller, Night Must Fall. Robert Montgomery, reprieved from an endless succession of light-comedy roles, gave a perform- ance of sinister power that stamped him as a superb "straight" actor. Richard Thorpe directed the pic- ture. In the scene above are Dame May Whitty, Montgomery, and Rosalind Russell.
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The year was rich in comedy, producing at least three pictures that are still fondly remembered and frequently revived. One was The Awful Truth, directed by Leo McCarey for Columbia, in which Cary Grant (on top of sofa) and Irene Dunne (in furs) gave splendid performances.
NOTHING SACRED (1937)
305
Another was Hal Roach's picturization of Thorne Smith's Topper, in which Roland Young played the title role. Constance Bennett, as a materialized ghost, contributed admirably to the general hilarity. The picture was directed by Norman McLeod and was replete with camera tricks— doors that opened by themselves; tools that changed tires; and, the best trick of all, Miss Bennett's taking a shower while she was invisible, with the water splashing off her invisible body. In this scene Miss Bennett has just
materialized, to the dismay of Young of Virginia Sales.
the horror
BELOW
Nothing Sacred was another of these comedies. Wil- liam Wellman directed it, and Carole Lombard, Fredric March, and Walter Connolly were the lead- ing players. In this shot, Connolly is standing at the back of Miss Lombard's chair, with Fredric March scowling in the background.
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Walt Disney won the Academy cartoon award in 1937 with The Old Mill, in which he first made use of his "multiplane" camera, a device by which his drawings take on a startlingly three-dimensional character. The cartoon had no plot in the ordinary sense of the word, but the charm of its details and the beauty of the film as a whole made it irresist- ible.
In The Life of Emile Zola, Paul Muni again played a biographical role in a story that stuck largely to facts and was devoid of the usual "love interest." Again, as in the Pasteur picture, the experiment was successful. Muni's make-up as Zola was amazingly like the novelist's portraits, and his performance was brilliant, rising to memorable heights in the trial scene. Here are Muni and Gloria Holden.
THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA (1937)
307
William Dieterle directed Zola tor Warner Brothers in 1937, and the film won the Academy award for the best production of the year. Another striking performance in the film was Joseph Schildkraut's superb playing of the role of Dreyfus. He is shown here after his reinstatement in the French army fol- lowing Zola's successful campaign to clear him of the charge of treason. The woman with him is Gale Sondergaard, as Mine Dreyfus.
BELOW
George S. Kaufman's and Edna Ferber's play of theatrical life, Stage Door, came to the screen with Katharine Hepburn in the leading role. The picture also gave Ginger Rogers a chance to show what she could do with an important straight part not calling for dancing ability. She is shown here with Miss Hepburn and Adolphe Menjou.
308
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By 1938 the Spanish Civil War was sufficiently uppermost in the public mind to attract Hollywood's attention. Walter Wanger produced Blockade, an original screen play by John Howard Lawson, which William Dieterle directed. It was a noble attempt, for the Civil War was a delicate subject, and not only to Hollywood. Henry Fonda and Madeleine Carroll, shown here, were the principals.
BELOW
Jackie Coogan had done Tom Sawyer in 1930. Eight years later, David O. Selznick introduced another Tom to the screen public, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, in the person of Tommy Kelly, a newcomer who endeared himself at once. Here are Mary ( Marcia Mae Jones), Aunt Polly (May Robson), and Tom.
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER (1938)
309
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Selznick gave the picture a painstakingly faithful production, as witness this uncannily plausible set, representing a street in Tom's home town. Whatever its faults, Hollywood can boast the most expert technicians in the world.
BELOW
Speaking of coincidences, here are two somewhat identical shots of two groups of five persons, from two pictures that were poles apart— although both
were among the best the year produced. Number one (the scene is a British railway carriage) was The Young in Heart, a gay fable of a family of genial crooks who went straight because an old lady be- lieved in them. The scene in which Roland Young and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., start out to look for hon- est work will long be remembered. This group com- prises Billie Burke, Fairbanks, Young, Janet Gaynor, and Minnie Dupree. Richard Wallace directed the film.
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The other was M-G-M's Three Comrades, adapted from Erich Maria Remarque's novel of postwar Ger- many. Frank Borzage directed an excellent cast. In particular, Margaret Sullavan's performance as the doomed girl was beautiful and touching. This group comprises Franchot Tone, Miss Sullavan, Robert Taylor, Robert Young, and Lionel Atwill.
Despite the two million dollars that 20th Century- Fox put into the production, Suez, featuring Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, and Annabella, didn't quite come off. It did have, however, some impressive sets —for example, this replica of the interior of England's House of Commons, shown during the shooting of a scene. Power is standing in the center of the gallery.
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1938)
311
When Walt Disney announced his intention of mak- ing a feature-length animated cartoon, to cost nearly two million dollars, his sincerest well-wishers told him that he was crazy. In the first place, the public wouldn't sit through so long a cartoon; in the second place, an adult audience certainly wouldn't sit through a fairy tale, and the juvenile audience wasn't large enough to pay for the cost of produc- tion. Disney listened politely, and released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which promptly broke attendance records all over America, grossed about
eight million dollars, played in forty-one different countries, and had a sound track in ten different languages.
BELOW
Snow White had everything— magic, animals, love in- terest, menace, comedy, and pathos. Here is the scene where the young prince visits the bier of Snow White, surrounded by her mourning companions ( the famous Dopey is second from left). A special Acad- emy award went to Disney in 1938 for this picture.
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Algiers was the American version of a French film, Pepe le Moko, and it featured two lovely girls: Sigrid Gurie (left) and the Viennese Hedy Lamarr, whose extraordinary beauty so hypnotized the spectators that they didn't care whether or not she could act. This is a publicity shot.
ABOVE RIGHT
The acting was provided, first, by Charles Boyer,
whose undeniable talent and brooding Latin charm did to the female onlookers what Hedy Lamarr did to the male ones; and, second, by Gene Lockhart, who played the villain.
BELOW
Ginger Rogers had another straight acting part in Vivacious Lady, and she and James Stewart ( shown here with her) delighted the customers with this comedy.
YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938)
313
Frank Capra did a wonderful job of direction when he brought George S. Kaufman's and Moss Hart's lunatic play, You Can't Take It With You, to the screen. The father who pays no income tax because he doesn't approve of it; the mother who paints, but who took up writing because somebody delivered a typewriter at the house by mistake; the boarder who makes fireworks in the basement; the son who plays the vibraphone; the daughter who mistakenly thinks she can dance— they were all there, and funnier than ever. In this family scene we have: Halliwell Hobbes posing on the box of explosives, Spring Byington at
the easel, Dub Taylor at the vibraphone, Ann Miller, and Mischa Auer. The cast also included Jean Ar- thur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, and Edward Arnold.
BELOW
The Dawn Patrol, which had featured Richard Bar- thelmess and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., in 1930, was remade by Warners in 1938, this time with Errol Flynn and David Niven, a popular newcomer, as the leads. Niven is at the left in this group, then come Flynn, Donald Crisp, and Basil Rathbone.
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One of the best pictures of 1939 was Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which Frank Capra produced and directed for Columbia. This scene shows James Stewart, as the youthful Senator, starting his filibus- ter speech in his own defense. Notice the amazing faithfulness of this set.
BELOW
Howard Hawks' production of Only Angels Have Wings offered several fine performances by the prin- cipals. Shown here are Richard Barthelmess, making a comeback, Cary Grant, and Thomas Mitchell. In the background is Allyn Joslyn.
STAGECOACH ( 1939)
315
Mitchell also gave a memorable performance as the drunken doctor in Walter Wanger's Stagecoach. This was a really first-rate Western, superbly directed by John Ford. In this scene are John Carradine, Donald Meek, and Mitchell.
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Disney's most notable production of the year was The Ugly Duckling, and it got an Academy award.
316
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An exceptionally honest and powerfully acted pic- ture was the screen version of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, which Lewis Milestone produced and directed for Hal Roach. Thanks to a script that was virtually a literal transcript of the play, brilliant direction, and a fine cast, the picture made a deep impression. In this scene, George, played by Burgess Meredith (right), is steeling himself to shoot his simple-minded pal, Lennie ( Lon Chaney, Jr.), to save him from being lynched by a posse.
BELOW
One of the best comedies of 1939, Bachelor Mother, was directed by Garson Kanin for RKO. Ginger Rogers, Charles Coburn, and David Niven, abetted by an excellent script by Norman Krasna, gave irre- sistible performances. In this scene, the stern grand- parent, confronted by what he thinks is his illegiti- mate grandson, becomes unexpectedly maudlin over being a grandfather.
THE OLD MAID (1939)
317
Bette Davis gave a poignant characterization of the dying young wife in the screen version of the tragic play, Dark Victory. Edmund Goulding directed the picture for Warner Brothers.
BELOW
Warners gave Zoe Akins' play based on Edith Whar- ton's novelette, The Old Maid, an honest, well-
directed, and well-cast production, in which Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins gave notable perform- ances. Edmund Goulding also directed this film. The two sisters are shown here, one ( Miss Hopkins ) with her adopted daughter, watched by the other ( Miss Davis ) who is, unknown to the other, the child's real mother.
318
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Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur made an expert screen adaptation of Emily Bronte's novel, Wither- ing Heights, and Samuel Goldwyn gave it a cast and production that resulted in one of the finest pictures Hollywood has ever turned out. Merle Oberon as Cathy, David Niven as Linton, and Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff were a trio that could hardly have been bettered; and William Wyler's direction was superb.
Here are Miss Oberon and Olivier in one of the early scenes.
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Olivier's acting talents and personality were admira- bly suited to the moodiness of Heathcliff's character. His was an unforgettable performance. In this scene are Niven, Miss Oberon, and Olivier.
GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
319
The great event of 1939, of course, the production that overshadowed all others, was the screen version of Margaret Mitchell's phenomenal best seller, Gone With the Wind. For two years producer David O. Selznick searched for a girl to play Scarlett O'Hara and finally gave the part to Vivien Leigh, who, al-
though English, gave an admirable portrait of the Southern heroine. There was never any doubt about who should play Rhett Butler, and Clark Gable did. Here he is with Miss Leigh in one of their less hos- tile interludes.
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Leslie Howard, shown here with Olivia de Havilland (left) and Miss Leigh, was an admirahle choice for the role of Ashley. Miss de Havilland's portrait of Melanie was one of the best performances in the Elm.
The picture took nearly two years to make and cost $3,850,000— easily the most ambitious offering the screen has ever presented. This shot, of wounded Confederate soldiers awaiting removal, shows where some of the money went.
