Silent Film Quarterly Issue 8

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The Silent Film Quarterly ——————————————————————————

Volume II, Issue 4 Summer 2017

Table of Contents Editor’s Message

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Lewis Walker

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Lea Stans

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Annette Bochenek

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Silents In Review

San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2017

Claire Inayat Williams

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Lost But Not Forgotten

Lewis Walker

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Charles Epting

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Departments: Coming Attractions

A Roundup of New Releases

Silent-ology

Enchanted Images: Georges Méliès and the Féerie

Hometowns to Hollywood

From Piqua to Hollywood: Buster Keaton’s Birthplace

The Mountain Eagle (1927)

Original Features: Who Was Ricardo Cortez?:

An Interview with Author and Historian Dan Van Neste

Silent Serial Stunt Women:

Larry Telles

Daredevils Without A Net

Murray Leinster & His Silent Films: Wenllian J. “Billee” Stallings

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As Told By His Daughter

Classic Features: Don’ts to Screen-Struck Girls: Advice From A Screen Star

Mary Miles Minter

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The So-Called “Jazz Age”:

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Mrs. Wallace Reid

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The Problems Confronting Young People Today

Cross-Word Puzzle:

Originally published in The Universal Weekly, November 29, 1924

The Young Lady On The Cover:

A.W. Sobler

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Has Large And Varied Collection In Which She Takes Great Pride ————————————————————————————————— .

Editor’s Message The second year of Silent Film Quarterly has come to an end!

I was speaking with one of my columnists recently, and I realized that I’ve called every issue so far my favorite. It sounds trite, then, for me to say that this is my favorite issue yet.

However, I genuinely do feel that Issues 7 and 8 are the most varied, interesting editions of Silent Film Quarterly yet. As I was preparing this issue, I realized I needed one more original article to really round it out—and out of the blue, Ms. Billee Stallings sends me an email informing me that her father was famed science fiction author Murray Leinster, and she has an article ready about the silent films he wrote. Serendipity, fate—whatever you call it, it’s the little things like this that have made the first two years of the magazine such a joy.

I’d like to briefly explain the final article in this issue, which appears on page 52. My full-time profession is the postage stamp business, and I love any connections I am able to make between stamps and silent films. A dear friend of mine, Cheryl Ganz (former curator of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, amongst countless other titles and accolades) was researching a project of her own when she came across an article about Corinne Griffith’s stamp collection. As someone whose life revolves around these two topics, I thought it was too perfect not to include. This is almost certainly the first time anyone has read it since it was originally published 99 years ago.

With that, I’m off to begin planning Issue 9. Thank you to everyone who has helped make these first two years such a success.

Your editor, Charles Epting

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Write for Silent Film Quarterly!

Want to write for Silent Film Quarterly? The magazine is always looking for interesting original content about the silent era, including feature articles and reviews of silent films.

Please contact the editor at charleseptingauthor@gmail.com if interested or for more information.

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Coming Attractions: A Roundup of New Releases

by Lewis Walker So far this year we have seen a bumper crop of silent films being released on bluray, and only being half-way through the calendar year leaves me hopeful for the remaining 6 months. Recently there have been some very exciting announcements of upcoming films getting the restoration and releases they deserve.

To begin with, the end of June sees a Hitchcock classic being re-released on bluray by Criterion. The Lodger (1927) is widely considered as Hitchcock’s first masterpiece of the craft he mastered, set in London it tells the story of a landlady who suspects her new lodger is a killer, not unlike Jack

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the Ripper. The use of the camera is masterful, and shows how easily Hitchcock could bring the suspense and horror from his later work to silent cinema. Also included is another Hitchcock/Ivor Novello collaboration called Downhill (1927) and is a greta opportunity to see two Hitchcock silent’s presented in the impeccable way Criterion manage each time. What’s always exciting is that Criterion have not been as prolific as other distributors in releasing silent films, and while I understand that Hitchcock is very mainstream, it does bode well for more silent films to be released this way.

F licker Alley continue a truly phenomenal year with a 2K restoration of The Lost World from 1925. Presented here is the most complete version up to this date, drawing on newly found footage. The film was premiered at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and a snippet was released through the Flicker Alley showing a beautifully blue tinted scene of the stop animation dinosaur chasing Wallace Beery and co through a jungle. It also includes a newly commissioned score by Robert Israel, which is also cause for celebration. This is truly a really exciting release, and if its half as good as I expect it to be this could be potentially the best release of the year. Flicker Alley continue to release important and exciting films and if they continue in this vein will have a very large and influential catalog to rival other distributors like Criterion.

Serials were an integral part of silent cinema, enticing the audience back again and again to see how the story would continue.

What’s unfortunate about the serials is that it’s extremely hard to find a complete story, as some parts have been lost or destroyed and to get a completed version is

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is no different. Next is Zaza (1923) starring Gloria Swanson and directed by Allan Dwan. I am a huge fan of Dwan’s work with Douglas Fairbanks, and being able to see him work with another heavyweight of silent cinema in Swanson is very exciting. This is the first time this particular film has been released in the United States and will showcase two heavyweights of silent cinema weaving an entertaining story of love in the jazz age!

Yet again we have an wide array of films presented on Blu-ray and DVD from exciting directors, stars and studios. If 2017 continues like this our libraries will ned considerable more room! I can’t wait to see what the likes of Kino Lorber and Flicker Alley have left for this year, and I’m sure we will be pleasantly surprised! extremely rare. Fortunately for us The Sprocket Vault have done just that and will be releasing The Mysterious Airman, a 10 part serial, for our viewing pleasure. This is an important release as its going to be a new type of silent film, and an interesting part of film history.

Clocking in at just over 200 minutes the set will be a great addition to any library.

Kino are releasing two new films, which are both very exciting!

First is a release that already created some excitement in England through the release from Eureka’s Masters of Cinema features Emil Jannings in Variete (1925). Jannings plays one part of a tiro of trapeze artists, in which a love triangle develops. Seeing any performance from Jannings is a masterclass in acting, and this film

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Enchanted Images: Georges Méliès and the Féerie

by Lea Stans There is much to love about the great film pioneer Georges Méliès. He was a technical wizard, a delightful performer, and an artist whose gorgeous work can still inspire awe. And charmingly, he was a man who believed in dreams, capturing many of them on the screen one handpainted set at a time.

Today, Méliès’s century-old-or-older films serve as reminders of an era more open to whimsy and wonder. They have a knack for taking us modern viewers out of our comfort zones, appearing so old-timey to our eyes that they could almost come from a different planet. Even as we enjoy the moving cardboard props and fantastical backgrounds, we have to remind ourselves to stop holding the films at arm’s length.

But to cinemagoers in Méliès’s own time, the filmmaker’s work was not only exceptional but also familiar. For as a matter of fact, his films were drawing upon a long history of theatrical enchantment– specifically, the French theater genre of the féerie.

The meaning of the term “féerie” is a combination of “fée,” or “fairy,” and “féer,” or “to enchant.”

The genre is little-known and littlediscussed today, but it’s key to

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understanding Méliès’s distinct style—and the style of other filmmakers as well.

Thought to have largely developed in the early 1800s, it actually drew upon the elaborate 16th and 17th century ballets commissioned by European courts. Based on fairytales and mythology, some of these ballets were several hours long and were performed at Versailles and other not-tooshabby locations.

These luxurious ballets featured more than just dancing, but also pantomime, tableaux, singing, and stage magic.

Designers created fanciful costumes that were sometimes so elaborate that they restricted actors’ movements. The plots, which grew increasingly thinner as the focus shifted to spectacle, featured fairies, witches, imps, gnomes, gods and goddesses galore. It was an honor to write and design these elaborate shows, and big names such

Court ballet at Versailles, 1600s.

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A Trip to the Moon (1902)

as Molière and Voltaire would try their hand at them.

After the French Revolution, as the Romantic Movement was taking hold, theater began to focus on pleasing the bourgeoisie. One of the most popular forms of light entertainment was the whimsical and elaborate féerie, child of the former opulent court ballets. The first official féerie we can point to was Le Pied de mouton (The Sheep’s Foot), written by Alphonse Martainville and first staged on December 6, 1806. It was the model for all the plays that followed throughout the 19th century: hero Guzman goes on a quest to rescue his lover Leonora from a villain, and encounters many obstacles and strange sights along the way. It wasn’t too far removed from today’s road films, but was more in favor of fantasy and the timeless showdown of good vs evil.

