Tag: bell lightbox

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The Unholy Three visits TIFF Bell Lightbox

Eric Veillette

An archival 35mm print of Tod Browning’s The Unholy Three (1925), an early mingling of the underworld with the macabre, visits TIFF Bell Lightbox on Saturday, June 25 at 8pm, with piano accompaniment by Laura Silberberg. The film, which stars Lon Chaney, premiered in Toronto on August 4, 1925, at Shea’s Hippodrome. It was preceded by a travelogue showing a “bevy of bathing beauties” at Coney Island and a short comedy starring Harry Langdon. Shea’s Hippodrome was the largest theatre the city had to offer when it opened in 1914, but was demolished in the late 1950s to make way … Continue reading The Unholy Three visits TIFF Bell Lightbox

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TIFF: Mary Pickford and the Invention of the Movie Star

Eric Veillette

In today’s Toronto Star, I preview TIFF’s latest exhibit, Mary Pickford and the Invention of the Movie Star, based on the collection of Rob Brooks. Over the course of three decades, Brooks, a Toronto native, amassed thousands of items including lobby cards, posters, correspondence and several personal items once owned by Toronto’s own Mary Pickford. In the article, I mention Pickford’s long-held ties to Toronto. In an early 1920s visit, Pickford was so enamoured by the patients and staff at the Christie St. Military Hospital that they received private screenings of all her forthcoming films. When Sparrows was released in … Continue reading TIFF: Mary Pickford and the Invention of the Movie Star