The Other Marilyn

I just finished Marilyn Miller's biography the other day, and I loved it! I couldn't put it down! I love any book that I can't stop reading, but when it is about a Ziegfeld girl and filled with little diatribes about other celebrities I love...even better!

I learned some new stuff about her from reading this. A lot of it set the record straight on Marilyn's life, and I am grateful for that. So, I wanted to share some of the stuff I learned from her book and also some little anecdotes. I highly recommend picking up the book, The Other Marilyn by Warren G. Harris.

When she was a child, she joined her family's vaudeville act and went by the name of 'Mademoiselle Sugarlump.'

Her father, Edwin Reynolds did not want his children to perform. He threatened to leave his wife, Ada, if she put his children on stage. Well, she did...so he did. He got a job promotion in Nashville, and left without his family. The family never saw him again, and Ada was granted a divorce.

She sometimes played on the same vaudeville stage as Buster Keaton and his family act.

Marilyn and her family lost several of their show business friends on the sinking of the Titanic. I am not sure who exactly though. The only show business person I know who was on the ship was actress Dorothy Gibson. I'm gonna look into that though!

The cause of the sinus problems that would later bring about her early death happened during rehearsals in 1916. Her dance partner/teacher, Theodore Kosloff slipped and someone hit Marilyn in the nose. It didn't hurt a lot at first, but apparently he hit her enough to where it splintered a bone. But after this, her sinus infections and migraines began.

And to finally put the rumors to rest, Marilyn did not have a affair with Florenz Ziegfeld, although God knows he tried. She thought he was too old and not that attractive, and he, well, he was known to take up with his Ziegfeld girls.

Ziegfeld was against Marilyn marrying anyone. He tried hard to stop her marriages to Frank Carter and Jack Pickford.

Jack Pickford and Marilyn

The diva herself, Anna Held (once Mrs. Ziegfeld) once asked for a private audience with Marilyn. By this time, Anna was dying from a rare bone disease and was slowly wasting away in her hotel room. She gave the young dancer advice on Ziegfeld. She told him he had ruined her life, and he would do it to Marilyn if she wasn't careful. Marilyn told her she had nothing to worry about, that Ziegfeld wasn't her type, and that she was in love with Frank Carter. Anna Held died two months later.

"I used to watch him going to his theater. I was too young for him to pay any attention to me, but I thought him wonderful. Frank was so handsome. I think he was the first fellow who ever really appealed to me. At that age girls are so romantic." ~ Marilyn Miller [on her first husband, Frank Carter]

Her first husband, Frank Carter was killed in a car accident less than a year after they married. He had just bought Marilyn a brand new royal blue Packard. He had their initials put on all the doors. But, when he was driving it back to Philadelphia to show her her new gift, he crashed into an embankment. His two friends who were in the car with him survived the crash with minor injuries, and another passenger suffered a broken collarbone and ribs,  but Frank was crushed between the seat and the steering wheel after the car flipped over.

"When I saw that stunning new Packard that he meant to surprise me with, I felt even worse. Frank was dead, but the car was little damaged except for a dented roof and cracked windshield...I couldn't get over the feeling that it all might not have happened if I'd never raved about that car to Frank in the first place. I should have realized that he'd rush out and buy it for me. He was always so impulsive and generous that way." ~ Marilyn Miller

She was the one behind the $35, 000 white marble mausoleum that Frank was to be entombed in. She left instructions in her will that when she died, she was to be interred next to him. And even though she was married twice after Frank...it was beside him that she was buried.

Marilyn was good friends with fellow performers Mary Eaton and Marion Davies. How fun would it have been to hang out with these lovely ladies? I would have made the fourth blonde! Too bad I don't have an 'M' in my name.