As you might guess, the framework of a Le Pied de mouton-style plot left room for as much spectacle as possible. Designers were free to make as many beautiful settings as their budgets allowed, and writers could come up with any surreal scenarios their hearts desired. Magicians went to work creating eye-popping illusions (characters transforming into different beings were especially popular). Actors had the fun of portraying nymphs, fairies, devils, wizards and other supernatural beings. As the focus on scenery and special effects grew more

pronounced, plots dwindled away to near nothingness. The overall goal of these plays was to capture the childlike wonder of dreams, to present lovely and oftentimes thrilling escapes for their audiences.

Soon, the genre spread from the theaters of France to English and U.S. stages, becoming equally as familiar as melodrama, opera, and vaudeville. Theater critic Théophile Gautier wrote in 1869: What a charming summer spectacle is a féerie! That which doesn’t demand any attention and unravels without logic, like a dream that we make wide awake…a symphony of forms, of colours and of lights…The characters, brilliantly clothed, wander through a perpetually changing series of tableaux, panic-stricken, stunned, running after each other, searching to reclaim the action which goes who knows where; but what does it matter! The dazzling of the eyes is enough to make for an agreeable evening.

At the end of the 19th century theater owner Méliès was a prominent part of the French entertainment scene. Having grown up in Paris near many theaters that put on féerie plays, he was well acquainted with the genre and had a certain fondness for the “marvelous.” Once he turned filmmaker he began to stage elaborate fantasies, capturing the charm of the féerie while

The Silent Film Quarterly・!7 adding his own artistic stamp. French audiences would’ve recognized his use of trap doors, moving scenery, tableaux and costumed chorus girls as familiar féerie staples.

Other filmmakers would make féerieinspired plays as well—Segundo de Chomón is a notable example--but few could match the ingenuity of Méliès. He took to the genre like a fish to water, filling film after film with dancing imps, grinning moons and constellations represented by beautiful women. He countered the limitations of silent film by ramping up the fantasy with frequent special effects and gleefully exaggerated acting (exaggerated even for the era). While he made many “ t r i c k ” fi l m s , d r a m a s a n d e v e n documentaries, his fairytales are probably

what many of us associate with the Méliès name today.

His féerie masterpiece is probably The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903). It’s a gorgeous work of art with all the detail of a Baroque church, featuring intricate trompe l’oeil sets, cardboard whales, and chariots pulled by painted cardboard fish. Other notable fantastical films by Méliès include The Astronomer’s Dream (1898), A Trip to the Moon (1902), A Grandmother’s Story (1908), and The Merry Frolics of Satan (1906).

The féerie’s influence on 19th and early 20th century pop culture is the key to understanding not just fairytale films, but many classic works of literature and art.

Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is a féerie-ballet.

The writings of Lewis Carroll and J.M. Barrie were very much in the vein of the

The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903)

The Mermaid (1904)

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The Palace of the Arabian Nights (1905)

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Under the Seas (1906)

féerie. Jules Verne even tried his hand at writing one in his 1881 novel Journey Through the Impossible. Winsor McCay’s stunning Little Nemo comics are much indebted to the genre’s imaginative possibilities, and so on and so forth.

Just a little knowledge of the oftensurreal féerie genre can also clear up rumors about “symbolism” and “allegories” in some creators’ work. Since the 1960s, for instance, L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has often been called an allegory of the populist movement, mainly because his work seemed too fantastical to simply be a straightforward fairytale.

However, his book (which he clearly stated “was written solely to please children of today,”) is very much the Americanized offspring of European féerie. When Baum’s

The Wizard of Oz was turned into a musical spectacle in 1902, the director’s choice to include songs and elaborate dance numbers was in the tradition of féerie plays.

And might I add that Larry Semon’s oftenderided The Wizard of Oz suddenly seems a little less strange when you know the context he was working with!

I’d say it’s no accident that folks who explore silent films are drawn to Georges Méliès’s fairytale work. It may be very “of its time,” but that’s the beauty of it. It can serve as an unabashedly naive escape no matter what the troubles or foibles of each new generation. Today, it’s a particularly refreshing antidote to today’s trend of “gritty realism” and the general lack of surrealism in most mainstream films, not to speak of the lack of romanticism.

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childhood.” And thankfully for us, the poetry he saw in those childhood féerie plays has been forever preserved in his indispensable films.

The Merry Frolics of Satan (1906)

Méliès’s granddaughter would later say of him: “It is not surprising that today we discover the freshness and the enchantment of his work, for he remained very close to his dreams and the poetry of his

Sources: Fell, John L., ed. Film Before Griffith. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1983.

Moen, Kristian. Film and Fairy Tales: The Birth of Modern Fantasy. London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2013.

Zipes, Jack. The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films. New York: Routledge, 2011.

Lea Stans is a film historian who runs the blog Silent-ology. A version of this article has appeared on her site. https://silentology.wordpress.com

A Grandmother’s Story (1908)

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From Piqua to Hollywood: Buster Keaton’s Birthplace

by Annette Bochenek When I think of the key comedians of the Silent Era, three key actors come to mind: Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton. Each of these comics possessed a distinct style and has left behind a unique legacy. This particular article focuses on the Buster Keaton’s life and career, and offers a discussion of his legacy today.

Paired with amazing physical abilities and a great “stone face,” Keaton continues to be revered as an early silent film pioneer.

Buster Keaton was born Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton in Piqua, Kansas, when his Vaudevillian parents were passing

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through the small town. He was named “Joseph” to continue a tradition on his father’s side and “Frank” for his maternal grandfather. His father was Joseph Hallie “Joe” Keaton, who owned a traveling show with Harry Houdini called the Mohawk Indian Medicine Company, which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. His mother was Myra Keaton.

Keaton acquired the nickname “Buster” at about 18 months of age. In an interview with Fletcher Markle, Keaton once shared that Houdini was present one day when the young Keaton fell down a flight of stairs without injury. After Keaton sat up and recovered quickly, Houdini remarked, “That was a real buster!” The word “buster” was referred to a spill or a

The Silent Film Quarterly・!11 fall that had the potential to yield injuries.

After this, it was Keaton’s father who began to use the nickname to refer to the youngster. Keaton retold the anecdote over the years, although its validity is suspected to be Hollywood lore.

When Keaton was three years old, he began performing with his parents in “The Three Keatons,” making his stage debut in 1899 in Wilmington, Delaware. The act is best classified as a rousing comedy sketch.

Myra played the saxophone to one side, while Joe and Buster performed in the center of the stage. As part of the act, the young Keaton would annoy his father by disobeying him, and the elder Keaton would react by throwing him against the scenery, into the orchestra pit, or even into the audience. In fact, a suitcase handle was sewn into Keaton’s clothing to aid in his constantly being tossed about. The family act evolved as Keaton learned how to perform his pratfalls safely, and he was seldom injured or bruised on stage as a result. This knockabout style of comedy often led to accusations of child abuse, and occasionally, arrest. Nevertheless, Buster Keaton was always able to demonstrate to the authorities that he had no bruises or broken bones and that he was not being mistreated in the act. Consequently, Keaton was eventually billed as “The Little Boy Who Can’t Be Damaged,” with the overall act being advertised as “‘The Roughest Act That Was Ever in the History of the Stage.”

Decades later, Keaton reflected upon the act and stated that he was never hurt by his father. The falls and physical comedy he portrayed were a matter of proper and careful technical execution, which would serve as excellent training for the stunts he later carried out throughout his film career.

Moreover, Keaton had found a passion in performing onstage. In interviews, Keaton would reminisce about his family act and claim he was having so much fun that he would sometimes begin laughing as his father threw him across the stage. However,

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Keaton noticed that his laughter during the act drew fewer laughs from the audience; therefore, he adopted his famous deadpan expression whenever he was working. His trademark stoicism in the face of absurd situations would become a key feature in his style of comedy.

Keaton served in the United States Army in France with the 40th Infantry Division during World War I. His unit remained together and was not divided up to provide replacements, as happened to some other late-arriving divisions.

Unfortunately, he suffered an ear infection during this period, which affected his hearing significantly.

