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Gregory Kelly was born on 16 March 1891 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Show-Off (1926) and Manhattan (1924). He was married to Ruth Gordon. He died on 9 July 1927 in New York City, New York, USA.

Isadora Duncan was an American dancer and innovative educator known for interdisciplinary and cross-cultural projects, and a hectic marriage to the famous Russian poet Sergei Esenin.

She was born Isador 'Dora' Angela Duncan on May 26, 1877, in San Francisco, California. Her father, Joseph Duncan, was a cultured man, a poet and an art connoisseur, who worked for the Bank of California. Her mother, an amateur pianist, after divorcing her father, lived a high-principled Victorian lady's life with four children an very little money. Young Isadora was raised in Oakland, California. She was obsessed with dancing from an early age. Although she was not exposed to rigorous classical ballet practice, she achieved recognition in San-Francisco. There, she started teaching a dance class for children when she was just 14 years old.

She began her professional career in Chicago in 1896, under producer and playwright Augustin Daly. He cast Duncan as Titania in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', and she traveled with his company to Europe. Back in the USA, Duncan performed solo dances at the homes of wealthy patrons. She called her program The Dance and Philosophy and performed it to the waltzes of Johann Strauss. In 1899, she left America with her mother and siblings to settle in London. There she met Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the idol of the London stage, who introduced Duncan to London society.

From 1899-1907, Duncan lived in London, Paris and Berlin. She began using the music of Frédéric Chopin and Ludwig van Beethoven for her dance. In 1903 she moved to Berlin. There Duncan was introduced to the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. She formulated her own philosophy of The Dance of the Future modeled after the ancient Greeks: natural and free. Duncan called for abolition of ballet. She accused ballet of "deforming the beautiful woman's body" and depriving it of human naturalness. "The Dance of the Future will have to become again a high religious art as it was with the Greeks. For art which is not religious is not art, it is mere merchandise" - stated Duncan. Her school of dance in a suburb of Berlin was the start of her famous dance group, later known as the Isadorables.

Duncan made several tours of Russia and met with directors Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko at the Moscow Art Theatre. In St. Petersburg, she also attracted the attention of Anna Pavlova and Tamara Karsavina among other leading ballerinas of the Mariinsky Ballet. Having established good connections with Russian intellectuals, she Returning to the US, her performances were poorly received by critics, who bashed Duncan for her "physical interpretation" of music on stage. She left America in 1909, after less than a year, and never lived there again, returning only for tours.

From 1909 to 1913, Duncan lived in Palais Biron in Paris, where her neighbors were artist Henri Matisse, writer Jean Cocteau, and sculptor Auguste Rodin. Eventually she established three schools in France, Germany, and Russia, and gained tremendous popularity across Europe. Her personal life was marked with as much freedom as was her dancing. Duncan had a child by designer Gordon Craig, and another child by Paris Singer, the heir to the sewing machine fortune. Her both children drowned in an accident on the Seine River in 1913. By that time, she was an acclaimed performer in Europe. She danced to the Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven. Her face was carved in the bas-relief by sculptor Antoine Bourdelle in the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, and was painted in the murals by artist Maurice Denis.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Duncan moved to Moscow. There she married the popular poet Sergei Esenin who was 17 years her younger. This was her one and only official marriage. She took Esenin on tour to the US in 1922-1923. At that time her appearances were marked by baring her breasts on stage and shouting, "This is red! So am I!" The following year, Esenin left Duncan and returned to Moscow, where he suffered a mental breakdown and sought psychiatric help. Meanwhile, her apprentice, Irma Duncan, remained in the Soviet Union and ran the Duncan Dancing School there. At that time, Duncan evolved as a follower of Friedrich Nietzsche and remained anti-religious for the rest of her life.

Duncan's ex-husband Esenin was found dead in a hotel in St. Petersburg, on December 28, 1925. His mysterious death was never completely explained. Isadora Duncan died on September 14, 1927, in Nice, France. She was killed by her long neck scarf caught in the wheel of an open automobile in which she was a passenger. She was pulled from the car and dragged before the driver could stop. Duncan was cremated and her ashes were laid in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France.

Her highly popular Russian school was closed in 1939, under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin, and many of her Russian partners were repressed and exiled.

Isadora Duncan was portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave in the 1968 film Isadora (1968).

