The 2012 Silent Film Benefit Calendar is now available

[Rodney]

Our theme this year is silent film stars with animals. This covers not only Rintintin and Tony the Wonder Horse, but also other acting dogs, cows, and geese, and a few silent film stars with their pet dogs (and one with an exotic hoofed mammal).

Visit the 2012 Silent Film Calendar Order Page for more information.

The price, as last year, is $12 plus shipping. I've put a google-purchase doodad on the web page for easy credit card purchases of one to six calendars (to be mailed to the same address), or feel free to mail me a check or an equivalent Paypal payment. I'm happy to ship several calendars to different addresses, but please do them as separate purchases (or, if by check and paypal, please include enough shipping for each individual shipment).

All proceeds after printing costs this year will go to the UCLA Film and Television Archive, as I've been impressed with the number of new prints they've been making available over the past few years.

[bobfells]

Just ordered mine, Rodney. Let me know if you want to do future calendars in color. I think I can help.

[missdupont]

Please, NO COLOR! We're talking about silent films, not 50s Technicolor.

[bobfells]

I was joking...sort of. Silent films had color - tinting and toning, two-strip Technicolor. Maybe Rodney can encourage sales of his calendar by threatening to use bobfells color if sufficient quantities are not purchased. (I'm still joking...sort of).

[rudyfan]

Kewel, just placed an order

[Rodney]

Just ordered mine, Rodney. Let me know if you want to do future calendars in color. I think I can help.

There are two problems -- while I'm a fan of those beautiful full-color sheet music covers and hand-colored lobby cards (and I dabbled in Photoshop "hand tinting" for the cover of our General DVD release); almost all of the the film stills and publicity materials that I use (even the publicity stills from color films like The Black Pirate) are in black and white. The other problem is expense -- printing in color for short runs is much more expensive than printing in black and white, so I would need to significantly raise the price of the calendar, and lower margins and lower sales would lead to less money for the benefit project, for a calendar whose images are mostly black and white anyway.

I thought about just doing the cover in color, but that could be misleading about the contents. Besides, the cover is the image in a calendar that you spend the least amount of time looking at.

If you want a calendar with tasteful use of color, check out the Rudolf Valentino calendar (which I expect will be available soon) which, in the past, has used color printing to reproduce sepia and other toning effects better than my calendar does.

[bobfells]

Rodney, for your 2013 calendar and beyond, you may want to check CreateSpace.com which is owned by Amazon. They recently printed my two books in full color for less than your calendar. I don't know if they print calendars but it wouldn't hurt to check.

[Mike Gebert]

I Heart B&W

[rudyfan]

I Heart B&W

ditto

[Arndt]

What are the overseas shipping rates, please, for us European silent zoophiles?

[Rodney]

I didn't put international rates on the page because the rate depends on the country, though a lot of them (especially in the E.U.) are the same. You can email me to look it up, or check it out at http://www.usps.com" target="_blank. One needs to use our archaic system of measure (ounces) and currency (US dollars).

I've looked up the rates to U.K. and Germany for those who want to know. Add that to $12 per calendar and send it via Paypal:

One Calendar:
U.K. or Germany First Class (airmail), 6.5 oz.: $6.52

Two Calendars:
U.K. or Germany First Class (airmail), 12 oz.: $9.18

Three to five calendars (or one or two if you want them potentially a little faster):
U.K. of Germany Flat-rate Priority Envelope: $13.95

[Bob Furem]

Just ordered mine, Rodney. It's getting to be a habit with me!

[Rodney]

Rodney, for your 2013 calendar and beyond, you may want to check CreateSpace.com which is owned by Amazon. They recently printed my two books in full color for less than your calendar. I don't know if they print calendars but it wouldn't hurt to check.

I'm pretty happy with my local printer, and no, CreateSpace isn't cheaper (though it's less than I would have expected). It's just that I put a big markup on the calendar so that I can contribute enough to film preservation that the film preservationists can preserve lots of film.

