Forget The Talkies - Latest Comments

Re: FTT Honor Project: Let’s Get Florence LaBadie a memorial stone!

Ned Thanhouser — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 01:23:52 -0000

Florence's short biography and links to 12 of her films can be found here: http://www.thanhouser.org/p.... Her complete detailed biography with her filmography by Q. David Bowers may be located here: http://www.thanhouser.org/t...

Re: Playing the United Artists Theatre Game: Round 2

Jason Dibler — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 14:07:29 -0000

Thank you for this! If there has been any more information submitted, I'd love to hear! thank you - jason.dibler@acehotel.com

Re: Interviewing Anthony: John Bunny, the man, the first, the forgotten

misspickford — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 10:57:33 -0000

Thanks for replying Beth! I contacted Anthony, if his email is still good I hope he'll get in touch with you.

Re: Interviewing Anthony: John Bunny, the man, the first, the forgotten

Mrs. Beth Williams — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 21:00:50 -0000

I am related to the Bunny family, John Bunny - the actors father was a George Bunny, born in Cornwall, worked in Ireland. My great ggrandmother was Ann Gluyas Bunny, George Bunny's eldest sister, born in Helston Cornwall, England daughter of John Bunny, Excise Officer, cheers, Beth Williams, Sydney, Australia
ps would love a soveneir of him.

Re: Charlie Chaplin: City Lights

Brent Reid — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 16:19:09 -0000

Charlie's also similarly beaten-down and dejected in The Kid, after he thinks he's lost John for good. So much so, that he submits without question to the policeman picking him up and driving him off... Thankfully, it's only for him to be reunited with the object of his love and affection.
That, for me, is the second-saddest part in that film.

Re: Welcome to the new site!

Marieke — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:54:52 -0000

Hi! I followed a link from Silent London to the Silent Film for Noobs post, however the link doesn't seem to work. Does the page still exist?

Re: Silent Ebay Watch: Mabel takes the crown, Olive in second, and a little Valentino

tom stanford — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 22:00:28 -0000

i am hoping for peoples shared thought regarding a Mabel Normand photo i just discovered in a lot of printed sig photos. this one inscribed and signed as Rose on verso. the photo shows her as Rose from the film, she was in. unusual yes, but it is in her hand, inscribed to a big collector, and at the time, proprietor of a hollywood movie museum. aprox. 6 x 9" any thoughts would be warmly welcomed, thank you tom. e-mail Tom@ladybirdsgallery.com

Re: Douglas Fairbanks Exhibit: Pictures and Review!

Ellen Kearns Asleson — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:59:47 -0000

The photo of Doug with Valentino and someone you label as "Hays" is cowboy star W. S. Hart. He was, for a while, going to be one of the founding members of United Artists, but changed his mind.

Re: Silent Film Accompaniment? What makes it good?

Donnie Ashworth — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 12:24:55 -0000

Hi, I've just discovered your interesting site here and am enjoying reading your thoughts. I like Robert Israel's scores fairly well, myself. I think there is far worse out there, maybe some better at times. (I haven't watched My Best Girl yet.) In general, I like piano accompaniment quite well, especially if done by the likes of Jon Mirsalis or Philip Carli. What do you think of those?

Re Nitrateville, by the way, I've visited there a time or two and thought about joining. But from what you and a couple of others say (and my own observations), it doesn't seem like a very warm and welcoming place. (And I speak as a—sometimes—crotchety 57 year-old male myself. : )

Re: Disney ripping Douglas Fairbanks off…

Letitita Fairbanks — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:54:15 -0000

You go girl!!! Tell 'em!!!

Re: Exciting Minter/William Desmond Taylor find!

Letitita Fairbanks — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:48:20 -0000

I find it fascinating that there are two "child stars" (Well Mary Pickford wasn't a child star at this point, but she played a lot of children) both named Mary, who both had mothers that were a bit over-the-top -- both mothers are named Charlotte. Sorta freaky!

Re: Exciting Minter/William Desmond Taylor find!

Manhattan — Thu, 16 May 2013 06:00:12 -0000

I have been interested in the Taylor murder for decades also. I have 3 books on it, the one by Sidney Kirkpatrick (which contained so many inaccuracies), the book by Robert Giroux, and Wm Desmond Taylor "A Dossier". The Kirkpatrick book has a chapter in it, where King Vidor visits Mary in her Santa Monica home in the 60's and she lets him read or reads to him from a book titled "Twisted By Knaves I can't recall if she states in the book if it is by herself or her mother. Evidently Charlotte was calling people early in the morning prior to the discovery of the body and let one of them know Taylor was dead. I have always thought it was Charlotte. However this story has a great many twists and turns, and it needs to made into a movie.

Re: The Overrated Metropolis

Aaron M. White — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 20:49:23 -0000

Other than this was ultra high-tech visual effects and cinematography for it's day (And that is going so far out on a limb), this was a very profound synopsis on a very odd, yet somewhat intriguing film.

Re: The Confusing Discrepancies of Olive Thomas

misspickford — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 03:18:26 -0000

Well I'll consider it...mostly a time issue these days! Still love Ollie!

