“Actresses are supposed to act and yet the most difficult thing is to remember not to act. I get before the camera. ‘Eva,’ says Director Victor Seastrom, ‘your lover is leaving you. You will never see him again. Your heart is broken.’ I begin to feel heartbroken, and then I all tighten up. ‘Stop the […]
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“Cortez‘s real name is Jack Kranze. He became Ricardo Cortez in 1922 when Lasky wanted a studio threat to his big star, Rudolph Valentino. Kranze-Cortez came from New York’s East Side, son of a well-to-do Jewish family.” – Reporter Bill Slocum in 1958. 2
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The first English word Hungarian silent film star Lya de Putti learned when she came to America to make movies was “Applesauce,” which was 1920s slang for “nonsense.” De Putti was the subject of many sensational stories in Europe before coming to Hollywood. Below is one of those stories. There is no author to […]
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“Human interest humor is rapidly coming into its own in motion pictures. This type of humor is constructive because it builds a character and aids in the logical development of a story, whereas mechanical ‘gags’ are usually diverted from the main theme.” — Jack Mulhall Source: 1927 High Speed (1917). Co-starring Fritzi Ridgeway. 2
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“You never see a high-class Mexican on the screen. It is always the poor, uneducated peasant or bandit. Consequently, the American people have come to look upon the Mexicans as a nation of cut-throats. The jails of America are full of criminals and there are just as many more of them at large. But this […]
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“Having had experience on the legitimate stage before entering the silent drama, I at first missed the suspense of the raising of the curtain, and the rows and rows of people before me with their intensity, laughter, and outburts. Now, I do not want them, as they would distract my mental picture. But remember, we […]
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Carol Halloway: FELL INTO “THE MOVIES.” How Carol Halloway “Beauty” Star, Made Capital of Disaster. Billings Gazette, Dec. 27, 1915 Miss Carol Halloway, pretty ingenue in American “Beauty” comedies, literally stumbled into filmdom. The story has just been made public. While tramping around, high up in the Santa Ynez mountains, near Santa Barbara with a […]
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“Bootleggers are as common as whiskers in Russia. Seems that we’ll have to give ’em tags so they’ll not be bothering one another.” — Al St. John Source: 1919 2
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Peggy Pearce (possible real name Vilma or Velma Pearce, though in later life, she went by Peggy P. Klein), is a forgotten star of the silent film era. She was June 4, 1894, in Long Beach, California. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. She got her start as an early Mack Sennett bathing beauty. Charles […]
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“I used to be called ‘the girl who never had a chance.’” — Eve Southern Souce: Alice L. Tildesley (1927) Douglas Fairbanks is making a story of a South American cowboy, the gaucho being the picturesque name for his character. The plot calls for two leading ladies, one to portray the spiritual influence over […]
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