Happy Thanksgiving!

Silent Stanzas is taking a week hiatus in order to celebrate the holiday.  May you and yours have a wonderful one as well!

Passion

Done in blank verse, the most common style in Polish dramatic poetry.  *grins*

Oh Apollonia!  Is there part of you
that rings with truth?  Even your year of birth
is fabricated, lost to fraudulence;
but who we know for sure is Pola, queen
of the rococo, clad in silk and jewels,
your artifice at constant war with art,
Casati with a greater range and skill.
Mercurial, the public turned on you
When Valentino's death spawned your display;
Oh Apollonia!  No one understood
your brash, flamboyant style, as yet unmatched.

Pola Negri

and for good measure:

Marchesa Luisa Casati

Slim

In honor of Veteran's Day, one of the best soldiers ever on the silver screen.

Cry "Anger!" and let loose the honest word
About a man who had such evil wrought
Against his work, his life; the things inferred
Were hardly what contemporaries thought.
Machinist-trained, he started with small roles
In serials, but then The Big Parade
Propelled him to success and the bright whole
New world it opened up. But then the shade
Leaked in, the microphone the cleft;
Although at first Arthur and Dane did well,
A stalled career, depression, lastly theft
Hastened his end - of that I will not tell.
About his death I am not here to lecture.
Go learn the truth, not Kenneth's base conjecture.

Karl Dane

Kenneth Anger did Dane a great disservice in Hollywood Babylon, painting him a desperate vagrant selling hot dogs outside the MGM lot.  Please visit the link and discover the real Karl Dane.

Problems with comments!

It's come to my attention that you lovely folks have been leaving me comments and they're not taking! *shakes fist at Blogger* Until I get them straightened out, if you want to leave me feedback (or brownies), you can reach me at:

silentstanzas -at- gmail -dot- com

Thanks for reading - I appreciate it so much!

You never know what's out there!

A little addendum to today's post: a staggering find on eBay.

Man pays £3.20 for old reel, winds up with unknown Charlie Chaplin film

Shaineh Maidel

A mountain her namesake -
a hard act to equal;
She did it with style
and when at her peak, well,
her vamping was brilliant
and quite in demand
(Valentino and Barrymore
two costars she'd land).

Three husbands (God love them),
a show on TV,
a well-renowned hostess,
a perfume company...
while never forgetting
what her culture taught her.
She was first and foremost
a proud rabbi's daughter.



Carmel Myers

The title means "pretty girl" in Yiddish. I hope I haven't butchered it!

A Thousand Faces

Who better for Halloween week?

Lurking, just beneath the surface, an
Explosive rush of raw and human power
"Oriental", gangster, villain, or his specialty -
Nightmarish monsters from life's darkest hour;
In truth, when the makeup masterfully applied
Dissolved, a gentle visage was revealed -
A man of hard work, innate talent, grace,
Strength of character like no one in his field.



Lon Chaney