Category Archives: 1920s

Photoplay May-June 1924

Photoplay May 1924

Photoplay June 1924

  • Making their Photoplay cover debuts: Ramon Novarro and Leatrice Joy, on the May and June covers respectively.
  • Both covers are by Tempest Inman.
  • The June issue promised to tackle a controversial topic: “Why You Should and Why You Should Not Bob Your Hair.”

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Filed under 1920s, Leatrice Joy, Ramon Novarro, Tempest Inman

1924: More Barbara LaMarr

Some more Barbara LaMarr covers from 1924:

Picture-Play magazine, February 1924. Image from the always fascinating retrokimmer.com site.10afd0074f2e096ecbe38ece3cfa0f72

 

Motion Picture magazine, May 1924. Here’s an image from the Little Hokum Rag blog. 1924maymotionpicture1

 

And in case you were wondering: in the late 1930s Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler–a young European actress (and later, inventor) who was new to Hollywood–was renamed Hedy Lamarr, after Barbara LaMarr. It’s said Louis B. Mayer was the one who did the rechristening.lmf90a4jyc6464hedy lamarr

 

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Filed under 1920s, Barbara LaMarr, Hedy Lamarr

Photoplay Jan.-Apr. 1924

  • Cover girls (l.-r., in order of appearance): Barbara LaMarr, Corinne Griffith, Pola Negri, Sylvia Breamer.
  • These cover portraits seem languid…somber…serious, don’t they–no sunny colors or smiling visages here.

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Filed under 1920s, Barbara LaMarr, Corinne Griffith, Photoplay, Pola Negri, Sylvia Breamer

Photoplay Oct.-Dec. 1923

Photoplay Oct 1923

  • Cover girls (in order of appearance): Alla Nazimova, May Allison, Constance Talmadge.
  • The Nazimova cover really stands out, doesn’t it? No flowers, no hat, no sunny yellow-orange background.
  • As that cover suggests, Nazimova was just as singular an actress. She was theatrically-trained and had appeared in Ibsen and Chekhov on Broadway before moving over to the silver screen. Here she is with Valentino in a 1921 screen adaptation of Camille. Photo from the great site allanazimova.com

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Filed under 1920s, Alla Nazimova, Constance Talmadge, May Allison, Photoplay

Photoplay May-Sep. 1923

Photoplay Sep 1923

  • Cover girls (l.-r., in order of appearance): Lois Wilson, May McAvoy, Pauline Garon, Marion Davies, Eleanor Boardman.
  • Boy, hats sure were de rigueur back then, weren’t they? 🙂
  • January cover girl Lois Wilson would later star as Daisy in the first known screen adaptation of The Great Gatsby (1926).
  • Thanks to Citizen Kane, today April cover girl Marion Davies is known primarily for her relationship with William Randolph Hearst. Her career warrants re-examination; she appeared in many silent films and was especially noted for her comedic roles.
  • The May issue features an article by April cover girl Barbara LaMarr on “Why I Adopted a Baby.”
  • The June issue features “A Star in Search of Her Soul” about the very successful and famous serial queen Pearl White.

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Filed under 1920s, Eleanor Boardman, Lois Wilson, Marion Davies, May McAvoy, Pauline Garon, Photoplay

Photoplay April 1923 – Barbara LaMarr

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  • April’s cover girl is Barbara LaMarr, known as the “girl who was too beautiful” thanks to Adela St. Rogers’s article in the July 1922 Photoplay.
  • Pauline Frederick is profiled. She was a well-known stage actress who made her onscreen debut at the “advanced” age of 31.
  • And yes, yet another feature on Valentino! This one purports to detail his “Hollywood Life.”

Here’s a LaMarr photo I have on Pinterest.

 

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Filed under 1920s, Barbara LaMarr, Photoplay

Photoplay Jan.-March 1923

Photoplay Jan 1923

  • The toothsome Douglas Fairbanks makes the January cover!
  • Pola Negri, who got a big write-up in the May 1922 issue, makes the February cover.
  • July 1922’s cover boy, Rudolph Valentino, continues to be press fodder and a new continuing feature “Valentino’s Life In Hollywood” begins in the February issue.
  • Claire Windsor adorns the March 1922 cover.

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Filed under 1920s, Claire Windsor, Douglas Fairbanks, Photoplay, Pola Negri

More Valentino and Rambova

As mentioned last time, the December 1922 Photoplay devoted space to Rudolph Valentino and his wife Natacha Rambova (some sources indicate they may not have been actually married at the time, but they would marry later).  They were a glamorous couple whose visages adorned many a periodical.

  • Below, James Abbe’s famous 1923 Vanity Fair portrait of Valentino and Rambova.annex-valentino-rudolph_03
  • A similar composition may be seen on the September 1923 cover of Motion Picture magazine.

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Filed under 1920s, Motion Picture Magazine, Natacha Rambova, Rudolph Valentino

Photoplay Dec. 1922 – Nita Naldi

Photoplay Dec 1922

  • The December 1922 cover girl is Nita Naldi. Naldi had starred in that year’s sensation, Blood and Sand, with Rudolph Valentino.
  • More of the Valentino effect: the December issue also includes “The Story of Mrs. Valentino”, namely the multi-talented set and costume designer Natacha Rambova. She was quite a mover and shaker in early Hollywood; more on her in a future post.
  • Here’s a great photo of Nita Naldi from the always excellent Classic Cinema Images blog. 

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Filed under 1920s, Natacha Rambova, Nita Naldi, Photoplay, Rudolph Valentino

Photoplay Aug.-Nov. 1922

  • Cover girls (l.-r., in order of appearance): Madge Bellamy, not one but two Alices–Alice Terry and Alice Brady–and Colleen Moore.
  • The September, October and November covers are emblazoned with a footer “The National Guide to Pictures.” This banner is short-lived; it’ll be gone by the December issue.

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Filed under 1920s, Alice Brady, Alice Terry, Colleen Moore, Madge Bellamy, Photoplay