A native of Paris, France, a poet, journalist and novelist, Gaston Leroux is known for his many creative horror stories, including "Rouilable", "The Haunted Chair" and "The Wax Mask", but is probably best known for his work "The Phantom of the Opera", which became Leroux's prize possession. He wrote the novel in 1908 about a disfigured man who dresses in masks and capes and terrorizes the Paris Opera House while falling in love with the leading lady. "The Phantom of the Opera" was based much upon Leroux's own experiences. During his early years as a journalist in the late 1800s, Leroux spent time going the Paris Opera House and watching performances, and was influenced by Charles Gounod's opera "Faust", about a man who sells his soul to the devil. On one occasion, the chandelier which featured in the opera fell into the audience by accident. Combining the singers, Faust and the chandelier together, Leroux created "The Phantom of the Opera".

In 1923, Carl Laemmle, head of the new Universal Pictures in Hollywood, produced a film of the novel, The Phantom of the Opera (1925), with Lon Chaney in the lead. Leroux was impressed by this, but two years later he died. Since that time, "The Phantom of the Opera" has become so popular it has inspired five feature remakes, one in 1943 Phantom of the Opera (1943)), another in 1962 (The Phantom of the Opera (1962) and again in 1989 (The Phantom of the Opera (1989)). A television version was also made (The Phantom of the Opera (1983)) and then a remake made in 1999 (The Phantom of the Opera (1998)). The most recent remake is Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera (2004), produced and cast by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum and Patrick Wilson, three quite unknown actors, rather than Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman, the original actors of the Broadway show. The novel was also made into a major London and Broadway stage musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Gaston Leroux will forever be remembered for "The Phantom of the Opera".

Lizzie Borden has mystified and fascinated crime buffs for over a century. Few cases in American history have attracted as much attention as the hatchet murders and the unlikely defendant: a church-going, respectable "spinster" daughter charged with parricide, a crime worthy of Classical Greek tragedy. On August 4, 1892, a heavy, hot summer day in Massachusetts, a maid discovered the bodies of Andrew Borden, 70, a wealthy developer, and his second wife Abby, a short obese woman of 64. Mr. Borden's face had been struck 11 times while he slept on the couch; Mrs. Borden had been struck 19 times from the back. A broken hatchet was found in the basement. The day after the Bordens' funeral, a neighbor observed Lizzie burning a stained dress in the kitchen stove. The neighbor's testimony prompted Lizzie to be charged with the murders. The chaotic and stumbling murder investigation against Lizzie was circumstantial, without incriminating physical evidence or clear motive. After a trial in June 1893 and one hour of jury deliberations, Lizzie was found not guilty on all charges. Lizzie and her sister Emma moved into a 13-room stone Victorian house named Maplecroft. In 1904, she met actress Nance O'Neil, and the two became inseparable, prompting rumors of a romantic relationship. Lizzie died at age 67, after a long illness. Emma coincidentally died nine days later, after a fall down the stairs of her house. They were buried together in the family plot, along with their mother, stepmother, and father. Despite popular belief of Lizzie's guilt, it remains technically an unsolved crime.

George Nichols was born on 28 October 1864 in Rockford, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Flirt (1922), The Midnight Express (1924) and Jess (1912). He was married to Viola Alberti. He died on 20 September 1927 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Married to actresses Dorcas Matthews and Ottie Ardine, George got his start at 14 years of age, as a singing and dancing waiter in Chicago. McKim began a long career on the stage with the Alcazar stock company in San Francisco. In vaudeville, he teamed for many years with Johnny Cantwell. He later worked for Triangle and the Ince Company and was one of the founders of the National Vaudeville Artists. McKim is best remembered as the rival of Douglas Fairbanks in "The Mark of Zorro" (1920). McKim was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage while on stage in Salt Lake City and brought back to Hollywood where he passed away, leaving his wife, actress Dorcas, and two small children.

Ray Raymond starred in musicals in the 20's and did some early films. He was mostly known for musical comedy, touring the country. Ray Raymond died following a fist fight with another actor, Paul Kelly. The two men fought over Ray's wife, Dorothy Mackaye. Dorothy was convicted of concealing evidence and served 10 months; Paul Kelly was found guilty of manslaughter and served 2 years.

Sam Warner could rightly be called "The Father of Talking Pictures". Of the four Warner brothers, Sam was the most in favor of using synchronized sound with movies. He was the driving force behind the studio's partnership with Western Electric to create Vitaphone. At first, he only wanted to use Vitaphone to provide music and sound effects. (This was intended as a cost-saving device, allowing local theaters to dismiss their house musicians.) When Don Juan (1926) -- the first Vitaphone feature -- debuted, it was not nearly as well received as two of the Vitaphone shorts that immediately preceded it. One was of MPPDA president Will Hays giving a short introductory speech, the other was of an opera tenor singing a selection from "Il Pagliacci." Realizing that people wanted to hear movie actors' voices, Sam pushed his brothers to the next level: talkies. The result was The Jazz Singer (1927). Originally, Al Jolson was only supposed to sing. There was to be no dialogue. Jolson insisted on ad-libbing between songs. Sam convinced his brothers to include the ad-libbed scenes and, in fact, it is those few talking scenes that made the movie the sensation it was. Ironically, Sam never saw the revolution he started. He died the day before The Jazz Singer (1927) had its world debut in New York City.

