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The Unknown (1927 Film)
''The Unknown'' is a 1927 American silent horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney as carnival knife thrower "Alonzo the Armless" and Joan Crawford as his beloved carnival girl Nanon. The film was originally to be called ''Alonzo the Armless''. The film was in production from Feb. 7, 1927 until March 18, 1927, and cost $217,000 to make. The worldwide box office gross was $847,000. The film's tagline was "A superb mystery thriller, unusual and startling even for a Chaney film. Lon as "The Unknown" eats, drinks, shoots a rifle and dresses with his feet. Don't miss this startling spectacle!" Stills exist showing Chaney made up as Alonzo the Armless. ''The Unknown'' is considered the most unique and disturbing of the eight films that Tod Browning and Lon Chaney made together at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in the late silent era. Lon Chaney’s rendering of character Alfonzo and the horrific self-mutilation he endures to win the love of Nanon is reminiscent of the ...
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Irving Thalberg
Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather production staff, and make profitable films, including '' Grand Hotel'', '' China Seas'', '' A Night at the Opera'', ''Mutiny on the Bounty'', '' Camille'' and '' The Good Earth''. His films carved out an international market, "projecting a seductive image of American life brimming with vitality and rooted in democracy and personal freedom", states biographer Roland Flamini. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and as a child was afflicted with a congenital heart disease that doctors said would kill him before he reached the age of thirty. After graduating from high school he worked as a store clerk during the day and to gain some job skills took a night class in typing. He then found work as a secretary with Universal Studios' New York office, and w ...
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Knife Throwing
Knife throwing is an art, sport, combat skill, or variously an entertainment technique, involving an artist skilled in the art of throwing knives, the weapons thrown, and a target. In some stage performances, the knife thrower ties an assistant to the target (sometimes known as a "target girl") and throws to miss them. Basic principles Knife throwing, whether in a martial or sport application, involves the same basic principles of mechanics. The objective in each case is for the point to stick into the target with a sufficient amount of force. For this to be successful, accuracy, distance, number of rotations and placement of the body all must be taken into account. If the thrower uses a spin technique, the knife will rotate during flight. This means that the thrower, assuming they are throwing the same way every time, must either choose a specific distance for each type of throw or, more practically, make slight adjustments to the placement of the knife in the hand or to the thr ...
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Film Historian
The history of film chronicles the development of a visual art form created using film technologies that began in the late 19th century. The advent of film as an artistic medium is not clearly defined. However, the commercial, public screening of ten of the Lumière brothers' short films in Paris on 28 December 1895 can be regarded as the breakthrough of projected cinematographic motion pictures. There had been earlier cinematographic results and screenings by others like the Skladanowsky brothers, who used their self-made Bioscop to display the first moving picture show to a paying audience on 1 November 1895 in Berlin, but they lacked neither the quality, financial backing, stamina, or the luck to find the momentum that propelled the cinématographe Lumière into worldwide success. Those earliest films were in black and white, under a minute long, without recorded sound and consisted of a single shot from a steady camera. The first decade of motion pictures saw film mo ...
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McFarland & Company
McFarland & Company, Inc., is an American independent book publisher based in Jefferson, North Carolina, that specializes in academic and reference works, as well as general-interest adult nonfiction. Its president is Rhonda Herman. Its former president and current editor-in-chief is Robert Franklin, who founded the company in 1979. McFarland employs a staff of about 50, and had published 7,800 titles. McFarland's initial print runs average 600 copies per book. Subject matter McFarland & Company focuses mainly on selling to libraries. It also utilizes direct mailing to connect with enthusiasts in niche categories. The company is known for its sports literature, especially baseball history, as well as books about chess, military history, and film. In 2007, the ''Mountain Times'' wrote that McFarland publishes about 275 scholarly monographs and reference book titles a year; Robert Lee Brewer reported in 2015 that the number is about 350. List of scholarly journals The following ...
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Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragedy, tragic characters, and her subtle and understated performances. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on its list of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Garbo launched her career with a secondary role in the 1924 Swedish film ''The Saga of Gosta Berling, The Saga of Gösta Berling''. Her performance caught the attention of Louis B. Mayer, chief executive of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), who brought her to Hollywood in 1925. She stirred interest with her first American silent film, ''Torrent (1926 film), Torrent'' (1926). Garbo's performance in ''Flesh and the Devil'' (1927), her third movie, made her an international star. In 1928, Garbo starred in ''A Woman of Affairs,'' which ...
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Impalement Arts
Impalement arts are a type of performing art in which a performer plays the role of human target for a fellow performer who demonstrates accuracy skills in disciplines such as knife throwing and archery. Impalement is actually what the performers endeavor to avoid – the thrower or marksman aims ''near'' the target rather than at them. The objective is to land the throw or shot as close as possible to the assistant's body without causing injury. Impalement arts are often found in circuses and sideshows as well as sometimes in variety, cabaret or burlesque shows. In addition, impalement acts have provided subject matter for literature, art, photography and film and television scripts. There are important distinctions between knife throwing or archery practiced as competitive sports and similar skills displayed as impalement arts. For example, organizing bodies for competitive archery prohibit activity that involves deliberate shooting in the general direction of a human being. Hi ...
