I'm so excited! I spent the day watching Renee Adoree movies.
I became intrigued with Renee Adoree because she died so young. 35. Of TB. Nothing strange or shocking. Just so young and from the movies I've now seen of hers, so talented. She did used to be married to Tom Moore who was the brother of Owen Moore. Owen Moore was Mary Pickford's first husband. They were divorced by the time Tom and Renee married though, so no relation.
I've really been looking forward to this one. Her career has so much variety. Some actors seemed to fall into a niche and get stuck there. All they did was comedies, or car racing movies, or cowboy movies, or movies where they perpetually played children(that's not a jab, cause I love me some Mary!). Renee's movies seem to have a bit of everything, at least the movies that I have of hers.
So I started off with Daydreams(Buster!). This movie was so much fun! Buster goes through a variety of careers to make himself worthy enough to marry Renee's character. There are cameos from Buster's father Joe and Big Joe Roberts. Big Joe was a lifelong friend of the Keaton family from way back in their vaudeville days and worked with Buster on most of his films. Luke the Dog is also in this! Uncredited, but I know my mutt and that's him!
Next I moved onto The Big Parade. I've been saving this one for a while. It has been touted as one of the best silent films ever made. I've also been holding back on watching it because it's 2 and a half hours long! Now I love me some silent movies, but I can't sit still for 2 and a half hours of anything sometimes! I have to admit, it went really really fast. I was looking up information on the actors at the same time, and most of them had really really interesting lives. So that helped to keep me focused.
I really became interested in Karl Dane who plays Slim. He just so stood out to me. I guess because he looked so much like Al St John. Karl was nicknamed The Great Dane. And yes, he was a Dane. He had a terrible tragic lonely life where everything just seemed to go wrong for this man. Just couldn't catch a break. He seemed to spend most of his life trying to find a way to support himself. I couldn't find any information on drinking or drugging as the cause for him being unable to hold a job. It just seems like bad luck. His first wife and children decided not to join him in America. His second wife and their child died during child birth. When he tried to invest his money, it was stolen. He even tried running a hot dog stand. On his last day, he was robbed of all of the money he had($18), which seemed to be the final straw, so he went home and shot himself in the head. He was only 47 years old. No one wanted to claim the body. Jean Hersholt made MGM pay for his funeral. I now really like Jean.
Hobart Bosworth who played John Gilbert's father lost part of his jaw and five teeth when he stuck dry ice directly into his mouth on the set of Dirigible in 1931. Ow.
Next I moved onto Mr Wu. Getting me some Lon Chaney in there. I love this man. I love him in everything he's in. Back to the movie, great sets, great make up. Very racist. It just is what it is there. I don't like it either, but that's how things were. They are different now.
Louise Dresser is in this. I only know her from the Buster episode of This is Your Life. She used to be married to the guy that wrote the lyrics to Take Me Out to the Ball Game. However, she divorced him the year before he wrote it. Tsk tsk.
Holmes Herbert is in this as well. Turns out he was the second husband of Elinor Kershaw. Her first husband was Thomas Ince. And yes, I think Hearst did it.
I know that I was going to watch The Pagan as well, but.....sushi and a Stany movie are calling my name. I'm itching to hear her voice for some reason! It happens. So East Side, West Side, here I come. I think I'll have to have a Ramon Navorro Silent Cinema Sunday to make up for it! I promise to try not to write about "that", cause, well, it's just gross and sad. I just saw the episode of Bonanza he was in and "that" was all I could think about. Couldn't help myself.
Love,
Olive
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