"The monster was the best friend I ever had."-Boris Karloff

Welcome to another segment of Silent Saturdays! We're excited to share another wonderfully talented star with you today. The subject of today's post is well known to most people even today, for his trademark roles as a villain or antagonist. Many people do not realize, however, that his climb to fame began during the silent era.

Boris Karloff

Born November 23, 1887

Died February 2, 1969

A blue commemorative plaque marks the address where William Henry Pratt was born in Honor Oak, LDN, England in the fall of 1887. He was the youngest of 9 children, born into a family of rich Anglo-Indian heritage. He was also the great-nephew of Anna Leonowens, who was the inspiration for the famous musical The King and I.

Pratt's mother died when he was relatively young, and he was left in the care of some of his older siblings. He graduated from Merchant Taylors' School, and then went on to study consular service at King's College in London, but he never graduated. He decided to leave school in 1909 and began looking for work wherever he could find it. Many of the odd positions he found involved difficult manual labor, resulting in back problems that he struggled with for the rest of his life. During this time, Pratt almost accidentally stumbled into the world of acting, but it was clear that he had a peculiar gift. Not even a full year after he dropped out of school, he moved to Canada and changed his name to Boris Karloff. No one is quite sure where he came up with the name, but his reasoning for its change was quite clear. Most of his older brothers had prominent jobs in foreign services, and Karloff was afraid of letting them down or embarrassing them with his chosen career path. He believed this until he reunited with his family over 20 years later, at which time he was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were all immensely proud of him and his achievements.

After 2 years in Canada, Karloff became a part of the Jeanne Russell Company in 1911. He stayed with this group for at least a year. Moving on and looking for more work to support him, Karloff took on a job as a

baggage handler for a railway company. This eventually took him to Minot, North Dakota, where he was introduced to the Harry St. Clair Co.  He joined up with them and spent another year performing in various roles in a sort of makeshift theater that was located in the upper story of a hardware store.

Eventually, Karloff found himself in Hollywood, and while there was work for him, he still did manual labor to get by in between parts. Several of his earliest roles were for film serials, such as The Lightning Raider (1918), The Masked Rider (1919), or The Hope Diamond Mystery (1921). He also had parts in iconic films such as the earliest on screen production of The Last of the Mohicans (1920). In his early days in the land of the stars, Karloff had yet to be cast into any of his monster roles. During the silent era, he was primarily used to portray dark and mysterious foreigners, or villains. His first talkie was Behind That Curtain (1929).

While people were familiar with Karloff, he didn't catch his first big break until he was cast as the monster in the movie Frankenstein (1931). Karloff was very lucky to get the part, and only did so because better known actors turned it down because it had no real speaking parts. The role was also very strenuous. The costume was heavy and bulking--especially the platform shoes that he was required to wear which weighed 11 lbs per foot. Heavy makeup was also a difficult and sometimes tricky prospect in those days, with the potential to be poisonous if too much of it was worn for too long. But Karloff took out life insurance for the project and endured the hours of preparation that turned him into the monster. His patience paid off, and the 1931 picture was an iconic success.

From that time, Karloff was offered better roles. He was the original Imhotep in the 1932 version of The Mummy, and also had a memorable part in the film Scarface later that year. While he certainly did not always play a monster, Karloff had found his niche with it. There were two sequels that gave him the opportunity to reprise his role as the Frankenstein monster, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). He also returned to the story of Frankenstein later in life, but in a different role. He played the scientist both times with House of Frankenstein (1944), and Frankenstein 1970 (1958). 

Karloff had many other important roles throughout the 1930s, such as The Raven (1935), The Black Cat (1934), and The Tower of London (1939). During the 1940s, Karloff dabbled with radio, even having his own anthology series called Starring Boris Karloff. It was also during the forties that Karloff took some time to pursue stage work on Broadway, which he loved. His first reappearance on the stage was in the original Broadway production of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941--a role that he would reprise once more on screen in the course of his life. Other roles he had on stage were that of Captain Hook in Peter Pan, and a part in The Lark, which he would also reprise later on for television.

Moving into the 1950s, Karloff took on a television role in the British series Colonel March of Scotland Yard. He became a regular on TV segments such as NBC's Who Said That?, and The Red Skelton Show. He continued to work on many different projects until the end of his life, despite having one of his lungs removed and having to use oxygen between takes. Perhaps one of the pieces of his later work that he is most recognized for is using his voice talents for the main character and narration of the 1966 special How

the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Despite being known for his villainous roles, Karloff was reportedly a very kind and generous gentleman. He invested much of his time and money in charity work, especially anything that helped children. In 1940 he dressed up as Father Christmas and handed out presents in the children's ward of a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland--a tradition that he carried out every year as long as he was physically able. He was a devoted father to his own daughter, Sara Karloff, who was born during the filming of Son of Frankenstein, which resulted in Karloff rushing to the hospital in his full costume at the time of her birth.

