Welcome to Silent Movies

New York Movie Theatre

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:35:00 +0000

Another article from NYTimes.com:

Evidently, the Metro movie theatre, long empty, is set to become an Urban Outfitters. While, on the surface, the good news is that the gorgeous Art Deco exterior will be preserved, the tragedy is that the fabulous interior was gutted about a year ago.

This makes me weep, not just for the glorious cinemas of the past, but as another indication of the contempt for historic architecture that seems so prevalent.

My opinion, of course.

New Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:41:00 +0000

Just in time for the new year, a new calendar!

I just added to the Features section a calendar set I had purchased quite some time ago on eBay. Promoting the Hudson Super-Six, the calendar is a series of pages featuring a female silent film star -- and copy extolling the virtues of the Hudson, of course.

Featuring not only more well-known stars such as Kathlyn Williams and Mary Miles Minter, it also includes Ormi Hawley, Florence Dagmar and Ella Hall.

It's a lovely series, and a useful calendar -- in 2013.

And the Winner is...

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:35:00 +0000

...Todd M.!

Many thanks to Todd and everyone else who filled out the Welcome to Silent Movies survey.

The drawing was held on Wednesday, December 31. Many thanks to Lee, for helping me (and letting me use his digital camera).

I've taken everyone's suggestions into account, and I am going to try to work hard to make the WTSM Web site the best it can be, and a great resource for silent movie fans.

Thanks to everyone for their support this last year and years past, either by visiting the site or by purchasing something from Amazon.com or Cafe Press via WTSM. It's really appreciated, and helps me to keep the site up and running.

So once again, congratulations, Todd, and while I didn't get the certificate to you in time for Christmas shopping, I figured, hey, if you didn't get what you wanted...here's your chance!

Thanks everyone, and Happy 2009!

A Brief Note

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:45:00 +0000

It's been a while since I've posted, but the holidays and a new (full-time) contract have been keeping me busy this month. I probably won't be back to posting regularly until the new year, but in the meantime I wanted to post a link to the new Critic's Choice column at NYTimes.com.

I really have to express my gratitude to the CC columnists not only for their appreciation for the silents, but now for their call for Paramount and Universal to open their vaults even wider, which can only mean more goodies, not just for silent fans but fans of film in general.

And I haven't forgotten about the drawing for the survey respondents. In fact, that's been haunting me all month; it's just something else that got lost in the shuffle. For those of you who were good enough to fill out the survey, I promise I'll get the winner announced by the first of the year. (Heck, I'll see if I can't get someone at work to do the honors tomorrow.)

In the meantime, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and I hope that 2009 brings you all good things!

Murnau, Borzage and Fox

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:28:00 +0000

Today's NYTimes.com has a fuller (glowing) review of the "Murnau, Borzage and Fox" DVD set. A brief bit had been published earlier as one of their "best gift ideas." (The box set is available in the WTSM store.)

Even if the price scares you away, the review is wonderful to read!

Fairbanks DVD Set - NYTimes Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:50:00 +0000

Today's NYTimes.com has a full review of the Fairbanks DVD collection recently released from Flicker Alley (a synoposis was published earlier; see below).

They give the set Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer high marks; in addition, the review mentions that a pictorial biography is being released on Tuesday from the University of California Press.

The DVD collection is in the WTSM store; I'll make sure the book is added, as well.

More DVD Reviews and Gift Suggestions

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:03:00 +0000

From the NYTimes.com Holiday Gift Guide:

DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS: A MODERN MUSKETEER It was Douglas Fairbanks who, in a series of films beginning in 1915, created the go-getting American action hero, along with a large portion of our national identity. This collection has restored versions of 11 films, emphasizing his contemporary comedies like Allan Dwan’s “Modern Musketeer” (1917), but also including his first costume swashbuckler, the 1920 “Mark of Zorro.” (Flicker Alley, $89.99, not rated)

GRIFFITH MASTERWORKS 2 Five features by the great form-giver of the early American cinema, D. W. Griffith, including the Museum of Modern Art’s restoration of the (nearly) complete “Way Down East” (1920) and Griffith’s underrated final feature, the brutally realistic “Struggle” (1931). (Kino International, $89.95, not rated)

MURNAU, BORZAGE AND FOX Fox remains the only major studio to demonstrate a commitment to its silent features, and this follow-up to last year’s John Ford collection is a must-have anthology. It contains the two surviving films the great German director F. W. Murnau made for the studio, “Sunrise” (1927) and “City Girl” (1930), as well as 10 silent and early sound features by the incomparable Frank Borzage, the greatest romantic poet of the medium. (Fox Home Video, $239.98, not rated)

Note: These three sets are available in the WTSM Store.

