Bessie Love #4 -- April 5, 2013

I have always been fascinated by the career of actress Bessie Love.  She was born in Texas.  Her name was Juanita Horton.  Her family moved to Los Angeles and she went to Los Angeles High School.  Looking for work, she met director  DW Griffith and got a small part in Intolerance.  She appeared in movies with William S Hart and Douglas Fairbanks.  She was a 1922 WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) Baby Star.  She played many leading roles, most famously in The Lost World, but never broke through until the talkies came, when she starred in The Broadway Melody.  Her career was hot for a few years, but then tailed off.  She continued to appear in small parts in movies until the early 1980s. 

This item, from the July, 1929 Moving Picture Magazine shows Bessie and Ukulele Ike, Cliff Edwards, "in an interval between scenes of a new revue they both appear in."  The movie would be The Hollywood Revue of 1929.  Jack Benny and Conrad Nagel were the emcees, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy appeared in a skit, and Norma Shearer and John Gilbert did the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet.  Buster Keaton and everyone else at the studio appeared in "Singing in the Rain." 

The Giants won their home opener against the Saint Louis Cardinals.  Barry Zito pitched well.