One photo from each year, from 1920 to 1929, a decade of changing styles, hairstyles, and screen personas.
1920: The Devil's Claim
1921: The Sky Pilot
1922: The Wall Flower
1923: Flaming Youth
1924: Painted People
1925: We Moderns
1926: Twinkletoes
1927: Her Wild Oat
1928: Lilac Time
1929: Smiling Irish Eyes
Colleen Moore, Clara Bow and Louise Brooks are often grouped together as three of the most famous Hollywood flappers of the 1920s. But looking at them side by side, it's fascinating how different their screen images actually were.
Colleen Moore became closely associated with the cheerful, energetic and rebellious flapper. Her bobbed hair, expressive face and lively performances helped make her one of the defining stars of the Jazz Age. Her role in "Flaming Youth" (1923) was particularly important in establishing this new screen image.
Clara Bow brought a different kind of energy. Her appeal was spontaneous, confident and intensely youthful. With "It" (1927), she became perhaps the most famous embodiment of the "It Girl", the flapper as charismatic, modern and irresistibly self-assured.
Louise Brooks, meanwhile, had a much cooler and more provocative image. Her sleek black bob and distinctive screen presence became iconic, particularly in "Pandora's Box" (1929). Her flapper persona feels less like the carefree girl next door and more like a deliberately unconventional modern woman.
What's interesting is that all three could be called "flappers," yet they represented very different ideas of what that meant.
A few behind-the-scenes photos of Colleen Moore getting ready at the studio, along with glimpses of the camera crew and what it was like to make movies back then. I also found it interesting to see musicians playing instruments to create the mood and atmosphere on set.
I’ve seen this commercial many times, but yesterday I was reading the MM manual and suddenly thought, “Wait, I’ve heard this before.”
The Wind Waker: Narrated Commercial
Colleen Moore’s iconic bob became one of the defining hairstyles of the 1920s, but her look continued to evolve into the 1930s.
A look at her hairstyles throughout the 1920s and 1930s
I love how artists captured Colleen Moore in so many different ways through their illustrations. Some emphasized her famous bobbed hair, features, and expressions, while others created more stylized or cartoon-like versions of her. Yet she remained instantly recognizable as Colleen. Here are some examples from her movie posters and magazine illustrations.
I was curious to see how her eyes would look normally in this famous scene, so I decided to make a little edit to restore them to a more natural appearance.
Here's my edited version. Please ignore the duplicated eyebrow XD. I think it gives us a glimpse of how Colleen actually looked when she filmed the scene.
There are so many portrait photos of Colleen that I love, so I thought I’d share some more of my favorite portraits of Colleen Moore from the 1920s. Sometimes she looks happy, in others she looks sad, she was such a versatile performer. If you feel like there aren’t enough here, I can always prepare another post with even more portrait photos.
They married in 1923, when Colleen was still a young actress and McCormick was working as a press agent. He helped build her career and negotiate better contracts, and for a time they seemed like the perfect Hollywood power couple. But as Colleen’s fame grew, their relationship became increasingly troubled.
McCormick struggled with alcoholism, and according to Colleen’s later recollections, his drinking could lead to long absences and increasingly difficult behavior. He also became deeply involved in controlling her career and finances. Eventually, Colleen felt that he was making decisions about her professional life without even consulting her.
In 1930, after seven years of marriage, Colleen filed for divorce, citing mental cruelty. The divorce was finalized that May. Contemporary magazines described the separation as the painful end of a relationship that had begun when Colleen was relatively unknown and McCormick was helping launch her career.
What makes the story particularly interesting is that Colleen later described the marriage in her autobiography 'Silent Star', recalling McCormick's alcoholism and the difficulties she experienced as he increasingly tried to control her career. Some accounts of the marriage are quite disturbing, although the details vary depending on the source.
One of the most striking episodes Colleen recalled in her book happened before an important luncheon at MGM honoring Winston Churchill. Colleen had hoped that John would be sober enough to accompany her, partly because she was worried about the stories circulating about his drinking. Instead, she found him sitting in his room, dressed only in shorts, shoes and socks, completely drunk.
