Washington, DC, and its surrounding area, is not usually thought of as a filmmaking capitol but, from time to time, we have been the background to some very memorable movies. And this has been going on for years.
All the way back in 1919, silent screen superstar Constance Talmadge, then heading her very own production company, Constance Talmadge Productions, came to the District to shoot the 80-minute comedy “A Temperamental Wife.”
This film, recently restored by the Moving Image Section of the Library of Congress, makes the most of several real locations including, we believe, DC itself, Chevy Chase and, probably, Bethesda, Maryland. But we want to know more.
Below are some of screen grabs from “Wife.” If a location looks familiar to you, please let us know via the comments. (Be sure to note the picture’s number.)
1. Anyone know this underpass?
2. Anyone recognize this bend in the road?
3. What about this lovely lake?
4. This neighborhood?
5. Or this one?
6. Anyone know the buildings behind our two stars and their car?
7. The film makes the most of a “hotel” in the area and its pool area. Does anyone recognize the building utilized from the images above or below?
8. And don’t forget these shots below–a building someplace, renamed for the film “The Hicksville Inn.”
THANKS! And happy hunting!
Comments (3)
#1–The underpass between Fort Hunt Park and the George Washington Parkway headed towards Mount Vernon?
#8: The Hicksville Inn was in Hicksville, Long Island, NY! There’s a picture of it in the June 2, 1918 Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper on Newspapers.com. Matches up perfectly.
That fork in the road looks like Western Ave and Brookville Road just off Chevy Chase Circle. My Inlaws Grandad John Jay Daly bought a house on Tennyson St NW back then and said the roads were not yet paved. I believe that was in the 1920’s.