gagman66

So who were the Top 5 Most Popular Male Stars of 1928, at least according to Moving Picture World Magazine? You might be very surprised at this list: 1. Lon Chaney 2. Tom Mix 3. John Gilbert 4. Harold Lloyd 5. Richard Dix A brief analysis, Chaney obviously had a broader demographic of appeal, and bigger fan base than virtually any other Male Star at the time. He received way more votes than anyone from distributors and theater owners. Anyone that is except for Clara Bow, who left them all in the dust! But she doesn't qualify in this particular catagory. Mix never receives the proper credit today. He was clearly among the biggest Silent Stars of them all! Because He made only Western's He is continuously overlooked by most everybody! It doesn't help that his surviving films are far from easy to see. None of them are currently on DVD. Gilbert one would expect to rate at least this high, if not number 1. In the category of the type of films He was making, some might say Adventure-Romance, or more properly Romance-Adventure, He was a clear cut number one at the time. Harold Lloyd, is well Harold Lloyd! His limitless appeal knew no boundaries! But Harold being a died in the wool perfectionist, and a notoriously slow worker, only released one film a year starting in 1925 with THE FRESHMAN, FOR HEAVENS SAKE in 1926, THE KID BOTHER in 1927, and SPEEDY in 1928. So under the circumstances, it's relatively hard to believe that He still rated this highly. Although all of those films were ligitimate Blockbusters, that ran for weeks on end allot of places. Richard Dix??? This is certainly the biggest stunner of the bunch to me! I have seen relatively few of this guys Silent films. In all honesty, I would have probably expected this spot to be occupied by Charles Farrell, or Ramon Novarro.

So who were the Top 5 Most Popular Male Stars of 1928, at least according to Moving Picture World Magazine? You might be very surprised at this list: 1. Lon Chaney 2. Tom Mix 3. John Gilbert 4. Harold Lloyd 5. Richard Dix A brief analysis, Chaney obviously had a broader demographic of appeal, and bigger fan base than virtually any other Male Star at the time. He received way more votes than anyone from distributors and theater owners. Anyone that is except for Clara Bow, who left them all in the dust! But she doesn't qualify in this particular catagory. Mix never receives the proper credit today. He was clearly among the biggest Silent Stars of them all! Because He made only Western's He is continuously overlooked by most everybody! It doesn't help that his surviving films are far from easy to see. None of them are currently on DVD. Gilbert one would expect to rate at least this high, if not number 1. In the category of the type of films He was making, some might say Adventure-Romance, or more properly Romance-Adventure, He was a clear cut number one at the time. Harold Lloyd, is well Harold Lloyd! His limitless appeal knew no boundaries! But Harold being a died in the wool perfectionist, and a notoriously slow worker, only released one film a year starting in 1925 with THE FRESHMAN, FOR HEAVENS SAKE in 1926, THE KID BOTHER in 1927, and SPEEDY in 1928. So under the circumstances, it's relatively hard to believe that He still rated this highly. Although all of those films were ligitimate Blockbusters, that ran for weeks on end allot of places. Richard Dix??? This is certainly the biggest stunner of the bunch to me! I have seen relatively few of this guys Silent films. In all honesty, I would have probably expected this spot to be occupied by Charles Farrell, or Ramon Novarro.

ugaarte, So just how big was Billie Dove in the late 20's you might ask? Well, believe it or not, a 1928 distributor's magazine ranked Her as the 3rd biggest money-maker in Hollywood among all female Stars, behind only Clara Bow, and Colleen Moore, and well ahead of Greta Garbo, and my Corinne Griffith! This lovely gal also made the top 10, listed at number 7! Here's Marion! *Marion Davies, Just Thinking* *Marion Davies, Very Shere Dress*