Hughie Mack was born on 26 November 1884 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Bringing Up Father (1915), C.O.D. (1914) and As You Like It (1912). He was married to Mary Agnes McGowan. He died on 13 October 1927 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

Ryûnosuke Akutagawa was born on 1 March 1892 in Tokyo, Japan. He was a writer, known for Rashomon (1950), Stalker (1979) and Iron Maze (1991). He was married to Tsukamoto Fumi. He died on 24 July 1927 in Tokyo, Japan.

Oscar Stribolt was born on 12 February 1873 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was an actor and director, known for En tro og villig Pige (1917), Det spøger i Villaen (1918) and Et nydeligt Trekløver (1918). He died on 27 May 1927 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Theodore Westman Jr. was born on 5 June 1903 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Flapper (1920), Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford (1921) and Romeo's Dad (1919). He died on 20 November 1927 in New York City, New York, USA.

Einar Hanson was born on 16 June 1899 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Barbed Wire (1927), Livet på landet (1924) and Skeppargatan 40 (1925). He died on 3 June 1927 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

Romaine Fielding was born on 22 May 1868 in Riceville, Mitchell County, Iowa, USA. He was an actor and director, known for A Dash for Liberty (1913), Hiawanda's Cross (1913) and The Eagle's Nest (1915). He was married to Joan Arliss and Mabel van Valkenburg. He died on 15 December 1927 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Robert Hilliard was born on 28 May 1857 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Avalanche (1915), The Ex-Convict (1904) and Artistic Interference (1916). He was married to Olga Everard Williams, Nellie R. W. Murphy and Cora Bell. He died on 6 June 1927 in New York City, New York, USA.

His film resume belies the fact that he was the most important man in motion pictures at the time of his death. Born as Max Loew in New York City to a poverty-stricken Viennese waiter, his life could've easily gone the the way of many boys of the east side slums, except that he was hyper-enterprising. He was also extremely superstitious: he never walked under ladders, distrusted nearly every doctor he met and refused to sign anything on a Friday (a habit that was often mistaken for something semitic; he was Jewish but decidedly non-practicing). Loew left school at nine and never looked back. Loew sold newspapers and lemons on the street, worked like a dog in an industrial printing plant, and began and failed at several business ventures - a print shop, furniture store and a fur factory - going bankrupt before he was 20. It's a testimonial to his personality and self-assurance that he picked himself up from these early failures and persevered. A second stab at the fur business brought him in contact with Adolph Zukor who became a friend and partner. Loew bought into a Zukor's penny arcade business and set about expanding it around the country. While opening up a new arcade in Cincinnati he was told of a competitor who was scoring bigger money with motion pictures than his mechanical machines. Loew struck up a deal with the Vitagraph Company for the necessary equipment and films, borrowed chairs and based on nickel admissions, grossed almost $250 the first day. Back in New York, Loew bought a Brooklyn burlesque house and converted it into the Royal, a first class house mixing the vaudeville bill with movies. The success of the Royal convinced him to convert his penny arcades into movie houses. Loew struck up a fateful business deal with brothers Joseph M. Schenck and Nicholas Schenck in 1906 when the group formed the Fort George Amusement Company and began a Paradise Park concession stand. Over the next decade Loew worked a slow (being a relative term in the business), methodical plan for theatrical dominance. By Armistice Day he owned 112 theaters that continued to offer a mix of vaudeville and movies. Joe Schenck ventured away from the company to become a movie producer.

