Tweet Is This Marion Davies?

Mystery shot here. Photo is supposed to show Marion Davies in apparent Pola Negri guise. However, it is labeled as being from THE LIGHTS OF OLD BROADWAY (1925). which is a period drama set in the 1880's. Those do look like Marion's eyes, but could this be someone else? Sorry for the size of this graphic. Didn't know it was that large.

That's no 1880's outfit, for sure. Nor does it look a lot like Marion to me.

Clarence,

Yeah, since I have seen THE LIGHTS OF OLD BROADWAY I know that Marion who plays a due-role, looks nothing like this in the movie. There is a still code, but I don't know how it works.

Compare these outfits:

Actually, the period isn't the 1880s, but the '20s or '30s, I think.

Clarence,

Where did you get the movie Herald pages for THE LIGHTS OF OLD BROADWAY, and can you send me a less compressed version? Gerr! How come everyone's attachments are so shrunk down lately?

How come everyone's attachments are so shrunk down lately?

Had to compress it drastically before site would accept it!

Clarence,

I know! That's why I asked you to send me the full-size version in an E-mail! If you want to see the Colorized version of the dark haired Marion, not Marion pic, I am about to post it in the Colorization's thread.

Clarence,

I couldn't see anything in the E-mail, but saved the attachment and there it is. Wow! Looks great, and it's painted multiple-colors, not just tinted. Thanks. I will need to shrink it down too before I can post it on the TCM forums. Got any others? By the way, Classic Flim Union is still down. It's been three days.

Wait a minute, these are Herald pages for LITTLE OLD NEW YORK, not THE LIGHTS OF OLD BROADWAY? Still very nice. have you got anything for ZANDER THE GREAT, or BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK?

[Mike Gebert]

I think Marion does imitations of various more vampish stars in The Cardboard Lover; I don't remember it well enough to say that's the costume she wears to imitate Pola Negri (if she in fact does that), but it looks enough like Marion to me to be plausibly her, and if it is, that's likely the movie it's from.

Mike,

Marion does an impression of Jetta Goudal's character in the film. Don't recall her doing any other impersonations in THE CARDBOARD LOVER though. At least not off hand.

[Danny Burk]

She does Pola in THE PATSY, but her outfit doesn't look like this. Maybe a trial version before shooting the film?

In The Patsy, Davies does Lillian Gish, Pola Negri, and Mae Murray. She does Jetta Goudal in The Cardboard Lover in which Goudal co-stars.

Clarence, Ed,



LITTLE OLD NEW YORK Movie Herald Pages 3 and 4 (1923)

Haven't seen Lights of Old Broadway, but somehow I have a hunch that she hadn't yet started doing the parodies as in Show People, The Patsy and The Cardboard Lover.

What I do know is that she plays a dual role in the film as a pair of twins - blonde Fely and dark-haired Anne. Your photo is probably Marion in the latter guise.

The photos below likewise are claimed to be from Lights of Old Broadway. There's gotta be someone who's actually seen the film and shed some light...

Rollo,

The still portrait in the middle appears to be correct. The other two I am not so sure about. The Bottom one appears to be from QUALITY STREET. I've seen the movie, but it was at least 3 or 4 years ago.

Though I wouldn't absolutely swear on it, seems her hair is too dark in that bottom still for Quality Street.

Marion as "Pola" in The Patsy:

That's definitely Marion in the first photo.

If that is Davies doing Negri, it's not from The Patsy.

How come everyone's attachments are so shrunk down lately?

Because they don't want you to steal the photos and add some silly paint to them.

If anyone wants any of the batch of Mary Brian photos I've grabbed so they can colorize, they're certainly welcome to them!

Nyaaah! [Blowing raspberry in direction of Mr. Despres]

Here's a very similar photo presently on sale on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/MARION-DAVIES-O ... 4ab9d514cc

Here's a very similar photo presently on sale on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/MARION-DAVIES-O ... 4ab9d514cc" target="_blank" target="_blank

In that one, she definitely seems to be doing her Pola Negri face à la The Patsy.

Could it be that these were simply gag promotional stills, making use of Marion's penchant for mimicry with no direct connection to any specific movie?

Ruth Harriet Louise did something of that sort in a series of Buster Keaton portraits. Buster is seen admiring a photo of Lon Chaney, man of a thousand faces, placed by a makeup kit. In the following photos, Buster experiments with some makeup faces himself, at one point appearing as a cap-wearing thug (Lon in The Blackbird?), before finally arriving at a clown makeup similar to the one he wears in Free and Easy.





And one more of Marion in Lights of Old Broadway, signed by the photographer:

Doesn't look like Davies to me or anything from Lights of Old Broadway ????

not Marion. It could be the young Laura La Plante with dark hair.

How come everyone's attachments are so shrunk down lately?

Because they don't want you to steal the photos and add some silly paint to them.

THE LITTLE OLD NEW YORK Herald Pages are in Color already. Again, most people enjoy my colorized photos. They are no different from Magazine covers, posters and painted lobby-cards back in the day. Black and white still have forever been tinted, toned, painted and subject to other color adding processes.

not Marion. It could be the young Laura La Plante with dark hair.

Looks more like the real Pola Negri to me. Although I have always thought of her having dark eyes. I love Marion, but $200.00 for a photo, and she is not even herself? Whew!

last photo of model following Keaton/Chaney series. Aileen Pringle?

THE LITTLE OLD NEW YORK Herald Pages are in Color already. Again, most people enjoy my colorized photos.

I do...what's the harm?