GOOD-BYE, MR. CHIPS (1939)
321
Selznick took a heavy risk in presenting a picture that lasted 220 minutes, but the film vindicated his judgment. The picture ran away with most of the Academy awards for the year: it was chosen the best production; Vivien Leigh won the award as the best actress; Hattie McDaniel, as the best supporting ac- tress; Victor Fleming, for the best direction; Sidney Howard, for the best screen play; and awards went to it for the best art direction and best film edit- ing. David O. Selznick received the Thalberg Memo- rial Award. His pecuniary reward has been a gross intake thus far of thirteen million dollars. Here is a spectacular scene from Gone With the Wind, the
burning of Atlanta, one of the costliest and most exciting sequences ever made.
BELOW
M-G-M filmed James Hilton's novel Good-bye, Mr. Chips in England in 1939. Sam Wood went over to direct it, and did a splendid job. Robert Donat, as Chips, gave one of his best performances, and his make-up, as you can see, was a triumph. This film introduced Greer Garson to the American motion- picture public. With Donat, in the scene above, is Terry Kilburn, who also turned in a fine perform- ance.
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Cliflurd Odets' play of a violinist who becomes a prize fighter, Golden Boy, was brought to the screen by Columbia in 1939, with William Holden in the title role. Appearing in this scene are (left to right): Edward Brophy, Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Men- jou, and Holden. Rouben Mamoulian directed the film.
Another fine film from England was George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, released by M-G-M. Leslie How- ard not only played the lead but also codirected the picture with Anthony Asquith. This was the first Shaw play ever screened, and Shaw was delighted with it. Here are Howard and Wendy Hiller, who gave an unforgettable performance as the flower girl who is transformed into a lady.
THE WOMEN (19 3 9)
323
The year '39 also saw a reversal of the usual all- male cast, in an all-female screen version of Clare Booth's play, The Women, directed with verve and noise by George Cukor. One of the picture's more ladylike moments is reflected in the shot above, which reveals, in the traditional sequence, Norma Shearer, Joan Fontaine, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, and Mary Boland. Space and the censor do not permit a showing of the lady who sat in the
bathtub, impersonated by Joan Crawford.
BELOW
Here is Rosalind Russell in a somewhat tamer mood. The picture is His Girl Fridaij, a remake of The Front Page, the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur play. In this version Hildy Johnson, star reporter, becomes Hilda Johnson. Howard Hawks directed this fast and funny film for Columbia in 1940. With Miss Russell here are Cary Grant and Gene Lockhart.
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Early in 1940 came Pinocchio, Walt Disney's first full-length feature since Snow; White. Though the story of the puppet who became a boy lacked the sentimental appeal of the previous picture, it had plenty of comedy and excitement and pictorial beauty. Technically, it carried animation to a new height of perfection. Here are four of the chief personages of the picture: Figaro, the kitten; Cleo, the amorous goldfish; Jiminy Cricket, who acted as Pinocchio's
conscience; and Pinocchio himself. Notice Pinocchio's hand. Like most Disney characters, human beings alone excepted, it has only three fingers and a thumb.
BELOW
Cary Grant and Irene Dunne followed their hilari- ous The Awful Truth with another successful com- edy, My Favorite Wife. In this scene are Ann Shoe- maker, Miss Dunne, and Grant.
NO TIME FOR COMEDY (1940)
325
The movie fan of today will accept far sterner fare than the tales of the silent davs. For instance, the screen adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Victory, as pro- duced by Paramount in 1940. Two of the principals were Fredric March and Margaret Wycherly, shown here.
BELOW
In the movie version of S. N. Behrman's No Time for Comedy, Rosalind Russell played the part cre- ated by Katharine Cornell on the stage. She is shown here with Allyn Joslyn.
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In screening Christopher Morley's Kitty Foyle, Gin- ger Rogers essayed the most ambitious role she had attempted since giving up dancing roles to become a serious actress. Her performance won her the 1939- 40 Academy award. She appears here in a scene with Gladys Cooper and Dennis Morgan.
RKO made a film version of Sidney Howard's Pulit- zer Prize play, They Knew What They Wanted, with Charles Laughton in a dialect part, and doing it well. Carole Lombard played the mail-order wife ad- mirably. She is shown here with Laughton and William Gargan.
REBECCA ( 1940)
327
Preston Sturges, author of the play Strictly Dishon- orable and one of Paramount's best script writers, had a story, so the legend goes, that he begged Para- mount to let him produce and direct. Paramount refused, but offered a large sum for the story. Sturges finally got his way by selling his bosses the story for one dollar, taking his change, as director, on the profits of the picture. The result, The Great McGinty, was a great success in 1939. He had no difficulty, therefore, in inducing Paramount to let him follow
the same procedure with his later pictures, Christ- mas in July, The Lady Eve, and Sullivan's Travels. Above is Brian Donlevy, who played McGinty.
BELOW
In 1940 David O. Selznick made a picture of Daphne Du Maurier's story, Rebecca. Alfred Hitchcock gave it masterly direction, which, coupled with beautiful performances by Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, and Judith Anderson, made it one of the important pictures of the year.
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Bette Davis added to her reputation as one of Holly- wood's best actresses with her performance in a screen version of \V. Somerset Maugham's play, The Letter, which Warners produced in 1940.
BELOW
John Ford directed two outstanding productions in
1940. One was John Steinbeck's saga of migrant workers, The Grapes of Wrath. Nunnally Johnson prepared the script for Twentieth Century-Fox. Here are Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell in one of its realistic, unprettified scenes.
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
329
The other Ford production was Long Voyage Home, based on Eugene O'Neill's one-act sea plays. This was another realistic and gripping film, without fancy costumes and lavish sets. In it Thomas Mitchell gave one of his best performances. In this scene are Mitchell, John Qualen, and John Wayne.
One of the brightest comedies of 1940 was Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story, with Katharine Hep- burn repeating her stage role. M-G-M produced, and George Cukor directed it. The principals in this scene are John Howard, Cary Grant, Hepburn, and James Stewart.
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fane Austen's beloved novel, Pride and Prejudice, was filmed by Metro in 1940. Robert Z. Leonard di- rected a first-rate cast, Greer Garson especially con- tributing a glowing and delicate performance. Here are Melville Cooper, Mary Boland, Miss Garson, Ann Rutherford, Marsha Hunt, and Edna May Oliver. Not shown in this scene is Mr. Darcy, played by Laurence Olivier.
BELOW
Rood to Singapore brought together Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour in a riotously funny picture, and brought forth a number of even funnier sequels. This Road to was directed by Victor Schert- zinger for Paramount in 1940.
THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940)
331
The two most important cinematic events of 1940 were both revolutionary in their respective ways. The first was Charlie Chaplin's long-awaited picture, The Great Dictator. Here, for the first time in his career, he played a speaking part. His enunciation was perfect, and his voice was pleasant in quality and, when the occasion demanded it, powerful. The great pantomimist was an accomplished speaking actor as well. Some of his best speeches, however, were delivered not in English, but in the grotesque, quasi-Teutonic jargon that was the native tongue of flynkel, the Great Dictator of the mythical country of Tomania. Jack Oakie, as Napaloni, dictator of the neighboring country of Bacteria, shared comedy honors with Chaplin. He is shown here, to the left of Hynkel. The others in the front row are: (extreme left) Carter De Haven as an ambassador, (right of
Chaplin) Billy Gilbert as Herring, and Henry Dan- iell as Garbitsch. Second from the left in the back row is Reginald Gardiner as Schultz.
BELOW
Chaplin played the dual role of a little Jewish barber who is the dictator's double and the dictator himself. Here he is, in the former role, being arrested by the Tomanian equivalent of the Gestapo, with Paulette Goddard, as Hannah, in the doorway. The picture's appeal was undoubtedly injured by the fact that it was begun in 1938, before the war, and was released in 1940, when Adolf Hitler, the thinly disguised original of Hynkel, was no laughing matter. Many of the individual sequences in the picture were, never- theless, worthy to rank among Chaplin's happiest inspirations. Chaplin, as usual, produced, wrote, and directed the film.
332
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Through a fortuitous chain of circumstances the dic- tator is arrested in place of his double, and the little barber takes his place at the head of the army that is occupying a defenseless neighboring republic. In- vited to address his victorious troops, the supposed Hynkel makes an impassioned plea for peace and tolerance. This, one of the closing scenes, shows Hynkel (Chaplin) and Schultz, his friend (Reginald Gardiner), about to mount the reviewing stand. Many critics objected to the final speech in the pic- ture on the ground that it took Chaplin out of char- acter and was not in key with what had gone before.
BELOW LEFT
If Chaplin talked, Disney gave a concert. In Fan- tasia, released in the late fall of 1940, he disclosed something new in the line of musical entertainment. Fantasia offered a program of descriptive music, re- corded by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold
Stokowski, with animated program notes to take the place of the usual printed ones. The animation, need- less to say, was Disney's part of the proceedings, and Disney at his best. Deems Taylor, appearing on the screen at intervals, acted as general apologist and between-numbers commentator. The film opened with a Bach toccata and fugue, illustrated by abstract moving forms. In Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, our old pal, Mickey Mouse, was the hero. He was the only traditional Disney character in Fantasia.
BELOW RIGHT
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, a Disney master- piece, was one of the most exquisite episodes in the series, as this shot from "The Waltz of the Flowers" indicates. A unique feature of Fantasia was the re- production of the music. Recorded on three sound tracks, it was produced through a battery of sixty loudspeakers placed throughout the theater, giving the music a quality of astonishing fidelity.
FANTASIA ( 1940)
333
The first half of the program closed with Stravin- sky's The Rite of Spring. The music to the ballet for which this was originally written caused an uproar at its first hearing and is still considered too ad- vanced for the average taste. Nevertheless, as real- ized by the Disney forces, it was one of the most successful numbers on the program— a tribute not only to the public's growth in musical appreciation, but also to Disney's genius for translating sounds into action. Shown here is one of the dinosaurs from this sequence.
ABOVE BIGHT
The second half comprised Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony ( which aroused violent controversy over its lapses of taste), Ponchielli's The Dance of the Hours, Mussorgsky's A Night on Bald Mountain, and ended with Schubert's Ave Maria. Here is a scene from the Mussorgsky work. There has been talk that Disney plans to add new numbers to Fantasia.
BELOW
No other picture of 1941 was more volubly dis- cussed than Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. When RKO commissioned a picture from Welles, who had made a reputation in radio and as director of the Mer- cury Theater in New York, he was to have carte blanche as to story. He was to be author, producer, director, and, as this still indicates, the star. Charles Chaplin is the only other man, thus far, ever to have combined all these functions; even he had to own his studio before he was able to do this. The picture received sensational publicity fo- its alleged parallel- ing of the life story of a famous living newspaper publisher; and there was much gossip regarding threats of suppression and retaliation. In fact, the Hearst press never advertised, reviewed, or men- tioned the film or Welles. Citizen Kane didn't need the publicity, for it was an engrossing film.
