Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses

Gloria Swanson

GLORIA SWANSON To the majority of Americans, Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. (1950) is the archetypal silent film star, deranged, out-of-touch with reality, clinging desperately to the past, and wearing makeup that even Theda Bara might have rejected as over the top. If anything, for all its entertainment value, Sunset Blvd. does a disservice both to silent players and to Gloria Swanson. Just as Norma Desmond is not your typical silent star, so Gloria Swanson is not Norma Desmond. Gloria Swanson (Chicago, March 27, 1897-New York. April 4, 1983) was not a one-dimensional player. Even in Sunset Blvd., when she impersonates Chaplin, as she had done in Manhandled (1924), there is evidence of a comedic brilliance. As a waitress who dreams of becomingan actress in Stage Struck (1925), she engages in physical comedy, including a boxing match with Gertrude Astor, and parodies the type of star she was fast becoming in a dream sequence as Salome, closely modeled after Nazimova's performance. Early in a career that began in 1914 with the Chicago-based Essanay Company, she had been considered as a leading lady to Chaplin, but just as she rejected the notion of being typecast opposite him, so, later, did she turn down Mack Sennett's suggestion that he turn her into a second Mabel Normand. "You aren't going to make a second anything out of me!" Cecil B. DeMille, who appears in Sunset Blvd., made Swanson a star in a series of six films, beginning with Don't Change Your Husband (1919), sensibly casting her opposite some of the biggest leading men of the day, including Thomas Meighan and Wallace Reid. In the 1920s, Paramount continued the star-making process, allowing Swanson free reign in the production in france of Madame Sans-Gene (1925), in which she portrays Napoleon's laundress. for an example of Swanson's dramatic power, one need look no further than Zaza (1923), directed by Allan Dwan, with whom Swanson formed the perfect combination . Her transformation from the flighty Zaza to the elegant Parisien Zaza is excellent: there is perfection in her walk as enters the theatre, stopping herself from kicking her maid on the backside, and as she fights with her theatrical rival florianne. There is such a good french atmosphere to this production that one can well understand why Swanson was so warmly welcomed to Paris and the filming of Madame Sans-Gene. With The Love ofSunya (1927), Swanson formed her own production company, with financial assistance from Joseph P. Kennedy, who later became her lover, helped promote her second independent production, Sadie Thompson (1928), and, foolishly, allowed her to hire Erich von Stroheim to direct her in Queen Kelly (1928). Singing "Love, Your Magic Spell Is Every- 354 Gloria Swanson where." Swanson made a good transition to sound with The Trespasser(1929). but her career was basically over by the 1930s and. in large part. revived thanks to Sunset Blvd. Curiously. the actress failed to take advantage of the film and appeared in nothing more of worth on screen. Swanson was an actress who understood what it was to be a star and what was expected of a star by her public. In September 1971. after lunch with Lois Wilson at Sardi's in New York. the two of us headed over to the Booth Theatre. where Swanson was starring in Butterflies Are Free. Lois had been very close to the actress since their time together at Paramount in the 1920s and wanted meto meet Gloria. A crowd was gathered at the stage door. as a limousine. complete with uniformed chauffeur drove up. The chauffeuropened the door. and a tiny figure. dressed more for the opera than a Wednesday afternoon in New York. descended from the automobile. Graciously. she stopped to wave to her fans and sign a couple of autographs. and then disappeared into the theatre. pursued by Lois and me. It was a memorable moment . despite Swanson's later angrily berating Wilson for bringing me into her presence. "I can't see him now. I can't talk to him now:' she declared with a look in my direction that would surely have put both DeMille and vonStroheim in their place. Note: Gloria Swanson's voluminous papers are at the University of Texas at Austin. Bibliography Albert. Katherine. "What Next for Gloria?" Photoplay. July 1929. pp. 64-6~. 12412...