I love The Silent Movie Blog run by Chris Snowden of Unknown Video. Been following them since they were a 'blog blog '(at .blog.com). Chris recently ran a "Nail the Lie" contest, challenging his readers to pick which odd 'movie mag fact' was true or not. It was a tough one but this one stood out to me:
""The Regulars,” the cream of Hollywood’s feminine society, hosted a dance contest at the Cafe Montmartre in 1928. The winners by acclamation for the best Charleston were Joan Crawford and Buddy Rogers. The winners for the best foxtrot were Joan Crawford… and William S. Hart."
Everyone knows I despise Joan Crawford. But I do know enough about her to know she would have been round 1928 and she was known for winning dancing contests, particularly the Charelston at The Ambassador. Buddy Rogers (who I think was handsome and lovingly refer to as BFed) would have been at his own rising fame during that time. So far it sounds true eh?
The ironic thing is thanks to The Silent Movie Theatre and their Western Silents month a few years ago I know a bit more about William S. Hart than one would assume. My own old timer men love modern westerns, so naturally I don't. They seem absurd to me. But I did like William S. Hart and Tom Mix well enough.
William S. Hart was an old timer himself, having been born (likely) 1864 making him quite old by flicker days. He was said to be a serious man (of legit theatre no less) and bailed on founding United Artists in 1919 because he was too scared of it failing. He remained a loyal company man, meaning he would eventually get screwed, with Tom Mix making his slow Westerns look antique to children. In 1925 he made his final film, "Tumbleweeds" and released it via United Artists. Even though it did decently (and it is a good movie) he thought it was underpromoted and sued into oblivion over it. He then retired to his ranch and had only one brief thing to do with film (recording a talkie intro to Tumbleweeds) until his death in 1946.
So he wouldn't have been sociable, he would have left Hollywood by 1928 and was definitly making no more films. Add to that his reputation as serious and well...older. My guess is William S. Hart would have had the same opinion of Joan Crawford that I do...
One other thing I realized after the fact was Cafe Montmartre was long out of fashion by 1928, in fact it may have been closed (can't remember)! The still going 110 year old Frederica Sagor Maas (who met Joan Crawford on her arrival to Hollywood and called her an 'obvious strumpet') insisted in her autobiography "The Shocking Miss Pilgrim" that the owner of Montmartre deserved a star on the Walk of Fame and that fickle Hollywood had killed him off in favor of the Sunset Tower by the mid 20s. Good one Chris! Best part? 8 other people jumped in, but I was the first guesser, and the only one to get it right. I'm so badass that way.
2 comments:
Good post and adds another take to my blogs on Hollywood Silents 1914-1929.
Good call. Considering how wooden his acting style was, it is hard to picture Hart as much of a dancer much less an ace foxtrotter. Considering the puritanical streak in his films and a taste for teenage virgin types that apparently rivaled that of Griffith or Chaplin, one can easily imagine his distaste for publicly cavorting with a harlot like Crawford.
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