Gary Sweeney, founder of The Midnight Palace, is a very busy fellow. I have told you about his website in two previous articles, and he shows no signs of slowing down . The site continues to grow, and now he has started another website, this one dedicated to Leila Hyams, an actress who at the height of her career, walked away in 1936. We talked about his new site, Leila’s career, and his current projects.
You have been a pretty busy fellow. What are you up to these days?
You can say that again! There never seems to be enough hours in a day. I’m still maintaining The Midnight Palace, as you know. In a few months time, it seemed like I had interview after interview. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great but they’re a lot of work. So I decided to cool off on interviewing people, at least for a few months while I get my current projects up and running.
I understand you’ve got a new site!
That’s right. I recently launched LeilaHyams.com, which is the only website on the internet dedicated to Leila Hyams, an actress of the 20’s and 30’s.
Why did you start it?
Well, I’d thought about doing it for a long time. I kept hesitating initially, probably because The Midnight Palace is a lot of work by itself and I knew that adding a second site would only increase the workload. I knew that the domain name was available. One day I just had this overwhelming feeling that if I didn’t grab the domain name while I could, the next time I tried it would be unavailable. So I snatched it up. Of course, I wasn’t going to own the domain name and let it go to waste, so I started building the site from the ground up. It took me about 4-5 days total to build the site, and that’s only because I went a couple of days without sleep and worked tediously. When it all boils down, I started the website because I felt Leila was being lost in Hollywood history. I also felt she deserved to be remembered in a classy and informative way, which is what I hope I’ve done with the site.
Tell me about Leila.
Leila’s parents were the bickering Vaudevillians John Hyams and Leila McIntyre. They raised her in show business surroundings, so I guess it was fitting that she became an actress herself. She started her career in silent films but did eventually transcend into talkies. In fact, one of her films was a silent-talkie hybrid. So, she really did work in two different “eras”. She became increasingly popular in the late 1920’s and especially the early 1930’s. Her appeal was huge because she was like the girl next door. She didn’t have a show business ego, so she was approachable. She was also very beautiful but not vain in the least, just a sweet girl really.
What movies would our readers have seen her in?
I would say the majority of them would have seen her in “Freaks” as Venus. It was, and probably always will be, the role for which she was best known. I personally saw Leila for the first time in “Freaks”. I think the film’s cult-classic status and availability is what makes it the most widely-known. The readers may also have seen her in “Red-Headed Woman” with Jean Harlow, playing the character of Irene. Aside from that, most of Leila’s films are known but “unknown”, if that makes sense. She wasn’t a B-actress by any means; she worked with some huge actors.
She was an actress when movies went from silent to talkies. What impact do you think she had on movies?
I think she impacted film in general by translating her real personality into on-screen characters, time and time again. In most of her films, she’s the sweetheart of the group. She’s rarely cold or calculating, indifferent or unkind. That’s the kind of person she was outside of Hollywood, so to a certain extent, she didn’t have to “pretend”. I think that actors/actresses, especially of today, are quite the opposite of their characters. It’s rare that you’ll find someone who is exactly like the people they portray; and it’s even more of a rarity that that person is genuine.
Besides the new site, what other projects are you working on?
I’m happy to say that I’m in the researching stage of writing the first and only book on Leila. I’m also extremely happy that I’ve been able to contact Leila’s niece and nephew, who provided me with some info and have agreed to let me use some family photos in the book. I’m lucky to have a very dedicated research partner. I work at a fast pace when I’m passionate about something, so it’s good that we can get double the amount of work done between the two of us. Because Leila wasn’t a major star, finding info on her life and career has proven to be a challenge. However, I think that it will make for a much more accomplished finished product. There are many people who are curious about Leila and there is nothing out there about her. I intend to change that.
You’ve started an online petition. What for?
Well, Leila was under contract to MGM. In those days, the studio system was in place. That meant that when a studio signed an actor or actress to a contract, they only made movies for that specific studio. It’s not like today where stars can make films for anybody. So, the majority of her films were MGM features. However, she was borrowed by Warner Brothers for a few random films. The petition is simple. Although Leila made over 50 films in her short career, only 3 or 4 of them have been released on DVD. That means that a great portion of her work is just sitting in a vault somewhere, collecting dust. I think it’s a tragedy to her legacy. So, I’ve started a petition directed at both MGM and Warner Brothers, asking for more of her films to be released on DVD. They most likely still own the rights to her films, so they do have them in their catalog. They’re just not doing anything with them. Some of her films are considered “lost”, meaning no surviving copies are known to exist – but that’s the exception rather than the rule. I would be grateful to any of your readers who would be willing to sign the petition!
Do you think MGM will listen to the fans and release some of her movies?
I certainly hope so. They can’t really ignore an overwhelming response. If thousands of people are supporting the release of her films, they’ll see that there is a market for them. Most of the time, films are left to rot because the studio/company thinks they’ll lose money by putting them out. That’s why we see the same films released a hundred times in different “special edition” packages. They know that people will buy them. They stick to what works, or what makes money I should say. A petition with support on a major scale is really the only hope for Leila’s films. So, if we have that support, I believe they’ll listen.
If they do decide to release some of them, which movies would you most like to see?
I’d like to see the more uncommon films. TCM plays some of her films from time to time, but usually the same titles (Freaks, The Big House, etc…) I’d like to see “The Crimson City”, “Surrender”, “Saturday’s Millions” and just about anything that hasn’t been seen in years. It would be phenomenal to have “Sandra” released. That’s her very first film, a silent from 1924. I’m fortunate enough to have her second film, another silent called “Dancing Mothers” with Clara Bow from 1926.
What plans do you have for both sites?
As always, I continue to work on making The Midnight Palace the go-to source for all things classic Hollywood. So, I’m taking a similar approach with the Leila site (although I don’t really have any competition where Leila is concerned). As I said, it’s the only site on the internet dedicated to her. Sometimes I think that I might be the only person who still cares about her career. I sincerely hope that my site generates more interest in her. I see both sites growing consistently. You can never have too much information or too many features. It keeps things fresh and people interested.
In addition to his two websites, Gary has recently written some DVD reviews for ICONS magazine, a new magazine dedicated to the Golden Age of Hollywood. He has turned his passion for classic films into two wonderful sites. I invite you to take a look at them for a trip down the glamorous side of an age long gone by.