[barafan]

Just ordered my copy, Rodney. Looking forward to it, since I've had a good year ogling the bathing beauties on the 2011 edition. Speaking of which, either my eyes need a valve job or I'm just very inattentive, but it wasn't until I went to turn from October to November that I noticed a man's leg practically kicking Virginia Rappe in the shot of her. What on earth was that?

BTW, I've just acquired two lovely candid shots of Theda Bara on the Cleopatra set, if you'd like them for a future calendar. One is of her touching her makeup, the other of her waiting to go in front of the camera. If I can figure out how to post them here in a small enough format, I will.

[Frederica]

Just ordered my copy, Rodney. Looking forward to it, since I've had a good year ogling the bathing beauties on the 2011 edition. Speaking of which, either my eyes need a valve job or I'm just very inattentive, but it wasn't until I went to turn from October to November that I noticed a man's leg practically kicking Virginia Rappe in the shot of her. What on earth was that?

He didn't care for her ensemble?

The original photo has two gents standing on either side of her, neither of whom are in the least familiar to me. The man with the foot also has a big, fake moustache (so unusual in silent comedies); he is stepping toward her, presenting her with something he's holding in his hand. It could either be a handkerchief or a soft shell taco, I'm not sure which.

[Rodney]

Just ordered my copy, Rodney. Looking forward to it, since I've had a good year ogling the bathing beauties on the 2011 edition. Speaking of which, either my eyes need a valve job or I'm just very inattentive, but it wasn't until I went to turn from October to November that I noticed a man's leg practically kicking Virginia Rappe in the shot of her. What on earth was that?

He didn't care for her ensemble?

The original photo has two gents standing on either side of her, neither of whom are in the least familiar to me. The man with the foot also has a big, fake moustache (so unusual in silent comedies); he is stepping toward her, presenting her with something he's holding in his hand. It could either be a handkerchief or a soft shell taco, I'm not sure which.

And, more to the point, in the original one of the comedians was cut in half by an inexpertly cropped photographer, which I thought was a little strange for a calendar. But kudos to you for noticing the enormous clown shoe! I knew it was there, but was curious if anyone else would spot it.

[Frederica]

And, more to the point, in the original one of the comedians was cut in half by an inexpertly cropped photographer, which I thought was a little strange for a calendar. But kudos to you for noticing the enormous clown shoe! I knew it was there, but was curious if anyone else would spot it.

I keep going back to the March photo. I know that has been ID'd as Gloria Swanson, but it really does look like Marie Prevost to me...are we sure that's Swanson?

[Gagman 66]

Rodney,

I'll be ordering a couple copies this weekend. Thanks for the update.

[Rodney]

I keep going back to the March photo. I know that has been ID'd as Gloria Swanson, but it really does look like Marie Prevost to me...are we sure that's Swanson?

I'm actually quite sure now that it's Marie Prevost -- I went by what was said by the guy who supplied it, and was easily lead astray since I knew Swanson and Teddy were costars in at least one film (Teddy at the Throttle has neither a speed boat nor a bathing suit, but this still could have been a publicity shot for the film).

Stacia was the one who first brought the error to my attention, and I'm running a correction in the 2012 calendar (which you should be receiving any minute).

And to stave off future overblown claims about my accuracy, one photo caption in the 2012 calendar makes a claim that is completely unfounded regarding Pete the Pup.

[bobfells]

Rodney, your 2012 calendar arrived today and it's beautiful. You even acknowledged George Arliss's birthday on April 10 - TCM doesn't even do that! I can't wait for 2013 calendar.

[rudyfan]

Rodney

My copy arrived last night and I want to thank you for another wonderful edition of the calendar. Some fabulous photos!

Must confess, I did miss Valentino in this edition and had I known, I've got plenty of shots of him with his pets. Oh well! Maybe a few years along you can do a second edition.

[Rodney]

Rodney

My copy arrived last night and I want to thank you for another wonderful edition of the calendar. Some fabulous photos!

Must confess, I did miss Valentino in this edition and had I known, I've got plenty of shots of him with his pets. Oh well! Maybe a few years along you can do a second edition.

