VAMPING VENUS was filmed on the same sets used by German actress Maria Cordia in THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HELEN OF TROY. The story has a fantasy sequence where Charles Murray is hit over the head in a night club and dreams of being in ancient Greece, where all the others in the Nightclub are with him as Venus ( Thelma Todd ), Hercules ( Joe Bonomo ), and other fabulous characters from mythology.
Vamping Venus (1928)
Directed by | |||
| Edward F. Cline | (as Eddie Cline) | ||
Writing credits(in alphabetical order) | ||
| Howard J. Green | adaptation | |
| Bernard McConville | story | |
| Ralph Spence | titles | |
Cast (in credits order)
 | Charles Murray | ... | Michael Cassidy / King Cassidy of Ireland (as Charlie Murray) |
| Louise Fazenda | ... | Maggie Cassidy / Circe |
| Thelma Todd | ... | Madame Vanezlos the Dancer / Venus |
| Russ Powell | ... | Pete Papaglos / Bacchus |
| Joe Bonomo | ... | Simonides the Strongman / Hercules |
| Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams | ... | Mars (as Big Boy Williams) |
| Spec O'Donnell | ... | Western Union Boy / Mercury |
| Fred O'Beck | ... | Vulcan |
| Gusztáv Pártos | ... | Shopkeeper (as Gus Partos) |
| Gustav von Seyffertitz | ... | Jupiter |
| Janet MacLeod | ... | Juno |
| Yola d'Avril | ... | Stenographer |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Robert Livingston | ... | Soldier (unconfirmed) |
| Cammilla Johnson | ... | Little Girl (uncredited) |
Cinematography by | |||
| Devereaux Jennings | (as Dev Jennings) | ||
Film Editing by | |||
| Paul Weatherwax | |||
Other crew | |||
| Richard A. Rowland | .... | presenter | |
He had an eye for blondes, but he couldn't make up his mind as to which one it was.
But the gods had greater wisdom than men, and so Venus knew.
Thelma Todd Venus De Milo ( reduced )
Height 5' 4" 5' 4"
Hips 36" 38"
Thigh 21" 23"
Ankle 8" 8.5"
Calf 13.5" 14.5"
Waist 27" 28.5"
Neck 18" 14"
Bust 33" 37"
Weight 122 lbs. 137 lbs.
Thelma Todd indicates that her ankles have classical measurements.
Or at least that the measuring tape indicates that she has perfect porportions.
Get The Point?
Louise Fazenda also worked with Thelma Todd in 1929 in THE HOUSE OF HORROR. Guin "Big Boy" Williams would work with Thelma Todd again in 1931 in CATCH AS CATCH CAN and WAR MAMMAS, and in PALOOKA in 1934. Like Thelma Todd, he had only a small part in that one, which was based on the comic strip "Joe Palooka"..
VAMPING VENUS is considered to be a lost film, along with much of the other output of that era. The film stock they used at that time was unstable nitrocellulose plastic, which tended to deteriorate with time and was also inflammable. Guncotten, an early replacement for black powder in firearms, is actually another form of nitrocellulose.
VAMPING VENUS had some similarities to the earlier movie THE AMERICAN VENUS, which featured Miss America Fay Lanphier and had a story involving a beauty contest. Some of the publicity in particular is similar, with similar "measurements" given out for another "Venus".
The American Venus ( 1926 )
Wikipedia entry:
The American Venus (1926) is an American feature film directed by Frank Tuttle, and starring Esther Ralston, Ford Sterling, Edna May Oliver, Lawrence Gray, Fay Lanphier, Louise Brooks, Kenneth MacKenna, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and released by Paramount Pictures. Brooks appears, in her first credited role as 'Miss Bayport'. Lanphier was crowned Miss America in 1925.[1]
This film is now considered a lost film, with two trailers and two short segments in Technicolor surviving in the Library of Congress collection. The film was made at Paramount's Astoria Studios in New York City, and the title cards were co-written by Robert Benchley.
Credits for THE AMERICAN VENUS
Directed by | |||
| Frank Tuttle | |||
Writing credits(in alphabetical order) | ||
| Robert Benchley | titles (uncredited) | |
| Townsend Martin | story | |
| Frederick Stowers | ||
Cast (in credits order)
| Esther Ralston | ... | Mary Gray |
| Lawrence Gray | ... | Chip Armstrong |
| Ford Sterling | ... | Hugo Niles |
| Fay Lanphier | ... | Miss Alabama |
 | Louise Brooks | ... | Miss Bayport |
| Edna May Oliver | ... | Mrs. Niles |
| Kenneth MacKenna | ... | Horace Niles |
| William B. Mack | ... | John Gray |
| George De Carlton | ... | Sam Lorber |
| W.T. Benda | ... | Artist |
| Ernest Torrence | ... | King Neptune |
 | Douglas Fairbanks Jr. | ... | Triton |
Cinematography by | |||
| J. Roy Hunt | |||
Production Design by | |||
| Lawrence Hitt | (uncredited) | ||
| Jo Mielziner | (uncredited) | ||
Art Direction by | |||
| Frederick A. Foord | |||
Costume Design by | |||
| Gilbert Clark | |||
Other crew | |||
| Jesse L. Lasky | .... | presenter | |
| Adolph Zukor | .... | presenter | |
The American Venus
Fay Lanphier
THE AMERICAN VENUS Poster
Another poster, featuring Fay Lanphier
Film frame from the movie. It is said that this is Fay Lanphier.
A pretty girl is like a melody, and not only that, you're a Lulu.
A comaparison of the two sets of measurements, Fay in first column, Thelma in second:
Height 5' 6 5'4
Neck 13.5" 13"
Bust 34 33"
Waist 26.5 27
Hips 37.5 36
Thigh 20 21
Ankle 8 8
I would consider the bust measurement given for Thelma Todd to be suspect, because she appears slightly plumper otherwise, but is given a smaller bust. It could be related to the fact that they were pretending that women were flat-chested at the time. During the "Jean Harlow" period, they tended to think of Thelma Todd as being like Jean Harlow, including emphasis on the bosom.
Very similar measurements can also be found in PHYSICAL CULTURE CLASSICS ( Volume I ) published in 1909, which listed Bernard McFadden amoung the contributors.
* Supposed classical ideal as represented by the statue known as the Venus De Medici.
The table gives a different set of measurements for a different statue of Venus, which are still similar.
And the measurements given for Thelma Todd in VAMPING VENUS are again similar. She probably was in real life close to the classical ideal, as represented by Venus, but Hollywood tried to change her and only made references to that resemblance when it suited them.
Special Thanks to my brother Dale for his assistance, including the graph he made from the chart in
Special Thanks to my brother Dale for his assistance, including the graph he made from the chart in
PHYSICAL CULTURE CLASSICS.
Watch the trailer for THE AMERICAN VENUS
Watch the trailer for THE AMERICAN VENUS
Read about VAMPING VENUS at the Vitaphone project http://vitaphone.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
And at the IMDB:
Read about THE AMERICAN VENUS at this site:
No comments:
Post a Comment