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
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
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!
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
Realizing I put Gold Diggers in the caption when this is actually publicity for 42nd Street (1933). Apologizing by posting a second angle.
November 2, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Realizing I put Gold Diggers in the caption when this is actually publicity for 42nd Street (1933). Apologizing by posting a second angle.
Dorothy Coonan Wellman gets a piggyback ride from Guy Kibbee in a publicity photo for Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933):
November 1, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Dorothy Coonan Wellman gets a piggyback ride from Guy Kibbee in a publicity photo for Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933):
Ann Savage bullies a Hitler-faced pumpkin for Halloween 1942 publicity:
“Green-eyed starlet Ann Savage is about to give this Hitler-pumpkin a poke in the nose. With the way things are going in Stalingrad, it’s hard to imagine why the old boy should be smiling.”
“Green-eyed starlet Ann Savage is about to give this Hitler-pumpkin a poke in the nose. With the way things are going in Stalingrad, it’s hard to imagine why the old boy should be smiling.”
October 30, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Ann Savage bullies a Hitler-faced pumpkin for Halloween 1942 publicity:
“Green-eyed starlet Ann Savage is about to give this Hitler-pumpkin a poke in the nose. With the way things are going in Stalingrad, it’s hard to imagine why the old boy should be smiling.”
“Green-eyed starlet Ann Savage is about to give this Hitler-pumpkin a poke in the nose. With the way things are going in Stalingrad, it’s hard to imagine why the old boy should be smiling.”
Great addition to my collection: Bit players Lita Chevret (in beret, pointing across RKO’s Forty Acre backlot) and Nadine Dore (following Lita’s finger) survey the props to be used in the filming of CIMARRON (1931) during its production in the fall of 1930.
October 26, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Great addition to my collection: Bit players Lita Chevret (in beret, pointing across RKO’s Forty Acre backlot) and Nadine Dore (following Lita’s finger) survey the props to be used in the filming of CIMARRON (1931) during its production in the fall of 1930.
Realized yet another favorite shot in The Public Enemy (1931).
October 25, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Realized yet another favorite shot in The Public Enemy (1931).
Olive Thomas by Maurice Goldberg as featured in Theatre magazine, March 1919
October 20, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Olive Thomas by Maurice Goldberg as featured in Theatre magazine, March 1919
Happy heavenly birthday to the singular Olive Thomas (with my favorite intertitle from Alan Crosland’s The Flapper, 1920):
October 20, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Happy heavenly birthday to the singular Olive Thomas (with my favorite intertitle from Alan Crosland’s The Flapper, 1920):
Weird week, yet again.
October 17, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Weird week, yet again.
Love this publicity campaign, as well:
October 17, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Love this publicity campaign, as well:
Happy birthday to Marian Marsh! Seen here in an Elmer Fryer publicity photo for one of more questionably named Warners pre-Codes, Under Eighteen (1931), which she’s a delight in.
October 17, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Happy birthday to Marian Marsh! Seen here in an Elmer Fryer publicity photo for one of more questionably named Warners pre-Codes, Under Eighteen (1931), which she’s a delight in.
Louella Parsons quoted Mae this day that American women hadn’t had ‘perfectly natural figures since the war took beer away from us’. Amen!
October 16, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Louella Parsons quoted Mae this day that American women hadn’t had ‘perfectly natural figures since the war took beer away from us’. Amen!
Mood: Gary Cooper and Mae West splitting a beer and some pretzels after the repeal of prohibition on April 7, 1933.
October 16, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Mood: Gary Cooper and Mae West splitting a beer and some pretzels after the repeal of prohibition on April 7, 1933.
On the brain from a recent rewatch. Love that Stanwyck’s performance in this brings tears to my eyes, but this campaign from its pressbook is still posed in a way that makes me laugh like I’m 12 years old.
October 13, 2025 at 1:24 AM
On the brain from a recent rewatch. Love that Stanwyck’s performance in this brings tears to my eyes, but this campaign from its pressbook is still posed in a way that makes me laugh like I’m 12 years old.
Bette Davis and William A. Wellman inspect a record player on the set of So Big (1932)
October 13, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Bette Davis and William A. Wellman inspect a record player on the set of So Big (1932)
Kathleen Burke, famed for portraying Lota, the Panther Woman in Island of Lost Souls (1932), wears a more subdued look while her sidekick takes the reins (scanned from a 1932 issue of Screen Book magazine).
October 12, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Kathleen Burke, famed for portraying Lota, the Panther Woman in Island of Lost Souls (1932), wears a more subdued look while her sidekick takes the reins (scanned from a 1932 issue of Screen Book magazine).
Thinking about this shot of Groucho and I at TCMFF last year
October 11, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Thinking about this shot of Groucho and I at TCMFF last year