Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
@vitaphonezone.bsky.social
Writer and film history researcher focusing especially on the silent/pre-Code eras (and the overlooked faces within). I talk a lot about Jean Harlow.
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June, not Jean: Harlow's Nicest 'Niece'
A particularly relevant and refreshingly inarguable fact about Jean Harlow is that she was an only child.
open.substack.com
I wrote a bit about June Harlow, a 1950s burlesque queen and film hopeful who built a solid career based partially off her resemblance to her ‘aunt’ Jean Harlow—showing that being a fake Nepo Niece can carry you pretty far. open.substack.com/pub/vitaphon...
I think this is still my favorite photo of Stanwyck
January 20, 2026 at 7:22 PM
I think this is still my favorite photo of Stanwyck
This is still absolutely an alternate universe picture of my husband and I btw
Barbara Stanwyck and William A. Wellman share a laugh on the set of Lady of Burlesque (1943)
January 20, 2026 at 7:22 PM
This is still absolutely an alternate universe picture of my husband and I btw
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
Barbara Stanwyck and William A. Wellman share a laugh on the set of Lady of Burlesque (1943)
January 21, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Barbara Stanwyck and William A. Wellman share a laugh on the set of Lady of Burlesque (1943)
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
ABOUT A HUNDRED
January 20, 2026 at 4:05 PM
ABOUT A HUNDRED
Mood: Robert Mitchum and his wife in matching monkey costumes at the Hollywood Photographer’s Press Ball (from Photoplay, January 1949)
January 20, 2026 at 6:51 PM
Mood: Robert Mitchum and his wife in matching monkey costumes at the Hollywood Photographer’s Press Ball (from Photoplay, January 1949)
Jean Harlow, James Cagney, and Edward Woods from the production point of view during the shooting of Harlow’s introduction in The Public Enemy (1931):
January 14, 2026 at 9:05 PM
Jean Harlow, James Cagney, and Edward Woods from the production point of view during the shooting of Harlow’s introduction in The Public Enemy (1931):
Kay Francis, BOTD, looking divine (pun intended) in an Elmer Fryer portrait for The False Madonna (1931).
January 14, 2026 at 9:04 PM
Kay Francis, BOTD, looking divine (pun intended) in an Elmer Fryer portrait for The False Madonna (1931).
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
Ruth Taylor (reading "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", by Anita Loos. She played Lorelei Lee in the 1928 film of the same name) - BOTD
January 13, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Ruth Taylor (reading "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", by Anita Loos. She played Lorelei Lee in the 1928 film of the same name) - BOTD
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
Fritzi Ritz By Ernie Bushmiller
January 12,1933
January 12,1933
January 12, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Fritzi Ritz By Ernie Bushmiller
January 12,1933
January 12,1933
And no Adrienne Doré, 1925’s Miss America runner-up who did a failed screen test for the film, flunked out, and was instead rewarded by Jesse Lasky with the consolation prize of a free scholarship to the new Paramount School of Acting. Which she didn’t attend.
Jan. 11, 1926: “The American Venus,” a movie about a beauty pageant featuring the reigning Miss America, Fay Lanphier, has its premiere in Atlantic City, N.J. The film (now lost) helps launch the careers of lead actress Esther Ralston and Louise Brooks in her first major role.
January 11, 2026 at 6:45 PM
And no Adrienne Doré, 1925’s Miss America runner-up who did a failed screen test for the film, flunked out, and was instead rewarded by Jesse Lasky with the consolation prize of a free scholarship to the new Paramount School of Acting. Which she didn’t attend.
Husband and I have decided Jean Harlow would have been amazing on Seinfeld, especially opposite Costanza. You’re KILLING me, Jean! KILLING ME!
January 9, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Husband and I have decided Jean Harlow would have been amazing on Seinfeld, especially opposite Costanza. You’re KILLING me, Jean! KILLING ME!
Love Iris Adrian’s introduction in Richard Lamparski’s eighth Whatever Became Of…? book. So real.
January 8, 2026 at 7:03 PM
Love Iris Adrian’s introduction in Richard Lamparski’s eighth Whatever Became Of…? book. So real.
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
WORLD PREMIERE RESTORATION! 🌺
San Francisco Film Preserve is thrilled to unveil the world premiere restoration of HULA (1927), starring the incomparable Clara Bow at the height of her screen power.
1/4
San Francisco Film Preserve is thrilled to unveil the world premiere restoration of HULA (1927), starring the incomparable Clara Bow at the height of her screen power.
1/4
January 6, 2026 at 6:09 PM
WORLD PREMIERE RESTORATION! 🌺
San Francisco Film Preserve is thrilled to unveil the world premiere restoration of HULA (1927), starring the incomparable Clara Bow at the height of her screen power.
