Norma Talmadge home


What's new?

Additions and changes since this site went live in 1999



December 2022

The 2022 Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto) featured a series of Norma Talmadge films, and i was fortunate enough to be able to attend. It was wonderful to see people enjoying the films on the big screen (with terrific scores, by the way). Many thanks to Jay Weissberg and the rest of the Giornate folks for putting together a wonderful festival, Lea Jacobs and Ben Brewster for curating the films and writing the program notes, and Michelle Tolini Finamore for her lecture "Dressing Norma: Fashion in Early Cinema." And thanks to Jay, Lea and Ben for inviting me to join them for the panel discussion "Norma Talmadge: the making and unmaking of a star." The films shown were A Dixie Mother, Mrs. 'Enry 'Awkins, An Official Appointment, Just Show Folks, A Lady and her Maid, Father's Hatband, Memories in Men's Souls, The Loan Shark King, Elsa's Brother, The Moth, Ghosts of Yesterday, The Forbidden City, The Heart of Wetona, Yes or No, The Sign on the Door, Within the Law, The Lady, Graustark and one reel of Camille. I have added additional observations to the viewing comments for the features and shorts which i had previously seen, and added viewing comments to the shorts which i had not seen, which were mostly from the British Film Archive. These films also showed director Van Dyke Brooke to good advantage. A nice surprise was that there was additional footage for the features The Moth and Ghosts of Yesterday, which i had not seen when i viewed them at the Library of Congress so many years ago. The latter was a restoration with bridging titles for the missing reel and still photos from the collection of Derek Boothroyd, who has generously supplied so many photos for this site.



April 2022

This time i really deleted Love of Chrysanthemum from the filmography, and added a link to youTube for the Bits and Pieces footage from the Eye, which seems to have been renumbered from 405 to 410. Also fixed the AFI catalog link on the home page



December 2021

The Pordenone festival was online this year and played the long awaited Love of Chrysanthemum--which demonstrated that Norma is not in that film. So i deleted it from the filmography and from the 1910 reviews page .However, i was able to view Father's Hot Toddy online on one of the film festivals this year, but now i don't remember which. In any case i added viewing comments to the 1912 reviews page . Also added to the filmography the 1915 film A Lily of Bohemia, with what looks like Norma as one of the party goers. That's pretty late in her Vitagraph career to be doing extra work, but it being Vitagraph, it's possible. Also corrected a typo to a citation in Ashes of Vengeance, i can't confirm the date but the date i had was clearly wrong.



March 2020

And, finally able to add the address for Norma & George's Palm Beach house, which i added to the addresses page, The house is currently up for landmark status. Thanks to Bruce Calvert for posting this info to Facebook, where i saw it.



February 2020

Well, that was fast! About 6 weeks after discovering the unknown Norma Talmadge house from the Huntington website and adding it to the addresses page, i got a message from T.C. Goble (whose mother is Rita Quigley and aunt is Juanita Quigley) identifying the house as one formerly owned by George and Shirley Mason at 9855 Deep Canyon Place, Beverly Hills. Thanks so much for the information!




January 2020

Found a spread of pictures of a house that i cannot identify on the Huntington Library website, which i added to the addresses page in case anybody can figure out where this is. Also updated the listing for the Los Feliz address, since the links were dead.


December 2019

Added a picture of the Norma Talmadge Building on Sunset Boulevard to the the addresses page (courtesy of Tim Kraetsch).


December 2018

Well, what a surprise. I finally got a chance to look at the new Kino Lorber video of Song of Love . It turns out that this video was copied from the Deutsche Kinemathek print, which i did not now about. Unfortunately i don't think it's as good a print as the version at the Library of Congress, but it's interesting to see the difference. Still the film had me and my husband laughing out loud.


December 2018

Finally solved the mystery of whether the Talmadge Studio on East 48th Street was demolished. It was, but the neon sign was moved to the adjacent building which was part of the garage when i visited it. So the actual Talmadge building was torn down and replace by a fancy glass structure, while the next door building is still a parking garage with the same sign. It's particularly confusing since the building on the other side of the glass building looks a lot like the current garage. But the Talmadge building didn't have a white first story. So updated the addresses page. Also revised the date the Cudahay Mansion was demolished, i had that wrong for some reason. Also added a lobby card (thanks to Derek Boothroyd) for The Safety Curtain, and added notes about the new Kino Lorber video to Song of Love



August 2018

Made a brief addition to the paragraph in the filmography introducing the short films--to note that she does not appear in The Mills of the Gods, which is on y ouTube.



