News

Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none

“Light And Dark Sides Of Tinsel Town”

By Raymond Benson

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has lately been getting into the publishing business with such tomes as The Essentials (two volumes) and now this handsomely-designed and intricately-researched book on some of the lesser known, somewhat sensational stories from Hollywood’s past.

Written by popular Instagrammer Carla Valderrama (@thiswashollywood and @thiswasfashion), This Was Hollywood—Forgotten Stars & Stories (published by Running Press) presents a bundle of Tinsel Town tales that have a slightly tabloid feel to them, and yet they are as irresistible as a sighting of your favorite star at Hollywood and Vine. Many of these accounts come from the long, lost vaults of movieland history.

For example, the book opens with the early beginnings of the town of Hollywood and how the “movies” (as the people in the budding film industry were called by...

Proving again that there’s always more to learn about film history, Marc J. Perez’s documentary tells the story of a major American film capital before Hollywood. Milestone surrounds it with a couple of hours of early silent films made in the cinema Mecca of . . . Fort Lee, New Jersey.

The Champion: A Story of America’s First Film Town

DVD

The Milestone Cinematheque

2015 / Color + B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 35 min. main documentary; many more short subjects / Street Date October 17, 2017 / available through The Milestone Cinematheque / 34.99

Film Editor: B.B. Enriquez

Original Music: Ryan Shore

Based on a book by Richard Koszarski

Produced by Tom Myers, John L. Sikes

Directed by Marc J. Perez

Milestone’s new crash course in film history is a two-disc set centered around a 2015 documentary, The Champion: A Story of America’s First Film Town. ‘The Champion’ was the name of a short-lived but significant film company,...

The Fault Is Not In Our Stars, But In Ourselves.

I recently had a discussion with a friend, on a subject discussed quite a bit in recent years among cinephiles or movie geeks or whatever we people who prefer to spend our time in dark rooms watching shadows flicker on screens prefer to call ourselves. My friend, with the heavy sigh of the no longer young, asked “What the hell happened to movie stars?” and proceeded to run down a number of current Hollywood A-listers. I mostly listened and made occasional non-verbal “I’m listening” noises, because I didn’t agree but also didn’t have a fully-formed rebuttal at hand. Later, I remembered there was a movie with Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, and John Boyega coming out in a few days, about which I’d seen a total of three ads, and which I had to Google just now to remember it was called The Circle. At...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here

Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot

Article by Tom Stockman

They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had made a stop near the Twentieth Street entrance ten days earlier, but the crowd this day was much larger. Thousands, mostly excited women wearing ankle-length dresses and waving felt pennants lined up hoping for a glimpse, or perhaps...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here

Hollywood Cinematographer Stephen King Baggot, also known as King Baggot III, is a retired cinematographer and news cameraman born in 1943. Like his father and grandfather before him, he was always billed onscreen as simply ‘King Baggot’. The first King Baggot (1879-1948) was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known in his heyday as ‘King of the Movies’ ,’The Most Photographed Man in the World’ and “More Famous Than the Man in...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here

Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.

King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity.

For Easter weekend, here's Kyle Stevens author of Mike Nichols: Sex, Language and the Reinvention of Psychological Realism". You can read more about our team members here.

Stars are our larger-than-life figures. We worship them. We tell stories about them and fancy ourselves made in their images. In fact, bona fide movie star celebrity dates all the way back to 1909, when Carl Laemmle (who would later co-found Universal Studios) placed false notices of the tragic death of “the Biograph girl” in a street car accident. When it was revealed that she was alive and well, the nation rejoiced and everyone cesuddenly knew the name of Florence Lawrence. In this way, Hollywood stardom has always had not just a religious flavor but a Christian Messianic one at that.

Over the next century, countless stars have profited from the love of the resurrection narrative. Remember the elation when Barbra Streisand announced...

The symbiotic relationship between film studios and fan magazines ensured the cinema-going public was fed a diet of Hollywood glamour and celebrity gossip

From press junkets to gossip blogs to the Forbes list, celebrity culture seeps into every corner of the modern film business. Star worship, like almost everything else in Hollywood, was born as a studio boss’s cynical wheeze. It all began in 1910 when the name of the Biograph Girl was released to the public. The Independent Moving Pictures studio boss, Carl Laemmle, went so far as to spread a rumour that the Girl had been killed in a traffic accident, before taking out adverts in newspapers calling the story a lie and announcing that she was, in fact, alive and about to play the lead in a film made by his company, which had lured her away from its rival, Biograph. And by the way, her name was Florence Lawrence.

