Category Archives: Rolf Armstrong

March 21, 2016 · 11:00 am

Photoplay Jan.-Mar. 1922

Cover girls (l.-r., in order of appearance): Corinne Griffith, Lila Lee, Olga Petrova.
Love for three oranges? The cover layout that started with the December 1921 issue continues here, with the title and text at the bottom set on orange backgrounds.
The January Griffith cover artist: Rolf Armstrong.

Cover girls (l.-r., in order of appearance): Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels, Betty Blythe, Agnes Ayres, Marion Davies, Lillian Gish.
The November issue tackles the question “Are Women’s Colleges Old Maid Factories? The Results of an Interesting Investigation” by James R. Quirk.
November also features an article touting the “Future Great Actor, Joseph Schildkraut, a New Griffith Protege.” Schildkraut, the son of actor Rudolf Schildkraut, was starring in Griffith’s Orphans of the Storm with the Gish sisters at the time. His long and illustrious career spanned well into the talkies.

Cover girls (l.-r., in order of appearance): Norma Talmadge, Olive Thomas, Alice Joyce, Pearl White, Clara Kimball Young, Katherine MacDonald.
The March 1920 issue features a cover portrait of Alice Joyce by Rolf Armstrong and the issue’s lead story is titled “If Christ Went to the Movies.”
Think cinematic superheroes who perform daring feats are new? April 1920’s Pearl White was the serial queen who did her own stunts. She was so popular in 1914’s The Perils of Pauline that a whole slew of starring vehicles were built around her talents and athleticism such as The Exploits of Elaine, (1914-1915), The New Exploits of Elaine (1915), The Romance of Elaine (1915), Pearl of the Army (1916-1917), and other serials. She did a lot of her own feats–driving cars at breakneck speeds and swimming in rushing rivers–in these serials, until the producers realized she was just too valuable a commodity and started using stuntpeople in her place!