May 2018

Constance Talmadge's 1920 film Good References has been rediscovered and restored (and is showing at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival! Updated the lost and found films on her page.



January 2018

Updated the addresses page now that the old Vitagraph Studio was demolished. Smokestack is apparently still standing. The American Silent Feature Film Database shows Her Only Way as being at a the Bois d'Arcy archive, so i updated the page for that film and the filmography.


December 2016

Though i'm not making an effort to fix broken links any more, i did note that the Eye Institut pulled its films off of the Thought Equity site and moved them to youTube, so i am trying to update those. Added The Loyalty of Sylvia to Norma's filmography, she has a bit part as revealed in Eye's youTube post.


August 2016

Bob Fells has posted a comparison between a scene in two prints of Smilin' Through, which i posted after the viewing comments.


June 2016

Derek Boothroywd send a few pictures for Ghosts of Yesterday, Kiki, and New York Nights. Also made a link from the Woman Disputed brochure page to the PDF that i place in the Internet Archive as well as a link to the Russian "Norma Tolmedzh" booklet.

December 2015

At this point there is no way i can keep up with broken links. If you are interested in following a link that's broken, copy it and paste it into the Wayback Machine and look at the page from a few years back. Updated the credits for Ashes of Vengeance and Woman Disputed. Ashes of Vengeance, the Safety Curtain, The Forbidden City, and New York Nights have all turned up online, noted in the filmography and on the home page.

January 2015

Derek provided a lobby card for Graustark and Within the Law.


December 2014

Apparently A Virtuous Vamp exists, though it's still kind of mysterious, but i added it to the extant films list on Constance's page. Also Derek sent some scans of a herald for Smilin' Through last year, i just found them and added them to the page. Also had to delete some links from the home page for sites which unfortunately no longer exit. Finally watched the Eye Film Instituut copy of Smilin' Through online and added some viewing comment to the Smilin' Through page.


July 2014

Made a link from the page for The Lady to the stage section of my Pauline Frederick site, where i just mounted a Curran Theatre program for Polly's 1925 run of the stage version of The Lady. Also added to the filmography two Screen Snapshots films in which Norma is reported to appear, sourced from Michael Ankerick's book Mae Murray: the Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips. Also added a link to a page on Harper House from the iamnostalker.com blog to the addresses page.

February 2014

Can't believe it but Smilin' Through turned up on the European Film Gateway site. It's the Nederlands Filmmusem print with Dutch intertitles, though if you are familiar with the story it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Also, John Lawrence alerted me to an an online article about the Iowa location shooting for The Wonderful Thing, so i added the link to that page. Thanks!

November 2013

The Women Film Pioneers Project is finally online! I added a link to the site and a link to my article on Norma and Constance to the home page and to the bibliography. Also finally got around to acquiring a commonly-seen postcard with Norma and Dinky, which i posted on the Picture gallery


July 2013

Some more publicity for Kiki, courtesy of Derek Boothroyd Updated the Kiki page. Also, finally found the date of the article A Day with Norma Talmadge And also added a notice that some of Norma and Constance's possessions will be for sale on EBay over the next few months. And thanks to Peter Winnington for a letter from Walter Fuller critical of Battle Cry of Peace .


April 2013

Added a link to the picture gallery for an amusing picture of Norma with Theda Bara, who is hamming it up for the camera. You probably have to scroll down to see it. Thanks to Joan Myers for finding this site with lots of great pictures.


December 2012

Added a link to the home page for complete episodes of the radio program Thirty Minutes in Hollywood on the OTRR site. Also added a comment by Hugo Münsterberg about Battle Cry of Peace , and a note from Leslie Evans abouth the photo of Norma from Branded Woman.


November 2012

Updated the addresses page with more information on the Cudahay mansion from Allen Ellenberger, and added a note on Norma's beach house address from Margaret Talmadge's death certificate, courtesy of Bryan Tinlin.


