Screen’s First Sex Symbol
Nearly 100 years ago Theda Bara was one of the biggest Silent Screen Stars, now other than those who are fans of Silent Movies she is almost completely unknown. She made more than 40 feature films between 1914 and 1926 however most of these films are considered ‘Lost films’ since complete prints of only six [...]
A Silent Star and His Fall
Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle was born on March 24, 1887 in Smith Center, Kansas, to Mollie and William Goodrich Arbuckle. His mother died in 1899 and his father abandoned him shortly afterward. Arbuckle survived by doing odd jobs at a hotel in San Jose, California. He entered an amateur night contest where he caught the attention [...]
First Bond Girl
It wasn’t her first film appearance, but when when she emerged from the sea in a white bikini in the 1962 James Bond Film “Dr. No”, Ursula Andress became the first and perhaps the most unforgettable Bond Girl. Ursula Andress was born on March 19, 1936 in Switzerland. It must have been for her beauty [...]
Edward Everett Horton
March 18 is the anniversary of the birth of Edward Everett Horton. It’s possible that you don’t know who he is, but nearly everyone over the age of 40 will be familiar with his voice. He was the narrator of the Fracture Fairy Tales from the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Horton was born in 1886 [...]
Millard Kaufman
Two days after his 92nd birthday, Millard Kaufman died. Kaufman was a screen writer beginning in the late 1940s and into 1970s. He was the co-creator of Mr. Magoo. Born March 12, 1917, in Baltimore, Kaufman spent two years as a merchant seaman after high school. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Johns [...]
Abbott and Costello – Comedy Team from Vaudeville to Television
William (Bud) Abbott was born in Asbury Park, NJ, October 2, 1895 and died April 24, 1974 in Woodland Hills, California. Lou Costello (Louis Francis Cristillo) was born in Paterson, NJ, March 6, 1906 and died March 3, 1959 in East Los Angeles, California. They first began to work together in 1935 at the Eltinge [...]
The Schnozzola
Nearly everyone knows him as the voice of the narrator of the classic Christmas cartoon Frosty the Snowman. Jimmy Durante was the voice and at the time he was near the end of a career that lasted for nearly 70 years. James Francis Durante was born on February 10, 1893 in Brooklyn, New York. Durante [...]
History Writ with Lightning
‘The Birth of a Nation’ was produced and directed by D.W. Giffith and released on February 8, 1915. It starred Lillian Gish, Henry Walthall and Mae Walsh. The 3 hour 10 minute film was originally presented in two parts separated by an intermission. The film cost $110,000 (over 2 Million in 2006) and grossed over [...]
United Artists
Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith incorporated United Artists on February 5, 1919. Each of them own 20% of the corporation with the remaining 20% by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo serving as general counsel for the founders. The first agreement allowed the principles to release four pictures a year. A number [...]
A Silent Death
On the morning of February 2, 1922, the body of silent film director William Desmond Taylor was discovered at his home. The director had been killed by a shot in the back. In his pockets was his wallet with 78 dollars, a silver cigarette case and an ivory toothpick. A 2 caret diamond ring was [...]
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