For you Silent Film Buffs

[V.C. Brunswick]

A still from a long-forgotten silent film. Can anybody identify these two gentlemen?

 

[Lily Powers]

The man on the right resembles Al Jolson to me, but I'm hard pressed to name a film he was in that had Geisha characters. TCM had a series, "Race and Hollywood: Asian Images In Film" and maybe there would be a clue on their website that might help you find the answer.

 

[listenone]

oops.. I have no idea about it

 

[skyvue]

No, that's not Al Jolson.

Are you certain it's from a movie? Might just be a publicity shot intended for print publications, and the two men could be vaudeville performers or musicians or song writers or...

 

[LizzieMaine]

The guy on the left looks a bit like Edward Everett Horton.

 

[skyvue]

Like a cross between EEH and Irving Berlin.

 

[Barrelhouse]

Wow, this is a stumper. I don't think the man on the left is Edward Everett Horton (My favorite character actor along with Peter Lorre and James Gleason). I have seen most Horton's films that still exist and I don't remember one where he had that George S. Kaufman/Barton Fink hairstyle. Also, he was in his mid-30's when he made his first picture and this man looks a good deal younger than that. I am also not sure that this is a still from a film but rather a studio publicity photo in which case the fellows might not even be actors. Sorry to be of so little help but thanks for sharing such a cool photo.