In 1920, Marilyn took a trip to Paris with her mother-in-law, Carrie Carter. While there, she received a condolence note from her fellow Ziegfeld girl, Olive Thomas. Olive was in Paris for a second honeymoon with her husband, Jack Pickford. Marilyn was still feeling down about Frank's passing, so she declined Olive's offer of going out to dinner. It was a shortly after that Olive died. Marilyn did find out about her death until she had already returned to New York. She did not attend Olive's funeral because she was still feeling emotionally raw from her husband's death/funeral.

Marilyn first met Jack Pickford at a party at comedian Ed Wynn's house in New York in the summer of 1921. Her dog, Bolivar Brown, had taken off into the woods and Marilyn wanted to go searching for him, but it was dark, and she didn't want to go alone. Jack was the one who got to her first, and they took their sweet time out there looking for the dog.

"Jack is the only man I've met since my husband's death who reminds me of him. Jack is the same type physically, dark haired and slender, but his eyes are dark gray while Frank's were black. Jack is like Frank reincarnated, the same point of view and everything." ~ Marilyn Miller

"Millionaire or billionaire, I could have had them all, but I'm particular and I chose Jack Pickford. Ten thousand men have loved me, but I love only one, and that's Jack." ~ Marilyn Miller

Jack got the idea for Olive's tomb from the one that Marilyn had constructed for Frank Carter. Frank and Olive were buried in the same cemetery.

Ada Miller, Marilyn's mother, was not happy that she was left out of the planning for her daughter's upcoming wedding. She began getting into arguments with Charlotte Smith, THE stage mother to Mary, Jack, and Lottie Pickford. Ada swore she would not attend the wedding because she was so angry, and unfortunately, she kept her promise.

The night before the wedding, Mary Pickford invited the couple over to Pickfair to celebrate the upcoming nuptials. Apparently all the pomp and ceremony got to be too much for Jack that he ripped a fart right in the middle of dinner. What a charming man...


Jack Pickford and Marilyn

Mary's pet parrot greeted guests arriving for the wedding. Yeah, that would have gotten old REAL quick.

As the couple drove off, surrounded by a cavalcade of guards, guests were greeted by the sight of shoes attached to the bumper. Said shoes were 'donated' by  Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Charlie Chaplin.

When she was finally coerced into making a screen test, Mary Pickford stepped in to be a technical advisor. Problem is that Mary wanted to dress her and make her up, so Marilyn ended up looking like Mary on film! After all that, Marilyn bowed out of accepting a film offer from Samuel Goldwyn, which really pissed Mary off. You don't want to piss off a Pickford!

Jack Pickford once had an affair with Clara Kimball Young...while she was still married. This was before he met Marilyn, but Clara's divorce proceedings occurring during their marriage. The press had a field day with the news.

Marilyn and Jack once attended a party given in their honor at Buster Keaton's house. He had a hearse parked out front in the driveway that was filled with bootleg booze. I love that man. Side note though, the book said that Jack and Buster were best friends. I had never heard that before.

"Jack always wanted children, but for Marilyn a career came first. She was probably the most ambitious human being I have ever met. A baby, needless to say, had no place in a life of such unsparing professional drive." ~ Mary Pickford

Marilyn was offered a role on stage as Peter Pan, a role that had only so far been played by Maude Adams. Author J.M. Barrie hadn't wanted anyone but Adams to play the role, but he was such a fan of Marilyn's that he allowed the play to be performed. Marilyn received help for her stage movements and fencing skills from her new brother in law, Douglas Fairbanks. Mary Pickford was not a happy camper though because SHE had been wanting to play the role of Peter Pan on film and was not allowed. She refused to help her sister in law.

She was good friends with actor Clifton Webb. There were rumors that the two were romantically involved, but considering that Webb was gay...probably not. She often hung around town with Webb and his mother, Maybelle.

Marilyn and Clifton Webb

She dated Ben Lyon for quite awhile. She also gave Cary Grant a job in her show, Rosalie when he was still going by his real name, Archibald Leach. She was said to be delighted when she saw his face gracing the silver screen.

