In retrospect, my interest with classic film started in my early years. When I was a child, the only movies I watched were classic Disney and The Wizard of Oz (1939). The latter led to somewhat of an interest in Judy Garland, particularly when I learned about her drug addictions. After the interest in her died down, I saw the film Mommie Dearest (1981). After that, I developed an interest in Joan Crawford, which lead to my watching of Turner Classic Movies –that brilliant channel was the gateway to my knowledge of classic film. I became addicted to watching programs like Silent Sunday Nights on TCM and was soon staying up late to view vintage Lon Chaney, Marion Davies, Joan Crawford, Marlon Brando, Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, etc. Before my discovering of that gateway, I had been stuck with American Movie Classics –a decent channel, but I got so sick of Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne movies.

Then one night I was suffering from insomnia and turned my television on to watch a film that sounded familiar, Private Lives (1931). Within literally minutes I recognized the story line, settings, and most importantly, the leading lady. My PBS channel had aired the film a few years back and I fell in love with the movie, but unfortunately, there really was no place to find any information about Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery. Turner Classic Movies made all the difference. After that I watched A Free Soul (1931) which entertained me with its sexual overtones and was left breathless after watching Marie Antoinette (1938). Both the acting from Norma Shearer and W.S. Van Dyke’s direction were excellent. Out of all the classic movie stars I fell in love with, Norma Shearer stirred up the most interest in me, and she has been my favorite star to ever work in Hollywood since that rewatching of Private Lives.

One thing I particularly liked about Norma was her small public. It’s hard to be a heterosexual Joan Crawford fan and bring friends to Crawford events where there are a number of drag queens cruising the scene. (And no, I’m not ‘dissing’ the gay community. In fact, they’re largely the reason why Crawford’s movies are available on DVD.) While TCM played a major factor in my knowledge of classic film, there were also a number of independent classic film sellers who were kind enough to share rare DVDs. I would have never been able to watch copies of Lucretia Lombard (1923) and Letty Lynton (1932) without the help of those sellers. A big thank you to them.

Now online there were a number of classic movie site that I became an avid reader of, most notably Stephanie Jones’ Joan Crawford: The Best of Everything. While every other site hadn’t been updated in about four or five years, Stephanie updated her Crawford site nearly every day. I decided that I wanted a site I could call my own, and found that in an abandoned Norma Shearer site. My HTML skills and Shearer knowledge revamped each page and filled it up with information about the diminished icon. In going premium through Freewebs, I added on a list of personal favorite stars and Hollywood Legends Online was born!

A big thank you for the classic stars whose films remain timeless. Another thank you for Turner Classic Movies and Ted Turner. And, of course, a HUGE thank you to Norma Shearer!

I thank the following writers for furthering my knowledge of classic film: Michael F. Blake, Marlon Brando (autobiography), Myron Braum, Joan Crawford (autobiographies), Marion Davies (autobiography), David Houston, Jack Jacobs, Lynn Kear, Gavin Lambert, Mick LaSalle, Myrna Loy (autobiography), Scott O’Brien, Lawrence Quirk, Bob Thomas, and Mark A. Vieira.