I have been collecting silent film memorabilia for about ten years. This is a fascinating but little known period of film history, with a whole system of stars that disintegrated almost immediately upon the coming of talking films. My collection spans the early 1910s to the transitional period to sound films in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and includes original photographs, film programmes, sheet music, cigarette cards, annuals and magazines. Given that material is so old and so scarce - especially compared to memorabilia from the sound era - this collection has been a challenge to amass but now numbers over 100 items. My theatre and vaudeville collection is an outgrowth of my silent film collection - as the early film and theatre industries were so closely connected, this was almost inevitable. And, as with early film, many of the stars who were household names then are now almost entirely unknown. Almost as interesting as the stars themselves are the many theatres (most long since demolished, unfortunately) and theatre entrepreneurs. I have a further 100 or so items, ranging from the late 1890s to the early 1930s, and mostly theatre programmes, magazines and publicity material.
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