Silent Film Fans: Colleen Moore rave

Last weekend we held our annual silent film festival in Topeka, KS. A night and a day of nothing but silent movies. Since I was working the festival I only got to see two films: The Marriage Circle, directed by Ernst Lubitsch and Colleen Moore and Gary Cooper in Lilac Time.

I hadn't seen many Colleen Moore films despite the fact that she was one of the biggest stars in the late silent era. Suffice it to say that Ms. Moore can now count me in as one of her fans! All I can say is, when Norma Desmond said, "We had faces then!" she was definitely talking about Colleen Moore! This woman spoke sentences with her eyes in Lilac Time. One of my favorite scenes was where she does something naughty to Gary Cooper (whom she dislikes at first) and her face then runs the gauntlet of expressions from teasing to pious in about 5 seconds. It got a great laugh from the audience because it was so smoothly done you don't really think about it; but you know it must have taken some kind of work to be able to do it in such a fashion.

BTW, for those of you who know not of whom I speak, look at Flaming Youth's sig pic. That's Colleen. I wish I could tell you Lilac Time was available on video, but it's not. We got our print from a big Moore fan in NYC who was kind enough to loan it to us. He was also a friend of Moore later on in her life.

And Colleen was a great actress - both in dramatic roles and in comedy. Check out Ella Cinders, one of her most famous comedic roles.

I actually have a soundtrack-less video copy of Lilac Time. Apparently Ted Turner really wanted to restore it, but Colleen didn't like him, so the project never went anywhere.

I know Joe, the collector you're talking about. He's a complete sweetheart, a great guy and so knowledgable about so many silent stars, especially Jack Pickford and Olive Thomas. Last year at Cinecon I got to see the almost-finished program on Olive, and of course Joe had provided the still photos. It was over an hour long and they hadn't even used all of his collection! :wow:

So glad to hear that the festival went so well! Sounds great - and I was sure there in spirit!!! :hi:

Me too! Joe accompanied some friends of mine and I up to Calvary cemetary where we paid our respects to Ramon Novarro, Mabel Normand, Irene Dunne and a few of the Barrymores. He has wonderful stories, I could listen to him talk all day.

Are you going to #40 this year? I would like to go but don't know what my work/time off situation will be.

I try to go every year. We'll have to introduce ourselves if we're both there. I enjoy Joe too - I was just sitting in the dealers' rooms while he was working at the Kino table, listening to his amazing stories.

How long have you been going to Cinecon? I can't remember my first one, but I've been going for a while now. :D

Yes, I'll let you know if I go so we can arrange to meet.

The lens loved Colleen. It's difficult to keep in mind that most of the pictures of her were taken in the 1920s.

Here's a whole website full of them: http://silentladies.com/PMoore.html

She has quite a following on the web.

--bkl

And it's where I got my avatar, although it's obviously cropped way down!

You should see Ms. Moore's Fairy Castle...
One of the most popular exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry (for decades).

"A dream is a gift given to us at birth by our Fairy Godmother... a lovely gossamer thought that floats in the secret part of our imagination most of our lives. I was one of the lucky ones, for my dreams came true."

- Colleen Moore




http://www.msichicago.org/exhibit/fairy_castle/Fc_home.htm

One is a guide to it, and the other is The Enchanted Castle, which is a fairy tale-type version written by Colleen. :hi: