Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Los Angeles Times file photo

[Update: Our mystery woman has been identified as Miss Dupont. Congratulations to Mike Hawks! To see the information on the back of the photo, keep reading.]   This truly is a mystery photo. There’s minimal information on the back, so I’m leaving the code number instead of hiding it.  I suppose it ended up in the movie production file because the mystery woman is carrying a camera.

 

Here’s a closer look at our mystery woman… … and the code number.

Comments

[Mary mallory]

It looks like Clara Bow in a way.

[Eve]

I'd need to see her closer-up, but she kinda looks like Clara Bow. Of course, she also looks like Betty Compson . . .

[Dewey Webb]

Clara Bow? This looks like one for Robert Stack.

[Gerald McCann]

Renee Adoree?

[Mike Hawks]

Could this be Patricia Hannon, a.k.a. Miss Dupont.

[Rance Ryan]

Phyliss Haver

[Ronald Emmis]

That code number could lead to something...is it an internal LAT code, or something else?

Isn't there a repository of silent film stills (the British Film Institute in London?) where something like this could be examined?

[Marley]

Myrna Loy?

[Mary Mallory]

That code is called a production code or production number, which a studio used to differentiate product in order to keep track of costs and profits. Most of the numbers exist for the major studios, but the numbers don't always exist for silent films by more independent studios. I have researched the code, and can't find anything for it.

[Ronald Emmis]

Mary Malloy:

"I have researched the code, and can't find anything for it."

Understood. I have a history of Universal silent films and will yank it out of storage and see what I can find for 1925. As soon as I find something, I will get back to you.

BTW, I am an expert on silent films, having collected them for more than 20 years, and a collection numbering in the thousands of original films and tens of thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of stills, images, movie posters, and additional ephemera back to the first days of Edison and LKL Dickson and the whole "Black Maria" thing in New Jersey.

Here's one, from "The Single Standard" (MGM, 1929):

http://img834.imageshack.us/f/thesinglestandardmgm192.jpg/

So, if you need help in this area, feel free to call on me. I would love to help to solve this specific mystery.

[Randy Skretvedt]

She really is "Miss Dupont" -- that's her actual name. And that's clearly the camerman with her; looks like he's carrying two film magazines while she carries the tripod.

Likely it's a production still from one of the features listed here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0243323/

[Stacia]

Bruce Calvert's silent film still code page cannot be recommended highly enough:

http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com/identify3.htm

Miss DuPont worked for Universal, and Bruce's page indicates that many Universal film still codes started with numbers or with the full name of the director. This one just starts with P, which confuses things. I know that for at least 2 other studios (UA and Paramount), the "P" meant "publicity" or "promotion", and was just a promotional photo not necessarily associated with a specific film. Maybe that's what it meant with Universal, too.