Jean Paige: Pioneer Actress

Born Lucille Beatrice O’Hair in Paris, Illinois, on July 3, 1895, Jean Paige’s background does not hint at a film career. Her family was deeply religious and had no interest in the theatre. After Jean had taken private acting lessons and studied acting at the Kings School of Oratory, Elocution, and Dramatic Culture in Pittsburgh, a family friend, director Martin Justice, offered the actress a screen test. With her aunt, Jean came to New York on July 25, 1917, made a test at the Vitagraph studios, and was immediately cast in a series of two-reel comedies based on O. Henry’s short stories.




Jean made her film debut in “The Discounters of Money” (1917), and within a year, she was a Vitagraph star. Jean came out to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve 1919 and there she met Vitagraph’s co-founder and current owner, Albert E. Smith. Jean Paige and Albert E. Smith married at her parent’s home in December 1920, but the actress continued with films she had agreed to make. Sweet and untemperamental, Jean did whatever was asked of her. She played in the lurid melodrama, “The Prodigal Son” (1921). She co-starred in the screen adaptation of Anna Sewell’s “Black Beauty” (1921) opposite James Morrison. The feature is important as the first to be shot entirely with panchromatic film.



Jean ended her Vitagraph and her screen career with the studio’s last major production, the swashbuckling epic, “Captain Blood” (1924) with J. Warren Kerrigan and James Morrison. Jean wears the costume to perfection but has little need to act. By 1924, Jean wasn’t interested in pictures anymore and retired from the screen.

Jean died in Los Angeles on December 15, 1990. She was 95 years old.

Billie Rhodes: Pioneer Actress.

Despite having appeared in some 200 films, Billie Rhodes is completely forgotten today, even by the film buffs. Born Levita Axelrod in San Francisco on August 15, 1894, Billie had a brief stage career in stock and a tour on the Orpheum circuit. She entered films with the Kalem Company at the suggestion of director George Medford. Billie made her screen debut in the two-reel drama, “Perils of the Sea” (1913). At the close of her Kalem contract, Billie began to sing in nightclubs.




It wasn’t long before comedy producer Al Christie asked Billie to come over to his studio. Beginning in 1915, Billie was to appear in one comedy a week, under the direction of Al Christie, who was releasing his films through the Universal-controlled Nestor Company. Within a short time, Billie was being billed as “The Nestor Girl.” Billie was also seen in a minor role in Christie’s first feature-length production, “Mrs. Plum’s Pudding” (1915). When Christie entered independent production in the summer of 1916, he took Billie with him, and she was the star of his first independent production, “A Seminary Scandal” (1916).


A comedian by the name of “Smiling Billy” Parsons persuaded Billie to leave Christie and embark on independent production. He starred her in a series of Capitol Comedies released through Goldwyn and a six-reel feature, “The Girl of My Dreams,” released by First National, all in 1918. The following year, Parsons starred Billie in three feature films, “Hoop-La,” The Lamb and the Lion,” and “The Blue Bonnet.” Parsons also married Billie on February 12, 1919, but it was a short-lived relationship as he died on September 28, 1919. The death of Billy Parsons came at a bad time for Billie because there was no one to guide her and later feature films like “Miss Nobody” (1920), “His Pajama Girl” (1921) and “Fires of Youth” (1924) did nothing for her career and were commercial and critical failures. Billie remarried in 1920, and in the mid-1920’s, she went back to the stage and to night club entertaining. Billie died on March 12, 1988. She was 93 years old.

Ethel Grandin: Pioneer Actress

Winsome and diminutive, Ethel Grandin was among the first and most popular of the early screen stars. Born in New York City on March 3, 1894, Ethel had gone on stage in 1900, and appeared with Joseph Jefferson in “Rip Van Winkle.” In 1910, with her mother, Ethel went down to the American Biograph studio and was interviewed by D.W. Griffith. When the director pulled up Ethel’s dress and inspected her legs, she began to pout and sulk. Griffith explained to Ethel that he wanted to make sure she did not have bowlegs. Griffith’s behavior outraged Ethel so much that she refused to return to the studio the next day. Instead, Ethel and her mother went to Carl Laemmle’s IMP Company and was seen by Thomas H. Ince. Mary Pickford was about to leave the company, and Ince saw something of a similarity between Ethel and Mary, although she lacked the latter’s personality. Coincidentally, Ethel played Mary’s sister in IMP’s “The Toss of the Coin” (1911).





When Ince decided to enter independent production with the New York Motion Picture Company, he invited Ethel to come to California with him as his leading lady. Also in the group was cinematographer Ray Smallwood, who would later become a director and whom Ethel married in 1912. In 1913, Carl Laemmle asked Ethel to return to his company, along with her husband Ray Smallwood. Ethel was the company’s leading star, billed as “The Imp of the Imp Company.” For Laemmle, Ethel starred in both Western and comedy shorts, and she played the title role in IMP’s two-reel adaptation of “Jane Eyre” (1914).

