Tweet Political Affliations?

What were the political leanings of the actors and actresses of the silent era? We know about Chaplin but what of the rest?

[Mike Gebert]

Perhaps we were blessedly free from knowing any of that, unlike today.

http://www.maxim.com/movies/presidents- ... ass-movies

Perhaps we were blessedly free from knowing any of that, unlike today.

http://www.maxim.com/movies/presidents- ... ass-movies" target="_blank

I know of some from the studio era who weren't exactly people I'd like to have known IRL. I try to make allowances, but some were really beyond the pale.

What were the political leanings of the actors and actresses of the silent era? We know about Chaplin but what of the rest?

Oh, really? You know Chaplin's political affiliations? Please share.

Jim

Heavens! Let's not get started on Chaplin's political affiliations and which Americans were in charge of deciding what they were. Truce! Base! Switzerland! Neutral territory!

Mary Pickford was a staunch Republican, and Kevin Brownlow (on the excellent "Commentary Track" podcast, which everyone should check out) talked about how when he finally got an interview with her, she occasionally went into side rants about communists. Still, she was willing to tour with Chaplin to promote war bonds during WWI, despite many people knowing (much later) that Chaplin had clearly been a communist all along. (Okay! I'll stop! I can't help myself.)

Despite her party affiliation, Mary Pickford did appear with Mrs. Roosevelt at the White House in support of the March of Dimes, as related in this rather amusing newspaper article.

Of course, Claude Rains appeared, in a chair, at this year's Republican convention.

Mary Pickford was a staunch Republican, and Kevin Brownlow (on the excellent "Commentary Track" podcast, which everyone should check out) talked about how when he finally got an interview with her, she occasionally went into side rants about communists. Still, she was willing to tour with Chaplin to promote war bonds during WWI, despite many people knowing (much later) that Chaplin had clearly been a communist all along. (Okay! I'll stop! I can't help myself.)

The best comment on Chaplin's politics came from Sam Goldwyn: "Charlie's no Communist. He's too cheap to pay the dues."

[Mike Gebert]

And then there's Paulette Goddard's judgement: "Oh, Charlie sometimes thinks he thinks."

What's funny is that because there were so many European exiles in Hollywood by the thirties, you had actors and actresses hanging out with the cream of prewar intellectual and avant-garde society— Hedy Lamarr inventing cell phone technology by playing piano with George Antheil being the most famous example— and I suspect more than a few came to have a pretty sharp opinion of their fellow stars who tried to match wits and philosophies with the big boys, as Goddard did of her husband.

There's nothing like that today, or even postwar (you don't hear stories about Lionel Trilling and Edmund Wilson hanging with Kim Novak and Sandra Dee). Though I guess Cornel West was in a Matrix sequel, which has clearly informed Keanu Reeves' subsequent work.

"Maybe you can write some lovely Viennese melodies for one of our pictures." —Irving Thalberg to a freshly-arrived Arnold Schönberg

Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou both appear in newsreel footage during the 1940s during the House Un-American Committe trials/ whatever they were officially called. Both Republican.

Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou both appear in newsreel footage during the 1940s during the House Un-American Committe trials/ whatever they were officially called. Both Republican.

adding to this, though they're not stars , but still affiliated with the silentera in large ways. LB Mayer and Howard Hughes. Well Mayer surely Republican through-and-through. Hughes I can remember Tommy Lee Jones playing Hughes and saying reference to the still untested Spruce Goose ...if the plane doesn't fly I'll leave this country and never come back and I mean it! .. I do believe Hughes a Republican though.

[silentfilm]

Lillian Gish was a Republican. Raymond Griffith was anti-war and anti-death penalty, but I don't know his party affiliation.

The political parties have change a lot since then, so although Republicans are still conservative, they had different views on many topics then as opposed to how a typical Republican would feel today. The same goes for Democrats.

Isn't there some sort of voter registration list on line somewhere? It's where I found out El Brendel's addresses and what his political affiliation was. Republican.