In February 1917, Keaton met Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle at the Talmadge Studios in New York City. He was hired as a co-star and made his first appearance The Butcher Boy. Here, Keaton was expected to carry out various gags, and he was able to do so with panache. As a result, Keaton claimed that he was soon Arbuckle’s second director and his entire gag department. In total, Keaton appeared in 14 Arbuckle shorts, which were very popular. In contrast to Keaton’s later reputation as “The Great Stone Face,” he often smiled and even laughed in these shorts. During this period, Keaton and Arbuckle became close friends as they continued of various projects together. In fact, Keaton would be one of few people to defend Arbuckle’s character while various accusations claimed that Arbuckle was responsible for the death of actress Virginia Rappe.

In 1920, Keaton enjoyed his first starring role in a full-length feature film, per the recommendation of Douglas Fairbanks. This film, The Saphead, launched Keaton’s film career and proved his ability to carry out lead roles. After Keaton’s successful work with Arbuckle, studio executive Joseph Schenck granted him his own production unit: Buster Keaton Comedies. In response, Keaton was able to make a series of two-reel comedies, i n c l u d i n g O n e We e k ( 1 9 2 0 ) , T h e

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Playhouse (1921), Cops (1922), and The Electric House (1922). Afterwards, Keaton moved to producing full-length feature films.

Some of Keaton’s most enduring f e a t u r e - l e n g t h fi l m s i n c l u d e O u r H o s p i t a l i t y ( 1 9 2 3 ) , The Navigator (1924), Sherlock Jr. (1924), Seven Chances (1925), The Cameraman (1928), The General (1926), and Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928).

Keaton would later work in films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, though he was not offered roles that were particularly advantageous to his career. Additionally, Keaton and make transitions into both sound and television. In fact, audiences can hear Keaton speak in Speak Easily (1932) and In the Good Old Summertime (1949), among several other films. However, his

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most memorable works are arguably his iconic silent roles.

Today, the rural town of Piqua, Kansas, holds a very small tribute to Buster Keaton in the form of a museum housed in the Rural Water District Office at 302 S. Hill Street. The museum is free and houses artifacts, pictures, and promotional materials related to Buster’s career.

Nearby, the town of Iola, Kansas, h o l d s a n A n n u a l B u s t e r Ke a t o n Celebration. The festival began in 1993 and has been attended by Buster’s widow, Eleanor Keaton; Keaton’s granddaughter, Melissa Talmadge Cox; and Keaton’s daughter-in-law, Barbara Talmadge. The Annual Buster Keaton Celebration features a museum tour, lectures from various scholars, as well as film screenings. The Annual Buster Keaton Celebration is held

The Silent Film Quarterly・!13 at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center, located at 205 E. Madison Avenue. This year–2017– marks the centennial of Buster’s entrance into the film industry. Unfortunately, the celebration’s Facebook page holds that 2017 will be the last year of the Annual Buster Keaton Celebration—at least in its original location of Iola, Kansas. The title of this year’s celebration [2017] is “Buster Keaton: Celebrating 100 Years of Laughter” and is scheduled for September 29th and 30th. For more information about the upcoming celebration, visit www.iolakeatoncelebration.org.

Interestingly, though Buster was born in Kansas, his family actually had strong ties to Muskegon, Michigan. The Actors Colony was formed by Joe Keaton and friends in 1908. The community flourished until 1938. Here, performers could relax in the peaceful setting and enjoy nature before hitting the road again. In his autobiography, My Wonderful World of Slapstick, Buster contended, “The best summers of my life were spent in the cottage Pop had built on Lake Muskegon in 1908.” Buster’s family would vacation in their cottage, which was in close proximity to other cottages owned by fellow actors.

Buster would return to his family’s cottage several times throughout his life.

The Keatons’ cottage stood at 1579 Edgewater. Not far from the location of the Keaton cottage is Keaton Court, aptly named after the Keaton family. Buster’s father carved his name as well as his wife’s name into the wall of the cottage. The original structure was razed and rebuilt in the 1950s.

Muskegon also hosts another item that stands as tribute to Buster’s legacy: a statue. A life-sized bronze statue of Buster Ke at o n , by s c u l p t o r Emmanuel Snitkovsky, once stood outside of the

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Hollywood Entertainment Museum. Upon the museum’s closure, the statue was moved to Muskegon and unveiled in its new location on June 30, 2010. Today, the statue stands outside of the Frauenthal Center of the Performing Arts, located at 425 W. Western Avenue #200.

Visitors are encouraged to take a walking tour of the former Actors Colony, especially during the well-attended Annual Buster Keaton “Damfinos” Convention.

This convention is organized by the International Buster Keaton Society, which is well-attended by the society’s members or “Damfinos” and non-members alike.

Here, Keaton fans can enjoy various lectures on Keaton’s life and career, view several of his films with live organ accompaniment, and enjoy guided tours of locations in Muskegon that were pertinent to Keaton’s life. This year’s Annual Buster Keaton Convention is scheduled for October 6th, 7th, and 8th. To learn more information and view a schedule of events for this year’s Damfinos Convention, please visit the International Buster Keaton Society’s website at www.busterkeaton.com.

As evidenced by the many exciting tributes and events continuing to this day, Buster Keaton continues to be beloved by film fans—even 100 years after his entrance into the film industry.

Visit Annette Bochenek’s Hometowns to Hollywood at home2hollywood.wordpress.com.

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Silents in Review: San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2017

by Claire Inayat Williams

・・・ Silent Film Quarterly contributor Claire Inayat Williams attended the 2017 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, which included an eclectic and historically significant array of films—once again proving that this is the premier event for silent film aficionados in the United States.

Get Your Man (1927) Release date: December 7, 1927 Director: Dorothy Arzner Cast: Clara Bow as Nancy Worthington, Charles “Buddy” Rogers as Robert de Bellecontre, Josef Swickard as Duc de Bellecontre, Josephine Dunn as

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Simone de Villeneuve, Harvey Clark as Marquis de Villeneuve, Frances Raymond as Mrs. Worthington ・・・ Dorothy Arzner—feminist icon, inventor of the boom mic, director of strong and brilliant women—helms this charming rom-com as deftly as anyone ever has. Get Your Man was Arzner’s third film, and while she had been skirting Hollywood for many years learning everything she could about the business and the craft, 1927 marked her first behind the camera.

She tended to lean more towards darker material throughout her career, and even though the film is a much lighter affair than later work, her expert direction shines through the films’ two stars with ease.

Clara Bow, all at once both a graceful, natural beauty and one tough cookie, and Charles “Buddy” Rogers, the ultimate boynext-door, sweet, charming, and husband to “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford

The Silent Film Quarterly・!15 (as of 1937). Rogers, lovingly dubbed a Boy Scout on and off the screen and often referred to as “America’s Boyfriend,” inexplicably plays a French nobleman named Robert Albin, who has been betrothed to the daughter of a high standing family since childhood. One day, while out gallivanting around Paris, he bumps (literally) into Nancy Worthington (Bow), a wealthy American on holiday.

When one meet cute isn’t enough why not three? The two meet again while touring a wax museum and become so engrossed with each other they accidentally get locked in after hours. Come morning, Robert confesses his upcoming nuptials and the two part ways. But Nancy is not one to take that kind of news lying down.

She follows him home, pretends to get in a horrible car accident, and promptly infiltrates the family as their invalid guest.

Nancy effortlessly proceeds to win the heart of everyone there (she is played by Bow after all), including but not limited to her man. Get Your Man is a delightful and beautifully restored little love story, commanded by a legendary director and two darling paragons of 1920s American youth.

Body and Soul (1925) Release date: November 9, 1925 Director: Oscar Micheaux Cast: Paul Robeson as Reverend Isaiah T. Jenkins/His brother Sylvester, Mercedes Gilbert as Sister Martha Jane, Julia Theresa Russell as Isabell, Lawrence Chenault as Yello-Curley Hinds ・・・ Prolific director of “race films” Oscar Micheaux had to cut his Body and Soul to bits in attempts to appease censor boards.

If they didn’t have a problem with the less than complimentary portrayal of a Protestant minister, they took issue with the drinking and the gambling. Some cities just rejected the film outright, while others

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agreed to screen it if the intertitles were all changed. It went from nine-reels to seven, to five, with Micheaux himself traveling around the country acting as distributor.

