Norma Talmadge

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Norma Talmadge

Born May 26, 1893(1893-05-26)
Niagara Falls, New York[1], United States
Died December 24, 1957 (aged 64)
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Spouse(s) Joseph Schenck (1916 - 1934)
George Jessel (1934 - 1939)
Carvel James (1946 - 1957)

Norma Talmadge (May 26, 1893 – December 24, 1957) was one of the greatest film stars of the silent era. A major box office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 20s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.[2]

Her most famous film was Smilin’ Through (1922),[3] but she also scored artistic triumphs teamed with director Frank Borzage in Secrets (1924) and The Lady (1925). Her younger sisters Constance Talmadge and Natalie Talmadge were also movie stars. Norma married millionaire and film producer Joseph Schenck and they successfully created their own production company. After reaching fame in the Film studios on the East Coast, she moved to Hollywood in 1922.

A specialist in melodrama, Norma Talmadge was one of the most elegant and glamorous film stars of the roaring twenties. By the end of the silent film period her popularity with audiences had waned.[4] After her two talkies proved disappointing at the box office, she retired a very wealthy woman. Of all the silent stars whose reputation collapsed with the coming of sound, Norma Talmadge was the most important. She is little remembered, since her films are seldom revived today, yet in her day she was hugely popular and the epitome of stardom.

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[edit] Early life

Norma Talmadge was born on May 26, 1893[5] in Niagara Falls, New York,[6] the eldest daughter of Fred Talmadge, a chronic unemployed alcoholic, and Margaret "Peg" Talmadge, a witty and indomitable woman. Norma’s childhood was marked by poverty. One Christmas morning Fred Talmadge left the house to buy food and never came back. He deserted the family leaving his wife and three little daughters, Norma, Natalie and Constance, to fend for themselves.[7] To provide for her family, Peg took in laundry, sold cosmetics, taught painting classes and rented out rooms, raising her daughters in Brooklyn, New York.

One day, teenager Norma came home from Erasmus High School talking about one of her classmates, a girl who modeled for popular, illustrated song slides, which were often shown before the feature in movie theatres, with the audience singing along. Mrs. Talmadge decided to locate the photographer, and arranged an interview for Norma, who, initially rejected, was hired soon after. When they went to the theatre to see Norma's "debut" Peg resolved to get her into motion pictures.[8] In the grandest tradition of a stage mother, Mrs. Talmadge pushed all three of her daughters to become actresses, encouraging them relentlessly to make money and invest it, though none of the sisters were really interested in being movie stars.

[edit] Early films

Norma Taldmadge, publicity picture
Norma Taldmadge, publicity picture

Norma was the eldest and the most beautiful among the three daughters and the first pushed by the mother to look for a career as a film actress.[9] Mother and daughter traveled to the Vitagraph Studios in Flatbush, New York, just a streetcar ride from her home.[10] They managed to get past the studio gates and in to see the casting director, who promptly threw them out. Fate intervened, however, when scenario editor Breta Breuill, attracted by Norma's beauty, arranged a small part for her as a young girl who is kissed under a photographer's cloth in The Household Pest (1909). [11]

Thanks to Breuill's continued patronage, between 1911-12 Norma played bit parts in over 100 films. Norma eventually earned a spot in the stock company at $25 per week and got a steady stream of work. Her first role as a contract actress was 1911's In Neighboring Kingdom, with comedian John Bunny. Her first real success came with the first original screen version of A Tale of Two Cities (1911), a three hour epic released in weekly one-reel segments in which she played the small role of Mimi, a seamstress who accompanies Sidney Carton to the guillotine.[12] With help from the studio's major star, Maurice Costello, the star of A Tale of Two Cities, Norma’s acting improved and she continued to play everything from leads to extras, gaining valuable experience and public exposure in a variety of characters -- from a colored mammy to a clumsy waitress to a reckless young modern, she began attracting both public and critical notice. By 1913 she was Vitagraph's most promising young actress.[13] That same year she was assigned to Van Dyke Brooke's acting unit, and throughout 1913-14 appeared in more films playing frequently with Antonio Moreno as her leading man.

In 1915 Norma got her big break, starring in Vitagraph’s prestigious feature film The Battle Cry of Peace, an anti-German propagandistic drama.[14] But ambitious Peg saw that Norma's potential could carry them further, and got a two-year contract with National Pictures Company for 8 features and $400 per week. Norma's last film for Vitagraph was The Crown Prince's Double and in the summer of 1915 she left Vitagraph. In the five years she had been with Vitagraph she made over 250 films.

