16.00USD
Welcome to "Idols of the 1920s," where we hope to provide a special, cozy place for those of you who long to linger among the stars of the early silver screen, the hoofers and songbirds of dear old vaudeville's fading hours, a few divas of the grand opera, and of the operetta too, flappers, flappers, more flappers, and of course, and perhaps especially, those femmes fatales who with one smoldering glance can melt a heart, or break it in two. Have fun!
Elizabeth Ada Bronson was born in 1906, in Trenton New Jersey. She got her first bit part, at the tender age of 16, in 1922, in "Anna Ascends."
In 1924, after managing with some difficulty to get an interview with Mr. J.M. Barrie (author of Peter Pan), he supported her for the title role in the film version of "Peter,", which she won (beating out both Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson who vied for the role), and became, after that film's release, a tremendous star!
She worked, on and off until the year of her death in 1971, having made a smooth transition into the talkies. Below, we've lifted directly a charming section out of the article about her on Wikipedia (our faithful friend), concerning her relationship with Douglas Fairbanks Jr.:
Bronson was always rather reclusive with the press, but she did get some attention after being seen with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.. He had his first childish crush on her, and as he remembered in his autobiography The Salad Days, he stated:
"Another important picture had just started. It was Peter Pan, directed by a clever caricature of a wildly temperamental movie director, Herbert Brenon. After exhaustive tests, Betty Bronson, a pretty and gifted girl in her middle teens, was given this famous role... I fell for Betty! It was my first intensely juvenile, deep-sighs-and-bad-sonnets love. It was not fully requited. She only flirted with me. My rival was a fellow in his twenties, a newspaperman who was to become one of New York's most respected theater critics, Richard Watts, Jr. ...In any event, I was so smitten with Betty, I could think of little else, except when I could call on her, even though her overprotective mother was always just in the next room."
In any case, it is known that Bronson kept all of his letters, bad sonnets and all, and she spoke of him fondly until her dying day.
Hardly Peter Pan-like in this image, Miss Bronson is looking pretty darned steamy :) What fun!
A very nice card. Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!