Ethel also starred with Matt Moore and Jane Gail in George Loane Tucker’s production of “Traffic in Souls” (1913), a melodrama of white slavery, produced in secrecy without Laemmle’s approval. The total budget of the film was less than $6,000, raised by Tucker, director Herbert Brenon and others. Aside from the white slavery theme and what that implies, there is nothing sexual in the film.

“Traffic in Souls” (1913) is important as one of America’s first feature-length productions and for its semi-documentary quality with exteriors on the streets of New York City and for an innovative panoramic shot. In 1914, Ethel and Smallwood left Laemmle and formed their own production company, the Smallwood Film Corporation, operating out of a rental studio at Central Park West and Amsterdam Avenue in New York City. The company was relatively short-lived, and in 1915, Ethel retired from the screen in order to take care of her infant son. When Smallwood was hired by Metro to head its camera department, Ethel came with him back to Los Angeles. Smallwood turned to direction in the early 1920’s, and Ethel returned briefly to the screen with “Garments of Truth” (1921), “The Hunch” (1921), and “A Tailor-Made Man” (1922).

As the years progressed, Ethel lost the ability to speak. It was as if she had literally regressed to being once again a silent star. Ethel died on September 27, 1988. She was 94 years old. Even though Ethel Grandin is largely forgotten today, her most notable film, “Traffic in Souls” (1913) is available on dvd and it’s worth a look.

Mignon Anderson: Pioneer Actress

A tiny woman who was as unworldly as many of the ingénues she had played at Thanhouser, Mignon Anderson was one of the top stars of the pioneering Thanhouser Film Corporation in New Rochelle, New York, in the early teen years.











Mignon was born into a theatrical family in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 31, 1892. Her father, Frank Anderson was prominent on stage until his death in 1914, and he found roles for his daughter with a number of legendary theatre personalities. Mignon started as an artist’s model, and met people who were working in the picture business. She was eventually invited to go to the Thanhouser Company and meet theatrical entrepreneur Edwin Thanhouser. Mignon’s screen career began at Thanhouser in “Robert Emmett” (1911). Thanhouser advertised Mignon as “The Second Mary Pickford” and she was put under contract for six years. Mignon’s most memorable film for Thanhouser was “The Mill on The Floss” (1915).



















In 1916, Mignon married a fellow Thanhouser player, Morris Foster, and the couple left the studio to join Ivan Productions, created by Ivan Abramson. Abramson specialized in exploitation films, and Mignon starred for him in “The City of Illusion” (1916). In January 1917, Mignon moved on to Universal, where she worked with several directors, including two of its most prominent female filmmakers, Lois Weber, whom she starred for in “Even As You and I” and Ida May Park. By 1918, Mignon had left Universal, and for the remainder of her relatively short film career she worked as a freelance player. Her last screen appearance was “Kisses” (1922) for Metro. Mignon died on February 25, 1983. She was 90 years old.

Although largely forgotten today, Mignon Anderson was another pioneer actress that made a significant contribution to early American cinema.

Florence LaBadie: Pioneer Actress

Florence LaBadie was one of the most beautiful and talented actresses of her era. Yet today, more than ninety years after her death, her name is completely forgotten.






Florence was born Florence Russ in Manhattan on April 27, 1888. Her mother, Marie Russ, gave her up for adoption to Joseph and Amanda LaBadie, who raised her as a pampered only child. In 1908, when Florence and her parents were living in New York’s Upper West Side, she began her acting career.

Fellow actress Mary Pickford introduced Florence to Biograph’s D.W. Griffith in the summer of 1909, where she picked up several bit parts. Among her most noticeable roles was in the two-reel “Enoch Arden” (1911). By the summer of 1911, Florence decided to look around at more nurturing studios. Florence took the train up to the three-year-old Thanhouser Film Corporation in New Rochelle, New York. The studio manager Dave Thompson gave her a polite brush-off, and she returned to Biograph. Less than a month later, Edwin Thanhouser himself spotted Florence in one of her Biograph roles and asked her to join Thanhouser. Among Florence’s early Thanhouser films were “Cinderella” (1911), “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1912), and “The Star of Bethlehem” (1912).

























In 1912, Charles Hite purchased Thanhouser and was named president of the company. Under Hite’s leadership, the company’s fortunes continued to skyrocket. Early in 1914, Florence was given the leading role in the twenty-two part “The Million Dollar Mystery,” cementing her position as her studio’s top female star. Florence made another twenty-two films in 1915. She occasionally rode a motorcycle to the studio, and she took aviation lessons on Long Island. On August 22, 1914, Charles Hite, only thirty-nine years old, died in a car accident. Hite’s death and the failure of the expensive serial “Zudora” put the studio on a slow decline, and it began releasing films via Pathe. Florence made only thirteen films in 1916 and 1917, as Thanhouser began to wind down its operations. In the summer of 1917, she appeared in a war drama called “The Man Without a Country.” Shortly after its completion, she and her boyfriend, Daniel Carson Goodman, took off on a motor trip. On August 28, outside Ossining (about thirty miles north of Manhattan), the car’s brakes failed on a hill. Florence’s injuries were mortal, and she lingered painfully in the hospital for two months before succumbing to internal injuries on October 13, 1917. Goodman survived the wreck, and less than a year after Florence’s death, Edwin Thanhouser sold the studio, and it ceased production.