Marilyn hated film making. Why? Well, basically because she enjoyed her beauty sleep! While she was making films, she had to get up before dawn to get to the studio so that she could get her makeup done and so the filmmakers could get everything set up for the day's shoot. When she was dancing and acting on stage, she sometimes didn't get out of bed until the afternoon. I can't say I blame her.

Bebe Daniels became one of her close friends, and it is kind of a weird situation. Bebe had dated Jack, and repeatedly refused his marriage proposals. She was also the other woman while Jack and Marilyn were married. Later,  Bebe became the wife of Marilyn's ex, Ben Lyon. Marilyn didn't harbor any bad feelings toward Bebe though because she had lost interest in both Jack and Ben. She would even sometimes go out on the town with Ben and Bebe. Interesting...

In one evening, she sold $1, 250, 000 worth of WWI Liberty Bonds.

After sinus surgery, she kept having issues. Some quack doctor decided the cure would be insulin injections...yeah, seriously. These injections made her even sicker (no shit) and she would drift in and out of consciousness. On April 7, 1936, she opened her eyes and smiled at her new husband, Chet O'Brien, and her sister Claire. She closed her eyes again, and died.

Marilyn's sister Claire later went out to say that Marilyn died from incompetent medical treatment. She said that the doctor who performed her last surgery had cut to closely to the membranes that surround the brain, leaving it vulnerable to infection. The insulin injections only made it worse. The press of course chose to say she died of a broken heart.

"It may sound strange, but I never want to grow old. I never want to see the day when I cannot sing and dance as I can now." ~ Marilyn Miller

Miss Naomi Childers

Another venture into the world of the lesser known silent film stars. AKA my favorites. I am still kind of in a fog since the bad news on Wednesday, but I am slowly becoming less and less like a zombie. I have some lovely Monkees fans friends who are great, so that always helps. And talking/blogging about my other passion helps as well.

Naomi had one of those pictures that when I first looked at it, I thought, "Wow!" She looked so perfect and beautiful and goddess-like. The silent film stars always seem a little mythical to me anyway, but she really looked like a Greek statue. I am not the only who thinks so either, because she was nicknamed, "The Girl with the Grecian Face." Great minds think alike, eh?

Naomi Weston Childers was born on November 15, 1892 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. According to a 1900 Census record, she is listed as "Narma" or "Nanna" Childers. Not sure if this is just misspelling, bad handwriting, her real name, or a deaf Census worker.  She was the only child, and adopted daughter of John, a clerk for a railroad company, and Nora Childers. In the 1910 Census, Naomi is listed as their niece, so I am not completely sure what the relationship exacts were. What I do know is that Naomi was quite proud of her British roots.

She was educated in a convent, and became interested in acting when she was still a child. She was also a pianist.

In 1913, she made her film debut in a short called "Panic Days in Wall Street." 

Her early film years were mostly spent with the Vitagraph studios. And her most famous role there was a portrayal of Joan of Arc.

Naomi was doing pretty well in pictures, but the problem was she liked doing comedies, and she was good at the them! The studios however wanted her in more serious, dramatic roles. Kinda sounds like Marion Davies's situation, doesn't it?


As the 1910s and 20s came to an end, so did silent pictures. Naomi wasn't able to find much work in the talkies, and eventually fell on hard times. She was saved by none other than MGM head, Louis B. Mayer, who signed her to a lifetime contract. She played bit roles well into the 1950s. Kinda surprising to see Mayer be so generous.

Naomi Childers passed away on May 9, 1964 in Hollywood.

She was buried at the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

Naomi was married...well, I think twice? Maybe once? I read that she was engaged to the head of a candy company (yummy!) named Harold Darling Shattuck, but that she postponed the wedding. Not sure if it actually went through. I do know that she did eventually marry again, but I don't know when. Her second husband was Luther Reed, who worked behind in the scenes in the film industry. She divorced him in 1929 citing desertion. She had one son...and I am not sure who the father was or his name. Sorry!