Furious and frustrated, Colleen took off one of her high-heeled shoes and began hitting him on his bare chest and arms with the heel, leaving welts on his skin. McCormick looked down at the marks and, in his drunken state, remarked that the “D” marks stood for “dummy” and that she had branded him correctly. Colleen wrote that under different circumstances she might have found the comment funny, but she was “past laughing, too.” She went to the luncheon alone, telling people that John was ill.
It’s a fascinating reminder that behind the glamorous images of Hollywood’s 1920s stars, their private lives could be considerably more complicated—and sometimes much darker—than the publicity suggested. In Colleen’s case, there is an especially striking contrast between her screen persona and her private life. She became one of the great stars of silent comedy, often appearing on screen as the lively, mischievous, smiling “flapper,” while behind the scenes she was dealing with a deeply troubled marriage and an increasingly difficult personal life. She spent so much of her career making audiences laugh, even when her own life was far from carefree.
100 years ago today, "It Must Be Love" premiered!
Starring the wonderful Colleen Moore, this delightful 1926 silent comedy is another piece of her film legacy reaching its centennial.
Happy 100th anniversary to "It Must Be Love"!
Today we celebrate the birthday of the wonderful Colleen Moore! ❤️ A true star of the silent screen, remembered for her charm, energy, and unforgettable personality.
Happy birthday, Colleen! 🌟🎬
Help Our Colleen Moore Community Grow!
I guess we'll just have to celebrate them belatedly with some clips and photos soon.
At least we still have time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of It Must Be Love on August 22! 😅
Stay tuned!
Just a fun little scene from "Irene" (1926). Colleen Moore's facial expressions always make me smile.
Although Ella Cinders (1926) survives today, the existing version is incomplete. The film was originally released as a 7-reel feature with a running time of approximately 75 minutes, but all known DVD and online releases run only about 51 minutes. While some of the difference is due to modern transfer speeds, historians agree that roughly one reel—about 15–20 minutes—from the middle of the film has been lost. The missing footage likely included additional scenes of Ella's early experiences in Hollywood, more comedy sequences, and character development before the studio-lot episodes.
These photographs depict scenes from the missing reel that are absent from every surviving version of the film available today. Among them is what appears to be a fantasy sequence in which Ella imagines herself as the mistress of the house while her stepmother becomes the servant. Although the footage itself has been lost, these stills provide a fascinating glimpse of moments that audiences saw in 1926 but have not been able to watch for nearly a century.
Here is another selection of my favorite portraits of Colleen Moore, this time from the 1930s. Even after leaving Hollywood, she remained remarkably photogenic, and these images showcase her grace, confidence, and timeless beauty.
I thought I'd share some of my favorite portraits of Colleen Moore from the 1920s. She had such a distinctive screen presence, and these photographs really capture the charm and elegance that made her one of the biggest stars of the silent era. Which one is your favorite?
Unlike many stars of the silent era, she successfully transitioned into a life outside Hollywood, remained financially secure, and lived long enough to witness a renewed appreciation for silent cinema. These photos offer a fascinating glimpse of Moore from the 1940s through the 1980s, we can see she aged quite gracefully and remained recognizable from her silent-film days.
Some photos of Colleen Moore with her family (parents, grandmother, and brother). She’s usually seen in glamorous studio shots, so these more personal family images are really interesting.
Lilac Time (1928) was one of the most heavily promoted films of Colleen Moore's career. At a time when Moore was among Hollywood's biggest stars, First National Pictures treated the film as a prestige production, backing it with a nationwide advertising campaign, extensive newspaper coverage, elaborate theater displays, and special promotional materials for exhibitors.
Adapted from a popular operetta and featuring lavish production values, the film was marketed as a major event rather than just another romantic drama. Trade publications of the era frequently highlighted the scale of the campaign, which encouraged theaters to create themed displays and special presentations.
Although Lilac Time was a significant release in 1928 and a showcase for Moore's star power, it has largely faded from popular memory. Looking back, the film serves as a fascinating example of how aggressively Hollywood studios promoted their biggest productions long before the modern blockbuster era.