334
THE TALKING PICTURE
The critical acclaim approached hysteria, one critic stating that "the motion-picture industry will be learning from Citizen Kane lor five years to come." This scene gives a good idea of the unusual camera angles and unorthodox lighting that made it inter- esting photographically. Gregg Toland was the pho- tographer.
BELOW
There was excellent acting in the picture, particu- larly by Dorothy Comingore as Kane's second wife, and by Welles himself, in the title role. This scene
shows Kane and his wife in their vast estate in Florida, Xanadu. Citizen Kane was an extraordinary achievement for a young man of twenty-five with no motion-picture experience of any sort.
ABOVE BIGHT
Here is a scene from Warner's production of Kings Row. Though the picture was overlong and somber, Sam Wood's direction kept the story moving elo- quently. The leads were played by Ann Sheridan, Betty Field, Ronald Reagan, and, above, Robert Cum- mings and Claude Rains.
SERGEANT YORK (1941)
335
Another Warner picture of 1941 was Sergeant York, famous soldier, added to his list of fine performances, a biography of the World War I hero. Gary Cooper, Joan Leslie, who played his sweetheart, was likewise
as the rustic conscientious objector who became the excellent.
336
THE TALKING PICTURE
The old master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, made Suspicion for RKO in 1941. Joan Fontaine, who had been so successful in Hitchcock's previous Rebecca, gave a performance in this one that won her an Academy award. Other principals were Cary Grant and Dame May Whitty. That back, in the scene with Miss Fontaine, belongs to Mr. Grant.
Lillian Hellman's bitter and sardonic play of greed, The Little Foxes, was also transferred successfully to the screen in 1941, by Samuel Goldwyn. It was directed by William Wyler, and acted up to the hilt by Bette Davis, Patricia Collinge (repeating her stage performance), and Herbert Marshall. Shown here, in one of the picture's tense scenes, are Mar- shall, Teresa Wright, and Miss Davis.
HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941)
337
g£| m
Another important 1941 production was Twentietli Century-Fox's screen version of Richard Llewellyn's novel, How Green Was Mij Valley, a story of a Welsh mining town. John Ford did his usual first- rate job of directing, and Walter Pidgeon and Roddy McDowall. heading a large cast, turned in memora-
ble performances. The sets, as you can see, were realistic and substantial. Wartime economy note: If you happened to see the film version of John Stein- beck's The Moon Is Down, early in 1943, you saw the same set, mine and all, plus a dash of snow, transferred bodily to Norway.
338
THE TALKING PICTURE
As this book goes to press, there is at least one 1942 picture that deserves inclusion— Metro's production of Mrs. Miniver, derived from Jan Struther's sketches of middle-class English life during the war. William Wyler, who has done good pictures for virtually all the studios, was the director. The cast included Teresa Wright, and Walter Pidgeon and Greer Gar- son as Mr. and Mrs. Miniver. They are shown above in their back-yard air-raid shelter. Miss Garson's acting won her the Academy award for the best performance of the year.
ENVOI
So ends the chronicle— or, rather, one chapter of it, a chapter that will already be somewhat out of date by the time it reaches you. Only a newspaper could hope to keep up with the activities of an art indus- try that makes its history from day to day. All we could hope to do was to show you its beginnings, its past, and some of its present. As to its future— that is in the hands of you, its audience.
DEEMS TAYLOR
APPENDIX
ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES AWARDS
Director
1927-28 Frank Borzage (Seventh Heaven ) and Lewis Milestone ( Two Arabian Knights)
1928-29 Frank Lloyd (Weary River, Divine Lady, Drag)
1929-30 Lewis Milestone (A/7
Quiet on the Western Front )
1930-31 Norman Taurog (Skippy)
1931-32 Frank Borzage (Bad Girl)
1932-33 Frank Lloyd (Cavalcade)
1933-34 Frank Capra (It Hap- pened One Night)
1934-35 John Ford (The Informer)
1935-36 Frank Capra (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town)
1936-37 Leo McCarey (The Aw- ful Truth)
1937-38 Frank Capra (You Can't Take It With You)
1938-39 Victor Fleming (Gone With the Wind)
1939-40 John Ford (The Grapes of Wrath)
1940^1 John Ford (How Green Was My Valley)
1941-42 William Wyler (Mrs. Miniver)
Actress Actor
Janet Gaynor (Seventh Heaven, Emil Jannings ( The Way of All Street Angel, Sunrise) Flesh, The Last Command)
Mary Pickford (Coquette)
Warner Baxter (In Old Arizona]
Norma Shearer (The Divorcee) George Arliss (Disraeli)
Marie Dressier (Min and Bill) Lionel Barrymore (A Free Soul)
Helen Hayes (The Sin of Made- Ion Claudet)
Katharine Hepburn ( Morning Glory )
Claudette Colbert (It Happened One Night)
Bette Davis ( Dangerous )
Luise Bainer ( The Great Ziegfeld )
Luise Bainer ( The Good Earth )
Bette Davis (Jezehel)
Vivien Leigh (Gone With the Wind)
Ginger Bogers ( Kitty Foi/le ) Joan Fontaine ( Suspicion ) Greer Garson (Mrs. Miniver)
Fredric March ( Dr. Jchjll and Mr. Hyde)
Charles Laughton (The Private Life of Henry VIII)
Clark Gable (It Happened One
Night )
Victor McLaglen (The Informer)
Paul Muni ( The Story of Louis Pasteur )
Spencer Tracy ( Captains Coura- geous)
Spencer Tracy ( Boys Town )
Bobert Donat (Good-bye Mr. C'ips)
James Stewart ( The Philadelphia Story )
Gary Cooper (Sergeant York)
James Cagney (Yankee Doodle Dandy )
INDEX
Abeles, Edward, 27 Abie's Irish Rose, 209, 248 Abraham Lincoln, 228 Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences, 256 Ackroyd, Jack, 57 Acord, Art, 12 Adam's Rib, 140 Adams, Maude, 156 Adams, Stella, 16 Addams, Jane, 46 Admirable Criehton, The, 87 Adoree, Renee, 172 Adrian, 237
Adventures of Carol, The, 78 Adventures of Dolly, The, 45 Adventures of Kathhjn, The, 94 Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The,
308-309 Afraid to Love, 193 After the Thin Man, 273, 295 Aherne, Brian, 268 Akins, Zoe, 317 Alaskan, The, 149 Albertson, Frank, 239 Alcott, Louisa Mav, 265 Alexander, Ben, 83, 88, 222 Alexander, Gus, 16 Alexander Hamilton, 236 Algiers, 312
Alice in Wonderland, 266 All Quiet on the Western Front,
222-223, 225 Allen, Fred, 25 Alvarado, Don, 209 America, 151-152 Ames, Winthrop, 170 Amet, E. H., 6 Annabella, 310 Anderson, G. M. ("Broncho Billy"),
7, 24, 54 Anderson, Judith, 327 Anderson, Maxwell, 182 Angel, Heather, 277, 284 Animal Kingdom, The, 249 Animals in Motion, 2 Anna Christie (1923), 134 Anna Christie (1930), 223 Anna Karenina, 287 Another Thin Man, 273 Apfel, Oscar, 27 Arbuckle, Maclyn, 32 Arbuckle, Roscoe ("Fattv"), 38,
39, 114 Arlen, Michael, 222 Arlen, Richard, 189, 210 Arliss, George, 139, 216, 236, 269 Arnold, Edward, 313 Arrowsmith, 244 Arthur, George K., 158 Arthur, Jean, 313 Aryan, The, 70 Arzner, Dorothy, 145, 267, 296
Ashes of Vengeance, 138
Asquith, Anthony, 322
Astaire, Adele, 285
Astaire, Fred, 261, 262, 285
Asther, Nils, 259
Astor, Mary, 297
Atwill, Lionel, 267, 280, 282, 310
Auer, Mischa, 292, 313
Austen, Jane, 330
Awful Truth, The, 304, 324
Ayres, Agnes, 118, 120, 178
Ayres, Lew, 222, 223
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 332
Rachelor Mother, 316
Back Street, 254
Bacon, Lloyd, 252
Bad Girl, 256
Baggott, King, 13, 14
Balderston, John L., 277
Balshofer, Fred, 12
Bancroft, George, 193, 204
Bankhead, Tallulah, 247
Banky, Vilma, 178, 192, 267
Bara, Theda, 33, 34, 52, 65, 75
Barbed Wire, 194
Barnes, George, 7
Barnett, Battling, 4
Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life,
30 Barretts of Wimpole Street, The,
277 Barrie, Sir James M., 87, 174 Barrie, Nigel, 83, 108 Barrie, Wendy, 299 Barriscale, Bessie, 27, 88 Barry, Eddy, 16 Barry, Leon, 111 Barry, Philip, 249, 329 Barry, Wesley, 152 Barrymore, Ethel, 250 Barrymore, John, 132, 159, 181,
193, 230, 247, 250, 254, 260,
290 Barrymore, Lionel, 11, 142, 151,
195, 206, 216, 233, 250, 253,
260, 281, 299, 303, 313 Barthelmess, Richard, 66, 87, 104,
116, 157, 228, 229, 271, 313,
314 Bartholomew, Freddie, 281, 294,
299 Battle of the Sexes, 209 Baum, Vicki, 253 Baxter, Warner, 252, 275 Bay, Tom, 71 Bayne, Beverly, 25, 65 Beardsley, Aubrey, 141 Beau Brummel, 159 Beau Geste, 173 Beauty Market, The, 108 Beavers, Louise, 275 Beckley, Beatrice, 24 341
Becky Sharp, 280
Beery, Noah, 165, 173, 206
Beery, Wallace, 37, 130, 138, 164
210, 224, 243, 253, 260, 263 Beethoven, Ludwig van, 333 Beggar on Horseback, 170 Beggars of Life, 210 Behrman, S. N., 325 Belasco, David, 11, 22, 102, 173,
213 Belasco, Walter, 36 Bellamy, Madge, 129 Ben Hur, 178-179 Benedict, Kingsley, 59 Bennett, Belle, 68, 170 Bennett, Constance, 162, 228, 233,
