Finally watching sweet Mary's "Sparrows" (1926)

Oh, Mary Pickford. If only I could go back in time and tell you how amazing and respected your work still is today. Of course, you wouldn't be surprised that the movie studios and even most of the public seldom look back at film history ... but there are still people who care greatly. And those of us who do are doing our best to keep your legacy and the legacy of the silent screen era alive.

I would also ask if we could collaborate on a project. Any project. You're the best.

So tonight I found "Sparrows" (1926) on YouTube. I've been toying with purchasing a collection of four of her films that includes this one, but I hadn't yet. Then I found it on YouTube, so that's very cool. Now I can use that money to buy a silent film book or a biography of a silent star instead. Damn, but I do love books.

I must say a big thank you to the people who have been posting silent films on YouTube and other websites. If you're like me and live in a smaller city where they don't have things like silent film festivals (the closest ones are in Chicago, which is about three hours away), the opportunities to watch silents don't come around very often. God bless the Internet!

The web has not only made the world smaller, it's also allowed us to travel back in time. We can watch old movies, listen to out-of-print music or read out-of-print books. When I was a kid a billion years ago in the 70s and 80s, if you missed a TV show or movie, you were out of luck. You'd have to wait for the reruns of a TV show's season during their hiatus. A movie might play on TV one day. These were the days before beta and VHS. Those magical tapes opened up a whole new world to us.

The world's gotten to be a more rude place over the years. Maybe it's because VHS tapes aren't around anymore to remind us to "be kind and rewind."

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