In August the Talmadges left for California where Norma first role was in Captivating Mary Carstairs. The whole enterprise was a fiasco; the sets and costumes were cheap and the studio itself lacked adequate backing. The film was a flop, and the small new studio shut down after the release of Mary Carstairs. The demise of National Pictures Company left the family stranded in California after only one picture. Deciding it was smarter to aim high, they went to Triangle Corporation, where D.W. Griffith was supervising productions. On the strength of The Battle Cry, Norma got a contract with Griffith's Fine Arts Company. For eight months, Norma starred in seven features for Triangle, including the comedy The Social Secretary (1916), a comedy written by Anita Loos and directed by John Emerson, that gave her an opportunity to disguise her beauty as a girl trying to avoid the unwelcome attentions of her male employers.[15] Her sister, Constance, was also hired, but unlike her, Norma did not work under Griffith's direction.

[edit] Norma Talmadge Film Corporation

Norma Talmadge, publicity picture
Norma Talmadge, publicity picture

When the contract ran out the Talmadges returned to New York. At a party, Norma met Broadway and film producer Joseph M. Schenck, a wealthy exhibitor who wanted to produce his own films. Immediately taken by Norma both personally and professionally, Schenck proposed marriage and a production studio. Two months later on October 20, 1916 they were married.[16] Norma called her much older husband “ Daddy”. He supervised, controlled and nurtured her career in alliance with Norma’s mother.[17]

In 1917, the couple formed the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation, which became a lucrative enterprise. Norma's short, heavy husband vowed he would make his wife the greatest star of all, and one to be remembered always. The best stories, most opulent costumes, grandest sets, talented casts and distinguished directors, along with spectacular publicity, would be hers. Before long, women around the world wanted to be the romantic Norma Talmadge, and flocked to her extravagant movies filmed on the East Coast.

Schenck soon had a stable of stars operating in his studio in New York, with the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation making dramas on the ground floor, the Constance Talmadge Film Corporation making sophisticated comedies on the second floor, and the Comic unit with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle on the top floor, with Natalie Talmadge acting as secretary and taking occasional small roles in her sisters' films. Arbuckle brought in his nephew Al St. John and vaudeville star Buster Keaton. When Scheck decided it was financially advantageous to rent Arbuckle to Paramount for feature films, Keaton took over the comedy unit and soon married Natalie, bringing him more thoroughly into the Talmadge family fold, at least for a time.

Norma’s first film for her studio, the now lost Panthea, (1917) was directed by Allan Dwan with assistants Erich von Stroheim and Arthur Rossen .The film was a dramatic tour the force for her in a story set in Russia, of a woman who sacrifices herself to help her husband. The film was a hit, turning Norma into a sensation and established her as a first rate dramatic actress.[18]

Norma’s acting ability improved rapidly during this period. She made between four and six films a year in New York between 1917 and 1921. Under Schenck's personal supervision other films followed, including Poppy (1917) in which, she was paired with Eugene O'Brien.[19] The teaming was such a hit they made 10 more films together, including The Moth, and The Secret of the Storm Country. In 1918 she reteamed with, Sidney Franklin, who directed The Safety Curtain, Her Only Way, Forbidden City, The Heart of Wetona, and 1919's The Probation Wife. These films have an intimate feel, with small-scale settings and familiar actors appearing from one film to the next; even Norma's personal jewelry and pets can be recognized. An advantage of the East Coast locale was access to the country's best high fashion designers, such as Madame Francis and Lucile. Eventually Norma began writing a regular monthly fashion advice column for Photoplay magazine.

Most of the films are melodramas, usually in a marital or society setting, and deal with a wider variety of contemporary social issues than her later films. Norma exhibited a real freshness, vitality, and natural charm and good humor that won her an increasing number of fans. If most of her films were repetitious and predictable, it did not seem to matter to her legion of fans, which voted her the runaway box office favorite in 1921, polling more than twice as many votes as her closest competitor, her sister Constance.

In 1919, her movie, The New Moon, was so thronged with patrons at New York's Rivoli Theatre that Norma and her sisters could not get in to see it. The police ordered the box office to stop selling tickets to prevent overcrowding. As Norma's star ascended, her sister Constance became a film favorite in her own right, conversely specializing in comedies; the other Talmadge sister, Natalie, not as pretty and photogenic, made only a few movies, and soon retired.