August 2012

The Devil's Needle is now out on video from Kino/Lorber. Updated the Devil's Needle page, but had to take off the link to a sill on Silent Ladies and Gents because it was broken and i don't have time to hunt it up again . Updated the addresses page with further information on the W. 48th St. Studio and Biograph Studio from Richard Koszarski's Hollywood on the Hudson, and some updated info on Bayside/Beechhurst from Linda Schleider. Finalliy found a picture of Joseph Schildkraut's hilarious costume from Song of Love . Received a Kiki cigarette card courtesy of Derek Boothroyd. I spotted Norma in a previously uncredited film, The Heart of the King's Jester (1911 or 1912) that's on the ThoughtEquity website (now T3 Media), so updated the filmography with a link to the film. as well as the home page. Added a link to an article on Constance to her page. A shout-out to the Digital Media History Library for scanning and posting issues of Photoplay, Moving Picture World, and other important trade journals and fan magazines. I also added a link to it on the home page.


March 2012

Sadly, Norma's old studio in New York was torn down and the one in Hollywood is threatened. Read about it here. Updated the addresses page accordingly. Also added some more pictures of the West Adams house courtesy of Joan Myers. And added a new picture from Smilin' Through courtesy of Derek Boothroyd.


January 2012

Added a French magazine cover of Kiki from Derek Boothroyd. Another short turned up on the The new Thought Equity website, the amusing Solitaires,


November 2011

The new Thought Equity website has a bunch of Norma's Vitagraph films courtesy of the Nederlands Film Archives: Mrs. 'Enry 'Awkins, Fortunes of a composer, A lady and her maid, Father's hatband, Stenographer troubles , and The troublesome stepdaughters . Updated the Filmography, Home Page , and the review pages for the films. Also posted three nice pictures of Norma, Jessel and her Sisters to the Picture gallery, a nice haul from Ebay. Thanks to Joan Myers, too, for the link to the online version of the article Those Three Talmadge Girls!


July 2011

Added links to the beach house and the Norma Talmadge Building on Sunset to the addresses page, as well as updating data on the West Adams house. Added a clipping on Norma's supposed Red Cross activities from Randy Bigham and a new postcard from Derek Boothroyd to the Picture gallery, and reviews from Derek of The Only Woman .

April 2011

Took the note about April 2, 2011 screening of Forbidden City at the Hollywood Heritage Museum off the home page and added a nice 1945 picture of Norma with Mary Pickford and Sally Eilers to the Picture gallery.

March 2011

Added a note about an upcoming screening of The Forbidden City to the home page. Added some more Kiki scans from Derek Boothroyd. There's another Norma short film on video, so i added viewing comments and video information about A Lady and her Maid. I also added this link to the reviews of the 1915 short Janet of the Chorus. By the way, last March i posted Norma's birth certificate and wondered how long it would take someone on Wikipedia to notice it. It was updated on November 4, 2010, and someone also has also updated the birthdate on IMDB. Maybe one of these days i'll have an excuse to correct her Library of Congress name authority record--except then i'd have to correct the metadata on all my web pages and convince LC to do bibliographic file maintenance on their catalog. In the meantime, nobody has corrected the picture caption on Wikipedia, and my account seems to have disappeared so i can't correct it. It is not from A Year From Today. There is no such film title, that's the title of a song from New York Nights (her picture did appear on the sheet music). The photo is from She Loves and Lies. Now i'll see how long it takes it for that to get fixed.

November 2010

Added Norma's family's address from the 1905 Brooklyn census to the addresses page.

October 2010

My big discovery this time was finding out the name of Norma's pomeranian--it's name is Dinky (i'm not sure if it's male or female, however). In addition to the updated picture caption in the biographical essay , I added Dinky to the credits for the two films and to the filmography. I also got a couple of nice stills on eBay for Isle of Conquest , one of which features Dinky. Added info that New Moon was shot in Saranac Lake, New York. Also added to the filmography was info on A Four Footed Pest, the first film that Norma remembered being in. The interview with Melissa Talmadge Cox from last year's Kansas City Film Festival seems to be gone, so i had to take it off the home page, but did add a link to Norma Talmadge, the Adorable from the Internet Archive. Lea Jacobs wrote a terrific article on the Talmadges in the 2010 book Idols of Modernity, which i added to the bibliography, and also prompted a footnote in the biographical essay concerning the 48th Street studio. Pete Jones noticed that Hedda Hopper was not listed in the cast of By Right of Purchase , so i added that.. Added several addresses to the addresses page. Derek Boothroyd contributed pictures etc. for Smilin' Through, an English advertising brochure with pages on She Loves and Lies, , Isle of Conquest, The Woman Gives, , Daughter of Two Worlds, , The Eternal Flame, and a Swedish postcard of Norma and Constance, a wedding photo from 1929, a flyer for In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter, some magazine covers, and some stills of Constance and Dinky for the Picture gallery.