Even though Florence LaBadie is forgotten today, many of her Thanhouser shorts such as “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1912), “Petticoat Camp” (1912) and “The Evidence of the Film” (1913) are available on dvd. Florence’s last film, the sixty minute “The Man Without a Country” (1917) is also available on dvd.

Florence LaBadie was a pioneer actress and female daredevil that should be remembered for her significant contribution to early cinema.

Kathlyn Williams: The First Serial Heroine

Although Pearl White, with her “Perils of Pauline,” is generally thought of as the first serial queen, that title actually belongs to Kathlyn Williams. The first widely popular serial was “The Adventures of Kathlyn,” the first segment of which premiered on December 29, 1913.





Kathlyn Williams was born in Butte, Montana, on May 31, 1888. She studied drama at Wesleyan University before making her film debut with the Biograph Company in 1910. Kathlyn made only three films for the company before joining the Chicago-based Selig Polyscope Company, with which she was to remain for the next six years. “The Adventures of Kathlyn” was only one of the many films Kathlyn made at Selig, but it was “The Adventures” which made her an international star and trendsetter. Kathlyn starred as an unlikely African queen menaced by villainous Charles Clary and by Selig’s cast of lions, elephants and other assorted fauna.

























From Selig, Kathlyn moved on to Paramount. Her career continued strong through the early 1920’s at Paramount, with an occasional loan-out. She was directed several times by William Desmond Taylor and both William and Cecil B. DeMille directed Kathlyn several times. She also made three films with Paramount’s star attraction, Wallace Reid. When the Paramount contract ended in 1921, Kathlyn looked older than her age and was relegated to supporting and character parts. One of her best supporting roles was as the heartless social climbing mother of Anita Page in “Our Dancing Daughters” (1928) and the unsympathetic mother of Greta Garbo in “The Single Standard” (1929). In 1950, Kathlyn was involved in a serious automobile accident that resulted in the amputation of her right leg. Kathlyn died on September 23, 1960. She was 72 years old. Even though Kathlyn Williams is largely forgotten today, she deserves to be re-discovered for venturing into early American cinema as a modern and adventurous woman at a time when the industry was dominated by men.

Arline Pretty: Forgotten Serial Heroine.

I recently “discovered” a silent film actress while I was doing some research and I thought her name, Arline Pretty, was too good to be true, but perfect for a silent film star. After going through her filmography, I decided that a tribute would be most appropriate to an actress that found success doing serials and was a leading lady to Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.






















Arline Pretty (her real name) was born in Philadelphia on September 5, 1885 and was educated in Washington, D.C., where she was a member of the Columbia Players. She wanted to be a Broadway star but instead was lured to Tampa, Florida, to appear in local films aimed at promoting the city as a production center. Arline was briefly with Universal and then joined the Vitagraph Company in 1915.



Arline starred in Vitagraph’s serial, “The Secret Kingdom” in 1917. She made an appealing serial heroine and followed “The Secret Kingdom” with “The Hidden Hand” (1917) and “A Woman in Grey” (1920), both released by Pathe. The serials made Arline tremendously popular and she received thousands of fan letters and cards. Arline was also a leading lady to Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. in “In Again-Out Again” (1917).

In the 1920’s, Arline’s career was generally limited to second female leads in minor productions. She did appear in a couple of Metro films starring Viola Dana. Arline’s last silent film was “Virgin Lips” (1928) produced by Columbia. Arline died on April 14, 1978. She was 93 years old.

Even though Arline Pretty is largely forgotten today, her pioneering achievements in film made a lasting and significant contribution to early American cinema.

“The Kiss” 1929

“The Kiss” (1929) is a silent romantic drama starring Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel, Anders Randolf, and Lew Ayres. Directed by Jacques Feyder, this film was Garbo’s last silent film and Lew Ayres’ first major screen role.

In this film, Garbo plays Irene Guarry, a young woman unhappily married to an older man, Charles Guarry, played by Anders Randolf. Irene is in love with a young lawyer, Andre Dubail, played by Conrad Nagel. When Irene decides to stop seeing Andre, she starts spending her time with Pierre Lassalle, the son of her husband’s associate, played by Lew Ayres. When Pierre leaves for college, he begs Irene for a goodbye kiss, a gesture that leads to jealousy, death and an explosive murder trial.



