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.
linktr.ee/vitaphonezone
linktr.ee/vitaphonezone
Pinned
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...
Not a Dix Pic I would readily recommend.
boxd.it/bPG2MR
boxd.it/bPG2MR
A review of Ace of Aces (1933)
Okay, so there's a 56 year old man here, and it's Richard Dix in the corniest, most affected plane picture ever; he and the film actually manage to suit each other in the way that the clumsy material ...
boxd.it
November 25, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Not a Dix Pic I would readily recommend.
boxd.it/bPG2MR
boxd.it/bPG2MR
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
Natacha Rambova by Hugh Cecil, 1923
November 24, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Natacha Rambova by Hugh Cecil, 1923
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
Candy Darling in Tom Eyen's "The White Whore and the Bit Player" at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club- BOTD
November 24, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Candy Darling in Tom Eyen's "The White Whore and the Bit Player" at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club- BOTD
'For the Picture Fans of 2025', as published in Motion Picture magazine, August 1925, showing Lillian Gish and Colleen Moore being immortalized in sculpture for their performances in Romola and So Big (both 1924). A little eerie in the sense that only one of those still exists.
November 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
'For the Picture Fans of 2025', as published in Motion Picture magazine, August 1925, showing Lillian Gish and Colleen Moore being immortalized in sculpture for their performances in Romola and So Big (both 1924). A little eerie in the sense that only one of those still exists.
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
SLUGGO’S OCTOPUS THOUGHTS
IT’S JUST DESSERTS
IT’S JUST DESSERTS
November 23, 2025 at 9:45 PM
SLUGGO’S OCTOPUS THOUGHTS
IT’S JUST DESSERTS
IT’S JUST DESSERTS
Movies used to be cool.
Biggest global box office openings for Hollywood films in 2025 🍿
November 24, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Movies used to be cool.
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
[Harpo Marx was born Adolf (later Arthur) Marx on this day in 1888. Circa HORSE FEATHERS he was handing out nude photographs of himself as a gag; one was auctioned recently for $5,760. You can see it here, but I've warned you. (Thanks Teakagee!)]
bid.juliensauctions.com/lot-details/...
bid.juliensauctions.com/lot-details/...
November 23, 2025 at 5:56 PM
[Harpo Marx was born Adolf (later Arthur) Marx on this day in 1888. Circa HORSE FEATHERS he was handing out nude photographs of himself as a gag; one was auctioned recently for $5,760. You can see it here, but I've warned you. (Thanks Teakagee!)]
bid.juliensauctions.com/lot-details/...
bid.juliensauctions.com/lot-details/...
Warner Bros illustrated advertising suggestions for Havana Widows (1933), from the film's pressbook
November 21, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Warner Bros illustrated advertising suggestions for Havana Widows (1933), from the film's pressbook
Gene Tierney (#BOTD) on the set of Thunder Birds (1942) dir. William A. Wellman
November 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Gene Tierney (#BOTD) on the set of Thunder Birds (1942) dir. William A. Wellman
Obligatory “follow me on Letterboxd” propaganda: boxd.it/bKMLYZ
A review of Kansas City Princess (1934)
I love Hugh Herbert. Need a pattern of Joan Blondell’s Orry-Kelly dress with the cutout and striped scarf. Joan Blondell and George Barnes have to be somewhere up there under Harlow and Rosson for me ...
boxd.it
November 18, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Obligatory “follow me on Letterboxd” propaganda: boxd.it/bKMLYZ
I might be the only person under the age of 30 with Gallant Journey (1946) ad art on the wall in their house.
November 18, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I might be the only person under the age of 30 with Gallant Journey (1946) ad art on the wall in their house.
Good morning! Tuesday mood is Mamie Van Doren performing “Anything Your Heart Desires” in Guns, Girls, and Gangsters (1958), with music composed by Buddy Bregman and Stanley Styne, choreography by Jack Baker.
