I recently made a video with Rudy Vallee singing A Girl Like You, in which I included photos of actresses from the silent film era.
In order to be balanced and fair to the sexes, I just made another video. This time Rudy Vallee is singing If I Had You, and I included photos of actors from the silent film era.
I actually have better things to do than make these worthless videos, but I thoroughly enjoy it. It quenches my creative urges. Sort of.
There is (perhaps) a mundane "sameness" about the actors of the 1920's - the hair, the look, the style - but they are intriguing nevertheless. Not to mention sexy.
I'm definitely no prude, and I'm consistently unshockable - - but I am surprised at how many of them were gay. Out of the fifteen actors I've chosen, only seven were straight.
Who are the "straight" ones"? you ask.
Hugh Allan, Francis X. Bushman, Douglas Fairbanks, Wallace Reid, Antonio Moreno, Lou Tellegen, Harold Lloyd.
And don't let the marriages fool you. Many actors married simply as a cover-up to save their careers. Charles Farrell, Richard Barthelmess, and Valentino come to mind. And perhaps Buddy Rogers.
Rudolph Valentino was married twice - both times to lesbians. His first marriage to Jean Acker lasted less than 24 hours. Acker locked him out of their hotel room before the honeymoon began.
While I'm on a roll, here are a few more random facts about some of these actors:
George O'Brien (the first actor on my video) was the son of the San Francisco chief of police. O'Brien started out as a nude "art" model before getting into films. He had a sexual fling with Rudolph Valentino (so did Richard Barthelmess).
Lou Tellegen was a popular actor of the 1920's, but in 1929 his face was disfigured in a fire. He fell asleep smoking in bed. After undergoing extensive plastic surgery, he became deeply depressed. In 1934 he committed suicide by slashing himself with a pair of sewing scissors and attempting to cut his heart out.
Wallace Reid - known as "the screen's most perfect lover" - became hopelessly addicted to drugs and died at the age of 31.
William Haines - very popular in the 1920's - was so obnoxiously gay that he was eventually fired and banished from making films. He later became a highly successful interior decorator.
Douglas Fairbanks was married to actress Mary Pickford for sixteen years. He deeply regretted their divorce in 1936.
Mary Pickford subsequently married Charles "Buddy" Rogers, who was much younger than her. Rumor has it that Buddy Rogers wanted a mother, not a wife.
Ramon Novarro was notoriously gay and had affairs with more actors than I can remember.
Novarro was brutally murdered by two male hustlers on Halloween night in 1968. I saw the house where he was murdered - and it's supposedly haunted.
More about Novarro in a future post.
Hopefully this wasn't too boring.
