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You are here: Home / News - Notes / It’s 1917, Who’s Your Favorite Film Star?

It’s 1917, Who’s Your Favorite Film Star?

June 21, 2006 By Cliff Aliperti Leave a Comment

Helen Twelvetrees, Pefect Ingenue by Cliff Aliperti
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I recently purchased the February 1917 issue of Motion Picture Magazine and was pleasantly surprised to find detailed results of a popularity fan poll inside.

February 1917 Motion Picture Magazine with Wallace Reid cover

Motion Picture Magazine claims over a million fans voted, and I don’t doubt that they did. These fan polls were popular in the early days, but these results seem very detailed and judging by the number of voters this appears to have been quite a serious poll.

It’s not mentioned in the issue, but looking at the results I would guess that the fans voted for more than just their single favorite star. Maybe a top five or ten instead, with points rewarded based on rankings.

Fannie Ward 1910s Kinema Theatre Ad Card

Fannie Ward, #68

I say this for a few reasons, one of which is every vote total is a multiple of five. Also, if it were one-voter/one-vote, I’d expect the top few selections to have several more votes (I’m talking in the hundreds of thousands). Plus can you really see 66,000-plus people taking Fannie Ward with their one and only choice, or even 34,000-plus going with Hobart Henley? No way.

Also, the poll looks biased against both comedians and Biograph stars, who perhaps didn’t have the fame of some of their counterparts yet due to their later billing. This is just a guess, but for Mae Marsh and Lillian Gish to rank as low as they do so recently after The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance seems strange to me.

I’m sure there are other biases to take into account as well, some obvious, some less obvious. For example, I’m sure whoever was on the cover of the issue containing the ballot or announcement saw a little boost just due to that presence.

Lillian Gish 1920s Sociedad Industrial Tobacco Card

Lillian Gish, #33

This is definitely not perfect, but it’s certainly a great way to get an idea of the general popularity of the stars during this particular instance in time, say late 1916 due to publication lead time, and how the hardcore fans who read and subscribed to the fan magazines felt about them.

To the top two winners Motion Picture Magazine awarded paintings of themselves by Leo Sielke, Jr (the same illustrator responsible for the Wallace Reid cover from this issue), which the magazine also announced would be future covers as soon as they were ready to go.

To the rest of the top ten went “a handsomely engraved and engrossed certificate,” while the bottom ninety also will receive engraved certificates.

All I can say is, Poor Richard Stanton and Louise Glaum! Uh, that will make more sense when you reach the bottom of the list.

Here are the top 100 (well, 102) popular stars of 1917 along with their vote totals. Enjoy:

Film Star by Rank Vote Total
1. Mary Pickford 462,190
2. Francis X. Bushman 411,800
3. Marguerite Clark 410,820
4. Warren Kerrigan 358,320
5. Pearl White 310,690
6. Theda Bara 294,035
7. Anita Stewart 283,460
8. Henry B. Walthall 271,740
9. Edward Earle 268,760
10. Wallace Reid 268,525
11. Harold Lockwood 267,905
12. William Sherwood 264,665
13. William S. Hart 263,215
14. Earle Williams 251,610
15. Grace Cunard 246,190
16. Ruth Roland 244,935
17. William Farnum 241,580
18. Pauline Frederick 151,210
19. Beverly Bayne 147,140
20. Dustin Farnum 146,560
21. Blanche Sweet 146,465
22. Mary Fuller 144,530
23. Mary Miles Minter 138,430
24. Carlyle Blackwell 136,345
25. Crane Wilbur 135,825
26. Robert Warwick 134,795
27. Marguerite Snow 132,020
28. Florence LaBadie 128,820
29. Creighton Hale 127,760
30. Olga Petrova 125,940
31. Nell Craig 125,450
32. Norma Talmadge 119,655
33. Lillian Gish 113,130
34. Francis Ford 107,120
35. Charles Chaplin 105,325
36. Clara K. Young 102,705
37. Cleo Madison 101,245
38. Ella Hall 101,090
39. Edith Storey 100,475
40. Antonio Moreno 100,465
41. Bryant Washburn 100,405
42. Douglas Fairbanks 99,250
43. Marguerite Courtot 97,930
44. Alexander Gaden 96,040
45. Alice Joyce 91,185
46. Geraldine Farrar 89,910
47. Harris Gordon 88,940
48. Tom Forman 88,350
49. Cleo Ridgely 87,955
50. Romaine Fielding 87,560
51. House Peters 87,140
52. Edward Coxen 86,165
53. Kathlyn Williams 84,765
54. Mae Marsh 83,200
55. Herbert Rawlinson 81,320
56. Henry King 80,965
57. Al Ray 80,330
58. Edna Mayo 80,110
59. May Allison 70,960
60. Thomas Meighan 69,110
61. Lillian Walker 68,360
62. Dorothy Gish 68,325
63. Anna Little 67,870
64. Naomi Childers 67,420
65. Irving Cummings 66,860
66. Owen Moore 66,250
67. Bessie Barriscale 66,030
68. Fannie Ward 66,015
69. Nellie Anderson 65,785
70. Jane Novak 65,525
71. Mary Anderson 65,040
72. Billie Burke 54,855
73. Violet Mersereau 54,200
74. Viola Dana 51,965
75. Ethel Clayton 50,155
76. Jean Sothern 48,135
77. Ruth Stonehouse 45,925
78. Robert Mantell 44,600
79. Lottie Pickford 44,225
80. King Baggot 41,150
81. Hazel Dawn 40,185
82. Frank Mayo 38,295
83. William Courtleigh 36,600
84. Mabel Normand 35,730
85. Earle Fox 35,035
86. Margarita Fischer 34,835
87. Hobart Henley 34,535
88. Maurice Costello 34,005
89. Charles Ray 33,620
90. Dorothy Kelly 33,210
91. Harry Northrup 33,100
92. Vera Sisson 32,340
93. Marie Newton 30,680
94. Helen Holmes 30,235
95. William Garwood 29,740
96. Mae Murray 26,805
97. Marie Doro 26,110
98. Edwin August 25,730
99. Vivian Rich 24,035
100. E.K. Lincoln 23,705
101. Richard Stanton 22,030
102. Louise Glaum 20,930

Another feature on this site takes a look at the 53 Most Popular Movie Stars as reported in the January 1936 issue of The American Magazine.

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Filed Under: News - Notes Tagged With: motion picture magazine, poll results

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About Cliff

I write about old movies and movie stars from the 1920s to the 1950s. I also sell movie cards, still photos and other ephemera. Immortal Ephemera connects the stories with the collectibles. Read More…



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