By 1920 Loew was the dominant movie theater owner in New York and had recently expanded into Canada. With this expansion he faced increasing problems obtaining a reliable supply of quality films, especially problematic since audiences were pushing vaudeville acts off his stages. On January 3, 1920 he paid $3.1 million for Metro Pictures, a Hollywood studio with a lot of potential but suffering from poor management and a middling track record of success. Marcus Loew understood the value of his theatrical empire but felt that movie production was too huge a gamble to personally manage. At heart he was a New Yorker and felt comfortable handling the finances, not the mechanics of grinding out pictures in far-away Hollywood. It was at this juncture that Louis B. Mayer enters the story - Louis B. Mayer Productions was a far smaller shaker in town, but had three key assets: a successful track record of producing profitable melodramas that played well in the sticks, wunderkind producer Irving Thalberg - recently hired away from Universal and who rapidly proved his worth as a producer all consumed with movie production, and L.B. himself - admittedly a great macro manager, who shared Loew's rise from nothing life story. Oddly, Loew was only impressed with two of these factors; he didn't want Thalberg! He caved after Mayer insisted that any merger include his key producer (one of the wisest manoeuvrings L.B. would ever make). Loew's Metro company was then courting a third studio, troubled Goldwyn Productions (see Samuel Goldwyn). Loew was attracted to its state-of-the art studio and 40-acre lot, an asset that he understood. Unfortunately, the Goldwyn company was hemorrhaging red ink due to an out-of-control production in Italy, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), and was, closer to home, immersed in Erich von Stroheim's costly exercise in artistic overindulgence, Greed (1924), which only further demonstrated the need for competent management. Louis B. Mayer Productions was, despite its relatively insignificant size, the key to the merger. The parties worked out a percentage agreement and Loew merging a third troubled company into the fold, Goldwyn Pictures, which he had purchased for $4.3 million. The conglomerate bought Louis B. Mayer Productions for a mere $76,500 which tells something of the state of L.B.'s hard assets at the time of the merger. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures was formed on May 16, 1924 and dominated by Mayer's management team with Thalberg quickly rallying the best writers, directors, actors and technicians amongst the 3 former concerns. Mayer himself was named vice president and general manager of the new company at $1,500 a week, but that was dwarfed by a profit participation deal that included Thalberg (adding to his $650 a week salary) and key secretary Robert Rubin. These three men would split 20% of the company's profits, an incredibly rich benefits package as it turned out). Marcus Loew had chosen his personnel well, leaving him exactly in the position he wanted to be, writing checks from his 46 acre Long Island mansion and long weekly constructive arguments with Mayer on the phone. Under Mayer and Thalberg, the combination of these 3 shaky production companies and a huge injection of cash from Loew's Inc. created the premier studio in Hollywood. It's first official Metro-Goldwyn release, He Who Gets Slapped (1924), starring Lon Chaney was a hit. The company's name soon reflected Mayer's presence (the MGM moniker first seen in Buster Keaton's Go West (1925)) and for the next three decades MGM stood apart from every other operation in Hollywood, or the world for that matter. Unfortunately the early balanced managerial dynamic of Loew, Mayer and Thalberg ended forever when Marcus Loew died on September 5, 1927 at only age 57, leaving a $30 million estate (including 400,000 shares of Loew's Inc. stock) to his wife Caroline and sons. The title as the most powerful man in the film industry was assumed by Nicholas Schenck and MGM, for better or worse, would never be the same.

Rube Miller was born on 22 May 1886 in Trottwood, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Shy Thirty Cents (1916), Someone in the House (1920) and Whitewashing William (1915). He died on 1 April 1927 in Mexico City, Mexico.

Native American actor Tote Du Crow born in Watsonville, California in 1858. Became a popular circus clown from the 1870's until the mid 1910's. Later in his career he was often seen playing the roles of Indian Chief or Mexican bandit in many westerns, dramas and adventure films, making his film debut in the starring role as Capoldo the old shoemaker in 'The Old Shoemaker' co-starring Miriam Cooper for the Reliance Film Co in 1915. He appeared in more than 40 silent movies, most notably opposite Douglas Fairbanks, as Bernardo in 'The Mark of Zorro' in 1920 and 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' in 1925 and as the Soothsayer in 'The Thief of Bagdad' in 1924. Tote was last seen as Pedro in Noel M. Smith's 'The Blue Streak' starring Richard Talmadge in 1926.

Garry McGarry was born on 17 October 1889 in Franklin, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for The Scarlet Runner (1916), The Plaything of Broadway (1921) and A Prince in a Pawnshop (1916). He died on 15 November 1927 in New York City, New York, USA.

June Mathis was born June Beulah Hughes in 1887 in Leadville, Colorado. Her father died at a young age and her mother married William Mathis. She grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, which she would proudly consider her hometown for the rest of her life.

At the age of 13 she pursued a career in vaudeville, doing imitations and dances. She had success in San Francisco and eventually played The Orpheum. Her stage career grew over the next few years, bringing her good reviews and much acclaim. In 1908 she played with Julian Eltinge in "Brewster's Millions" and in 1912 joined him in "The Fascinating Widow", which was a major success.

After a brief one-time foray in front of the camera in 1910 (or possibly 1911), Mathis decided she would like to be behind the camera. After two years of self-prescribed study she submitted a script in a screenwriting contest. Even though she didn't win, Mathis received several offers. She took one from Edwin Carewe, and her first produced script was for the film The House of Tears (1915).

