Stage Kiss - Goodman Theatre

IN THE ALBERT
Reel vs. Real: Iconic Kisses
on the Silver Screen
By Steve Scott
Whether it signifies the beginning of a
romance, the consummation of an illicit
affair or a death sentence pronounced by
a Mafia Don, the kiss is one of the most
common and most intimate human interactions
found in popular entertainment,
providing audiences with some of their
favorite memories—and sometimes, as
in Sarah Ruhl’s play Stage Kiss, leading
to unanticipated results off camera as
well. Here is a look back at some of the
most memorable stage and screen kisses
of the recent past.
Jersey studio. Although it lasted a scant
20 seconds, the sequence caused an
immediate sensation, with critics and
civic leaders expressing outrage. Critic
Herbert Stone wrote, “Neither participant
is physically attractive and the
spectacle of their prolonged pasturing
on each other’s lips was hard to beat
when only life size. Magnified to gargantuan
proportions…it is absolutely
disgusting!” Perhaps inevitably, The Kiss
became the Edison Company’s most
popular release of the year.
was condemned as morally objectionable
by some, audiences flocked to see
what would be Valentino’s last role;
he collapsed at the New York premiere
of the film and died several days later.
Despite a personal life at odds with his
screen persona (his two divorces led to
rumors of sexual ambiguity), Valentino’s
impassioned clinch with Bánky remains
one of the most potent images of lust
from the silent era.
THE CLASSIC KISS:
GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
The pairing of screen icon Clark Gable
and little-known British actress Vivien
Leigh proved to be box office magic
in this epic Civil War romance, which
reigned for decades as Hollywood’s
most successful film. The most dis-
THE SCANDALOUS KISS:
THE KISS (1896)
The first kiss recorded on film originated
on the Broadway stage in a
musical comedy entitled The Widow
Jones. In the second act of the play,
the show’s stars, May Irwin and John
C. Rice, engaged in a lingering smooch
that caught the attention of Thomas
Edison’s company, which had recently
purchased the rights to a motion picture
projector known as the Vitaphone.
To showcase his new product, Edison
filmed Irwin and Rice’s kiss in his New
THE EXOTIC KISS:
THE SON OF THE SHEIK (1926)
As the first truly legendary lover of the
screen, Rudolph Valentino inflamed the
libidos of millions of female moviegoers
in such period melodramas as The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and
The Sheik (both 1921). But his most
notorious love scene came in the sequel
The Son of the Sheik, in which the hotblooded
title character forced himself
upon the alluring kidnapped dancer
Yasmin (Vilma Bánky), exclaiming, “For
once, your kisses are free!” Although it
“A kiss is a lovely trick designed by
nature to stop speech when words
become superfluous.”
—Ingrid Bergman
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