ANNE GREENE here.
Films blossomed in the 1920s. By the mid-20s, movies were big business. Throughout most of the decade, silent films were predominant.
The top box-office stars in the 1920s included Harold Lloyd, Gloria Swanson, Tom Mix, Norma Talmadge, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Colleen Moore, Norma Shearer, John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Lon Chaney, Sr., and Clara Bow.
Mary Pickford developed into one of the biggest silent movie stars of the era. America flocked to the movies. Mary had been a child star and worked as a bit actress in 1909, yet only ten years later became one of the most influential figures in Hollywood. In 1916, she was the first star to become a millionaire.

Mary married another great star, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Their wedding in late March, 1920 proved highly controversial since both of them divorced so they could marry each other. He presented her with a wedding gift, Pickfair, a twenty-two room mansion in Beverly Hills, setting the trend for stars’ lavish homes in the suburbs of W. Hollywood. Mary Pickford bobbed her long curly hair, one of moviedom's first fashion trends, in 1928. Pickford's Coquette (1929), her first all-talking film, won her an Academy Award, but she retired prematurely four years later.


Haunting and divine, Greta Garbo's first American film was The Torrent (1926), followed by The Temptress (1926). Her first major starring vehicle was with John Gilbert in Flesh and the Devil (1926). MGM renamed Broadway actress Lucille Le Sueur and christened her Joan Crawford in 1925. And Louise Brooks made her debut film in mid-decade with Street of Forgotten Men (1925).


Lon Chaney, Sr., the man of a thousand faces, starred in the The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), and in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) his signature role. The unveiling of the phantom's face, when Christine rips off his mask - was and still is a startling sequence.
Even the earliest films were organized into genres like swashbucklers, historical extravaganzas, melodramas, and even biblical epics. There were westerns like The Covered Wagon (1923)), horror films, gangster/crime films, war films, the first feature documentary, Nanook of the North (1922)), romances, mysteries, and comedies from the silent comic masters Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd.
America loved her movies from the 1920s until now.
ANNE
GREENE delights in writing about wounded heroes and gutsy heroines. Her second
novel, a Scottish historical, Masquerade Marriage, won three
prestigious book awards. The sequel Marriage
By Arrangement released November, 2013.
A Texas Christmas Mystery also won
awards. Anne’s highest hope is that her stories transport the reader to awesome
new worlds and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the
Lord Jesus. Anne makes her home in McKinney, Texas. She loves to talk with her
readers. Buy Anne’s books at http://www.Amazon.com. Talk with Anne
on twitter at @TheAnneGreene. View Anne’s books, travel pictures and art work
at http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com.
Learn
more about Anne as well as get tips on writing award-winning books at http://www.anneswritingupdates.blogspot.com. Join her followers for a chance to win one of Anne's books.

This is such a fun topic.
ReplyDeleteI remember some of those stars as they went on into the thirties and talkies and their movies were classic. My mother loved Clara Bow and Mary Pickford. I always thought Douglas Fairbanks Sr. was so handsome but then along came Clark Gable. :)
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I recognized many of the famous names you told us about. Thanks for the research and post. sharon wileygreen1(at)yahoo(dot)com
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