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John St
John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Epistle of John, often shortened to 2 John * Third Epistle of John, often shortened to 3 John People * John the Baptist (died c. AD 30), regarded as a prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ * John the Apostle (lived c. AD 30), one of the twelve apostles of Jesus * John the Evangelist, assigned author of the Fourth Gospel, once identified with the Apostle * John of Patmos, also known as John the Divine or John the Revelator, the author of the Book of Revelation, once identified with the Apostle * John the Presbyter, a figure either identified with or distinguished from the Apostle, the Evangelist and John of Patmos Other people with the given name Religious figures * John, father of Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter * Pope Joh ...
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Julian Rivero
Julian Rivero (July 25, 1890 – February 24, 1976) was an American actor whose career spanned seven decades. He made his film debut in the 1923 silent melodrama, ''The Bright Shawl'', which starred Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Gish, William Powell, Mary Astor, and Edward G. Robinson. Over the next 50 years, Rivero would appear in well over 200 films and television shows. He only made a handful of appearances in silent films. With the advent of sound films, he would appear in both English language films, as well as the Spanish language versions of English films, such as ''Así es la vida'', which was Spanish version of the 1930 film, '' What a Man''. Life and career Born on July 25, 1890, in San Francisco, California, Rivero did not enter the film industry until he was in his 30s. Before making his start in films, Rivero studied to become a Shakespearean actor with the famous stage actor Robert B. Mantell. His first appearance was in a small role in the 1923 film, ''The Bright ...
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Louise Emmons
Louise Emmons (January 7, 1858 – March 6, 1935) was an American character actress. She appeared in several films between 1914 and 1935. Early years Information about her early life is contradictory. Older sources give 1852 or 1861 as her birth year. An article in ''Classic Images'' in December 2016 states that she was born in 1872 as Louise Atkinson in California. She was of German descent. Allan Elleburger stated in 2017 that Emmons was born as Louie A. Adkison in 1858 near Camptonville, California. Elleberger says that "got their start from the 1910 census; even though she was in fact 52-years-old, she gave her age to the census enumerator as 37 (making her two years younger than her husband)". Career Louise Emmons worked for some time as a portrait artist. She already was at an advanced age when she made her first silent film in 1914. With "the kind of face that could stop a clock" she appeared in over 65 films until 1935, mostly in small roles. She specialized in portr ...
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Polly Moran
Pauline Theresa Moran (June 28, 1883 – January 25, 1952) billed as Polly Moran, was an American actress of vaudeville, stage and screen and comedian. Career Born in Chicago, Illinois, Moran started in vaudeville, and widely toured North America, as well as various other locations that included Europe and South Africa. An attractive beauty of Irish descent, she left vaudeville in 1914 after signing for Mack Sennett at Keystone Studios as one of his Sennett Bathing Beauties. There she honed the style of the brash, loud-mouthed, knock-about comedian by which she later became known. She proved effective at slapstick and remained with Sennett for several years until she was signed by MGM. She partnered with the famous Broadway star Marie Dressler in ''The Callahans and the Murphys'' (1927); and the two appeared in eight additional films together, such as '' Chasing Rainbows'' (1930), ''Caught Short'' (1930), and '' Prosperity'' (1932). After Dressler's death in 1934, Moran's ...
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Frank Lanning
Frank Lanning (August 14, 1872 – June 17, 1945) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 84 films between 1910 and 1934. He was born in Marion, Iowa and died in Los Angeles, California. Lanning's film debut came in ''The Mended Lute''. He acted for Biograph, Kalem, Universal and Pathe studios. Selected filmography * '' My Hero'' (1912) * '' The Severed Hand'' (1914) * ''Buckshot John'' (1915) * '' The Three Godfathers'' (1916) * '' The Little Patriot'' (1917) * '' Bull's Eye'' (1917) * ''The Lion's Claws'' (1918) * '' Huck and Tom'' (1918) - Injun Joe * ''Bare-Fisted Gallagher'' (1919) * '' Haunting Shadows'' (1919) * '' Desert Gold'' (1919) * '' The Prince and Betty'' (1919) * '' A Sagebrush Hamlet'' (1919) * ''Daredevil Jack'' (1920) * ''That Girl Montana'' (1921) * ''Cameron of the Royal Mounted'' (1921) * ''Out of the Silent North'' (1922) * '' Another Man's Boots'' (1922) * '' Step on It!'' (1922) * '' Drifting'' (1923) * '' The Remittance Woman'' (1 ...
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John George (actor)
John George ( ar, جون جورج; born Tufei Fatella, January 20, 1898 – August 25, 1968) was an actor who appeared in at least 130 movies from 1916 to 1960. George worked in films of all genres alongside countless stars although often for only the briefest of appearances, uncredited. Early years George was born in Aleppo, Syria. Little is known about his early life but he immigrated to the United States around 1911 and searched for his mother and sisters who seem to have settled in the Nashville, Tennessee, area. Film Eventually George found his way to Los Angeles and the early silent film industry. George may have begun his career in the Joseph De Grasse movie ''Bobbie of the Ballet'' (1916) as an uncredited "tenement dweller". George may have even appeared earlier than that in the 1915 serial ''The Broken Coin'' unbilled, as an actor who strongly favors him appears in a still photo from the chapter play with Francis Ford and Grace Cunard in Daniel Blum's ''Pictorial Histo ...
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