John Barrymore film star pennant
date: label: date made
content: around 1921
name: label: depicted (sitter)
content: Barrymore, John
notes: label: Description
content: John Barrymore pennant. Blue felt pennant, triangular shape with point at bottom. White printing with black and white paper photograph of John Barrymore. Decorative border around photograph. "PAT. APP'D FOR / FAMOUS PLAYERS FILM CO. / JOHN / BARRYMORE".
label: Description
content: The pennant originally owned by the donor’s grandfather, Wallard Hulce. Film pennants like this were offered as promotional premiums for subscriptions to motion picture fan magazines from the 1910s through the 1920s, highlighting some of the most popular and best-loved actors and actresses of the silent and early sound eras of American film production. The pennants gave fans a tangible connection to and representation of their favorite film stars and were among a wide variety of merchandise and publications available to film fans in the silent period.
label: Description
content: John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was a member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families who was celebrated as one of the greatest actors of his generation in a career that included roles on stage, screen, and radio. He began his career as a comedic stage actor in 1903, appearing with members of his family including father Maurice and sister Ethel, but became better known for drama, earning critical acclaim for his leading roles in the prison drama Justice (1916), Richard III (1920), and Hamlet (1922). In the meantime, he began appearing in films, and quickly became a fan favorite for both comedic and dramatic roles, including the leads in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), Sherlock Holmes (1922), Beau Brummel (1924), and The Sea Beast (1926).
label: Description
content: By the mid-1920s, Barrymore was widely recognized as one of the nation’s most popular stars and most accomplished actors of both stage and screen. He earned the nickname “The Great Profile” for his chiseled facial features (always photographed from his favored left side), and critics lauded his technical brilliance as an actor. Off-screen, Barrymore led a troubled life, struggling with chronic alcoholism and tumultuous romantic relationships, including four unhappy marriages. Barrymore was at the height of his fame and success when he was cast in Warner Bros 1926 adventure film Don Juan, the first feature-length sound film (utilizing the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, the film had a synchronized musical score and sound effects, though it has no spoken dialogue – 1927’s score-and-dialogue soundie The Jazz Singer is therefore better remembered as “the first sound film”).
label: Description
content: He is perhaps best known today for his role as jewel thief Baron Felix von Geigern opposite Greta Garbo in MGM’s 1932 Grand Hotel, a high point that marked a career transition to more minor roles and films. Despite well-received roles in Topaze (1933), Dinner at Eight (1933), and Twentieth Century (1934), Barrymore’s drinking and erratic behavior began affecting his health and career. He began to be typecast as an aging, alcoholic, washed-up actor, which increasingly mirrored his real life, despite repeated attempts to get and return to form in radio and film work. On May 29, 1942, Barrymore died from cirrhosis of the liver and kidney failure, complicated by pneumonia.
label: Description
content: Barrymore is remembered today as an influential actor who introduced a psychological aspect to his interpretation of character and a modern, colloquial vocal style that defied convention. Contemporary critics and fellow actors praised him as one of the greatest actors of all time, especially for his Shakespearean work and dramatic roles on the stage.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: associated subject
content: Motion Pictures
label: associated subject
content: Celebrities
label: Subject
content: Entertainment, Film
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2024.0111.01
label: accession number
content: 2024.0111
label: catalog number
content: 2024.0111.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pennant
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: felt (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 9/16 in x 2 3/4 in; 21.74875 cm x 6.985 cm