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Dedication to Norma Shearer

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Welcome to Lady of the Night!
Updates and news are below...

That Norma Shearer is Hollywood’s true Queen is a given. No star offered such prestige to either Metro Goldwyn Mayer or tinsel-town itself. She was the ideal personification of glamour, MGM’s most powerful star (even after the death of Irving Thalberg), and most importantly, one hell of an Actress! This entire website is dedicated to her legacy…

My first real introduction to Norma was a few years back. Suffering from insomnia, I turned on the television set. My PBS station was about to air Private Lives (1931), starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery. I figured I might as well tune in, considering there wasn’t anything interesting on MTV. I was laughing hysterically within five minutes of viewing the film. I picked up an immediate interest in both Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery, but I began extensive research on Norma. Considering that this was right before the internet became the power force it is today, there was virtually nothing out there on Norma Shearer and especially Robert Montgomery. I was fortunate enough to locate a copy of Lawrence Quirk’s Norma: The Story of Norma Shearer, but didn’t really get all that inspired. Quirk’s watered-down Norma glamour dulled any interest I might have had. A few years later, and a bit ironically, Turner Classic Movies also aired Private Lives late one night while I was still up. I purchased Gavin Lambert’s Norma Shearer: A Life along with The Films of Norma Shearer and fell in love with the beautiful, forgotten icon.

Fast-forward to fall 2006. I decided that I wanted my own classic star site. I had seen Stephanie Jones’ “The Best of Everything: A Joan Crawford Encyclopedia” and admired how much care had been put into a fan site. I hadn’t seen anything like that before, and probably never will again. It inspired me to open up my own classic star fan site, but couldn’t decide on whom it was I wanted to spotlight. I thought of Lon Chaney, Marlon Brando, realized I could never make a Joan Crawford site that would top Stephanie’s, and settled on Norma. For the title, I chose the name of my favorite Norma silent, 1925's Lady of the Night.

Every other Norma Shearer site seemed to have the same thing attached to it, “And after completing Her Cardboard Lover (1942), Norma retired ‘gracefully’ from the screen.” I knew that her final years were anything but, so I made sure to get the record straight for those with a fuzzy image of Norma and her achievements. I’ve loved working on this site, and it finally seems as if my work is paying off. For all my hard work and dedication into making Lady of the Night the number one Norma Shearer site, but I cannot undermine the accomplishments of my contemporaries. This site is dedicated to her memory.

Please email me if you have any questions. (Also: I am not exactly a human encyclopedia/dictionary, please notify me if you see any wrong information or grammatical errors.)

Site Updates for Lady of the Night

April 10, 2008:

No, I haven't forgotten about this site (especially since I'm still paying for it!), but I've been really gathering a lot of information and pictures. I'll be switching hosts real soon, and getting a real domain name (normasheareronline.com) when I move to Yahoo! web services. Since there isn't much out there on Norma, I want to get all the facts right, and also have a lot of information on all of Norma's films.

March 11, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer: Added seven pictures to Norma's gallery:
1924: Not sure if Norma is in this one, but considering my photos for The Wolfman are so rare, I added it anyway, here.
1931: One shot from A Free Soul, here. And two publicity shots, here and here.
1932: One new Smilin' Through shot, here.
1937: One new Romeo and Juliet shot of Norma on the set eating breakfast, here.
1938: One new Marie Antoinette shot of Norma and the "boys," here.

NEWS: Added a page for Norma's Television schedule, here! I've got a lot going on with this website as a whole, but there are a few new features for Lady of the Night which are in the works. The first is a Cast Off page, where you can read about the roles/stage offers Norma rejected. The second is a Geography page, where all of Norma's addresses will be listed, as well as photos of each home. The third is a Chronology outlining Norma's life. Other than that, I also have essays in the works, inducing The "Ideal" Virgin, which will read about how Norma's image was manipulated by critics into something she clearly was not. Also, I want to write an essay getting the point across that Norma was indeed an actress and star in her own right, and more than just "Thalberg's Cross-eyed wife." Each will be available not too far from now, considering I have a LOT of work going on with this site right now. But I want to add more to this site than just an Encyclopedia, Biography and Photo gallery.

