I have to confess, before I started writing this blog, I had never heard of Anita Page, but now that I've seen half a dozen of her movies and read a bit about her, it's clear that she was just as cute as the proverbial bug's ear and no doubt somebody you would have been lucky to know. Certainly Herschel House must have thought so—the Navy pilot was married to her for fifty-four years, until his death in 1991.Mostly Page played sweet innocents who found themselves in a melodramatic load of trouble (see, for example, Our Modern Maidens), but her turn as a self-absorbed, gold-digging be-yotch in Our Dancing Daughters was unforgettable and should have presaged a longer career. Louis B. Mayer, a warped frustrated old man, and Irving Thalberg, a warped frustrated young man, saw to it that it didn't.
Well, you take what you can get.
She appeared in films with Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton, Clark Gable, Walter Huston and Joan Crawford; starred in the first movie musical (best picture winner The Broadway Melody); and most importantly, received a Katie nomination. (Make that Katie Award!—The Mythical Monkey (2/11/10)
She'll not soon be forgotten.
Fuck Lon Chaney
ReplyDeleteTo quote myself in Our Modern Maidens, "Love! Beautiful love! Will it sweep me away in a cloud of glory or steal upon me ... gently?"
ReplyDeleteBut in either case, I don't believe it will involve Lon Chaney.
Save your fruitcake poetry for Make-up Boy, sister.
ReplyDeleteI tell ya, that Chaney was a piker!!