She was voted the most beautiful woman in Japan and was often compared to Sarah Bernhardt (I GUESS I can see that. Sarah to me has always had this weird intense look about her). 

I read that she was a member of the Ziegfeld Follies...but I don't think she ever was. She did appear in the movie though, as a dancer.


I found her in a 1920 Census Record, where is listed as living in Los Angeles. Some of her neighbors are listed as being actors or actresses, but I have never heard of them. See if you know them: Virginia Brown (first thought that came to mind was Virginia Brown Faire...maybe), Robert/Eva/Ella/Ida McKenzie, Wilbur Higby, Rita Huston, Frank Elliott, and Carl and Ethel Gerard. Anyone...? Anyone?

Who I did recognize was Anna Q. Nilsson and Lew Cody!

Davy Jones

David Thomas Jones

December 30, 1945 ~ February 29, 2012

I don't want to be writing this. I never wanted to write this.

The Monkees have been a part of my life since I was 11 years old. They were there to cheer me up during some of the darkest times and they have always meant so much to me. I have been crying all day but not really feeling that Davy's passing is real. When I picture The Monkees, I still think of them from the 1960s, forever young. They aren't supposed to get old and die.

I had the pleasure of meeting Davy twice. The first time was when I saw The Monkees in concert for the first time in 1998 and I started crying when I saw Davy after the show. He walked up to me and grabbed my hand in both of his and said, "It's alright love!" I met him again last summer after I saw The Monkees again and he again was the sweetest guy ever.

I can only hope now that Davy is dancing and singing his heart out in Heaven and is in peace. He will be loved and missed by everyone who knew him and loved him. I know I will never forget him.

Love you Davy.

Lost film clips

 

One of my readers (I believe it was Miss Suilyaniz again) told me that Youtube had some videos that contained the fragments of incomplete films. I have said before how much I would love to see the fragments that survive from Theda Bara's Cleopatra. Well, lo and behold, it was on there! I actually got tears in my eyes watch those maybe 18 seconds of film. It was Theda looking as beautiful and sexy as ever, just owning her role. Still has me speechless. That was just the coolest thing to see.

An added bonus to this video is that at the end is an interview with Theda, so you can hear her talk!

Here is another cool find, the only remaning part of Colleen Moore's film, Flaming Youth. For some reason, I used to think that this one did survive, but alas...Anyways, this clip is supposed to be the trailer for the film, but if you compare it to trailers nowadays, it is hard to call it a trailer. So, who knows. Sad thing is, it looked like such a cute film! I was getting engrossed, but had to stop myself because I knew it was a dead end. But seriously, how much crap does Colleen pour on herself in the beginning? Drains all these different scents on her, powders the holy hell out of her face and body, and then the finishing touch, the mole on the shoulder. Ah, flappers...

And finally....CLARA BOW IN COLOR! CLARA BOW IN COLOR! A clip from her film, Red Hair surfaced and it includes a portion in color! Oh, I love this so much.



Miss Vera Kholodnaya

One of my lovely readers, Suilyaniz, posted a picture of this actress on the Facebook group, "The Silent Film Lounge." The only things I knew about Vera was that she was Russian, and that she died young. But then it was mentioned that her body was stolen from her grave, and with a "WTF?" I was captivated even more. I am a total death hag, so I gotta look more into this.

Please join me.

Vera Kholodnaya was born Vera Vasilyevna Levchenko on August 5, 1893 in Poltava, Ukraine. Her mother's name was Yekaterina and the whole family enjoyed acting in plays. When she was around 10 years old, she was sent to live with her grandmother in Moscow so that she could attend the elite Perepelkina Grammar school.

From a young age, Vera always dreamed about being a ballerina. This wasn't just a little girl's fantasy, it is all she wanted to do. She enrolled at the Bolshoi Theatre ballet school and got the ball rolling.

