Silent Divas and scandals

[dangermousie]

Now, if you’ve friended me after my drama craze started, you probably don’t know that one of my other interests is silent movies. I guess I like my melodrama where I can find it. And this interest just resurfaced because I have just found lovely used copy of Wallace Reid: The Life And Death of a Hollywood Idol by E.J. Fleming (I had an entry on Wallace reid here (here is a webpage that goes into more detail here))

I also found Olive Thomas: The Life and Death of a Silent Film Beauty by Michelle Vogel. Whoa, silent movie stars seemed to drop like flies.

So in honor of that, some silent movie starlets pics.

Famous silent actress Theda Bara as Cleopatra from the 1917 lost film. Yay for sex symbols :)



And here is Olive Thomas, a silent actress who was first married at 13 (!!) then eventually later married Mary Pickford’s brother who was an alcoholic, a drug addict and someone who had syphilis. She became an alchoholic herself and died an untimely death at the age of 26 by accidentally drinking what she thought was water but was her husband’s s medicine for syphilis (which he happily transmitted to her). Yeah.



And here is Mary Miles Minter, one of the earliest Anne’s in ‘Anne of Green Gables’ Her career was effectively over when her lover, film director William Desmond Taylor was found murdered and scandal resulted that was the end for her good girl image. (This was the lady that confessed to the murder).



Norma Talmadge, one of the biggest stars of the silent era:

Comments

[ch1pper.livejournal.com]

Aaaaand I'm fascinated. You say the word history and my mind starts drooling.

Those look like cool books to read. So many strange, untimely deaths...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the books are interesting (I just started).

i'm a big louise brooks fan

[calledinvain.livejournal.com]

Oh, that face. And that haircut. Silent beauties and the photography of them - there's something timeless and ethereal about them, which is hard to say about the film actresses of today.

Re: i'm a big louise brooks fan

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I love Lulu. I was going for less famous ones so didn't include her, bur yes, she was awesome. Clara Bow was my fave though.

Re: i'm a big louise brooks fan

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

<3 Clara Bow, Lulu, Lillian Gish.

Re: i'm a big louise brooks fan

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, they were awesome. I also like Marion Davies, who is really funny and really underrated.

Re: i'm a big louise brooks fan

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Poor Marion Davies, forever tarred because of "Susan Alexander" in "Citizen Kane."

Re: i'm a big louise brooks fan

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's a pity too, because Citizen Kane is a great film but Marion Davies deserved much more than to be remembered as Susan Alexander prototype...

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

I think it's so interesting how actresses of those ages seem to have similarities in their looks, much different to the stars of today. And their pictures somehow show a sense of serenity. The photographic style of those days, perhaps :D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

True. A lot of them look similar I think because the public was going for a particular look. I also really like the outre look of the clothes.

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

One of my all-time favorite movies is Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" - The only other silent film I've seen is "Birth of a Nation" which my cinema appreciation class watched solely as it was a historical landmark - the storyline is...just awful.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Metropolis is very good visually, though the acting is atrocious. BoN is a landmark but it pretty much sucks. Want some silent movie recs? :)

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

Sure! That'd be great!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

OK, let me ransack brain :)