Evelyn Brent 125 -- October 20, 2020

 

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Actress Evelyn Brent was born 125 years ago today, on 20-October-1895.  She had a long career in movies, silent and sound. She made three silent movies directed by Josef Von Sternberg. She could be scary. One of my favorite movie serials is the talkie Holt of the Secret Service, where she played a Secret Service agent posing as a gangster's moll. She doesn't take crap from anyone. 

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Sternberg, Dietrich, Chaplin -- March 19, 2014

Josef von Sternberg (he added the "von" to make his name classier) directed his first movie, The Salvation Hunters, in 1925.  Charlie Chaplin saw it and was impressed.  Her persuaded his partners at United Artists to distribute the film.  Chaplin hired Sternberg to direct a movie with Edna Purviance, A Woman of the Sea.  Chaplin did not like the results and burned the film. 

Sternberg went on to direct some excellent silents including The Docks of New York and Underworld.  He directed the first German talkie, The Blue Angel, which starred Marlene Dietrich.  Sternberg brought her to America and made a string of successful and later not successful movies for Paramount. 

Sternberg wrote a wonderful book, Fun in a Chinese Laundry, about his life. 

Larry Semon, Vitagraph's Comedy King -- January 18, 2014

 Larry Semon's father was a magician, Zera the Great.  Larry grew up touring the South with his father's act.  Larry became a newspaper cartoonist and performed on stage.  He joined the Vitagraph Company of America as a writer, director and player of small parts.  Over time, he became a lead comic in movies with the Big V Riot Squad and others.  He was a major slapstick star in the late teens and early 20s, playing a weird-looking character.  He directed his own movies and became more and more extravagant, running up huge costs for elaborate special effects.  He parted with Vitagraph and tried to go into features.  The only one I have seen is The Wizard of Oz, where he played the Scarecrow.  Oliver Hardy played the Tin Man.  Semon's wife Dorothy Dwan played Dorothy.  The movie was not a success and Semon lost a lot of money.  Semon went back to making shorts for Educational release.   He appeared as a character actor in some serious features like Josef Von Sternberg's Underworld.  Semon died in 1928. 

His movies are still popular in Italy, where he is known as Ridolini. 

The image is Semon's entry in the 1920 edition of Who's Who on the Screen.  It calls him "Larry Semon, Vitagraph's comedy king."