Because of this, a significantly shorter version of the film exists today, but what’s important is that it does exist. With an all black cast under the guidance of a black director, we can free ourselves from the racial ignorance of the era and simply watch a well-crafted film. This freedom allowed for the character of Isabelle (Julia Theresa Russell)—in one title card referred to as “The Offering”—to tell her mother Martha Jane (Mercedes Gilbert), “Don’t say Nigah mama it’s vulgar.” It even sanctioned the portrayal of a minority in a negative light, in a film about minorities.

Straight from the stage actor Paul Robeson plays both a villainous escaped convict masquerading as the Right Rev. Isaiah T. Jenkins and his twin brother Sylvester, a kind, upstanding citizen and an educated man. The characters are an illustration of what Micheaux considered the only two life options for his race: crime or education.

While he was not the most innovative of directors, considering the limits he had to work within (not to mention the monstrously low budgets) the fact that we have this film at all is truly incredible. This screening was masterfully and memorably scored by DJ Spooky, whose original composition for the film seemed to combine all eras of African American influence on music.

The Informer (1929) Release date: October 17, 1929 Director: Arthur Robison Cast: Lya De Putti as Katie Fox, Lars Hanson as Gypo Nolan, Warwick Ward as Dan Gallagher, Carl Harbord as Francis McPhilip ・・・ An air of deep-seeded unease permeates this film with classic Film Noir

The Silent Film Quarterly・!16 shadows stretching across the bleak, deserted streets of Dublin. The Informer is based on a widely successful book of the same title by Liam O’Flaherty, which travels the aftermath of a malicious act by one member of a revolutionary group against another. Katie (Lya De Putti), heart as fickle as Romeo Montague’s, is the center of the films’ turmoil with the two central characters both vying for her affection. Jealous and wretched Gypo (Lars Hanson) infor ms on Francis (Carl Harbord), thinking his friend is trying to get in the way of his romance with Katie.

When other members of their organization discover what he has done, Gypo’s life begins to quickly deteriorate. As the reality and consequence of his action sets in, the film reflects his growing desperation through Hitchcockian attention to detail: a

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close-up of a knife, a record player, a most important letter almost not making it into the postbox, a strategically placed Guinness bottle, an almost empty pint glass rocking on top of a pianola as the keys vigorously dance, the gentle brush of a hand, a creepily placed reflection of a mannequin, and the painfully slow panning of a police searchlight looking for its target. The drama is punctuated by scenes lush with stillness. In one particularly striking moment, Gypo walks through a crowd gathered around Francis’ mourning mother. There is barely any other movement, and as he weaves through the stationary grieving masses he seems to be disconnected from humanity itself. While much less discussed than John Ford’s 1935 remake, Robison’s The Infor mer is a beautifully filmed exploration of passion and guilt.

Filibus (1915) Release date: April 14, 1915 Director: Mario Roncoroni Cast: Cristina Ruspoli as Filibus, Mario Mariani, Giovanni Spano, Filippo Vallino ・・・ Con-Artist Air Pirate. With much s o u l - s e a r c h i n g a n d fi n a l l y resignation, I’ve come to accept that nothing I do in life will ever sound as cool as the job description of Filibus’s title character. Mario Roncoroni’s 1915 action film is an absolute riot, eccentric and insane in the best possible way. It brings to mind many questions for the viewer; such as how does a zeppelin-to-land telephone actually work? How many times can you safely sedate someone, really? We are let into the big secret right away, the audience knows the many faces of Filibus

The Silent Film Quarterly・!17 (Cristina Ruspoli) but her identity is a mystery to everyone in the film. So, who is she? The lovely and regal Baroness Troixmonde, or the debonair Count de la Brive? She is both, and also neither. It is the kind of lovely little picture where everyone sort of messes around with each other, for the most part all in good fun.

With no one to root for or against, you can just relax and laugh at (or with) everybody.

The fun and fantastical effects and sets are endearingly low budget, but it suits the tone of the film perfectly. There is the tantalizing hint of a sequel at the end, but Italy declared war just several months after Filibus was released and the company went out of business. Sadly, it is very difficult to find any information about Cristina Ruspoli after 1916. This film could easily be considered groundbreaking and it is certainly a far cry from your average content of the era; many call Filibus cinema’s first lesbian and crossdresser, and she is inarguably a dynamic and intriguing character. But its historical significance aside, the film is genuinely entertaining and just a whole lot of silver screen fun.

Kurutta Ippêji a.k.a. A Page of Madness (1926) Release date: September 24, 1926 Director: Teinosuke Kinugasa Cast: Masao Inoue as the custodian, Ayako Iijima as the custodian’s daughter, Yoshie Nakagawa as the custodian’s wife, Hiroshi Nemoto as the fiancé ・・・ It’s safe to say that in all my years as a devoted cinephile I have never seen anything quite like Teinosuke Kinugasa’s avant-garde A Page of Madness. It is, to put it mildly, deeply unsettling. We loosely follow the plight of a man (Masuo Inoue) who has taken a janitorial job at the insane asylum where his wife (Yoshie Nakagawa) was either committed many years before for trying to kill their infant daughter, or one

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year before for trying to kill their now grown daughter’s (Ayako Iijima) fiancé— depending on what source you research and your own interpretation. Filmed in a real insane asylum, it begins in the cell of an inmate frantically dancing with bloodied feet to music only she can hear.

The opening sequence cuts between this young dancer, manic and tormented, leaping herself to death in front of a gigantic spinning ball, to shots of relentless, cascading water. As her dancing gets faster and faster the film becomes more and more of a fever dream; the camera spins into spirals of light, superimposed images blend together, and the editing is as agitated as the patients. In another scene, the man hands out masks to all of the patients, creating a chaotic masquerade of hysterical and delirious intensity. The total lack of intertitles allows you to weave through the story with your own sense of madness, but the existing print may also have something to do with the conflicting plots. It is not the film that was released 91 years ago; unfortunately, nearly a third of the film is now long gone. A Page of Madness was an independently produced collaboration between some of the great geniuses of Japanese silent cinema. While it may be too far on the experimental spectrum for some audience members, it is a work of truly brilliant cinematic artistry, and unlike anything else you will see again.

Die Puppe a.k.a. The Doll (1919) Release date: December 5, 1919 Director: Ernst Lubitsch Cast: Ossi Oswalda as Ossi/The Doll, Victor Janson as Hilarius, Hermann Thimig as Lancelot, Max Kronert as Baron of Chanterelle ・・・ German Expressionism is one of my favorite cinematic movements, but I enjoyed Ernst Lubitsch’s The Doll even more than I expected to and can

The Silent Film Quarterly・!18 comfortably call it my favorite film of the festival. This is not your Grandmother’s German Expressionism. It opens with a 27year-old Ernst Lubitsch unpacking a set of wooden miniatures, carefully placing a house, tiny pond, and two little dolls in front of a painted forest. The dolls come to life, and the magically absurd story unfolds.

Hermann Thimig plays Lancelot, a lazy and spoiled young man whose uncle, the Baron von Chanterelle (Max Kronert), is desperate to marry him off. Lancelot is determined to do anything in his power to avoid this, which brings him to a glutinous monastery. The Monks encourage Lancelot to visit the workshop of Hilarius (Victor Janson), maker of lifelike mechanical doll women, for with his generous dowry they figure they can buy more food, naturally. At the doll maker’s we meet Ossi (Ossi Oswalda), the equally petulant but lovely daughter of Hilarius, and his child assistant (Gerhard Ritterband, who, I have to note, is a genuine comedic genius. He does his absolute best to not upstage everyone else in the film but barely succeeds, and in a film starring Oswalda—dubbed Europe’s

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Mary Pickford— that’s really saying something,). Lancelot buys the doll modeled after Ossi, and after accidentally walking out with the real girl instead, subsequently marries her. Lubitsch used Art Deco artwork and Expressionist angles to create a fractured fairytale world of most ridiculous fantasies; you’ll see Deco clowns and kitchen utensils painted onto the walls while a disapproving moon sneers down at an inappropriate kiss, Hilarius floating away with a bunch of balloons, even the carriage pulling horses are “dolls,” in the form of Vaudeville-style costume. If you know someone on the fence about silent film, The Doll is sure to convert them.