Towards the end of his life, Karloff moved back to England full time, spending the rest of his days in his home, known as Roundabout Cottage. He struggled with severe arthritis as well as emphysema. He contracted pneumonia and died due to complications on February 2, 1969, at the age of 81.

Boris Karloff had a remarkable career in many different genres. He left his mark in the worlds of television, radio, and of course film. Over the course of his career, he made 162 motion pictures, 56 of which were silent films from the early days of his career. Amazingly, he never received any awards for his work, but that makes it no less important or remarkable.

"One always hears of actors complaining of being typed--if he's young, he's typed as a juvenile; if he's handsome, he's typed as a leading man. I was lucky. Whereas bootmakers have to spend millions to establish a trademark, I was handed a trademark free of charge. When an actor gets in a position to select his own roles, he's in big trouble, for he never knows what he can do best. I'm sure I'd be damn good as Little Lord Fauntleroy, but who would pay ten cents to see it?"

-Boris Karloff

"My dear old monster..I owe everything to him. He's my best friend."

-Boris Karloff

"You could heave a brick out of the window and hit ten actors who could play my parts. I just happened to be on the right corner at the right time."

-Boris Karloff

Silent Saturday

Welcome to the second installment of Silent Saturdays, but most importantly, welcome back to Think Classic! We sincerely apologize fore being so useless and silent for the last few months. We are looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, starting with this post!

Today we are honoring a radiant jewel who still holds her luster from the silent era, despite the fact that she so often gets overlooked due to unfortunate circumstances at the time of her career.

Marion Davies

Born January 3, 1897

Died September 22, 1961

Marion Cecilia Douras was born in Brooklyn, New York in the winter of 1897. She was the youngest of five children--four daughters and one son, born to Rose and Bernard Douras. Marion's father was a judge in New York City. She came from a respectable family, but as she and her sisters grew older, they all willingly changed their surname to "Davies." One of the girls had seen the name on a real estate sign and they felt that it might be helpful in their future careers to be represented by a name that alludes to British ancestry. The Davies family was very religious, and all of the children were educated in a private state convent. Eventually, Marion decided that her goals lay beyond the realm of academic achievement, so she left school to build her career.

Davies soon found work as a model and she had several jobs posing for different artists and magazines. At the age of 18 she became one of the infamous Ziegfeld girls and joined up with the Ziegfeld Follies. It was later that same year that her modeling career landed her in front of a different kind of camera. She was chosen to model gowns by designer Lady Duff-Gordon on a newsreel. The next year, Davies appeared on the screen in the film Runaway Romany (1917), which she was also privileged enough to be able to take part in behind the scenes. Davies actually wrote the film herself, and was allowed some creative license due to the fact that the renowned director, George W. Lederer, was her brother-in-law. Critics and audiences alike seemed to automatically take a liking to this beautiful new talent--they wanted to see more of her.

And so they did. She starred in three different films in 1918--The Burden of Proof, Beatrice of Fairfax, and Cecilia of the Pink Roses. These roles turned out a good profit for Davies, who led a comfortable lifestyle. She was also always very generous with her earnings, and used them to help out her family and friends in any way she could. As time went on, she would also prove to be a very astute businesswoman with investments and donations.

In 1917, Davies became romantically involved with newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, who played an interesting part in her career. The two apparently truly cared for one another, and yet they were often at odds within their relationship. Hearst genuinely wished to further Davies in her career, but thought that she would excel in elaborate and expensive costume dramas, rather than the lighthearted comedies that suited her so much better. This difference of opinion might not have been so significant had Hearst not had the financial means to so thoroughly manage her career. As it was, he took it upon himself to relentlessly promote her in the papers, and would even step in and fervently insist that she be given specific roles. No one refused him. In 1918, Hearst outdid himself when he opened his own studio called Cosmopolitan Productions, with the sole intent of using it to bolster Davies' career. Certainly the publicity played its part, and Davies was very quickly becoming one of the most promising stars in the industry.

As time went on, most people began to take note of Davies for other reasons. The lavish

lifestyle she lived, largely due to Hearst, escaped nobody's notice. In all of the years that she spent with Hearst, she never complained about the way that he managed things. It was not until much later in her life that she admitted via her memoirs that he ended up playing a part in the downfall of her career. She seemingly gladly accepted the roles that Hearst placed in front of her, which cast her as more elegant and dramatic characters. But Hearst could never completely eliminate her natural bend for comedy. As Davies rubbed shoulders with Hollywood's most elite, many people could not help but notice her gracious and amusing personality which allowed her to shine as the center of attention at any social gathering. Directors such as King Vidor did their best to tap into her true personality for the roles that they gave her in more contemporary comedies such as Not So Dumb (1930), or The Patsy (1928).

