1920s | MONOVISIONS - Black & White Photography Magazine

1920s

Vintage: Oil derricks in California (1920s-1930s)

2 October 2022 0

Offshore drilling began in California in 1896, when operators in the Summerland Oil Field in Santa Barbara County followed the field into the ocean by drilling from piers built out over the ocean. At least 187 offshore oil wells were…

1920s

Vintage: “Black Tuesday”, October 29, 1929

30 August 2022 0

Selling intensified in mid-October. On October 24, “Black Thursday”, the market lost 11% of its value at the opening bell on very heavy trading. The huge volume meant that the report of prices on the ticker tape in brokerage offices…

1920s

Vintage: Portraits by Ruth Harriet Louise (1920s)

28 April 2020 0

Ruth Harriet Louise (1903 – 1940) was an American professional photographer, the first woman photographer active in Hollywood; she ran Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s portrait studio from 1925 to 1930. Louise began working as a portrait photographer in 1922, working out of a…

1920s

Vinatge: Portraits by Will Burgdorf (1920s)

18 December 2019 0

Will Burgdorf (1905 – 1944) was a German photographer. Went to Dresden at the beginning of the 1920s, where he completed his training in the studio of Bruno Wiehr, back to his hometown in the late 1920s still a teenager.…

1920s

Vintage: Portraits of Dolores Costello – Silent Movie Star

4 December 2019 0

Dolores Costello (1903 – 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She had a younger sister, Helene, and the two made their first film appearances in the years 1909–1915 as…

1920s

Vintage: Fiat Rooftop Test Track in Turin (1920s)

26 November 2019 0

The Lingotto building in Turin, Italy, once housed a Fiat factory. Construction started in 1916 and the building opened in 1923. The design (by young architect Matté Trucco) was unusual in that it had five floors, with raw materials going…

1920s

Vintage: Portraits of Pola Negri – Silent Movie Star

4 November 2019 0

Pola Negri (1897 – 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles. Raised in the Congress Kingdom of…

1920s

Vintage: Portraits of Vilma Bánky – Silent Movie Star

4 October 2019 0

Vilma Bánky (1901 – 1991) was a Hungarian-born American silent film actress, although the early part of her acting career began in Budapest. Her first film appearance was in the now lost film, Im Letzten Augenblick (In the last moment),…

1920s

Vintage: Lady Dancing With Skeleton by Franz Fiedler (1923)

20 September 2019 0

Franz Fiedler (1885 – 1956) was a German photographer. Fiedler was born in Prostějov, near Olomouc in Moravia. Fiedler was a pupil of Hugo Erfurth. He was regarded as an eccentric during his apprenticeship in Pilsen, and worked in 1905…

1920s

Vintage: Our Modern Maidens (1929)

14 September 2019 0

Our Modern Maidens is a 1929 American silent drama film directed by Jack Conway. Starring Joan Crawford in her last silent film role, the film also stars Rod La Rocque, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Anita Page. Heiress Billie Brown (Crawford),…

1920s

Vintage: Portraits of Norma Shearer – Silent Movie Star

4 September 2019 0

Norma Shearer (1902 – 1983) was a Canadian-American actress and Hollywood star. Shearer appeared in a few silent movies, but her time in Hollywood coincided with the transition from silent films to sound. She took the lead in MGM’s second…

1920s

Vintage: Portraits of Betty Bronson – Silent Movie Star

4 August 2019 0

Betty Bronson (1906 – 1971) was an American television and film actress who began her career during the silent film era. Bronson began her film career at the age of 16 with a bit part in Anna Ascends. At 17,…

1920s

Vintage: Portraits of Betty Compson – Silent Movie Star

5 July 2019 0

Betty Compson (1897 – 1974) was an American actress most famous in silent films and early talkies. Playing in vaudeville sketches with touring circuits, Compson got noticed by Hollywood producers. While touring, she was discovered by comedic producer Al Christie…

1920s

Vintage: Portraits by James Abbe (1920s)

17 June 2019 0

James Abbe (1883 – 1973) was an American photographer. His career as international photographer was first boosted by the Washington Post, which commissioned him to travel and take photographs of a 16-day voyage with the American battleship fleet to England…

1920s

Vintage: Portraits of Blanche Sweet – Silent Movie Star

5 June 2019 0

Blanche Sweet (1896 – 1986) was an American silent film actress who began her career in the earliest days of the Hollywood motion picture film industry. Sweet was known for her energetic, independent roles, at variance with the ‘ideal’ Griffith…

1920s

Vintage: Vietnamese Lunar New Year – Tet Holiday (1920s)

20 May 2019 0

Vietnamese Lunar New Year or Tet Holiday, is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Vietnamese people usually return to their families during Tết. Some return to worship at the family altar or visit the graves of their ancestors in…

1920s

Vintage: Portraits of Colleen Moore – Silent Movie Star

5 May 2019 0

Colleen Moore (1899 – 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. At age 15 she was taking her first step in Hollywood. Her uncle arranged a screen test with director D.W. Griffith.…

1920s

Vintage: The Last Laugh (1924)

27 April 2019 0

The Last Laugh is a 1924 German silent film directed by German director F. W. Murnau. Jannings’ character is a doorman for a famous hotel, who takes great pride in his work and position. His manager decides that the doorman…

1920s

Vintage: Sherlock Jr. (1924)

20 April 2019 0

Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton. A movie theater projectionist and janitor (Buster Keaton) is in love with a beautiful girl (Kathryn McGuire). However, he has a rival, the “local sheik”…

1920s

Vintage: Greed (1924)

14 April 2019 0

Greed is a 1924 American silent film, written and directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on the 1899 Frank Norris novel McTeague. John McTeague is a miner working in Placer County, California. A traveling dentist calling himself Dr. “Painless”…

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