Renowned Death Hag
Reading about this guy on IMDB.
I have to ask...have any of you ever seen that infamous 1929 flick he did
called "His Glorious Night"? The film that supposed to killed his career.
I read that M.G.M. studio head L.B. Mayer actually had the film speed up Gilbert's voice to make him sound like Mickey Mouse. Story goes that movie audiences laughed at Gilbert when they heard say "I Love You...I Love You" and right there killed his career.
I wonder if any of this stuff is true?
GILBERT was a very successful actor in the 20s but hes one of the best examples of a declined career after the "talkies" arrived.
That anecdote you posted is true and his career never recovered from that.
His last two films were QUEEN CHRISTINA with Greta Garbo, who was the great love of his life, and THE CAPTAIN HATES THE SEA.
He died of a heart attack in 1936. By that time he was having an affair with MARLENE DIETRICH.
I'm not sure Louis Mayer of MGM actually had the sound tampered with on Gilbert's "His Glorious Night." (That film wasn't his first talkie; he completed "Redemption" prior to it, although it was released later.)
Unfortunately Gilbert's florid acting style was not well-suited to sound. While his voice was adequate, even with no tampering it came off as slightly stilted. (He took his voice lessons a bit too literally.) Also, the script for "His Glorious Night" as well as the director, an ailing Lionel Barrymore, left much to be desired. I think it can be said that MGM didn't protect Gilbert well during the talkie transition, and that might have been due to Mayer's animus.
Gilbert was better in his later talkies, but drinking and low confidence took their tolls, and newer leading men sprung up to displace him.
yeah, thats basically what happened to him.Originally Posted by Lynn
i think that the same would have happened to Ruddy Valentino.
In 1928/29 technicians were still struggling to figure out how to even MAKE talkies, and I honestly don't think the technology for sabatoging someone's voice existed yet. If they had attempted to do so, they'd have messed up the voices of EVERYONE in the scene, not just Gilbert's. I've seen some of the segments in question, and this does not seem to be the case.
It is true that microphones of the era sometimes distored voices, and certain voices were more suceptible than others. Gilbert's may well have been one of them.
John Gilbert
AKA John Cecil Pringle
Born: 10-Jul-1899
Birthplace: Logan, UT
Died: 9-Jan-1936
Location of death: Los Angeles, CA
Cause of death: Heart Failure
Remains: Buried, Whispering Pines, Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, CA
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: La Boheme
Wife: Olivia Burwell (m. 1917, div. 1922)
Wife: Leatrice Joy (actress, m. 1923, div. 1924)
Wife: Ina Claire (actress, m. 9-May-1929, div. 1931)
Wife: Virginia Bruce (actress, m. 1932, div. 1934, one daughter)
Girlfriend: Greta Garbo (broken engagement)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Queen Christina (26-Dec-1933)
Downstairs (6-Aug-1932)
The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (14-Aug-1929) Himself
Desert Nights (9-Mar-1929)
A Woman of Affairs (15-Dec-1928)
Love (29-Nov-1927)
Flesh and the Devil (25-Dec-1926)
La Boheme (24-Feb-1926)
The Big Parade (5-Nov-1925)
The Merry Widow (26-Aug-1925)
He Who Gets Slapped (2-Nov-1924)
Renowned Death Hag
From what I understand the sound in movies
stopped his career for whatever reason.
I wasn't aware of the string of very short marriages... I wonder what was up about that?
In his New York Times obituary, it says he died a bitter and unhappy man. He was married and divorced four times, and for several years he made a salary of $10,000 per week.
He married Olivia Burwell when he was 21. She was an extra in movies. They divorced months later. His second wife was Leatrice Joy, and they had a daughter. After that divorce, he married Ina Claire. They divorced in 1931. He then married Virginia Bruce in 1932. They were married just short of two years before they divorced. Virginia bore him another daughter.
The NYT article states he had, "a high-pitched voice, difficult to control".
Yes I saw only a bit of that film.
And John Gilbert sounded really hilarious!
He muttered "I love you, I love you, I love you".
I can see why his career folded.
He sounded like a silly cartoon character.
I read that audiences howled at that scene.
Poor guy he had the weirdest voice for a great screen lover.
Regarding the film The Captain Hates The Sea, the booze budget was reportedly bigger than the film's budget itself! I can imagine John Gilbert and his male chums drinking and partying like crazy!
Poor guy. Can you imagine the scene, looking deeply into the woman's eyes, holding her close, tension building, and then he opens his mouth to speak and sounds like Elmo. LOL
John Gilbert in the silents was phenominal. I never tire of seeing him. I would like to hear him sounding like Elmo/Mickey mouse though. Hmmmm...
Renowned Death Hag
I read somewhere in a Garbo biography, that he had taken her off to go and get married, while at a reststop - she climbed out of the girls toilets and run off!
