Aeolian Vocalion

Oddly enough, I've run across a number of examples of sheet-music tied to silent films from the late-1910s into the 1920s, often sporting pictures of the various stars of the films.

I'd already listed some favorite silents, but I'll list a few more, starting with some fairly heralded 'classics' that I'm particularly fond of:

1. "Docks of New York" (1928) George Bancroft, Betty Compson
2. "Lucky Star" (1929) Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell
3. "The Toll Gate" (1920) William S. Hart, Anna Q. Nilsson
4. "Wild Oranges" (1924) Frank Mayo, Virginia Valli
5. "Underground" (1928-British) Brian Aherne, Elissa Landi
6. "Stella Maris" (1918) Mary Pickford, Conway Tearle
7. "Redskin" (1929) Richard Dix, Gladys Belmont
8. "A Kiss for Cinderella" (1925) Betty Bronson, Tom Moore
9. "Asphalt" (1929-German) Betty Amann, Gustav Frolich
10. "Robin Hood" (1923) Douglas Fairbanks, Enid Bennett

But, there's a ton of 'little' films from the silent era that I often enjoy just as much, if not more, than a lot of the classics. Some that have clicked nicely with me, and had a good re-watchability factor include:

1. "The Matinee Idol" (1928) Bessie Love, Johnny Walker
2. "Lorraine of the Lions" (1925) Patsy Ruth Miller
3. "Padlocked" (1926) Lois Moran, Louise Dresser
4. "13 Washington Square" (1928) Jean Hersholt, Alice Joyce
5. "The False Road" (1920) Enid Bennett, Lloyd Hughes
6. "What Happened to Jones" (1926) Reginald Denny
7. "The Apple Tree Girl" (1917) Shirley Mason
8. "Wild Horse Mesa" (1925) Jack Holt, Billie Dove
9. "The Thirteenth Hour" (1927) Conrad Nagel, Leila Hyams
10. "Go and Get It" (1920) Pat O'Malley, Agnes Ayres

One thing I would like to see from some dvd company would be a really nice collection of all those Helen Holmes 'railroad' films, from the 1910s "Hazards of Helen" episodes to the 1920s features produced by her husband, J.P. McGowan, all looking nicely restored. Most of the public-domain prints circulating around are in such ratty shape. I love them, but they're all such eyesores.

I love Phil Harris' old radio series with wife Alice Faye. Very, very funny show. One of the best, especially the episodes from around 1948-49 or so. I used to collect the show on cassette tapes, and even wrote to Harris telling him how much I enjoyed the show. Got a nice letter back from him.

Welk was always too clunky for my tastes. Guy Lombardo mined similar territory, but did it with a smoother, more satisfying flair. Plus, he even occasionally got jazzy in his early days, like his 1928 recording of "Nobody's Sweetheart."

But on the other hand, Welk did have the Lennon Sisters, and if anyone wants to see a pristine helping of late-60s whitebread entertainment, watch the full-season 1969-70 variety series "Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters." It was rerun on the old Goodlife-TV station about 25 years ago, and I don't think I'll ever forget the weirdness of the Lennons singing that "Windmills of Your Mind" song.

Yeah, June Marlowe was adorable. You can see her in a few silent films where she's not wearing the blonde wig. Don't know why they wanted her blonde for those Hal Roach shorts. They did the same for Muriel Evans (another early-talkie stunner, by the way) when she was leading lady in Roach's Charlie Chase comedies, making her blonde.

Never been on Twitter or Facebook or any of that. But if the question pertains to favorite 1940s leading ladies, I'd go with (in no particular order):

Joan Leslie
Gail Russell
Barbara Britton
Ruth Terry
Martha O'Driscoll
Ella Raines
Mary Beth Hughes
Jinx Falkenburg
Elyse Knox

Far cry from 1964, when a "Project Prayer" rally was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles with 2500 in attendance, in support of school prayer, after the recent Supreme Court decision. Stars like Walter Brennan, Lloyd Nolan, Rhonda Fleming, Gloria Swanson attended, and there was vocal support from names like Ginger Rogers, John Wayne, Mary Pickford, Jane Russell, Roy Rogers, and others.

Well, I've always liked "Sparrows" (1926) a lot. The restoration print on the blu-ray looks stellar, much better than the lousy public-domain prints that floated around for decades. Who'd expect Mary Pickford to be in such a creepy, spooky film?

I always rather regretted not going to see Cab Calloway when he was appearing in Austin at the Paramount Theater, back in the 1980s. I had planned a trip back home that weekend, and really couldn't change my plans very easily.

Nah, that Scotty Bowers guy was a ludicrous fabulist, whose wild tales don't pass muster. Gas-station hustler. He even makes Kenneth Anger's documented falsehoods and exaggerations seem comparatively sound and stable.

There's enough real scandal, dirty-work and infamy in old Hollywood without Bowers and Anger and their wacky homo science-fiction.

There's a cheap independent film, "Invisible Avenger" (1958), which is commonly-found in the public domain arena, which takes place in New Orleans. It's an attempt to update the pulp-radio hero "The Shadow," but has very little to do with the original lore. The film is not particularly good, but makes for an interesting curio. It stars Richard Derr, who's most remembered as the lead in "When Worlds Collide" (1951).

The oldest film I know of which takes place (partially) in New Orleans is "The Red Kimono" (1925), a very interesting film about an innocent young gal who gets dragged into a prostitution racket, and eventually kills her pimp. Even more fascinating, plot-wise, is the way she and her plight become a celebrity cause for a vapid society matron. Virtue signaling, 1920s-style. But the large middle section of the film actually takes place in Los Angeles. A beautiful print of the film survived and was put on blu-ray as part of a 'women's filmmakers' set put out by Kino. The film stars a very lovely Priscilla Bonner, most known for her work with comedian Harry Langdon.