Last week we ran a poster of silent screen star Nazimova which was used in the 1920′s to promote her films. It was an excellent example of how art was woven into film advertising.
Hello, everybody. Joe Morella and Frank Segers here with another wonderful drawing of another memorable film star.
Joe found this shot of a drawing of John Garfield in his collection and thought he’d share it with the world. It was done in the late 1940′s when Garfield had formed his own production company, and was releasing films such as “Body and Soul”
Have you any examples of art work used for advertising from the Golden Age of Movies? We’d love it if you would share it with us.
YESTERDAY’S PIC: Before we reveal the identity of the “child” star in yesterday’s photo, a short anecdote about a real child star, Shirley Temple.
When novelist Graham Greene (not a fan of Shirley’s) suggested in a magazine article that Temple was really an adult actress impersonating a child, the publication found itself facing a lawsuit.
Well, yesterday’s star — the “it” girl, Clara Bow — really was and older actress assaying more or less a child role, at least early in her career. By the late Twenties, she was one of Hollywood’s biggest silent screen stars.
Born in Brooklyn in 1905, Clara was (like so many movie actresses) a beauty contest winner, and made her first movie, a small part in “Beyond The Rainbow,” in 1922. Since she was all of 17 at the time, she had, with the help of makeup and costumes, little trouble passing as a child.
But Bow’s movie fame hardly rested on a childlike appearance. By the late Twenties she was the personification of a young woman possessing, in equal parts, bounce, determination and sex appeal. She had “it” whatever “it” was. Bow is probably best remembered today for being Hollywood’s first mass-market sex symbol.
She certainly warrants a solo blog on ClassicMovieChat.Com. We will be revisiting the life and career of Clara Bow, so stay tuned.
