Some quotes from The Grove Book of Hollywood anthology edited by Christopher Silvester helps to put things in historical perspective. Dancer and choreographer Agnes DeMille (niece of Cecil B. DeMille) once said "Hollywood was merely a country town, like many in the East, with palms instead of maples and chestnuts. The hills, though steep, were plain colored. The people were just ordinary." She even described how there were still cowboys who, "kept largely to themselves."

British actress Constance Collier added "Hollywood was still a village, with farms that had not yet been built over, and the surly farmers were furious at the advent of the picture folk." In a similar vain, screenwriter Lenore Coffee wrote "In 1919 Hollywood was a village. Hollywood Boulevard could have been any Main Street in America."

With this, Hollywood was hardly a romantic and opulent place in its infancy. Such was the character of Hollywood in its formative years. There were no agents and it was normal for employees to offer their insights to the director. What Hollywood lacked in panache it made up in the family surroundings it fostered. In many ways, this unassuming and humble reality resonated well with a Canadian mindset.

And so it is with DeMille's ,Collier's and Coffee's Hollywood, Canadians were poised to leave their mark; earn their stars they did.

Notable figures during this time included the tragic lives of Marie Prévost and Florence Lawrence 'America's First Movie Star.' This period brought Canada's only three female Academy Award Winners: Norma Shearer in 1930 and Marie Dressler in 1931. Mary Pickford - 'arguably the most famous person who ever lived' - won this country's first award in 1929. A powerful figure and co-founder of United Artists, Pickford was known as 'America's sweetheart.'