Encyclopedia Page B

Bakewell, William: Played Norma’s brother in The Latest from Paris (1928), and came to visit her in the Motion Picture Country Hospital. When he tried to connect with her, she said, “It’s getting so difficult, there’s so little I remember anymore.” He responded with:

Barker, Reginald: Director of 1923's Pleasure Mad, and 1924’s Broken Barriers. On the set of Pleasure Mad, Barker was unimpressed with Norma’s blank performance and called her out in front of cast and crew. Louis B. Mayer called her into his office, and when she started sobbing, he shouted at her at the top of his lungs. She got the point, and impressed both of them with a remarkable performance.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street(1934): Based on the hit Broadway play starring Katharine Cornell, MGM purchased the rights in 1934 as a vehicle for Norma. When she doubted her own ability to play the part of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Randolph Hearst decided to make it a Marion Davies production. Thalberg and Mayer refused to allow Marion to have it, using the excuse that Davies needed more comedic parts to revive her diminished box office. Norma changed her mind and accepted the part, and the success of the film only added salt to the injury Hearst and Davies faced. He instructed his newspaper empire to give Norma the silent treatment for over a year, which didn’t work. The film made an exceptional $600,000 profit, making it one of the top ten grossing films of that year. Fredric March never did care for the film, as he later described:

I think Sidney Franklin paid more attention to Norma and maybe he let me get out of hand. Let's face it, Robert Browning was a rather flighty, artificial bonhomie type of guy, bouncing in an out of Elizabeth's room, applying the morale adrenaline, bouncing up and down and sashaying around Victorian-style flourishes that, to me, bordered on the fey and effeminate. I realized that the character was frantically trying to get Elizabeth off that couch, and I tried to get into his psyche, but he brought out the worst ham elements in me." (SNS)

Though it definately is not one of his finer films, March is what makes Barretts essential Shearer. His efforts, as Robert Browning, to get Elizabeth off the couch succeed, but Norma and Charles Laughton undoubtedly walk off with the film. Norma also compared the movie to her own life, "I had to marry a man bigger and more important in every way than myself. Only in such a marriage could I live without a sense of being cramped and confined."

The Barretts of Wimpole Street movie page

Barrymore, John (2/15/1882-5/29/1942: Stage legend widely acclaimed for his good looks, acting talent, and perfect profile. Barrymore appeared with Norma in Romeo and Juliet (1937), and Marie Antoinette (1938), and was almost fired on the first picture for his drunken antics. Norma enjoyed Barrymore’s stories about his life on the stage, and when MGM refused to allow him to appear with her in Marie Antoinette, she demanded they change their minds. In his later years he became a parody of his public image, a drunken has-been seriously affected by his diminishing sex appeal. After his death, a psychiatrist revealed that the beginning of his downfall occured when his stepmother seduced him when he was only fifteen.

IMDB Information on Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore(4/28/1878-9/15/1954): Stage legend who appeared with Norma in A Free Soul (1931). Not even Norma’s near-translucent gowns could stop Barrymore from walking off with the film. His performance in the film as the alcoholic lawyer was brilliant for its time, and he deservedly won the Academy Award for his performance. Holding his own against both Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo, he continued to act for MGM, up until Lone Star in 1952.

IMDB Information on Lionel Barrymore

Bates, Dr. William Horatio: Humiliated after viewing the cast in her right eye, camera left, multiplied onscreen for public view in The Stealers (1920), Norma took immediate action to correct the problem. She went to see Dr William Horatio Bates, who told her that the eye muscles needed to be strengthened, and he wrote out a series of exercises for Norma to practice. With time, and long hours of practice in front of the mirror, the cast became almost unrecognizable, and she became able to keep control of the eye for long periods of time. Though it was difficult to maintain in control when not in front of the mirror, Norma’s ability to maintain the eye from drifting out of focus made the problem all but disappear.

Bell, Monta: Director of Norma’s Broadway After Dark, The Snob (both 1924), Lady of the Night, Pretty Ladies (both 1925), and After Midnight (1927). They began an affair while making Broadway After Dark, but ended it before the production of Pretty Ladies (1925). Though they were even close to marriage at one point, but the break up didn’t affect their friendship. The marriage of talent in both persons helped produce some of Norma’s greatest silent films.