1/4
San Francisco Film Preserve is thrilled to unveil the world premiere restoration of HULA (1927), starring the incomparable Clara Bow at the height of her screen power.
1/4
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
It’s Tom Mix’s birthday, and on Tom Mix’s birthday, I’m choosing to appreciate this tie-and-leopard-print-coat combination worn by his then-wife, Victoria Forde, in this 1920s Albert Witzel portrait. It’d work a century later.
January 6, 2026 at 5:17 PM
It’s Tom Mix’s birthday, and on Tom Mix’s birthday, I’m choosing to appreciate this tie-and-leopard-print-coat combination worn by his then-wife, Victoria Forde, in this 1920s Albert Witzel portrait. It’d work a century later.
Can’t see him or his films without thinking about how he was Jean Harlow’s biggest thrill as a child. Seems like an appropriate crush for her.
January 6, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Can’t see him or his films without thinking about how he was Jean Harlow’s biggest thrill as a child. Seems like an appropriate crush for her.
Loretta Young (born on this day, center) on the set of Midnight Mary (1933) with director William A. Wellman (left) and Franchot Tone (right). Love her softboiled pre-Code heroines that are iron fists inside velvet gloves, especially here and in Born to Be Bad (1934).
January 6, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Loretta Young (born on this day, center) on the set of Midnight Mary (1933) with director William A. Wellman (left) and Franchot Tone (right). Love her softboiled pre-Code heroines that are iron fists inside velvet gloves, especially here and in Born to Be Bad (1934).
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
One of the best teachers I ever had. She taught us starry-eyed USC film students what directing really was all about. She left us with tremendous wisdom like: "No one gives a shit about you" and "Easy is hard and hard is easy"
Nina Foch and a four-legged friend in a publicity still for CRY OF THE WEREWOLF (1944)
January 6, 2026 at 4:49 PM
One of the best teachers I ever had. She taught us starry-eyed USC film students what directing really was all about. She left us with tremendous wisdom like: "No one gives a shit about you" and "Easy is hard and hard is easy"
1926: You Never Know Women
1936: Libeled Lady
1946: Levoton veri
1956: The King and I
1966: The Endless Summer
1976: Bernice Bobs Her Hair
1986: Platoon
1996: The Craft
2006: Idiocracy, Inland Empire
2016: Bunker77
1936: Libeled Lady
1946: Levoton veri
1956: The King and I
1966: The Endless Summer
1976: Bernice Bobs Her Hair
1986: Platoon
1996: The Craft
2006: Idiocracy, Inland Empire
2016: Bunker77
What is your favorite film celebrating a decade anniversary in 2026? We're thinking films released in 2016, 2006, 1996, 1986, 1976, 1966, 1956, 1946, 1936, 1926, etc.
January 6, 2026 at 6:16 AM
1926: You Never Know Women
1936: Libeled Lady
1946: Levoton veri
1956: The King and I
1966: The Endless Summer
1976: Bernice Bobs Her Hair
1986: Platoon
1996: The Craft
2006: Idiocracy, Inland Empire
2016: Bunker77
1936: Libeled Lady
1946: Levoton veri
1956: The King and I
1966: The Endless Summer
1976: Bernice Bobs Her Hair
1986: Platoon
1996: The Craft
2006: Idiocracy, Inland Empire
2016: Bunker77
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
arcata theater, g street, arcata, california, 1991
January 4, 2026 at 8:36 AM
arcata theater, g street, arcata, california, 1991
I’m always thinking about this story from Mitchell Leisen about how ridiculous censure under the new Code was getting during production on Murder at the Vanities (1934). Hilarious mental image of a stuffed shirt approaching a classical statue like “You’ve got to cover this up”
January 5, 2026 at 12:06 AM
I’m always thinking about this story from Mitchell Leisen about how ridiculous censure under the new Code was getting during production on Murder at the Vanities (1934). Hilarious mental image of a stuffed shirt approaching a classical statue like “You’ve got to cover this up”
Joan Crawford in Hessercolor on the cover of True Confessions, October 1932
January 4, 2026 at 11:44 PM
Joan Crawford in Hessercolor on the cover of True Confessions, October 1932
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
I like the picture of Wellman makes it seem like he’s looking at McCrea weird lol
January 3, 2026 at 10:39 PM
I like the picture of Wellman makes it seem like he’s looking at McCrea weird lol
Happy ZaSu Pitts Day, it’s particularly fun to me in particular that in Santa Cruz you can get a great burger next to her childhood home
January 3, 2026 at 10:34 PM
Happy ZaSu Pitts Day, it’s particularly fun to me in particular that in Santa Cruz you can get a great burger next to her childhood home