Lillian Gish By Monte Blue (Photoplay Magazine – July 1924)

Lillian Gish By Monte Blue (Photoplay Magazine – July 1924)

Monte Blue - Riding to rescue Henriette Girard (Lillian Gish) - Orphans
Monte Blue – Riding to rescue Henriette Girard (Lillian Gish) – Orphans of the Storm

Favorite Sweethearts of the Screen

As Chosen and Described by the Greatest Screen Lovers

Photoplay Magazine – July 1924 Vol. XXVI No. 2

Photoplay has long contended that the cursory interview is unsatisfactory and unfair, and has, therefore, engaged the writers whose intimacy and friendships with film people make it possible for them to present genuine character pictures. With the same purpose we have asked the most distinguished romantic actors of the screen to give their frank opinions as to the most charming women in pictures. The results surpass our expectations, revealing in flashes the throbbing human interest behind the screen, great friendships and admiration, personal characteristics that have never before been emphasized. It is therefore with confidence that we present The Great Sweethearts of the Screen as seen by their Screen Lovers

Monte Blue and Lillian Gish (Orphans of the Storm)
Monte Blue and Lillian Gish (Orphans of the Storm)

Lillian Gish

By Monte Blue

Were I chosen to play the role of any great screen lover, such as Romeo, I would want to kneel and worship before the shrine of Lillian Gish. I had the luck to play opposite her in “Orphans of the Storm.” I have had the luck to play with a great many wonderful girls in pictures. But Lillian—Lillian absolutely transported me. As a fan, too, Lillian touches me more deeply than any other actress. When I saw her in “The White Sister” I wept, and I wasn’t ashamed either. Do you remember that scene in “The White Sister” where she bids goodbye to her lover and looks out from the little window in the back of the carriage, looks, and looks and looks until she sees him no more? Don’t you suppose that the man playing opposite her felt that look as you did? Lillian Gish is inspiring and inspired. She is the Madonna woman and greater praise no man can give.

The White Sister
Lillian Gish (Angela Chiaromonte) The White Sister

 

Pola Negri 1931
29th January 1931: Pola Negri (1897 – 1987), born in Poland ‘Appolonis Chalupek’, the Hollywood film star and actress, probably the most exotic of the personalities of the silent days she thrived on femme fatale roles.

Pola Negri

By Robert Frazer

I am glad for the opportunity to pay homage to the greatest emotional actress of stage or screen with whom I have ever worked—Pola Negri. I have never in my life beheld a woman of such sublime dramatic talent. In the romantic sequences and love scenes I have never seen her equal. I lived every moment of the character I played opposite her in ” Men.” I lived it because she made me feel it so completely. Her entire soul is wrapped up in her work. And her eyes … I have heard of people talking with their eyes, but I was more or less skeptical until I worked with Miss Negri. In the love scenes she is an entrancing creature. Her composite nature encompasses every emotion. She ignores all stage technique, all camera angles. She is just a mighty, vital rush of human power. Into every scene she throws herself with such fervor of abandon that one finds he must draw on all his knowledge and experience to come up to her work, and then he will find that Pola always overshadows him completely. In tribute to Pola Negri, great woman and great artist, I must add that never have I worked with anyone so generous, so stimulating in her praise. Yes, Pola Negri is my ideal of greatness both in woman and in artist.

Photoplay (Jul 1924) Sweethearts of the screen
Photoplay (Jul 1924) Sweethearts of the screen
Lillian Gish and Monte Blue (Orphans of the Storm)
Lillian Gish and Monte Blue (Orphans of the Storm)
Pola Negri - MEN (Lobby Card)
Pola Negri – MEN (Lobby Card)

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