John Danny by Athletic Model Guild

Photos by Russell Ball (1891-1942)

Some familiar faces…

Billie Burke (Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke, 1884-1970), who was married to Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. 1914-32.

Mary Forbes

Ralph Forbes

Ben Lyon

Fashion forward

Jerry Stevens and Jerry Dixon by AMG

Ned Sparks by AMG

Bill Wellet by Champion Studio

 

Mary Forbes, Charles Farrell, and Ralph Forbes

I don’t know who took this striking photo of Mary Forbes and Charles Farrell, for SUNNYSIDE UP (1929), but I think it’s spectacular: two strong profiles playing mother and son, both handsome in a way that has nothing to do with age. Mary Forbes (Ethel Louise Young, 1883-1974) was an English actress whose film career spanned almost forty years: her most important credits include A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1932), THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937), and YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938).

Her son, Ralph Forbes (Ralph Forbes Taylor, 1904-1951), made an impression in BEAU GESTE (1926): like his mother, he seems to have specialized in roles for British and American aristocrats.

Here he is in THE TRAIL OF '98 (1928).

Marilyn Miller by Ferenc of Vienna

After an early start in vaudeville, working in a family act, Marilyn Miller (Mary Ellen Reynolds, 1898-1936) became a star in the 1918 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES portraying the producer’s wife, Billie Burke, and singing “Mine Was a Marriage of Convenience.” In the 1919 FOLLIES, she sang Irving Berlin’s “Mandy”; and with SALLY (1920), where she performed Jerome Kern’s “Look for the Silver Lining,” she was further memorialized in Dorothy Parker’s verse:

From the alley's gloom and chill

Up to fame danced Sally.

Which was nice for her, but still

Rough upon the alley.

How it must regret her wiles.

All her ways and glances. 

Now the theatre owns her smiles, 

Sallies, songs, and dances.

Shirts Optional 13

Harold Marty

Bill Kugler

Joe Leitel

More first impressions

Like Andy Kozak, Dale Curry made his first appearance in his own album and catalogue — although in Curry’s case his future star turn was forecast in tiny print in AMG’s omnibus ZC catalogue, near a glimpse of “Bob [Powers]’s brother” Major Mike Powers. 

Bob Powers

Mike Powers

Photos by Elmer Fryer (1898-1944)

George Arliss (Augustus George Andrews, 1868-1946) filming THE MAN WHO PLAYED GOD (1932).

Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson, 1886-1950) in GO INTO YOUR DANCE (1935).

Patric Knowles (Reginald Lawrence Knowles, 1911-1995)

Marie Prevost (Mary Bickford Dunn, 1896-1937) and Seena Owen (Signe Auen, 1894-1966) filming THE RUSH HOUR (1928). Seena Owen was married to Raoul Walsh’s brother, the matinee idol George Walsh, 1916-24.

Jane Wyatt (1910-2006)

Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon at home.