305 Bennett, Enid, 132, 155 Bennett, Joan, 265, 285 Bennett, Richard, 142 Bergman, Henry, 74 Berkeley Square, 211 Bernhardt, Sar?h, 20-22 Better Wife, The, 83, 108 Between Showers, 41 Bickford, Charles, 247 Big House, The, 224 Big Parade, The, 171-172, 182, 188 Bill of Divorcement, A, 251 Billington, Francelia, 89 Binney, Constance, 132 Bird of Paradise, The, 247 Birth of a Nation, The, 46-47, 49,
61, 64, 123 Bitter Tea of General Yen, The,
259 Bitzer, G. W., 23, 47 Black Pirate, The, 183 Blackton, J. Stuart, 128 Blakewell, William, 222 Bland, R. Henderson, 19, 20 Blind Husbands, 89, 126 Blockade, 308 Blood and Sand, 125, 149 Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, 134 Boardman, Eleanor, 194 Bogart, Humphrey, 297 Boggs, Francis, 12 Boherne, La, 184 Boland, Mary, 258, 323, 330 Bold Bank Robbery, The, 1 Boles, John, 218, 236 Boleslavsky, Richard, 250 Booth, Clare, 323 Booth, Edwina, 240 Borzage, Frank, 177, 196, 205,
231, 256, 257, 310 Bosworth, Hobart, 12, 15, 17, 31,
32, 35, 65, 76, 79 Boteler, Wade, 109 Bow, Clara, 53, 174, 180, 182,
187, 189 Bowers, John, 129
342
INDEX
Boyd, William, 104, 182
Buyer, Charles, 285, 312
Brabin, Charles, 179
Bracey, Sidney, 135
Bradford, Roark, 295
Brady, Alice, 292
Brady, William A., 6
Brats, 248
Brenon, Herbert, 66, 91, 148, 156,
173, 174 Brent/Evelyn, 193 Brewster's Millions, 27 Brian, Mary, 156, 183 Bride of Frankenstein, The, 235 Broadway, 218
Broadway Melody, The, 184, 220 Brockvvell, Gladys, 164 Broken Blossoms, 86-87, 123, 228 "Broncho Billy": see Anderson,
G. M. Bronson, Betty, 156, 174, 179 Bronte, Emily, 318 Brook, Clive, 193, 194, 255 Brooks, Louise, 210 Brophy, Edward, 322 Brown, Clarence, 223, 237, 272,
287 Brown, John Mack, 213 Brown of Harvard, 183 Bryant, Charles, 124, 141 Buck, Pearl, 300 Buckland, Wilfred, 27 Bunny, John, 18 Burke, Billie, 260, 298, 309 Burke, Kathleen, 282 Burke, Thomas, 86 Burnett, W. R., 226 Burns, Neal, 16 Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 255 Burton, Charlotte, 58 Bushell, Anthony, 216 Bushman, Francis X., 25, 54, 179,
191 Bushman, Francis X., Jr., 210 Byington, Spring, 265, 313
Cabanne, Christy, 49
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The, 94-
95 Cagney, James, 241, 288 CamiUe (1921), 115 Camille (1936), 297 Campbell, Alan, 302 Campbell, Eric, 74 Cantor, Eddie, 174, 190 Capra, Frank, 175, 259, 271, 291,
301, 313, 314 Caprice, 22 Caprice, June, 75 Captain Blood, 285 Captains Courageous, 299 Carewe, Arthur, 198 Carey, Harrv, 16, 240 Carleton, Will, 110 Carmen, 51, 52, 184 Carminati, Tullio, 278 Carol, Sue, 189
Carpenter, Horace B., 51
Carpenter, Jeanne, 138
Carr, Mary, 110
Carradine, John, 315
Carroll, Madeleine, 294, 298, 308
Carroll, Nancy, 209, 226
Carson, Robert, 302
Castle, Irene, 155
Cat and the Canary, The, 198
Caught in a Cabaret, 41
Chadwick, Helene, 59
Chained, 272
Champ, The, 243
Chaney, Lon, 90, 107, 133, 153,
160, 161, 163, 207, 235 Chaney, Lon, Jr., 316 Chaplin, Charles, 18, 40, 41, 42,
45, 54, 56, 57, 73, 74, 80, 82,
92, 102, 111, 133, 154, 168-169,
175, 208, 232, 245, 289, 331-
332, 333 Chatterton, Ruth, 216, 269, 297 Cherrill, Virginia, 245 Cherryman, Rex, 115 Chevalier, Maurice, 217, 274 Christie, Al, 15, 16, 18, 53, 259 Christie, Charles, 16 Christmas in July, 327 Christoplier Strong, 251 Cimarron, 245, 254 Circus, The, 208, 245 Citizen Kane, 94, 333-334 City Lights, 245 Claire, Ina, 134, 214 Clarence, 120 Clark, Jack, 19, 20 Clark, Marguerite, 93, 94 Clayton, Ethel, 128 Cleopatra, 34, 75 Clever Dummy, The, 56 Clever Mrs. Carfax, The, 76 Clifton, Elmer, 46, 61, 62 Clive, Colin, 225 Cobb, Irvin S., 276 Cobb, Joe, 143 Coburn, Charles, 316 Cockeyed World, The, 217 Code of Honor, The, 12 Cody, Lew, 84 Cohens and Kellys in Holh/tvood,
248 Colbert, Claudette, 226, 271, 275,
285 Collinge, Patricia, 336 Colman, Ronald, 165, 170, 173,
192, 244, 286, 298, 301 Comingore, Dorothy, 334 Commanding Officer, The, 34 Compson, Betty, 16, 17, 90, 121,
204 Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur, 164 Condon, Jackie, 143 Conklin, Chester, 41, 54, 55, 289 Conklin, Heinie, 54, 57 Conlon, Tommy, 246 Connecticut Yankee, A, 239
Connecticut Yankee in King Ar- thur's Court, A, 115, 239 Connelly, Marc, 295 Connolly, Walter, 305 Conrad, Joseph, 325 Conway," Jack, 12, 33, 68 Coogan, Jackie, 111, 144, 232, 308 Cooper, Gary, 31, 176, 189, 207,
227, 257, 258, 266, 282, 291, 335 Cooper, Gladys, 326 Cooper, Jackie, 242, 243 Cooper, Melville, 330 Cooper, Merian C, 166, 260 Cooper, Miriam, 61 Coquette, 213 Corbett, James J., 6 Cordoba, Pedro de, 51 Cornell, Katharine, 325 Cortez, Ricardo, 104, 180, 195 Costello, Dolores, 181 Costello, Maurice, 53, 89 Count of Monte Cristo, The (1909),
15 Count of Monte Cristo, The (1913),
24 Count of Monte Cristo, The (1922),
127 Courtship of Miles Standish, The,
132, 166 Covered Wagon, The, 36, 144-145,
158 Coward, Noel, 82, 234, 258, 282 Cradle Song, 264 Craig's Wife, 296 Crane, Doc, 93 Crawford, Joan, 162, 195, 206, 215,
253, 261, 272, 323 Crews, Laura Hope, 215 Crimson Challenge, The, 126 Crisp, Donald, 46, 48, 86, 192, 313 Cromwell, John, 298 Cromwell, Richard, 282 Crosby, Bing, 330 Crosby, Percy, 242 Crowd, The,' 194 Crowell, Josephine, 61 Cruze, James, 35, 36, 119, 144,
145, 170, 215, 258 Crystal Hall, 43 Cukor, George, 260, 265, 281, 297,
323, 329 Cummings, Constance, 251 Cummings, Irving, 58 Cummings, Robert, 334 Cunard, Grace, 60
Daddy, 144 Daddy Long Legs, 86 Dagover, Lil, 95 Daley, Robert, 13 Dalton, Dorothy, 82, 126 Daly, Hazel, 80 Damita, Lily, 217 Dana, Viola, 66, 156 Dance Madness, 182 Dancing Lady, 261 Dane, Karl, 172
INDEX
Daniell, Henry, 331
Daniels, Bebe, 72, 73, 75, 106,
119, 150, 218 Daniels, Mickey, 143 D'Arcy, Roy, 171 Dark Angel, The, 288 Dark Victory, 317 Darrow, Jackie, 244 Darwell, Jane, 296, 328 Daudet, Alphonse, 237 Daughter of the Gods, 66 Davenport, Dorothy, 17 David Copperfeld, 281, 282 Davidson, Max, 185 Davies, Howard, 12, 69 Davies, Marion, 134 Davis, Bette, 219, 270, 297, 317,
328, 336 Davis, Horace, 16 Davis, Mildred, 114 Dawn Patrol, The (1930), 229 Dawn Patrol, The (1938), 313 Day at the Races, A, 303 Dead End, 299 Dee, Frances, 265 DeGrasse, Sam, 61, 89 De Haven, Carter, 36, 331 De Haven, Flora, 36 De Havilland, Olivia, 285, 320 De La Motte, Marguerite, 103, 112 Del Rio, Dolores, 182, 220, 236,
247, 278 DeMille, Cecil B., 26, 27, 35, 77,
82, 84, 87, 104, 106, 136-138,
140, 153, 192, 198, 246, 264 DeMille, William, 119, 120 Dempster, Carol, 111, 122, 151 Denny, Reginald, 276 Design for Living, 258 Destroyer, The, 26 Devil Is a Woman, The, 280 Devil's Saddle, The, 71 Dexter, Elliott, 82, 140 Diamond from the Sky, The, 58 Diamond Lil, 266 Dickens, Charles, 281 Dickson, W. K. L., 2, 3 Dictator, The, 119 Dietrich, Marlene, 158, 227, 255,
267, 268, 280 Dieterle, William, 288, 307, 308 Digges, Dudley, 271, 283 Dinner at Eight, 260 Disney, Walt, 14, 221, 239, 268,
275, 306, 311, 315, 324, 332-333 Disraeli, 216
Divine Woman, The, 203 Dix, Richard, 137, 165, 245 Docks of New York, 204 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 247, 256 Dodsworth, 297 Dollar a Year Man, The, 114 Doll's House, A, 124 Don Juan, 193, 201 Donald Duck, 275 Donat, Robert, 321 Donlevy, Brian, 327
Donnelly, Dorothy, 191
Don't Change Your Husband, 84,
106 Doro, Marie, 65 Dorothy Vernon of H addon Hall,
155 Dos Passos, John, 280 Dove, The, 206 Dovey, Alice, 34 Down to the Sea in Ships, 180 Dream Street, 111 Dresser, Louise, 167 Dressier, .Marie, 42, 223, 224, 260,
263 Dressmaker from Paris, The, 159 Drumier, Jack, 78 Dukas, Paul, 332 Dumas, Alexandre, fils, 297 Du Maurier, Daphne, 327 Dumb Girl of Portici, The, 67 Dunn, James, 275 Dunne, Irene, 245, 254, 294, 304,
324 Dupont, Patty, 110 Dupree, Minnie, 309 Durbin, Deanna, 293 Dvorak, Ann, 271 Dwan, Allan, 130
Eagels, Jeanne, 219
Eagle, The, 167
Eagle of the Sea, 180
Eagle's Feather, The, 142
Eagle's Nest, The, 7-8
Earles, Harry, 163
Easiest Way, The, 233
East Lynne, 243
Eastman, George, 2
Easy Street, 80
Eddy, Helen Jerome, 93
Eddy, Nelson, 261
Edeson, Robert, 27, 104
Edison, Thomas A., 2, 3
Edmonds, Buster, 12
Eliot, Charles, 46
Ellis, Robert, 178
Eltinge, Julian, 76
Emperor Jones, The, 266
Empire State Express, The, 5
Enchanted Cottage, The, 157
Enoch Arden, 49
Escape, The, 23
Eternal City, The, 48, 112, 142
Evangeline, 220
Evans, Madge, 78, 275
Exit the Vamp, 128
Fair, Elinor, 142
Fairbanks, Douglas, 67, 82, 84, 92,
102, 103, 111-113, 121, 130-132,
145-147, 168, 177, 183, 188,
214, 234 Fairbanks, Douglas, Jr., 135, 226,
229, 251, 298, 309, 313 Falaise, Marquis de la, 167 False Colors, 32 Family Affair, A, 303
343
Fantasia, 221, 332-333
Farewell to Arms, A, 256, 257
Farina, 143
Farnum, Dustin, 26-28, 69, 110
Farnum, William, 110
Farrar, Geraldine, 51, 52, 76-77.