[edit] Hollywood films

Natalie, Constance and Norma Taldmadge
Natalie, Constance and Norma Taldmadge

Throughout the 1920s Norma continued to triumph in films such as 1920's Yes or No, The Branded Woman, Passion Flower (1921 The Sign on the Door (1921). The next year she had her biggest hit, Smilin´ Through (1922) directed by Sidney Franklin. One of the greatest screen romances of the silent film era, it was remade twice, in 1932 with Norma Shearer and in 1941 with Jeanette MacDonald. This would be the most popular film of her entire career.[20]

After Smilin' Through, Schenck closed the New York studios and Norma and Constance moved to Hollywood to join Buster and Natalie, who had preceded them. The sisters threw themselves into the Hollywood social scene, and Norma and Constance's refreshing lack of pretense soon made them among the most popular and best liked stars among their peers.

Norma's Hollywood films were different from her New York films. Bigger and glossier, they were fewer but more varied, often with period or exotic settings. She teamed with cinematographer Tony Gaudio and some of Hollywood's finest costume designers for a more glamorous image. She also worked with top-flight directors such as Frank Lloyd, Clarence Brown, and best of all, Frank Borzage. Though her films were uneven, she did the finest work of her career during this period. With help from films directed by first husband Joseph M. Schenck, Norma became one of the most highly paid actresses of the 1920's[21]

In 1923, a poll of picture exhibitors named Norma Talmadge the number one box office star. She was earning $10,000 a week, and receiving as many as 3,000 letters weekly from her fans. Her film Secrets, (1924), directed by Frank Borzage marked the pinnacle of her career giving her best performance and receiving the best reviews. [22] It was said that no one could suffer on the silver screen better than Norma could, and she was artfully described by one critic as “The Lady of the Great Indoors”.

Joseph Schenck had moved over to head United Artists in 1924, but Norma still had a distribution contract with First National. She continued to make successful films such as The Lady (1925) directed by Frank Borzage and the romantic comedy Kiki (1926) directed by Clarence Brown, remade later by Mary Pickford as a sound film in 1931. [23]

In 1927, Norma Talmadge started a famous Hollywood tradition when she accidentally stepped into wet cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.[24]

[edit] Career decline

Norma’s last film for First National was Camille (1926),[25] a film adaptation of an Alexandre Dumas, fils novel later remade by Greta Garbo. During the filming of Camille, Norma fell in love with leading man Gilbert Roland,[26] She asked Schenck for a divorce, but he was not ready to grant it. Nor, despite his personal feelings, was he going to break up a moneymaking team, and he continued casting Roland in her next three films released by United Artists. Norma and Joe Schenck separated, though he continued producing her films. He was now president of the prestigious but theater-poor United Artists Corporation, and the rest of Norma’s films were released for that company. UA’s distribution problems, however, began to erode Norma’s popularity. Her first films for this studio, The Dove (1927) and The Woman Disputed (1928) were box-office failures and ended up being her last silent movies.

By the time Woman Disputed (1928) was released, the talking film revolution had begun, and Norma began taking voice lessons in preparation. She worked diligently with voice coaches for over a year so she could make her sound debut. Contrary to popular belief, she does not speak with a Brooklyn accent in sound films. Her first talkie, New York Nights (1929), showed that she could speak and act acceptably in talkies.[27] While her performance was good, the film was not. Norma tried a big, important film next, DuBarry, Woman of Passion (1930). In spite of the elaborate sets by William Cameron Menzies, between incompetent direction and Talmadge's inexperience at a role requiring very demanding vocal acting, the film was a dismal failure. It was such a disaster of acting, dialogue, and sound that the film was an embarrassing flop. Norma’s failure in DuBarry, Woman of Passion (1930]) inspired the hilarious character of the 1920s actress Lina Lamont with the thick Brooklyn accent played by Jean Hagen in Singin' in the Rain (1952).

Her sister Constance sent her a telegram with this advice: "Quit pressing your luck, baby. The critics can't knock those trust funds Mama set up for us".[28] As time passed it was increasingly clear that the public was no longer interested in its old favorites, and Talmadge was approaching forty, a difficult age for an actress in any era. She was seen as an icon of the past. Norma had been increasingly bored with filmmaking before the talkie challenge came along, and this setback seems to have discouraged her from further attempts. The world was moving on and the public had turned away from its old silent screen favorites in favor of the new talkie stars.