After watching an admired fellow ballerina in a film role, it got Vera into thinking about the new medium. She approached an well known director, Vladimir Gardin, all on her own, a secured a small role in his production of Anna Karenina.

With the beginnings of World War I, she decided to switch studios. Her films were pretty big hits. At first she tried to copy the styles of other movie vamps, but she eventually found her own niche.

By the start of the 1920s, there was a Vera film in the theatres once a month. That is, until 1924, when the Soviets decided to destroy most of her films. It was the end of box office streak.

Before she had a chance to make a screen comeback, she became a victim of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, which claimed around 50 to 100 million people.

Vera Kholodnaya died on February 17, 1919 in Odessa, Ukraine. She was just 25 years old. She had just performed a concert wearing very revealing costumes in a rather cold climate days before her death.

Although her death certificate states the Spanish flu as the cause of death, there is still some speculation about what really happened to her. Some claim she was poisoned by a French diplomat that she was having an affair with. Others claim she was killed because she was allegedly working as a Russian spy.

Her funeral was a jam packed spectacle. And it was actually recorded! Apparently it was screened with the past few years, how cool/interesting would that be to see?

Okay, here is the deal with her grave and what happened to her body after she was buried. The cemetery she was buried in was turned into a park in 1931. Her family begged the government to let them move her body to a different cemetery, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Her burial vault was destroyed, and her body just...vanished. Not sure if it was destroyed or if someone took it. Not sure what the hell you would do with a skeleton, but people are weird, so who knows.

Although Vera did live a short life, she packed a lot of life into her small amount of years. She was married once, to Vladimir Kholodny in 1910. He was a race car driver and the editor of a daily sport newspaper that she had met at a graduation dance. Both families disapproved of the match, but the couple didn't care. She took his last name as her screen name. They had one daughter in 1912 named Evgeniya and also adopted another daughter, Nonna, a year later. They remained married until her death.

Vladimir Kholodny died two months after Vera. Their deaths were soon followed by Vera's mother, Yekaterina.

Vera's most famous film was Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent in 1918. While the film was popular, it was also highly criticized. But hey, that gets people interested!

Her home country of Ukraine put her image on a postage stamp in 1993 and even erected a statue to her in 2003.

No one knows exactly how many films she made all together. It could be 50, or it could be over 100. Only five of them still survive.

While her husband was off fighting in WWI, she befriended a writer who nicknamed her "Queen of Screen." His name was Alexander Vertinsky, and apparently he had quite the crush on her. He would come to her house and literally just sit and a chair and stare at her.........for hours......Not sure what her feelings toward him were, but.....yeah....kinda creepy.

Here is part one of her film, Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent. You can tell by this little bit that she was a pretty good actress. She had the looks of a vamp, but she also managed to maintain the innocent quality in her eyes. Oh, and it's in Russian so...yeah, just watch.

Miss Annette Kellerman

Okay, Annette "The Mermaid" Kellerman popped into my head the other day because I was looking at and reading about The Hippodrome that used to be in New York City. That is one place that just sounds like it was the coolest venue ever! A giant swimming tank that could be lowered and raised, I mean, imagine seeing a big show there with girls swimming around?! Oh, way too cool. And way too sad that the building was demolished in the 1930s. 

 

This is the first picture I have seen from inside The Hippodrome. So cool! Although, I would imagine the people in the front rows would need some Gallagher-esque ponchos.

Annette Kellerman was born Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman on July 6, 1886 in Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia. She was born into quite the musical family. Her father Frederick was a violinist, and her mother, Alice was a pianist and a music teacher.

When she was 6 years old, a painful leg ailment caused Annette to get fitted with painful braces. Another rehabilitation therapy that was used to treat the pain was swimming lessons. About six years later, her legs seemed to be  much better and she a couple years later, she was winning swimming contests. 

After tasting sweet victory a few times, she decided that she should really take a serious interest in swimming. She began competing more, and subsequently winning more.  

