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goozeghost · 2 years

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Please tell me about your ocs!!! they caught my eye and now I'm interested. Give me the summary or the full dump, either works

omigod okay so like i've had these characters for nearly 2 years now (2 years on the 11th !!) so i cant possibly tell you EVERYTHING about them but I CAN tell you the basics !!!

those basics being they're from a story set in an apocalyptic future, where the System (run by The Emperor) has control over the City, the last form of advanced civilization left in the cold, barren wasteland that Earth has become.

however, there are other civilizations that exist outside of the City, such as the one i call the Underground, where my ocs live !!

the main group are a hodgepodge family of people who have either managed to escape the City, or have lived outside of its walls their entire lives. I'm trying not to give too much away because one day i hope to one day make a full comic out of this story, but I can tell you a lil about each character !!

Starting with the main 3, Oliver O'Brien (he/him), Evrard Raine(he/him), and Kid Raine(-O'Brien)(they/them)

This trio met when trying to escape the City at the same time. Evrard was running with Kid, who was barely 6 at the time, and with Oliver's help, the trio got past the guarded walls. With more of Oliver's help, Ev and Kid managed to not die in the harsh conditions, and eventually they found themselves at the Underground !!!

There they found some new, and old, faces- such as Tess O'Brien(he/they), Oliver's twin that he vaguely remembers having (but did not grow up with) who was Evrard's childhood best friend until he disappeared many years ago-

Madison Cabot(she/her), also an old friend from the city who escaped.

Phoenix Morin(they/them) (design's still in the works), who's lived in the Underground their whole life, and is thrilled to fill newcomers in on things they never learned inside the walls, such as Romance and Dating !!

and Dixie Cabot(she/her), a child whom escaped with Madi and was later adopted by her :)

There are more- PLENTY more characters in this story, such as the UPEs, but I don't want to give TOO much away, in case I do get around to making that comic ;)

ty so much for asking tho i have so many thoughts about these characters and im jumping at the bit to talk about them sdhjgfjsdhgf

#gooze ocs #long post #Oliver O'Brien #Evrard Raine #Kid Raine #Tess O'Brien #Phoenix Morin #Madision Cabot #Dixie Cabot #i am licherally insane these characters sit in my head all day and are gay #and that's how i spend my time. that's it.#is this an infodump? maybe. but it was a REQUESTED infodump so its FIIINE hjsdgfjhsdgfsd

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soracities · 8 months

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whats your all time favorite book? you may give me other recs too if you'd likee! 💗

I don't have an all time favourite because different books have made me lose my mind in different ways <3 but I CAN give you a breakdown based on some of my own personal categories:

Books I Would Take Into a Bunker For 9 Months (aka Absolutely No One Talk to Me)

The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky

Ich und Du, Martin Buber

The Waves, Virginia Woolf

The Snake, Stig Dagerman

The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays, Albert Camus

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

An Inventory of Losses, Judith Schalansky

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison

We, Yevgeny Zamyatin

Books That Did That™️

Secondhand-Time, Svetlana Alexievich

We Love Glenda So Much & Other Tales, Julio Cortázar

The Memory Police, Yoko Ogawa

At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien

Deaf Republic, Ilya Kaminsky

Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Mattawa

The Chaos Walking Trilogy, Patrick Ness

Ways of Seeing, John Berger

German Autumn, Stig Dagerman

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments, Roland Barthes

A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing, Eimear McBride

Night Watch, Terry Pratchett

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence

Bluets, Maggie Nelson

Antigone, Jean Anouilh

They: A Sequence of Unease, Kay Dick

A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen

The Condemned, Stig Dagerman

Books That If I Could Erase My Memory and Read Again for the First Time I Would 100% Erase My Memory and Read Again for the First Time

The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

Água Viva, Clarice Lispector

The Bloody Chamber & Other Stories, Angela Carter

A Moth to a Flame, Stig Dagerman

Paris, When It's Naked, Etel Adnan

Without an Alphabet, Without a Face, Saadi Youssef

A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Marquez

View with a Grain of Sand, Wislawa Szymborska

Possession, A.S. Byatt

Four Bare Legs in a Bed: Stories, Helen Simpson

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera

Not to Read: Essays, Alejandro Zambra

The Princess Bride, William Goldman

#ask #anonymous #book recs

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uselesssomebody · 11 days

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𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧!

hello everyone! you may be wondering where i've been (though you probably haven't, as I have a habit of not posting for ages) but I have been going through the ringer of my i.b. exams - the last of which are tomorrow!

as a little celebration and a way to dip my feet back into writing, i want to host a small writing celebration to give me a little something to do after I finish my exams.

so please feel welcome to send me some requests for people you wanna see me write about, especially those I haven't yet written for!

i'm hoping to post under 1k drabble-types as responses but when have I ever stuck to a word limit, hey? smut, fluff, angst and dark content is all welcome!

