Lost in Time, Lost in Space...and Meaning

Hollywood is old, almost as old as the current Nation, if you count from the end of the Civil War.

The thing about movie history is that we focus on a few icons - Marilyn Monroe, WC Fields, Erroll Flynn - and the thousands of performers around them fade into oblivion. And this site (from a 1923 book) brings them back. It makes you realize Hollywood wasn't just Groucho and Charlie Chaplin. It was an industry then, too; there were hundreds of stars.

Have we really forgotten Bert Lytell's performance in "Rupert of Hentzau"? Is there anyone left whose heart quickened at the sight of Mary Philbin's majestic mane? Billie Dove? Here. Dinky Dean? Here.

Betcha can't read just one...

[Update: "Dinky" Dean Riesner passed away in 2002. In addition to his career as a child star, he is remembered for writing "Play Misty for Me" and "Dirty Harry". ]