Many of the high points of Davies' career in film happened before talkies dominated the big screen. Davies was apprehensive with the developments of microphones which would enable people to hear her speaking voice, since she had never fully recovered from a stutter since childhood. She was one of the lucky ones, however, who managed a relatively smooth transition and was therefore able to continue on in her career. She did well in the early 1930s, finding herself cast alongside the likes of Leslie Howard, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, and Gary Cooper in such pictures as Five and Ten (1931), Polly of the Circus (1932), Going Hollywood (1933), and Operator 13 (1934).

The relief that came after her transition to talkies at the beginning of the 1930s was short-lived. In another attempt to steer her away from comedy, Hearst tried to cut a deal with producer Irving Thalberg. He wanted Thalberg to cast Davies as the lead in the epic drama Marie Antoinette. Thalberg ended up giving the famous part to his own wife, actress Norma Shearer. Davies, who was good friends with the Thalbergs at the time, had no objection to this decision. Hearst became angry and severed all ties with Thalberg and publicly pulled his support from MGM--a fatal move for Davies' career. He instead moved Cosmopolitan Productions to team up with Warner Brothers. Davies made only three more pictures under these new arrangements before Cosmopolitan folded. She then made the decision to retire from the film industry, knowing that after the last 20 years, she had done all she could. She devoted herself to caring for Hearst for the next decade, until his death in 1951.

Later in 1951, Davies moved on and married Horace Brown. It was a tumultuous marriage, but the couple remained married until her death. She spent the rest of her life tirelessly doing charity work, founding the Mattel Children's Hospital and the Marion Davies Foundation to fight children's diseases. Marion Davies struggled with various illnesses and injuries in her older age, and she eventually succumbed to stomach cancer on September 22, 1961 at the age of 61.

About 30 years after her death, Davies' niece, Patricia Lake died from lung cancer. Just after her death, a secret was broadcast which Lake had kept to herself since she was 17--that she was not, in fact, Davies' niece, but her daughter. Davies became pregnant in the early 1920s and Hearst sent her to Europe until the baby was born. They decided to give the baby to one of Davies' sisters who had recently lost a child in infancy, so that she could raise her as her own. So Patricia was raised as Davies' niece, despite the fact that she looked remarkably like Marion and spent most of her time with her and Hearst. Davies and Hearst privately passed on the finances to make sure that Patricia received the best possible care and education, and it was even the two of them who gave her away at her wedding, which was also the time when Hearst finally told her that they were her parents.

It was a scandalous piece of news that shocked many, especially since it had been kept a secret for so many years. But it is not the only thing that Davies is remembered for. Her work has stood the test of time. Although Hearst may have prevented her career from fully developing to the heights that she was capable of reaching during her lifetime, she still made her mark on Hollywood. During her 20 year career in the film industry, she starred in 55 motion pictures, 34 of which were silent. She made a name for herself, especially during the first part of her career which developed during the silent era. Audiences and critics today still look back at her work and are drawn to her talent just as they were 95 years ago--they want to see more of her.

"Somebody told me I should put a pebble in my mouth to cure my stuttering. Well, I tried it, and during a scene I swallowed that pebble. That was the end of that."

-Marion Davies

And now, as a little something extra which allows you to see an example of Marion Davies' comedic talents. This is a clip from her 1928 silent film The Patsy. Davies was known for her party impersonations of other actresses. In these scenes, King Vidor allowed her free reign to act out her own imitations of actresses Mae Murray, Lillian Gish, and Pola Negri:

New things for a new year..

Hello everybody!

Do you like the new page and logo? It was time for a bit of a makeover since it is now officially 2013. We were kind of thinking "less is more."

That's not all that's new around here, though. This year you can still look forward to our regular posts and stories in conjunction with the TCM Star of the Month. You can also count on having special seasonal posts again this year like A Very Vintage Christmas. But we're excited to announce a couple of new ideas that we are going to test out in an effort to catch the attention of people who hold an interest in more specific genres.

The first one, inspired as you can no doubt guess by our most recent post, is a new segment titled Silent Saturdays. We often overlook silent films even though we love them, and we'd love to share that interest with you. So, one Saturday a month we will be doing a post on great actors, actresses, and their movies of the silent film era. We'll also post full features and short silent films in conjunction with that on our Facebook page as they are made available.

The second one we are going to do is Musical Mondays. It hasn't escaped our notice that musicals also tend to have their own special following these days because they are so often automatically dismissed and brushed aside unjustly for supposedly  being "corny" or "cheesy." Well, we love musicals (of course we do). So here's another chance to highlight a specific genre that isn't getting much love anymore. It'll work just the same as the other new segment--one Monday a month we'll highlight a different musical and why we love it, and we'll upload hit songs onto our Facebook page to go along with it.

