It will be Greta Garbo and Louise Brooks for the crown of Favorite Silent Actress

In the semi-final matches, it was Louise Brooks crushing Clara Bow 30-18 and Greta Garbo doubling up over Norma Shearer 16-8. Setting up a championship match between Louise and Greta to decide the favorite silent actress. Catherine will host that epic match beginning on Sunday. Here's the link to her page to go vote when the time comes: http://obscurecinemamagic.wordpress.com/

THE FINAL FOUR for the Favorite Silent Actress Tourney begins now

Four legendary silent actresses have made it to the final four of the Favorite Silent Actress Tourney. Clara Bow. Louise Brooks. Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Two matches over two blogs. The match between Clara and Louise will take place here while my friend Catherine hosts the match between Greta and Norma. The poll is on the right hand side bar. Matches will run through Thursday to decide who will compete in the final match to decide the favorite silent actress. Here's the link to Catherine's blog to go vote on that match which will be up later on: http://obscurecinemamagic.wordpress.com/
Good luck to these four wonderful women!

A dream Final Four to take place this weekend in The Favorite Silent Actress Tourney

We started with 32 top actresses of the silent era and have made our way to the final four. And it's a dream final four. Greta Garbo. Norma Shearer. Clara Bow. Louise Brooks. You couldn't ask for a better finale. Greta outlasted Janet Gaynor 11-6. Norma Shearer edged out Gloria Swanson 10-7. Louise Brooks defeated Bebe Daniels 21-7. And Clara Bow handled top seed and perennial favorite Mary Pickford 21-8. So now as we head into this weekend the two semi-final matches set up like this. Clara Bow will take on Louise Brooks here on All Good Things while Greta and Norma will duke it out on Catherine's blog, Plucked From Obscurity. Matches begin Saturday nights and run through Thursday evening. Here's the link to Catherine's blog: http://obscurecinemamagic.wordpress.com/

Round 3 of the Favorite Silent Actress Tourney begins now...

Here we go with round 3 of the favorite silent actress tourney. 4 matches with 8 remaining women. And it looks to be some top tier matches for sure. I'll start my two matches here on All Good Things now and Catherine will start her two matches tomorrow morning. Here's the link to her blog:http://obscurecinemamagic.wordpress.com/

THE DESIREE BRACKET

MARY PICKFORD

VS

CLARA BOW

THE STEPHEN BRACKET

LOUISE BROOKS

VS

BEBE DANIELS

And then over at Catherine's blog, these two matches

THE JOSIE BRACKET

GRETA GARBO

VS

JANET GAYNOR

THE MARIA BRACKET

NORMA SHEARER

VS

GLORIA SWANSON

Matches will run through Thursday evening. Good luck to all the women who

have made it this far!

Round 2 of the Favorite Silent Actress Tourney is in the books

8 matches wrapped up the 2nd round of the Favorite Silent Actress Tourney and half of them were blow-outs. Here are the results from all 8 matches.

DESIREE BRACKET
Clara Bow defeated Alla Nazimova 15-5
Mary Pickford defeated Dolores Costello 12-10

STEPHEN BRACKET
Louise Brooks defeated Lillian Gish 14-8
Bebe Daniels defeated Edna Purviance 12-9

JOSIE BRACKET
Greta Garbo defeated Colleen Moore 12-2
Janet Gaynor defeated Pola Negri 9-5

MARIA BRACKET
Norma Shearer defeated Olive Borden 13-2
Gloria Swanson defeated Marion Davies 8-6

Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Louise Brooks and Clara Bow all flexed their muscles and won quite easily.
Three of the matches were double digits wins for the respective ladies. Meanwhile the other four matches were quite close, with two of them being decided by only 2 votes. Mary Pickford, the tourney's top seed squeaked by for the second week in a row by edging out Dolores Costello 12-10. It won't get any easier for Mary as she faces the It Girl, Clara Bow in round 3. I will have the complete match-ups posted by tomorrow.

Round 2 of The Favorite Silent Actress Tourney begins tonight

Things get tougher as we begin round 2 of the favorite silent actress tourney hosted by me and my friend Catherine. This round features 8 matches, four of them taking place here and four more taking place over at Catherine's blog Plucked From Obscurity. Here are the matches below for the All Good Things portion:

Stephen Bracket:

3 LILLIAN GISH

VS

10 LOUISE BROOKS

13 BEBE DANIELS

VS

26 EDNA PURVIANCE

Desiree Bracket:

1 MARY PICKFORD

VS

25 DOLORES COSTELLO

6 CLARA BOW

VS

11 ALLA NAZIMOVA

The polls are on the right hand sidebar and will run through Thursday. Go here to see the matches taking place on Catherine's blog...http://obscurecinemamagic.wordpress.com/

Ann Sheridan crushes Clara Bow 14-6 in match play

Here's to ya Ann for your big win!

The Ooomph Girl handily took care of the It Girl by the score of 14-6. Ann Sheridan cruised to an easy victory to even her match play record to 1-1. While Clara Bow falls to 0-2. Don't worry Clara, I know you will get a win soon. You're the It Girl for crying out loud! Anyway as the favorite classic actress tournament nears I thought I might change up these next few matches. I will have a new one ready for tomorrow. Please do stop by to take a gander. And thanks to everyone who voted on this recent match. I know Ann appreciates it.