Silence (1926) Release date: April 25, 1926 Director: Rupert Julian Cast: Vera Reynolds as Norma Drake/ Norma Powers, H.B. Warner as Jim Warren, Raymond Hatton as Harry Silvers, Jack Mulhall as Arthur Lawrence, Rockliffe Fellowes as Phil Powers ・・・ It’s hard to imagine how a film produced by Cecil B. DeMille could ever be lost, but Silence was for many decades.

Newly and beautifully restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and Cinémathèque Française, its return was heralded at the 2017 SFSFF barely a month after the restoration was completed.

DeMille knew drama like the back of his hand (pressed against a distressed damsels forehead), and Silence is a classic example of the transition from stage to screen that was taking place throughout the 1900s. The film is adapted from a successful Broadway crime drama of the same title by Max Marcin, who would later go on to write, direct, and produce a 1931 talkie remake.

It follows Jim Warren (H.B. Warner), a man about to be hung for a crime he didn’t commit. Told in flashbacks, we learn that Jim made some bad choices in life and his

The Silent Film Quarterly・!19 line of work is not on the up and up. He’s in love with Norma (Vera Reynolds), but circumstance forces him to marry another woman. Norma, pregnant by Jim, agrees to marry well- intentioned Phil Powers (Rockliffe Fellows) so that her child will be not be born out of wedlock and she will not be ostracized. Years pass and are not kind to Jim; he is still very much in love with Norma and longs to know his young daughter—also named Norma (also played

by Vera Reynolds). Norma, Norma, and Phil are a very happy, comfortable family, and though it breaks his heart to do so, Jim decides it is best to leave them to their lives.

But no self-respecting DeMille film could end so plainly or without a scene of a beautiful woman engulfed in furs, sobbing heartily. Events spiral, guns are fired, but in the end gallantry, of course, prevails. Keep an eye out for a wonderfully surprising little stop-motion animation!

Terje Vigen a.k.a. A Man There Was (1917) Release date: January 29, 1917 Director: Victor Sjöström Cast: Victor Sjöström as Terje Vigen, Edith Erastoff as The Lady, August Falck as The Lord, Bergliot Husberg as Mrs. Vigen ・・・ Based on the poem by Henrik Ibsen, A Man There Was is the story of Terje Vigen (Victor Sjöström, who also directed), a happily married man and father to a beautiful little girl. They live a simple but pleasant life on a small island in Norway, their happiness hampered only by everdeclining food sources. Knowing it is illegal and extremely dangerous, Terje is eventually left with no choice but to take a small rowboat across the bay to Denmark to bring back food for his family. On the way home, he is captured by the stonehearted captain (August Falck) of a foreign ship and sent to prison in England.

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When he is finally released many years later he returns to the quaint coastal cottage where he once shared tender memories, only to find that his wife (Bergliot Husberg) and daughter have both tragically died without him there to care for them. Broken in spirit, mind, and body, Terje becomes a hermit, preferring to live in solitude with his grief, until one night he sees a British vessel being ravaged by a storm. He rushes to aid the passengers—a skipper, his wife (Edith Erastoff), and their young daughter—when he realizes that, in a twist of fate, he is facing none other than the man who arrested him and destroyed his life. He must now make a soul-defining decision: revenge, or forgiveness. The film boasted a comfortable budget of 60,000 Swedish crowns, at the time making it the most expensive Swedish film yet made.

Wi t h M at t i B ye ’s e t h e re a l s c o re, breathtaking photography (note a gorgeous shot of a black silhouetted Terje starring out to an orange horizon), and some of the most beautiful tinting I’ve personally ever seen, A Man There Was is a pinnacle of Swedish filmmaking.

The Lost World (1925) Release date: February 2, 1925 Director: Harry O. Hoyt Cast: Bessie Love as Paula White, Lewis Stone as Sir John Roxton, Lloyd Hughes as Edward Malone, Wallace Beery as Professor Challenger, Arthur Hoyt as Professor Summerlee, Alma Bennett as Gladys Hungerford ・・・ Henry O. Hoyt’s cinematic adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 novel The Lost World is a must see for fans of film, both silent and talkie alike. Heading up the notable cast and crew was Willis O’Brien, one of the leading pioneers of special effects and stop- motion animation…Tinsel Town’s first “monster man.” O’Brien, perhaps best known for his work on the

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. monsters have been constructed by pure cinema but of the highest kind.”

Wallace Beery is at his formidable best as Professor Challenger, who agrees to accompany the lovely young Paula White (Bessie Love) in her quest to find her missing explorer father. The journey takes them to a massive plateau, on the other side of which is a secret world of mystery and wonder.

As so often was the case, The Lost World suffered some at the hands of its distributors who cut the film virtually in half in 1929. The company originally filmed additional live-action scenes as insurance in case O’Brien’s footage wasn’t up to snuff, and when the special effects were cut into the film many of those other scenes were taken out which, alas, leaves t h e fi l m w i t h s o m e continuity gaps. But The Lost Wo r l d i s v i s u a l l y s o astounding, so masterfully executed, and so downright entertaining that you might not even notice.

1933 action epic King Kong, spent over a year with his wire and clay critters before the actors even stepped on the set. Stopmotion takes a steady and very patient hand, an entire day of work only yields an average of several seconds to a minute or two of footage, but O’Brien effectively created a world so remarkable that audiences were left wondering if Doyle had really discovered a hidden land of lost beasts. Doyle himself was very pleased with the film and wrote a praising note to his good friend Harry, saying: “My dear Houdini…the dinosaurs and other

The Three Musketeers (1921) Release date: August 28, 1921 Director: Fred Niblo C a s t : D o u g l a s Fa i r b a n k s a s D’Artagnan, Léon Bary as Athos, George Siegmann as Porthos, Eugene Pallette as Aramis, Boyd Irwin as Comte de Rochefort ・・・ We first meet Gascon D’Artagnan (Douglas Fairbanks) as he is about to leave home to make his mark in the world. He sits on the floor being lectured by his father

The Silent Film Quarterly・!21 and gazes up at the old man, face awash with adoration and mirth. He mounts his horse in a swift jump, only to deftly leap off again a second later to run back for one final embrace…and you know you’re in for some classic Fairbanks: sweet, cheeky, and gravity-defying stunts. D’Artagnan arrives in Paris, heart set on joining the King’s Musketeers. After proving himself against the less than trustworthy Cardinal Richelieu’s (Nigel De Brulier) men, he is taken under the swords of the three greatest fighters of all, Porthos (George Siegmann), Aramis (Eugene Pallette), and Athos (Léon Bary). Together, with the help of D’Artagnan’s servant Planchet (Charles Stevens), they fight to save France and the honor of the Queen from dark and damaging plots. The ornate quality of the film is balanced by simple yet purposeful details: D’Artagnan’s father letting a caged bird fly free as his son rides away, the King gripping a chess queen in rage, a harmful

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note passed on the sly, D’Artagnan tucking in his shirt to meet the Duke, passing food under the table to Panchet. The hats—oh, the wonderful hats—are a character in and o f t h e m s e l ve s a n d d e s e r ve s o m e recognition for their contribution to the film. Then thirty-eight-year-old Fairbanks was…slightly older than his character was meant to be (twenty-one), but consider that The Three Musketeers was merely the beginning of his career in grand action adventure films and his stunts suddenly seem even more impressive. With great gusto and what deceivingly appears to be great ease, watch him do a one-handed handspring to stab a villain and save a friend (which has become one of my personal favorite Fairbanks stunts), jump through windows, scale walls (and ships), fend off dozens of men, and, of course, get the girl. Niblo’s The Three Musketeers is, in the words of Fairbanks’ D’Artagnan, quite simply “Marvelous!”

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The Pleasure Garden produced in 1925 which is still thankfully available to watch.

The Mountain Eagle (1927) Unfortunately Hitchcock’s second film, The Mountain Eagle (released in the US as Fear

by Lewis Walker O’God), suffered a much worse fate.