March 2010

Made several tweaks to the main essay to note the Kino videos and her confirmed birthdate (i also linked a copy of her birth certificate). I'm posting this on April 10, 2010 and am curious to see how fast the information makes it to Wikipedia (and whether anybody will fix the picture caption there). I've received a report that the 28 mm Graustark at Eastman House is actually the 1915 version, so i've adjusted the listing for that in various places (including revising the film count in the main essay. Roger send some more titles of extant Constance Talmadge films, so i updated her listings. Derek Boothroyd contributed a "Big Gun" cigarette card for the Picture gallery and a lobby card Secrets. Added a couple address to the addresses page and added links to the New York Times and TCM video reviews to Kiki and Within The Law

March 2010

Posted links to two YouTube videos of Melissa Talmadge Cox, Natalie Talmadge's (and Buster Keaton's) daughter at the Kansas Silent Film Festival talking about her aunts, to the home page. There's also a video of her talking about her grandfather as well.

February 2010

Kiki and Within The Law are now available on video by Kino--at last a major video release of Norma Talmadge films! They are paired with two from Constance, Her Night of Romance and Her sister from Paris, so added that info to Constance's page. Posted links to two newspaper clippings on the Taylorology website to the home page. Added a link to Allan Ellensberger's sit to the addresses page for info on part of the Sunset Blvd. Norma Talmadge building. Douris Corporation found that they had all 8 reels of The Dove, so i added the info to that page and the filmography. Donna Hill sent a picture of of Norma and Gilbert Roland, and Derek Boothroyd contributed some more pictures: added a pair of cards of Norma and Constance, some clipping of Norma and Constance, a "Little Housewife" promotional card to the Picture gallery. Derek also contributed a picture from Ashes of Vengeance and Within The Law. In addition, Paul S. Marshal contributed a poster for By Right of Purchase

October 2009

Derek Boothroyd sent a still from The Voice from the Minaret and an ad from the Stanford Theater for Graustark, and three lobby cards from The Ghosts of Yesterday. Thanks!

August 2009

I obtained Norma's will and added some addresses from that to the addresses page, plus an address i found for Peg Talmadge in a newspaper clipping.

May 2009

I clipped an excerpt of Norma from the radio program Thirty Minutes in Hollywood and posted the file here and linked it to the home page

May 2009

Derek Boothroyd sent scans of a Photoplay clipping and a Screenland Magazine cover which i put in the Picture gallery, the former also went on the page for Within the Law., and a picture with snipe from Camille..

April 2009

Derek Boothroyd sent scans of a Swedish program for Camille. which has lots of pictures.

March 2009

Derek Boothroyd sent a from notice Vitagraph's Exhibitors Plan Books from 1917 with a picture of Norma, which i put in the Picture gallery.

February 2009

I was able to see the mysterious Troublesome Step-Daughters and Stenographer Troubles and add viewing comments for them. Jim Carper kindly send me scans of Gladys Hall's 1931 interview with Norma, which i added to the page where i have the article typed up. I was alerted to a YouTube video that has a short tour of the Vitagraph property and a clip from A Tale of Two Cities, so i added references to the filmography and to the 1911 shorts page, as well as to the and added links to pictures and a video on the Vitagraph studios on the addresses page, where i also added a link to some pictures of the smokestack. Also Derek Bothroyd provided a lobby card for The Way of a Woman.. Thanks to Jane of the Historical Ziegfeld site for identifying several photos by Alfred Cheney Johnston in the Picture gallery ,

