Tweet Gallery of Mastheads

Yeah, two Oscars. She's bathetic in The Great Ziegfeld (which is a snoozer in any case), decent but drab in The Good Earth, but all in all, there are about 4,713 actresses of the 30s who are more interesting than she is. Starting with Babs...

You can't have too much Stanwyck. Great masthead, thanks.

Fred

Yeah, two Oscars. She's bathetic in The Great Ziegfeld (which is a snoozer in any case), decent but drab in The Good Earth, but all in all, there are about 4,713 actresses of the 30s who are more interesting than she is. Starting with Babs...

we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. I think Louise's talent, while extremely limited was extraordinary. She's always mesmerizing on the screen, even if you always knew she would start crying within 5 minutes from her entrance.

But Babs is much much more fun.

[Mike Gebert]

Well, we may not have Gayle Henry or Snitz Edwards yet, but here's another favorite of our own Silentfilm aka Bruce Calvert: the estimable Raymond Griffith, taken from this promo piece for a never produced film.



Here are some Griffith threads:
Raymond Griffith
Hands Up
The Lost Ending of Paths to Paradise

Well, we may not have Gayle Henry or Snitz Edwards yet, but here's another favorite of our own Silentfilm aka Bruce Calvert: the estimable Raymond Griffith, taken from this promo piece for a never produced film.

You've outdone yourself! Great masthead!

Fred

Fantastic! I was getting pretty tired of Ms. Stanwyck glowering at me. I needed to see a happy face, and Raymond Griffith will do quite nicely.

Fantastic! I was getting pretty tired of Ms. Stanwyck glowering at me. I needed to see a happy face, and Raymond Griffith will do quite nicely.

!!!!

Dan you need more coffee!

Great job on the other Mr. Griffith!

[Mike Gebert]

One of the things that's always cool is when a thread develops on someone I'd never think of starting a thread about... like Mae Clarke. So it only seems appropriate to pay her tribute with both a Halloween-related image... and a tribute to her other classic moment on screen, in The Public Enemy.



No objection if anybody wants to talk about Boris Karloff at this time of year, either...

I am always astonished when I look at a movie and see an actor or actress I've never noticed before..... forty or fifty credits and finally given a moment of greatness. Miss Clarke showed flashes and was given opportunities, but never quite sustained hem into a career that we notice, except for those flashes.

I sometimes wonder about the complicated and crooked paths that lead to those intersections of talent, opportunity and commerce.

Bob

now you're just being silly (fun, but silly)

Mike, you're too darned clever. Not only was Mae Clarke in THE PUBLIC ENEMY in 1931, that same year she was also the original "bride of Frankenstein"!

now you're just being silly (fun, but silly)

Yeah, but it's a good one. You have to admit, it's a good one.

Fred

[Mike Gebert]

Thanks. Once you think of it, it seems so obvious, I won't be surprised if someone has done it before... though I suppose it requires a level of knowledge that includes knowing the same, fairly obscure actress was in both.

Personally, I'd love to see a Marion Davies masthead..... any chance?

[Mike Gebert]

Yes, there is a good chance, in the not too distant future.

Thanks, Mike... I commented on the Mae Clarke masthead somewhere else but I called it a banner.... wrong word choice.....
Ed

[Mike Gebert]

This was actually one of the first images I pulled for a masthead but something else always got in its way: Conrad Veidt and Hay Petrie in the 1940 The Thief of Bagdad. It's a fine film but for me the real discovery in regards to Veidt was David Shepard's release almost a decade ago of The Indian Tomb, one of those titles you always heard but never expected to actually see; Veidt's performance as the androgynous, romantically obsessed prince is like seeing David Bowie in a silent, and it confirmed for me that anything Joe May made is worth seeking out (which amounts basically to one other film so far, Asphalt, which I recommend as well). Anyway, an outstanding actor with a number of acclaimed films for a somewhat short career-- Caligari, The Beloved Rogue, The Man Who Laughs, A Woman's Face, Contraband, Casablanca-- and the sense that there are many more we still do not know (The Passing of the Third Floor Back? Under the Red Robe?)

Good choice Mike, I <3 Conrad Veidt.

Women fight for Conrad Veidt! He's also great as Metternich in the '31 CONGRESS DANCES and beautifully nuanced in two pieces for Powell & Pressburger, THE SPY IN BLACK and CONTRABAND.

Mr. Petrie looks like he's been told that the head operation isn't going to help.

Bob

Anyway, an outstanding actor with a number of acclaimed films for a somewhat short career-- Caligari, The Beloved Rogue, The Man Who Laughs, A Woman's Face, Contraband, Casablanca-- and the sense that there are many more we still do not know (The Passing of the Third Floor Back? Under the Red Robe?)

Thank you for the masthead, Mike. It is going to enhance my Nitrateville experience for a month. Conrad Veidt is a phenomenon. You know that his screen presence is going to make every film he is in worth watching. It is intriguing to imagine what he would have made of the Dracula role had he actually got it.
There are many Conrad Veidt films presumed lost that I would give my eye teeth to see - KURFÜRSTENDAMM, for example, where he plays the devil come to Berlin to consort with a blackface Asta Nielsen, or the early Murnaus - but at least a substantial body of Veidt's silent work exists and is available on commercial DVD. As for UNDER THE RED ROBE, Archive.org has a watchable version of it here:

http://www.archive.org/details/UndertheRedRobeVSjostrom1937RMassey

Conrad Veidt is superb in The Passing of The Third Floor Back - one of my favourite British films of the thirties....the script is by Alma Reville, and her version of the story, as opposed to the Jerome K Jerome play, has Hitchcockian themes....
But Hay Petrie.....what a character actor. A real scene-stealer. In Contraband as the two Danish brothers.....in A Canterbury Tale as the innkeeper....in The Spy In Black as the Chief Engineer......The Burgomeister in One of our Aircraft....(he's in other Powell and Pressburger films too, a sign of how highly they rated him).....but particularly in 21 Days, where he steals the entire film from Leigh and Olivier, no less. And I would travel many a mile to see Walter Summers' Suspense again, where he is as a Greek Chorus to the events surrounding him. Superb, forgotten, early talkie.

