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Hollywood in the 1920s
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Hollywood in the 1920s Facts for kids: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about the Hollywood in the 1920s.
Where is Hollywood? Hollywood is
situated Los Angeles, California. The
climate and location of Hollywood was ideal
place for outdoor filming. 85% of U.S. movie
production was made in or around Hollywood
in the 1920's.
What were the major studios of Hollywood in the 1920s? The
'Big Five' studios in the Golden Era of
Hollywood in the 1920s were Warner Brothers,
Paramount, MGM, RKO Radio Pictures and 20th
Century Fox and were challenged by the
establishment of the United Artists studio.
Why was the Hollywood sign built?
The Hollywood Sign was originally
'Hollywoodland' as shown in the picture and
was erected in 1923. It was built by Harry
Chandler as billboard for his Hollywoodland
real estate. The Hollywood sign is now a
landmark and American cultural icon.
Hollywood in the 1920s
Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting facts and information on Hollywood in the 1920s
for kids.
Facts
about the Hollywood in the 1920s for kids
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact 1:
Silent Movies: The first silent
movies in Hollywood in the 1920's were predominantly in
black and white and the story of the movie was conveyed
by a melodramatic acting style with overstated body
language gestures and exaggerated facial expression.
Title cards were also used to explain the movement of
the plot.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
2: Silent Movies: Silent Movies were
accompanied by music that conveyed the drama and emotion
of each scene. The music was played on a piano or an
organ.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact 3:
Silent Movies: Occasionally color tinting was
used as a special effect and to set the mood for feature length
movies.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact 4:
Silent Movies: The first major
feature length silent movie was the highly controversial 1915 'Birth of a
Nation'. Its running time was 133 minutes and it was directed by D.
W. Griffith. The inflammatory movie brought protests by the NAACP
and there were riots in Philadelphia and Boston.
The reaction to the
'Birth of a Nation' movie brought the full realization of the power
of the movies. The success of the full length feature, and the
massive profits the film made ($10,000,000), led to the making of
many epic movies in Hollywood of the 1920's.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact 5:
Silent Movies: Epic silent movies made in
Hollywood in the 1920's. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
grossed $4,000,000. The Covered Wagon (1923) - $3,800,000. The
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) made $3,500,000. The Ten Commandments
(1923) made $3,400,000. Ben-Hur (1925) grossed $5,500,000. The Gold
Rush (1925) - $4,250,000 and The Big Parade (1925) made $6,400,000.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact 6:
Movies were Big Business and
Hollywood became a Mecca for all would-be movie stars
and the movie studios vied with each other to make the
most profits. The studio system evolved and was
essentially about long-term contracts for movie stars,
that prevented them being poached by rival studios.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
7: In 1921 Rudolph Valentino starred in the "The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and caused a sensation
starring in the major
role as "The Sheik"
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
8: In 1922 the first all-color movie
called 'Toll of the Sea' was released starring Anna May
Wong.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
9: The first 3-D movie to be shown in
front of an audience called The Power of Love was
premiered at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel in 1922.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
10: Cecile B. De Mille's made his 2½ hour
epic "The Ten Commandments" in 1923 which cost $1.5
million.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
11: In 1925 the first movie with sound
effects and music, called Don Juan, was made by Warner
Brothers. It starred John Barrymore and Mary Astor.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
12: Charlie Chaplin's silent comedy, in
his Little Tramp persona, called 'The Gold Rush'
premiered on August 16, 1925 and made $4,250,000 for
United Artists.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
13: The 'talkies' started in 1927 by
Warner Brothers when Al Jolson starred in 'The Jazz
Singer' consisted mostly of music with only a couple of
hundred spoken words. However 'The Jazz Singer' and the
talkies were an immediate success and brought about the
demise of the silent movie and its world wide audience
with no language barriers. The last silent movie was
released in 1931.
First talking movie -
The Jazz Singer. By 1930
40% of the nation's cinemas had sound systems installed.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact 14:
In 1927 Clara Bow made a film called "It" which
became synonymous with sex appeal and she was immediately dubbed the
“It” Girl by the Flappers of the Roaring Twenties.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact 15:
Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie premiered on
November 18, 1928, introducing the world to animated film and Mickey
Mouse.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
16: The
Hays Code and Censorship: In 1930 Will Hays and the
Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA)
passed a list of guidelines called "The Don'ts and Be
Carefuls" which became known as the Hays Code. The Hays
Production Code set moral standards and introduced
voluntary self-policing in the movies industry banning
the use of profanity, nudity, immorality and the role of
the "vamp" in the Hollywood movies of the 1920s.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
17: The goal of Will
Hays was to also improve the image of the Hollywood
movie industry which had suffered from a series of
scandals involving famous movie stars of the 1920's.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
18: The most famous
scandal involved "Fatty" Arbuckle and the alleged rape
and murder of model and actress Virginia Rappe. After
three trials "Fatty"Arbuckle was found not guilty and
was acquitted but his career was in ruins.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
19: Scandals: Other
scandals involving Hollywood in the 1920s involved
famous movies stars such as Rudolf Valentino who was gay
or bi-sexual. The licentious behavior of Clara Bow
and Tallulah Bankhead. Other scandals relating to drug
abuse and alcohol addiction involved Mabel Normand,
Wallace Reid and Barbara La Marr.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
20: Will Hays
subsequently created a list of 117 names of actors and
actresses whose personal lives he believed made them
unfit to appear in Hollywood movies.
