The intertitles in our silent picture show

[sovay]

I want to go back in time and steal this man's waistcoat. Or at least ask what he was reading:



(Francis George Packer, an actor I'd never heard of even under his stage name, Nigel De Brulier. He played the prophet Jokanaan in the 1923 avant-garde film of Oscar Wilde's Salomé, however, so I expect to see more of him soon. Discovered while looking for Conrad Veidt.)

nineweaving worries it would wear me, but I think the wolf hat could take it.

Comments

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it was still true at the time the photo was taken, but for a long time colours didn't register on plates with completely accurate tonal values - anything red or green came out a bit darker than in RL, and blue/yellow came out lighter*. I'd guess from the relatively deep shades of gray that the waistcoat in question was some sort of red/green checks.


* This remained a problem in the early days of cinema - anyone with blue eyes looked all creepy. Hence no blonde movie stars until much later.

[sovay]

I'd guess from the relatively deep shades of gray that the waistcoat in question was some sort of red/green checks.

It's probably not green, then, but I'll imagine it was.

This remained a problem in the early days of cinema - anyone with blue eyes looked all creepy. Hence no blonde movie stars until much later.

I didn't know that. Fascinating.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

It could have been light/dark green checks, I guess.


I've seen a still from a really early appearance by Stan Laurel where the director attempted to compensate by having Stan wear extra mascara. It just makes him look like a skinny raccoon.