Mike, I have an ATI All IN WONDER card. However, all you really need is a player software installed like Power DVD, to create captures. There is also Nero-player, Inter-active DVD, and a host of others. You probably already have something along these lines in your hard-drive? As long as you have Flash-video installed as well, any of those programs should be able to take snapshots of your DVD's. So just how big was your beloved Billie Dove in the late 20's? Well, believe it or not, a 1928 distributor's magazine ranked Her as the 3rd biggest money-maker among all female Stars, behind only Clara Bow, and Colleen Moore, and well ahead of Greta Garbo, and my Corinne Griffith! This lovely gal also made the top 10, at the number 7 spot! Here's Marion! *Marion Davies Just Thinking.* *Marion Davies, in very shere dress.*

Mark, Everyone, OK now, here is a terrific photo I ran across, that illustrates quite clearly just how popular Anita Page really was back in the day! And in the immortal lyrics of the great Irving Berlin, ".....But You Forgot To Remember"! So hey, TCM just take a gander at this!!!* *Anita Page Swamped with Fan-Mail! "Help, I can barely move!"* *Our Anita is obviously Heartbroken that She never received a typical "TCM REMEMBERS" segment. How awful! The Poor, Poor Girl!*

OK now folks, here is a terrific photo I ran across, that illustrates quite clearly just how popular Anita Page really was back in the day! And in the immortal lyrics of the great Irving Berlin, ".....But You Forgot To Remember"! So hey, TCM just take a gander at this!!!* *Anita Page Swamped with Fan-Mail! "Help, I can barely move!"* *Our Anita is obviously Heartbroken that She never received a typical "TCM REMEMBERS" segment. How awful! The Poor, Poor Girl!*

OK now folks, here is a terrific photo I ran across, that illustrates quite clearly just how popular Anita Page really was back in the day! And in the immortal lyrics of the great Irving Berlin, ".....But You Forgot To Remember"! So hey, TCM just take a gander at this!!!* *Anita Page Swamped with Fan-Mail! "Help, I can barely move!"* *Our Anita is obviously Heartbroken that She never received a typical "TCM REMEMBERS" segment. How awful! The Poor, Poor Girl!*

*OK folks, Here is a terrific photo I ran across, that illustrates quite clearly just how popular Anita Page really was back in the day! And in the immortal lyrics of the great Irving Berlin, ".....But You Forgot To Remember"! So hey, TCM just take a look at this!!!* *Anita Page Swamped with Fan-Mail! "Help, I can barely move!"* *Our Anita is obviously Heartbroken that She never received a typical "TCM REMEMBERS" segment. How awful! The Poor, Poor Girl!*

Ed, Aaron, Scott, Etc. OK now, here is a terrific photo I ran across, that illustrates quite clearly just how popular Anita Page really was back in the day! And in the immortal lyrics of the great Irving Berlin, ".....But You Forgot To Remember"! So hey, TCM just take a gander at this!!!* *Anita Page Swamped with Fan-Mail! "Help, I can barely move!"* *Our Anita is obviously Heartbroken that She never received a typical "TCM REMEMBERS" segment. How awful! The Poor, Poor Girl!*

Jorge, I'm afraid that I coudn't tell you. I have never seen the full-length version of A WOMAN OF PARIS! Could never find a copy anyplace. I know Image released a DVD of the complete cut, but it has been out of print for years.

Wendy, Wow, almost all of your captures are great. One of them lost a little focus, but the rest look just wonderful. Image Entertainment put out a slightly longer version of A WOMAN OF PARIS on Laser-disc, and briefly on DVD several years ago. This version was restored by David Shepard, but I have never seen it. For the 1976 re-issue, which is what TCM shows and Warner's has on DVD, a few sequences were cut that were in the original film. Oddly enough, I just got a better copy of MAN, WOMAN, & SIN today, than what I had previously. The problem is the persistent flicker, and that the picture repeatedly fluctuates from a well lighted to dark image? Something I have very rarely seen, and I have no idea what cause this. Otherwise it would look quite good. That's why I wish Warner's would provide TCM with a fresh-transfer, and score this film for broadcast. Also obtained a copy of the restored KIKI (First National, 1925), Directed by Clarence Brown. with Norma Talmadge, and Ronald Coleman. The print really looks great. A few Talmadge Sisters films recently underwent restoration, and this is one of them. Maybe Kino, or Milestone will release a few of these on official DVD soon? That would really be cool!

