Ina Claire by Carl Van Vechten

Reginald Denny and Sam Hardy

Reginald Denny (Reginald Leigh Dugmore, 1891-1967) and Sam Hardy (1883-1935) in THE NIGHT BIRD (1928), Denny’s last silent film. 

Samuel B. Hardy was a Yale man (1905x); he left college to go on stage, and made his Broadway début in THE FORTUNES OF THE KING (1904-5). He supported Douglas Fairbanks and Irene Fenwick in HAWTHORNE OF THE U.S.A. (1912) and appeared in the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1916 with Fanny Brice, Ina Claire, and Marion Davies.

Marion Davies

Marion Davies (Marion Cecilia Douras, 1897-1961) by Ira L. Hill (1876-1947).

She first appeared on Broadway in Charles Dillingham’s CHIN CHIN (1914) as a member of the Ensemble. After a named role in NOBODY HOME (1915), she returned to the chorus for Dillingham’s MISS INFORMATION (1915), then another named part in STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! (1915-16). She had finally arrived, joining the 1916 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES with Ina Claire and Fanny Brice.

Photo by Ruth Harriet Louise, MGM’s chief portrait photographer 1925-30.

Legend has it that Marion Davies met William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) during the run of the 1916 FOLLIES; in the latter half of the decade Hearst took firm control of her career. More than three decades her senior, the heir to great wealth who had gone on to make even more, he had ample confidence in his own judgment as he wagered several fortunes on this lovely, stammering beauty — a mimic and a comedian, whom Hearst wished to mold into another one of those stately Ziegfeld dolls.

Ina Claire

Ina Claire (Ina Fagan, 1893-1985) by De Mirjian Studio.

Starting as a chorus girl in OUR MISS GIBBS (1910), Miss Claire quickly ascended the theatrical ladder, reaching the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES in 1915 (and again in 1916); she made her film début in Cecil B. DeMille’s THE WILD GOOSE CHASE (1915) alongside DeMille’s stock company of actors.

Photo by Sir Cecil Beaton (1904-1980)

In 1922, she originated the role of Lucy Warriner in Arthur Richman’s THE AWFUL TRUTH on Broadway. Seven years later, she starred in the 1929 film version of THE AWFUL TRUTH opposite Henry Daniell’s Jerry Warriner. Her supporting part as Grand Duchess Swana in NINOTCHKA (1939) stole sections of the film from Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas, and remains her most famous role.

She was married three times; John Gilbert was her second husband, from 1929 until 1931. This relationship began shortly after the explosive end of Gilbert’s romance with Garbo.…