Technicolor frame from "The American Venus"

[unipal]

This two-colour technicolor frame, which is posted for identifying on the Nitrate Film Interest Group site at Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/nfig/3080268139/), seems to be from "The American Venus" (1926), since there is part of the same scene in a trailer for the movie, which could be seen on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OkLWeFdcQ4, from 4:30 to 4:34).



Could someone identify the actress?

[Jack Theakston]

It's Fay Lanphier, Miss America of 1925. The fact that the clip is dye-transfer is a curio— the film was released in 1926, but Technicolor's dye-transfer line didn't start until 1928.

[Penfold]

An experimental try-out perhaps??

[drednm]

The American Venus (1926) is an American feature film directed by Frank Tuttle, and starring Esther Ralston, Ford Sterling, Edna May Oliver, Lawrence Gray, Fay Lanphier, Louise Brooks, Kenneth MacKenna, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and released by Paramount Pictures. Brooks appears, in her first credited role as 'Miss Bayport'. Lanphier was crowned Miss America in 1925.

This film is now considered a lost film, with two trailers and two short segments in Technicolor surviving as part of the Library of Congress collection. The film was made at Paramount's Astoria Studios in New York City, and the title cards were co-written by Robert Benchley.

[FrankFay]

The curious thing about the American Venus trailers is that the two Louise Brooks scenes are contiguous footage- its as if they cut the film then put one piece in each trailer. I'd love to see the two pieces spliced together.

[thomas_gladysz]

I am quite certain the actress depicted is not Fay Lanphier. I have made a small study of her life and career and don't believe that is her.

If I were to hazard a guess, I would say the actress depicted could be Edna May Oliver (who played Miss Niles). Yes, I mean the same Edna May Oliver who appeared in so many films based on British literary classics. I could be wrong. But there is a resemblance.

At the time this film was released, Edna was around 42 years old - and certainly the actress in the image is much younger. So again, I could be and am most likely wrong. But then, what would a 42 year old be doing playing a beauty contestant?

All things considered it is likely one of the handful of actual beauty contestants who appeared in the film and caught the cameraman's eye.

Thoroughly confused but certain it isn't Fay.

[drednm]

It's obviously NOT Edna May Oliver. But from the photos I can find of Fay Lanphier it doesn't look anything like her either. Or Esther Ralston. Of the cast members it looks most like Louise Brooks, but what looks like blonde hair throws that off.

[Rick Lanham]

A photo of Fay Lanphier is on this page:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missameric ... _1925.html

Rick

[Jack Theakston]

Here is Fay Lanphier in the film, taken from the second trailer:



It seems obvious to me that it's the same girl.

I was under the impression that the Technicolor footage in THE AMERICAN VENUS (which is listed as 1574 ft.) was a fashion show, as seen from the brief clip in the second trailer.

[thomas_gladysz]

One thing I can add is that the film was partly shot in Florida, which would explain the palm trees in the background ?

I am still trying to figure out who that actress might be. I have both the screenplay and the press book for The American Venus, as well as a considerable portfolio of clippings. I shall continue to dig deeper.

[rudyfan]

Well that looks like Mary Brian to me. But, what do I know?

[drednm]

LOL... the picture Jack posted is a good match. The other pictures I found of Lanphier looked nothing like the golden beauty above.

[thomas_gladysz]

After giving it some more thought, I think the actress pictured in the two-strip Technicolor screen grab and in the related youtube trailer is in fact Fay Lanphier. It makes sense that she, the nominal star of "The American Venus," would be included in the trailer.

"The American Venus," considered a lost film shot largely in black & white, included some early Technicolor sequences. All that remains of the film are two or three trailers. According to the film's pressbook (which I have a copy of), there were both Service and De-Luxe Trailers for the film. And, the De-Luxe Trailers was noted to contain "scenes in natural color, Technicolor."

The pressbook also states that a "Big Special Trailer" could be obtained free of charge by applying to the "Paramount exploiteer assigned to their territory." These special trailers were 200 feet in length and and mostly in natural color as well.

[Rick Lanham]

Inspired by the latest message, I've just gone onto Ancestry.com and searched their newspaper section for articles with images of Fay Lanphier.

I've uploaded their scans of three pages from different newspapers onto my a page on FlickR. Each is labeled with the newspaper's name and date.

I was going to edit and enlarge each image individually, but you should be able to enlarge each page somewhat by clicking on it twice, once to bring up the page by itself, and again to enlarge it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uncle_rick1/

I'll let others decide who's who.

Rick

[Gagman 66]

I'm confused. Does this mean that The Nitrate Film Interest group has additional footage of THE AMERICAN VENUS previously unaccounted for? And if so, what is being done about it?

[Jack Theakston]

NOTHING! It's going to sit on an archive shelf and rot while evil archivists wring their hands and plan to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!! MUHAHAHAHAH

[Gagman 66]

The world would be a much better place that's for certain. I'd rather have them in charge than numskull Politicians. No seriously, aren't they asking for help to identify these films? How much of a fragment to they have?

[Brooksie]

The Library of Congress is supposed to have some of the color footage, but who's to say it's the same piece ... even a tiny new fragment would be a terrific find.

I wish they could provide a little more information on the footage they have - for example, where it was sourced - that may help narrow down the identity.

[Brianruns10]

It's Fay Lanphier, Miss America of 1925. The fact that the clip is dye-transfer is a curio— the film was released in 1926, but Technicolor's dye-transfer line didn't start until 1928.

You're right on the money, but since the image capture process remained unchanged between Technicolor Process 2 and 3, the o-neg could have been used to make either bi-pack cemented prints, or re purposed later for dye transfer.

A very similar thing occurred with "The Phantom of the Opera." Released in 1925, its color sequences would have originally been produced by Process 2, i.e. the cemented bipack method, but when the film was re-released in 1929 with sound added, the color sections were printed in the new process 3, dye transfer. This is borne out by the fact that the lone surviving color sequence from the film, the Bal Masque, is a dye transfer print.

And since Technicolor retained all the negatives from the various studios (recalling the horrendous decision by Technicolor to junk all their negatives in the 1930s when the studios refused to reclaim them), they certainly could have produced a new print from the old neg, possibly for a short subject, like one of the Technicolor Fashion films.

Nonetheless, that film clip is priceless and ought to be donated to an archive equipped for nitrate preservation...UCLA, LoC or the MoMA.

BR