(rules under the cut)

𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬:

writing don't's!

☁ no under-18/kid readers as part of plot (highschool age for e.g. stranger things & teen wolf is fine as long as the actor is over 18 - so no s.t. kids!) ☁ i'm not qualified to write about stuff like eating disorders, self harm or other mental illness especially from a reader's perspective ☁ kinks like ddlg/age play, anal penetration, bodily fluids (besides blood and cum) ☁ I do not write real person fiction ☁ while generally POC reader requests is okay, i can't write specific races for charcaters besides desi readers (cause i'm desi myself)

who i write for! (you're fine to request others, too)

☁ from stranger things, i write for eddie munson, robin buckley, billy hargrove or steve harrington ☁ from marvel, i write for bucky barnes, steve rogers, natasha romanoff, jake lockley, marc spector, steven grant, layla el-faouly and miguel o'hara ☁ from harry potter, i write for cedric diggory, fred weasley, ron weasley, remus lupin, sirius black, regulus black and james potter ☁ from star wars, i write for poe dameron, or din djarin (the mandalorian) ☁ from triple frontier, i write for frankie morales and santiago garcia ☁ miscellaneous oscar isaac characters i write for include basil stitt, jonathan levy, duke leto, kane and orestes (agora) ☁ miscellaneous pedro pascal characters i write for include joel miller, javier peña, jack daniels (agent whiskey), dio morrissey ☁ miscellaneous sebastian stan characters i write for include lee bodecker, carter baizen and charles blackwood ☁ miscellaneous dylan o'brien characters i write for include thomas (maze runner), stiles stilinski, and stuart (the internship) ☁ other miscellaneous characters include felix catton (saltburn) and paul atriedes (dune) and tess servopoulos (the last of us)

i'll update when i've stopped taking requests, but for now, anyone can request as they wish!

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devilscreekballad · 1 year

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Alright, I could use a sounding board (here and on the discord) cause I think trying to tackle the name hijinks code all alone with only basic help from the twine discord was... a mistake. (bite off more than you can chew... and then chew it >>)

So, below are all the possible combos for names (Mc, Charlie, Others and Horse) I can think off. Did I forget anything? Is something doubled when it shouldn't be? Also spoilers for which names net you special text

MC can share the following names with NPCs:

For Charlie:

Charlie, Charley, Charly, Charles, Charli, Charlee, Charleigh as First or Nickname, First Name not in Combo with Mulligan or Mullygan. E.G. 'Charly Mullygan' is not possible, but 'Charlotte 'Charly' Mulligan' is.

Mulligan or Mullygan for Nickname or Last Name. Restrictions similar to the above, also not as First Name.

TO DO: Charlie, Charley, Charly, Charles, Charli, Charlee, Charleigh as Last Name, Restrictions pending.

Others:

First name and Nickname can be identical/similar to NPC names, but not in combo with Last Names.

Current list (copied from twine):

First/Nick

"tommy", "tommie", "tomas", "thomas", "tom", "thom", "sean", "seán", "shawn", "shaun", "quinn", "quin", "giles", "gyles", "florence", "robert", "ada", "tess", "therese", "finley", "finn", "lien", "lian", "leanne", "liane", "lianne", "josephine", "josie", "josy", "josefine", "josey", "josee", "josée"

Last/Nick

"burke", "burg", "bourke", "o'brian", "o'bryan", "o'brien", "o'briain", "quinn", "quin", "o'reilly", "o'reileigh", "o'riley", "giles", "gyles", "florence", "robert", "ada", "tess", "therese", "finley", "finn", "meadow", "meadows", "mckee", "mcgee", "magee", "mckey", "mackee", "macgee", "mackey"

Meadows/Meadows will lead to Mrs Meadows addressing you as Fleabite.

Certain RDR2, TOH and DbD names will also net you bonus bits and bobs.

Need to add the sheriff to the lists?