November 18, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Good morning! Tuesday mood is Mamie Van Doren performing “Anything Your Heart Desires” in Guns, Girls, and Gangsters (1958), with music composed by Buddy Bregman and Stanley Styne, choreography by Jack Baker.
Tallulah Bankhead on the cover of National Enquirer (November 1957)
November 17, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Tallulah Bankhead on the cover of National Enquirer (November 1957)
Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake in a publicity pose for Ramrod (de Toth, 1947)
November 16, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake in a publicity pose for Ramrod (de Toth, 1947)
Time to sit down with this masterpiece again.
November 16, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Time to sit down with this masterpiece again.
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
Clara Bow in The New Movie Magazine, December 1930
“Clara Bow in a scene of her newest talkie, ‘Her Wedding Night.’”
“Clara Bow in a scene of her newest talkie, ‘Her Wedding Night.’”
November 14, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Clara Bow in The New Movie Magazine, December 1930
“Clara Bow in a scene of her newest talkie, ‘Her Wedding Night.’”
“Clara Bow in a scene of her newest talkie, ‘Her Wedding Night.’”
Veronica Lake and Louise Brooks being born on the same day just makes sense.
November 14, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Veronica Lake and Louise Brooks being born on the same day just makes sense.
It’s Veronica Lake Day, time to post the Andy Warhol/Veronica Lake/Candy Darling/Paul Morrissey photos
November 14, 2025 at 7:17 PM
It’s Veronica Lake Day, time to post the Andy Warhol/Veronica Lake/Candy Darling/Paul Morrissey photos
Reposted by Sophia D’Aurelio Adair
Images from films shot by cinematographer Sal Polito - BOTD in 1892
Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)
42nd Street (1933)
The Mind Reader (1933)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)
42nd Street (1933)
The Mind Reader (1933)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
November 12, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Images from films shot by cinematographer Sal Polito - BOTD in 1892
Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)
42nd Street (1933)
The Mind Reader (1933)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)
42nd Street (1933)
The Mind Reader (1933)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
The Great Man’s Lady (1942) dir. William A. Wellman
November 13, 2025 at 1:03 AM
The Great Man’s Lady (1942) dir. William A. Wellman
I love these 1945 Warner Bros publicity pictures demonstrating how actress Jane Harker apparently became a starlet overnight just by taking off her glasses, as ‘makeup experts found nothing else to do’. Bogus story, but charming in its simplicity!
November 11, 2025 at 3:48 AM
I love these 1945 Warner Bros publicity pictures demonstrating how actress Jane Harker apparently became a starlet overnight just by taking off her glasses, as ‘makeup experts found nothing else to do’. Bogus story, but charming in its simplicity!
I wrote briefly (and freely, if you catch my drift) about a couple of production stills from The Wild Party (1929) I found on eBay, one of which hints at an interesting change in the film's production, which could be simple, or not at all. Link: vitaphonezone.substack.com/p/production...
Production Stills, Gone Wild
Now that you’ve been reeled in by my unduly scandalous title, a trap many moviegoers have found themselves in over the past century, I’ll keep on spinning my same broken record.
vitaphonezone.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:10 PM
I wrote briefly (and freely, if you catch my drift) about a couple of production stills from The Wild Party (1929) I found on eBay, one of which hints at an interesting change in the film's production, which could be simple, or not at all. Link: vitaphonezone.substack.com/p/production...
Jack La Rue, Glenda Farrell, Mary Brian, and Cary Grant in a publicity portrait for Gambling Ship (1933)
November 8, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Jack La Rue, Glenda Farrell, Mary Brian, and Cary Grant in a publicity portrait for Gambling Ship (1933)
Clara Bow takes the BFGoodrich Silvertown Safety League pledge to promote safe driving in Hollywood, 1931 (or, me at the DMV)
November 8, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Clara Bow takes the BFGoodrich Silvertown Safety League pledge to promote safe driving in Hollywood, 1931 (or, me at the DMV)
I feel like I hardly see this picture on display at Hearst Castle anywhere else, so here it is
November 6, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I feel like I hardly see this picture on display at Hearst Castle anywhere else, so here it is