So what happened Clara? I thought you were the It Girl? - Clara's

friend doesn't take her loss too well

Classic Stars Match Play #18 - The "It" Girl CLARA BOW vs The "Oomph" Girl ANN SHERIDAN

For the next match play, two very well known actresses, who each had popular nicknames, will battle for victory. Clara Bow, known as The "It" Girl will face Ann Sheridan, who was given the name The "Oomph" Girl. Both women also had some other common traits. Clara Bow's birth name was actually Clara. Ann's birth name was also Clara. Both never won Academy Awards. In fact neither ever received a nomination, which is a crime. So here are the ladies stats as we get ready for an exciting match.

CLARA BOW

Clara is thinking..."Ann Sheridan? Boy is this gonna be tough!"

Name: Clara Gordon Bow
Birth Date: July 29, 1905 (Brooklyn, New York)
Height: 5' 3"
Academy Awards: none
Monties: 1 nomination (Best Actress: Wings - 1927)
My favorite Clara film: The Wild Party (1929)
Match play record: 0-1 (lost to Irene Dunne in the 30's era of the 2011 Favorite Classic Actress
Tournament)

CLASSIC STARS MATCH PLAY

ANN SHERIDAN

Ann showing off her patriotic colors

Name: Clara Lou Sheridan
Birth Date: February 21, 1915 (Denton, Texas)
Height: 5' 5"
Academy Awards: none
Monties: 3 nominations, 1 win (Best Actress: Edge of Darkness - 1943)
My favorite Ann film: I Was A Male War Bride (1949)
Match play record: 0-1 (lost to Vivien Leigh in the 40's era of the 2011 Favorite Classic
Actress Tournament)

The match begins immediately and will run through Saturday, Februry 4th at 8pm EST.

Good luck to both women.

Ann is being supported by her friends which include Gail Patrick, Wendy Barrie and others

While Clara shows off her moves to the fellas

HAPPY NEW YEAR! CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD STYLE

Just a Happy New Year from me does not carry that much weight, so I asked some of my friends to lend a hand. They responded quite well. Happy New Year everyone!

Clara and her friends from THE WILD PARTY definitely know how

to bring New Year's in the right way

It can't be a party without Nick and Nora Charles

I think Ann Dvorak may have started a little early

Joan making plans as we speak

Lauren and Humphrey enjoying a quiet New Year's together

Joan and Constance going the costume way

Even rivals Bette and Miriam put past grievances aside to celebrate

Ummm Esther...why did you bring a clown?

Greta doesn't do events like this, so she decided to stay home and have a

private little dinner

And of course some guy has to hit on Marilyn

Debbie, Shirley and Ann let us know it's time..

When it's all said and done, what a party...hey it's my girl Carole down at the bottom right corner!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

At The Beach: CLARA BOW

Amazing isn't she?..standing on those rocks in those heels...

Audrey Hepburn and Clara are gracious in their defeat with this wonderful post...

Me and my friend Clara from Via Margutta 51 had this friendly bet on the recent match between Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. She chose Audrey and I took Grace. Whoever lost the match would have to write a post on the other's blog about why they love the actress they chose. Well Grace won out by 2 votes and Clara has graciously written a lovely post about her girl Audrey. It is dated from last year but it is still a wonderful post. Enjoy:

She would be 81 today. "So young?", said my brother. I know what he meant.



The ubiquitous icon, the wonderful actress, the shiny presence, the kindest woman, left us too early.


I've said that Hitch introduced me to classic movies. That's correct. But it was Audrey who showed me that the performers that happened to breath, dream, love and radiate splendor before I was born were worthy to watch. No, more than that: they deserved to be watched.


And there she was. She was Holly Golightly. She was there all dressed up eating her croissant in front of Tiffany's. She was there looking for her shoe and asking "how do I look?". She was there smiling, dancing, hiding her feelings. She was there suffering. She was there, sitting by the window, singing one of the most beautiful songs ever composed, ever written, with her own voice and her absent gaze. She was there drunk. She was there crying, in love, but not sure of anything. And it rained.


And then came "Sabrina", Billy Wilder, William Holden, Bogie, Paris, "Roman Holiday", Gregory Peck, William Wyler, Dalton Trumbo, Rome, "Love in the afternoon", Gary Cooper, Fascination, "Funny face", Stanley Donen, Fred Astaire, Givenchy, the Gershwin brothers, "War and peace", Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, "The Nun's story", Fred Zinemmann, "The Unforgiven", Burt Lancaster, "My Fair Lady", George Cukor, Rex Harrison, "Charade", Cary Grant, "Two for the road", Albert Finney...Audrey presented me so many talented people, such beautiful music and places, so many unforgettable movies.


She educated me and made me a classic film lover.


She lived, she smiled, she looked around with her big eyes. No one, ever, ever, said something negative about her. She was kind and easy to work with. She remembered the terrible war, she remembered poor little Anna Frank. She loved chocolates and cigarettes. She was generous and respected the private life of others and her own. She wanted to love; she was deceived. She loved flowers. She traveled and tried to give some comfort to the innocent, the weak; she was ill. She died. She left us too early.



But she's remembered.  And be sure to check out Clara's amazing blog. Here is the link below:

http://via-51.blogspot.com/

Happy Halloween from Clara Bow