We hope you'll be cinematic nerds along with us and get jazz hands over these new posts, as well as all the old ones!

hahaha...I couldn't resist. Punny.

"No man can be a genius in slapshoes and a flat hat."-Buster Keaton

STAR OF THE MONTH

Buster Keaton

Born October 4, 1895

Died February 1, 1966

Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was born in October of 1895, in Piqua, Kansas.He was a natural-born performer whose parents, Myra and Joe were comedians.His father actually owned a travelling show with Harry Houdini.

Rumor has it that it was, in fact, Houdini who gave young Keaton the nickname of "Buster" when he was still an infant.Unlike most babies and toddlers, Buster had an uncanny ability to take a spill, get trampled, or thrown around,and never come close to shedding a tear.

When Buster was only around three years of age, he started acting in a show alongside his parents. "The Three Keatons" was nothing more than a simple comedy sketch, where Buster would make his father angry,and Joe would lose it and end up throwing his young son into scenery, the orchestra pit, and sometimes even the audience.Viewers were often shocked,especially noting that the small boy hardly ever got so much as a bruise.

Buster grew up on the stage, and easily began making a name for himself there.He continued doing family acts, until he was around 21 years old.His father,an alcoholic, was no longer able to do the shows, and Buster almost lost his built reputation as a good performer.So, Buster and his mother, Myra, travelled to New York together.The young Keaton was then introduced to film, and took it up naturally and easily.His first appearance was in the short film,The Butcher Boy in 1917.He made several more short films until 1920, when he got his first starring role in a movie for the silent film, The Saphead.

Due to his success,Buster was given control over his own production unit.He made more than one comedy film reel as the head of Buster Keaton Comedies, and then gradually shifted into producing full-length feature films.Keaton was very successful, until 1927.After investing too much money in a film that was considered a flop, he was never allowed free reign with his films again, having to work under a sort of supervisor, who monitored expenses and had moderate control over story lines.

The next year, 1928,brought a contract with MGM for Keaton.He later recalled signing it as one of the worst mistakes of his life.Keaton had always been free to improvise, ad-lib, do his own stunts and write his own material.Under MGM, however, he had cold-cut scripts, no room was made for his own twists and takes on things, he had to use a stunt double, etc.However,despite his unhappiness with his new contract, he was successful in "talkies."He would continue act in movies,on television,and with cameo appearances for the remainder of his career,and lifetime.He passed away in February of 1966 due to lung cancer.

Today, he is most recognized and remembered for his early silent comedies, which are one of a kind."Great Stoneface," as he was known,had a special talent of keeping people laughing and being able to convey emotion, whilst always keeping his deadpan expression.In recent years, Buster Keaton has been listed as the seventh greatest director of all time, and many of his films have been labelled as some of the greatest comedies ever made.He also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

MOVIE OF THE MONTH

The Cameraman

1928

Starring Buster Keaton,Marceline Day,and Harold Goodwin

The Cameraman follows the adventures of Buster (Keaton), who sells tintype portraits on city streets to make his living.Buster has a crush on an MGM secretary named Sally (Day), and he tries to get a job as a cameraman for the studio in order to spend more time with her.An already successful cameraman, Harold (Goodwin),mocks Buster and tells him there's no way he'd ever get the job.

Sally tells Buster that he could be a great cameraman,he just needs some experience.Encouraged by her words, Buster empties his bank account to buy a motion picture camera, and goes about filming anything and everything.Sally looks at some of his film, and it just isn't good enough,so she tips him off about something big that could be happening in Chinatown, and she tells him to go check it out with his camera.On his way there, Buster accidentally kills a sidewalk musicians monkey.A police officer settles the issue, ordering Buster to pay for the monkey and take it's body so he can dispose of it.Soon after leaving, Buster finds out that the monkey was only stunned, but it revives and joins him for the rest of his mishaps.

Buster and his monkey arrive in Chinatown to the breakout of a Tong War.Buster,putting himself in danger, does his best to get up close and personal so that he can get good footage of the fight.The police break up the fight,and Buster is almost taken into custody, but he manages to get away.Ecstatic,he goes to MGM to turn in the footage only to discover that, in his excitement, he forgot to load actual film into his camera.

Dismayed, Buster goes back to selling tintypes, but eventually discovers he really did get footage of the Tong War.The monkey had switched reels before he turned it in.After another series of mishaps, Buster submits the real footage to be used,free of charge.The boss at MGM decides to show it for laughs,but is astounded at the quality of the footage.He sends Sally to get Buster, telling him he has great reception waiting for him.Caught in a ticker-tape parade,he assumes it's for himself, not realizing it's actually for Charles Lindbergh.

Today is the last day of Buster Keaton films on Turner Classic Movies,beginning at 8pm ET with In The Good Old Summertime.

To see a clip from The Cameraman, go here:

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/74/The-Cameraman/videos.html