Of course, pets are welcome even in years when it's not specifically about animals (after all, there's a Clara Bow swimsuit this year even though last year was the swimsuit issue, and there were quite a lot of dogs last year). I don't have Fairbanks either this year, so maybe not as much eye candy for those who like their silent romantic leads.... well, El Brendel of course. And Tom Mix. And Laurel. And Hardy.

[Gagman 66]

Rodney,

Hey, I forgot how to pay you with Pay Pal. Don't see a link on your site?

[bobfells]

Rodney

My copy arrived last night and I want to thank you for another wonderful edition of the calendar. Some fabulous photos!

Must confess, I did miss Valentino in this edition and had I known, I've got plenty of shots of him with his pets. Oh well! Maybe a few years along you can do a second edition.

Of course, pets are welcome even in years when it's not specifically about animals (after all, there's a Clara Bow swimsuit this year even though last year was the swimsuit issue, and there were quite a lot of dogs last year). I don't have Fairbanks either this year, so maybe not as much eye candy for those who like their silent romantic leads.... well, El Brendel of course. And Tom Mix. And Laurel. And Hardy.

Rodney, here's a candidate for next year. If you like it I'll send you a high res scan:

[Rodney]

Having realized that everything I'm sending to Europe has cost the same (weren't different countries different prices once?) I've added a popup menu for International First Class shipping as well. If I come across a country that's hugely different, I'll let you know.

The good news is that I've sold a bunch of calendars -- the first printing is paid off, and I've got over $600 to donate to the UCLA Film and Television Archive. So, if you haven't got one, think about it!

[Frederica]

Of course, pets are welcome even in years when it's not specifically about animals (after all, there's a Clara Bow swimsuit this year even though last year was the swimsuit issue, and there were quite a lot of dogs last year). I don't have Fairbanks either this year, so maybe not as much eye candy for those who like their silent romantic leads.... well, El Brendel of course. And Tom Mix. And Laurel. And Hardy.

Mine arrived, it's wonderful! I'm still trying to figure out Baldy the Condor's career, I guess he was supposed to be an avian archvillain? That must be one of those "King of the Jungle" things, you know, where you realize the person who coined the phrase knew absolutely nothing about lions and even less about Africa. I sure hope they didn't show Baldy noshing. Ick.

What were we thinking? We have scads of photos of Nita with various small dogs.

[Rodney]

I sure hope they didn't show Baldy noshing. Ick.

George Eastman House has a very nice collection of photos from The Night Cry, so I had several to choose from. The photo excerpted below is a much more handsome picture of Baldy, but I felt the one I put in the calendar does a better job of representing the dramatic arc of the story. And I do have this guideline that the photo should be something you don't mind looking at for a month, and this photo may not be everybody's cup-a-joe.


"Whaddya mean a $25 checked bag fee? This is my carrion!"

[Henry Nicolella]

What? No Joe Martin?
A delight,as always, Rodney
Henry Nicolella

[Frederica]

I sure hope they didn't show Baldy noshing. Ick.

George Eastman House has a very nice collection of photos from The Night Cry, so I had several to choose from. The photo excerpted below is a much more handsome picture of Baldy, but I felt the one I put in the calendar does a better job of representing the dramatic arc of the story. And I do have this guideline that the photo should be something you don't mind looking at for a month, and this photo may not be everybody's cup-a-joe.


"Whaddya mean a $25 checked bag fee? This is my carrion!"

EEWWWWWWWW!!

[rudyfan]

If you want a calendar with tasteful use of color, check out the Rudolf Valentino calendar (which I expect will be available soon) which, in the past, has used color printing to reproduce sepia and other toning effects better than my calendar does.

It's all in glorious black and white for 2012! Rudy & Nita - A Perfect Partnership. Available at lulu.com and Lulu has a 25% off coupon code through Nov. 30th: enter this code at checkout: NOVPHOTOS25

http://www.lulu.com/product/calendar/ru ... p/18682898

I believe a full preview will be up as soon as lulu indexes it.