Posts Tagged ‘Way Down East’

By the beginning of 1920, film had already become widely popularized. There were over 20,000 locations in the United States alone that had begun to show movies. Film was already so popular, Hollywood’s Chamber of Commerce had already begun to ask acting hopefuls to try to stay out of the movies due to the overwhelming response to moving pictures. Politics were even brought into the mix when The Americanization Committee was formed. This committee, which was led by film executives and various politicians, hoped to influence a level of patriotism through the films being released. While films still played without sound, Brazil began to test out the use of records to be played during films in order to give them the sense of sound. The idea of film celebrity grew to even greater heights when two of the most famous actors of the time, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, were wed. In addition to all this, a British teen named Archie Leach came to America. Leach would later take on the stage name, Cary Grant, and become one of the most famous actors of his generation.

Read the rest of this entry »