December 2008

I forgot last time to add the Moving Picture World review for O'Hara, Squatter and Philosopher, so i added that to the page of 1912 reviews. Added Moving Picture World articles on Battle Cry of Peace, and reviews, descriptions, or advertisements for The Crown Prince's Double, The Missing Links, The Children in the House, The Devil's Needle, Poppy, The Law of Compensation, The Heart of Wetona, The Probation Wife, The New Moon, The Way of a Woman, The Isle of Conquest, She Loves and Lies, The Woman Gives, The Branded Woman, By Right of Purchase, and The Safety Curtain. I added a picture of Norma and George Jessell to the Pictures page. Derek Boothroyd provided more articles, clippings, and photos including the short story adaptation for Photoplay of Smilin' Through, an advertisement and photo for Kiki, an advertisement for Panthea, lobby cards for The Eternal Flame, By Right of Purchase, clippings on New York Nights,some advertisements and clippings that i put on the Pictures page, an article called A Day with Norma Talmadge from Motion Picture Magazine (which turned up a new address for the addresses page--and i also added a new link to the Talmadge Apartments), plus some clippings with the interior of the West Adams house, an article on a fan club and clippings on The New Moon Eve Brown contributed some pictures of Virginia Withey, which i added to Constance's page. Also updated the bibliography. Oh, and i found a clipping of Eugene O'Brien with an inset of a scene from The Only Woman that was on the back of a clipping of Pauline Frederick that i was posting on that site. So i scanned it as well and added it.

November 2008

Ok, i'm finally getting back to this. I've added a favicon to to the site (though i'm not sure it works from all pages) and corrected various typos on various pages. It's just been announced that Constance's film East is West has been discovered and is being restored by the Nederlands Filmmuseum, so i added that info to Constance's page. Stanford gave me some new server space! So i'm adding stuff to the site again. I put up the Moving Picture World reviews of Norma's Vitagraph short films (linked to the filmography) . Derek Boothroyd sent several pictures: a lobby card for Children in the House, a color picture of DuBarry,, a Vargas cover for the Pictures page a review of The Lady,, an article on Forbidden City,, an article on Norma by Adele Whitely Fletched called Norma ... a Woman ... a Paradox ... a Riddle, and two articles: What I Think of Constance / What I think of Norma from Movie Magazine in 1926. A bunch more, too, but i'm out of time now and will need to upload them next month

I also removed the latest Donnell Center Talmadge program from the home page. For future reference, here's the program
, and i linked a blog post about it to the home page

April 2008

The Donnell Media Center in New York is showing some of Norma Talmadge's movies this summer. I added the schedule temporarily to the home page. Other than that, i haven't had any time to add stuff to the site, and i'm out of server space so i've got a moratorium on adding new pictures. I do hope to work on the reviews of her Vitagraph films this summer. I'm also thinking that due to the small server space, perhaps i should put overflow pictures (and maybe even all the pictures on Flickr and refer people back to the site for more info. (i wouldn't remove pictures i already havae on the site). What do people think? Probably would get more exposure there. There are some Norma pictures there already. And added a favicon to the main Divas page, the Norma home page, and page. Hopefully will at some point get time to add to the other pages.

September 2007

I finally posted my Griffithiana article from 2001 and added links to it from the bibliography and home page. I finally got copies of Moving Picture World reviews of many of Norma's short films, but it'll be a while before i get a chance to type those up and post them.

August 2007

Since i had to do a filmography for Constance anyway, i decided to finally do at least page for her, with the aforementioned filmography and a couple of pix. Doctor Macro changed his URLs, so i updated the links on the pages for The Lady, Camille, New York Nights and the home page. In the filmography, corrected cast of The Sphinx, or Mrs. Carter's Necklace, which i just saw at the Library of Congress (i'll post notes later), and corrected the plot synopses of She Loves and Lies and Daughter of Two Worlds, and noted that The Moth is now preserved (what's left of it anyway). Also noted the possible presence of Constance in Captivating Mary Carstairs, and her possible presence in Battle Cry of Peace (and on That film's comments . Also added viewing comments to The Devil's Needle, The Moth, By Right of Purchase, Probation Wife, She Loves and Lies, Daughter of Two Worlds, and The Woman Gives and added a review (courtesy of Derek Boothroyd) to The Missing Links, and he also provided scans of pictures from New York Nights , The Eternal Flame, Graustark, Secrets and a new postcard on the Pictures page, as well as a picture from Mike Richardson and the late John Morkunas (they also provided the top picture on the new Constance page. Frederica contributed the Motion Picture July 1917 review of The Law of Compensation. Thanks, all for your contributions! Also picked up a photoplay edition of Within the Law and added the pictures from that, and also added the picture from Photoplay review of Panthea, as well as a picture of L. Rogers Lytton from the same issue.

