Zelda Popkin, on writing:

 

Inspiration is just one requirement for being a writer.

Another is keeping regular working hours.
- Zelda Popkin.

Recommended reading - Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940-1959 (2010).

 

Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940-1959

by Michael F. Keaney.

 
Published by McFarland & Company.
Paperback.

Published in 2010.
 
ISBN-10: 078646366X
ISBN-13: 978-0786463664
 
Description:
 

More than 700 films from the classic period of film noir (1940 to 1959) are presented in this exhaustive reference book – such films as The Accused, Among the Living, The Asphalt Jungle, Baby Face Nelson, Bait, The Beat Generation, Crossfire, Dark Passage, I Walk Alone, The Las Vegas Story, The Naked City, Strangers on a Train, White Heat, and The Window. For each film, the following information is provided: the title, release date, main performers, screenwriter(s), director(s), type of noir, thematic content, a rating based on the five-star system, and a plot synopsis that does not reveal the ending.

Born on this day – Max Schreck:

Max Schreck

Actor

September 6, 1879 – February 20, 1936

Most famous for playing the vampire Count Orlok in Nosferatu (1922).

Born on this day – Otto Kruger:

 

Otto Kruger

Actor

September 6, 1885 – September 6, 1974

Born on this day – Rowland V. Lee:

Rowland V. Lee

Director

Actor

Writer

Producer

September 6, 1891 – December 21, 1975

Born on this day – Dorothy Gulliver:

 

Dorothy Gulliver

Actress

September 6, 1908 – May 23, 1997

Silent to sound.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dorothy Gulliver grew up a fan of movies.

She got her big break in 1924 after winning the title of Miss Salt Lake City.

The beauty contest was sponsored by Universal Pictures Studios.

The rest is movie history.

She made her mark in silent movies, beginning with serials, and made the transition into “talkies”.

Sadly, some of her early work is hard to find.

Even in small, sometimes uncredited roles, her performance was memorable.

Watch carefully for her all-too-brief role in the original King Kong (1933).

Over her career, her roles became fewer and smaller, until she finally retired from acting.

Dorothy Gulliver is one of the many unsung greats who were part of an important period of cinema history.

A period when the era of the silent film evolved into sound.

Gone were the screen title cards, delivering dialogue and narrative to the audience.

Gone were the in-theater orchestras, providing a musical accompaniment to the on-screen action.

The age of the audio soundtrack had arrived.

I love watching old movies, the original classics in particular, and I enjoy revisiting them when they are screened on TCM.

It’s a moot point that so many of them have not stood the test of time.

However, those who made and acted in the silents, were the pioneers of film.

Since their time, directors, actors, and creatives who followed would look back to their work for inspiration.

It’s fascinating to observe how far movies and the movie-making process has come since those early silents.

A quote from Isaac Newton resonates:

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”.

 

Credits:

A Dog of the Regiment (1927); A Fighting Finish (1927); A Tragedy at Midnight (1942); And George Did! (1926); Appointment for Love (1941); Around the Bases (1927); Backward George (1927); Benson at Calford (1926); Big Hearted (1930); Borrowed Hero (1941); Breaking Records (1927); Calford in the Movies (1928); Calford on Horseback (1928); Calford vs. Redskins (1928); Cheating Blondes (1933); Clearing the Trail (1928); College Love (1929); Crimson Colors (1927); Cross Country Run (1929); Custer's Last Stand (1936); Dear Old Calford (1928); Early Arizona (1938); Faces (1968); Farewell (1929); Fashion News (1930); Fighting Caballero (1935); Fighting for Victory (1928); Fighting Spirit (1927); Fighting to Win (1926); Flashing Oars (1927); Flying High (1929); Good Morning, Judge (1928); Graduation Daze (1929); Honeymoon Flats (1928); Hook or Crook (1926); In Old Cheyenne (1931); Junior Luck (1929); Kicking Through (1928); King Kong (1933); King of the Campus (1929); Lone Star Pioneers (1939); Making Good (1926); Mexicali Rose (1929); Mind Your Business (1930); Mr. & Mrs. North (1952); Night Parade (1929); North of Shanghai (1939); Official Detective (1957); On Guard (1929); On the Sidelines (1929); One Glorious Scrap (1927); One Wild Time (1926); Outlaw Justice (1932); Paddling Co-Eds (1928); Painted Faces (1929); Revenge at Monte Carlo (1933); Running Wild (1927); Samson at Calford (1927); Sliding Home (1928); Speeding Youth (1929); Splash Mates (1929); Splashing Through (1927); Sporting Courage (1929); Stand Up and Cheer! (1934); Strings of Steel (1926); Sweethearts of the U.S.A. (1944); The Black Ghost (1932); The Bookworm Hero (1928); The Cinder Path (1927); The Collegians (1926); The Dazzling Co-Eds (1927); The Dude Desperado (1927); The Fighting Marshal (1931); The Galloping Ghost (1931); The Honor of the Press (1932); The Junior Year (1928); The Lariat Kid (1929); The Last Frontier (1932); The Last Lap (1926); The Pecos Dandy (1934); The Phantom of the West (1930); The Rambling Ranger (1927); The Relay (1927); The Rivals (1929); The Shadow of the Eagle (1932); The Shield of Honor (1927); The Shoot 'Em Up Kid (1926); The Traitor Within (1942); The Varsity Drag (1929); The Voice of Hollywood No. 7 (1930); The Wild West Show (1928); The Winking Idol (1926); The Winning Five (1927); The Winning Goal (1928); The Winning Point (1929); The Winning Punch (1927); Troopers Three (1930); Under Montana Skies (1930); Use Your Feet (1929); Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976).

Born on this day – John Ridgely:

John Ridgely

Actor

September 6, 1909 – January 18, 1968