Re: The Confusing Discrepancies of Olive Thomas

Rachel Ann — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:55:02 -0000

I know this post is 4 years old, but I found it because I, too, was looking for information on Olive's nephew after her death. I totally think you should write a book on her. I would read it....make it a New Year's resolution! :)

Re: Mabel Normand Feature Found!

Carlos West — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 21:49:15 -0000

No doubt a boxed set would do very well as there are a lot of Mabel Normand fans! The character Mack Sennett plays in Oh, Mabel Behave(1921) has to be one of the most uniquely named: Blaa Blaa.

Re: Baby Peggy Needs a Star!

Gloria D — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:21:50 -0000

The documentary "Baby Peggy the Elephant in the Room" was created by Vera Iwerebor. She was the director, producer, editor and camerawoman of the film.
Milestone Films is the distributor.

Re: Baby Peggy Needs a Star!

Susan R — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:23:24 -0000

I love Diana Serra Cary aka. Baby Peggy! I've met her twice at the Broncho Billy Film Festival in Niles, CA. She's such a great noble lady and still has star quality to this day. I would be there to see her get her star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame!

Re: Olive Thomas “Everybody’s Sweetheart”

Julianne Hannes — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 04:48:03 -0000

Thought you'd be interested to know, there recently was a new musical about Olive Thomas(and Jack Pickford) that begs for your reviewing and debunking ASAP --

http://www.ghostlightthemus...

http://www.youtube.com/user...

and Chaplin: The Musical (aka Limelight) is heading to Broadway spring '13

Re: Glorious Gloria Swanson

Julianne Hannes — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 04:14:10 -0000

But she was a bitch! That's not fake, have you seen her interviews? She really was that bitchy and conceited in real life. Seriously watch her interviews (all she does is complain, complain, complain, and when she's not complaining she's putting down other artists, usually Erich.)

Like this one documentary made in 1982 where the majority of living silent film stars and film makers and crew were interviewed. In the teens and 20s where only 1 out of 15,000 girls made it and didn't starve on vine street, she had it the best out of all of them with such riches, experiences, hand beaded clothes, luxury better than what royal's had(even before she became Marque), the belle of countless parties, the biggest fandom that rivaled Valentino's, but in documentary all she does is whine and complain about how awful it was to be a "clothes horse" wearing countless heavy clothes and jewels(back when majority of girls in the world wore white hand me down rags as a wedding dress), and when United Artists throws her the grandest welcoming ceremony of hundreds of admirers cheering her arrival, she complains that the fans weren't there for her but for her "homecoming", and oh how she clamors on and on how Erich required her to be spit on for a scene in Queen Kelly and got him fired him for it, she had not one good to say about anyone or anything, NOT ONE. She was so ungrateful, negative, and hypocritical.

She is the only one who complains in the 1982 documentary, even the stuntmen who were treated like toss-away rag dolls for mere pennies and watched their coworkers get violent killed before their eyes(a career of getting shot out of catapults,jumping out of trains and airplanes, climbing skyscrapers for Harold, etc, etc), even they didn't complain, even the cameramen who spent hours upon hours cranking the camera with their right arm(can you just image the arm strain) while being tied to the wings of planes or on a narrow cliff or ledge, and even on moving ice on a snowy river during a blizzard, getting that perfect shot, even they didn't complain and had good things to say.

Re: Could we ever find the films of Theda Bara?

Jazzy — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 11:16:03 -0000

Wow, really interesting! Great article.

Re: Let’s play the United Artists Mural game

Amanda H. — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 12:42:03 -0000

L6 is very likely John Barrymore in The Beloved Rogue, a United Artists film released in 1927.

Re: The 3 Ladies

Lois LaRaine — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:45:02 -0000

If you want to know more about Olive's nephew Jimmie, you can go my blog! I posted pictures and newspaper articles of him on there also.
http://theyplayedinsilence....

Re: http://www.forgetthetalkies.com/2008/08/confusing-discrepancies-of-olive-thomas.html

Lois LaRaine — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 19:01:28 -0000

I would LOVE to know where you got that information!
I'm currently writing a book about Olive and Jack's relationship and I'm desperetly trying to find out who Olive's nephew was. What I did find out is that it was her brother William's kid. Both of Olive's brothers, William and James, worked at the Selznick studios. I contacted Selznick studios, and with no luck they couldn't find any records or information on either of them. I was hoping that they would maybe know.
But Olive's mother took her nephew after Olive died. Jack didn't take care of him, but he did pay for a new house, clothing, and food for both of them. I couldn't find out his name though, but I think he died in 1957, in San Bernardino, California.

Re: Forget the Talkies!: Mary Pickford Blogathon: Why Aren't We Talking about Mary Pickford Yet?

misspickford — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 03:53:11 -0000

Thanks everyone! Melissa I think My Best Girl was the other fellow; not Maria Neuman. She is so talented; her scores are full of pep. When I first seen My Best Girl Bob Mitchell played and he really made it come alive. The DVD version doesn't even bother half assing 'Red Hot Mama' in the key scene where Mary pretends to be a baby vamp.

Kiki makes me want to create a drinking game for it...someone should do that before the blogathon ends!!!

I actually seen bits (it was before it was restored) of Norma's Kiki maybe a year or two after I wrote the Kiki review. It was much more charming; but I have yet to really 'get' Norma...I'll give her another chance since it wasn't even remotely ideal (unrestored and Russian subtitles.)