Picto-Sked returns to help celebrate Ramon Novarro’s day on TCM’s Summer Under the Stars.
Above: Mid-1930s Ramon Novarro mass produced paper premium photo.
I did a few of these during Summer Under the Stars 2012, but just in case you’ve come on board since then or simply need a refresher:
I’ve paged through my share of 1930’s magazines over the years and I seem to recall them being on a real “Picto” kick back then. As photojournalism came of age stories were laid out as Picto-thises and Picto-thats.
The Picto-Sked to follow is, in order, today’s TCM Summer Under the Stars schedule shown through old period newspaper ads for each movie.
The old papers were really stuffed with movie ads during the 1920s and ’30s, so I’ve been saving Picto-Sked for just the right star. Ramon Novarro is it!
Here come the ads! Posted in order of TCM’s August 8, 2013 Ramon Novarro Summer Under the Stars television schedule:
6:00 am EST – The Prisoner of Zenda (1922)
This is a huge half page ad for The Prisoner of Zenda so be sure to click to enlarge (use your browser’s back button to return) — even given the size, the print is kind of small! Found in the Janesville Daily Gazette, December 2, 1922, page 4.
Such a celebrated title, here’s an alternate ad. Another half pager that you can click to enlarge. Found in the Wichita Daily Times, December 3, 1922, page 20
8:00 am EST – Scaramouche (1923)
Scaramouche found in the Oakland Tribune, December 23, 1923, page 38.
10:00 am EST – The Red Lily (1924)
The Red Lily ad found in the San Antonio Express, September 14, 1924, page 62.
11:30 am EST – Across to Singapore (1928)
Across to Singapore ad found in the Waterloo Evening Courier, June 9, 1928, page 7.
1:15 pm EST – The Pagan (1929)
The Pagan ad found in the Sandusky Star Journal, July 20, 1929, page 2.
2:45 pm EST – Devil May Care (1929)
Devil May Care newspaper ad found in the Independent of Helena, Montana, January 16, 1930, page 3
4:30 pm EST – The Son-Daughter (1932)
Ad for The Son-Daughter, The Animal Kingdom, Island of Lost Souls and other titles found in the Danville Bee, January 23, 1933, page 10.
6:15 pm EST – The Cat and the Fiddle (1934)
The Cat and the Fiddle ad found in the Estherville Daily News, March 9, 1934, page 6
8:00 pm EST – Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
Ben-Hur ad found in the Morning Herald of Hagerstown, Maryland, January 8, 1927, page 1.
A second ad for Ben-Hur found in the Sheboygan Press, November 1, 1927, page 14.
10:30 pm EST – The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927)
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg ad found in Indiana’s Tipton Tribune, May 26, 1928, page 5.
12:30 am EST – Mata Hari (1931)
Garbo and Novarro in Mata Hari on an ad found in the Big Spring Daily Herald out of Texas, January 17, 1932, page 2.
2:15 am EST – The Night Is Young (1935)
The Night Is Young ad found in the Galveston Daily News, April 21, 1935, page 12.
4:00 am EST – Crisis (1950)
Crisis ad found in the Abilene Reporter News, October 1, 1950, page 36.
That’s the last of them! I’ll try to squeeze at least one more Picto-Sked into this month’s Summer Under the Stars blogging schedule.
If you’d like to do more than look at Ramon Novarro pictures then I highly recommend you visit Alt Film Guide, blog of Novarro biographer Andre Soares, and run a search at the top right of the page. Or do yourself one better and pick up Andre’s book, Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro
I know my DVR is busy today, hope you enjoy the movies too!
Enjoy Ramon Novarro on TCM today and be sure to check out what other film bloggers are talking about at the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon at Sittin’ On a Backyard Fence and ScribeHard on Film.
1920s Ramon Novarro 5×7 fan photo pictured beside the original MGM mailer that it shipped in. The mailer advertises Devil May Care among other titles.
Ramon Novarro with Greta Garbo on an early 1930s A. Batschari Series 5 tobacco card from Germany. This set is notable for its inclusion of several cards picturing each Garbo and Novarro. In Ramon Novarro’s case there are 22 different cards picturing him in this same set! See a gallery of them all on THIS Immortal Ephemera page.
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That’s a great collection! I know the research to find a considerable number of ads for exact movies to match a star, especially one whose career started in the silent era, takes a lot of time and patience. Well done!
Hi Mary, thanks very much! While Novarro turned out easier than some of my past subjects (even Crisis was an easy find and I was anticipating trouble!) you are absolutely correct, these take more time to put together than I think others might imagine! While I can rest half my brain doing this as compared to writing a researched article, it takes nearly as much actual time to find, edit, post images like this. So, thank you very much for noticing!
I admit I knew little or nothing about Novarro (except some very unsavory rumors about his murder) but I loved your post. Such a terrific time capsule! You did a great job. Is it my imagination, or does Novarro resemble Adrien Brody in some of these illustrations?
Thanks @TheGalHerself. Glad you enjoyed it. Hmm, think he needs a little more nose and a bit less in the cheeks for the Brody comparison, but otherwise there might be something to that!
Wow, you must have a great collection of movie magazines to have some pre-1930 ones among there. Thanks for sharing these. I especially love that MGM fan photo mailer, you so rarely get to see the mailers that they used. Such great letterhead!
Hi Constance, the card and photos were mine, though I think they’ve all since sold (I know the bottom two have). The newspaper ads come from various online archives … otherwise, yes, that’d be a lot of paper!
Shoot, forgot to add, yes, the mailers are rare to come across. Thankfully some obsessive collectors did keep and store their photos in the envelopes they arrived in. Amazing that in some cases the photo/mailer pair have been kept together for 80-90 years!
Cliff–
I am so behind on reading and commenting. Day 8. Wow.
I really love the ad for The Night is Young. Love these Picto skeds. Really glad you brought it back this year.
Thanks again.
Jill, with daily Blogathon entries by so many bloggers it’s really impressive that you’re getting around to them all!
Thanks. Might bring Picto-Sked back for Glenda Farrell. Ideally I’d like to research and post a biography that day, but given my current obsessiveness in putting together Wally Beery’s bio I may have to settle for a Glenda Picto-Sked instead.