Favorite photos of silent stars

Anything and everything silent photoplay!
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donnie
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Re: Favorite photos of silent stars

Post by donnie »

:o Isn't that a striking photo?? She rivets your attention in that photograph the same way she does on the screen.

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Kitty
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Re: Favorite photos of silent stars

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Greta Garbo, 1928
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BettyLouSpence
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Re: Favorite photos of silent stars

Post by BettyLouSpence »

Garbo always looked stunning in black.
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donnie
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Re: Favorite photos of silent stars

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Mabel and Barney Oldfield in Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life (1913). I watched this a long time ago and don't remember thinking much of it, but I'd like to watch it again. It seems unusual to see Mabel frowning.
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Kitty
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Re: Favorite photos of silent stars

Post by Kitty »

Cool picture!! I'm sure I've said this before, but I often wonder if the descendants of a silent actor know and appreciate the fact that part of their family tree was in film.
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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donnie
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Re: Favorite photos of silent stars

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That is an interesting question. My guess is that it varies. In the case of Mabel, her descendent Stephen Normand is very visible online in championing her memory. In other cases, like Jobyna Ralston's son, I got the impression that it was past history and he really wasn't interested. And then I'm sure there are many who aren't even aware a family member had a film career. But most of the ones I've run across who are aware of it do seem to be proud of it.

I think the fact that the silent films were discarded so suddenly and completely once sound came in had a lot to do with the careers of many silent stars being forgotten. There just wasn't any appreciation at all for silent films for such a long time that a lot history was lost. Don't you think that's right?

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Kitty
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Re: Favorite photos of silent stars

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I think your points are spot on. It's pretty amazing that a larger group of people didn't step up and try to save these films in an earlier day. I feel that people are about the same as they are now, so there must have been some that appreciated the silent films even after sound films started bombarding the system. I guess that can be reflected in the actors/actresses who decided to keep their films safe. I believe the Pickfords and Chaplins are ones that protected their work, and saved it from ruin. Am I making myself clear or am I jibbering? :lol:
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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BettyLouSpence
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Re: Favorite photos of silent stars

Post by BettyLouSpence »

Esther Ralston

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donnie
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Re: Favorite photos of silent stars

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Kitty wrote:
Mon Jan 21, 2019 7:37 pm
I think your points are spot on. It's pretty amazing that a larger group of people didn't step up and try to save these films in an earlier day. I feel that people are about the same as they are now, so there must have been some that appreciated the silent films even after sound films started bombarding the system. I guess that can be reflected in the actors/actresses who decided to keep their films safe. I believe the Pickfords and Chaplins are ones that protected their work, and saved it from ruin. Am I making myself clear or am I jibbering? :lol:
You are clear. ;-) Also Harold Lloyd curated his films.

What's really sickening is to hear some of the stories of what was done with the studios' collections of silents once the sound era began. They actually piled up a lot of them and used them for bonfires. And there are stories of trucks backing onto a dock at night and tons of films going into the water. I've heard that the Pacific Ocean is the largest repository of silent films; I don't know if that's true or not.

I think very few people really had a sense of those films as history; if they couldn't make money off them, they were just useless refuse, as far as they were concerned. It wasn't until much later that there began to be a widespread appreciation and the beginnings of an attempt to preserve them—but by then it was too late for most of them... :(

But that's nothing new. When a thing has just gone out of use or out of style, it's never appreciated—until later. Nobody wants what's just been discarded. They want what's current or what was discarded a long time ago. Strange creatures, aren't we humans? :)

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donnie
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Re: Favorite photos of silent stars

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BettyLouSpence wrote:
Mon Jan 21, 2019 8:24 pm
Esther Ralston

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That's a wonderful portrait. I'm trying to think what I've seen her in...

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