Chester Morris attributed to Russell Ball

More Hollywood at home

Jane Withers entertains Rory Calhoun and friends.

Hollywood at home

[William] Clark Gable (1901-1960) by Clarence Sinclair Bull (1896-1979).

Hollywood at home

Cary Grant (Archibald Alec Leach, 1904-1986) and [George] Randolph Scott (1898-1987), photographed in the house they shared between marriages.

Hollywood at play

Conrad Nagel’s yacht TIBURON was a prominent feature in his personal publicity. Here he is with his wife Ruth, their daughter Ruth, Beverly Bayne (the former wife of silent star Francis X. Bushman, and a star in her own right), and Leatrice Joy (John Gilbert's ex-wife, and ditto), in August 1927.

Academy Founders 6

N.B. The member numbers follow The Internet Movie Database's list order announcing the Academy in January 1927.

6. Mary Pickford (Gladys Marie Smith, 1892-1979) of the Actors Branch. The photo is by Edwin Bower Hesser. 

Mary Pickford was one of the earliest film stars: by 1927, she had already been internationally famous for almost two decades. A co-founder of United Artists, it could be said that many aspects of Hollywood's notion of stardom were pioneered by -- and reflected the taste of -- "Little Mary" Pickford. 

She won the 1930 Academy Award for her first sound film, COQUETTE (1929). She was married to three film stars: Owen Moore 1911-20, Douglas Fairbanks (Sr.) 1920-36, and Charles "Buddy" Rogers 1937-79.

Hollywood at play

This staged scene plays with some then-current preoccupations about etiquette — what not to do, but with pretty people.

Hollywood at play

As much as the Hollywood studios urged audiences to view film stars as gods and goddesses, another feature of movie publicity was the “star at home” genre. Sometimes this theme bordered on the silly, as with Lew Ayres (middle) being slowly crushed by William Bakewell while sturdy Johnny Mack Brown mugs for the camera.

 

Academy Founders 4

N.B. The member numbers follow The Internet Movie Database's list order announcing the Academy in January 1927.

4. Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) of the Actors Branch, in a photo attributed to Russell Ball (1891-1942).

A comedy star of the same wattage as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, Lloyd specialized in a comedy of dangerous pratfalls — he was the “normal” youth in every group, the one whose disasters were both funny and educational.

The long sunset of his career was marked by continuing relevance in industry and Hollywood society circles; the Lloyds’ “Greenacres” was, like the Fairbankses’ “Pickfair,” a local showplace. 

He married his co-star Mildred Davis (1901-1969) in 1923.

“The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips”

A publicity photo of Mae Murray (Marie Adelaide Koenig, 1885-1965) by Ruth Harriet Louise (Ruth Goldstein, 1903-1940), MGM’s chief portrait photographer 1925-30

Mae Murray appeared in the 1908 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES as a member of the chorus (“Brinkley Girl” and a member of the “Bowery Group”); by 1915 she was (probably) a featured star in the “Blue Follies.” 

With Francis X. Bushman (1883-1966) in THE MASKED BRIDE

Her career in Hollywood has eclipsed her Broadway period, since she became internationally famous as a film star, “The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips.” Her glamour was intense, although, in retrospect, sadly brief — after a lengthy period of apprenticeship (she made her Broadway début in 1906 in Lew M. Fields’s ABOUT TOWN; her first film was TO HAVE AND TO HOLD in 1916), she reached the apex of fame with THE MERRY WIDOW and THE MASKED BRIDE (both 1925).

Her 1926 marriage to (Prince) David Mdivani (1904-1984) proved ruinous. One of the “Marrying Mdivanis” — the second M was silent — he was only notionally a prince; it is fairer to say he was an Olympic-class gigolo, one of several siblings who specialized in marrying for money and fame. 

Mae Murray’s later life was a sad one — her hard-won diva laurels provided no cushion for a series of hard knocks.

 

Unknown subjects

I have had a blog, on and off, for about ten years; lately I’ve had albums on my Facebook page. One category I keep reverting to is the “unknown subject,” and below are a couple of recent identifications for my collection of Hollywood and Broadway photos:

The silent film star Dorothy Janis (1912-2010) was married to bandleader Wayne King, “the waltz king,” 1932-85. 

Photo by Ray Jones (1900-1975), the chief portrait photographer at Universal Studios 1935-58.

“New Faces of Broadway” for 1938, by Alfredo Valente (1899-1973).

They are, from left, Martha Scott (1912-2003), appearing in OUR TOWN; Uta Hagen (1909-2004, married to José Ferrer 1938-46), in THE SEAGULL; Frances Farmer (1913-1970, married to Leif Erickson 1936-42), in GOLDEN BOY; and Julie Haydon (Donella Donaldson, 1910-1994), in SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 

Stage magazine judged the quartet worthy “Because the four of them proved again that nothing, not even beauty, can take the place of sincerity and simplicity in acting.”