Survey: Deadline approaching fast!

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:59:00 +0000

It came up so fast it took me by surprise: The deadline to fill out my survey and be entered into a drawing for a $20 Amazon.com gift certificate is almost here!

The last day to complete the survey is Sunday, midnight, at which time I'll close the survey. On Monday, I'll hold the drawing and notify the lucky winner (and post it on the Blog).

And as promised, I'll have Ed come over and I'll take pictures of him pulling a name out of a hat (to avoid accusations of cheating/favoritism; I'm sensitive to that).

So hurry on over and let me know: What would you like to see at WTSM?

(And a big thank you to those who have taken the few minutes to fill it out. I appreciate your comments/suggestions!)

"Silent Movies" by Peter Kobel review

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:38:00 +0000

The Wall Street Journal Online recently published a "Holiday Gift Guide," with many of the paper's columnist listing bargains and splurges as gift-giving ideas.

Film critic Joe Morgenstern, as one of his bargains, chose Silent Movies by Peter Kobel. His review:

"My first pick for the bargain basement is "Silent Movies," a sumptuous new book whose full title continues, "The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture." It retails for $45 but Amazon is currently selling it for $29.70, which is a steal. The author, Peter Kobel, has drawn on the staggeringly rich resources of the Library of Congress, and a forward by Martin Scorsese is followed by an introduction by the distinguished film historian Kevin Brownlow. This isn't a coffee table book, though any coffee table would be lucky to be graced by it. The excellent text manages the trick of being exhaustive without being exhausting, while the photos -- and stills, and posters, and lobby cards -- are enchanting."

It's available in the WTSM Store, and would make a great gift for the film lover on your list!

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:28:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day.

I also want to thank you all for visiting WTSM, and for your support through Amazon.com and Cafe Press - it's really appreciated.

In the meantime, keep checking back (Sat/Sun) -- I'll be working on the site this weekend, so keep your eyes peeled for some new goodies.

"The Cameraman" in Canton, OH

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:19:00 +0000

My friend Alison sent me a notice that the Canton Palace Theatre (located in beautiful downtown Canton, Ohio) will be showing The Cameraman this Sunday.

Here's the text of the email she forwarded me (with extensive grammatical edits by me):

On Sunday, November 23rd, in celebration of the theatre's 82nd birthday, the Canton Palace Theatre will be showing the classic silent film "The Cameraman" starring Buster Keaton. Accompanying on the Kilgen Theatre Pipe Organ will be nationally known theatre organist Clark Wilson.

This film is considered a masterpiece in comedy film making, used in film schools to demonstrate filmmaking techniques in comedy. See it as it was supposed to be seen, in a 1926 silent film theatre, with the theatre pipe organ.

Champagne reception at 430pm with the film at 545pm, $15
Silent film alone, at 5pm, $10
The Canton Palace Theatre 605 Market Ave North
330-454-8172 for information

I'm hoping to be able to make it, but I'm not sure. But if any other silent film fans plan to go, let me know and I'll definitely meet you there!

NYTimes Review of Griffith

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:43:00 +0000

A few posts down is a notice of some Kino DVDs on sale, along with my mentioning the D.W. Griffith box set.

Today's New York Times has a (favorable) review of the box set.

I guess I will have to buy it, after all!

Other Blogs: Lillian Gish

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:50:00 +0000

I have a not-so-secret fondness for clothing and shopping, and one blog I happened to stumble upon while on a fashion frenzy is from a young woman who loves thrift-store shopping (as I do), and uses as her inspiration silent film stars!

It's really encouraging that appreciation for silent films and the stars of the era are filtering down to the next generation.