Combos for your horse (all overlaps net an achievement):

MC, Charlie and Horse share a name (all varieties of Charlie and/or Mulligan)

Charlie and Horse share a name (doesn't have to be the same)

Horse and Mc share a name

Mc and horse share a name along with an npc (e.g if Mc and Horse are called a variety of Tommy).

Horse can be named Horse.

Horse cannot be named "wicklow", "bullsnot", "caboose", "cahoots".

That's what I have so far. does this sound right, does this make sense, did i overlook something?

#baodc development #the ballad of devil's creek #baodc spoilers #interactive fiction #baodc

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piratefalls · 11 months

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♥ 8 for the book asks?

8. What series has most pleased you?

Ooooh okay so it turns out I'm more of a standalone book person, but here's a few of the limited series I've read that I enjoyed for different reasons:

American Assassin by Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills.

I'll admit that I started the books because Dylan O'Brien signed on to do the movie based on the origin story of Mitch Rapp, a guy who loses his girlfriend in the Lockerbie crash and dedicates his life to avenging her death and eventually finds his way into becoming an assassin for the CIA. The originating author, Vince Flynn, died after the 13th book, and while I have love for the first half of the series, I actually like the books better after Kyle Mills took up the mantle. They're snappier, the writing is tighter, and they're action packed. Who doesn't like a story about a guy saving the day? And the more recent books are drawing from current events, which is both interesting and a little terrifying. Are they the greatest books I've ever read? No. Are they fun? Absolutely.

Rizzoli & Isles by Tess Gerritsen.

I love murder mysteries, I love smart women, I love stories centered around smart women. I was actually introduced to this by the TV series, and after I started reading them I was delighted to learn that the books and the series only have the main characters in common. The books are much darker, the relationship dynamics are different, and the medical scenes with Dr. Isles are fantastic because the author was once a practicing physician. I love this series and I can't wait for the next book.

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

This was a thing I didn't know I needed. I hadn't realized that my reading books with fat female rep was really limited until I dove into it, and by the end I cried. This book touched on a lot of things that I've thought about myself and navigating the world as a fat person who's never felt desired and I wasn't really prepared for that coming from a romance novel based around a girl in fandom. There's also a good amount of commentary on complicated relationships with parents and living up to unattainable expectations. I'll fully admit that sometimes these characters are kind of childish, but I let the fact that this was set in the world I've loved for so long overshadow that. Unlike the other two here, I believe this series is complete, so once I read Shipwrecked this one will be put to bed. Will I read more Olivia Dade? Definitely.

book ask: book recs and recent reads edition

#ereborne #about me #should I start writing posts about books?#I really really really love talking about books

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globefan · 2 years

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George Fouracres as Stefano Ferdy Roberts as Prospero and Rachel Hannah Clarke as Ariel Peter Bourke as Gonzalo Ciarán O'Brien as Caliban Ferdy Roberts as Prospero Ralph Davis as Trinculo, George Fouracres as Stefano and Ciarán O'Brien as Caliban

Tempest pics, part 2 , (c) Marc Brenner

Creatives Assistant Director: Naeem Hayat Casting: Becky Paris Co Director: Diane Page Composer: Cassie Kinoshi Costume Supervisor: Jackie Orton Design Associate: Sandra Falase Designer: Paul Wills Director: Sean Holmes Dramaturg: Zoë Svendsen Globe Associate - Movement: Glynn MacDonald Movement Director: Rachael Nanyonjo Text Associate: Christine Schmidle Voice Associate: Tess Dignan

Musicians Musical Director / Double Bass: Rio Kai Percussion: Magnus Mehta Guitar: Shirley Tetteh Recorder: Olivia Petryszak Cello: Midori Jaeger

#the tempest #Shakespeare's Globe

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omegaradiowusb · 1 year

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DECEMBER 17, 2022 (#338)