I think what makes “The Kiss” a good film is the combination of Garbo’s acting and the fine cinematography. Under Feyder’s direction, Garbo was even more impressive than she was in her other silent films. I like the way she convincingly played the sympathetic, but no longer in love wife. I also liked the use of light and dark and the superb close-ups. Lew Ayres, whose distinguished career would include “All Quiet on the Western Front” and the Dr. Kildare movies, impresses in his first major screen role. Only 64 minutes in length, “The Kiss” is a good story of tortured romance with a bit of mystery.

Born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden, Garbo was brought to the United States by Swedish director Mauritz Stiller after Louis B. Mayer saw her in “Gosta Berlings saga” (1924) and found it exciting enough to sign both Garbo and Stiller to MGM contracts. In her first American film, “Torrent” (1926), Garbo dazzled audiences with her beauty and complex emotions. Her films with silent screen star John Gilbert and their offscreen romance made for big box office as well. One of her most provocative pairings with John Gilbert was “Flesh and the Devil” (1926). With the advent of talkies, Garbo’s career continued to rise and she was successful in “Anna Christie” (1930), “Grand Hotel” (1932), “ Anna Karenina” (1935), “Camille” (1936) and “Ninotchka” (1939). When “Two-Faced Woman” (1941) turned into a humiliating debacle, Garbo decided not to make another film until the time was right. That day never came. The secret of the success of Garbo is not that she lived too long or too short a space in years, but that she knew when to retire and how to fashion herself into a mysterious and reclusive figure. Garbo had one of the most flawless faces in film history, and she looks beautiful in the silent films.

“The Perils of Pauline” (1914)

“The Perils of Pauline” (1914) is a silent serial starring Pearl White, Crane Wilbur and Paul Panzer. Directed by Louis J. Gasnier and Donald MacKenzie, this serial is the most popular of the silent serials. Even though “The Perils of Pauline” (1914) was originally twenty episodes, only the nine episode European release survives.

The serial begins with the death of Pauline’s uncle and the takeover by his trusted secretary as Pauline’s guardian until she gets married. Although Pauline’s boyfriend is loyal, he is not that smart, and the guardian is constantly trying to kill her to gain her inheritance.





Using Pathe plays and players, early in 1914, Eclectic got under way “The Perils of Pauline,” which was to make Pearl White one of the legendary figures of the twentieth century and keep her for most of her career hanging over cliffs, escaping from sunken submarines and nearly dying in sabotaged airplanes. Much of “The Perils of Pauline” were shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey when many early film studios were based there. A few of the episodes were actually filmed on or around the New Jersey Palisades.

Pearl White was born on March 4, 1889 in Green Ridge, Missouri, and was the youngest of five children. Her parents moved to the town of Springfield, Missouri, where she had a normal childhood, growing up with a developing interest in the theater. In 1910, she was having trouble with her throat, and her voice began to fail from the rigors of nightly theatrical performances. She made her debut in films that year, starring in a long series of one-reel dramas and comedies for the Powers Film Company in the Bronx, New York. Pearl’s big break came in 1913 with a three-reel film titled “Through Air and Fire,” the beginning episode of the famous serial, “The Perils of Pauline.” The series was translated into many different languages and cemented her name and image as an icon of the silent screen. “The Exploits of Elaine” series followed in 1914, then “The New Exploits of Elaine” and “The Romance of Elaine,” both in 1915. Other serials continued her worldwide popularity in spellbounding horrors. Unfortunately, most of these serial episodes have been lost to the ravages of time and decomposition. Their vogue waned in the 1920’s, and Pearl transitioned to the new genre of feature films. Pearl White was destined to be a serial star, but her feature films are fascinating because of the courage it took for her to defy the restrictions of typecasting. One of these, released by William Fox is “The Thief” (1920). Pearl’s final work was in one more serial, believed by most contemporary reviewers to be the best of her body of work, a fifteen chapter serial called “Plunder” (1923). In 1923, after having earned and saved millions of dollars, Pearl retired in France. She came out of retirement to make one additional film, “Terror” (1924). Pearl died in Neuilly, France, on August 4, 1938.

“The Garden of Eden” (1928)

“The Garden of Eden” (1928) is a silent romantic comedy starring Corinne Griffith, Louise Dresser and Charles Ray. Directed by Lewis Milestone, this film is nicely balanced between romance and comedy.

The story begins with a naïve young woman, Toni LeBrun, played by Corinne Griffith, who decides to pursue a career as an opera singer. One night, Toni sneaks out of her aunt and uncle’s house to catch a train for Budapest. She arrives alone in the big city and goes to the cabaret, Palais de Paris, to audition for a role. It is at the cabaret that Toni meets the wicked owner Madame Bauer, played by Maude George. She is a businesswoman who wants to pimp her out to Henry D’Avril, one of Bauer’s wealthy customers, played by Lowell Sherman. When Madame Bauer provides a private room for Toni and D’Avril, Toni refuses his advances, and Rosa, the wardrobe mistress, played by Louise Dresser, helps her escape and they are both fired. What Toni doesn’t know is that Rosa is a baroness whose husband was killed in the Great War. She works all year and when she gets her late husband’s pension, she lives in Monte Carlo until her money runs out and then returns to Budapest. When Rosa’s pension arrives, she legally adopts Toni and takes her on a Cinderella-like adventure where she is pursued by two men, Richard Dupont, played by Charles Ray, and Colonel Dupont, his uncle, played by Edward Martindel.




