BETWEEN SILENCE AND SOUND: GREEK ACTORS AND ACTRESSES OF HOLLYWOOD Part 2 By Steve Frangos Published in The National Herald, July 21, 2012 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ The era of silent film can be roughly marked between 1894 and 1927. During that period Greeks in Hollywood often enjoyed a privileged position. From the early 1900s to the Great Depression, Alexander Pantages owned and operated the largest independent chain of vaudeville and movie theaters in North America. Pantages was a born showman and so his name and actions were often in the nation's press promoting one of his ventures or another. Two of Pantages’ children, Lloyd and Carmen, were often covered by what today is called the celebrity press. Given their father’s prominence, Carmen seems to h...

BETWEEN SILENCE AND SOUND: THE FIRST GREEK ACTORS AND ACTRESSES OF HOLLYWOOD Part 1 By Steve Frangos Published in The National Herald, July 14, 2012 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ Greeks were an active part of the American film industry even before such an industry was established. Documents exist about the involvement of Greek immigrants in the Edison laboratories as well as purchasers of Thomas Edison's first line of kinetoscopes. Kinetoscopes and similar machines were the first viewing machines seen in nickelodeon parlors. As many among Greek-America's senior generation will recall, Greek immigrants were actively involved in the advent of local nickelodeons, which led to their purchasing vaudeville and moving picture theaters. That said, trying to authoritative...