Today's viewers of early silent movies might think that actors-and especially actresses-all applied a thick application of lipstick and eye-liner since those areas were so dark. And the skin tones looked like they never had been in the sun, so pale were their faces. The real truth is the film stock used in early movies was orthochromatic, invented in 1873 for still photography, and is still used by photographers today for landscape and some portrait photos.
Technically, orthochromatic consists of silver halide crystals, which are sensitive to the color blue. One can notice movies in the late 1800's and early 1900's where daylight scenes have white skies on a cloudless day. In close-up shots, actors with blue eyes appeared to have nearly white eyeballs. In addition, orthochromatic film can't detect red light; it converts reds simply to black. So actresses appeared to wear black lipstick even though on the set they wore red.
A German chemist, Herman Vogel, tinkered with several ingredients knowing the weaknesses of orthochromatic film. Others built on Vogel's work, inventing in 1906 the panchromatic process for still photography. By 1913 Eastman Kodak, the supplier of motion picture film stock, was able to introduce the advanced process to flexible celluloid, but it was high unstable and expensive. Finally in 1922, Kodak's panchromatic film quality was much improved and the cost to manufacture it dramatically dropped.
The first movie to be entirely shot using panchromatic film was November 1922's "The Headless Horseman." It may appear the new process didn't make much difference since the surviving prints of "The Headless Horseman" are worn and washed out. This was a major problem with early panchromatic motion picture film since it had such a short shelf-life. By 1926, more refinements in stability were introduced. With an extended preservation of its sharpness and depth of visual tones, panchromatic became the movie industry standard, forcing Kodak to discontinue orthochromatic movie film stock by 1930.
Showman Will Rogers headlined "The Headless Horseman," appearing as the stern teacher, Ichabod Crane. The movie is the earliest surviving film version based on the Washington Irving's short story. Rogers went against his normal friendly and homespun persona by acting as the harsh, rigid school taskmaster. His character didn't quite mesh with the small Sleepy Hollow, New York, villagers, who were about to railroad Crane out of town.
Rogers was in his fifth year in cinema when he appeared in "The Headless Horsemen." Samuel Goldwyn had signed the Broadway star to a multi-year contract in 1918 to appear in silent movies, an unusual move since the Oklahoma-born performer was known more for his verbal witticisms rather than his pantomiming. A 10th-grade high school drop-out who had spent time learning the ranch ropes in Argentina and in South Africa, began performing tricks with his lassos. Catching on to vaudeville circuits in the United States beginning in 1905, he became popular performing his horse and pony stunts. Ten years later, as a performer for Florenz Ziegfeld's 'Midnight Frolic,' in New York City, he mixed his lasso tricks with chitchat about the days' events gleaned from the daily newspapers. "All I know is what I read in the paper" became Rogers' trademark opening line.
His real personality, despite appearing in 48 silent films, wasn't fully appreciated until the advent of talkies in 1929, where he was able to express himself verbally.
