Post by Nick91 on Oct 3, 2017 14:51:05 GMT
Greetings.
Over the last 10 years, the number of surviving silent film actors has really dwindled down to a mere handful of people. Every year, there was at least one death, and we all saw it as nothing but a natural and normal occurance. After all, the silent film era ended such a long time ago, and even if the survivors were young children back then, they'd still be ancient in these days. Back in 2012, it was reported that child actor Don Marion had died on 2 March at the age of 95. Where it was reported first, I don't know, but the film blog Boot Hill was pretty quick to publish an obituary. Then, Mr. Harris M. Lentz published his annual Obituaries in the Performing Arts book, where Don Marion has an entry. IMDb got updated as well.
At that point in time, my reaction was "oh cool, he was still alive all along until now and lived to the grand age of 95, not bad". The truth is that the fate of most silent film performers are difficult to track, and countless of them have died in complete anonymity. For those who are unfamiliar with him, his birth name was Don Marion Davis but he was often billed as John Henry, Jr. He was born on 9 October 1917 and made his film debut in 1919. He mostly appeared in Mack Sennett's movies. By the mid-20s, his Hollywood career had come to an end.
Anyway, back to the post-2012 death era. As time goes by, we lose several other silent film performers, such as Jean Darling and Dickie Moore. Don Marion is a thing of the past...or is he? This is where the narrative gets equally exciting and disturbing. You see, earlier this year, actual relatives of Don Marion Davis begin to react to his supposed demise online, and insist that this is not the case.
Wait, what? A nonagenarian who had been gone for five whole years had been living and breathing all along? That's quite an overwhelming thing to process, isn't it? It raises many questions, like how on earth a respectable publisher like McFarland could write an obituary without double-checking the facts first? Was Don Marion Davis conflated with someone else? Well, Marion Feducha was also referred to as Don Marion, but he died back in 1976. Whether it's a deliberate hoax or an honest mistake, it just goes to show that you can't always blindly trust reliable sources.
But wait a minute, what if those so-called relatives are the ones lying and Don Marion Davis really is dead? Good question, to which I respond with this article from May 2017:
tucson.com/news/local/tucson-s-centenarians-are-an-optimistic-active-and-growing-group/article_a90f12f0-4c37-5156-b689-a6bd0a78931a.html
Since his 100th birthday is in just six days, think of this thread as a pre-birthday salute in addition to trying to get the truth out to cinema fans around the world.
Over the last 10 years, the number of surviving silent film actors has really dwindled down to a mere handful of people. Every year, there was at least one death, and we all saw it as nothing but a natural and normal occurance. After all, the silent film era ended such a long time ago, and even if the survivors were young children back then, they'd still be ancient in these days. Back in 2012, it was reported that child actor Don Marion had died on 2 March at the age of 95. Where it was reported first, I don't know, but the film blog Boot Hill was pretty quick to publish an obituary. Then, Mr. Harris M. Lentz published his annual Obituaries in the Performing Arts book, where Don Marion has an entry. IMDb got updated as well.
At that point in time, my reaction was "oh cool, he was still alive all along until now and lived to the grand age of 95, not bad". The truth is that the fate of most silent film performers are difficult to track, and countless of them have died in complete anonymity. For those who are unfamiliar with him, his birth name was Don Marion Davis but he was often billed as John Henry, Jr. He was born on 9 October 1917 and made his film debut in 1919. He mostly appeared in Mack Sennett's movies. By the mid-20s, his Hollywood career had come to an end.
Anyway, back to the post-2012 death era. As time goes by, we lose several other silent film performers, such as Jean Darling and Dickie Moore. Don Marion is a thing of the past...or is he? This is where the narrative gets equally exciting and disturbing. You see, earlier this year, actual relatives of Don Marion Davis begin to react to his supposed demise online, and insist that this is not the case.
Wait, what? A nonagenarian who had been gone for five whole years had been living and breathing all along? That's quite an overwhelming thing to process, isn't it? It raises many questions, like how on earth a respectable publisher like McFarland could write an obituary without double-checking the facts first? Was Don Marion Davis conflated with someone else? Well, Marion Feducha was also referred to as Don Marion, but he died back in 1976. Whether it's a deliberate hoax or an honest mistake, it just goes to show that you can't always blindly trust reliable sources.
But wait a minute, what if those so-called relatives are the ones lying and Don Marion Davis really is dead? Good question, to which I respond with this article from May 2017:
tucson.com/news/local/tucson-s-centenarians-are-an-optimistic-active-and-growing-group/article_a90f12f0-4c37-5156-b689-a6bd0a78931a.html
Before Tucson Medical Center’s Friday morning centenarian celebration, 99-year-old Don Davis went for a 40-minute bike ride through his neighborhood, like he does every day.
“He’s religious about it,” said his nephew, Bill Griffin, who attended the hospital’s 30th annual “Salute to Centenarians” with Davis.
“I do it because I can,” smiled Davis, a cheerful military veteran who served in World War II and the Korean War and as a child acted in silent films in his hometown of Hollywood, California.
“He’s religious about it,” said his nephew, Bill Griffin, who attended the hospital’s 30th annual “Salute to Centenarians” with Davis.
“I do it because I can,” smiled Davis, a cheerful military veteran who served in World War II and the Korean War and as a child acted in silent films in his hometown of Hollywood, California.
He is not the first "victim" of this type (or a variation of) of hoax; there are other actors such as Martha Stewart (no, not that one, lol) and Rosella Towne from roughly the same time period that have been reported as dead with a fabricated biography. It's not impossible that the same person is behind all of these. What differentiates Don Marion Davis from the others is the fact that it's taken 5 whole years for the truth to come out.