March 8, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer:
The Photos of Norma Shearer: Added seventeen shots to Norma's gallery.
1925: Added a rare shot, here.
1926: One shot from The Waning Sex, here. And one picture I think is from 1926, here.
1927: Two pictures from The Student Prince, here and here.
1928: Added a publicity shot, here.
1931: One really happy picture, here.
1932: One color photo of a classic Shearer portrait, here.
1933: One beautiful photo, here.
1934: Three interesting shots. The first from Riptide, here. The second from The Barretts of Wimpole Street, here. The third being a picture with Irving and Irving Jr., here.
1937: Two pictures from Romeo and Juliet, here and here.
1938: Three photos from Marie Antoinette, here, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, here, and here.

Today would have been my Great Grandmother's 100 birthday. She was a huge movie fan, and named my Grandmother after either Norma Shearer or Norma Talmadge -can't remember exactly which one.

March 1, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer: First off, I apologize for the lack of site updates, I'm working on a big project for this site. But first, I added a lot to Lady of the Night. Check out the Links Page for more links to other star sites!
The Films of Norma Shearer: Added three film posters and two vintage reviews to Waning Sex (1926), Upstage (1926), and Smilin Through (1932).
The Photos of Norma Shearer: Added seven shots to Norma's gallery.
1925: Added a rare shot from the more rare Walking Up The Town, here.
1929: Two shots from Their Own Desire, here and here.
1932: One shot, here.
1937: A picture with David Niven, here.
1938: One shot leaving the hospital, here.
1940: A good Escape shot, here.

I also wanted to draw your attention to the fact that Warner Home Video is releasing their second edition of Fobidden Hollywood II on Monday! TCM will also be playing the films in the set Monday evening which include The Divorcee, A Free Soul, Female, Night Nurse, and Three On A Match.

February 24, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer: There's a number of updates for Lady of the Night.
The Films of Norma Shearer: Added a film poster to the Waning Sex (1926) page.
The Photos of Norma Shearer: Added twelve shots to Norma's gallery.
1926: Added another not-so-hot publicity shot, here.
1929: New picture from The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, here, and one from Their Own Desire, here. Also added publicity shot, here.
1932: One shot from Smilin' Through, here.
1935: One color shot, here.
1938: One shot from Marie Antoinette, here. Also replaced a shot, here.
1939: Two Shots from The Women, here and here.

February 22, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer: Added another nude photograph of Norma from her sitting with Alfred Cheyney Johnson in 1920, here. (And don't condem her right away for the pictures. There are naked photos of Joan Crawford. Topless pictures of Greta Garbo. And a practically naked statue of Myrna Loy.) I noticed that the links to the images were broken, so they have been fixed.
Encyclopedia J: Added an entry for Jennifer Jones.
Encyclopedia K: Added entries for Pauline Kael and Grace Kelly.

I have more images to upload possibly tomorrow.

February 19, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer: Added an advertisement for Spur Ties, here. Also added images to her galleries:
1925: One pretty shot in her backyard, here.
1926: Unflattering publicity shot, here.
1928: One shot from The Actress, here. Also added a publicity shot, here.
1931: One shot from Strangers May Kiss, here. Also added a publicity shot, here.
1934: One shot from The Barretts of Wimpole Street, here.
1935: Added three shots, here, here, and here.
1938: One shot of Norma on the town, here.
1940: Added a shot of Norma skiing, here. Also a shot of Norma with George Raft and Gary Cooper, here.
1941: One shot from We Were Dancing, here.

