By Slanted Light

Clara Bow had a *really* screwed up childhood, but she came across as a very happy, fun-loving personality. I think she also married someone around the dawn of the talkies (who eventually ran for or became lieutenant governor or atty general of Nevada - something like that) and retired pretty comfortably. I don't think her voice was too much of an issue; it may have been the technology change itself. Or so I've heard (this is from my memory and Wikipedia).

BTW the voice transition thing was used a number of times by the studios to get rid of actors they thought were problematic / pains in the butt (Louise Brooks, John Gilbert). :D

Well, So This is Paris is a little hard to locate, but A Cottage on Dartmoor (which incidentally is British) is pretty easily found, and in fact is on Amazon. Generally, you should be able to find big pockets of silent films for sale, although they may be from smaller distributors (and I can get you names if you'd like).

One of the best things: they often cursed up a storm on set. After awhile you can read lips and see these things. :D

If you can get your hands on a 10-part documentary by Kevin Brownlow (who I got to meet once and is a great, kind person) and David Gill called Hollywood, it is an excellent look at Hollywood during the silent era (they also did a shorter version about European silents). Brownlow had the huge ability to interview a good number of silent actors in the 1960s and 70s (which he also put into a book, The Parade's Gone By), before they really started dying off. Only problem is that the set is only on VHS; he tried to release it on DVD and couldn't get the rights clearances for the hundreds of clips that had shot up in value between the VHS and DVD versions. Wah. ;_;

Oh, and Pre-Codes : Baby Face with Barbara Stanwyck and Love Me Tonight (the best Lubitsch not made by Lubitsch) are good places to start. :D