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 […]
“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 […]
“The idea of playing tears, of merely pretending to be sad when one has gone through some of life’s real experiences, suddenly made me laugh that day that Bill Hart first told me I must cry in a scene. Everybody looked at me so oddly! I couldn’t cry, that was all. It took me the […]
“The girl is yours when you kiss her – until you meet the next one.” — Lew Cody Source: 1920 The Butterfly Man (1920) SODA JERK ON WAGER Hollywood, June 5, 1928 (U.P.) – If Lew Cody and Ralph Spence really placed a $1,000 side bet on the outcome then Lew Cody […]
“I’ve always been something of a Lone Ranger.” — G.M. “Broncho Billy” Anderson Source: Bob Thomas (1958) “When I decided to start making western pictures…I went out to a ranch at Amarillo, Texas, and learned how to ride.” — G.M. “Broncho Billy” Anderson Source: Robbin Coons (1944) Image: 1914
The Alexandria Hotel at 501 South Spring Street became Los Angeles’s first five-star luxury when it opened on February 12, 1906. It also served as the city’s main social center from 1906 to the end of 1920. The hotel appears in Haunted by History Vol. 1. I’ve included a few photos of the hotel through the years. Check back often because this […]
“There are a thousand ways to point a camera, but really only one.” — Ernst Lubitsch “The greatest aid to the development of emotionalism and surest guide to the core of dramatic action lies in the closeup. Not only does it give the brain process, but it may (to the exclusion of the […]
“It’s not Hollywood that’s to blame — it’s the individual. No one has to be changed unless he’s weak enough to want to be changed. If you’re looking for it you can find the same type of bad influence in New York, or Chicago, or San Francisco, or in any other city in the world. […]
”I got too big for my britches. I wanted too much money and when it was not forthcoming, I quit.” — Madge Bellamy Source: Her obituary from the New York Times, 1990. “After years as a star for the Fox company, Madge Bellamy‘s contract has been terminated, with a long period […]
“Acting is truly a glorious and noble profession. When anyone can give other people a few hours of escape or enchantment away from the ills of the world and their own personal lives, that’s a very worthwhile occupation.” — Jean Parker “I want to be a star to prove to myself that through right […]