Spread Joy: “Ow” + “Contrition” (II) Pinch Points: “Reasons to Be Anxious” (Process) Unschooling: “Shopping On The Left Bank” (orphan track) Cheekface: “Pledge Drive” (Too Much To Ask) Bench Press: “More Than That” (A Split Between Friends 7") Foyer Red: “Pickles” (Zigzag Wombat) Body Type: “Bouyancy” (Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising) Class: “Pills On A Dish” (self-titled) Mind Shrine: “Pocket Change” (Is It You?) Fake Palms: “Visions” (Lemons) Dry Cleaning: “Anna Calls From The Attic” + “Gary Ashby” (Stumpwork) Palm: “Feathers” (Nicks And Grazes) Emma Ruth Rundle: “Pump Organ Song” (Orpheus Looking Back) My Idea: “Breathe You” (Cry MFER) Khruangbin & Leon Bridges: “Chocolate Hills” (Texas Moon) Fontaines D.C.: “I Love You” (Skinty Fia) Antonio Sanchez f. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross: “I Think We’re Past That Now” (Shift: Bad Hombre Vol. II) Wet Leg: “Material Girl” (orphan track) Tess Parks: “Brexit At Tiffany’s” (And Those Who Were Seen Dancing) Camp Cope: “Blue” (Running With The Hurricane) Girlpool: “Faultline” (Forgiveness) Sinead O'Brien: “Like Culture” (Time Bend And Break The Bower) Drug Church: “Someday I Suppose” (Pure Noise Dead Formats compilation) Preoccupations: “Ricochet” (Arrangements) Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever: “The Way It Shatters” (Endless Rooms) Fusilier: “No Words” (Treason) Caroline Polachek: “Billions” (Desire, I Want to Turn Into You) Erasers: “Easy To See” (Easy To See) Kite: “Bocelli” (single) SRSQ: “Used To Love” (Ever Crashing)

With three more shows to go in the calendar year, Omega WUSB holds its annual end-of-the-year Winners broadcasts: two nights showcasing the best, notable, and most talked-about sounds of 2022. On our way of saying good-bye forever to 2022, Night One showcases our best and favorite plays in indie, d.i.y., and other sounds in these past twelve months.

We continue our Winners Of… series in two weeks on New Year’s Eve, 2022 as we play our favorites of the year in hardcore, noise rock, metalcore, hip-hop, and darkness. Stay tuned.

December 27, 2022 (4PM New York City): bonus Omega

December 31, 2022 (10PM New York City): Winners of 2022 II

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omegaplus · 1 year

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# 4,300

Omega Radio for December 17, 2022; #338.

Spread Joy: “Ow” + “Contrition” (II)

Pinch Points: “Reasons to Be Anxious” (Process)

Unschooling: “Shopping On The Left Bank” (orphan track)

Cheekface: “Pledge Drive” (Too Much To Ask)

Bench Press: “More Than That” (A Split Between Friends 7")

Foyer Red: “Pickles” (Zigzag Wombat)

Body Type: “Bouyancy” (Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising)

Class: “Pills On A Dish” (self-titled)

Mind Shrine: “Pocket Change” (Is It You?)

Fake Palms: “Visions” (Lemons)

Dry Cleaning: “Anna Calls From The Attic” + “Gary Ashby” (Stumpwork)

Palm: “Feathers” (Nicks And Grazes)

Emma Ruth Rundle: “Pump Organ Song” (Orpheus Looking Back)

My Idea: “Breathe You” (Cry MFER)

Khruangbin & Leon Bridges: “Chocolate Hills” (Texas Moon)

Fontaines D.C.: “I Love You” (Skinty Fia)

Antonio Sanchez f. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross: “I Think We’re Past That Now” (Shift: Bad Hombre Vol. II)

Wet Leg: “Material Girl” (orphan track)

Tess Parks: “Brexit At Tiffany’s” (And Those Who Were Seen Dancing)

Camp Cope: “Blue” (Running With The Hurricane)

Girlpool: “Faultline” (Forgiveness)

Sinead O'Brien: “Like Culture” (Time Bend And Break The Bower)

Drug Church: “Someday I Suppose” (Pure Noise Dead Formats compilation)

Preoccupations: “Ricochet” (Arrangements)

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever: “The Way It Shatters” (Endless Rooms)

Fusilier: “No Words” (Treason)

Caroline Polachek: “Billions” (Desire, I Want to Turn Into You)

Erasers: “Easy To See” (Easy To See)

Kite: “Bocelli” (single)

SRSQ: “Used To Love” (Ever Crashing)

First-of-two Winners of 2022 broadcasts.

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gonehollywoodrp · 2 years

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CONGRATULATIONS, TESS! your role of WILL POULTER has been accepted and we’re happy to welcome you to GONE HOLLYWOOD! now that your application has been accepted, here are a few things that you should do and we’re looking forward to seeing you on the dash!

send your account in within 24 hours.

follow everyone on the blog roll.

follow all the tracked tags.

make sure you’re following all the guidelines for your new role.

send us a message if you’d like a link to our OOC blog.