Current estimations stand that nearly Hitchcock’s first two films were shelved to half of Hollywood films made before 1950 begin with due to the fact that Hitchcock are lost, meaning that all prints of the film had learned his craft in Germany, and with have either been destroyed, lost or the industry there being very expressive damaged beyond repair. Unfortunately the with camera angles and shadows he had number is much higher for silent films picked up some non-traditional habits that including some crucial films of actors, the distributors believed English audiences directors and studios that deserved to be would not enjoy, or understand. However seen. Starting here Silent Film Quarterly will Hitchcock’s third feature, The Lodger, was bring to light some of these lost films… released and was hugely successful. As a • • • result Hitchcock’s first films were quickly released to capitalize on the success of The In the 1920’s the British film industry Lodger, and The Mountain Eagle was released was struggling against the imports from in 1926 in Germany, and 1927 everywhere America, which were so frequent and well else. The story is a strange one that focuses made that it was impossible for Britain to on the loves and lives of mountain keep up. Thankfully a beacon of hope hillbillies living in Kentucky, focusing on emerged during this time that helped to jealousy, revenge and injustice. For an prolong the British film industry for years English director filming in Germany this is to come. Alfred Hitchcock was born and a strange story to undertake. The film raised in London and soon became starred Bernard Goetzke, Nita Naldi involved in the film industry, working his (playing a very uncharacteristic way up from title card designer to director. schoolteacher) and John Hamilton and was His first film made for Gainsborough was forced upon Hitchcock because he was still unproven as a director as a film directed by him had yet to be released. The production was in no way an easy, and Hitchcock had many trials to overcome to just finish the filming. The first of which was that due to the fact that Naldi was assigned to the picture to make it more accessible to american audiences.

Hitchcock rightly believed that the famous vamp would not be taken seriously as a wholesome school teacher and fought with the actress to change her style for the Hitchcock directing The Mountain Eagle. picture. This created a

Lost But Not Forgotten:

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The Players of The Mountain Eagle.

somewhat frosty relationship on set and was made even worse by the fact that Hitchcock became ill during the shoot and being in a foreign country (the film was shot in Germany) he found that it was impossible to get any kind of medical relief.

The reviews at the time were mixed, one of which acknowledged the skillful direction of Hitchcock but noted the story wasn't exactly the greatest saying that the plot had a lack of realism. Hitchcock himself seemed to have no problem with the fact it had been lost, saying it was ‘awful’, but for any film fanatic that enjoys watching a

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directors whole body of work this becomes rather more of a problem.

Biographer Donald Spotto actually raises the possibility that Hitchcock could have had something to do with the fact the film disappeared.

No prints of the film are thought to survive, and up until a few years ago there was little in the way of anything left to give an indication as to what the film might have included. In 2012 a set of photographs were discovered with some stills from the movie included, giving the slightest glimpse at what the viewer is missing. The BFI (British Film institute) has made it a top priority in terms of finding the film which holds little surprise, and is actively seeking any trials that might lead to the film. The BFI concede that the film itself probably will not be a masterpiece, but as Hitchcock was a master of the craft and the reviews of the time praised his direction i’m sure that the film would be a valuable to all film fans. The chances of finding anything from this film is highly unlikely, and will forever leave a hole in the master of suspense’s body of work.

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Who Was Ricardo Cortez?: An Interview with Author and Historian Dan Van Neste

by Charles Epting Who was Ricardo Cortez? Dan Van Neste poses this question in the introduction to his book, The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Films of Ricardo Cortez.

Despite the fact that his career intersected with D.W. Griffith, Lon Chaney, and Greta Garbo, Ricardo Cortez is by no means a household name. After reading Dan Van Neste’s The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Films of Ricardo Cortez, you will likely be frustrated by that fact. Indeed, Van Neste’s book describes the life of a man who should be ranked amongst Hollywood’s greatest stars, yet for a myriad of reasons is never considered such. It is somewhat sur prising—although not entirely unexpected—that no one has ever chronicled the life of Cortez previously.

Thankfully for fans of classic cinema, Van Neste’s book perfectly fills this void.

The Magnificent Heel avoids the common pitfall of including too much material.

While some biographies are bogged down with an excessive number of film reviews or interview excerpts, Van Neste has managed to craft a book that is both easy to read and expertly-footnoted. With a career as long as Cortez’s, it is refreshing that The Magnificent Heel is still a manageable length. I comment Van Neste’s restraint in this regard—sometimes less truly is more.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of a good biography is a well-researched filmography, and it is in this regard that The Magnificent Heel is the most valuable to film historians.

The last section of the book is so well-done that it ensures that The Magnificent Heel will frequently remain within arm’s reach while working on other projects. In the short time I have owned the book, I have already consulted the filmography a number of

times. For that alone, it is a necessity for every serious film library.

In conclusion, The Magnificent Heel is not only a fitting tribute to Ricardo Cortez, but also an incredible look at Hollywood in the 1920s and 30s. Parallels can be seen between Cortez and a number of other actors—personally, I found it fascinating how Cortez’s rise at Paramount mirrored that of Bebe Daniels, the subject of my own biography. It is a testament to Van Neste that The Magnificent Heel is able to tell both the personal story of Cortez’s life while also making larger statements about the film industry—the universality of the actor’s story makes this book a truly significant read.

• • • First and foremost, why write about Ricardo Cortez?

Dan Van Neste: Since I began writing about classic movies and vintage filmmakers roughly 30 years ago, people

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Bebe Daniels, James Rennie, and Ricardo Cortez in Argentine Love, 1924.

have always been curious regarding my choice of subjects. Why Ricardo Cortez, when I could be doing a biography of someone more famous like Bogie, Lana, Clark or Marilyn? The truth is I have always wanted to do original work and perhaps preserve a small bit of motion picture history at the same time. To me Ricardo Cortez is the perfect subject. He was a popular and charismatic actor of the late silent and early sound period, made over 100 feature films, was the first actor to play Sam Spade, and the only star to be billed over Garbo. He worked with some of the most famous directors, actors, and other filmmakers in the cinema, and was a favorite of critics and the public, yet he is not well remembered today. Spencer and Katharine’s stories have been told, Ricardo’s has not. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to tell it.

The comparisons to Valentino are natural, but despite his lengthy career Cortez is not nearly as well known to audiences today. Other than his untimely death, why do you feel that Valentino’s legacy is more pervasive when the two men had such similar on-screen personas?

There is no simple answer to your question, but let me make a couple important points. Clearly Cortez never achieved the screen immortality of Rudy even though their screen personas were similar, at least at the beginning of Cortez’s career. Valentino was THE original “Latin lover” of the cinema. He made several significant films which established his screen persona. He captured filmgoers’ imaginations. The studios tried to capitalize on his popularity by promoting several Valentino clones, (including Ricardo and others), but no one could ever really take his place. Of course his death in

The Silent Film Quarterly・!26 1926 at the tender age of 31, further sealed his legendary status.

Although young Mr. Cortez (the former Jacob “Jack” Krantz) knew he had been initially signed by Paramount Pictures because of his resemblance to Valentino (to essentially be the studio’s insurance policy in case Rudy became too difficult), from the outset Ricardo realized that copying someone else was NOT a recipe for success. He was wise enough to know he would have to break free of the Valentino image if he were to have a lasting film career. Throughout his early years in Hollywood, he tried valiantly to establish his own separate screen persona, actively pursuing film roles he felt would demonstrate his overall ability and versatility. He was partially successful, landing non “Latin lover” leads in some important productions like James Cruze’s The Pony Express, (Paramount, 1925), D.W. Griffith’s The Sorrows of Satan (Paramount, 1926), and later, Alexander Korda’s The Private Life of Helen of Troy (Warner Brothers, 1927). He was even more successful shedding the “Latin lover image” later during the early talkie period, but quickly became typecast yet again, this time as a screen villain. I discuss these issues in great detail in Chapter Twelve of The Magnificent Heel. The chapter is titled, “Ricardo Cortez, One Author’s View.” In it I offer my opinions and impressions of Cortez personally and professionally based on years of research. In addition, I attempt to provide possible explanations for his relative obscurity, and answer questions regarding his overall impact and legacy.

Cortez starred with some of the leading actresses of the silent era—Marion Davies, Bebe Daniels, Greta Garbo—do you feel like there is a particular silent actress who best complimented Cortez on the screen?

Both during the silent era and later in the early sound period, Cortez worked with many of the most illustrious actresses of

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the silver screen. Unfortunately, the majority of his silent films have been lost, making it extremely difficult to address s p e c i fi c q u e s t i o n s r e g a r d i n g h i s performances in those pictures and his work with various actors. To even attempt to do so requires a reliance on reviews, press reports, and magazine articles written by those who did see the lost films and noted details regarding the productions.

With that in mind, I will attempt to answer your question.

