Kay Francis

George Hurrell

George Hurrell and Robert Montgomery, Clark Gable, Adolphe Menjou and Nils Asther.

Dolores Costello: "Merthy, merthy, have you no thither of your own?"

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"Vitaphone was a sexist technology, recording and reproducing men's voices more accurately than women's"
Richard Barrios, A Song In The Dark The Birth Of The Musical Film

"Dolores Costello's voice, in life relatively warm and attractive, did not come through adequately on the Vitaphone discs. Exacerbated by intense self conscioisness and poorly written dialogue, her feeble delivery was up there on the screen for everyone to hear and see. She was not helped my Michael Curtiz's inadequate direction, horrendous tension on the set, and by another mechanical failing, a tendency toward sibilance. The lisp, though Costello got the rap for it, was Vitaphone's, usually caused by a deadly combination of primitive amplifiers and worn discs. In this case it rendered one of her lines as "Merthy, merthy, have you no thither of your own?" To make matters worse, she was completely stymied by the notion that visual and vocal acting could be corellated into a seamless whole."
Richard Barrios, A Song in The Dark The Birth Of The Musical Film

"The greater difficulty lay in her inability to properly combine speech with gesture for the camera. As it was with her so would it be repeated with a number of silent stars, most legendarily John Gilbert, due not so much to bad voices as inadequately coordinated performances of poorly written dialogue, aggravated by changing audience tastes."
Richard Barrios, A Song In The Dark The Birth Of The Musical Film
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Spoke with a severe lisp until about 1930. When talkies replaced silent films, she worked with a speech pathologist for almost two years to get rid of her lisp.
IMDB trivia for Dolores Costello
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Costello spoke with a lisp, and found it difficult to make the transition to talking pictures, but after two years of voice coaching she was comfortable speaking before a microphone.
reference.com entry for Dolores Costello
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Costello spoke with a lisp and found it difficult to make the transition to talking pictures, but after two years of voice coaching she was comfortable speaking before a microphone.
wikpedia.com entry for Dolores Costello
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But as with Tenderloin, criticism of the still underdeveloped sound techniques was harsh, the long-suffering Miss Costello once again the most obvious target. Costello's slight lisp was exacerbated by the studio's sound-on-disc system -- not quite as bad as the satirical Singing in the Rain (1952) would later suggest, but enough for the actress to face an uncertain future in "talkies."
N.Y. Times review of Glorious Betsy
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Hollywood Nudes and Cheescake #1: Pre-code Edition

Revealing photos of famous actresses. Some or all of the photos may be real, some may be fakes or look-alikes. Top to bottom; 3 of Louise Brooks, 2 of Jean Harlow, Tallulah Bankhead's backside, Norma Shearer's rearer, 2 of Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, 2 of Clara Bow, and last but not least, Josephine Baker.

The Busby Berkeley Collection: The Gold Diggers of 1933

The Gold Diggers of 1933 is part of the The Busby Berkeley Collection scheduled for release March 21st 2006. According to DVD Times, "The collection includes five remastered Warner Bros. classics from one of the greatest motion picture choreographers of all time. Titles include Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames and Gold Diggers of 1935 (all new to DVD); 42nd Street (repackaged in Amaray "keepcase" packaging ) and The Busby Berkeley Disc, a nearly three-hour compendium of the unique musical extravaganzas created by Berkeley during his Warner Bros. years."
The outsatanding cast of Gold Diggers of 1933 includes Ginger Rogers, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Ned Sparks, Aline MacMahon, Joan Blondell, Warren William, Sterling Halloway and Guy Kibee.
See related post Classic pre-code.

more Kay, more Kay.

Read some 1938 newspaper clippings about Kay at Old Movie Section

Evelyn Brent

The sultry Evelyn Brent.

Nina Mae, Anna May, but LuLu will.

Nina Mae McKinney by Ruth Harriet Louise, Anna May Wong by George Hurrell, and Louise Brooks by Steichen.

William Powell

A small visual tribute to the great William Powell.

Remembering Helen Twelvetrees

Read this author's story (including rare photos) about performing with Helen Twelvetrees in a Sea Cliff Summer Theatre production of A Streetcar Named Desire at Here In The Hills

Talk, Talk, Talk