“The Garden of Eden” (1928) is a delightful romantic comedy. I was really impressed with the photography and Corinne Griffith’s graceful performance. Charles Ray, who had been a popular actor in the 1910’s under the direction of Thomas H. Ince, delivers a solid performance. What I liked most about the film were the scenes with Corinne Griffith and Louise Dresser. They were perfect foils for each other, and their faces were so expressive.


Corinne Griffith was born Corinne Mae Griffin in Texarkana, Texas on November 21, 1894. She was a leading lady with Vitagraph from 1916 to 1922, appearing in more than forty films. From Vitagraph, Corinne moved on to First National where she headed her own production unit and where she would remain until 1930, except for one film, “The Garden of Eden” (1928), released by United Artists. Of the more than twenty-five First National films, three stand out: “Black Oxen” (1924), “Lilies of the Field” (1924) and “The Divine Lady” (1929). Corinne did appear in a couple of 1929 features with sound sequences, followed by two complete talkies, “Lilies of the Field” and “Back Pay” in 1930. With those films, her First National contract ended and her film career was over. Corinne was married four times, first to her Vitagraph director Webster Campbell then to producer Walter Morosco. In 1936, she married George Marshall, owner of the Boston Braves, and became a baseball fan. Corinne wrote her experiences in a 1946 “Saturday Evening Post” article, “My Life with the Redskins.” It was the first of six books that Corinne was to author, including “Papa’s Delicate Condition (1952), which was filmed in 1963 as a vehicle for Jackie Gleason. Corinne divorced George Marshall in 1958, and in 1965, she married realtor and singer, Dan Scholl. He was 44 and she was 71. The couple separated after six weeks and the divorce proceedings were extraordinarily messy. At the time of her death, Corinne’s estate was valued at $150 million dollars. She was one of the wealthiest women in the world.

“The Flying Fleet “ (1929)

“The Flying Fleet “ (1929) is a silent drama starring Ramon Novarro, Ralph Graves, and Anita Page. Directed by George Hill, this film features excellent footage of naval aircraft. The story begins with six graduating seniors at the U.S. Naval Academy on the eve of their graduation. The six have been the best of friends for four years, and all of them are hopeful flyboys, but only two, Lt. Tommy Winslow, played by Ramon Novarro, and Lt. Steve Randall, played by Ralph Graves, complete the program. Unfortunately, they become romantic rivals when they fall in love with the same girl, Anita Hastings, played by Anita Page.







I think “The Flying Fleet” is a very good film. Ramon Novarro and Ralph Graves deliver great performances as hopeful flyboys and romantic rivals. The 18 year old Anita Page looks lovely and gives a charming performance as the love interest of the two buddies. This film depicted naval flight training in a very authentic way. I liked the way synchronized sound effects and music were added to this otherwise silent film. A box office hit, “The Flying Fleet” is a late MGM silent that is worth watching, especially for those that love old aircrafts.





Anita Page was born Anita Pomares on August 4, 1910, in Queens, New York. Her father’s side of the family was from El Salvador of Spanish ancestry. Her entrance into films came courtesy of her friend, actress Betty Bronson. Betty’s mother put one of Anita’s photos in her home, and a man who was handling Betty’s fan mail saw it and said he was going into the business of handling stars. Anita called him, and he told her to be at the front gate of Paramount at 9:00 the next morning and to bring the picture. The casting director took one look at the picture and gave Anita a test. MGM was also interested. Anita was put through the dilemma of having to choose between MGM and Paramount contracts. She decided to take the MGM contract. Anita’s first MGM film was “Telling the World” (1927) with William Haines. Another early role was “While the City Sleeps” (1928) as Lon Chaney’s love interest. Anita’s biggest break was “Our Dancing Daughters” (1928) with Joan Crawford and Johnny Mack Brown. Anita made two more films with Joan Crawford, “Our Modern Maidens” (1929) and “Our Blushing Brides” (1930). In 1929, Anita appeared in two talkies, “The Hollywood Revue” and the Academy Award-winning “The Broadway Melody.” From about 1930 on, MGM began to lose interest in Anita’s career. Anita had admired the way Louis B. Mayer, studio head at MGM, groomed stars if he liked them and remained in his favor. However, when Mayer tried to get her into bed, that is when Anita drew the line. She liked him as a boss, but that is where it ended. In 1934, Anita wed songwriter Nacio Herb Brown, who had dedicated the song “You Were Meant for Me” to her. They never lived together because Anita said they were not married in the Catholic church. After nine months of marriage, Anita found out he was still married to his previous wife, so Anita had their marriage annulled. In 1937, Anita did marry in church, to a handsome naval officer named Herschel House. They were married fifty-four years until House died in 1992. The couple had two daughters.