Mathis signed with Metro Pictures, where she quickly rose in the ranks. By 1918 she was writing for the studio's biggest stars, such as Francis X. Bushman, Viola Dana, Mae Murray and Alla Nazimova. Mathis became head of the scenario department, making her the first female film executive ever.

In 1920 she began work on The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), a film that was hers from casting to crew to writing to production. For a director she chose Rex Ingram, and for the role of Julio she chose a small-time actor named Rudolph Valentino. The film was a major success and launched Ingram, Mathis and Valentino into superstardom. It was the top-grossing film of 1921 (beating out Charles Chaplin's The Kid (1921)), made $9 million during its original run and was the sixth highest-grossing silent of all time.

Mathis and Valentino were good friends until a disagreement in 1924 over The Hooded Falcon (1924), but they reconciled before his death in 1926. Mathis moved with Valentino to Famous Players-Lasky, where she wrote Blood and Sand (1922), The Young Rajah (1922) and The Spanish Dancer (1923) (originally intended for Valentino). "Blood and Sand" was a huge success, becoming one of the top 4 grossing movies of 1922 and a defining film for Valentino, his co-star Nita Naldi and Mathis.

After Valentino embarked on his one-man strike, Mathis signed with Goldwlyn Pictures as an editorial director. She was in charge of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) in the same way she had been for "The Four Horsemen". However, director Charles Brabin did not see it that way and the production was a disaster, eventually Brabin was fired and replaced by Fred Niblo and all the film that had been shot, including all of the expensive location work done in Italy, had to be scrapped and the production begun from scratch. After a year at Goldwyn Mathis left for First National. There she was again an executive, this time writing comedies (something she enjoyed doing) for Colleen Moore and Corinne Griffith.

After her rift with Valentino she married Silvano Balboni, who she met while filming "Ben-Hur". After First National Mathis was rumored to be writing for UA or MGM once again, but neither came to be; she died unexpectedly in 1927 at the age of 40 from a heart ailment (from which she had suffered all her life) while watching a performance on Broadway.

She was buried next to Valentino, who had died the year before, severely in debt. Mathis had loaned him the crypt but by the 1930s the arrangement became permanent. Balboni sued Mathis' 84-year-old grandmother for her estate over a technicality, causing her to lose the inheritance Mathis had intended for her. He returned to Italy in the 1930s, and her grandmother died in 1933.

Mathis was not only responsible for Valentino's superstardom but for his love of art in film, and his beliefs in spirituality as well. Today she is mostly forgotten but when she died she was the third most powerful woman in Hollywood (outranking the 3 other major women screenwriters: Anita Loos, Frances Marion and Jeanie Macpherson). She was also a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Virginia Evelyn Chester was born August 27, 1896 in San Francisco to Louis Chester and Kathleen (Kate) Judge. Her film debut was in "The Yaqui Girl" (1910), for Pathe Films. She was a leading lady with the Bison-101 Ranch Company and with Universal Pictures. Other film credits included "The Frenzy of Firewater" (1912), "A Shot In the Dark" (1912), Fat Bill's Wooing" (1912), "When Uncle Sam Was Young" (1912), "Trapper Bill, King of Scouts" (1912), "A Four-Footed Hero" (1912), "Hash House Mashers" (1915), "Restitution" (1918), "The Demon" (1918), "The Vanity Pool" (1918) and "The Outcasts of Poker Plat" (1919). She was married to Richard V. Spencer in 1911, then to Edward H. Maxwell until her early death at age 30 on July 28, 1927 from pulmonary tuberculosis at their home at 4116 Greenwood Ave. in Oakland, CA.

Earle Williams was born on 28 February 1880 in Sacramento, California, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Scarlet Runner (1916), Arsene Lupin (1917) and The Wolf (1919). He was married to Florine Walz. He died on 25 April 1927 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Béla Szenes was born on 18 January 1894 in Budapest, Hungary. He was a writer, known for Last Stop (1935), Don't Marry (1928) and Az okos mama (1935). He died on 26 May 1927 in Budapest, Hungary.

Julia Hurley was born in 1848 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Il trovatore (1914), The Jungle (1914) and Little Women (1918). She died on 4 June 1927 in New York City, New York, USA.

Bruno Rahn was born on 24 November 1887 in Berlin, Germany. He was a director and producer, known for Hölle der Liebe - Erlebnisse aus einem Tanzpalast (1926), Gern hab' ich die Frauen geküßt (1926) and Das verlorene Paradies (1917). He died on 15 September 1927 in Berlin, Germany.