Nowadays there is a lot of ignorance about silent movies. People tend to believe that, in the early 1920s, movies were silent because the actors who played them were dumb. The reality is quite different. Actors of that time could speak, but not in public. It was a very unique case that required the intervention of Sigmund Freud at the request of Jack Warner from the Warner Bros. Ramon Novarro, Mary Pickford, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Rudolph Valentino, Lillian Gish and a long etcetera underwent intensive psychotherapy for three years in a row at Freud’s office in Sacramento, where he had established his medical practice. Freud’s diagnosis (equinophobia, or psychological fear of horses) did not satisfy Warner, who asked for his money back.
SILLY HUMOR FOR SMART PEOPLE 