155, 184 Farrell, Charles, 196, 205, 218, 229 Fast and Loose, 225 Fatty and the Heiress, 39 Fatty's Flirtations, 39 Faye, Julia, 104 Fazenda, Louise, 54, 74 Feet of Clay, 104, 105 Ferber, Edna, 164, 245, 260, 294,
307 Fetchit, Stepin, 276 Field, Betty, 334 Fields, W. C, 258, 264, 281 Fighting Chance, The, 105 Figman, Max, 27 Finch, Flora, 198 Finlayson, Jimmy, 54, 57 Fiske, Minnie Maddem, 29 Fitzmaurice, George, 121, 142, 192 Fitzsimmons, Robert, 6 Flaherty, Robert, 184, 241 Flaming Youth, 175 Fleming, Victor, 103, 299, 321 Flesh and the Devil, 195 Flowers and Trees, 239 Flying Down to Rio, 262 Flynn, Emmett J., 115, 127 Flvnn, Erroll, 285, 313 Fonda, Henry, 308, 328 Fontaine, Joan, 323, 327, 336 Fontanne, Lynn, 240 Fool There Was, A, 33 Foolish Wives, 126, 127 Foote, Courtenay, 67 Forbes, Ralph, 173 Ford, Francis, 60 Ford, Harrison, 79, 84, 134 Ford, John, 158, 210, 244, 276,
284, 315, 328, 329, 337 Ford, Phil, 59 Ford, Wallace, 276 Forde, Eugenie, 17, 58 Forde, Victoria, 85 Forty-second Street, 252, 262 Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,
The, 116-118, 122, 149 Four Sons, 210 Fox, William, 33, 52 Fox Movietone News, 201 Francis, Kay, 253, 256 Frankenstein, 235 Franklin, Sidney, 240, 277, 300 Fred Ott's Sneeze, 3 Frederick, Pauline, 48, 203 Free Soul, A, 233 Freeland, Thornton, 262 French, George, 16 Freshman, The, 169 Frisco Jenny, 269 Frohman, Daniel, 21, 22, 24, 29
344
From the Manger to the Cross, 19-
20 Front Page, The, 237-238, 323 Fuller, Dale, 126 Fuller, Mary, 30 Fun/, 292
Gable, Clark, 25, 162, 163, 233, 249, 261, 271, 272, 283, 296, 319
Gallagher, Ray, 16
Gallaher, Donald, 35
Garbo, Greta, 79, 185, 195, 197, 203, 222, 223, 237, 249, 254, 262, 267, 287, 297
Gardiner, Reginald, 331, 332
Gargan, William, 326
Garmes, Lee, 257
Garnett, Tay, 253
Garon, Pauline, 140
Garson, Greer, 321, 330, 338
Gaucho, The, 188
Gaudio, Tony, 13
Gaye, Howard, 46
Gaynor, Janet, 110, 163, 196, 197, 205, 218, 302, 309
Gebhardt, George, 12
Geddes, Norman Bel, 299
General, The, 188
George Washington, Jr., 152
Gerrard, Douglas, 34, 48, 67
Gershwin, George, 285
Gertie the Dinosaur, 14
Getawaij Kate, 59
Gibson, Hoot, 148
Gilbert, Billy, 331
Gilbert, John, 68, 127, 153, 160, 171, 172, 184, 195, 197, 222, 262, 287
Gillingwater, Claude, 113, 194
Girl Crazy, 285
Girl from Missouri, The, 272
Girl from Montmartre, The, 178
Girl Named Mary, A, 94
Girl of the Golden West, The, 227 Gish, Dorothy, 61, 82, 123 Gish, Lillian, 46, 49, 61, 62, 83, 86, 104, 123, 165, 184, 186, 205 Gleason, Russell, 222 Glorious Adventure, The, 128, 183 Glyn, Elinor, 180, 187 Goat, The, 91, 122 Goddard, Paulette, 289, 323, 331 Going Up, 189 Gold Rush, The, 168-169 Golden Boy, 322 Goldfish, The, 154 Goldwyn, Samuel, 26, 27, 51, 176, 179,' 192, 244, 267, 288, 297, 299, 318, 336 Gone With the Wind, 162, 319-321 Good Bad Man, The, 67 Good Earth, The, 300 Good Little Devil, The, 22 Good-bye, Mr. Chips, 321 Goodwin, Harold, 102 Gordon, Huntley, 134 Gordon, Vera, 107
Goulding, Edmund, 215, 317
Gowland, Gibson, 89
Grand Hotel, 253-254
Grandma's Boy, 133
Grant, Cary, 266, 304, 314, 323, 324, 329, 336
Grapes of Wrath, The, 328
Grapewin, Charley, 297
Grass, 166, 260
Grauman's Chinese Theater, 279
Graves, Ralph, 111
Gray, David, 225
Gray Chiffon Veil, 84
Great Batik Robbery, The, 7
Great Dictator, The, 331-332
Great Divide, The, 128
Great Gabbo, The, 215
Great McGinty, 327
Great Train Robbery, The, 7, 24
Great Ziegfeld, The, 298
Greed, 154
Green, Alfred, 216
Green, Mitzie, 232
Green Goddess, The, 139
Green Hat, The, 222
Green Pastures, The, 295
Greenwood, Charlotte, 50
Grey, Zane, 165
Griffith, Corinne, 53, 191
Griffith, David Wark, 7, 11, 23, 28, 35, 42, 45-47, 60, 61, 62, 64, 68, 77, 82, 84, 86, 92, 104, 111, 116, 122, 123, 136, 151, 152, 175, 209, 228
Griffith, Raymond, 223
Griffo, Young, 4
Gruenberg, Louis, 266
Guardsman, The, 240
Guinan, Texas, 59
Gurie, Sigrid, 312
Gypsy Trail, The, 83
Hackathorne, George, 88
Hackett, James K., 24
Hackett, Raymond, 216
Haines, Rhea, 31
Haines, William, 160, 183
Hale, Alan, 118
Hale, Creighton, 104, 198
Hale, Georgia, 158, 168
Half-Breed, The, 177
Hall, James, 210
Hallelujah, 219
Hamilton, Neil, 151, 173, 255
Hammett, Dashiell, 273
Hanford, Ray, 90
Hanson, Einar, 194
Hanson, Juanita, 38
Hanson, Lars, 185, 186, 203
Harding, Ann, 227, 243, 249
Hardv, Oliver, 248
Harlow, Jean, 110, 231, 260, 272
Harris, Mildred, 63
Harron, Robert, 61, 83
Hart, Moss, 313
Hart, William S., 70, 147
Harvey, John, 13
INDEX
Hatton, Raymond, 65, 76
Haver, Phyllis, 54, 55, 147, 209
Hawks, Howard, 229, 314, 323
Hawley, Wanda, 83
Hay, Mary, 104
Hayakawa, Sessue, 85
Haydon, Julie, 282
Hayes, Helen, 213, 244, 256, 257
He Who Gets Slapped, 153, 160, 207
Hearts of the World, 82, 83, 282
Hecht, Ben, 193, 237, 282, 318, 323
Hellman, Lillian, 336
Hell's Angels, 230-231
Hemingway, Ernest, 257
Henabery, Joseph, 61
Henry, Charlotte, 266
Henry, Gail, 57
Hepburn, Katharine, 251, 261, 265 307, 329
Hergesheimer, Joseph, 116
Hersholt, Jean, 118, 209, 244
Hickman, Howard, 50
Hidden Pearls, 85
Hill, George, 224
Hiller, Wendy, 322
Hilliard, Harry, 65
Hilton, James', 301, 321
His Girl Friday, 323
Hitchcock, Alfred, 327, 336
Hitchcock, Raymond, 31
Hitler, Adolf, 331
Hobart, Rose, 229
Hobbes, Halliwell, 313
Holden, Gloria, 306
Holden, Mary, 147
Holden, William, 322
Hollister, Alice, 19, 20, 25, 26, 49
Holmes, Phillips, 226
Holmes, Stuart, 89, 118, 122, 162
Holmes, Taylor, 226
Holt, Jack, 60, 192, 296
Hoodlum, The, 86
Hope, Anthony, 298
Hope, Bob, 330
Hopkins, Arthur, 182
Hopkins, Miriam, 225, 256, 258,
280, 317 Hopwood, Avery, 225 Horsley, Dave, 18 Horton, Edward Everett, 170, 301 Hotel Imperial, 185 How Green Was My Valley, 337 Howard, John, 329 Howard, Leslie, 249, 267, 270, 277,
290, 297, 320, 322 Howard, Sidney, 297, 321, 326 Hoxie, Jack, 72 Hoyt, Harry, 164 H uber's Museum, 43 Hughes, Howard, 230, 237 Hughes, Llovd, 155, 164 Hugo, Victor, 133 Human Figure in Motion, The, 2 Human Wreckage, 184 Humoresque, 107, 177
INDEX
Humphries, Oral, 58
Hunchback of Notre Dame, The,
133 Hunt, Marsha, 330 Hunter, Glenn, 156 Hunting Big Game in Africa, 15 Hurst, Fanny, 107, 254, 275 Huston, Walter, 228, 297 Hyams, Leila, 283
/ Am a Fugitive from a Chain
Gang, 252 Ibanez, Blasco, 116, 117, 125, 195 Ibsen, Henrik, 124 Idols of Clay, 105 If I Had a Million, 258 If I Were King, 110 // You Believe It, It's So, 121 Imitation of Life, 275 Immigrant, The, 74 Impossible Mrs. Bellew, The, 121 In the Bishop's Carriage, 22 Ince, Thomas, 13, 35, 60, 70, 82,
84, 109, 126, 127, 132, 166 Informer, The, 94, 284 Ingram, Rex, 116, 118, 122 Innocents of Paris, The, 217 Inspiration, 237 International House, 264 International Marriage, An, 67 Intolerance, 61-64, 86, 111, 129,
188 Intrigue, The, 69 Invisible Man, The, 261 Irene, 175
Iron Horse, The, 158 Irwin, May, 4 Isn't Life Wonderful?, 151 It, 187
It Happened One Night, 271 It's No Laughing Matter, 32
lackanapes, 17
Jaffe, Sam, 301
Jamison, Bud, 72, 73
Jane, 50
Janecke, Joseph J., 16
Janis, Elsie, 108
Jannings, Emil, 148, 199, 204
Janssen, Werner, 227
Jazz Singer, The, 201-202, 211
