Over the past month we’ve looked back at three of the Queens of the Silent Screen, Mabel Normand, Constance Talmadge and Marie Provost. There’s a good chance you haven’t seen any of their films, in part because many of them have been lost. So now it’s time to dive in and revisit a selection of their surviving films.
First up is the great Mabel Normand, known for the influence and control she had over many of the films she appeared in, at a time when women weren’t afforded that kind of power.
The Extra Girl is notable for a number of reasons. While today, films about the film industry are unremarkable, in 1923 that was less true. This wasn’t the first film to take on the subject but its success did pave the way for other influential films about Hollywood, such as King Vidor's Show People (1928).
In 1923 Hollywood was little more than a decade old, still the film rolled out many of the cliches that have persisted, most notably the story of small town girls travelling to Hollywood with hopes of becoming a star.
Constance Talmadge has a different but no less profound influence on films and filmmaking.
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