IMDB Information on Monta Bell

Bern, Paul: Friend of Irving Thalberg; husband of Jean Harlow; producer at MGM. Gavin Lambert’s biography implies that he was used by Joan Crawford to advance her career, “Hurrell remembers surprising Bern and Joan in a dark corner of the set one day, her arms around him, tears streaming down his face.” The heart break and manipulation from Crawford could have resulted in his suicide. Just weeks before the release of Jean Harlow’s Red Dust (1932), Bern shot himself. His suicide note read:

Dearest Dear,
Unfortunately, this is the only way to make good the frightful wrong I have done you and to wipe out my abject humiliation. You understand that last night was only a comedy.
Paul

Louis B Mayer and William Randolph Hearst were quick to point out that Bern was sexually impudent, and shot himself out of humiliation. The death of Bern, and the actions of Hearst and Mayer, left Thalberg with mixed emotions. Mourning the loss of his friend, and enraged at the actions of his enemies, latter that year he suffered from a major heart attack. Paul Bern’s suicide may have contributed to the attack a great deal.

Wikipedia Page

Besier, Rudolf: Author of the international stage success "The Barretts of Wimpole Street."

Blue Water: Directed by Davis M. Hartford; Stars Pierre Gendon, Jane Thomas, Norma, and John Dillon; Based on the novel by Frederick William Wallace. Produced for New Brunswick. The movie was apparently filmed in 1922, but not released until 1924, click here to read Jack Jacobs’ account of what happened to this mysterious film.

Blue Water Official Movie Page

Boland, Mary:

Bootleggers, The(1922, silent): Directed by Roy Sheldon; Stars Walter Miller, Jules Cowles, and Norma; Based on a story by Thomas F. Fallon. Produced for Film Booking Offices. The Bootleggers is a lost film.

The Bootleggers official movie page

Bow, Clara (7/29/1905-9/26/1965): Queen on the 1920s Flapper image, when information about her mentally ill family surfaced, she was Hollywood blacklisted. Although her career had gone into slump with the talkies, when the details about her mother holding a knife to Clara's throat surfaced, Norma began to seriously worry about the revelation of the skeleton in the Shearer closet, Norma's sister Athole.

Box office: Norma Shearer was one of MGM's most popular stars of the late 1920's through the late 30's. Though by the end of the 30's Shearer's appearances on screen were becoming few and far between. Her box office rankings as one of the top ten stars, that I know of so far, are as follows:

1931: fourth place

1932: sixth place

1933: ninth place

1934: tenth place

Though she fell off the chart after 1934, she was still one of Hollywood’s top moneymakers. One must remember that Norma began making fewer pictures per year, and her prestigious productions grossed more money than the films of her contemporaries. Different sources state that Norma was one of the top five box office stars from 1925 until 1930. If you know the exact numbers on the list please email me.

Brando, Marlon(4/3/24-7/1/2004): Okay, so he’s got practically nothing to do with Norma Shearer, but I like him anyway and added him to the site for the hell of it. Well, he starred in the loser remake of Irving Thalberg's classic 1935 epic, Mutiny On The Bounty (1962).

IMDB Information on Marlon Brando

Broadway After Dark(1924,silent): Directed by Monta Bell; Stars Adolphe Menjou, Norma, and Anna Q. Nilsson; Based on the play by Owen Davis. A lost film, it was produced and released through Warner Brothers.

Broadway After Dark official movie page

Broken Barriers(1924, silent): Directed by Reginald Barker; Stars James Kirkwood; Norma; Adolphe Menjou; Based on the novel by Meredith Nicholson. This was the first film released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

Broken Barriers movie page

Brown, Clarence(5/10/1890-8/17/1987): Director of Norma’s A Free Soul (1931) and Idiot's Delight(1939). Clarence Brown, who deserves to be remembered along the lines of Alfred Hitchcock, was one of the most popular directors in the 1920s-1940s. His name on a marquee had just as much drawing power as Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, or Greta Garbo. Brown was nominated for an Oscar six times in his respectable career.

IMDB Information on Clarence Brown

Brown, John Mack: Before shooting to stardom in King Vidor’s 1930 epic western, Billy the Kid, John Mack Brown played Norma’s leading man in her last silent, A Lady of Chance (1928). Brown also did movies with Joan Crawford in Our Dancing Daughters (1928) and Montana Moon (1930), but also starred with Greta Garbo in The Divine Woman (1927), A Woman of Affairs (1928), and The Single Standard (1929).

Bruce, Virginia: MGM starlet of the 1930s and 40s who was checked in at the Motion Picture Country Hospital while Norma was there. When the author of an album of Hollywood stars from the 1920s and 30s, Bruce mentioned that Norma was just down the hall: