Clara Bow – 1927

 

 

Clara Bow photographed by Otto Dyar for “Get Your Man,” 1927

the bow who tied up the twenties

Ally Kolberg

 

Actress Ally Kolberg or Ally Kay had a brief career in the German silent cinema of the late 1910s and early 1920s.

During the First World War, Ally Kolberg joined the German cinema. Her first film appearance was in the short comedy Einer für drei/One for Three (1916, Hanna Henning) with Joseph Römer in his popular role as Bubi. Next she appeared in another episode of the Bubi-series, Bubi ist eifersüchtig/Bubi is jealous (1916, Hanna Henning). This was followed up with roles in short films like Mutter/Mother (1917, Hanna Henning) with Olga Engl, Arme kleine Helga/Poor little Helga (1918, Hanna Henning) opposite Kurt Vespermann, Und hätte der Liebe nicht/And have not charity (1918, Gertrud Scholz) with Johannes Riemann, and another Bubi-comedy, Weil ich dich liebe/Because I love you (1918, Hanna Hening).

In 1920, Ally Kolberg played in Die Augen der Maske/The eyes of the mask (1920, Karl Gerhardt) opposite Lil Dagover, the Austrian-German production Das vierte Gebot/The Fourth Commandment (1920, Richard Oswald), and Das Zeichen des Malayen/The Mark of the Malays (1920, Carl Heinz Boese). She was also credited as Ally Kay in films. Her llater film roles were in Wem nie durch Liebe Leid geschah/Who never came through heartache (1922, Heinz Schall) with Margit Barnay, and Die Spitzen der Gesellschaft/The leaders of society (1923, Paul Heidemann). In the Swedish production Fröken Fob/Miss Fob (1923, Elis Ellis), she was credited as Ally Kay-Bing

Mary Pickford – Alice in Wonderland – 1933

 

The year 1932 marked the centennial of the birth of Lewis Carroll (the pseudonym for the Rev. Charles Dodgson) who authored the adventures of Alice, inspired by the child Alice Liddell. That year, Liddell, who grew up to be Mrs. Alice Hargreaves, visited the United States to receive an honorary degree and make personal appearances. In June 1932, she got to view three Mickey Mouse cartoons on a theatrical screen and was quite pleased and felt that Carroll would have enjoyed the new medium to tell stories.

At the time, silent screen star Mary Pickford, who was one of the founding members of United Artists, proposed to Walt Disney filming a feature-length version of Alice in Wonderland with little Mary playing the role of Alice in an animated Wonderland supplied by Walt Disney and his artists. Pickford was hugely excited about the project, did costume tests for the character, and issued press announcements. The film was planned for black and white, although some of the costume tests that survive were done in three-strip Technicolour. Walt did not appear to be equally enthusiastic about the project and with the announcement that Paramount Pictures was producing an all-star live-action film to be released December 1933, it ended work on the Pickford-Disney film.

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