Isn't there some sort of voter registration list on line somewhere? It's where I found out El Brendel's addresses and what his political affiliation was. Republican.

California Voter Registrations are available through Ancestry, although the indexing is terrible.

California Voter Registrations are available through Ancestry, although the indexing is terrible.

OK, yeah, that's where they came from! I had a friend who did all the research for me on there, so I didn't even have to check!!

Isn't there some sort of voter registration list on line somewhere? It's where I found out El Brendel's addresses and what his political affiliation was. Republican.

California Voter Registrations are available through Ancestry, although the indexing is terrible.

Tell me about it. I had to find my father's by enumeration district as his name wasn't scanned correctly. Lucky I knew where in San Diego my father lived.

"Maybe you can write some lovely Viennese melodies for one of our pictures." —Irving Thalberg to a freshly-arrived Arnold Schönberg

Would like to believe this was uttered with lurid sarcasm & a matching sneer...though probably not, if Thalberg was anywhere near as uninformed as Fitzgerald suggested in Last Tycoon. Nevertheless, that it was said at all is good to know. Plenty of folks still love the "Viennese melodies" that Romberg & Friml were writing at the same time, but Schönberg...?

Lillian Gish was a Republican. Raymond Griffith was anti-war and anti-death penalty, but I don't know his party affiliation.

Griffith is registered as Republican on the 1924 and 1926 Voter Registrations, if you want copies, shoot me a pm. There are probably more available, registrations took place every two years.

Lillian Gish was a Republican. Raymond Griffith was anti-war and anti-death penalty, but I don't know his party affiliation.

Griffith is registered as Republican on the 1924 and 1926 Voter Registrations, if you want copies, shoot me a pm. There are probably more available, registrations took place every two years.

Now this is interesting. In 1930 he registered as a Socialist, but by 1932 he's registered as a Democrat.

Griffith is registered as Republican on the 1924 and 1926 Voter Registrations, if you want copies, shoot me a pm. There are probably more available, registrations took place every two years.

Now this is interesting. In 1930 he registered as a Socialist, but by 1932 he's registered as a Democrat.

Stayed Dem still he died. When did Griffith come to LA, Bruce? He might have been a Progressive, they often migrated to the Republicans when the Progressive Party ran out of steam in the teens.

[Mike Gebert]

Which illustrates Bruce's point above; the journey from a George Norris-style Progressive Republican in the 20s to a Norman Thomas-style socialist in 1930 to an FDR-backing Democrat in 1932 is a lot shorter than it looks by modern labels.

A lot of times these "fringe group historians" hold on to any contacts they
might have with celebrity, and their facts are sometimes overlooked even by
biographers. The Progressive Party

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressiv ... ates,_1912)

obviously wasn't a fringe group at the time, but you might find out more
about what celebrities were connected with it from them, instead of just
looking at film historians' current work.

A lot of times these "fringe group historians" hold on to any contacts they
might have with celebrity, and their facts are sometimes overlooked even by
biographers. The Progressive Party

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressiv ... ates,_1912" target="_blank" target="_blank)

obviously wasn't a fringe group at the time, but you might find out more
about what celebrities were connected with it from them, instead of just
looking at film historians' current work.

Hunh?

I agree with your "Hunh," but I think Robert Pearson means that if you were to contact the modern-day Progressive Party and say "did your party have movie star members in the 1920s?" their historian may be able to provide you with a list.

I have been following this thread for some time with a feeling of dissatisfaction. I have long felt that the political opinions of a film maker are irrelevant, unless it informs their work -- as it certainly does with Chaplin. Even then, does it indicate political beliefs or is it an attempt to appeal to an audience? Sennett's work is meant to appeal to his lower-class audience and therefore it offers a sympathetic viewpoint, cynical about the powerful.

