Silent Kisses and Themes

I'm sort of piggybacking from my post earlier this week on It's In the Kiss. Only this time I'm posting about kisses from the days of silent cinema.

Thomas Edison's 20-second long The May Irwin Kiss was the most popular Edison Vitascope film in 1896. Many considered it scandalous to view two physically-unattractive people magnified on the screen during an extended kiss.

Alexandre Dumas' famous story of a Parisian courtesan, Camille was remade in the silent era in 1917 with Theda Bara.

Corinne Griffith starred as a destitute, wide-eyed, and naive showgirl in Milestone's silent romantic comedy The Garden of Eden .

Two of the most prominent characters in silent romantic films: Rudolph Valentino and Theda Bara.

Rudolph Valentino: The Latin Lover

The charismatic Valentino was dubbed the "Latin Lover" after an illicit tango dance in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He became a box-office male superstar with his portrayal of a dashing Arabian sheik named Ahmed in a few silent melodramas/costume adventures, The Sheik as well as Son of the Sheik.

Theda Bara: The Vamp

Ohio-born Theodosia Goodman was an unsuccessful stage actress with the name Theodosia de Coppett, until she changed her name to Theda Bara. She became a major star in her first starring role as an exotic, sexually-aggressive femme fatale vamp character in Frank Powell's melodramatic A Fool There Was.

The magic of Greta Garbo and John Gilbert:

Greta Garbo and John Gilbert were two of the earliest romantic screen couples in the silent era. Reportedly, they had Hollywood's first French kiss on screen in a shadowy garden scene, and the first-ever horizontal-position kisses in an American film. Soon after, they were paired in MGM's melodramatic silent film A Woman of Affairs.

For more about early romance, you can click the source where I gathered this information from Here.

Starting next month, along with my regular blogging, I'll also be participating in the A-Z Challenge.

I'd like to say I was forced into it, but really I like a challenge, and it intrigued me. I'm sure I'll be sorry later ;) My theme for these A-Z posts will be Couple Getaways.

Hope you'll stop in and check them out.

Now I must get back to writing! Have a wonderful day :)

~Ann Cory