TCM's Star of the Month for February 2023 is Marion Davies, quite an unusual choice (they've rarely had silent stars as Star of the Month) and yesterday started off with two of her best, the pair of comedies she did with King Vidor as director: THE PATSY and SHOW PEOPLE. Both films showcase her talents magnificently, and THE PATSY also puts her gift for mimicry on full display, when she pretends to be Lillian Gish, Mae Murray, and Pola Negri. Her impersonations of those three movie queens were amazing, because she's not relying on vocal tricks, but has to embody those women with her body and face. And Marion Davies does it, she gets the delicate little moues Lillian Gish used to establish her characters' vulnerability, the full-bodied lurching that Pola Negri employed when her characters were stomping into a scene, and the self-enraptured bee-stung pout that was Mae Murray's stock in trade. One oddity (at least for me): i thought this would be a perfect occasion for Ben Mankiewicz to introduce the whole Star of the Month series, since his family (his grandfather, in fact) had so much to do with the reputation (or its tarnishing) of Marion Davies, by writing details of her life (such as her love of jigsaw puzzles) into the script of CITIZEN KANE. But if TCM is doing Marion Davies, could other silent stars (such as Gloria Swanson) be far behind?