Token Talkie Blog: No they WERE NOT in Silents!

Silents had about 3 eras, which ended with the 'late/transition class' which consisted of Louise Brooks, Clara Bow, Myrna Loy, Greta Garbo, etc. After them came some of the earliest authentic talkie only stars such as Joan Blondell, Ginger Rogers, Cary Grant, etc. However during this period several other actors (and sometimes more so personalities than actors) ascended to stardom and many have wrongly been credited as having been silent stars or major players in silents; when in fact they had been no more then extras at best. In fact some never even appeared in silents! Below is a list of the most common miscredited names:

Never Appeared in Silents at All

Carmen Miranda
I LOVE Carmen Miranda! Yes she's cheese but the most delicious kind! No matter how depressing her life was at the moment, or how mad her countrymen were at her, she could put on a smile and perform her heart out! That being said she was never in a Silent. Ever.

Oh sure she was a major recording star in Brazil. By 1928 she was a superstar. But she still hadn't appeared in a film. Her first appearance came in the 1933 talkie "A Voz do Carnaval" performing a few songs. It took another 7 years for her to appear in an English film, "Down Argentine Way" in 1940.

Mae West
We love Mae. Even though she tried to kill us with Sextette. What's extremely interesting is she's usually lumped in the Silent Stars transitioners category; yet she wasn't even an EXTRA in a Silent. Yup. Oh hell she was old enough to (she was likely 39 when she entered pictures) but she probably seen no reason to as she was having enough fun with stage. Through the teens and early 20s she was a vaudeville and Broadway performer; once even in a cast with a no0b named Al Jolson! By the 20s she took up writing and performing her own plays, which kinda got her arrested on obscenity charges (1927's simply titled Sex).

Mae didn't venture into pictures until 1932 when MGM offered her a contract. Her first appearance was in the 1932 talkie, "Night after Night". And as you know Mae went on to become infamous in pictures.

The Kinda but not Really Silent Debuts

Clark Gable

Gable acted in various vaudeville circuits before heading for Hollywood with his creepy older wife in 1924. He received a handful of extra roles until 1925 when he returned to the stage. It was in one of these plays that MGM spotted him and offered him a contract. His first role would be in 1931's "The Painted Desert".

Jean Harlow
Can I be honest? WHAT is her appeal? I can't stand her...and her face freaks me out. But she supposedly influenced Marilyn, so can we really argue with that? Beyond the point Jean Harlow is usually cited as having been a silent star...when in reality she wasn't. She wasn't even a transitioner! Much like Gable, Jean had a handful of extra roles in silents between 1927 and 1929. She also had a creepy older women pushing her...only this time it was her mother. Via a talkie myth tinged fate (supposedly Greta Nissen's accent was too heavy) Howard Hughes hired her for a role in 1930's talkie, "Hell's Angels" which would ultimately made her famous. Reviewers agreed with me and called her just plain awful, but it remains: Jean Harlow was not a silent star.

Ruby Keeler
Shocking huh? Al Jolson's wife appeared in only ONE silent! Of course in fairness one must remember she didn't marry Jolson until 1928. Keeler was mainly a dancer, who clunkily tapped her way into being an extra dancer in 1923's The Rise of Rosie O'Reilly. She worked her way up to Broadway and eventually the Follies. But by then Jolson claimed her, she made a few more Follie appearances, and that was that. It took Busby Berkley to save her with 1933's talkie "42nd Street" (one of the first of many such films for Keeler). She may have been a clunky dancer and a lousy annoying actress, but a Silent actress she was not!


Josephine Baker
Miss Baker was pretty cool. But she is wrongly remembered as an actress, when in reality she was more like a Black Quasi French Carmen Miranda. More so then anyone she could technically be classified as having her start in silents, albeit a late one. Baker was a performer in the US and France throughout the 20s.

A huge star in France she made only 3 films, the first one being silent: 1927's "La Sirène des tropiques aka Siren of the Tropics". Her other 2 films were talkies, with her acting career limited to a few appearances throughout the decades afterwards.