April 2007

Jeff Cohen posted some information on New York Nights on his Vitaphone Varieties blog, so i added a link on the New York Nights page for that. Bruce Calvert found a new site for his The Silent Film Still Archive, so i changed a few links. He seems to have added a picture for Probation Wife, so i added links to that as well. I just noticed that Greg N. Smith's article "Silencing the New Woman: Ethnic and Social Mobility in the Melodramas of Norma Talmadge" has appeared online, so i added links to the home page and bibliography. Since Grapevine Video is back in business, i updated the video review pages for Children in the House, Going Straight, The Social Secretary, and Forbidden City. Took off the Videobrary link from The Safety Curtain, since it now goes to a site selling bras! Oh, and added links to Dr. Macro's movie scans

January 2007

Finally a recording of the theme song to Woman Disputed! Thanks to Jeff Cohen for providing the recording, and to James Bazen for noticing it on Jeff's wonderful Vitaphone Varieties blog. And by chance I identified the third woman in the second picure in the biographical essay as Anna Q. Nilsson. I was looking at an article in Proquest Los Angeles Times online of November 22, 1931 (page I1) and spotted Alice Joyce hat, and matched the hat of the woman with a hat in the photo, who the caption identified as Nilsson.

December 2006

Much thanks to Todd Miller for giving me the address of Norma and Joe's elusive Bayside home! Also thanks to Shannon Lyn for sending me the link to Norma's 1928 at Pass-a-Grill Beach, Florida. I added both to the addresses page

November 2006

I uploaded another copy of The Helpful Sisterhood onto The Internet Archive. Google's copy keeps freezing. It is in mpeg4 format and seems to be fussy about what player is used. Sorry, when i learn more about digital video perhaps i can fix this. I added a link to this on the home page and to the Magazine covers on Sunrise Silents that Judith Williams alerted me to. Thanks! Thanks also to Derek Boothroyd for a nice picture of Norma from Du Barry, Woman of Passion I found a link to the Harper House apartments and added it to the addresses page

August 2006

Great news from Sweden! The Svenska Filminstitutet has a reel of The Battle Cry of Peace. This reel is different than the scraps of battle sequences at George Eastman House, and contains some of Norma's big scenes. A very exciting discovery! I added comments to the page for the film. I also viewed a reel of censored material from The Dove, and added appropriate links to the filmography

July 2006

Several developments: First, i've uploaded a silent copy of The Helpful Sisterhood onto Google Video. Quality is not great, unfortunately. It works best if you find the little down arrow for "original size." The video will be smaller but clearer. If anyone knows more about how to upload this in better quality, please let me know, i'm a novice at this.. I also added a link to this on the home page.

Next, i've finally completed Norma's short film filmography. Bryan Tinlin looked up Norma in the 1910 census and found her address, which i added to the addresses page. Also both censuses give her birth year as 1894!. I found some more details about the picture with Thomas Meighan that i posted in March on the Pictures page. Last but not least, i added another viewing comment forKiki after seeing the restored version with an audience (and music!) at the Stanford Theater on June 17.

March 2006

I've had so much to add and so little time! Thank you all who provided me with materials for your patience while i got all this stuff added--Added the address for Talmadge's San Francisco house addresses page (thanks to Ronald Spayde for checking this out). Added another couple of scrapbook pages and pictures of Norma and Constance from Joop van Dijk to the Pictures page. Added production stills and a poster for the lost Secret of the Storm Country, courtesy of David Denison, grandson of Norma's co-star Edwin Denison. Added pictures from the photoplay novels of Camille and Graustark. Added some links to pictures from the Sayre collection at the University of Washington. There are some miscellaneous photos of Norma which i didn't link to, but i added the links to the films The Sign on the Door, The Woman Gives, Forbidden city, Smilin' Through, Eternal Flame.. Added all these links also to the filmography.