Jeffries, James, 6
Jenny Be Good, 106
Jes' Call Me Jim, 109
Jesky, George, 38
Jest, The, 159
Jewell, Isabel, 286, 301
Joan the Woman, 76-77
Joanna, 169
John Barleycorn, 35
Johnson, Nunnally, 328
Johnston, Julanne, 147
Johnstown Flood, The, 196
Jolivet, Rita, 67
Jolson, Al, 201-202, 211
Jones, Allan, 294
Jones, Marcia Mae, 308
Jordan, Dorothy, 224
Jose, Edward, 33
Joslyn, Allyn, 314, 325
Josselyn's Wife, 88
Journey's End, 225
Joy, Leatrice, 153, 159
Joyce, Alice, 19, 139, 232
Judge Priest, 276
Judgment of the Guilty, The, 68
Judith of Bethulia, 23, 68
Julian, Rupert, 135
Just Nuts, 72
Justice, 159
Kanin, Garson, 316
Karloff, Boris, 235, 276
Kaufman, George S., 260, 307, 313
Keaton, Buster, 147, 188
Keeler, Ruby, 252
Keighley, William, 295
Keith, Ian, 246
Kellerman, Annette, 66
Kelly, George, 296
Kelly, Tommy, 308
Kennedy, Madge, 264
Kennedy, Merna, 208
Kenyon, Doris, 149, 236, 269
Kern, Jerome, 294
Kerrigan, James Warren, 70, 78,
145 Kerry, Norman, 161 Kessel, Adam, 12 Key, Kathleen, 179 Kid, The, 111, 144, 232 Kid Boots, 174, 190 Kiki, 173
Kilburn, Terry, 321 Kinetographic Theatre, 3 Kinetoscope, 3, 4, 5, 298 King, Charles, 220 King, Dennis, 229 King, Henry, 170, 176, 184, 294 King Kong, 260 Kmg of Kings, The, 198-199 Kings Row, 334 Kingsley, Sidney, 299 Kingston, Winifred, 69 Kipling, Rudyard, 33, 299 Kirkwood, James, 142 Kismet, 237
Kiss for Cinderella, A, 174 Kitty Foyle, 326 Korngold, Erich, 288 Kornman, Mary, 143 Kosloff, Theodore, 140 Koster, Henry, 293 Krasna, Norman, 316 Krauss, Werner, 95 Kruger, Otto, 272
LaBadie, Florence, 35 LaCava, Gregory, 285, 292 Ladies World, The, 25, 30 Lady Eve, The, 327 Lady for- a Day, 259 Lady in Ermine, 191 Lady Windemere's Fan, 165
345
Laemmle, Carl, 13, 50, 133, 222
Lake, Alice, 90
La Marr, Barbara, 112, 122, 142,
157, 178 Lamarr, Hedy, 312 Lamour, Dorothy, 330 Landi, Elissa, 246, 261 Lang, Fritz, 292 Langdon, Harry, 175, 259 La Plante, Laura, 198 Larkin, George, 36 La Rocque, Rod, 104, 137, 153,
192, 236 Laskv, Blanche, 26 Lasky, Jesse L., 26, 27, 51, 144,
167, 257, 261, 264, 277 Last Command, The, 204 Last Laugh, The, 199 Last of Mrs. Cheyney, The, 214 Latham, Grey, 4 Latham, Otway, 4 Latham, Woodville, 4 Laugh, Clown, Laugh, 207 Laughton, Charles, 258, 277, 283,
326 Laurel, Stan, 248 Lawrence, Florence, 14 Lawrence, Gertrude, 234 Lawson, John Howard, 308 Lawton, Frank, 281 Le Baron, William, 173 Lee, Lila, 75, 88, 125 Lehar, Franz, 171 Leigh, Vivien, 319, 320, 321 Leighton, Lillian, 105 Leisen, Mitchell, 264 Leni, Paul, 198 Leonard, Mary, 11 Leonard, Robert Z., 12, 105, 152,
249, 298, 330 Le Roy, Mervyn, 226, 252 Leslie, Joan, 335 Lester, Kate, 78 Letter, The (1929), 219 Letter, The (1940), 328 Lewis, Ralph, 46, 61, 86 Lewis, Sinclair, 244, 297 . Life of an American Fireman, The,
6 Life of Emile Zola, The, 306-307 Lilac Time, 207 Liliom, 229 Limur, Jean, 219 Lindsay, Margaret, 269 Lion and the Mouse, The, 128 Little, Anne, 82 Little American, The, 79 Little Annie Rooney, 168 Little Caesar, 226 Little Colonel, The, 289 Little Foxes, The, 336 Little Lord Fauntleroy, 113 Little Minister, The, 121 Little Miss Marker, 275 Little Old New York, 134 Little Women, 265 Littlefield, Lucien, 105, 188
346
Littlest Rebel, The, 106
Lives of a Bengal Lancer, The, 282
Living Corpse, The, 159
Livingston, Jack, 68
Llewtellyn, Richard, 337
Lloyd, Frank, 277, 283
Lloyd, Harold, 57, 72-73, 114, 133,
169, 192 Lloi/ds of London, 294 Lockhart, Gene, 312, 323 Lockvvood, Harold, 17 Lombard, Carole, 225, 292, 305,
326 Lomhardi, Ltd., 91 London, Jack, 31, 33, 35 Lonely Villa, The, 11 Lonesome Luke, 73 Long Voyage Home, 329 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 220 Loos, Anita, 11, 84 Lorna Doone, 129 Lost Horizon, 301 Lost Patrol, The, 276 Lost World, The, 164 Love, 197, 287 Love, Bessie, 61, 67, 70, 164, 184,
220 Love Parade, The, 217 Love's Lariat, 16 Lovey Mary, 184 Lowe, Edmund, 182, 217, 260 Loy, Myrna, 273, 295, 298 Lubitsch, Ernst, 148, 171, 191, 204,
217, 256, 258, 274 Lukas, Paul, 247 Lunt, Alfred, 240 Lyon, Ben, 231 Lvons, Eddie, 16, 17 Lytell, Bert, 91, 121, 142, 165
MacArthur, Charles, 237, 244, 282,
318, 323 MaeDonald, Donald, 17 MacDonald, J. Farrell, 209 MaeDonald, Jeanette, 217, 229,
274, 296 MacDonald, Joe, 13 MacDonald, Mrs. Joe, 13 MacDonald, Katherine, 82, 108,
113 MacGowen, J. P., 20 Mack, Hay ward, 13 Mackaill, Dorothy, 169 MacLaren, Mary, 113 Mac-Lean, Douglas, 189 Mad Whirl, The, 157 Madame Sans-Gene, 167 Madame X, 216 Madison, Cleo, 36 Mddchen in Uniform, 264 Madame Du Barry, 278 Male and Female, 87-88 Mamoulian, Rouben, 262, 268,
280, 322 Mann, Hank, 38 Mann, Margaret, 210 Manners, David, 225
Manners, Lady Diana, 128
Mansfield, Richard, 191
Manslaughter, 226
Mantrap, 180
March, Fredric, 226, 246, 247, 256,
258, 277, 287, 288, 302, 305,
325 Marion, Frances, 224 Mark of Zorro, The, 103, 111 Marriage License, 177 Marsh, Mae, 46, 61 Marshall, Herbert, 219, 256, 288,
336 Marshall, Tully, 61, 65 Martin, Vivian, 79 Marx Brothers, 303 Mason, Shirley, 66 Massacre, 271 Mata Hari, 249 Mathis, June, 116, 117, 118, 125,
179 Maugham, W. Somerset, 219, 270,
328 Maynard, Ken, 71 Mavo, Archie, 297 McAvov, May, 120, 157, 165, 179 McCardell, Roy, 58 McCarey, Leo, 283, 304 McCarthy, Charlie, 215 McCay, Winsor, 14 McCormack, John, 231, 232 McCrea, Joel, 299 McCutcheon, Wallace, 98 McDaniel, Hattie, 321 McDermott, Marc, 30 McDowall, Roddy, 337 McGowen, Robert, 143 McGrail, Walter, 98 McLaglen, Victor, 128, 163, 182,
217, 276, 284 McLeod, Norman, 258, 266, 305 McQuire, Paddy, 54 Meek, Donald, 315 Meeker, George, 210, 254 Meighan, Thomas, 28, 88, 90, 121,
149, 226 Melies, Georges, 8 Melville, Herman, 230 Mender of Nets, The, 11 Menjou, Adolphe, 133, 238, 257,
302, 307, 322 Menzies, William Cameron, 147 Mercanton, Louis, 20 Meredith, Burgess, 316 Meredyth, Bess, 179 Merely Mary Ann, 66 Merimee, Prosper, 52 Merkel, Una, 228 Merry Co Round, 135 Merry Widow, The (1925), 171 Merry Widow, The (1934), 274 Merton of the Moines, 156 Mickey Mouse, 221, 332 Midsummer Night's Dream, A, 288 Miles, David, 13 Miles, Mrs. David, 13 Milestone, Lewis, 222, 237, 316
INDEX
Millard, Harry, 25
Miller, Ann, 313
Miller, Patsy Ruth, 115
Miller, Rube, 38
Million Dollar Mystery, The, 35,
36, 58 Min and Bill, 224, 263 Minter, Mary Miles, 106 Miracle Man, The, 17, 90, 107,
121 Misplaced Foot, A, 31 Miss Nobody, 177 Mr. Deeds Coes to Town, 291 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,
314 Mrs. Miniver, 338 Mitchell, Margaret, 319 Mitchell, Thomas, 301, 314, 315,
329 Mix, Tom, 85
Moana of the South Seas, 184, 241 Moby Dick, 230 Modern Times, 289 Mohr, Hal, 288 Molly Entangled, 79 Mollycoddle, The, 103 Molnar, Ferenc, 240 Monsieur Beaucaire, 149-150 Montgomery, Douglass, 274 Montgomery, Frank, 12 Montgomery, Robert, 215, 224, 234,
237, 304' Moon Is Down, The, 337 Moore, Colleen, 164, 175, 207, 264 Moore, Dickie, 287 Moore, Erin O'Brien, 232 Moore, Grace, 227, 278 Moore, Owen, 13, 22, 108 Moran, Lee, 16, 17 Moran, Lois, 170 Moran, Polly, 28 Moreno, Antonio, 149, 195 Morgan, Dennis, 326 Morgan, Frank, 225 Morgan, Helen, 294 Morley, Christopher, 326 Morning Glory, 251 Morocco, 227