Anita had many fond memories of her career, and thought she was blessed to have worked with so many of the greats like Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton, John Gilbert, William Haines, Clark Gable and Ramon Novarro, her favorite leading man. Anita Page died on September 6, 2008 of natural causes. She was 98 years old.

“Quality Street” (1927)

“Quality Street” (1927) is a silent comedy drama starring Marion Davies, Conrad Nagel and Helen Jerome Eddy. Based on the famous James M. Barrie play and directed by Sidney Franklin, “Quality Street” was a good showcase for Marion Davies. In this period story, Marion Davies plays Phoebe Throssel, a young woman who fails to land a proposal from her beloved, Dr. Valentine Brown, played by Conrad Nagel, before he leaves to the Napoleonic Wars. When he returns, Phoebe has become old and drab, and he is no longer interested in her. To punish him, Phoebe pretends to be her teenage niece Livvy in order to win him back.






Even though I’m not a big fan of costume dramas, I enjoyed this film mainly for the screen presence of Marion Davies. It was as a comedienne that Marion truly lit up the screen, and in this comedy of manners she is wonderful in the dual roles of Phoebe and Livvy. I think this silent version of “Quality Street” is terrific in its costumes, sets, and cinematography. I just wish there were more scenes where Marion could show off her comic skills. Although the film has some nitrate decomposition in some scenes, it shouldn’t deter from its enjoyment.

Marion Davies was born Marion Cecilia Douras to a large Brooklyn family on January 3, 1897. All three of her sisters went on the stage but, despite their beauty, never became big stars. The Douras family (soon stage-named Davies) moved to Manhattan and little Marion began finding the theater more fascinating than school. It was during her run in the 1917 “Follies” that she caught the eye of the married, powerful newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. It was life-long love at first sight for the fifty-four-year old Hearst. Within a few years, Marion was as dedicated to him as any wife could be. The legal Mrs. Hearst, however, refused him a divorce. Marion had made her film debut in “Runaway, Romany” (1917). The reviews were good, and Marion seemed well on her way to becoming another Mabel Normand, but then Hearst stepped in to guide her career. His taste ran to overblown period films. Ironically, Marion was a brilliant comedienne with limited dramatic skills.

In 1919, Hearst formed Cosmopolitan Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount, through which the films were released. In 1924, Cosmopolitan changed the affiliation to Goldwyn, and thereby to MGM when the studios merged. Among Marion’s more successful costume dramas were “Little Old New York” (1923), “Lights of Old Broadway” (1925), “Beverly of Graustark” (1926), “The Red Mill” (1927), and “Quality Street” (1927). Later in the decade, Marion was given a few opportunities to show off her comic skills in films like “The Patsy” (1928) where she did hilarious imitations of Mae Murray, Lillian Gish and Pola Negri. In “Her Cardboard Lover” (1928), Marion did a wicked parody of costar Jetta Goudal. “Show People” (1928) was Marion’s finest hour. She showed great comic timing and the rare opportunity to poke fun at both herself and her profession.

Despite her slight stammer, Marion had nothing to fear from talkies. It was the quality of her scripts which gave her trouble. Hearst did fall out with Louis B. Mayer, and in 1934, Marion, Hearst, and Cosmopolitan moved to Warner Brothers. That studio dolled her up in stiff platinum-blonde wigs and starred her in four films. Only “Cain and Mabel” (1936) with Clark Gable really had any merit. Marion had enough and at the age of forty retired. She spent the next fourteen years as Hearst’s wife in all but name. Despite Hearst’s constant efforts to keep her away from liquor, Marion was an alcoholic. Her looks and health began to fade, but not her charm. After Hearst’s death in 1951, Marion quickly wed old friend Captain Horace Brown, more for companionship than for love. The marriage was a stormy one, but it endured. After suffering from jaw cancer for three years, Marion died on September 22, 1961. She was 64 years old.



It’s interesting to note that Marion’s beloved “niece,” Patricia van Cleve Lake, died in her early seventies on October 3, 1993, in California. Shortly thereafter, her son Arthur Lake, Jr. (son of the late actor Arthur Lake), announced that his mother was the daughter of Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst, born in Paris sometime in the early 1920’s.

“College” (1927)

“College” (1927) is a silent comedy starring Buster Keaton, Anne Cornwall, and Flora Bramley. Directed by James W. Horne, this film stars Keaton in one of his most memorable roles as the hapless Ronald who gives a high school valedictory address that praises books and condemns sports. His girlfriend Mary thinks that’s nonsense. Afraid he might lose her, Ronald goes to college and tries to become a star athlete.