A recent posting from Rhiannon has her talking about her biggest silent star influence, Lillian Gish. She recently found a silent-era scrapbook, and has been posting scans of some of the pages not only of Lillian but of others, as well. I thought I would add a link to her site in case anyone is interested in seeing the photos, along with her favorite short clip of Lillian (from The Mothering Heart).

An Answer!

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:14:00 +0000

Recently I added the Photo Album to the site, and the first album to go up was my collection of Kromo Gravure actor/actress cards.

At the time, I had asked (rhetorically, I thought) if there were any sets other than the first one.

Well, the short answer is: Yes!

On a mission to spend my hard-earned money, I visited one of the sites listed under the Memorabilia section on the At the Movies pages, Things-and-other-stuff.com, and to my (very pleasant) surprise I found an entire page on the sets with a truly astounding amount of information.

So, I'm passing it along (although I have included a link on the Photo Album page). I'm really excited; it's very interesting!

More Kino DVDs on Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:15:00 +0000

More sales from Kino.

One that looks particularly interesting: D.W. Griffith: Father of Film, a three-part documentary from Kevin Brownlow and David Gill. It's currently available for pre-order; I might have to dig in for that.

In conjunction, they're taking preorders for the Griffith Masterworks 2 DVD set, which also looks interesting.

Lillian Sweetser and Romaine Fielding

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:33:00 +0000

I'm doing a great clean-out of my desk (as mentioned previously), and came across an article I'd intended to add to the site: A brief sort-of follow up to the story that's in the Features section, on Lillian Sweetser, a scenarist from an area near where I live.

Seems that Lillian wrote a scenario for filmmaker Romaine Fielding; during the course of his research, the director of a documentary about Fielding came across Sweetser's name and contacted her daughter for an interview.

It's an interesting story, and (again) a nice sort-of follow up to the Lillian one.

Published Article - Fred Thomson

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:52:00 +0000

I almost forgot! Friday I got my copy of Leben magazine, which features an article from yours truly!

Leben is, according to their Web site, "A quarterly, four-color magazine that tells the stories of the Protestant Reformers and those who have followed in their footsteps through the ages."

I was contacted a few months ago about having my Silent Star of the Month biography of Fred Thomson included in the magazine, and was thrilled to have been asked. It's always nice to hear that modern audiences would find the stars (or any aspect, really) of the silent era interesting.

The site hasn't been updated with the new issue (as of this writing), but I assume it will be in the coming days (if you're interested to see the cover and my name/the article on it - chances are, this will be of interest only to my family, and only because they have to pretend to be excited; it's part of the deal).

New Articles in News & Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:35:00 +0000

While doing some back-end work on the site, I discovered a folder with some articles that used to be up (before I revamped the News & Notes area).

I did this last week, while I was sick (which is why I probably forgot to post a notice about it), so you may have already seen them.

If not, there are three interesting (if out of date) articles, two on showings at UCLA and another from an artist who did portraits of some the silent era's biggest female stars.

Again, while dated, they are still interesting to read.

I'm also planning to put more images up; I (finally!) bought a new computer, so work should go quicker. I have some more rearranging of my desk area to do, but I'll try to get those up this week.

Available for Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 18:30:00 +0000

Bored out of my mind, I went casting about on the Internet and lo and behold! The 1929 Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8A Castagna Transformable used in Sunset Boulevard is available for sale.

Um, anyone want to loan me a few hundred thousand?

ETA:
Still feeling rather horrible, I curled up and watched one of my favorite movies (yes, Sunset Boulevard). This, of course, led me to the Internet and the fascinating discovery above.

It also led me to the horrifying discovery that, for some reason, I had not included sites on Gloria in the directory. (Either that, or I can't find them, which leads to the equally horrifying conclusion that it's time to rearrange the At the Movies section.)

Anyways, some new links on Gloria sites on The Stars page.

New Links Added

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:42:00 +0000

Illness is forcing me to keep this brief: New links added to the At the Movies section. Of note:

Learn About Movie Posters has a couple of features of interest to us silent fans: A database of over 3,000 silent movie studios, and a listing of silent movie posters and lobby cards, some available to buy. Very interesting and a wonderful addition to WTSM.
My sincere apologies: I noted on the main At the Movies page that the Silent Movie Era Resources Page 1 had been updated, when it had not. Instead, it was the International Silents page that had been. I've rectified that by updating Page 1, so all is well.
That I had not added Milestone Films to my list of resources is a crime, which I've also fixed. Sorry guys!

