Silent Comedy Queen
Mabel Normand was born on November 9, 1892, in New Brighton, Staten Island, New York. Her parents were Mary Drury Normand and Claude G. Normand. There are accounts that give her birth as November 10, with the year given usually being 1894 or 1895. Of their children, only four survived childbirth: Ralph, Claude, Jr., Gladys, [...]
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 [...]
The Tramp’s First Appearance
Whenever anyone speaks of Charlie Chaplin, the image that will come to mind is his signature character, the Little Tramp. Chaplin himself called him The Little Fellow. The character rarely was referred to by any name onscreen.
The Little Tramp was first seen by the public when Keystone released the comedy short Kid Auto Races [...]
The Great Stone Face
During the 1920’s Buster Keaton was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, comic actor-directors of the end of the Silent Film Era. Roger Ebert has even called him the “greatest actor-director in the history of the movies”. Keaton’s films during this decade, such as The General or The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, [...]
Hardy Before Laurel
It was towards the end of the Silent Film Era that Oliver Hardy joined Stan Laurel to form the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy. Hardy was in his mid-thirties when the pair joined and had already had a long career in Silent Films.
Oliver Hardy was born on January 18, 1892 in Harlem, Georgia [...]
The Silent Cowboy
Tom Mix became film’s first Western Movie star. He wasn’t born in the west, but in the east. He was born on January 6, 1880 in Mix Run, Pennsylvania.
His birth name was Thomas Hezekiah Mix, but when he enlisted in the army during the Spanish-American War he entered as Thomas E. Mix. [...]
Santa Claus in The Movies
Silent Santa’:
SANTA CLAUS AND THE CHILDREN (1898)
SANTA CLAUS (1899)
SANTA CLAUS FILLING STOCKINGS (1897)
SANTA CLAUS’ VISIT (1900)
WAITING FOR SANTA CLAUS (1901)
AN UNEXPECTED SANTA CLAUS (1908)
A TRAP FOR SANTA CLAUS (1909)
THE ADVENTURE OF THE WRONG SANTA CLAUS (1914)
SANTA CLAUS VS. CUPID (1915)
THE DETECTIVE’S SANTA CLAUS (1924)
SANTA CLAUS (1925)
THERE AIN’T NO SANTA CLAUS (1926, with Charley [...]
Silent Horror Movies
Scary movies have been around for nearly as long as there has been movies. In some ways the film that is credited with being the first film to tell a story Edwin S. Porter’s 1903 film The Great Train Robbery featured a shot of a gunslinger firing his gun into the camera. Scary [...]
The Man of a Thousand Faces
Lon Chaney was called ‘The Man of a Thousand Faces, because of his diverse roles and his use of makeup and the art of pantomime in silent films. He is most known for his horror silent films The Hunchback of Norte Dame and The Phantom of the Opera.
The silent film actor, was born on April [...]
Silent Film Directors
Erich Von Stroheim
Stronheim was an Austrian who had a long career in Silent Films in Hollywood beginning in 1915. His most famous work as a director is Greed, a detailed filming of the novel McTeague by Frank Norris. Stroheim originally edited a nine-hour version of the story, shot mostly at the locations as described [...]
Recent Comments