Maybe Garbo was too independent to be married - shame as they were a big power couple.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
It's a shame that his careeer (And so many others of that area) weren't able to make it in the talkies.
My favorite film of his is Flesh and The Devil with Garbo. Probably one of the most erotic films ever made. The way they look at each other, Wow
Renowned Death Hag
I found this on youtube. I didn't think it was too bad but....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UajWX9vlyfs
I hate to do this but.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I never would've thought that that was his voice. Thanks Tamiele. Although I love John G. I'll remember him in the silents better. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Senior Death Hag
I think Gilbert's demise was probably due to a mixture of both his voice (didn't really match his look), melodramatic acting style, and the fact that the new era of sound pretty much ushered in the need for new stars. Quite a few popular stars of that era just didn't translate for a number of reasons and I think he fell victim to that.
I think the fact that he pissed off Louis B. Mayer didn't help matters. I remember reading something about Gilbert punching Mayer out because Mayer suggested that Gilbert not marry Garbo because she was a whore. Once you pissed off Louis B. Mayer, there was really no going back.
"You live alone, creating your life as you go." - Edie Sedgwick
I just started seeing a talkie with John Gilbert named Gentlemen's fate and his voice sounds different than the Elmo voice. He doesn't sound bad at all. Me thinks it was that L. B. Meyer incident that ruined it for him.
Renowned Death Hag
I just watched that clip that was posted and didn't think his voice was high at all. I mean I was expecting something way higher than that from what I'd been reading. What were people expecting for the voice, something like Johnny Cash?
Death Hag
Yeah no kidding, his voice wasn't bad at all. I was expecting him to sound like one of the chipmunks, his voice just sound like he was overacting.
Renowned Death Hag
I agree. It is interesting how the mind works. Watching the silent films, the audience gets used to an actor without sound, and our minds always fill in the blanks. Imagine watching someone on screen for numerous films, and forming that mental idea of who they are. I think it wouldn't matter what his voice sounded like - it would never be what someone would imagine it was. Did any of the silent film stars transition to talkies??
I don't think Louis Mayer had even the know-how to manipulate Gilbert's voice since sound technology was a newfangled invention at the time and everyone was on the learning curve.
Still, Gilbert's voice is not that bad. He was only over-acting!
The all overacted back then. They were used to mugging for the silent camera. I don't think his voice was all that bad either. I think it was because he knocked the daylights out of Louis B Mayer at his wedding to Greta Garbo. When she didn't show up, Mr. Mayer said something terrible about Garbo and that he was better off to just sleep with her rather than marry her, and Gilbert punched his lights out! I don't know exactly what Louis B did, but he was powerful enough to end anyone's career back then and so he did his best to sabotage John Gilbert. Still, Gilbert drew a $10000 a week salary while not working for quite some time, but he lost his audience through bad sound films and absence from the screen.
Norma Shearer sucessfully transitioned and Donald Crisp ( I believe ). Greta Garbo too
Renowned Death Hag
I see. This is a whole new world to me, just getting in to watching TCM and having a blast!!
I'm sure it didn't hurt Norma any to have her brother Douglas Shearer as Chief Sound Engineer for MGM...
Hmm... you're right.
John Gilbert sounds like David Niven to me.
Wow! I didn't know that. Well, if your brother is chief sound engineer he's going to do everything possible to make his sister sound fantastic.
Exactly. He won a bunch of Academy Awards for technical innovations, and I THINK I read somewhere that he personally handled the recording of all of Norma's movies.
Renowned Death Hag
It shows the evolution, or de-volution, of people's tastes over time. There are some current actors whose voices sound immature or odd, IMO. Leonardo DiCaprio, for instance, will never overcome that high-school-on-the-verge-of-cracking-back-again, but then he just looks too immature to me anyway, always will, even though he does manage to do a good acting job generally.
I have never gotten over Tom Selleck's odd scratchy voice, didn't seem to match his physique, but he had a successful TV action show in his life for several years, so at the time, the audience overlooked that. His subsequent movie career wasn't very memorable, so his actual talents and perhaps voice caught up with him there.
Melissa Gilbert--- what can one say about a 40+- year-old woman who has sounded exactly the same since she was about seven?
I feel the same way about Leonardo. DiCaprio. When I first saw him in titanic I was like
John Gilbert was NEVER the same after Greta Garbo left him at the alter. Some believe that she was a Lesbian, but in that time period, it would have ruined her career if brought to the fore. Gilbert DESPISED Louis B. Mayer, and I believe the feeling was mutual. Mayer was a BITTER LITTLE MAN, and if he didn't care for you, watch out!!!
In the ep 4 of TCM's mini-series "Moguls And Movie Stars", the subject of transition to talkies is discussed at length. According to the ep, silent screen stars were required to take sound tests reciting Little Bo Peep. The sound engineer had authority over any director. If any actor's voice, no matter who it was, wasn't good enough, the sound engineer would say so and said actor would probably be looking for another line of work.
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