I think that's it. I'll add more when I'm better.

More Updates to At the Movies

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:36:00 +0000

I've updated more of the At the Movies pages.

One thing I didn't do this time around: Marked new and/or updated links with the ubiquitous yellow "new!" I could dance around the reason why, but bottom line: I'm lazy. I don't want to have to go back and remove them all after an indeterminate amount of time.

So, you are forced to go and look at the updated pages and find out for yourself which ones are new. (See how I did that? Forcing you to go rummaging through my site? Pretty clever, eh?)

Anyways, of all the pages that got overhauls, I think the They Started in Silents is the one to look at. I added quite a few here, and while researching new links for already listed sites found quite a few more for these stars.

But that's the next round, after my already extensive "to-do" list for the site. In the meantime, enjoy!

More New at WTSM

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:13:00 +0000

Yes, the never stops coming!

WTSM is now searchable, thanks to Google. I have installed a custom search engine on the WTSM home page, so if you're looking for information on a particular star, or are researching a particular topic, if you want it quickly, then you'll get it Google-fast.

Just another improvement I hope you'll enjoy.

Also, I've updated more "At the Movies" pages, so keep a lookout for those. On a personal note, it has been a while (obviously) since I've updated those, and let me tell you, I had forgotten how much interesting information there is out there! Sadly, many great sites are gone, but many wonderful ones still remain, and once I've updated I'll start looking around for more good ones to add. And if you know of any, be sure to let me know!

Something New at WTSM!

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:23:00 +0000

If you look to your right, you'll see a new feature here at Welcome to Silent Movies: the Photo Album.

I have a lot of photos, stills, etc., that I've collected over the years, and have always wanted to put them on the site but was worried about exceeding my space allowance from my hosting service.

Thankfully, Google has really upped their Picasa photo album service, so I'm giving that a go. I've started with putting about half of a set of silent star "trading cards" up. Entitled "50 Different Photos of the Leading Moving Picture Stars" (for only 10 cents!), the signed (in the negative) cards are from the Kromo Gravure Photo Co. of Detroit, Michigan.

It also says it's "Set No. 1;" has anyone ever seen Set No. 2?

No matter. As I said, I've gotten about half up; I'll try to get the rest if not tomorrow then next weekend (along with more).

I've created a page where I'll list the different albums, to make it easier to organize and find.

As always, comments are welcome. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures!

MOMA film review

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:09:00 +0000

I'm back from my wonderful trip to New York. I had a great time, and as I mentioned in my last post, went to MOMA to see While New York Sleeps, as part of their Hollywood on the Hudson, Filmmaking in New York 1920-1939 series.

The film, directed by Charles Brabin (Theda Bara's hubby), was a series of 3 mini-movies rolled into one. The first segment: the story of a wealthy couple where the wife, while the husband's at work, gets a "surprise" visitor; the second, the story of a cheatin' husband and the trouble he gets into with the vamp he meets at Ziegfield's Follies; and the third, a thoroughly depressing tale of a poor, working-class father and son who suffer tragedy at the hands of a heartless woman.

All in all, not a bad evening's entertainment, although nothing to set your socks on fire. I had hoped to see more scenery of early NYC, but sadly, what was shown (in the third act) was minimal, so I was very disappointed.

Another surprise was that the film, billed at being 70 minutes long, was a lot longer than that, making me very late for my dinner guests. (They were very forgiving.)

Would I see it again? Um, no, nor would I buy it on DVD. But if it were showing, I would encourage silent film fans to go, if only because I (believe) the Follies girls were the real deal (and always cool to see them), and to take in the costumes, scenery, direction and camera work associated with an early film.

Silent Movies at MOMA

noreply@blogger.com (Kally) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:09:00 +0000

I happen to be in New York City this weekend, so I'm planning to head out to MOMA this evening, to see a silent film as part of the Hollywood on the Hudson: Filmmaking in New York, 1920–39 exhibition.

Tonight's movie is While New York Sleeps. I'm looking forward it it; it's supposed to have some wonderful scenes of New York in 1920.

I'll update when I can, and let you know how it was.