5 facts about the silent movie era

1. Early salaries

A good weekly salary for early Hollywood film executives was $50, while film extras were paid around $1.50 per day.

2. No doubles

Stunt doubles didn’t exist in most silent film productions. Producers would rather hire daredevil actors than spend the money on extra people.

3. Annual production

During the 1920s, Hollywood produced around 800 feature films each year.

4. Lost creations

With many early film reels being made using nitrate films, some of the classics have been lost forever through decomposition. An estimated 80 per cent of original silent films have been destroyed.

5. Stopping the silence

The first commercially successful sound film, or ‘talkie’, was The Jazz Singer in 1927. This marks the end of the ‘silent era’.