Given that more recent actors have played roles directly contrary to their avowed political opinions -- Robert Ryan springs to mind -- and given the changes in political philosophies by the major parties since then and given that actors are meant to portray someone other than themselves, their political opinions strike me as irrelevant. Their private lives may be of some interest if they illuminate their craft. Otherwise, they are faces on a screen and little more.

Bob

I have been following this thread for some time with a feeling of dissatisfaction. I have long felt that the political opinions of a film maker are irrelevant, unless it informs their work -- as it certainly does with Chaplin. Even then, does it indicate political beliefs or is it an attempt to appeal to an audience? Sennett's work is meant to appeal to his lower-class audience and therefore it offers a sympathetic viewpoint, cynical about the powerful.

Given that more recent actors have played roles directly contrary to their avowed political opinions -- Robert Ryan springs to mind -- and given the changes in political philosophies by the major parties since then and given that actors are meant to portray someone other than themselves, their political opinions strike me as irrelevant. Their private lives may be of some interest if they illuminate their craft. Otherwise, they are faces on a screen and little more.

Bob

Hello, we're just making lists.

I agree with your "Hunh," but I think Robert Pearson means that if you were to contact the modern-day Progressive Party and say "did your party have movie star members in the 1920s?" their historian may be able to provide you with a list.

Oh.

I have been following this thread for some time with a feeling of dissatisfaction. I have long felt that the political opinions of a film maker are irrelevant, unless it informs their work -- as it certainly does with Chaplin. Even then, does it indicate political beliefs or is it an attempt to appeal to an audience? Sennett's work is meant to appeal to his lower-class audience and therefore it offers a sympathetic viewpoint, cynical about the powerful.

Given that more recent actors have played roles directly contrary to their avowed political opinions -- Robert Ryan springs to mind -- and given the changes in political philosophies by the major parties since then and given that actors are meant to portray someone other than themselves, their political opinions strike me as irrelevant. Their private lives may be of some interest if they illuminate their craft. Otherwise, they are faces on a screen and little more.

Bob

Hello, we're just making lists.

Ok. To what end?

Bob

I have been following this thread for some time with a feeling of dissatisfaction. I have long felt that the political opinions of a film maker are irrelevant, unless it informs their work -- as it certainly does with Chaplin. Even then, does it indicate political beliefs or is it an attempt to appeal to an audience? Sennett's work is meant to appeal to his lower-class audience and therefore it offers a sympathetic viewpoint, cynical about the powerful.

Given that more recent actors have played roles directly contrary to their avowed political opinions -- Robert Ryan springs to mind -- and given the changes in political philosophies by the major parties since then and given that actors are meant to portray someone other than themselves, their political opinions strike me as irrelevant. Their private lives may be of some interest if they illuminate their craft. Otherwise, they are faces on a screen and little more.

Bob

Hello, we're just making lists.

Ok. To what end?

Bob

None that I can see.

John Barrymore and Joe Schenck are said to be Republicans (despite the kookier book I read that hilariously pegged Joe as a communist). I have no idea if any of the Talmadges were even registered to vote.

Tony Slide said Blanche Swee was a liberal when he knew her, it would be interesting to see if her party affiliation changed over the years. I have the distinct impression that the silent film community, to the extent that they were interested in politics at all, tended to be Republican. A far cry from the modern allegedly "Liberal Hollywood" stereotype. With the New Deal and a lot of New York and later European émigrés,I think in the 1930s there were more Democrats than there were before. I believe Bela Lugosi was a Democrat.

Greta

Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor were Democrats, and strong supporters of the New Deal. They both drew upon their politics in their comedy, especially in radio broadcasts. But then, Rogers used political humor in all his work, even in some of the silent two-reelers he made for Roach in the '20s.

Myrna Loy was a Democrat. Once in the '80s she was being interviewed, and the journalist asked her if she'd ever worked with Ronald Reagan. She glared at him for a moment and replied: "I made A-pictures!"

A far cry from the modern allegedly "Liberal Hollywood" stereotype.

Allegedly?