Come on Over
| Colleen's hairstyles had been getting steadily shorter until she went to work for Samuel Goldwyn, who preferred it long. And so her hair returned almost to the length it had been when she started in pictures, though the sausage curls were gone. The still below is from "Come on Over," and the portrait is by C.S. Bull. Both images from the Jeff Codori Collection. Lantern slide to left from Lantern slide to left from Literature Department, Cleveland Public Library, PN1993.4 .F55 1900. http://cplorg.cdmhost.com/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p4014coll16&CISOPTR=628&CISOBOX=1&REC=20 |
By November Colleen was at work on her next role in "Come On Over," by Rupert Hughes. Rupert was a writer, and the first of his books to be adapted into a movie was "What Will People Say?” The film was released in 1916, same year as "Old Folks at Home." While on military duty he wrote a short story about the impact of military mobilization on a Dutch girl; Mary Pickford had it adapted into "Johanna Enlists," released in 1918.
"Come on Over" is reputed to have been written specifically for Colleen, and certainly no film could have been better suited to her reputation at the time. A Goldwyn Picture, it was directed by Alfred E. Green, the scenario and story by Rupert Hughes, with Colleen playing the part of Moyna Killiea (was there ever a more Irish name?) who waits to hear word from her sweetheart Shane O'Mealia to come on over to America.
In addition to "Come on Over," Rupert Hughes wrote and directed "The Wallflower," with Colleen playing Idalene Nobbin, the titular wallflower, who, after attempting suicide, is rescured and transformed by a society girl, who teaches her the social graces and finer points of fashion and society. He also wrote and directed (with James Flood) "Look Your Best," wherein she played Perla Quaranta, an Italian girl.
By the end of the year 1921, the song “Colleen," by Arthur Freed, inspired by none other than our own Colleen Moore, was released.
In early January of 1922, "The Lotus Eaters" was released. That year First National co-founder John D Williams resigned over a disagreement over the issue of whether the organization out to build their own studio and hire their own staff. Williams was of the opinion that the distributors out to continue purchasing their films, which they had been doing since the beginning, rather than go into the production end. He was replaced by former Metro president Richard Rowland.
Colleen continued to plug away at promoting her career, doing the occasional publicity stunt as was required by studios of their talent. On January 7th the Chicago Daily Tribune reported in the “Closeups” column: “Carmel Myers, Colleen Moore, and Bessie Love got together the other day and made a carload of fudge, which they unloaded at the Glendale sanitarium for the gastric edification of disabled veterans living there.” A few days later, on the 11th, this was followed in "Closeups" by: “A reported romance between Colleen Moore and the son of Rupert Hughes is now reported ‘off.’ Son has gone back to college and the pretty Colleen is merrily playing about with another boy.” It's unknown if there really was a "romance" between Colleen and Rush Hughes--on September 24th, 1921 the Boston Evening Globe reported that during her "20th" (really 22nd) birthday party she had to escape Rush Hughes (son of Rupert) and Tom Gallery, who both threatened to kiss 
her 20 times without a break as her gift... perhaps this sort of play led to rumors of a romance --or who "another boy" was, if there really was one.
John McCormick
Colleen was introduced to John McCormick by Marshall Nielan, who thought he was a fine Irishman and a good match for Colleen. McCormick had joined First national in 1920 as the western press representative of the company. He was on the road often, spent a good deal of time in New York. He had gotten an early start in the motion picture industry and seemed to have a grasp of how best to exploit the new media's qualities. In June 1921, at a First National Pictures dinner in New York he was appointed West Coast Representative; the public face of the company on the west coast. During his time with First National, a lot of photographs of a lot of actresses doubtless passed across his desk. From among those images, it was Colleen's that caught his eye.
He was smitten even before he met her. And he made quite an impression upon Colleen during their first date. He was a vital, passionate, energetic man who mind seemed to be constantly at work. Ideas seemed to crackle out of his head like static electricity, and his ceaseless energy had made him a valuable asset for First National. He immediately set to work agressively wooing Colleen, and she was charmed by his energy and sense of humor. What she did not realize was that John’s energetic moods were cyclical, interspersed with dark moods that he tried to fight through drink. At the time, there was little knowledge of bipolar disorders, and certainly no public awareness of them. Certainly there were people out there who self-medicated with drugs or drink, and this was viewed by the public at best as a moral failing on their part (this was still in the depths of Prohibition). Those who | Colleen after Goldwyn, Jeff Codori Collection. |
suffered from personality disorders seldom had any idea themselves why they fell into their moods.
None of this was known to Colleen when they met. All she saw was the energetic man. It was still early enough in his career with First National that few people would have known of his drinking, and at best they would have thought it his means of blowing off steam after long, hard hours at work. Nobody would have suspected the drinking was a form of self-medication. For her part, Colleen simply knew that he was a sharp, energetic and charming man whose attentions were flattering.
