I know old-movie buffs will know . . . But I forget sometimes how esoteric my film lore is. I was mentioning to a handful of 20-somethings here at work that “I saw Florence LaBadie’s grave this weekend—don’t worry, no one has heard of her, I don’t expect you to know who she was. It’s not like she was hugely famous, like Pearl White.”
Blank stares.
"You know, Pearl White—The Perils of Pauline?
Cartoon question marks form above their heads.
Soooo . . . Is it me? Has the Doper on the Street heard of Pearl White?
I’m not sure I’m on the street (what street would that be?) – but my doubts arise because I have heard of Pearl White. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one of her films in its entirety, but I’ve heard of her.
Florence LaBadie, no. Even after following, somewhat desultorily, the planning and implementation of your pilgrimage, I’m still not entirely sure who she is.
I don’t expect anyone to know who Florence LaBadie was (FYI, she was a popular movie actress who died in 1917—she was never a huge star). But Pearl White was a huge star, and influential enough to be up there with Mary Pickford, Rudolph Valentino and Charlie Chaplin as “names everyone should at least have heard.”
. . . At least I thought so. I was afraid to mention Mary Pickford, Rudolph Valentino and Charlie Chaplin to my coworkers . .
I learned of her through the 1947 movie staring Betty Hutton, which, like “Its a Mad Mad Mad World,” and “The Sin of Harold Diddlebock,” has a lot of cameos by silent-era comics. A few weeks ago I googled up a website to see what she actually looked like: http://silentladies.com/PWhiteP.html
Eve, I wonder if you remember a show from the '60s that recycled a lot of silent film footage called “Fractured Flickers?” One bit from it I remember had film of a WWI army tank, used as a lethal toy commercial, with a tag line I’ve always loved: “Be the first kid on your block to be the last kid on your block.”
Yeah, I’ve heard of Peral White and I’ve even seen at least pieces of her serials, though they may have been in documentaries about silent films.
But I’m probably old enough to be Kalhoun’s father, a point that hit home yesterday when my wife and I were talking to our insurance agent. My wife afterward commented that she wanted to pat the woman on her head for doing such a grown-up job. My reaction was that the head was not where I wanted to pat her, but of course that did not get said aloud.
Ohhhh, don’t get me started on Fractured Flickers . . .
I recently saw the 1947 bio-pic of Pearl White, too, and was stunned at how miscast Betty Hutton was. On the other hand, Betty would have been a perfect Eva Tanguay, and who did they cast in that? Mitzi goddam Gaynor!
I just Googled Pearl, and found, among other things, a) lots of jewelry, b) a six-and-a-half inch vibrator called “Pearl White” and, c) an article I did on her which I had no idea was even online!
Soooo . . . Who else? Is Pearl White still remembered by the young 'uns, or just a ship that sank in the night?
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop was clearly modelled on the silent movie, although the character had originally appeared in Wacky Races, which had been inspired by The Great Race and Those Magnificant Men in their Flying Machines. Of course that was in the bygone age of 1969.
Well, I would have known who you were talking about (although I’d never heard of Florence LaBadie). But, at 43, I’m no young’un. My kids are young’uns, though (real young’uns – 15 and 16!) so I asked them. I got the blank stare from my daughter (15). My son, however, (16) had heard of “The Perils of Pauline,” although he didn’t immediately recognise Pearl White as the star. He thinks he must have read about her in one of my books, but he wasn’t sure which one.
I’ve heard of her and I remembering seeing the Perils of Pauline…somewhere. I couldn’t tell you where though. I seem to recall my grandmother being a fan of Pearl’s.
Yes, I am familiar with Pearl White and all of them, actually. I am a huge old movie buff. I’m 30, btw.
When I was a kid I used to look at this book that my mom had that was full of pictures of Rudy Valentino. I was utterly fascinated with him and had a gigantic crush on him until I realized he’d actually died in 1926. After I found that out, I was morbidly fascinated with the fact that women supposedly committed suicide over his death (I was a strange kid).
I’ve only seen clips from the Perils of Pauline and the most memorable one to me is where she is tied across the railroad tracks. I also remember scenes where she is fighting pirates, if I recall correctly.
Movie buff checking in – off course I have heard of her, but don’t expect that from many others. But then again, they would look at you blankly if you were to mention William S. Hart, Francis X Bushman or Thada Bara (although crossword puzzle writers seem to keep Bara’s name alive).
But back to Pearl White…Of all the silent stars, I would say she had more…I don’t know…PERSONALITY than any other. I mean there were more attractive women, and better actors, but none with that personality-something that made her special. She also had a…big sisterness about her that made you like her too. Don’t get me wrong, she was attractive definitely, but it wasn’t so much a sexy attractive as it was a…I guess, a “healthy” attractive.
I have The Perils of Pauline on video, and it’s amazingly modern. TV Time is right in that there’s something very straightforward and fresh about Pearl as an actress; understated.
And–as opposed to what most people think–Pearl is not left “cliff-hanging” at the end of each episode; they’re all self-contained. And she rescues the “hero” as often as he rescues her!