When she was just 18 years old, Annette became the first woman to swim the English Channel. She had made previous attempts and through determination and perseverance, she succeeded.

With all this positive attention focused on her, she decided to wanted to use some of her notoriety for a good cause. Annette was a big advocate for a change in women's bathing suits. She was in favor of the less bulky one piece bathing suit, which was considered scandalous at the time. In 1907, she was arrested on a beach in Massachusetts for wearing one of these suits.

Other women seemed to agree with her modern thinking though because she soon created her own line of these one piece bathing suits. Not surprisingly, they were called "Annette Kellermans."

Annette made her film debut in 1909 in the film The Bride of Lammermoor: A Tragedy of Bonnie Scotland. And of course, most, if not all of them, were water themed. She also did a lot of what she called "fairy tale" themed movies, starting with her most well known, 1911's, The Mermaid.

In 1914, Annette became the first major actress to appear nude on film. And unfortunately, this film, A Daughter of the Gods, is among many of her lost films. She was also the first actress to wear a mermaid costume that she could swim in.

One of the things I love about silent film stars is that most of them did their own stunts, and Annette was one of those stars. She would perform high dives from 90 feet off the ground and sometimes she made these dives into pools of crocodiles!

She made her last film appearance in 1924, in the film Venus of the South Seas. This is actually the only one of her films that exists in a complete form. It is stored at the Library of Congress.

She eventually retired from the movie business, but she didn't stop swimming. She kept on doing this well into old age.

Annette Kellerman passed away on November 5, 1975. She was cremated, and her ashes were spread over the Great Barrier Reef.

Annette was married once, to her manager James Raymond Louis Sullivan in 1912. They remained married until his death in 1972.

If you ever wanna see her costumes and some memorabilia (I know I would!) they are housed at the Sydney Opera House and also at the Powerhouse Museum also in Sydney. 

Apparently in 2002 a documentary was made about her called The Original Mermaid. I tried looking and see where and how I could obtain a copy, and it looks like one person actually had to contact the production company out of Australia in order to get a copy. *whew* A lot of work!

In 2010, she had a brand new swimming complex named for her in her hometown. Pretty cool that she is still remembered after all these years!

Along with being a swimmer and an actress, Annette was also an author. She wrote numerous books, pamphlets, and articles about swimming, fitness, health, and beauty. She even wrote a children's book called Fairy Tales of the South Seas in 1926. There was also rumors of an autobiography, but it was never published.

In 1908, a Harvard professor named her "The Perfect Woman" out of 3000 selected women. He said her body reminded him of the Venus de Milo.

In February of 1914, she was injured during a performance along with another performer named Robert Brennan. They were swimming in an 8,000 gallon tank in Bermuda when suddenly, the glass tank burst and the water, along with the two swimmers, came rushing out. The injuries sustained were mostly cuts from being swept over broken bits of glass. Ouch!

Her brother, Maurice Kellerman, worked as a cinematographer.  

The 1952 film, Million Dollar Mermaid starring Esther Williams was based on Annette's life.

This is a website from the Powerhouse Museum which has some of Annette's costumes and belongings. They look so pristine and beautiful, what a great find for those of us who can't trek on over to Australia! Powerhouse Museum

"I want to swim. And I can't swim wearing more stuff than you hang on a clothe's line." ~~ Annette Kellerman

Annette in her OH SO SCANDALOUS bathing suit!!

Lost films

I have spoken before about how awful the words "presumed lost" are to me when it comes to silent films. It just seems so tragic that some of the earliest examples of film history were either destroyed on purpose, or destroyed by fire, or they just disintegrated. Theda Bara was THE vamp during the early teens and how incredible would it be to be able to see her in all her glory in Cleopatra? We've all seen pictures, but not a whole reel. And sadly, we probably never will. Most of Theda's films were lost in a fire on the Fox Studio lot during the 1930s. She kept a small stash of her own at home, but when she went to take them out one day to show a friend, she found that they had disintegrated. Of her roughly 40 or so films, only three survive fully intact.

