NOTE: This site is no longer being updated as of April 2024 as it's no longer easily accessible to me. It's long been impossible to keep up with the broken links. Remember that if you find a broken link that you
wanted to follow, copy the URL and paste it into the Wayback Machine, and look at a cache from a few years back. And you might want to bookmark the URL for this page since it site itself will doubtless go offline at some point when Stanford pulls down the legacy webspace, so it may also only be available via the Wayback Machine
Clara Kimball Young was once the most popular movie star in America, and the queen of adult society dramas of the 1910s. But by the mid 1920s she was out of films, and when she came back in the 1930s it was largely in bit roles in B pictures. Yet this ebullient woman rode her dramatic ups and downs with grace and good humor, and she is one of the most interesting stars of her era. Though most of her films are lost, several are available on video.
This website is a work in progress, and will be updated as I see more Young films and acquire more articles.
An article about Clara's life and career
with a listing of archival holdings, video availability and links to new and vintage reviews
From her personal collection
Clara Kimball Young Films on the Web
Hearts in Exile (1914)
on Internet Archive
Clip of My Official Wife (1914)
on Internet Archive , and someone has also taken it and posted it to YouTube (complete with my uncredited text but mispelling Vitagraph!)
The Old Guard (1913)
on Cinema in Quebec in Silent Era
Put Yourself in Their Place (1913)
on Cinema in Quebec in Silent Era
A Vitagraph Romance (1912)
the EYE youTube channel
Jerry's mother in law (1913)
the EYE youTube channel
Dr. LaFleur's Theory (1913)
the EYE youTube channel
The Picture Idol (1912)
the EYE youTube channel
Delayed Proposals (1913)
the EYE youTube channel
When Mary grew up (1913)
the EYE youTube channel
Lulu's doctor (1912)
the EYE youTube channel
The Lonely princess (1913)
the EYE youTube channel
Lessons in Courtship (1912)
the EYE youTube channel
A Lesson in Jealousy (1913)
the EYE youTube channel
Stenographer troubles (1913)
the EYE youTube channel
The troublesome stepdaughters (1912)
the EYE youTube channel
Onze filmsterren, zesde serie, Original title Photoplay Magazine Screen Supplement #6
online video on the EYE youTube channel (she's at the 8:50 mark)
Eyes of Youth (1919) on YouTube
Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 (the part with Rudolph Valentino, if that's what you're looking for, Part 8, Part 9
Search YouTube for "Clara Kimball Young" for other films or film clips, where as of last time i looked included (aside from the above) Probation, Ants in the Pantry, and The Return of Chandu (1 pt. 1, there are more)
Love Bound AKA Murder on the High Seas (1932) complete film on youTube, and more films: Midchannel, The Worldly Madonna, Kept Husbands, I Can't Escape, She Married her Boss, Hollywood Extra Girl, Oh, Susanna!, The Rogue's Tavern, Dangerously Yours, Mr. Celebrity, Confessions of a Vice Baron, just search the titles on youTube.
Homes and Haunts
Addresses associated with Clara Kimball Young
Contemporary articles
Clara Kimball Young, Artist
by George Blaisdell
Moving Picture World, October 3, 1914, p. 41-42
Clara Kimball Young Discusses Picture Art
by Margaret I. McDonald
Moving Picture World, July 21, 1917, p. 46
Making "Savage Woman" Savage
by Edward Weitzel
Moving Picture World, September 7, 1918, p. 1393
Clothes--Clara Kimball Young--and More Clothes
by Clara Kimball Young
Theatre Magazine, November 1917, p. 319-320
(Thanks to Randy Bigham for this article)
Untitled fashion spread
Vogue, April 1, 1918
(Thanks to Randy Bigham for this article)
Untitled fashion spread
Vogue, July 15, 1918,
(Thanks to Randy Bigham for this article)
Miss Young Creates Fashion Show for Display in "Forbidden Woman"
Moving Picture World, February 14, 1920, p. 1112
The Technique of Lovers
by Clara Kimball Young
Photoplay, March 1920, p. 39-41
Excerpts from an interview with Gareth Hughes, 1963
From Kevin Brownlow's audio interview, edited by Stephen Lyons
(Thanks to you both for providing this unique material)
Assorted old articles
several articles, some unidentified
Other materials on the Web
Clara Kimball Young
By Karen Ward Mahar in the Women Film Pioneers Project
Interview with Clara Kimball Young
By Ray W. Frohman in the Los Angeles Herald, October 29, 1919, reprinted in Taylorology #36
Excerpts from Clara Kimball Young's 1921 diary
Transcribed by Matt McKnight on the Diary File website
Short biography on Golden Silents
"How I Broke Into the Business"
By Edward M. Kimball (Clara's Father), from "Hey Rube, 1933
on the Wisconsin Electronic Reader
Short biography on Silents Are Golden
Short biography on Find A Grave
The First One Hundred Noted Men and Women of the Screen
by Carolyn Lowrey (1920) includes an article on Clara Kimball Young
Links to other general silent film sites
Alt.movies.silent FAQ
Great source of basic information from the alt.movies.silent newsgroup, including links to other silent film sites
Lots of information on silent films, including star profiles, pictures, and video reviews
Silent-movies.org
A wonderful suite of sites edited by David Pearson, including the photogalleries Silent Ladies and Silent Gents, Arbuckemania, and Taylorology, the Blue Book Book of the Screen (1923), and others
The American Film Institute catalog of motion pictures produced in the United States : Silent Films
The online version of the AFI catalog contains information about silent features, plus some short films up to 1911. There is also members' only access to catalog entries on sound features.
Media History Digital Library
Scans of extensive runs of several important trade journals and fan magagazines including Moving Picture World, Photoplay, Wids/Film Daily, and others.
The Women Film Pioneers Project
Articles on women filmmakers of the silent era, edited by Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta,
The Silent Film Bookshelf
Original documents from the silent film era, edited by David Pierce
Glen Pringle's Silent Movies
Silent star of the month, links to silent film interest groups, and lots of links to other silent film sites
Silents are Golden
Nice features, lots of vintage reviews, great list of silent films on video.
The Silent Film Still Archive
An ever-growing collection of fascinating film stills of the silent era
Silent Era
A new, but growing, site with information and reviews on silents on DVD and VHS, information about stars, book reviews, and Presumed Lost, a preliminary listing of lost films
100 Years of Hollywood and the Stars of 1910 to 2010
A nice new site by film historian William Drew on the movie stars of the 1910s.
Golden Silents
A nice new site featuring biographical information on many stars, tinted photos, film clips
Gilda's Blue Book of the Screen
Great articles on Silent Film, as well as lots of links
Welcome to Silent Movies
Features, calendars, and assorted facts on the silent film era
Created and maintained by Greta de Groat
Photos from the author's collection unless otherwise noted
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
Special contents © 2001
Last revised, March 3, 2024