Timelines for year 1920

Justine Johnstone

Famous beauty, starred in silent films mainly in 1920-1921.

Joel McCrea

In 1920, he lived with his parents at 7755 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles.

Oscar Micheaux

Founder/President of Micheaux Film Corp., formed in 1920.

Junius Matthews

Did voices for many radio shows and specials from 1920s to 1930s, all the way to 1956.

That Horner was able to survive as a producer is indicative of how even the worst of the independent producers could succeed under the film exchange system of the 1920s and '30s, which serviced thousands of theaters throughout the U.S. and Canada. The trick was to sign up enough exchanges, typically willing to print and distribute product (films such as Horner's would be shown for one to three days on the lower part of a double bill) within a defined territory for as little as $5 per day. The exchange would negotiate advertising expenses (posters), normally only paying for these items on a first run (some would attempt to sell or lease them in advertising packages to the theaters to varying degrees of success). A single print of even the worst Horner effort might be shown three times in 400 unaffiliated theaters on the first run. These mostly rural, theaters had an insatiable demand for product, since they were unable to obtain A-list first-run features from major Hollywood studios. The film would be shelved for six to nine months and continue to recirculate on an irregular basis until the print was worn out. Money, at least in theory, could trickle back to the producer for years, and mastering the art of negotiating with these exchange owners was the real key to successful low-budget independent production. The cleverest producers (which did not include Horner) with glib tongues and a track record could even get the exchanges to advance money on future productions. Ironically, today the rare surviving one-sheet posters of Horner's films are highly collectible, with prices that approach and even surpass the original cost of the productions themselves.

Helene Costello

Was a WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) Baby Star of the 1920s.

Andy Comeau

Created the Los Angeles based live show, Vaud & the Villains, a 19 piece 1920s New Orleans Orchestra and Cabaret.

Nate Dushku

His family was the only family living in America (Massachusetts) during the 1920s with the surname Dushku.

Ken Maynard

His horse was Tarzan, a half-Arabian, half-American Saddle horse. Maynard bought him in the mid-1920's.

Helen Kane

Spent the early 1920s trouping in vaudeville as a singer and kickline dancer with a theater engagement called the "All Jazz Revue.".

Marcia Strassman

Her grandmother was a "Ziegfeld Girl" back in the 1920s.

John Hoyt

Graduated from Yale and first performed comedy routines in nightclubs before making his bow on stage in the late 1920's. Broadway debut followed in 1930 with the play "Overture", under his original name John Hoysradt. Was a member of the Mercury Theater from 1937 until called up for military service in 1945. Thin-lipped and silver-haired hard-case or villain of many a 1960's or 70's TV episode.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democratic Vice Presidential running mate to James Cox in 1920. They lost to Republicans Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.

Is one of only two men to appear on a major political party's presidential ticket five times: the other is Richard Nixon. After an unsuccessful campaign as the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1920, F.D.R. won four successive presidential campaigns in 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944. Republican stalwart Nixon won the vice presidency twice as Dwight D. Eisenhower's running-mate in 1952 and 1956, but lost to Democrat John F. Kennedy in his first bid for the presidency in 1960. Nixon subsequently won two terms as president, defeating Democrats Hubert H. Humphrey and George McGovern in 1968 and 1972, respectively.