Fragment silent footage; may yield the child Lila Lee

[sepiatone]

Lila Lee was known as 'Cuddles' when acting on Broadway as a child. The young girl in this footage(closeup,crystal clear) IMHO could be Lila in an unknown film that's obviously not in her IMDb. IMDb only has her starting to make films in 1918. This footage is obviously before 1918. The woman with her is unknown to me. But without much adieu, here's the footage:

[The Blackbird]

Hmmm, there sure is a resemblance. Are there any photos of Lila as a child floating around?

[sepiatone]

there is a photo of her as a youngster in Blum's "Pictorial History of the American Theatre" . She's with another child actor Georgie Price. This was when she was called 'Cuddles'. Also Blum's "Pictorial History of the Silent Film" has a picture(s) of her as a teen.

I found the photo of her and Price(circa 1914-15) that is in the Blum book. Too bad the thumb size, unless I locate a larger version.
http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/ ... -ENSwQ.jpg" target="_blank" target="_blank

Georgie Price as an adult.(from Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgie_Price" target="_blank

[Gumlegs]

Here are a couple of internet sources for info on Lila Lee: http://classicfilmaficionados.com/2014/ ... er-screen/ and http://www.goldensilents.com/stars/lilalee.html

Photos at the links. As near as I can tell, she wasn't in movies when she was as young as the girl in the footage here. Of course, I may not be near enough.

[David Alp]

The whole thing looks French to me... The face of the mother, the tanned little girl, the sparse room, the clothes they are wearing etc.

[Classicfilmaz]

First of all, thank you Gumlegs for the mention of my article on, http://www.classicfilmaficionados.com" target="_blank" target="_blank, regarding Lila Lee. I submit two pictures for your consideration; maybe these will serve to include or exclude Lila Lee as the girl in the film.

Photoplay (Apr - Sep 1918).htm_20140712060941.jpg (101.02 KiB) Viewed 1311 times

The_Indianapolis_News_Fri__Jan_14__1916_.jpg (34.2 KiB) Viewed 1311 times

C. S. Williams, Classic Film Aficionados

[sepiatone]

thanks all for responses. I must admit the girl in the fragment wears her hair exactly as Lila "Cuddles" does in most of her pics as a youngster. Even when she first got to Paramount circa 1918 , this hairstyle is still prevalent on her. One thing about IMDb, I love that site and is very helpful when looking up info. But trust it's not perfect. The further we go back in our look at silent pictures and perfomers we learn that people are not always credited for roles they played in films. Doesn't Jack Barrymore have four short films(1912-13) that are unconfirmed that he was in them, though he or someone uses his name. Also in Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde(1920) Julia Hurley is not credited anywhere(except a period San Francisco Chronicle article) but she plays the old lady in the film carrying the lamp. Marcelle Corday is not officially credited in "The Red Lily"(1924) but she's in the film. An actor looking like Rondo Hatton appears in "Uncle Tom's Cabin"(1927) but he is not credited. So it's no surprise if Lila made an early appearance and was not credited or perhaps credited under her birth name or other.

[Silencebound]

I have removed this video from far above of this column. To make comments about the # 13 film, please go to COLLECTING AND PRESERVATION column and click '# 13 - Lost 35mm Nitrate Film FOUND !' as the embedded video is originally based there.