Oliver Norvell Hardy was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles. He was credited with his first film, Outwitting Dad, in 1914. In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as Babe Hardy.
Alice Brady was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked until six months before her death from cancer in 1939. Her films include My Man Godfrey (1936), in which she plays the flighty mother of Carole Lombard's character, and In Old Chicago (1937) for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
The Tramp, also known as the Little Tramp, was English actor Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character and an icon in world cinema during the era of silent film. The Tramp is also the title of a silent film starring Chaplin, which Chaplin wrote and directed in 1915.
Mutual Film Corporation was an early American film conglomerate that produced some of Charlie Chaplin's greatest comedies. Founded in 1912, it was absorbed by Film Booking Offices of America, which evolved into RKO Pictures.
Annette DeFoe, also known as Annette De Foe, was an American silent screen actress, known for her work in early romantic comedies.
Evelyn Selbie was an American stage actress and performer in both silent and sound films.
Carl Stockdale also known as Carlton Stockdale was one of the longest-working Hollywood veteran actors, with a career dating from the early 1910s. He also made the difficult transition from silent films to talkies.
Billy West was a film actor, producer, and director. Active during the silent film era, he is best known as a semi-successful Charlie Chaplin impersonator. Beyond acting, he also directed shorts in the 1910s and 20s, as well as produced films. West ultimately retired in 1935.
Martha Mattox was an American silent film actress most notable for her role of Mammy Pleasant in the 1927 film The Cat and the Canary. She also played a role in Torrent (1926). She died from a heart ailment at age 53.
The Slave is a 1917 American silent comedy film starring Billy West and featuring Oliver Hardy. It was unusual for a silent film in that, because it told its story so plainly, subtitles or intertitles were not considered necessary. It is not known whether the film currently survives.
Billy Ruge (c.1866/1870–1955) was an American film actor. His early career was spent as an aerial trapeze acrobat in an act with partner Bill Frobel: Ruge and Frobel played Montreal in 1899, and shared a bill at London's Hippodrome with W. C. Fields, Houdini, and Sandow over the Easter holiday of 1904. According to Ruge, prior to playing his first silent film part- for Edison- he had "just returned from a seven years' engagement in the variety houses of Germany, England, France, Russia, South America, Belgium, and Spain." Ruge eventually appeared in 64 films between 1915 and 1922, mostly one-reeler Comedy Shorts. He frequently worked for Actor/Director Willard Louis, filming in Jacksonville, Florida for the minor studios Lubin Studios, the Vim Comedy Company, and the Jaxon Film Corporation.
The Vim Comedy Company was a short-lived movie studio in Jacksonville, Florida and New York City. Vim bought out Siegmund Lubin's Lubin Manufacturing Company Jacksonville, Florida facilities at 750 Riverside Avenue in 1915 after that company went bankrupt. It was founded by Louis Burstein and Mark Dintenfass. Vim specialized in two-reel comedies, producing hundreds of them in the short time it existed. Notable Vim actors were Oliver Hardy, Ethel Marie Burton, Walter Stull, Billy Ruge, Rosemary Theby, Billy Bletcher and his wife Arline Roberts, and Kate Price. At its peak Vim had a workforce of nearly 50 people. The Vim Comedy Company went out of business in 1917 after Oliver Hardy discovered that both Burstein and Dintenfass were stealing from the payroll. Vim was bought out by the King-Bee Films studio started by Burstein.
Willis Brown was a permanently removed Utah juvenile court judge, falsely-claimed lawyer, self-described humanitarian, and filmmaker.
Alfred Emory Johnson was an American actor, director, producer, and writer. As a teenager, he started acting in silent films. Early in his career, Carl Laemmle chose Emory to become a Universal studio leading man. He also became part of one of the early Hollywood celebrity marriages when he wed Ella Hall.
Jaxon Film Corporation was a comedy film production company during the silent film era. It was located in Jacksonville, Florida and later Providence, Rhode Island.
Ethel Marie Burton Palmer was an American comedic film actress.
Aaron Crawford "Bud" Ross was an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter.
Florence McLaughlin, sometimes credited as Florence McLoughlin, was an actress in the U.S. She appeared in numerous silent films including comedies with Oliver Hardy.
Ethelyn Gibson (1897–1972), sometimes credited as Ethlyn Gibson, was an American stage and screen actress who featured in films and productions in the 1910s and 1920s. First joining the theatre through becoming a member of The Charlie Chaplin Revue in 1911, she then became involved in other revue productions as a member of the Ziegfeld Follies. She joined the silent-film industry beginning in 1917, appearing with Oliver Hardy before acting as a leading lady in multiple Billy West films. Later, she also appeared in works with Charley Chase. One of her most famous roles was acting as the title character in the Winnie Winkle series of films from 1926 to 1928.
