Who were the movie stars of silent cinema in 1912

[Tarn Stephanos]

I believe Charlie Chaplin made his cinematic debut in 1914, so was unknown in 1912- and Mr lloyd debuted shortly therafter...
Rudolph Valentino debuted after WW1 methinks....
I don't think the Keystone cops (and Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton) debuted until the start of WW1.
It seems most of the comedic talents that would eventually be on film were on the Vaudville circut in 1912 (The Three stooges, the Marx Brothers). But silent movies were being released in 1912- I recently watched the 1910 adaptaion of Frankenstein, and it was creepy, to say the least...There were several early silent movie adaptations of mr Baum's adventures in the land of OZ, most from around 1914. ..
Titanic survivor Dorothy gibson was of course a silent film star in 1912- but was she well known?
Most of the pillars of the silent age of film had not yet emerged by 1912- so who were the 'known' silent film stars, on April 15 1912?

 

[Bob Godfrey]

One of the biggest home-grown movie stars of the silent era in Britain was Alma Taylor. Her first screen credit was in 1907, and by 1912 she had starred in at least 30 'shorts' and her face would have been very familiar to many of the passengers and crew who boarded the Titanic. In 1912 she played the female lead as Nancy in Oliver Twist, Britain's first feature-length film, and by 1924 she was considered to be Britain's number one movie star.

In the talkie era which followed, Alma's star quickly faded but she continued to work in lesser roles and eventually in uncredited bit parts. The last of these, almost 50 years after her screen debut, was as 'old lady' in, of all things, A Night to Remember.

Fellow Brits 'of a certain age' might recall the singer Alma Cogan, so named because her mother had been a great fan of Ms Taylor.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

After 50 years on the screen, Alma Taylor delivers her final lines:

Older woman: That lady's right. It's absolutely ridiculous.
Lightoller: Madame, I assure you ...
Older Woman: Kindly help me out of here, please.
Lightoller: It can't be helped if she won't go.

 

[Tarn Stephanos]

Thanks for the information Bob!
I had no idea that elderly woman in 'A Night to Remember' was once a starlette of the silent cinema...
regards


Tarn Stephanos

 

[Jim Kalafus]

Well, Mary Pickford had appeared in at least 153 films between 1909 and Jan. 1, 1912. Her husband, Owen Moore, had appeared in 168 since 1908. Up and comer Blanche Sweet had made 45 films since 1909, while waning star Florence Lawrence, the first ever "film star" had appeared in 228 films since 1906, and would make 69 more before her death by suicide.

>Titanic survivor Dorothy Gibson was of course a silent film star in 1912

"Star" is stretching the point rather thin. She was a silent film performer, but had appeared in five films in 1911, out of a career total of seventeen. She had made ten films in 1912 as of April, and would appear in two more, a total that suggests that she had some sort of career momentem going. One could speculate on whether she WOULD have become a star, but as of 1912 she was not a threat to Miss Pickford or Miss Sweet.

>Rudolph Valentino debuted after WW1 methinks....

He was definitely postwar. If you look at the well known film clip of Arbuckle's "friend," the ill-Fated Virginia Rappe, in Isle of Love (it has appeared in seemingly every Arbuckle Rape Trial docu. ever done) you can see the unknown Rudloph Valentino sitting at the table just over her right shoulder in her semi-close up~ one of those fun "back when they were nobodies" interludes.

 

[Lynda Franklin]

Are any of Dorothy Gibson' or Alma Taylor's works from Titanic's era available on DVD ?

 

[Martin Williams]

That's an intriguing point about Alma Taylor, thanks for sharing it with us. I love the photographs too - am I correct in thinking that, in 'ANTR', she actually took the part of the rather mysterious Constance Willard (albeit with a major age-gap between the REAL Miss Willard as she was in 1912 and herself)?

I'm not an expert on the films of the silent era but am, at this very moment, reading a delightful collection of essays penned by Anita Loos who was, of course, a real mover-and-shaker in early Hollywood and knew everybody of note in the 'teens and 'twenties. I've not read it but I think her autobiography contains much information about Elinor Glyn at the time when she was busily re-inventing herself as 'the Dowager Empress of Hollywood'. In an essay written towards the very end of her life, Loos mentioned the recent discovery (this would have been back in the late '70s) of a cache of silent films, still in their tins, which had been dumped and buried as land-fill in the Yukon years previously. The icy temperatures had kept the films in an amazing state of preservation and it seems that they were carted off to New York for restoration and maybe even eventual viewing. I wonder if this experiment ever met with any success? It would be wonderful to think that there might be a few works starring Dorothy Gibson among the rest!

Maybe somebody can help me with a small question here - I think that Loos in the 1910-1914 period was writing for the Biograph Moving Picture Company. Was this the same firm that Daniel Marvin's father was behind, or just a case of similar names?

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Alma's brief scene was probably inspired by the particular incident involving Constance Willard, but her role was generic rather than specific, and intended to make a point. The screenwriter used her lines to portray a prevalent attitude rather than the experience of a particular person. In the full cast list her credited role is that of 'old lady'. Whereas Olwen Brookes, for instance, is credited for an equally brief appearance in the specific role of 'Miss (Edith) Evans'.
.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Yes, The Biograph Company was co-founded by Henry Marvin, and Anita Loos did write for them. Her first full screenplay was The New York Hat, directed by D W Griffith and featuring Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore and Lillian Gish. Loos couldn't go far wrong in such company. Like the Titanic, this film made the news in 1912. It's less famous today, but was more successful at the time!

 

[Martin Williams]

A-ha, thanks! I thought that the two companies might actually be one and the same. I wonder if Loos ever encountered Marvin Senior himself? She never mentions him, to my knowledge.

 

[sashka pozzetti]

there is a copy of "the New York Hat" on Ebay. It is a bargain, and there are loads of othere 8mm silent films that look like they were copied in the 60's

 

[George L. Lorton]

You learn something new every day I read a biography on Mary Pickford called PICKFORD,
THE WOMAN WHO MADE HOLLYWOOD By Eileen Whitfield that discusses The New York Hat and I knew Lionel Barrymore costarred I didn't know Lillian Gish was also featured in it. Sounds like the first all star feature. I mean Anita Loos(Gentlemen Prefer Blonds) wrote it and now Barrymore, Pickford and Lillian Gish were in it.
If you all get the chance see The Wind 1927 starring Lillian Gish now that's an undiscovered classic.

 

[George L. Lorton]

Want to know who's who of Silent Cinema of 1912 or any year check out http://www.silentladies.com/Ladies.html for pictures profiles and more. When you want to be in the know Silent Ladies and Gents is the place to go.

 

[George L. Lorton]

Fun fact. In 1912 a lot of Silent Movie performers were credited with made up names in Great Britain because it was the practice in the USA not to show the Actor's name. Hence Mary Pickford was credited with the moniker The Biograph Girl or the Girl with the Golden Curls.

 

[Jim Kalafus]

George- if you haven't picked up a used copy of The Parade's Gone By, (Kenneth Brownlow) do so immediately. Bar none the best book on silent cinema, and written when a great many of the giants were still around to be extensively interviewed. Sadly, Rita Jolivet was not interviewed. Sadly, as you'll see, Mary Pickford was.