Of the great ladies of the silent screen Cortez worked with, certainly one of his favorites was Gloria Swanson with whom he worked in the critically acclaimed drama, A Society Scandal (Paramount, 1924) directed by Allan Dwan. Cortez idolized Gloria; and she in turn, developed a high opinion of him as an actor and as a person while working on the film. Their onscreen rapport, cited by critics and noted by audiences, apparently extended off the screen. There was no romance between them, but as Gloria noted in her memoirs, Swanson on Swanson, shortly after the production, she took it upon herself to try and help Ricardo survive a vicious whisper campaign being conducted against him (by certain Valentino admirers and other disaffected parties) which became so serious, it threatened his infant career.

Another actress Cortez admired who seemed to bring out the best in him was Bebe Daniels. They made a total of three pictures together, including two silent features. Critics disliked their initial screen collaboration, Argentine Love (Paramount, 1924), but did compliment their chemistry, particularly the famous tango scene Ricardo and Bebe performed midway through the film. Of course, their most notable pairing, The Maltese Falcon (Warner Brothers, 1931) came after the advent of sound. Anyone who has seen this underrated melodrama knows many of the sexy scenes between Bebe and Ricardo positively sizzle!

The Silent Film Quarterly・!27 How well do you feel Cortez’s silent performances hold up when compared to his later (and more popular) talkie performances?

Another very hard question to answer.

It’s so depressing! Of the 37 silent or partially silent films Ricardo Cortez completed after he came to Hollywood in 1922, only 17 have survived. Of those, only 14 have survived intact with all their original footage, and only six are available on DVD. The others are kept in archives across the United States, and Europe, and are shown occasionally at film festivals and other special events. The status of each of Cortez’s silent films is noted in the filmography section of my book.

Although he is better known for his work during the early sound period (1930-34), based on the silent films I have seen, reviews, and press reports regarding the others, I believe Ricardo Cortez was a very good silent film actor. He learned his craft from the best in the business— legendary names like DeMille, Griffith, Cruze, Dwan, Lloyd, etc. Russian born, German trained Dmitri Buchowetzki (Cortez’s director on The Swan [Paramount, 1924]), took the young actor under his wing during the production, teaching him the techniques of the silent screen, including an emphasis on acting with one’s eyes, the proverbial “windows to the soul.”

Cortez listened intently to Buchowetzki and his other great teachers. Their advice and teachings are apparent in his work throughout his career. One can note his progress throughout the 1920’s, from the rather unsure leading man of The Swan (Paramount, 1924) to the more polished, self-assured actor of The Sorrows of Satan (Paramount, 1927). I believe if more of his films had survived and were available, Cortez’s reputation as a silent film actor would be further enhanced.

If you could recommend three Cortez silent films to someone, which would they be?

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Of the six that we have access to on DVD, I would recommend seeing them all, but two of the very best would be The Pony Express (Paramount, 1925) and Torrent (MGM, 1926). The Pony Express was director James Cruze’s blockbuster followup to his legendary, The Covered Wagon.

Lavishly filmed on location, (with an exceptional supporting cast including Betty Compson, George Bancroft and Wallace Beery), Cortez played Frisco Jack Weston, a notorious gambler who becomes a Pony Express rider in order to help thwart the nefarious plans of an unscrupulous U.S. Senator to have California secede from the union. Anxious to prove he could do a non “Latin lover” part, Cortez conducted a vigorous campaign for the coveted role, ultimately winning the part over dozens of actors. Clothed in rags for much of the film, he wowed the critics and charmed audiences as the rough and tumble Jack.

He also proved he was not just another Valentino clone.

Monta Bell’s dramatic, Torrent, based on a Vincente Blasco-Ibanez novel, cast Cortez as another Latin lover, but unlike many of his other “Valentino-esque” parts, gave the young actor a role with real substance. His leading lady was a young Swedish actress who was making her American film debut. Her name was Greta Garbo. Although critics and audiences were mesmerized by the charismatic Swedish beauty who became an overnight sensation as the heroine -- a poor young girl who becomes a famous opera star, topbilled Cortez (on loan to MGM from Paramount) also contributed a standout performance. As a landowner’s son who falls in love with one of his mother’s tenants, Cortez was impressive. Especially memorable were his latter scenes in which he allowed himself to appear bloated and old.

My third choice is found outside the United States. If any of you happen to visit France, and have an extra 90 minutes to spare, I would highly recommend visiting

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single out just one. For instance, I would love to s e e C o r t e z ’s s i l e n t comedies including William Wellman’s The Cat’s Pajamas (Paramount, 1926), or see his acclaimed performance as a young songwriter w ro n g l y a c c u s e d o f murder in the melodrama, New York (Paramount, 1927) costarring Estelle Taylor a n d yo u n g Wi l l i a m Powell. If you forced me to choose just one lost picture however, I would Greta Garbo and Ricardo Cortez in Torrent, 1926 s e l e c t Fe e t o f C l a y (Paramount, 1924), Cecil B. the Archive Du Film du CNC (French Film DeMille’s elaborate drama about a happy Archives) in Bois-d’Arcy, sixteen miles young married couple (Vera Reynolds, Rod southwest of Paris. There you will find the LaRocque) whose lives undergo a crisis only extent copy of one of Ricardo when the young man is severely injured.

Cortez’s most fascinating films. I refer to Both main characters eventually separate Midstream, a silent feature with a brief and become romantically involved with sound sequence released by Tiffany Stahl others, but are so unhappy they choose to Productions in 1929. In this highly unusual end their lives. Luckily, their suicides are early science fiction/drama, Cortez unsuccessful, but not before DeMille offers portrayed a wealthy older man so desperate up an imaginative, visually stunning to regain his youth and attract his beautiful sequence (according to critics), depicting young neighbor (Claire Windsor), he travels the passage of souls to the afterlife via a overseas, undergoes a rejuvenation “bridge between the worlds.” Ricardo operation, fakes his own death, and returns Cortez won superb reviews for his home as his nephew. His elaborate scheme supporting performance as a young man almost works, but fate intervenes to deal a wh o t e m p t s Rey n o l d s d u r i n g h e r death blow to his unnatural plans in the estrangement from her husband. His nick of time. Cortez won rave reviews for portrayal of Tony in Feet of Clay was his lead performance which critic P.S. another of his early breakthrough roles Harrison called “the best of his career.” It that has been tragically lost. is my sincere hope this unique film will eventually be shown on Turner Classic The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Movies, and/or released on DVD. Films of Ricardo Cortez is available at amazon.com or through BearManor Media.

If you could see one lost Cortez film, which would Dan Van Neste’s articles have appeared in Classic it be and why?

Images and Films of the Golden Age, and he is the author of The Whistler: Stepping Into There are so many interesting lost the Shadows. He currently lives in Lansing, Cortez films, it is nearly impossible to Michigan.

The Silent Film Quarterly・!29

Silent Serial Stunt Women: Daredevils Without A Net

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queen title if they were not in at leased ninety plus serial episodes.

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by Larry Telles

#10: Marie Walcamp

Before the end of World War I, women were the dominate force in silent film serials. Although these serials were not “cliffhangers,” they did use the same acting crew in the same setting each week. Plots for these chapter plays were not too complicated in an episode of about twelve minutes. During this period a few women stood out among the many female daredevils. Film historians down through the years have ranked these adventurous female pioneers. In some cases these rankings have been eschewed making it only a historian’s personal feelings instead of hard facts.

In all the rankings printed, Helen Gibson was never rated in the top ten of the silent serial queens. In my opinion I believe she should be in the top ten ratings.

This article is an attempt to disclose the facts and to make a judgment. The facts will be based on total episodes the individual player we in. Popularity can be based on how many serials each studio made. I am not considering an actress for a

July 27, 1894–November 17, 1936 99 Total Chapters Walcamp began in films at age 19.

Liberty was her first serial in 1916 and she appeared in five more. Marie had appeared in 107 films between 1913 and 1927.

Walcamp committed suicide from a medication overdose. She was 42 years old.

• • • #9: Edith Johnson August 10, 1894–September 6, 1969 115 Total Chapters Johnson’s screen career started with the Lubin studio and later went on to Universal and Selig. At Vitagraph Company, her serial co-star was William Duncan who she married (1921–1961).

She was five feet, four inches high, weighed a hundred and thirty pounds and had light hair and brown eyes. Edith appeared in 66 films between 1913 and 1924.

