Blondie of the Follies(1932).

Blondie of the Follies(1932). Comedy directed by Edmund Goulding and written by Anita Loos and Frances. Cast: Marion Davies, Robert Montgomery and Billie Dove.

In a New York tenement, Blondie lives with her family and when her girl friend, Lottie Callahan, moves uptown to a posh neighborhood to become a performer in the follies, Blondie decides to tag along, where she meets Larry Belmont.

He then arranges for Blondie to go to dinner with oil tycoon Murchenson. Larry, then promises to take Blondie to the follies to see Lottie perform later that night. While they watch the show, Larry gets her a job in the chorus line. Lottie, becomes jealous of all the attention that her friend is getting.

After a night of parting, Larry carries a drunken Blondie home, upsetting her father, who tells Larry to get out and warns Blondie never to see him again. Blondie, who wants to be more independent leaves....

She shows up at Lottie's and learns that Lottie is in love with Larry. The next morning, Pa goes to Lottie's to apologize to Blondie for being "an old time father" and she informs him that she is going to perform in the follies.

After promising Lottie that she won't date Larry, Blondie goes with her to Murchenson's yacht. Larry asks Lottie, "why she is bringing Blondie into her type of life?" Then tells Blondie, "that she is too nice a girl to hang out with this crowd". The girls fall overboard into the water during a fight, with Blondie "promising to find another man".

Three months later, Blondie is living in her own posh apartment and invites both Larry and Lottie to come over to reconcile, but Larry wants nothing to do with Lottie. The two girls make up and Blondie throws a party, during which she receives a telephone call informing her that her father has fallen. When she gets to his side, she learns that his heart caused the accident and he dies soon after.

While Blondie is performing on stage, Larry sends word to meet him at a night club, but Lottie goes in her place. When Blondie hears about the meeting she goes and learns that he is leaving for Europe because he is in love with her. Returning to the show with Lottie, Blondie is thrown from the stage during a whip routine when Lottie lets go of her hand.

Lottie, has a change of heart and goes with her to the hospital. Larry, brings in a bone specialists to help heal her...

Fun Fact:

This was Billie Dove's last film. She retired to raise a family and was upset with Randolph Hearst over the amount of time given to her on film.

The rocky friendship between Davies and Dove has a lot of twists and turns, which makes you think of the phrase... "friends like these who needs enemies. Davies' Act "Three laugh-clown-laugh", was very entertaining. Also, Jimmy Durante, has a cameo that lasted five minutes, performing a "Grand Hotel" movie skit...

Billie Dove (May 14, 1903 – December 31, 1997) As a teen, she worked as a model to help support her family and was hired as a teenager to appear in the, Ziegfeld Follies Revue.

She legally changed her name to Lillian Bohny in the early 1920's. and traveled to Hollywood, where she began performing in silent films.

She soon became one of the most popular actresses of the 1920's, appearing in the films: The Black Pirate (1926), as Rodeo West in The Painted Angel (1929), and was dubbed The American Beauty (1927), the title of one of her films.

She married the director of her seventh film, Irvin Willat, in 1923. The two divorced in 1929.

She was engaged to Howard Hughes, but she ended the relationship without ever giving cause.

Hughes cast her as a comedian in his film, Cock of the Air (1932). She also performed in his movie The Age for Love (1931).

She was also a pilot, poet, and painter.

Following her last film, Blondie of the Follies (1932), Dove retired from the screen to be with her family.

She later married oil executive Robert Kenaston in 1933, a marriage that lasted for 37 years until his death in 1973. They had a son and an adopted daughter.

She later had a brief third marriage to an architect, John Miller, which ended in divorce in the 1970's.

Aside from a brief cameo in Diamond Head (1963), Dove never returned to the movies.

She spent her retirement years in Rancho Mirage before moving into the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California where she died of pneumonia in 1997.

Silent Film Star: Billie Dove.

Silent Film Star: Billie Dove(1903–1997). Was, known for her femininity on the silent screen, rivaled that of Mary Pickford, Marion Davies and Clara Bow in popularity. She retired after only a few years into the talking picture era.

Please click here to view Page's myloveofoldhollywood.blogspot, Billie Dove Bio.

Vidio clip from the silent film Black Pirate(1926). A silent adventure film shot entirely in two-strip Technicolor about an adventurer and a "company" of pirates. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Donald Crisp, Sam De Grasse, and Billie Dove.

“The Black Pirate” (1926)

“The Black Pirate” (1926) is a silent action drama starring Douglas Fairbanks, Billie Dove and Donald Crisp. Directed by Albert Parker and written by Douglas Fairbanks, this film is a particular favorite of many of Fairbanks’ loyal fans.

The story begins with a lot of treacherous pirates having just captured and looted another ship. They then tie their captives to the mast and use the powder to blow up the ship. However, a father and son, played by Douglas Fairbanks, escape. When the father dies, the son vows revenge on the murderers responsible for his father’s death. Becoming the Black Pirate, he joins the crew and becomes their leader. However, his plans for revenge become more complicated when he meets his first captive, Princess Isobel, a beautiful Spanish princess, played by Billie Dove.


“The Black Pirate” was a huge hit, receiving both critical raves and box office patronage. The film is greatly enhanced by its beautiful two-strip Technicolor photography. The underwater photography sequences were spectacular in their day, and are still highly effective. Fairbanks looks terrific in “The Black Pirate.” He is amazing, especially when he executes a grand stunt in which he slides down a ship’s sail. Fairbanks was an accomplished boxer, gymnast, fencer, and horse rider offscreen, and his onscreen stunts presented few problems. With its impressive stunts by Fairbanks, sword fights, a damsel in distress and a last minute rescue, this silent gem is definitely worth discovering.


Born Lillian Bohny,Billie Dove was born in New York City on May 4, 1903. Billie was an exceptional beauty, and her brown hair lightly streaked with gray added to the dramatic effect. In 1927, Billie starred in a feature titled “The American Beauty” and became known by the nickname. Billie worked as an extra at Fort Lee, New Jersey, before receiving her first screen credit, “Get-Rich-Quick-Wallingford” (1921) and came to prominence with “All the Brothers Were Valiant” (1923). Billie was featured in two early Technicolor features, “Wanderer of the Wasteland” (1924) and “The Black Pirate” (1926), where she is “doubled” in the final love scene by Mary Pickford, who probably did not want her husband too close to the sultry Billie Dove. By 1926, Billie had become a star, but as she would be the first to admit, she was not a great actress. Billie credited director Lois Weber as the woman who taught her to act. For Weber, Billie starred in “The Marriage Clause” (1926) and “Sensation Seekers” (1927). Neither is a great film and does little to enhance Weber’s reputation as the major directorial talent that she was. Billie made in all 45 feature films, starring in 23 after she left Weber. As Howard Hughes’ mistress, Billie starred in two films, “The Age for Love” (1931) and “Cock of the Air” (1932). Billie was not particularly good in either film, and Hughes lost interest in her. Following the breakup with Howard Hughes and completion of “Blondie of the Follies” (1932), Billie married wealthy rancher Robert Kenaston in 1933 and settled down to a life of luxury. Billie died on December 31, 1997. She was 94 years old.