Walk of Fame Movies: Lights of New York and Helene Costello

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Cullen Landis and Helene Costello in Lights of New York.
Helene Costello, Wheeler Oakman, and Gladys Brockwell in Lights of New York

Lights of New York is the first “all-talking” picture. Other movies had synchronized sections, but this is the first one that synchronized the whole movie. It’s a pretty terrible movie, but that’s no surprise. Most of the effort probably went into capturing sound, and it was probably very expensive to do multiple takes or camera angles; it’s full of stiff, unbroken scenes.

Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Helene Costello's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the right, a black and white portrait photo of Helene Costello.

Helene Costello (1500 Vine Street) is another casualty of the jump from silent films to talkies. She’s buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Calvary Cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles. And she wasn’t related to Lou Costello, but he claimed he changed his last name to Costello to honor her.

Today’s fake poster is based on one from a different story of New York.

A fake poster for Lights of New York mimicking the poster for Escape from New York.
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