The symbiotic relationship between film studios and fan magazines ensured the cinema-going public was fed a diet of Hollywood glamour and celebrity gossip

From press junkets to gossip blogs to the Forbes list, celebrity culture seeps into every corner of the modern film business. Star worship, like almost everything else in Hollywood, was born as a studio boss’s cynical wheeze. It all began in 1910 when the name of the Biograph Girl was released to the public. The Independent Moving Pictures studio boss, Carl Laemmle, went so far as to spread a rumour that the Girl had been killed in a traffic accident, before taking out adverts in newspapers calling the story a lie and announcing that she was, in fact, alive and about to play the lead in a film made by his company, which had lured her away from its rival, Biograph. And by the way, her name was Florence Lawrence.

In the first of a new series on early cinema, we celebrate the landmark year of 1915, when the industry as we know it was born. Plus, five films from 1915 to watch (which aren’t Birth of a Nation)

The films of a century ago may look like a foreign landscape, but 1915 was the year when cinema, as we now know it, was born. Blockbusters, widescreen and Technicolor can all trace their origins back 100 years. It was a massively exciting year to be a filmgoer, with several landmark films released.

Ever since Florence Lawrence became the first named film actor – she was previously known as the “Biograph Girl” after the studio she worked for – the cult of stardom had been taking over the movie business. By 1915, even though he had only been in the business for a year, Charlie Chaplin was the biggest star in the world. In this year he...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium beginning at 7pm as part of this year’s St. Louis Intenational FIlm Festival. The program will consist a rare 35mm screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe starring King Baggot with live music accompaniment by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. Ivanhoe will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and films of King Baggot presented by Tom Stockman, editor here at We Are Movie Geeks. After that will screen the influential silent western Tumbleweeds (1925), considered to be one of King Baggot’s finest achievements as a director. Tumbleweeds will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.

Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot

Article by Tom Stockman

They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had...

The King Baggot Tribute is this Friday, November 14th at 7pm at Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium. A 35mm print of Ivanhoe (1913) starring King Baggot will screen with live music by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. The screening will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot, which will be followed by the screening of Tumbleweeds (digital source 1925), directed by King Baggot with piano accompaniment by Matt Pace. Ticket information for the event can be found Here.

http://tributetokingbaggot.bpt.me/

Hollywood Cinematographer Stephen King Baggot, also known as King Baggot III, is a retired cinematographer and news cameraman born in 1943. Like his father and grandfather before him, he was always billed onscreen as simply ‘King Baggot’. The first King Baggot (1879-1948) was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known in his heyday as ‘King of the Movies’ ,’The...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium beginning at 7pm as part of this year’s St. Louis Intenational FIlm Festival. The program will consist a rare 35mm screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe starring King Baggot with live music accompaniment by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. Ivanhoe will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and films of King Baggot presented by Tom Stockman, editor here at We Are Movie Geeks. After that will screen the influential silent western Tumbleweeds (1925), considered to be one of King Baggot’s finest achievements as a director. Tumbleweeds will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.

Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.

King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot...

Honorary Award: Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth among dozens of women bypassed by the Academy (photo: Honorary Award non-winner Gloria Swanson in 'Sunset Blvd.') (See previous post: "Honorary Oscars: Doris Day, Danielle Darrieux Snubbed.") Part three of this four-part article about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Honorary Award bypassing women basically consists of a long, long — and for the most part quite prestigious — list of deceased women who, some way or other, left their mark on the film world. Some of the names found below are still well known; others were huge in their day, but are now all but forgotten. Yet, just because most people (and the media) suffer from long-term — and even medium-term — memory loss, that doesn't mean these women were any less deserving of an Honorary Oscar. So, among the distinguished female film professionals in Hollywood and elsewhere who have passed away without...

The movie star isn't a thing of the past - it's just a changing phenomenon in the face of the web, Ryan writes...