[Mike Gebert]

Since a new Sherlock Holmes movie-- which looks likely to be perfectly dreadful-- is coming later this month, it seems a good month to demonstrate that to NitrateVillains, he was always the Sherlock-- Basil Rathbone, seen here of course with his (blasphemous to Conan Doyle, but delightful) Watson Nigel Bruce, and Gale Sondergaard, aka the Spider Woman.



I was hoping, actually, to find a picture of Rathbone with the other especially notable Holmes of the 30s, Arthur Wontner, since they did a rather scandalous play called The Captive once, but alas, the only image I could find from it was not of very good quality. In any case, this one captures one essential aspect of Rathbone's career: the gameness to take any role utterly seriously (okay, I haven't seen Hillbillies in a Haunted House), which served him well in everything from literary pieces like Anna Karenina to swashbucklers opposite Errol Flynn.

MUSIC:
CHORD

MANNING:
"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce

MUSIC:
SIGNATURE MUSIC-- "MARCH OF THE ANCESTORS" (BASED ON A THEME FROM RUDDIGORE BY GILBERT AND SULLIVAN.) FADES

MANNING:
The makers or Bromo Quinine Cold Tablets bring you another adventure of Sherlock Holmes, with Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson.

(Pause)


When you are threatened with a cold remember this: Bromo Quinine tablets are made expressly for the relief of colds. They are not a cure-all. They are made for one thing and one thing only and that is the relief of colds. Isn't it better to take a preparation that has only one use rather than one that has half a dozen uses? Insure yourself the advantages of specialized medication. When you feel a cold coming on, take Bromo Quinine tablets.

[Mike Gebert]

Was he known for doing a lot of commercials? (As opposed to anyone else on old time radio.) I ask because Bob & Ray, n some of their early shows, have fun playing with a Basil Rathbone commercial for Fatima Cigarettes as if he were on their shows, conversing about how to have a smoother smoke or whatever. Or was it just that his accent and bearing, shilling for stuff, seemed to provoke more humor than, say, Phil Harris doing it.

I think it was mostly the announcer and Nigel Bruce going on about Roma Wine and such. I don't remember Rathbone participating in the commercials on the SH show.

greta

[Mike Gebert]

Ah yes, Roma Wines. There's a name that instantly types you as a listener of old time radio, along with Blue Coal.

Today, Blue Coal brings you the Shadow's latest adventure: 'The Silent Avenger'.

MUSIC UP AND OUT.

ANNOUNCER: The Shadow's exciting adventure begins in just a moment, but, first, I'd like to remind you home owners that right now, when Winter is changing into Spring, is the most treacherous time of all the year. But you can protect your family's health and save valuable dollars by burning Blue Coal. It's Pennsylvania's finest anthracite. Order a trial ton from your nearest Blue Coal dealer tomorrow. And if you want to read the adventures of the Shadow in complete novel form in addition to numerous detective stories, crime problems, and features, simply write us for your copy of the SHADOW MAGAZINE absolutely free. Remember, all you have to do is mail a penny postcard to Blue Coal, 120 Broadway, New York City, or to Blue Coal in care of this station. Send for your free copy of the SHADOW MAGAZINE tonight.

MUSIC UP AND FADE OUT.

Speaking of which, can anyone point me at a place where I can find those old commercials? Blue Coal, Fatima cigarettes, etc? Love to load them onto my Ipod.

Bob

Today, Blue Coal brings you the Shadow's latest adventure: 'The Silent Avenger'.

MUSIC UP AND OUT.

ANNOUNCER: The Shadow's exciting adventure begins in just a moment, but, first, I'd like to remind you home owners that right now, when Winter is changing into Spring, is the most treacherous time of all the year. But you can protect your family's health and save valuable dollars by burning Blue Coal. It's Pennsylvania's finest anthracite. Order a trial ton from your nearest Blue Coal dealer tomorrow. And if you want to read the adventures of the Shadow in complete novel form in addition to numerous detective stories, crime problems, and features, simply write us for your copy of the SHADOW MAGAZINE absolutely free. Remember, all you have to do is mail a penny postcard to Blue Coal, 120 Broadway, New York City, or to Blue Coal in care of this station. Send for your free copy of the SHADOW MAGAZINE tonight.

MUSIC UP AND FADE OUT.

If I'm digging around in the back yard of my grandmother's old house, I can still find the odd chunk of anthracite around where there used to be a garage. (And you can still see where the coal chute used to be in the basement). The house is in an old Lackawanna Railroad town--"the Route of Phoebe Snow."

From ' morn to night, her gown stays white, upon the Road of Anthracite!

[Mike Gebert]

The Fatima cigarettes one was just in a stray Bob & Ray episode from the early 50s (but check this out). Apparently there was a show with Rathbone called "Tales of Fatima" for a short time! Blue Coal advertised on The Shadow, so any Shadow episode should have a few. Ironized Yeast sponsored Lights Out, and The Whistler was sponsored by Signal Oil Co. And Lucky Strike sponsored Jack Benny... and oh boy, did they ever, there are shows where all the gags are about Lucky Strikes.

The interesting part about Blue Coal is that during the war, they tried to get homeowners to ask for "buckwheat coal"... which is to say, the tiny scraps left over after industry got the nice big chunks to keep turning out those bombers. It was quite a different world, coal heat and rampant iron deficiencies.

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