Anthony Slide

Lillian Gish: The Birth of a Nation actress enmeshed in Bowling Green University controversy. Should Lillian Gish be labeled a racist because at age 21 she had one of the lead roles in D.W. Griffith’s landmark – and to this day contentious – 1915 Civil…

Magnificent Obsession book by Anthony Slide. Whereas Lloyd C. Douglas’ 1929 Magnificent Obsession book dealt with a playboy’s urge to restore the eyesight of the woman he had accidentally blinded, Anthony Slide’s latest explores the lives and times of movie buffs. Now, are Twilight, The…

Valentino with Rudolf Nureyev and Michelle Phillips. Ken Russell’s 1977 Rudolph Valentino biopic Valentino is based on the dubious 1966 bio (“Was he a great lover – or a sham?”) penned by Chaw Mank and Brad Steiger. A coal miner’s son and self-proclaimed psychic, Mank…

Jimmy Edwards. Best known for his radio and television work – Take It from Here in the former medium; Whack-O! in the latter – British comedian Jimmy Edwards was seen, mostly in small parts, in about a dozen features from the late 1940s to the…

One of cinema’s early comediennes, Dorothy Devore: between 1918 and 1930, the Ft. Worth-born actress was seen in nearly 100 movies, both features and shorts. Among them were Salvation Sue, Naughty Mary Brown, and Saving Sister Susie, all with frequent partner Earle Rodney. ‘Comediennes of…

Comedy actress Alice Howell on the cover of film historian Anthony Slide’s latest book: Pioneering funky-haired performer “could have been Chaplin” – or at the very least another Louise Fazenda. Rediscovering comedy actress Alice Howell: Female performer in movie field dominated by men Early comedy…

Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, and Ingrid Bergman: The ‘Notorious’ British (Hitchcock, Grant) and Swedish (Bergman) talent. British actors and directors in Hollywood; Hollywood actors and directors in Britain: Anthony Slide’s ‘A Special Relationship.’ ‘A Special Relationship’ Q&A: Britain in Hollywood and Hollywood in Britain First…

Kitty Gordon: Silent film star with the ‘most beautiful’ and most heavily insured back. Rediscovering a long-forgotten silent film star: Kitty Gordon It seems almost unthinkable that there are still silent film stars who have not been resurrected, their lives and movies subject to detailed,…

Sunset Blvd. with Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond: Final Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder collaboration. Publication of Charles Brackett diaries quashes gay rumors and reveals screenwriter-producer’s troubled relationship with his more famous partner, Billy Wilder. The Charles Brackett Diaries: Gay rumors quashed & troubled Billy…

Charles Brackett ca. 1945: Billy Wilder screenwriting partner (1936–1949), producer (1945–1949) and Hollywood diarist. Q&A with ‘Charles Brackett Diaries’ editor Anthony Slide: Billy Wilder’s screenwriter-producer partner in his own words Six-time Academy Award winner Billy Wilder is a film legend. He is renowned for classics…

‘Hollywood Hero’ John Dewar remembered (image: Anthony Slide wearing Tom Mix’s hat in 1976) Perhaps I have been around too long, but as I grow older I grow despondent that those who contributed so much to film history in the past are forgotten, with others…

Movie extras, bit players and stand-ins: Film historian Anthony Slide lecture at the historical Lasky-DeMille Barn (image: Olivia de Havilland and her The Charge of the Light Brigade stand-in, Ann Robinson) Author and film historian Anthony Slide will be talking about his latest book, Hollywood…

Movie extra jobs & other Hollywood Unknowns. Holywood Unknowns: A history of movie extras and bit players In Hollywood Unknowns (University Press of Mississippi), film historian Anthony Slide delves into a rarely discussed side of Hollywood moviemaking: the aspirations and travails of those invariably nameless,…

D.W. Griffith Father of Film, controversial figure. To say that the movies wouldn’t be what they are today without D.W. Griffith is probably inaccurate. I mean, someone – or “someones” – would have received credit for turning filmmaking into a major art form. Either way,…

Male impersonator Kitty Doner: Vaudeville Theatre History. Vaudeville theatre history: ‘The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville’ Vaudeville history in Anthony Slide’s The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville. Vaudeville is now extinct – at least officially. But about a century ago and well into the 1930s, vaudeville (under various names,…

Wholesome silent era superstars Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks drawn by Vargas (probably best known for his drawings of naked and semi-naked women in Playboy), Motion Picture Long before Robert Pattinson, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie, Kristen Stewart, Zac Efron, and…