Morosco, Oliver, 50, 67, 102 Morris, Chester, 224 Morton, Charles, 210 Muir, Esther, 303 Mulhall, Jack, 157, 169, 234 Muni, Paul, 252, 287, 300, 308 Murger, Henry, 184 Murnau, F. W, 197, 241 Murphy, Dudley, 266 Murphy, Richard, 8 Murray, Charlie, 55, 248 Murray, James, 194 Murray, Mae, 12, 105, 171 Music in the Air, 274 Mussorgsky, Modest, 333 Mutiny on the Bounty, 283 Mutoscope, 4, 5 Muybridge, Eadweard, 2 My Best Girl, 188
INDEX
My Favorite Wife, 324
My Man Godfrey, 292
My Valet, 31
Mvers, Carmel, 63, 179
Myers, Harry, 115, 135, 239, 245
Nagel, Conrad, 105, 119, 121, 182
Nagy, Anton, 16
Naldi, Nita, 125, 137
Nana, 267
Naughty But Nice, 207
Navigator, The, 147
Nazimova, Alia, 66, 115, 124, 134,
141 Negri, Pola, 148, 171, 185, 194 Neilan, Marshall, 48, 58 Neill, R. William, 166 Nesbit, Miriam, 30 Nestor Company, 16, 17, 18 New Moon, The (1919), 89 New Moon, The (1930), 227, 278 New York American, 14 New York Hat, The, 11 Niblo, Fred, 125, 132, 179 Nice People, 119 Night After Night, 251, 266 Night Must Fall, 304 Night of Love, 192 Nijinska, Bronislava, 288 Nilsson, Anna Q., 49, 105, 140,
177 Nissen, Greta, 231 Niven, David, 313, 316, 318 No Time for Comedy, 325 Normand, Mabel, 28, 30, 31, 39,
42 Norris, Kathleen, 88, 188 North of '36, 143 Nothing Sacred, 305 Notorious Miss Lisle, The, 108 Novarro, Ramon, 91, 122, 157, 178,
179, 191, 249, 298
Oakie, Jack, 258, 266, 331
Oberon, Merle, 288, 318
O'Brien, George, 197
O'Brien, Pat, 237
O'Connor, Una, 284
Odets, Clifford, 322
Odyssey of the North, An, 31
Of Human Bondage, 270
Of Mice and Men, 316
O'Flahertv, Liam, 284
Oland, Warner, 98, 99, 255
Olcott, Sidney, 19
Old Fashioned Boy, An, 109
Old Heidelberg, 191
Old Maid, The, 317
Old Mill, The, 306
Oliver, Edna Mav, 266, 281, 290,
330 Oliver, Guy, 85 Oliver Twist, 65
Olivier, Laurence, 318, 327, 330 Olmsted, Gertrude, 53, 152 On Trial, 203 One Exciting Night, 122
One Hundred Men and a Girl, 293 One Night of Love, 278 One-Way Passage, 253 O'Neill, Eugene, 24, 134, 223, 249,
266, 329 O'Neill, James, 24 O'Neill, Sally, 162, 209 Only Angels Have Wings, 314 Orphans' Benefit, The, 275 Orphans of the Storm, 123 O'Sullivan, Maureen, 231, 255, 273 Ott, Fred, 3
Our Dancing Daughters, 206 Our Gang, 143 Over the Hill, 110 Owen, Seena, 61
Page, Anita, 220, 233
Pallette, Eugene, 63, 111, 292
Palmer, Ernest, 205
Panzer, Paul, 8
Parker, Dorothy, 302
Parker, Jean, 265
Parson of Panamint, The, 69
Parsons, Louella, 167
Parsons, Thomas, 12
Passion, 148, 199
Passion's Playground, 108
Pasternak, Joseph, 293
Pathe, 72, 166
Patriot, The, 204
Pavlova, Anna, 67
Penalty, The, 107
Pendleton, Nat, 246, 298
Pepe le Moko, 312
Percy, 166
Perils of Pauline, The, 43, 97-101
Peter Pan, 156, 174
Petrified Forest, The, 297
Phantom of the Opera, The, 161
Philadelphia Story, The, 329
Philbin, Mary, 53, 161
Pickford, Jack, 13, 160, 183
Pickford, Lottie, 13, 58
Pickford, Mary, 11, 13, 22, 28, 45, 48, 49, 58, 78, 79, 81, 82, 86, 92, 93, 94, 102, 113, 120, 142, 143, 155, 160, 168, 184, 188, 213, 214, 267
Pidgeon, Walter, 337, 338
Pinocchio, 324
Pitts, Zasu, 154, 204, 283
Plane Crazy, 221
Plunder, 100, 101
Pollard, Snub, 73
Pollyanna, 93, 102
Ponchielli, Amilcare, 333
Poppy, 264
Porter, Edwin S., 6, 7, 24
Post, Wiley, 276
Powell, David, 105
Powell, Frank, 33
Powell, Paul, 93
Powell, William, 173, 253, 273, 292, 295, 298
Power, Tyrone, 294, 310
Power and the Glory, The, 264
347
Pratt, Purnell, 215
Prevost, Marie, 55, 56, 57, 244
Price, Kate, 175
Pride and Prejudice, 330
Prior, Herbert, 93
Prisoner of Zenda, The (1913), 24
Prisoner of Zenda, The (1922),
112, 122, 142, 178 Prisoner of Zenda, The (1937),
298 Private Lives, 234 . Private Worlds, 285 Public Enemy, 241 Puccini, Giacomo, 184 Purviance, Edna, 74, 133 Pygmalion, 322
Qualen, John, 329 Queen Christina, 262 Queen Elizabeth, 20-22, 23
Rae, Isabel, 13
Raft, George, 251, 258
Rain, 206
Rainer, Luise, 300
Rains, Claude, 261, 334
Ralph, Jessie, 240
Ralston, Esther, 156
Rambeau, Marjorie, 261
Rambova, Natacha, 141
Rand, Sally, 159
Randolf, Anders, 155
Rappe, Virginia, 39
Rasputin and the Empress, 250
Rathbone, Basil, 214, 281, 290,
313 Rattenbury, Harry, 16 Rawlinson, Herbert, 90 Ray, Charles, 109, 132, 166 Raymond, Gene, 257 Reaching for the Moon, 234 Reagan, Ronald, 334 Rebecca, 327, 336 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 78 Rector, Enoch J., 6 Redman, Frank, 59 Reed, Luther, 218 Reid, Wallace, 46, 49, 51, 76, 119,
120, 140 Reinhardt, Max, 199, 288 Remarque, Erich Maria, 222, 310 Renaldo, Duncan, 240 Rennie, James, 227 Resurrection, 236 Reynolds, Vera, 104, 105 Rhodes, Billie, 16 Rice, Elmer, 232 Rice, John C, 4 Rich, Irene, 109, 165 Richmond, Charles, 27 Rin-Tin-Tin, 203 Rio Rita, 218
Riskin, Robert, 259, 271, 291 Roach, Bert, 57 Roach, Hal, 72, 110, 143, 163, 248,
259, 305, 316 Road to Singapore, 330
348
Roberts, Theodore, 27, 128, 136
Robertson, Lolita, 27
Robeson, Paul, 266
Robin Hood, 129-132, 145, 147
Robinson, Bill, 289
Robinson, Edward G., 226
Robson, May, 259, 308
Rogers, Charles (Buddy), 188, 209
Rogers, Ginger, 252, 262, 307, 312,
316, 326 Rogers, Will, 109, 110, 239, 276 Rogue Song, The, 227 Roland, Gilbert, 266 Roland, Ruth, 58, 102 Romberg, Sigmund, 191 Romeo and Juliet (1908), 8 Romeo and Juliet (1916), 65 Romeo and Juliet (1936), 290-291 Rooney, Mickey, 303 Roosevelt, Theodore, 15 Rowland, Richard, 116 Rovle, Edwin, 26 Rubens, Alma, 63, 177 Ruggles, Charles, 266, 283 Ruggles, Wesley, 245 Ruggles of Red Gap, 283 Runvon, Damon, 259 Russell, Rosalind, 296, 304, 323,
325 Russell, William, 58 Ruth of the Rockies, 102 Rutherford, Ann, 330
Sabatini, Rafael, 285
Sadie Thompson, 206
Safety Last, 133, 169
Sailor-Made Man, A, 114, 133
St. John, Al, 38
St. Johns, Adela Rogers, 233
Saint-Saens, Camille, 221
Sales, Virginia, 305
Sally, Irene, and Mary, 162
Salome, 141
Salvation Hunters, The, 158
Sampson, Teddie, 28
Sandow, Eugene, 5
San Francisco, 296
Sapho, 237
Sawyer, Joe, 284, 297
Scarlet Letter, The, 185, 186
Scenes de la vie de Boheme, 184
Schenck, Joseph, 114, 147
Schertzinger, Victor, 330
Scheurich, Victor, 57
Schildkraut, Joseph, 307
Schoedsack, Ernest B., 166, 260
Schubert, Franz, 333
Scoundrel, The, 282
Sea Beast, The, 181, 230
Sea Hawk, The, 155
Seastrom, Victor, 153, 186, 203,
205 Secrets, 267
Seitz, George B., 98, 303 Selig, William N., 12 Selznick, David O., 261, 281, 298,
308, 309, 319, 321, 327
Selznick, Lewis J., 66, 115 Sennett, Mack, 28, 30, 38, 39, 40,
41, 42, 54, 55, 56, 58, 60, 74,
87, 121, 289 Sergeant York, 335 Seventh Heaven, 196, 205 Shadows of Paris, 148 Shakespeare, William, 214 Shanghai Express, 255 Sharkey, Jack, 6 Shaw, George Bernard, 322 Shay, William, 13 She Done Him Wrong, 266 Shean, Al, 274' Shearer, Norma, 153, 160, 191,
214, 233, 234, 249, 277, 290,
323 Sheik, The, 118 Sheridan, Ann, 334 Sherriff, R. C, 225 Sherman, Lowell, 104, 266 Sherry, J. Barney, 12 Sherwood, Robert E., 297 Shoemaker, Ann, 324 Show Boat, 294 Sidney, George, 248 Sidney, Sylvia, 232 Siegman, George, 111 Sign of the Cross, The, 246 Silent Battle, The, 70 Sills, Milton, 155 Silly Symphony, 221 Silver King, 71 Sin of Madelon Claudet, The, 244,
256 Singer Jim McKce, 147 Singing Fool, The, 211 Sister's Burden, A, 49 Skeleton Dance, The, 221 Skinner, Otis, 237 Skinner's Dress Suit, 80 Skippy, 242 Skipworth, Alison, 251, 258, 266,
268 Sleepwalker, The, 132 Small Town Girl, A, 75 Smalley, Phillips, 32, 67 Smiley, Joe, 13
Smith, Gladys: see Pickford, Mary Smith, Thome, 305 Snow, Marguerite, 35 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
311 So Big, 164 Soft Cushions, 189 Son of Frankenstein, The, 235 Son of the Gods, 228 Son of the Sheik, The, 178 Sondergaard, Gale, 307 Song o' My Heart, 231-232 Song of Songs, The, 268 Sothern, Eve, 188 Special Delivenj, 190 Spoilers, The, 110 Squaw Man, The (1913), 26-28 Squaw Man, The (1918), 82 Stage Door, 307
INDEX
Stagecoach, 315
Stahl, John M., 254, 275
Stallings, Laurence, 172, 182
Stand Up and Cheer, 275
Stander, Lionel, 302
Stanford, Leland, 2
Stanley, Forrest, 50, 198
Stanwyck, Barbara, 259, 322
Star Is Born, A, 302
Starke, Pauline, 63, 121
Starr, Frances, 233
Starrett, Charles, 225
Steadman, Myrtle, 32, 33
Steadman, Vera, 55
Steamboat Willie, 221
Steinbeck, John, 316, 328, 337
Stella Dallas, 170
Sten, Anna, 267
Stephen Steps Out, 135
Sterling, Ford, 28, 30, 38, 39, 40,
41 Sternberg, Josef von, 158, 193, 204,
227, 255, 280 Stewart, James, 31, 312, 313, 314,
329 Stewart, Roy, 90 Stiller, Mauritz, 185, 194, 195 Stokowski, Leopold, 293, 332 Stolen Heaven, 226 Stone, Fred, 91 Stone, Lewis, 204, 237, 303 Stonehouse, Ruth, 37, 68 Story of Gosta Berling, The, 185 Story of Louis Pasteur, The, 287 Strange Interlude, 249 Stravinsky, Igor, 333 Street Angel, The, 205 Street Scene, 232 Strictly Dishonorable, 327 Stroheim, Erich von, 61, 83, 89,
126, 127, 135, 154, 161, 171,
204, 215 Stromberg, Hunt, 273 Strong, Austin, 196 Strong Man, The, 175 Strongheart, 162 Struther, Jan, 338 Student Prince, The, 191 Sturges, Preston, 327 Sudermann, Hermann, 197, 268 Suds, 102 Suez, 310
Sullavan, Margaret, 310 Sullivan's Travels, 327 Sunny Side Up, 218 Sunrise, 197 Suspicion, 336
Sutherland, Edward, 28, 264 Swain, Mack, 39, 55, 169 Swanson, Gloria, 25, 37, 39, 55, 58,
84, 87, 88, 106, 121, 134, 140,
167, 206, 215, 274 Swedie, 37
Sweet, Blanche, 23, 68, 134 Swickard, Joseph, 118
INDEX
Tabu, 241
Tale of Two Cities, A (1915), 53,
89 Tale of Two Cities, A ( 1935), 286 Tally, T. L., 5 Talmadge, Constance, 61, 62, 75,
84, 89, 154 Talmadge, Natalie, 89, 147 Talmadge, Norma, 89, 138, 147,
173, 206 Taming of the Shrew, The, 214 Taming the West, 148 Tarkington, Booth, 120, 149 Tarzan the Ape Man, 255 Taurog, Norman, 242, 258 Taylor, Deems, 332 Taylor, Dub, 313 Taylor, Estelle, 149 Taylor, Robert, 297, 310 Taylor, Sam, 214 Taylor, Valerie, 277 Taylor, William Desmond, 58 Tchaikovsky, Piotr Ilyich, 332 Tearle, Conway, 138 Tellegen, Lou, 22 Temple, Shirley, 111, 275, 289 Temptress, The, 195 Ten Commandments, The, 136-138,
246 Terry, Alice, 116, 118 Tess of the D'Urhervilles, 29 Tess of the Storm Country, 120,
143 Test of Honor, The, 132 Texas Rangers, 290 Thackeray, William Makepeace,
280
Thalberg, Irving, 244, 290, 300 Thanhouser Company, 8, 35 They Knew What They Wanted,
326 Thief of Bagdad, The, 145-147 Thin Man, The, 273, 295 Thomson, Fred, 71 Thorpe, Richard, 304 Three Comrades, 310 Three Little Pigs, 268 Three Musketeers, The, 111-113,
142 Three Smart Girls, 293 Thunder Below, 247 Thy Name Is Woman, 157 Tibbett, Lawrence, 227, 278 Tiffany Pictures, 225 Tiger Love, 149 Tillie's Nightmare, 42 Tillie's Punctured Romance, 42, 223 To Have and to Hold, 121 Tobin, Genevieve, 297 Tol'able David, 116, 143 Toland, Gregg, 334 Tolstoy, Leo, 197, 236 Tom Sawyer, 232, 308 Tone, Franchot, 261, 272, 282, 283,
310 Top Hat, 285 Topper, 305
Torrence, David, 143
Torrence, Ernest, 143, 145
Torrent, The, 195
Tourneur, Maurice, 129
Tower of Lies, The, 160
Tracy, Spencer, 264, 292, 296, 299
Trader Horn, 240
Trask, Wayland, 57
Trespasser, The, 215
Trey of Hearts, The, 36
Triangle Pictures, 60, 67, 68, 84,
175 Trifling Women, 112 Triumph, 153 Trouble in Paradise, 256 Tuck, George Loane, 13 Tucker, George, 90 Tucker, Richard, 203 Tugboat Annie, 263 Tully, James, 210 Turpin, Ben, 54, 56, 57 Twain, Mark, 232, 239 Twelve Miles Out, 195 Twenty-three and a Half Hours'
Leave, 189
Ugly Duckling, The, 315 Ukulele Jane, 16 Ulric, Lenore, 69 Underworld, 193 Unholy Three, The, 163 Untamed, 215
Vagabond King, The, 229 Valentino, Rudolph, 116-118, 119,
125, 149-151, 167, 178, 180 Valley of the Moon, The, 33 Valli, Virginia, 80 Vampire, The, 25 Van Dyke, W. S., 63, 273, 296 Vanishing American, The, 165 Vanity Fair, 280 Varconi, Victor, 192 Variety, 199 Veidt, Conrad, 95 Velez, Lupe, 110, 236 Veriscope, 6 Vernon, Bobbie, 38, 58 Victory, 325
Vidor, Florence, 180, 193, 204 Vidor, King, 172, 194, 219, 232,
290 Vignola, Robert, 20 Vitaphone, 201, 203 Vivacious Lady, 312 Vive la France, 82 Vlasek, June, 274 Voltaire, 269
Wadsworth, Henry, 273 Waking up the Town, 160 Walker, Johnny, 110 Wallace, Dorothy, 135 Wallace, Richard, 309 Walsh, George, 179 Walsh, Raoul, 46, 182, 206 Walter, Eugene, 233
349
Walthall, Henry B., 23, 46 Wanger, Walter, 285, 308, 315 War Brides, 66, 115 Warner, H. B., 199, 301 Warrior's Husband, The, 261 Washburn, Bryant, 25, 80, 83 Washington, Booker T., 46 Watt, Charles, 58 Way Down East, 104, 123 Way of All Flesh, The, 199 Wayne, John, 329 Weber, Lois, 32, 67, 182 Wedding March, The, 204 Weissmuller, Jolinnv, 255 Welles, Orson, 333-334 Wellman, William A., 189, 210.
302, 305 Wells, H. G., 261 West, Charles, 29 West, Mae, 251, 266 Western Blood, 85 Westley, Helen, 294 Westover, Winifred, 63 Whale, James, 225, 261, 294 Wharton, Edith, 317 What Happened to Mary, 30, 97 What Price Glory?, 182," 217 Wheeler, Bert, 218 Where Are My Children?, 32 White, Pearl, 97-101 White Sister, The, 165 Whitman, Walt, 61 Whittv, Dame May, 304, 336 Why Change Your Wife?, 106 Widow by Proxy, 93 Widow Jones, The, 4 Wieck, Dorothea, 264 Wiene, Robert, 94 Wilcox, H. H, 10, Wilde, J. P., 68 Wilde, Oscar, 141, 165 William, Warren, 100 Williams, Emlyn, 304 Williams, Kathlyn, 94 Wilson, Carey, 179 Wilson, Harry Leon, 156 Wilson, Lois, 78, 145, 165 Wilson, Margery, 63 Wilson, Mortimer, 146 Wind, The, 205 Windsor, Claire, 53, 182 Wings, 188-189 Winning of Barbara Worth, The,
176 Winninger, Charles, 294 Wolheim, Louis, 134, 182, 222 Woman of Affairs, A, 222 Woman of Paris, A, 133, 134 Woman of the World, A, 171 Woman Thou Gavest Me, The, 108 Women, The, 323 Wood, Sam, 321, 334 Woods, Eddie, 241 Woolsey, Robert, 218 Wrath of the Gods, The, 35 Wrav, Fay, 204
350
INDEX
Wright, Teresa, 336, 338 Wuthering Heights, 318 Wycherly, Margaret, 325 Wyler, William, 297, 299, 336, 338
Young, Clara Kimball. 83 Young, Loretta, 207, 257 Young, Roland. 2S2, 283, 318, Young, Robert, 310
Yt)iiii£ in Heart, The, 309 Younge, Lucille, 29
Yeats-Brown, Francis, 282
You Can't Take It With You, 313 Zaza. 48
108, 155 Ziegfekl, Florenz, 298
310 Ziegfekl Follies, The, 105, 109,
305, 309 134, 169, 264
Zola, Emile, 267, 306, 307
Zoo in Budapest, 257
Zudora, 36
Zukor, Adolph, 21, 22, 29, 48, 49, 51, 65, 106. 167
A pictori*