Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis - Hollywood Royalty!

Comedian, Harold Lloyd and his leading Lady, on and off screen, Mildred Davis -known for having the longest  marriage in Hollywood.

Between 1919 and 1923, Lloyd and Davis made 14 films together.  She retired from Hollywood after their marriage, to raise a family.

One of the first residents of Whitley Heights, The Lloyd's remained friends with Tom Lyle Williams, also a Whitley Heights resident and automobile enthusiast.  Here is Harold and Mildred in 1924 with their new Buick.

Mildred Davis caught Tom Lyle's eye, when she appeared with Harold Lloyd, in the 1921 Silent Film, Grandma's Boy.  He was struck by her large, beautiful eyes and asked her to endorse Maybelline, shortly before her retirement.                                             

Mildred Davis endorses Maybelline in the early 1920's.

Stunning Maybelline Eyes.  Tom Lyle, used an illustration of Mildred Davis eyes inside Maybelline's, little red box.

Harold Lloyd ranks alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as one of the most popular and influential film comedians of the silent film era.  He is best known for his "Glasses Character", a resourceful, success-seeking go-getter who was perfectly in tune with 1920's.            

Lloyd's films frequently contained "thrill sequences" of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats, for which he is best remembered today.

Read more about sweetheart, Mildred Davis in The Maybelline Story!  Buy a signed copy from the author, Sharrie Williams at http://www.maybellinestory.com/.

Whitley Heights, Paradise during Hollywood's silent film era.

  Off of Camrose south of the Hollywood Bowl.

Before there was Beverly Hills, during the silent film days, Whitley Heights was where the famous stars of Hollywood lived. Francis X. Bushman had a large, opulent house, with the first swimming pool built in the  
area and Rudolph Valentino lived off Wedgwood Place.   
 

Villa Valentino, 6776 Wedgewood Place, Whitley Heights, built in 1922, this was the site of the home Valentino shared with Natacha Rambova in upscale Whitley Heights just north of Hollywood. In 1951 the state of California paid Tom Lyle Williams, $90,000, intending to demolish it to make way for the Hollywood Freeway. The foundation of the home survives and can still be seen from the freeway.The foundation to the home is still visible from the freeway.

 During the Jazz Age, life was a party, and Whitley Heights was Party Central for the Hollywood set.

 Issue: Issue Spring 2010 Whitley Heights click here.

By: DH
Traveling along Franklin Avenue, the east/west thoroughfare north of Hollywood Blvd., you might not notice the most historic enclave of 1920s residences from the Golden Era of silent films and speakeasies, aka The Roaring Twenties, rising above Franklin Avenue. And roar they did in those days of high living, laughter and a new industry that seemed to have no bounds. Ethel Barrymore, Charlie Chaplin, Marion Davies, W.C. Fields, Harold Lloyd, Carole Lombard, Rudolph Valentino and many others lived and held legendary parties that marked an era and the early Hollywood film industry.

Today the Hollywood Freeway runs through what was once the toast of the Hollywood, in it's Heyday. 

 Before the Hollywood Freeway took Whitley Heights, it was an oasis,of gorgeous landscaping and Italian architecture.

 The arrow points to Tom Lyle Williams, Villa Valentino, in 1935.

 Tom Lyle remodeled the Villa Valentino in 1937.

Tom Lyle Williams on the left, followed by his sister Mabel, her husband Chet Hewes, and his sister Eva and her husband Ches Haines.  Notice the statue, Aspiration in the background.

Read more about Tom Lyle Williams and his love affair with the Villa Valentino, in The Maybelline Story, buy a signed copy today at www.maybelliestory.com. 

Silent Film Star Mildred Davis was Maybelline Model in 1922.

            Who's captivating Eyes grace the cover of
                           The Maybelline Story?http://www.maybellinebook.com/2014/03/mildred-davis-lovely-leading-lady-in.html

Mildred Davis.

After Maybelline's initial advertisement ran in the classifieds of popular magazines in the late 1910's with Mabel Williams illustrated image, Tom Lyle began looking for a film star to represent Maybelline.  In the early 1920's he contracted beautiful Photoplay stars because of the wide audience they brought into theatres all over the country.   One of the most popular actresses of the day was beautiful silent film star Mildred Davis or Mid as Tom Lyle liked to call her.  She was a tiny 5 foot, perky-ingenue with monster-big flashing eyes that captivated the audience and drew them in.

Mildred Davis married Harold Lloyd in 1922.  Harold Lloyd was a comedian in the ranks of Charlie Chaplin and he'd been looking for a leading lady to replace Bebe Daniels. He cast Davis in his comedy short  From Hand to Mouth in 1919.  It would be the first of fifteen films they would star in together.

Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis.

Soon after "From Hand To Mouth," was released Tom Lyle contacted Mildred to discuss her being the next face of Maybelline. Mildred Davis appealed to sweet young ladies who were just beginning to look in the mirror and compare themselves with the beautiful faces on screen.  Mildred Davis with her huge made-up larger than life eyes on screen an off silently encouraged young ladies to pick up a Photoplay movie magazine and order their first little red box of Maybelline.  Once they tried Maybelline with it's tiny black brush and cake of mascara they were hooked and word of mouth spread from one sweet young lady to the next.

Mildred Davis in early 1920 ad.

Click here to see Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis' most famous silent film  video.

http://www.videosurf.com/video/swinging-safety-last-1744008   Swinging Safety Last.

If you watched the video of Mildred Davis you saw what Tom Lyle saw when he sat in that theatre in 1922 and gazed up into those eyes on the silver screen.  He knew what he wanted and he wanted Mildred Davis "the girl next door" to  represent Maybelline.

Read more about Mildred Davis and Tom Lyle in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.