December 2005

Added a photo i took of Norma's footprints at the Mann's Chinese Theatre to the addresses page. Got some further information on Gilbert Roland (thank you Mr. Brownlow!), so did some tweaks to the biographical essay. Added new and improved links to glass slides of Camille and The Dove and added some further information on the print of the latter to that page and the filmography. I finally got a clean copy of the photoplay novel of Camille, so that will be coming soon.

October 2005

Updated the addresses and added a picture of the Hollywood Blvd. house (thanks Chris Snowden!), and added some more Melbourne Spurr pictures from Scott Jacob to the photo gallery and Song of Love pages. Also added a portrait by Frank Martin to the photo gallery. I saw The Wonderful Thing at Cinecon and added my (scathing) comments to the page for the film and link added a link to the filmography. Updated the address for Gilda's Blue Book of the screen on the home page. James Cozart from LOC gave me updated information on archival prints of The Social Secretary. Thanks!

August 2005

Added a page of addresses , and deleted an address from the main essay , and also added Norma and Joe's wedding date. Also added a link to Flapperjane's Talmadges page to the home page. I did some retooling on all the pages for the individual films, repeating the credits from the filmography page--i realized you Googler's out there were probably going straight to a page from a film rather than coming in through the filmography.

July 2005

Went to New York in May to see some films, so added comments for Camille (finally!), and added to my previous comments forKiki. Also updated a caption and (alas) the preservation notes. Updated Filmography accordingly.

March 2005

Took off the home page the announcment for the Norma Talmadge film series at New York Public Library which ended February 23. The programs were: Yes or No (2/2/05, accompanied by Gabriel Thibaudeau), The sign on the door (2/9/05, accompanied by Ben Model), Within the Law (2/16/05, accompanied by David Gross), and Song of Love (2/23/05, accompanied by Martin Marks)

Also on the home page, added a link to the profile on things-and-other-stuff.com, and continued changing Silent-movies.com to Silent-movies.org (adding mention of the new wonderful Blue book of the screen and Stars of the Photoplay, and made links to Norma's entries in those resources.

Also added links to glass slides of Camille and The Dove, and also added those links to the Filmography

January 2005

Added information about the Norma Talmadge film series at the New York Public Library to the home page. Will remove when it's over.

December 2004

Added sheet music "Woman Disputed, I Love You to the Filmography and to the Woman Disputed page, and added some information about Sam Goldwyn's plans to star her in The Greeks had a Word for It to the main essay

October 2004

Added some costume credits to the Filmography and to Ashes of Vengeance and added the address of Norma's Las Vegas home to the main essay

Joop van Dijk generously contributed scans of some of his scrapbook materials, which i put in the Picture gallery. Many thanks for material on this elusive phase of the Talmadge sister's lives.

August 2004

Got several scans of book covers from Joop van Dijk, including one of Norma. Thanks! Linked this to the bibliography. Adding the other ladies (Pola Negri, Asta Neilson) to my pages on them

Got several scans of Norma by Melbourne Spurr and put them in the Picture gallery. Thanks to Scott Jacob for these lovely pictures.

Added links on the home page tothe Norma Talmadge page on The Silent Era and "Norma Talmadge, the Queen of Versatility" on Golden Silents.

From E-bay, got a cute little booklet on Norma in Russian. So added a page for that and linked it to the home page and bibliography

Got a bunch of scans of pictures from Cleo in Luxembourg. Added some to the Picture gallery., and linked others to the relevant films: Secrets, The Dove, Woman Disputed, Kiki, New York Nights, and Du Barry, Woman of Passion

June 2004

Randy Bigham provided some more pictures, so i started a Picture gallery.. I linked to some of them from The Way of a Woman, The Social Secretary, The Heart of Wetona, and Ghosts of Yesterday

Also took down the announcment for the now-completed Norma Talmadge film series at the University of Wisconsin.

March 2004

Randy Bigham provided some costume credits which i added to the filmography, and also provided a picture of a splended Lucile gown , which appeard in The Way of a Woman

Finished removing Silents Majority links, and also fixed links to the Silent Film Stills Archive, as well as tweaking some link texts. Also noted Grapevine Video's OP status, and noted other sources where possible.

February 2004

Added picture of Talmadge with Alice Joyce in the 1930s to the biographical article.