“College” is my favorite of Keaton’s silent comedies because the majority of the film’s gags concern Buster’s attempts to become a successful athlete in order to win back his girlfriend. It’s interesting to note that in 1927, before he began making films, Spanish director Luis Bunuel praised Keaton’s achievement in “College” for its simple cinematic style, and at least one segment in his classic surrealist film, Un Chien andalou (1929) may have been influenced by Keaton.



























Buster Keaton, The Great Stone Face, was a filmmaker and comedian. He wrote, produced, directed and acted in ten feature length comedies within five years in the 1920’s. He was also in 124 other films, short and long, over a 50 year period right up to his death in 1966. He and his parents and two younger children were a close and happy family for his first twenty years. His father had met his mother while playing in her father’s medicine show, and Buster was born on tour, in Piqua, Kansas. His very earliest stunt was observed by the famous magician, Harry Houdini, a member of their vaudeville company. When six-month-old Joseph rolled down a flight of stairs at a theatrical boarding house and came up laughing, Houdini and Joseph, Sr. nicknamed him Buster. There were many happy tours and pleasant family summers, but eventually alcoholism caught up with Joseph Keaton, Sr. Mrs. Keaton broke up the act in 1917, and Buster got a job on his own with a new musical review on Broadway for $250 a week. Before Buster could start, he visited the set of a Roscoe Arbuckle film production on East 48th Street. Buster was invited to do a bit part in the two-reeler starting that day, “The Butcher Boy” (1917). Buster turned down the $250 for a chance to work in a medium for $40 a week to start. Buster worked with Arbuckle from 1917 to 1919. Joseph Schenck, who had been handling the finances for the Arbuckle films, decided to let young Buster Keaton produce a series of his own pictures. Schenck left Buster free to work as he pleased, but he kept ownership of the films. Keaton had trusted his brother-in-law, Schenck, to take care of his business affairs, but in 1928, Schenck advised him to give up his independence and go to work at MGM. This took away Keaton’s creative freedom and after two more pictures he began to suffer personally and professionally. Keaton did stay busy, but the declining years were bitter and degrading. His marriage in 1921 to Natalie Talmadge, whose sister Norma had married Schenck, started well and it lasted ten years, but Keaton was appalled at his wife’s financial demands. The divorce took much of Keaton’s property and income and separated him from his two sons. Keaton developed a problem with alcohol, but his desire to live pulled him out of it. One day in 1938, Keaton was playing bridge at his mother’s house with some friends and he met a 19-year-old girl who also liked bridge. Eleanor Norris liked this humorous man who was so interesting and so kind to her. After a long acquaintance, she encouraged him to marry her and she stayed with him until his death in 1966.

Keaton lived long enough to receive an enthusiastic ovation at the 1965 Venice Fim Festival, but he did not live long enough to accept honors and applause from the new audiences that have come along and embraced his comedic style.

“The Goose Woman” (1925)

“The Goose Woman” (1925) is a silent drama starring Louise Dresser, Jack Pickford, and Constance Bennett. Directed by Clarence Brown, this film was inspired by the notorious Hall-Mills murder case in which a woman known as the “Pig Woman” was wheeled into court on her sickbed to provide damning testimony. In this film, Louise Dresser plays Marie de Nardi, a celebrated opera diva who loses her voice and her reputation after giving birth to an illegitimate son. Returning to her given name of Mary Holmes, she goes back to her hometown living in a filthy shack and raising geese. Years later, a headline-making murder case is played in her town. Hoping to get publicity and restart her career, Mary claims to be a witness to the murder. Unfortunately, her dreams of glory fade when she discovers that her son Gerald, played by Jack Pickford, is implicated in a crime he did not commit.


























“The Goose Woman” is a true tearjerker that is worth watching just for Louise Dresser’s top-notch performance. Dresser is very poignant as a woman who turns to drink and brings up her illegitimate son with neither love nor affection. Both Jack Pickford, Mary Pickford’s brother, and Constance Bennett, who plays Pickford’s fiancée, give subtle but moving performances. An excellent film, “The Goose Woman” is a great story of mother-love and redemption. Unfortunately, the quality of the Televista print is not the best, and may deter some from enjoying the film.


