When talkies began to predominate in 1929, younger sister Constance Talmadge abruptly retired, confident that she had done all she was capable of performing without embarrassing herself in the new technology. Her older sister, Norma, however, at first felt she could make the transition into sound, taking voice lessons for over a year before appearing in her first talkie, 1929's 'New York Nights.' But Constance soon sent her a telegram reading "Quit pressing your luck, baby. The critics can't knock those trust funds Mama set up for us."
Norma had appeared in bit parts of films from 1911 and became a star under D. W. Griffith's direction in 1916. Her fortunes took a decided upturn when she met and married wealthy film producer Joseph Schenck, who set up the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation. The enterprise, located in New York City, became very lucrative, with her sister Constance operating her very own studio under Schenck's umbrella as well as Roscoe Arbuckle's production house. This is where the middle sister, Natalie Talmadge, who was the studio secretary and part-time actress, met and fell in love with Fatty's sidekick Buster Keaton.
Under Schenck's personal supervision, Norma's movies became financially viable. Her most successful film was February 1922's "Smilin' Through." The movie, adapted from the play of the same name, was remade in 1932 and 1941 as film versions of Norma's motion picture. It tells of her character's guardian whose wedding that took place years earlier was interrupted by a jilted lover, shooting the intended bride. Years later, Norma, who eas the niece of the dead bride, falls in love with the son of her aunt's killer. The guardian, of course, doesn't approve of such a romantic link. However, a dream sequence with the spirit of the late bride comes back to haunt the guardian. Mary Pickford called "Smilin' Through" one of her all-time favorite movies, stating, "It deals with a subject which interests most women - that of spiritualism - which is so delicately and beautifully handled that it could offend no one."
The movie was also the film debut of character actor Gene Lockhart, whose most familiar role is that of the judge in 1947's 'The Miracle on 34th Street.'