Michelle, THE COSSACKS I have since learned had been broadcast on France 3 back in 2001. That is were my copy orginated from. A very nice print. I am still rather surprised though that by this time TCM has never run this movie before? Interestingly enough, France 3 is the same outfit that will be running BARDLEYS THE MAGNIFICENT next month! In addition, much like BARDLEYS, it appears that THE COSSACKS was also considered lost at one time? I am not sure when, or where the print was found? I wish I did have the details. By the way, does the entire disc play normally? I had a few burns that proved defective. The picture froze up with about 5 minutes left to go. I have subsequently burned a new master, because I still had the complete program in the hard-drive. Now it seems to be error free. I haven't seen all of MAN, WOMAN & SIN yet. It appears that very good print material still exists of this feature though too.

Wendy, Yes, the film was lost for over 40 years. Since the MGM Vault fire in 1965. However, last year an incomplete print turned up in France. The third reel is missing, but the rest of the film was in-tact. David Sheperd's Film Preservation Associates, and Lobster films of Paris, have restored all of the surviving elements. My friend Christine who lives in France has already seen the film, She commented on it's beauty and clarity. So I expect it looks fabulous! Now guys what about MAN, WOMAN & SIN, and THE COSSACKS? Both films survive in excellent prints, and in complete form. So when are we finally going to see these two vastly underrated and overlooked Gilbert features on TCM???

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Wendy, The film was lost for over 40 years. Since the MGM Vault fire in 1965. However, last year an in-complete print turned up in France. The third reel is missing, but the rest of the film was in-tact. David Sheperd's Film Preservation Associates, and Lobster films of Paris have restored all of the surviving elements. My friend Christine who lives in Paris has already seen the film and commented on it's beauty and clarity. So I expect it looks fabulous! Now guys what about MAN, WOMAN & SIN, and THE COSSACKS? Both films survive in excellent prints, and in complete form. So when are we finally going to see these vastly underrated and overlooked features on TCM???

Ed, I know that the Silent version with Norma Talmadge of KIKI survives, and was even recently restored. What about Norma's version of SECRETS? It's also of interest as one of Frank Borzage's earlier successes too. Mark, Here is a wonderful Tribute to Pickford on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iv8hApxvi8

Scottman, Yes, It wiill be the 1928 Silent cut of the film. TCM programmer told me a couple months ago, that they inked a pact with Photo-play Productions for the American premier of the Carl Davis scored version! Don't forget the Photo-play ORPHANS OF THE STORM debuting in November either! And have you heard two rare John Gilbert features MONTE CHRISTO, and BARDLEYS THE MAGNIFICENT will be released on DVD by Flicker Alley, in the early Spring! Hard to believe that BARDLEYS is the very first King Vidor Silent to make it to DVD so far! Send me a PM, or an E-mail. There is much more to tell you about. Incidentaly, for people who would like to see the restored WINGS with a live orchestral performance of Carl Davis score, there is a screening coming up in Febuary of next year in Wisconsin. Here is the lnk. http://www.beloitjanesvillesymphony.org/performances.html

Mark, Yes, I enjoyed the movie very much, and had never seen it before. I was surprised to learn that this was a TCM premier? I figured that it had been shown at least a time or two in the past? It was wonderful to see a sharp crisp print like this broadcast. The main-title theme was just lovely. Mary wasn't as great an actress in talkies as in her Silent films, but her performance was still very solid. Even in her 40's, (She was at least 41 or 42), Pickford looked stunningly beautiful at times. And could easily portray characters significantly younger not just convincingly, but with ease. It's hard to believe this was the end. As for directing? Mary routinely had a hand in the direction of her films from the teens on, but rarely took screen credit. Occasionally she did as a writer. Tghere is no doubt that she very muched bossed her own productions, and maintained creative control. Mary Pickford's general body of work is loaded with extraordinary performances, and a plethora of highly underrated, and largely overlooked films. I am so glad that Milestone is finally releasing some new titles soon on DVD. 2009 marks the 30th Anniversary of Mary's death in 1979.