Born on October 22, 1904, in New York City, Constance Bennett was the eldest of the three daughters of Richard Bennett and Adrienne Morrison, both stage players. All three Bennett sisters, Constance, Joan and Barbara, were brought up in the theatrical tradition, and it was no surprise when all three took up the family trade. Constance grew up attending the best schools. She made her first screen appearance as a nymph in her father’s film “The Valley of Decision” (1915). She briefly wed Chester Moorhead in 1921, but that was quickly annulled. At 18, Constance embarked on her film career, making two small appearances in “Reckless Youth” and “Evidence,” both in 1922. She worked her way slowly up the cast lists, playing supporting roles, and by 1925, Constance began getting starring roles. One of Constance’s first hits, “Sally, Irene, and Mary” (1925), showed her unusual star quality. She appeared in an impressive nine films in 1925 and signed an MGM contract late in the year before suddenly giving it all up for Philip Plant, whom she married that same year. Their son Peter was born in 1929, the same year their marriage ended. In 1929, Constance was ready to resume her career. She signed with Pathe and stayed with the studio through the early 30’s. During her time at Pathe, Constance starred in the society drama, “Rich People” (1929), the romantic comedy, “This Thing Called Love” (1929) and the glamorous drama, “Common Clay” (1930). When Pathe was bought out by RKO in 1931, Constance made six films, most of them racy and sophisticated women’s pictures like “The Common Law” (1931) and “Rockabye” (1932) with Joel McCrea and “Our Betters” (1933) and “After Tonight” (1933) with future husband Gilbert Roland. In most of her pre-Code films, Constance wore gorgeous clothes while she loved and suffered. Women flocked to see her movies and made her one of the most popular female stars of the 1930’s. In the 1940’s, Constance made fewer films, working in radio and theater. Married a total of five times, Constance’s fourth husband was actor Gilbert Roland, the father of her two daughters. Constance died soon after filming “Madame X” (1966) on July 24, 1965. She was 60 years old. I’ve enjoyed watching many of Constance’s films through the years, and my favorite is “What Price Hollywood?” (1932), which I consider her best performance.

“What Happened To Rosa?” (1920)

“What Happened To Rosa?” (1920) is a silent romantic comedy starring Mabel Normand, Doris Pawn, Tully Marshall, and Hugh Thompson. Directed by Victor Schertzinger, this film is the best known of the three surviving films from Mabel Normand’s Goldwyn period.

In this film, Mabel Normand plays Mayme Ladd, a hosiery counter girl whose life is drudgery and has never been brightened by romance. Mayme is told about an occult medium by a customer and decides to go to see what her future would bring. The medium, Madame O’Donnelly, played by Eugenie Besserer, convinces Mayme that in a previous life she was a Spanish temptress named Rosa Alvaro.

Back in her apartment, Mayme remembers that her mother had been a Spanish dancer and takes out her old costume. With a flower in her teeth, Mayme believes she has the power to become Rosa Alvaro and pursues the man of her dreams, Dr. Maynard Drew, played by Hugh Thompson. Will Mayme succeed in her romantic pursuit of Dr. Drew?





In “What Happened To Rosa?” (1920), Mabel Normand is perfectly cast as the little comic loser. Her expressive body and excellent timing are put to good use in her comic scenes. One of my favorite scenes is when Mabel wrestles with putting silk stockings on the legs of a store mannequin. Another funny scene is when she pulls out a fish from her blouse after swimming to shore off a yacht. Although not worthy of her incredible talents, this film is worth viewing because it’s one of Mabel Normand’s few surviving feature films.


Born on November 10, 1895, in Staten Island, New York, Mabel Normand’s film career began in 1910 after posing as a model for some of the best illustrators of the day. At the Vitagraph Company, at the beginning of her film career, she even had her own screen character, Betty, but soon her onscreen character would be known simply as Mabel. She was the only silent star linked by name to the heroine she portrayed on film. As Mabel came to fame, she worked with two of cinema’s greatest pioneers, D.W. Griffith and J. Stuart Blackton, but neither left any indication that they were particularly impressed with the actress. It was Mack Sennett who recognized Mabel’s comedic talents in 1911, and from then on, no matter for whom she worked, Mabel’s name was always to be associated with that of Sennett, the so-called King of Comedy. When he formed his Keystone Company, Mabel was with him, and when Charlie Chaplin joined the company, Mabel was his first leading lady. In 1913 and 1914, Mabel directed twelve comedy shorts, in all of which she was the star, and in five of which she was supported by Chaplin. In 1914, Sennett undertook a highly ambitious project, “Tillie’s Punctured Romance,” one of his greatest hits, with Chaplin, Mabel, the Kops, and Marie Dressler all appearing together. Often referred to as “the first feature-length comedy,” it is a full six reels. Sennett not only made Mabel a star but was instrumental in combining her with a great comic foil, Roscoe Arbuckle. Mabel talked Sennett into starring her with Arbuckle, and within a short time the two comedians were Keystone’s most popular team. Arbuckle was 5’10” to Mabel’s barely five feet, and over 250 pounds to her less than 100. Just the way they looked standing side by side could get a laugh and their contrasting size and shape were exploited for all kinds of comic variations. The breakup of the Mabel and Sennett relationship came in the summer of 1915, when their engagement fell apart, supposedly after Mabel found Sennett in a compromising situation with another actress, Mae Busch. The 1920’s was not a good decade for Mabel. There were two scandals, involving her relationships with director William Desmond Taylor and oil tycoon Courtland S. Dines. There was also Mabel’s over reliance on drugs. It was the last that killed her, four years after her only marriage to actor Lew Cody. Mabel Normand died on February 22, 1930 of pulmonary tuberculosis. She was 34 years old.