Added pictures to Sign on the Door , Within the Law , Eternal Flame , and Kiki and updated Filmography.

Updating lots of pages to remove the Silents Majority links. Sob!

January 2004

Added information about the Norma Talmadge film series at he University of Wisconsin, Madison to the home page. Will remove when it's over.

October 2003

Finally got around to removing the UCLA announcement. Also deleted link to Silents Majority. Still need to remove from the rest of the site. Darn, they were my major source of pictures!

June 2003

Added mention of Norma's guest appearances in the intro to the filmography . Also added mention of the UCLA screening of The Social Secretary, which i will take down once it has passed.

May 2003

Added another house link , courtesy of Silents Are Golden

April 2003

Added a mid 1930s picture of Norma and George Jessel taken at Carl Brisson's party for newlyweds Helen Vinson ad Fred Perry to the biographical article.

Added links to various related real estate sites: A house in the Los Feliz district (and more here), the Villa Riviera in Long Beach (and more here), and the Talmadge Apartments, and the community of Talmadge, in San Diego. I'm still waiting for someone to put up something on the Santa Monica Beach house that was featured a few years ago in Architectural Digest

Added viewing comments to De Luxe Annie and The Only Woman, and updated filmography.

Added Motion Picture Classic review for Her Only Way . Thanks, Randy Bigham!

January 2003

Added a link to the AFI Catalog

Added link to the Moving Picture review for Forbidden City on Silents are Golden to the filmography and page for the film.

December 2002

Added article from Motion Picture Classic,"The Extra Girl Plays Divorce Court Audience" on the filming of the lost Her Only Way. Thanks to Randy Bigham!

November 2002

Added link on homepage to Melbourne Spurr's portraits of Norma. Thanks to Scott Jacob for the link

September 2002

Added links to images of coming attraction slides for Her Only Way, By Right of Purchase, New Moon, The Safety Curtain, and The Voice from the Minaret, all mounted on the George Eastman House website

Added link on homepage to an article on Norma's protigee Margaret Leahy, on the Damfino's website.

Added link on homepage to "Screened but not Heard," , which includes Norma's unfortunate introduction to radio.

Updated email address on all files.

July 2002 Addendum

Message from the Czech film archive that they don't have a copy of Her Only Way. Since GEH doesn't have either, it's probably lost.. Updated Filmography and surviving film count yet again.

July 2002

Added link on homepage to Gilda's Blue Book of the Screen

Added portrait that appeared in Branded Woman

Added pictures and text from the souvenir program for Woman Disputed

Alas, discovered that The Voice from the Minaret appears to be lost after all. Updated Filmography and surviving film count

Added stills from The Lady and Song of Love.

Added pictures from photoplay novels for Secrets and Daughter of Two Worlds

Added a picture of "Norma and Constance" to the biographical article.

Added video review for Heart of Wetona

Relinked with The Silent Film Still Archive

Linked video reviews to video websites

Spellchecked pages and ran HTML validation program


2000-early 2002 (as best as i can remember)

Added link to Silent Era.

Added Divas footer

Added splash page at http://www.stanford.edu/~gdegroat/NT

Updated Silents Majority links and deleted links to the Silent Film Still Archive

Added reviews from Moving Picture World to several films.

Added entries by Jeanine Basinger and Greta de Groat to Bibliography.

Added biographical essay and more pictures to the main "Woman Disputed" article.

Added link to "Ten Years Hence," and "Beauty and the Bean."

Added contemporary articles "Norma Splash" ,"Sisters Three," "Norma Talmadge gives an idea of Children's Films," and "Going ... Going ... Near the End of the Road, Norma Talmadge Looks Back".

Added Carl Sandburg reviews to Panthea and Camille.

Added stills from The Lady and Yes or No.

Added information about Foothill video of DuBarry, Woman of Passion.

Added video review of Safety Curtain.

Added viewing comments for films viewed at archives, but not on video-- see Filmography for films with notation "viewing comments".

Added photos from Photoplay magazine to Ashes of Vengeance, Secrets, Sign on the Door, and Within the Law, and to "Lady of the Vase" article.

Changed Home Page graphic

Added borders to banners




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©1999, by Greta de Groat . All Rights Reserved
Last revised, December 28, 2022