OOC:

NAME/ALIAS: Tess AGE: 28 TIME ZONE: CLT PRONOUNS: She/Her ____________________________________

IC:

PREFERRED CELEBRITY: Will Poulter BACKUP CELEBRITY: N/A CELEBRITIES GENDER: Male CELEBRITIES PRONOUNS: He/Him AGE & BIRTHDAY: January 28, 1993 & 29 CAREER: Actor ____________________________________

OTHER:

WANTED CONNECTIONS: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hardy, Leo DiCaprio, Florence Pugh, Karen Gillan, Maria Bakalova, Kaitlyn Dever, Lucy Boynton GUIDELINES PASSWORD: rfp. DO YOU WANT YOUR CELEBRITY INCLUDED IN THE GOSSIP BLOG?: rfp. TRIGGER WARNINGS: rfp. ____________________________________

ANYTHING ELSE:

MISC: Will is single and he’ll be his own blog! I have never played Will before, but Dopesick and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans convinced me I should give it a try. Also applied as Lily James and Jamie Campbell Bower.

#will poulter #submission #gonehollywoodaccepted

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goozeghost · 2 years

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what if i finally fulfilled my life-long dream of being a comic artist that'd be crayze. anyway

#gooze ocs #Evrard Raine #Kid Raine #Oliver O'Brien #Tess O'Brien #this story has no name yet but like wuld anyone actually be interested in reading it ?#hrmmm #question for the ages

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dhaaruni · 2 years

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Anyways, I don't read fiction books by men on principle but here are some fiction books (and one play) written by men which I love:

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

King Lear by William Shakespeare

#book blogging #I did one book per author for the record

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uselesssomebody · 3 months

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rules!

blog rules!

this blog is a safe space for the lgbt+ community as well as p.o.c., so please never feel unwelcome. anyone against these values, please just keep scrolling. be polite in requests/interaction. i love a bit of constructive criticism, but keep it contructive. heed 18+ warning and smut/trigger warnings

writing disclaimers!

i am mostly a romance blog, i.e. i write with the intention (usually) of some romantic conclusion between the two characters. i am also a (pretty much) strictly 'x reader' blog; if you have requests for two canon characters, i will most likely not be able to help you.

writing do's!

request anything to me, guys! i will be alright if you request things with triggering content, i will be alright if you choose real niche characters, and i'll be alright if you send a real specific, super self-indulgent request. of course, some asks will be neglected (due to time or other inability to work on it), but, generally, i attempt to complete works that i am alright working with.

writing don't's!

who i write for! (always updating)

#uselesssombody #rules!

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howardhawkshollywoodannex · 2 years

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Pat O'Brien and Anne Jeffreys in a publicity still for Riff Raff (1947). Anne was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and had 86 acting credits from 1942 to a 2013 tv episode. Her other notable credits include Zombies on Broadway, Dick Tracy (1945, as Tess Trueheart), Dick Tracy vs Cueball, 78 episodes of Topper (as Marion Kirby), and episodes of Bonanza, Tarzan, My Three Sons, Love American Style, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, three episodes of Fantasy Island, seven episodes of Falcon Crest, five episodes of Baywatch, 79 episodes of Port Charles, and 365 episodes of General Hospital (1984-2004).

#pat obrien #anne jeffreys #riff raff

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silent-era-of-cinema · 4 years

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Norma Marie Talmadge (May 2, 1894 – December 24, 1957) was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.

A specialist in melodrama, her most famous film was Smilin’ Through (1922), but she also scored artistic triumphs teamed with director Frank Borzage in Secrets (1924) and The Lady (1925). Her younger sister Constance Talmadge was also a movie star. Talmadge married millionaire film producer Joseph M. Schenck and they successfully created their own production company. After reaching fame in the film studios on the East Coast, she moved to Hollywood in 1922.

Talmadge was one of the most elegant and glamorous film stars of the Roaring '20s. However, by the end of the silent film era, her popularity with audiences had waned. After her two talkies proved disappointing at the box office, she retired a very wealthy woman.

According to her birth certificate, Talmadge was born on May 2, 1894, in Jersey City, New Jersey. Although it has been widely reported she was born in Niagara Falls, New York, after achieving stardom, she admitted that she and her mother provided the more scenic setting of Niagara Falls to fan magazines to be more romantic. Talmadge was the eldest daughter of Fred Talmadge, an unemployed chronic alcoholic, and Margaret "Peg" Talmadge, a witty and indomitable woman. She had two younger sisters, Natalie and Constance, both of whom also became actresses.