February 8, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer: I've changed the colors on the 'Lady of the Night' homepage, hope it looks good. It will be nice to make it look more like a Norma site.
The Films of Norma Shearer: Added a few film posters, and one film review.
Lucretia Lombard (1923):. Added my review for this rare film. I was lucky enough to find a coppy on ioffer.com
The Demi Bride (1927):. Added a film program.
Escape (1940):. Added a poster.
The Photos of Norma Shearer: Added thirteen shots to Norma's gallery.
1925: One shot from His Secretary, here.
1928: Shot with Norma and her fanmail, here.
1929: One shot from The Trial of Mary Dugan, here.
1931: One shot from the fight scene in Private Lives, here.
1934: One shot from Riptide, here.
1936: One shot of Norma for a CBS radio promo, here. One publicity shot, here. Two candid shots, here and here.
1938: Two shots from Marie Antoinette, here and here. Also added a publicity shot, here.
1940: One shot from Escape, here.

February 3, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer: I really don't mean to update this site every five days, but did several things to the Lady of the Night site.
Encyclopedia Page L: Added an entry for Life Magazine which includes Norma's cover, here.
The Films of Norma Shearer: Added a few film posters.
The Devil's Circus (1926):. Added two blue posters.
A Lady of Chance (1928):. Added a Swedish Poster.
A Free Soul (1931):. Added a very rare poster.
The Photos of Norma Shearer: Added twelve shots to Norma's gallery.
1925: One shot from His Secretary, here.
1930: One shot from Let Us Be Gay, here.
1931: One shot from Private Lives, here.
1932: One shot, here.
1934: One shot from Riptide, here.
1938: One shot from Marie Antoinette, here.
1939: Two shots from Idiot's Delight, here and here.
Also added a shot with Merle Oberon, here. And a shot with George Raft, here.
1940: One shot from Escape, here. Also added a cool shot with Greer Garson, Mary Pickford, and Claudette Colbert, here.

January 25, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer: I really don't mean to update this site every five days, but did several things to the Lady of the Night site.
Encyclopedia Page C: Added an entry about Norma's views on careers for women here.
Advertisements: Added a 1962 drawing of Norma to Advertise something about past Academy Award winners, here.
The Films of Norma Shearer: I wrote my review for 1939's Idiot's Delight, here. I also added a trailer for the film at the end of the page.
1925: Added two 1925 shots, here and here.

January 20, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer: Added 16 new photographs to Norma's gallery!
1925: Added a publicity shot here.
1926: Added two cool shots of Norma playing tennis, here and here. Also added a picture from The Waning Sex here.
1928: Added a photo from A Lady of Chance, here.
1929: Added a colorized photograph, here. Added a shot of Norma and Irving at the premiere of Marion Davies' Marianne, here. Added a shot from Their Own Desire, here.
1931: Added a shot which I think is from 1931, here.
1933: Added color photograph, here.
1934: Added two Riptide portraits, here and here.
1938: Added a photograph of Norma at a meeting regarding Irving Thalberg's estate, here.
1939: Added two 1939 portraits probably made for The Women, here and here.
1940: Added a photograph of Norma in the midst of an interview showing off how good her legs really looked, here.

January 15, 2008:

Queen Norma Shearer: Added twelve photos to Norma's gallery.
1924: Added a photo from The Snob here.
1927: Added a 1927 publicity shot, here.
1928: Added a photo from The Actress, here.
1929: Added a big picture from The Trial of Mary Dugan, here.
1930: Added a shot from Let Us be Gay, here.
1931: Added good Norma portrait, here.
1933: Added cool publicity photo, here.
1934 Added a shot from The Barretts of Wimpole Street with Fredric March and Charles Laughton, here.
1937: Added nice Romeo and Juliet shot with Leslie Howard, here.
1938: Added a shot of Norma and Louis B. Mayer, here.
1939: Added a picture of Norma with Spencer Tracy, here.
1941: New shot of Norma with Mary Pickford and Lady Sylvia Ashley, here.