World War I Era Hollywood and My Fascinating Journey as a Researcher

Rin Tin Tin - many movies are still made about him.

 Becoming famous itself is very tough, but becoming a famous animal is even tougher. There is a truly heroic story of two dogs that were saved from a soldier in WWI, and their journey to stardom. I simply just went to AVL then scrolled down maybe a notch or two and clicked ebscohost where I typed in my subject - to which I found the information about these cute little pups. Finding a picture for Rin Tin Tin was the toughest though, because I was looking for a primary source. Supposedly, the soldier taught his male dog to jump great heights and to play dead at a dog show in Los Angeles. Someone recorded it and played it in theaters and a movie executive saw it and offered him a part in a movie. He is one of the biggest stars for Warner Bros. Pictures. They were going bankrupt and this dog brought them out of their bankruptcy.

Cover of the movie

 Another famous movie that relates to World War I is "Wings." "Wings," is about Jack Powell who is a young man with passion for cars. His next door neighbor is Mary Preston, who is in deep love for him, but Jack does not notice her. Jack loves Sylvia Lewis, but she is in love with David Armstrong. When USA joins World War I, Jack and David join the Air Force to fight in France and become pals. Mary joins the Women's Motor Corp, trying to be close to Jack. But it is war, and a tragedy happens between the two friends - Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To find the information for this film, I went to Google and searched for, "'Wings' movie 1927." I found a movie plot summary on imdb and found some information about this silent film!

Cover of the movie

 One of the best known movies that came out after World War 1 was, "All quiet on the Western Front." it showed how the Germans viewed the war through the soldiers eyes rather than the Americans point of view. I found some information on this movie at ebscohost as well. I am actually very timid to post certain websites because I am afraid i am gonna be using inappropriate sources. So much pressure Mrs. Lawson.

Propaganda-tried to get money

 Propaganda was used to influence many Americans into joining the war against the Central Powers. The Division of Films ensured that the war was promoted in cinema. The film industry had a bad rep and they were hoping to regain some of it by putting some propaganda up on the big screens. The film industries used film titles like: The Kaiser: The Beast of Berlin, Wolves of Kultur, and Pershing's Crusaders. To Hell With The Kaiser, was so popular that Massachusetts riot police were summoned to deal with an angry mob that had been denied admission. I found all of this information on a website I found on Google, it is called... firstworldwar. It actually has a lot of great information about how propaganda was being used and how Wilson was talking about peace when he actually led America into the war against the Central Powers.

Mary - "America's Sweetheart"

   A very well know silent film actor, Mary Pickford was a bigger world box office draw than any of her silent film star contemporaries. Mary was very successful in the movie industry and she raised over a million dollars in war bonds to help the U.S. She had become a citizen of the U.S., while still holding her Canadian citizenship. She was loved by everyone, America called her, "America's Sweetheart," while the world called her the "World's Sweetheart." She even won an Academy Award for her role in, "Coquette." The next generation star that was as famous as Mary was Shirley Temple. I found all of this information on goldensilents. I thought it was really interesting in how many movies she was in, there is a list at the bottom of the link i just gave and she was in more movies then I think I have seen, it is phenomenal. But for being "America's Sweetheart," I thought she would be much prettier.  

Cover of the movie

 One of the highest grossing films that was ever in theaters was, "The Big Parade," created by King Vidor. It was the first realistic war drama and serves as a model for all other war movies through the ages. It was the first big box office success of the newly formed MGM Studios, and possibly the most profitable silent film of all time - it helped bring back the popularity of war films in the late 20s. People now a days would say he was the Steven Spielberg of his time, which means a lot since everywhere you look you see his name. But, i ended up finding info on this popular movie on filmsite. Finding information on this last paragraph was semi-hard because I was running out of ideas to write about and it was getting slim to the info I was finding about all the other people/movies!