Colleen Moore

For the first time in 85 years a Chicago audience tonight saw Colleen Moore's only surviving movie, Why Be Good?  This silent classic was only recently discovered in Italy and restored.  Moore was the original Flapper and at one point the motion picture industry's highest paid actress.  Through carelessness, Moore's films were lost after she gave them to a New York Museum.  They were found later deteriorated in storage at a Hollywood studio.  Why Be Good? was recently found in Italy and fortunately, the record or music track, if you will, survived also.  It has been restored and truly is the best Silent Film I have seen.  This movie premiered again tonight at the Chicago International Film Festival.  If voted a fan favorite, it may be shown again this Wednesday, October 22, 2014.  I hope so.  Colleen Moore was married 4 times and lived a good deal of her life in Chicago after she married Homer Hargrave, a Chicago widower.  She lived near the Ambassador East Hotel which was the stopping point of most stars as they travelled from New York to California by train.  Hence, she kept up with the movie crowd even after her retirement in the mid 30's.  She remained good friends with many including King Vidor with whom she formed a TV Production company in the 1960's.  I hope you eventually have a chance to see Why Be Good?  It is a charming 84 minutes!  Here is the link to our review.