Feature

Taken at this year’s Academy Awards, a photograph of a huddled group of Hollywood actors quickly became the most shared image in social media’s short history. In this single shot - taken by Bradley Cooper and posted by Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres, who are surrounded by such familiar faces as Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt, we get a glimpse of how the modern movie star has changed in the past 20 years.

The movie star phenomenon began in the early 20th century, when actors such as Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin became famous enough to secure ticket sales by themselves. Hollywood studios initially resisted the rising phenomenon of the movie star with all the strength they could muster; with stardom came a demand for things like higher salaries,...

In the book Hollywood Unknowns, author Anthony Slide tackles a little-known side of Hollywood moviemaking: the aspirations and travails of the movie extras and bit players (in addition to "side" chapters on actors' stand-ins and stunt doubles). [Image: Book cover featuring -- possibly -- short filmmaker Pete Smith.] Slide's Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins covers the history of the movie extras from the very dawn of cinema -- when, say, someone like future "star" Florence Lawrence could be the focus of one film and mere "atmosphere" in another -- to the current crop of movie extras. Among the sujects discussed in Anthony Slide's highly entertaining tome are the history of Central Casting; union battles involving the Screen Actors Guild, the Screen Extras Guild, and splinter groups; and a look at former silent-era performers, including Clara Kimball Young, King Baggott, and William Farnum, who finished their days as Hollywood extras. So, next time you watch Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist,...

Today for the International Women's History Centennial, a few "firsts" in movies. Add some in the comments if you want!  I was 2/3rds done with this when I spotted Cinematical's "women in cinematic history but I wanted to make this a little more "first"y and loopier and obviously a bit more awardsy in nature since we play it like that.

A Mary Pickford biography | Florence Lawrence "The Biograph Girl"

Silents

First movie star: That's "The Biograph Girl" Florence Lawrence Or...

First "Oprah" i.e. first woman in entertainment to basic control the universe: Mary Pickford was, like Florence Lawrence, famous by sight before actor names went in credits. Pickford was also known as "America's Sweetheart" a title that the media has virtually never tired of passing on down to newish popular actresses ever since. Mary was one of the founders of AMPAS and a studio founder too. She also commanded astronomical wealth.

"Retroformat – Idols of the Silent Era" will screen several rare early silents projected in 8mm at 7:30 p.m. on Sat., June 26, at the American Cinematheque’s Spielberg Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. "Retroformat" is not to be missed. Two D.W. Griffith shorts will be featured in the program: Confidence (1909, 11 min), starring Florence Lawrence (photo) — officially the very first movie celebrity to have a "name" (more details below); and Henry B. Walthall, Blanche Sweet and Lionel Barrymore in Death’s Marathon (1913, 17min). Also, Fox Trot Finesse (1915) with Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew (cousins of the Barrymores and namesakes to [...]...

Sometimes we resent how the biological drive takes the great actresses away from us for years at a time or even forever. We're selfish about movies. Sue us. You'll be hearing or saying "Happy Mother's Day" all day today -- call your mother! -- but just for something a bit different we'd like to wish the following actresses and directors a "Happy Day!" even though they never had children (biological or adopted).

The Queen... Dame Helen Mirren

There's more than one way to give back to the universe and live on past your own time.

These women have given us much to enjoy so Happy Day to them, too. Some of them, like Katharine Hepburn, are no longer with us and some of them, like Zeéeee and The Lovely Laura Linney may yet still have children... but that's no reason not to cherish what any of them have already given the world over the years.

Wholesome silent-era superstars Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks drawn by Vargas (perhaps best known for his drawings of naked and semi-naked women in Playboy), Motion Picture Long before Robert Pattinson, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie, Kristen Stewart, Zac Efron, and Will Smith, there were Tyrone Power, Claudette Colbert, Rita Hayworth, Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marilyn Monroe. And before them, Norma Talmadge, Rudolph Valentino, Charles Chaplin, Florence Lawrence, and Lillian Gish. Just like long before Entertainment Weekly and PopSugar.com, there were Photoplay, Motion Picture, Modern Screen, Picture-Play, and The New Movie Magazine. Film historian Anthony Slide’s recently published Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers (University of Mi [...]...