Silent Film Star
by Edward Fielding
Title
Silent Film Star
Artist
Edward Fielding
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
NOTE: The watermark in the lower right does not appear in the final print.
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Famous actress of cinema and stage. A vintage photograph of a silent film star from the golden age of Hollywood.
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This image was inspired a silent film series held each year by the film society at Dartmouth College. This year's feature was "Speedy" a Harold Lloyd film and the music was provide by the amazing Alloy Orchestra http://www.alloyorchestra.com/ - a three man musical ensemble, writing and performing live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources.
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Part of the Dogford Studios collection.
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Fine pet photography by Edward M. Fielding
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www.edwardfielding.com
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Look for my new book "the Quotable Westie" now on Amazon. Or contact me for an autographed version.
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During the Golden Age of Hollywood, which lasted from the end of the silent era in American cinema in the late 1920s to the early 1960s, films were prolifically issued by the Hollywood studios. The start of the Golden Age was arguably when The Jazz Singer was released in 1927 and increased box-office profits for films as sound was introduced to feature films. Most Hollywood pictures adhered closely to a genre Western, slapstick comedy, musical, animated cartoon, biopic (biographical picture) and the same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio.
After The Jazz Singer was released in 1927, Warner Brothers gained huge success and was able to acquire its own string of movie theatres, after purchasing Stanley Theatres and First National Productions in 1928; MGM had also owned a string of theatres since forming in 1924, known as Loews Theatres, and the Fox film Corporation owned the Fox Theatre strings as well. Also, RKO, another company that owned theatres, had formed in 1928 from a merger between Keith-Orpheum Theaters and the Radio Corporation of America[3].
RKO formed in response to the monopoly Western Electric's ERPI had over sound in films as well, and began to use sound in films through their own method known as Photophone [5]. Paramount, who already acquired Balaban and Katz in 1926, would answer to the success of Warner Bros. and RKO, and buy a number of theaters in the late 1920s as well, before making their final purchase in 1929, through acquiring all the individual theaters belonging to the Cooperative Box Office, located in Detroit, and dominate the Detroit theaters. For instance, Cedric Gibbons and Herbert Stothart always worked on MGM films, Alfred Newman worked at Twentieth Century Fox for twenty years, Cecil B. DeMille's films were almost all made at Paramount, director Henry King's films were mostly made for Twentieth-Century Fox, etc.
Film making was still a business, however, and motion picture companies made money by operating under the studio system. The major studios kept thousands of people on salary actors, producers, directors, writers, stunt men, craftspersons and technicians. And they owned hundreds of theaters in cities and towns across America, theaters that showed their films and that were always in need of fresh material. In 1930, MPDDA President Will Hays also founded the Hays (Production) Code, which followed censorship guidelines and went into effect after government threats of censorship expanded by 1930. [6] However the code was never enforced until 1934, after the new Catholic Church organization The Legion of Decency - appalled by Mae West's very successful sexual appearances in She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel - threatened a boycott of motion pictures if it did not go into effect, and those that didn't obtain a seal of approval from the Production Code Administration had to pay a $25,000 fine and could not profit in the theaters, as the MPDDA owned every theater in the country through the Big Five studios.
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February 2nd, 2013
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Comments (36)
Pedro L Gili
Wonderful! Again starring Tiki! It seems that yit is posing for a casting in "The Artist"! Although hiding behind the mask it can not disguise that this is Tiki! A beautiful picture "vintage" style, Ed.! Excellent work (yours and Tiki)! g+ T L Vtd. and favorited.
Terri Waters
Tiki is turning into a right Prima Donna, or should that be primo uomo. I think he's a tad confused in this one. Brilliant !
Elizabeth McTaggart
OH I love her! I've seen all her short and feature films ~ fabulous! Quite frankly, she never received the fanfare and respect a true actress of her caliber should receive ~~ I mean come on, Mary Pickford? ~~ Lillian Gish? Can't hold a candle to her! V/F