She still had two more films on her United Artists contract. Sam Goldwyn announced he had bought The Greeks Had a Word for It for her in late 1930, and she reportedly did some stage rehearsals for it in New York, but within a few months, she asked to be released from her contract and she never again appeared on screen.

[edit] Retirement

Once leaving the movie world, Norma Talmadge rid herself of all the duties and responsibilities of stardom. She sweetly told eager fans who were pressing her for an autograph as she left a restaurant, "Get away, dears. I don't need you anymore." [29][30] However, she was regarded a loyal friend who thought nothing of standing by those she cared about, either publicly amid rumors or scandal or privately.

Some time before late 1932, she decided against marrying Gilbert Roland, as he was twelve years younger than she was and Norma feared he would eventually leave her. Mother Peg fell ill in 1931, and died in September 1933.

In late 1932, Talmadge began seeing Joe’s poker friend, comedian George Jessel. In April 1934, Schenck, from whom she had been separated for seven years, finally granted Talmadge her divorce and nine days later, she married George Jessel.[31] Schenck continued to do what he could for Norma and her sisters, acting as a financial advisor and guiding her business affairs. In 1934, in Tender Is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald referred to Norma Talmadge as the epitome of late 1920’s glamour.

George Jessel had a radio program, which was sagging in its ratings. He asked his new wife to become a regular on his show, and Norma made some appearances on it, her last professional work. The program soon ended, and the marriage did not last; the couple divorced in 1939. Fortunately, Schenck's business acumen and her mother's watchful ambition for her daughters had resulted in a huge fortune for Norma Talmadge, and she never wanted for money. Restless since the end of her filmmaking days, Talmadge traveled, often shuttling between her houses, entertaining, and visiting with her sisters. In 1946 she married Carvel James, a Beverly Hills physician. [32]

Norma, who had never been comfortable with the burdens of public celebrity, became reclusive. Increasingly crippled by painful arthritis [33] and reportedly to be dependent on painkilling drugs, [34] she moved to the warm climate of Las Vegas for her final years. In 1956 she was voted by her peers as one of the top five female stars of the pre 1925 era, but was too ill to travel to Rochester, New York, to accept her award. She died from a stroke on Christmas Eve, 1957 in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband at her side. She was 64.

One of the first people her sisters called to convey news of her death was Gilbert Roland. The public had not forgotten her, either, and her death was front page news all over the country.

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Norma Talmadge: a Great Moving Picture Star
  2. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 138
  3. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 149
  4. ^ An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 : Denise Lowe, p. 517
  5. ^ “The Film Encyclopedia”: Ephraim Katz, p.564
  6. ^ Norma Talmadge: a Great Moving Picture Star
  7. ^ Norma Talmadge - Silent Star of November, 1997
  8. ^ Norma Talmadge - Silent Star of November, 1997
  9. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 139
  10. ^ Norma Talmadge - Silent Star of November, 1997
  11. ^ Norma Talmadge - Silent Star of November, 1997
  12. ^ “Silent Players”: Anthony Slide, p. 374
  13. ^ An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 : Denise Lowe, p. 516
  14. ^ “Silent Players”: Anthony Slide, p. 374
  15. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 143
  16. ^ “Silent Players”: Anthony Slide, p. 374
  17. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 144
  18. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 145
  19. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 146
  20. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 149
  21. ^ TIME
  22. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 150
  23. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 153
  24. ^ An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 : Denise Lowe, p. 517
  25. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 156
  26. ^ Norma Talmadge - Silent Star of November, 1997
  27. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 157
  28. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 157
  29. ^ “Silent Players”: Anthony Slide, p. 374
  30. ^ An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 : Denise Lowe, p. 516
  31. ^ “Silent Star”: Jeanine Basinger, p. 1175
  32. ^ "Woman Disputed: Who was Norma Talmadge, and why aren't more of her films available?: Greta de Groat
  33. ^ An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 : Denise Lowe, p. 517
  34. ^ Norma Talmadge - Silent Star of November, 1997

[edit] References

  • Basinger, Jeanine, Silent Star, Wesleyan University Press, 2000, ISBN 0819564516
  • Katz, Ephraim, "The Film Encyclopedia", Collins,2005, ISBN 0060742143
  • Loos, Anita, The Talmadge Girls , New York, Viking Press, 1978, ISBN 0750927399
  • Lowe, Denise, An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930, Haworth Press, 2004, ISBN 0789018438
  • Slide, Anthony, Silent Players, University Press of Kentucky,2002 ISBN 081312249X

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