Helen's blog

JEAN DARLING, child prodigy of the silent film era, now a sprightly 84, is present as Guest of Honour  at this year's Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone  to introduce the restored copy of OUR GANG films she starred in during the '20s. As a child star, her colleagues included Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Jean Harlow, Hal Raoch, Fatty Arbuckle, Marion Davies, Greta Garbo and Clark Gable. She is one of the few remaining actors of the silent film period left to witness the scene as she did in her autobiography A PEEK IN THE PAST, published  in 1995.

 She appeared in 35 movies, but with the advent of talking pictures, she left the profession to devote herself  to  theatre, TV and radio broadcasting. In 1974 she moved to Dublin and worked as a scriptwriter of mystery tales, attracting the attention of Alfred Hitchock  who used many for his Mystery Magazine.

Debuting in Our Gang,  at only 3 years old, Jean Darling, born  Dorothy Jean LeVake, was propelled by her mother, Dorothy Hamilton, a silent film actress, to audition for  Robert McGowan, the first director of  the Our Gang series. 

Teatro Verdi will show  4 episodes of Our Gang: Baby Brother, The Ol’Gray Hoss, Wiggle Your Ears, and Boxing Gloves.

Helen Dobrensky at Pordenone 07