Unfortunately, Theda isn't the star who has it the worst off as far as missing work goes. There is the sad story of another vamp, Valeska Suratt. The only thing that remains of her 11 or so films are photo stills that were taken on set. I will cover her in her own entry, but I wanted to note how tragic it is that none of her films survive. It would have been pretty cool to see her at her best on film, in all her outrageously amazing and beautiful vamp glory.

There are HUNDREDS of lost films out there, but I wanted to bring light to a few notable flicks that either survive in pieces or are gone forever.

The Adventurous Sex (1925) starring Clara Bow. Presumed lost.

The American Venus (1926) starring Louise Brooks, Esther Ralston, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Technicolor fragments still exist, along with two trailers.

Anne of Green Gables (1919) starring Mary Miles Minter and directed by William Desmond Taylor. Presumed lost.

The Battle of the Sexes (1914) starring Lillian Gish and directed by D.W. Griffith. This film was reportedly shot in only four days, and it is rumored that Rudolph Valentino worked as on extra. Only a fragment survives.

Camille (1917) starring Theda Bara. Presumed lost.

Carmen (1915) starring Theda Bara. Presumed lost.

Cleopatra (1917) starring Theda Bara. A few feet of film survives at the George Eastman House.

A Country Hero (1917) starring Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al St. John, Joe Keaton, Alice Lake, and Natalie Talmadge *hiss* Presumed lost :(

The Divine Woman (1928) starring Greta Garbo. One reel still survives.

Flaming Youth (1923) starring Colleen Moore. One reel survives at the Library of Congress

The Fleet's In (1928) starring Clara Bow. Presumed lost.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1927) starring Ruth Taylor and Alice White. Presumed lost. Ugh! How amazing would it be to see this!!

Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929) starring Lilyan Tashman and Ann Pennington. Only fragments and a sound disc survive.

The Great Gatsby (1926) starring Lois Wilson and William Powell. Only a trailer survives.

Hollywood (1923) starring EVERYONE. Major bummer that this one is lost because it stars a cavalcade of stars. Roscoe Arbuckle, Agnes Ayres, Charlie Chaplin, Betty Compson, Viola Dana, Bebe Daniels, Douglas Fairbanks, Hope Hampton, Leatrice Joy, Lila Lee, Jacqueline Logan, May McAvoy, Pola Negri, Anna Q. Nilsson, Jack Pickford, Mary Pickford, Zasu Pitts, Will Rogers, Ford Sterling, Anita Stewart, Gloria Swanson, Estelle Taylor, Ben Turpin, and the Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties. Man, just reading off the names makes me sad.

Human Wreckage (1923) starring Dorothy Davenport, Bessie Love, and Lucille Ricksen. Presumed lost. Another film that I am very bummed is missing. Dorothy wrote this after the tragic drug related death of her husband, Wallace Reid.

The Mermaid (1911) starring Annette Kellerman. Presumed lost.

The Perils of Pauline (1914) starring Pearl White. Incomplete prints survive.

Romeo and Juliet (1916) starring Theda Bara. Presumed lost.

Rough House Rosie (1927) starring Clara Bow. Only the trailer survives.

A Sainted Devil (1924) starring Rudolph Valentino and Nita Naldi. Only fragments survive.

Salome (1918) starring Theda Bara. Presumed lost.

Sin (1915) starring Theda Bara. Presumed lost.

The Snob (1924) starring John Gilbert and Norma Shearer. Presumed lost.

A Social Celebrity (1926) starring Louise Brooks, Chester Conklin, and Adolphe Menjou. There were two surviving prints, one that was at the Eastman house which was viewed by Louise herself before the film deteriorated. The second reel was housed in France and was destroyed in a fire.

For a complete list of lost films, check out Silent Era. Great site with a ton of information.