The girls' childhoods were marked by poverty. One Christmas morning, Fred Talmadge left the house to buy food, and never came back, leaving his wife to raise their three daughters. Peg took in laundry, sold cosmetics, taught painting classes, and rented out rooms, raising her daughters in Brooklyn, New York.

After telling her mother about a classmate from Erasmus Hall High School who modeled for popular illustrated song slides (which were often shown before the one-reeler in movie theaters so the audience could sing along), Mrs. Talmadge decided to locate the photographer. She arranged an interview for her daughter, who after an initial rejection, was soon hired. When they went to the theater to see her debut, Peg resolved to get her into motion pictures.

Norma Talmadge was the eldest of the three daughters and the first pushed by their mother to look for a career as a film actress.[9] Mother and daughter traveled to the Vitagraph Studios in Flatbush, New York, just a streetcar ride from her home.[7] They managed to get past the studio gates and in to see the casting director, who promptly threw them out. However, scenario editor Beta Breuil, attracted by Talmadge's beauty, arranged a small part for her as a young girl who is kissed under a photographer's cloth in The Household Pest (1909).

Thanks to Breuill's continued patronage, between 1911 and 1912, Talmadge played bit parts in over 100 films. She eventually earned a spot in the stock company at $25 per week and got a steady stream of work. Her first role as a contract actress was 1911's Neighboring Kingdom, with comedian John Bunny. Her first real success came with Vitagraph's three-reel adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities (1911), in which she played the small role of the unnamed seamstress who accompanies Sidney Carton to the guillotine. With help from the studio's major star, Maurice Costello, the star of A Tale of Two Cities, Talmadge's acting improved and she continued to play roles from leads to extras, gaining experience and public exposure in a variety of characters—from a colored mammy to a clumsy waitress to a reckless young modern, she began attracting both public and critical notice. By 1913, she was Vitagraph's most promising young actress. That same year, she was assigned to Van Dyke Brooke's acting unit, and throughout 1913 and 1914, appeared in more films, frequently with Antonio Moreno as her leading man.

In 1915, Talmadge got her big break, starring in Vitagraph's prestigious feature film The Battle Cry of Peace, an anti-German propagandist drama, but ambitious Peg saw that her daughter's potential could carry them further, and got a two-year contract with National Pictures Company for eight features at $400 per week. Talmadge's last film for Vitagraph was The Crown Prince's Double. In the summer of 1915, she left Vitagraph. In the five years she had been with Vitagraph, she made over 250 films.

In August, the Talmadges left for California, where Norma's first role was in Captivating Mary Carstairs. The whole enterprise was a fiasco; the sets and costumes were cheap and the studio itself lacked adequate backing. The film was a flop, and the small new studio shut down after the release of Mary Carstairs. The demise of National Pictures Company left the family stranded in California after only one picture. Deciding it was smarter to aim high, they went to the Triangle Film Corporation, where D. W. Griffith was supervising productions. On the strength of The Battle Cry, Talmadge got a contract with Griffith's Fine Arts Company. For eight months, she starred in seven features for Triangle, including the comedy The Social Secretary (1916), a comedy written by Anita Loos and directed by John Emerson, that gave her an opportunity to disguise her beauty as a girl trying to avoid the unwelcome attentions of her male employers.

When the contract ran out, the Talmadges returned to New York. At a party, Talmadge met Broadway and film producer Joseph M. Schenck, a wealthy exhibitor who wanted to produce his own films. Immediately taken by Talmadge both personally and professionally, Schenck proposed marriage and a production studio. Two months later, on October 20, 1916, they were married. Talmadge called her much older husband "Daddy". He supervised, controlled, and nurtured her career in alliance with her mother.

In 1917, the couple formed the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation, which became a lucrative enterprise. Schenck vowed he would make his wife the greatest star of all, and one to be remembered always. The best stories, most opulent costumes, grandest sets, talented casts, and distinguished directors, along with spectacular publicity, would be hers. Before long, women around the world wanted to be the romantic Norma Talmadge and flocked to her extravagant movies filmed on the East Coast.

