The Great Anita Page
With pretty much every day being either cloudy or raining, I have found myself in the house more-watching old movies. There is just something so fitting about it; it makes me think about those who have been forgotten. It’s pretty crazy to think that Doug & Mary were the Brad & Angelina of the ‘20’s but it’s true!! Who are Doug & Mary you ask? See, that’s what I mean. How can a person who was so famous back then be totally forgotten today? My generation has no clue who Mary Pickford was, what the Ziegfeld Follies were or know who creative, misunderstood geniuses such as Erich Von Strohiem were.
Anita Page is another one of those stars that have sadly been forgotten about. Anita was born in 1910 and reached her stardom at the end of the silent film era. One of my personal favorites is when she played “Kentucky” in ‘Our Modern Maidens’ (opposite Joan Crawford, another idol of mine). In fact, I really enjoyed her in most of her films. She has that girly charm & innocence. I love Joan Crawford but there is no way Ms. Crawford could express that same vulnerability as Anita; especially in her early career-she was too much of a firecracker, in my opinion!
Left to right: Dorothy Sebastian, Joan Crawford, and Anita Page
Anita was leading lady to actors such as: Clark Gable, Buster Keaton and my personal favorite, Robert Montgomery (*swoon*). Around this time it was said that she was receiving more mail than any other actress at MGM. Anita pretty much shocked everyone when in 1933, at the age of 23, she decided to retire from films. She disappeared from the screen for 60 years!!! In an interview conducted in 2004 (yes, 2004! you do the math), she said that what truly ended her career was her refusal to meet sexual demands by MGM’s head of production, Irving Thalberg. That actually comes as a surprise to me; I could totally see LB Mayer requesting sexual favors but Irving Thalberg?! LB pretty much threatened ruined her reputation after that so she walked away.
She married a Lieutenant and eventually became a Navy wife. They were married until his death in 1991. Anita returned to the screen in 1996 and did some work in low budget horror films. Around this time, Anita gave several interviews and was listed as one of the last silent stars. Although she didn’t work for 60+ years, I really do consider her the last great silent star. Many actresses gave sexual favors in order to further their careers (the infamous Blue movie, Miss Crawford??). Anita chose not to do this and I totally respect her for that. Anita was THE LAST SURVIVING attendee of the 1st Academy Awards show in 1929! How awesome is that?? She died at the age of 98 on September 6, 2008. She was a beautiful person and I’m glad her work can still be enjoyed Old Hollywood fans, like myself.
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