Continued...
Facts
about the Hollywood in the 1920s for kids
Facts
about the Hollywood in the 1920s for kids:
The Glamour of Hollywood in the 1920s
The glamour of
Hollywood in the 1920s is depicted in the following pictures of
famous movie stars and idols of the Roaring Twenties.
Facts
about the Hollywood in the 1920s for kids
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Facts
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Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
21: The first Oscars (Academy Awards)
were given in 1929 in a short 15 minute ceremony at a
private hotel. Charlie Chaplin won an honorary award for
'The Circus'.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
22: The Studios: Paramount Studio was founded in 1914.
Paramount's major director was Cecil B. de Mille
and its famous movie stars included , Marlene Dietrich,
Clara Bow, the Marx Brothers and WC Fields.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
23: The Studios: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) was formed
in 1924 by the merger of Marcus Loew's Metro Pictures
with Louis B. Meyer Productions and Goldwyn Pictures.
Producer Irving Thalberg was its 'boy wonder' . MGM is
famous for producing the greatest of all musicals. Its
famous early movie stars included Norma Shearer and Joan
Crawford.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
24: The Studios: 20th Century Fox started as the Fox
Film Corporation in 1914 and headed by William Fox. (It
merged with Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures in
1935).The Fox Film Corporation acquired 300 acres of
land west of Beverly Hills in 1926 and built "Movietone
City", the best equipped movie studio of its time. Its
famous movie stars were Janet Gaynor, Will Rogers and
Shirley Temple.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
25: The Studios: RKO was established by Rockerfeller's
Radio Corporation of America in 1928 at the start of the
sound era. Its most famous movie stars were Fred Astaire
and Ginger Rogers.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
26: The Studios: Warner Brothers was founded in the 1920s
and with General Electric developed the sound system used in 'The
Jazz Singer.' Its movie stars included Al Jolson, James Cagney and
Humphrey Bogart. Refer to
First talking movie - The Jazz
Singer
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
27: The Studios: The United Artists studio was established by
Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith
in 1919 to enable them to gain control of their own interests rather
than depending upon the five major Hollywood studios.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
28: The Studios: Columbia Pictures was founded in 1924
by Harry Cohn, along with his brother Jack and Joe
Brandt.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
29: In 1929 the mood
of the nation moved from the exuberant era of prosperity
and revelry to the dark days into the hard times of the
Great
Depression
when 25% of Americans were unemployed. 100s of 'picture
palaces' closed as ticket sales dropped dramatically.
attendance dropped to roughly 60 to 75 million by 1933
and enticements and promotions such as the 'Dish Night
giveaway' were introduced as a desperate ploy to avoid
bankruptcy.
Hollywood in the 1920s Fact
30: A list of Famous movie Stars of
Hollywood in the 1920's are as follows:
Hollywood in
the 1920s
List of Famous
Female Movie Stars
Lillian Gish ●
Claudette Colbert ●
Mary Pickford ●
Norma Shearer ●
Greta Garbo ●
Gloria Swanson ●
Joan Crawford ●
Marion Davies ●
Janet Gaynor ●
Barbara Stanwyck ●
Mildred Davis ●
Louise Brooks ●
Bebe Daniels ●
Fay Wray ●
Norma Talmadge ●
Marie Prevost ●
Pola Negri ●
Rosalind Russell ●
Carole Lombard
List of Famous
Female Movie Stars
Hollywood in
the 1920s
List of Famous Male
Movie Stars
Rudolph Valentino
●
Douglas Fairbanks ●
Charles Chaplin ●
Buster Keaton ●
Fatty Arbuckle ●
Al Jolson ●
John Gilbert ●
Lon Chaney ●
Mack Swain ●
William Haines ●
Conrad Veidt ●
Ramon Novarro ●
Gary Cooper ●
Max Schreck ●
Wallace Beery ●
William Powell ●
Lionel Barrymore ●
George Raft ●
Cary Grant
List of Famous
Male Movie Stars
Facts
about Hollywood in the 1920s for kids
Facts
about
Hollywood in the 1920s
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For visitors interested in the history of
Hollywood in the 1920s also refer to the following articles:
Hollywood in the 1920s for kids - President Warren Harding Video
The article on the Hollywood in the 1920s provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
Warren Harding video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 29th American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, 1921 to August 2, 1923.
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