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In the early 1980s there were 2 nights on TV called the Nights of 100 Stars which i believe was a fundraiser for the Screen Actors Guild. On one of the shows they used only 4 actresses (no men) to represent the Silent Era Lillian Gish, Leatrice Joy, Billie Dove and Laura Laplante. Why werent more shown and why did they fly Billie and Laura in from California ( It was held at Radio City Music Hall) when Blanche Sweet Aillen Pringle and a slew of others lived in the New York Area. I don't believe in the 2nd show they had any silent performers at all. Anybody know about this?

salus,

And no there was no Colleen Moore or Bessie Love either. Surely they could have invited them both. Mary Philbin as well.

Moore and Love yes , i believe Philbin had Alzheimers by then.

The bit with Billie Dove, Laura LaPlante, Leatrice Joy, and Lillian Gish is on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Up4HeIcPN8

salus,

And no there was no Colleen Moore or Bessie Love either. Surely they could have invited them both. Mary Philbin as well.

Who knows, maybe they were but were simply in no shape to go?
What's the deal with that Keystone Kop?

The Keystone Kops were in the opening segment & they kept them around to show the actresses on.

Good Lord! Leatrice Joy looked pretty good for 92- this was her last public appearance as she died that year.

The facts that only 4 silent stars were recognized was typical of Hollywood , while they were doing films like That's Entertainment recognizing the stars of the 30s,40s and 50s they had little interest in the silent people who started the industry. They were considered dinosaurs, their films they figured not to be seen again so they couldn't make money off them. What i would have like to have seen done was to have an archivist on staff at the Motion Picture Hospital in Woodland Hills who could have over the decades did written and recorded long and at different times interviews with the many residents that were original members of the film industry.

while they were doing films like That's Entertainment recognizing the stars of the 30s,40s and 50s they had little interest in the silent people who started the industry

"That's Entertainment" (I, II, III and whatever) was created in the depths of the economic, political and social discord of the 70s to take advantage of a wave of "nostalgia" for "the good old days." And to wring the last drop of blood from the disintegrating wreck of the American film industry, by the conglomerates who had bought the studios in their last dying days when every corporate buyer thought they could produce or release the next "Easy Rider," "Bonnie and Clyde," "Five Easy Pieces," etc. When by 1974 they realized it wasn't happening, it was time to parade the "oldies" for the grandparents and parents of the youngsters who were the original target audience for their "youth-markert" films.

And the sad part is that what they produced with those "Entertainment" collections WAS the best thing produced in the "industry" since the originals of the 30s 40s 50s. You couldn't expect those people to even know about anything before sound.

I actually find it more shocking that they had only two actresses - Lana Turner and Olivia De Havilland - in a segment in tribute to the golden era of Hollywood!! And this was in 1985 when there were a good 40 or so femme superstars of the 30s/40s still living and around half that number still having a fairly high profile with the general public with occasional tv acting appearances and interviews on the various talk shows of the day!! Two years later there was a similar special HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLLYWOOD which managed to have cameos by about two dozen of these ladies.

Not surprised they limited the silent segment to just four women, kind of surprised they even bothered actually since Lillian was the only one still widely known by the general public though it was touching to see them making rare public appearances. But the program definitely need a lot more REAL stars and vintage stars on it. I have the whole show and several more "contemporary" celebrities are seen in two separate segments so there was absolutely more room for other classic names. And too bad the producers put players like "supporting role in a current series" and "soap opera performers" at a premium above the legends of the past considering quite a few of these people pretty much disappeared from the limelight within a few years after their shows were cancelled or they were written off their soaps.

Re Colleen Moore, I'm pretty sure she was once the guest on Tom Snyder's late night talk show TOMORROW in the early 1980's and of course she makes a lovely little speech at Lillian's AFI tribute in 1984. I remember seeing her in a brief bit at a film festival on Entertainment Tonight a few months before she died. There was also a TOMORROW episode I remember seeing in 1980 when I was a teenager in which Snyder was in California and interviewed a half-dozen or so silent leading ladies in a round-table like gathering which may have been outside at either Harold Lloyd's estate or the Bevelry Hills hotel. I remember Laura La Plante, Leatrice Joy, and Esther Ralston were on it, not quite certain who the others were.

Slightly off topic, but at age 18 I saw THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT four times during the summer of '74 because it was the most exhilarating "movie" I'd seen in ages. And what really amped it up was the mix of young and old in the audience, who were audibly enthralled with nearly every clip. Everything was a rediscovery, made bigger and more vivid on the large screen after years of seeing such movies via compromised TV showings, if shown at all. And it being before cable, VHS, laser, DVD etc. it was that much more unfamiliar and exciting an experience.

[Christopher Jacobs]

Slightly off topic, but at age 18 I saw THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT four times during the summer of '74 because it was the most exhilarating "movie" I'd seen in ages. And what really amped it up was the mix of young and old in the audience, who were audibly enthralled with nearly every clip. Everything was a rediscovery, made bigger and more vivid on the large screen after years of seeing such movies via compromised TV showings, if shown at all. And it being before cable, VHS, laser, DVD etc. it was that much more unfamiliar and exciting an experience.

I remember sitting through three showings of THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT in a row when it came out. It was presented in our largest and most prestigious theatre (only about eight years old), which ran it in magnetic stereo sound, and every one of those showings was well-over half to three-fourths full. It was a movie event for all ages, but for whatever reason the appeal did not seem to stick with moviegoers. Just two years later I was apparently one of very few excited for the sequel and the night I decided to see the late showing I was the only person who'd bought a ticket. The manager was hoping to close up early and save payroll, so he said that if I would be willing to not watch it that night, he'd refund my ticket and give me a private screening the following morning when he had to be there anyway (so that's what we did). Then in 1994, the release of THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT 3 was so limited that our theatre was unable to get a print even though we wanted to book it, for the grand opening of our new 10-plex.

Frankly nothing topped the first one. I saw the sequel, but it wasn't the same level of excitement, though still notable seeing old favorites on the screen for the first time, such as Abbott & Costello. There was the related 1985 film, THAT'S DANCING, which to me was more fun, though some of the audience didn't start getting into it until the clip from SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER! TE3 I believe I saw on laserdisc; I think it only only opened briefly in one Manhattan theater.