Film_Fatale, Yes, THE RAGMAN Is a wonderful film with Little Jackie Coogan, and Jewish comedian Max Davidson. Very good score by the late Linda Martinez, who sadly committed suicide a few years ago. She also wrote another fine score for EXIT SMILING (1926) with Beatrice Lillie, and Jack Pickford.

ugaarte, The pre-code A NOTORIOUS AFFAIR (1930) with Billie Dove the other night was really good, and she was great too. Her voice was just fine in talkies, quite lovely in-fact. I was entranced by her voice, graceful movements, and gestures. I find it hard to believe that sound was her demise in films? Her performance was restrained and totally believable. Basil Rathbone in one of his early films as the leading man was rather awful. Billie was way better than He was in this picture. Hey, TCM how about giving us allot more of Billie Dove??? I don't have very many colorized pictures of her. I will have to work on a few more. Do have some Sepia-Tone Photos though of Billie.

BelleLeGrand, I love anything with Janet Gaynor. I agree that SMALL TOWN GIRL is one of her better sound films. A delightful picture. As for Her Silent's, it's very probable that SEVENTH HEAVEN, and STREET ANGEL will each be debuting on TCM early next year. And just like the new restoration of King Vidor's THE BIG PARADE, these Frank Borzage's Classics, both deserve Prime-time premiers! No late night on Sunday, early Monday mornings stuff. SEVENTH HEAVEN won Three Acadamy Awards!

Mark, Thanks much for the support. I have talked with allot of folks that are very upset that TCM hasn't said a thing about Anita passing away. There is a little something on this website, but that is all thus far. Highly discouraging. They ought to schedule SPEEDWAY (1929) with William Haines, Karl Dane, and Ernest Torrence. It was Anita's last Silent, and hasn't been shown in ages! *A loving tribute to the memory of A Beautiful, Classy Lady*

Mark, I have been complaining about the lack of the traditional "TCM REMEMBERS" segment running all week long! I can't believe that her passing would be ignored like that? It just isn't right! *Anita Page, A loving tribute to the memory of A Beautiful, Classy Lady*

Wendy, Hey, there is really big news of two rare John Gilbert films coming to DVD in the early Spring! King Vidor's long lost BARDLEYS THE MAGNIFICENT (MGM, 1926) with Eleanor Boardman, and perhaps even more surprisingly MONTE CRISTO (1922) with Estelle Taylor. The latter is one of Gilbert's precious few surviving Fox features. BARDLEYS was uncovered about a year ago in France, and has been restored by David Shepard's Film Preservation Associates, and Lobster Films of Paris. It's very probable that MONTE CRISTO is also a recent find that had flown under the radar? I knew nothing about a print of this film until a few weeks ago. Now if someone would only look at CAMEO KIRBY (1923) . Both pictures will be released as part of a two disc set by Flicker Alley company, with newly recorded scores by Rodney Sauer, and His Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. It's hard to believe that this is the first official release of any King Vidor Silent on DVD. Even THE BIG PARADE. Although that with any luck is on it's way too, early in the year. TCM and Warner's arrangement with Flicker Alley could potentially open the door for allot of other titles. A movie like HER WILD OAT (1927), for example as a First National Silent is less likely to get a release from Warner Home Video, but Flicker Alley might be another story? Hopefully, with a few other nicely restored Colleen Moore features right along with it. Maybe the Marion Davies films will also get more attention, and so on?