Schenck soon had a stable of stars operating in his studio in New York, with the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation making dramas on the ground floor, the Constance Talmadge Film Corporation making sophisticated comedies on the second floor, and the comic unit with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle on the top floor, with Natalie Talmadge acting as secretary and taking occasional small roles in her sisters' films. Arbuckle brought in his nephew Al St. John and vaudeville star Buster Keaton. When Schenck decided it was financially advantageous to rent Arbuckle to Paramount Pictures for feature films, Keaton took over the comedy unit and was soon brought into the Talmadge family fold, at least for a time through an unhappy arranged marriage to Natalie Talmadge.

Talmadge's first film for her studio, the now lost Panthea, (1917) was directed by Allan Dwan with assistants Erich von Stroheim and Arthur Rosson. The film was a dramatic tour de force for her in a story set in Russia of a woman who sacrifices herself to help her husband. The film was a hit, turning Talmadge into a sensation and established her as a first-rate dramatic actress.

Talmadge's acting ability improved rapidly during this period. She made four to six films a year in New York between 1917 and 1921. Under Schenck's personal supervision, other films followed, including Poppy (1917), in which, she was paired with Eugene O'Brien. The teaming was such a hit, they made 10 more films together, including The Moth, and The Secret of the Storm Country, a sequel to Tess of the Storm Country (1914), starring Mary Pickford.

In 1918, she reteamed with Sidney Franklin, who directed The Safety Curtain, Her Only Way, Forbidden City, The Heart of Wetona, and 1919's The Probation Wife. These films have small-scale settings and familiar actors appearing from one film to the next. An advantage of the East Coast locale was access to the country's best high-fashion designers, such as Madame Francis and Lucile. Between 1919 and 1920, Talmadge's name appeared on a regular monthly fashion advice column for Photoplay magazine; her publicist was Beulah Livingstone.

Throughout the 1920s, Talmadge continued to triumph in films such as 1920's Yes or No, The Branded Woman, Passion Flower (1921), and The Sign on the Door (1921). The next year, she had the most popular film of her entire career, Smilin' Through (1922) directed by Sidney Franklin. One of the greatest screen romances of the silent film era, it was remade twice, in 1932 with Norma Shearer, and in 1941 with Jeanette MacDonald.

After Smilin' Through, Schenck closed the New York studios and Norma and Constance moved to Hollywood to join Keaton and Natalie. Talmadge's Hollywood films were different from her New York films. Bigger and glossier, they were fewer but more varied, often with period or exotic settings. She teamed with cinematographer Tony Gaudio and some of Hollywood's finest costume designers for a more glamorous image. She also worked with top-flight directors such as Frank Lloyd, Clarence Brown, and Frank Borzage. With help from films directed by her first husband Joseph M. Schenck, she became one of the highest-paid actresses of the 1920s.

In 1923, a poll of picture exhibitors named Norma Talmadge the number-one box office star. She was earning $10,000 a week, and receiving as many as 3,000 letters weekly from her fans. Her film Secrets (1924), directed by Frank Borzage, marked the pinnacle of her career, with her giving her best performance and receiving the best reviews. In 1924, Schenck had moved over to head United Artists, but Talmadge still had a distribution contract with First National. She continued to make successful films such as The Lady (1925) directed by Frank Borzage and the romantic comedy Kiki (1926) directed by Clarence Brown, remade later by Mary Pickford as a sound film in 1931.

One of the at least nine theories of the origin of the tradition for celebrities to stamp a hand in Hollywood involves Talmadge. According to it, in 1927, she accidentally stepped into wet concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.

Talmadge's last film for First National was Camille (1926), an adaptation of a novel by Alexandre Dumas the younger later remade by Greta Garbo. During filming, Talmadge fell in love with leading man Gilbert Roland. She asked Schenck for a divorce, but he was not ready to grant it. Despite his personal feelings, he was not going to break up a moneymaking team and continued casting Roland in Talmadge's next three films released by United Artists. Talmadge and Schenck separated, though he continued producing her films. He was now president of the prestigious but theater-poor United Artists Corporation, and the rest of Talmadge's films were released for that company. UA's distribution problems, however, began to erode her popularity. Her first films for this studio, The Dove (1927) and The Woman Disputed (1928), were box-office failures and ended up being her last silent movies.

