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

Norma Talmage

NORMA TALMAGE While there are dramatic performances in individual silent films that stand out-most notably Mae Marsh and Miriam Cooper in Intolerance-there is only actress whose entire silent career is exemplary of the best in dramatic performance. That performer is Norma Talmadge. each one of whose characterizations is unique and created with a dramatic force unlike that found in any other actress. "With Norma Talmadge every part is a separate and distinct creation." wrote Adela Rogers St. Johns in 1926. 'And when you see her upon the screen. you never see Norma Talmadge. You. as an audience. know absolutely nothing of the woman. Norma Talmadge." Norma Talmadge (Jersey City. New Jersey. May 26. 1897-Las Vegas. December 24. 1957) could play both modern and period roles. and whoever the director might be. she was able to control and modulate her performance to the part. She was a natural dramatic actress. with an emotional intensity where necessary and a quiet presence at other times. The double tragedy is that while many of her films have survived they do not get screened. and because they are not lightweight affairs. easy to watch and understand. they require more from their audiences than do lessersilent productions with lesser silent stars. Panthea (1917) was the first film for her own production company. Based on a popular play by Monckton Hoffe. it was a dramatic tour de force for Olga Petrova on stage and similarly on screen for Talmadge. The actress made many films with Sidney franklin. quite a few of which are little more than program pictures. but also Smilin' Through (1922). one of the greatest screen romances of all time. In \t\;lthin the Law(1923). again based on a popular play (this time by Bayard Veiller). Talmadge is a New York shopgirl wrongly accused of theft who becomes a blackmailer. Graustark (1925) has her as the princess of a mythical kingdom who wins approval from her people for marriage to an American commoner. New York or Ruritania. the setting mattered little when the performance was uniformly good. In 1926. Talmadge played the title role of Kim in the french romantic comedy. and was as good. if not better. than Mary Pickford in the 1931 sound remake. Alexandre Dumas fils's tragic heroine. Marguerite Gautier. was an obvious role for the actress. and. again. her 1927 version of Camille is the equal of. and certainly less studied. than the later Garbo production. In Camille. Talmadge plays opposite her offscreen lover. Gilbert Roland. and sparks fly just as they do in the couple's other silent films. The Dove (1927) and The Woman Disputed (1928). The last was a not entirely successful farewell to an era. and it was followed by two sound productions. New York Nights (1929) 374 Norma Talmadge and DuBarry; Woman ofPassion (1930), which are not without interest from a technical standpoint but are hampered by an actress whose voice sadly sounds inappropriate to her appearance and bearing. The oldest of the Talmadge sisters, Norma Talmadge began her professional career as a youngster posing for song slides, and, in late 1910, she joined the Vitagraph Company. She first came to public attention as the young woman accompanying Sidney Carton (played by Maurice Costello) in the tumbril on his way to the guillotine in the company's three-reel 1911 production of A Tale ofTwo Cities. The part is insignificant yet highly relevant from a dramatic standpoint, and just as it made a star of Norma Talmadge, so did the same role in the 1917 version help draw attention to florence Vidor. Talmadge left Vitagraph in the summer of 1915 after starring in its major anti-German propagandistic drama, The Battle Cry of Peace. She worked under D.W. Griffith's supervision, if not direction, at fine Arts during 1916. Curiously, if modern audiences know Talmadge at all, it is because she is the star of the much-screened, drug-related fine Arts production, The Devils Needle. The film does little for the actress or for the drug issue. On October 20, 1916. Norma Talmadge married producer Joseph M. Schenck, and he supervised, nurtured and sustained her career, much as Irving Thalberg later did at MGM for Norma Shearer. Schenck and Talmadge divorced in April 1934.That same year. she married entertainer George Jessel, divorcing him in 1939, and in 1946. the actress made a final marriage, to Las...