By the time Woman Disputed (1928) was released, the talking film revolution had begun, and Talmadge began taking voice lessons in preparation. She worked diligently with voice coaches for over a year so she could make her sound debut. Her first talkie, New York Nights (1929), showed that she could speak and act acceptably in talkies. While her performance was considered to be good, the film was not. Talmadge next took on the role of Madame du Barry in the 1930 film Du Barry, Woman of Passion. With incompetent direction and Talmadge's inexperience at a role requiring very demanding vocal acting, the film was a failure, in spite of the elaborate sets by William Cameron Menzies.

On March 29, 1928, at the bungalow of Mary Pickford, United Artists brought together Talmadge, Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, John Barrymore, Dolores del Río, and D. W. Griffith to speak on the radio show The Dodge Brothers Hour to prove that Griffith could meet the challenge of talking movies.

Talmadge's sister Constance sent her a telegram with this advice: "Quit pressing your luck, baby. The critics can't knock those trust funds Mama set up for us". As time passed, it became increasingly clear that the public was no longer interested in its old favorites, and Talmadge was seen as an icon of the past. Talmadge had been increasingly bored with filmmaking before the talkie challenge came along, and this setback seems to have discouraged her from further attempts.

She still had two more films left on her United Artists contract. In late 1930, Samuel Goldwyn announced he had bought the film rights to Zoë Akins' comedy play The Greeks Had a Word for It for her. She reportedly did some stage rehearsals for it in New York, but within a few months, she asked to be released from her contract. She never again appeared on screen. (Goldwyn eventually made the film version of The Greeks Had a Word for It under the title The Greeks Had a Word for Them in 1932.)

Upon leaving the movie world, Norma Talmadge rid herself of all the duties and responsibilities of stardom. She told eager fans who were pressing her for an autograph as she left a restaurant, "Get away, dears. I don't need you anymore and you don't need me."

Some time before late 1932, Talmadge decided against marrying Gilbert Roland, as he was 11 years her junior and she feared he would eventually leave her. Mother Peg fell ill, and died in September 1925. In late 1932, Talmadge began seeing her ex-husband Joseph Schenck's poker friend, comedian George Jessel. In April 1934, Schenck, from whom she had been separated for seven years, finally granted Talmadge her divorce, and nine days later, she married Jessel. Schenck continued to do what he could for Norma and her sisters, acting as a financial adviser and guiding her business affairs.

Talmadge's last professional works consisted of appearances on Jessel's radio program, which was sagging in the ratings. The program soon ended, and the marriage did not last; the couple divorced in 1939. Schenck's business acumen and her mother's watchful ambition for her daughters had resulted in a huge fortune for Talmadge, and she never wanted for money. Restless since the end of her filmmaking days, Talmadge traveled, often shuttling between her houses, entertaining, and visiting with her sisters. In 1946, she married Dr. Carvel James, a Beverly Hills physician.

In her later years, Talmadge, who had never been comfortable with the burdens of public celebrity, became reclusive. Increasingly crippled by painful arthritis and reported to be dependent on painkilling drugs, she moved to the warm climate of Las Vegas for her final years. According to Anita Loos' memories of Talmadge, the drug addiction came first which caused arthritis and was the basis of Norma's interest in her physician husband. In 1956, she was voted by her peers as one of the top five female stars of the pre-1925 era, but was too ill to travel to Rochester, New York, to accept her award.

After suffering a series of strokes in 1957, Talmadge died of pneumonia on Christmas Eve of that year. At the time of her death, her estate was valued at more than US$1,000,000 ($9,180,462 in 2020). She is interred with Constance and Natalie in their own niche in the Abbey of the Psalms in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Norma Talmadge has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street.

Talmadge Street in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles is named in honor of the silent screen star. Also, the community of Talmadge, San Diego is named for her and her sisters, and one of the community's streets is named Norma in her honor.

#norma talmadge #silent era #silent hollywood #silent movie stars #golden age of hollywood #classic movie stars #classic hollywood #1920s hollywood

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globefan · 2 years

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Nadi Kemp-Sayfi as Miranda Katy Stephens as Alonso Joanne Howarth as Francisco Ciarán O'Brien as Caliban Olivier Huband as Ferdinand and Ferdy Roberts as Prospero Patrick Osborne as Antonio and Katy Stephens as Alonso Patrick Osborne as Antonio and Lucy Phelps as Sebastian

Tempest pics, part 1 , (c) Marc Brenner

Musicians Musical Director / Double Bass: Rio Kai Percussion: Magnus Mehta Guitar: Shirley Tetteh Recorder: Olivia Petryszak Cello: Midori Jaeger

#the tempest #Shakespeare's Globe

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