• • • #8: Helen Gibson August 27, 1891–October 10, 1977 129 Total Chapters

Helen was born Rose August Wenger.

She saw her first Wild West show in the summer of 1909 and answered a Miller Brothers 101 Ranch ad for girl riders. They taught her to ride, and she performed in her first show in April 1910.

When the show closed The Lion’s Claws, starring Marie Walcamp, 1918 in 1911 Helen

The Silent Film Quarterly・!30

Above: Smashing Barriers, starring Edith Johnson, 1919 Below: The Hazards of Helen, starring Helen Gibson, 1917

stayed in Venice, CA. Thomas H. Ince, hired the complete cast for the winter and they were paid $8 a week. In 1912 she made $15 a week for her first billed role as Ruth Roland’s sister in Ranch Girls on a Rampage.

Helen performed in rodeos between pictures. In 1913 she impressed one of the investors at the Los Angeles Rodeo. He offered to finance a tour of rodeos for her, paying all expenses and splitting the winnings. Helen went to his ranch near Pendleton, Oregon, and that is where she met Hoot (Edmund Richard) Gibson. They began working together. They performed several rodeos and returned to Pendleton where they got married. They won enough money to travel to Los Angeles, where Hoot worked as a cowboy extra and double. Helen also worked for Selig.

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In April 1915 Rose Gibson was on the Kalem payroll doubling for Helen Holmes in The Hazards of Helen adventure film series. When Helen Holmes and J.P. McGowan left Kalem, Rose Gibson was hired to take her place. The studio had her change her name to Helen. Gibson performed in The Hazards of Helen for 70 episodes until the series ended in February 1917. She left Kalem and went to Universal for a three year contract. In the winter of 1919 she signed a contract with the Capital Film Company.

In 1920 Gibson created Helen Gibson Productions to produce her own films. Her money ran out before the picture was finished, and it bankrupted Gibson personally. In March 1921, the Spencer Production Company hired Gibson, but due to an illness she only made one film.

Gibson’s popularity as a lead had waned.

She got a job with Ringling Brothers. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’s Wild West show as a trick rider. Then she joined a Hopi Indian act and worked the Keith Vaudeville Circuit. Helen returned to Hollywood in 1927 and began doubling for stars. She worked continuously as a stunt doubling and in bit parts.

Helen continued to take character parts and extra work until 1954 when she retired for the first time. She returned to Hollywood as an extra in film and television. She retired a second time in 1962. Helen Gibson died of heart failure following a stroke at age 86. She was in over 450 films.

• • • #7: Louise Lorraine October 1, 1904–February 2, 1981 144 Total Chapters Louise started her career making tworeel comedies, and later moved on to MGM and Universal. She became extremely popular in action-filled serials, and starred in 10 in all. Louise is best-

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The Jade Box, starring Louise Lorraine, 1930

Kalem Studios answered in November 1914 when they released The Hazards of Helen.

The Hazards of Helen made Holmes a major star. In order to capitalize on her fame, her now-husband, director J.P. McGowan, decided to leave Kalem for greener pastures. They formed Signal Film Productions and made a dozen film between 1915 and 1917. They encountered reasonable success but financial and distribution problems ended the production partnership. Holmes did not make another film until 1919. In 1919 and 1920 Holmes made only one film each year and only two in each of the next three years. In the years 1924, 1925 and 1926 Helen made eighteen more short adventure films. Her popularity began to wane in a market over-saturated with female cliffhanger films.

Helen eventually mar ried film stuntman Lloyd A. Saunders and with the popularity of the Rin Tin Tin films,

remembered for being the third actress to portray Jane, having portrayed the character in the 1921 movie serial The Adventures of Tarzan. She starred in only five talkies and retired from film in 1930 with Bob Steele. Louise married twice. Her first marriage to actor Art Acord ended in divorce in 1928. Her second husband died in 1963. Louise had two children. At age 76, she died in New York in 1981.

• • • #6: Helen Holmes June 19, 1892–July 8, 1950 151 Total Chapters Helen began her film career in 1912 with Keystone in a bit part arranged by Mabel Normand. Her first film at Kalem was directed by J.P. McGowan whom she would soon marry. In March 1914, when women’s suffrage movement was in the news, Pathé released The Perils of Pauline.

The Pathé serial became an huge success.

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The Railroad Raiders, starring Helen Holmes, 1917

The Silent Film Quarterly・!32 decided they should train animals for use in the movies. Helen died at age 58 in 1950 as a result of heart failure. She had been ill for five years with a heart condition.

• • • #5: Eileen Sedgwick October 17, 1898–March 15, 1991 157 Total Chapters Eileen Sedgwick came from a theatrical family. She appeared in 115 films during her fifteen-year long career. Eileen was noticed by Hollywood and got into films around 1914. She worked her way up in minor roles by 1918.

While filming the Universal serial The Lure of the Circus in 1918, the female star became ill. Eileen was asked to take over the lead role and finish the serial. It was a big hit and during the next 10 years she would perform in a dozen serials. She got tired of serials by 1928 and began using the name Greta Yoltz in an effort to be hired by studios for non-serial films. Eileen made only a few films under that name and retired from the screen with the advent of sound. She died in Marina del Rey, California, of pneumonia at age 92.

• • • #4: Neva Gerber April 3, 1894–January 2, 1974 158 Total Chapters After her graduation from high school, Gerber became an actress and appeared in several one-reelers.

In 1917, she performed in multiple serials, and received the distinction of being one of the top ten “serial queens.” Neva had teamed with Ben F. Wilson, actor and director in many of those silent serials. She was the star in the first crude sound-era serial, The Voice from the Sky, also directed by Wilson. Neva’s film career bogged down in 1930 after Ben Wilson died from heart disease. She retired from acting shortly after. Neva appeared in

Above: The Winking Idol, starring Eileen Sedgwick, 1926 Below: The Screaming Shadow, starring Neva Gerber, 1920

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The Silent Film Quarterly・!33 128 films between 1912 and 1930. She was married four times, and on January 2, 1974, Gerber died of a cerebral thrombosis at age 79.

• • • #3: Allene Ray January 2, 1901–May 5, 1979 162 Total Chapters Allene was born and raised on a ranch outside of San Antonio, Texas, and could ride horses at an early age. She also learned to tame bucking broncos. She moved to Hollywood after winning a motion picture contest in 1920. She got her first screen credits from the Lubin Corporation. She moved to Pathé and made the serial The Fortieth Door (1924), where she wore a brunette wig. Allene had a natural athletic ability which led to her often refusing to use a double. She wanted to do her own stunts. Allene made eight serials with Walter Miller. When Pathé

Hawk of the Hills, starring Allene Ray, 1927

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stopped making serials in 1929, she went to Universal and continued her serial making.

Allene continued making films into the sound era, but her career didn’t survive long. She had a high-pitched, squeaky voice that did not work well on film.

Allene made her final film in 1930, retired, and was never heard from again.

She died from cancer in 1979 at age 78. If silent serial queen Pearl White had a match, it was Allene Ray. She was a honeyblond, blue-eyed woman of five feet, three inches. Allene was everything Pearl was not. She was shy, quiet, introverted and discouraged familiarity with her coworkers.

• • • #2: Ruth Roland August 26, 1892–September 22, 1937 164 Total Chapters Ruth’s father managed a theatre and she became a child actress. Ruth made her acting debut at age three-and-a-half. She

The Avenging Arrow, starring Ruth Roland, 1921

The Silent Film Quarterly・!34 went on to work in vaudeville. This fivefoot, four-inch actress appeared in her first film for Kalem Studios in 1909 and was soon billed as a “Kalem Girl.” Roland left Kalem and went on to star in Balboa Films. She was under contract from 1914 to 1917. In 1915 Ruth appeared in a 14chapter adventure serial titled The Red Circle. Ruth Roland was a shrewd bu s i n e s s wo m a n . S h e established her own production company and signed a distribution deal with Pathé. They were to distribute her next six multi-episode serials. This partnership became very s u c c e s s f u l . Ru t h Ro l a n d ’s b i g g e s t competitor was Pearl White. Ruth continued to work in the film business until 1930 when she made her first talkie. Her voice worked well on screen, but entering her forties she returned to performing in live theatre. She made one more film appearance in 1935. From 1909 and 1927, Roland appeared in more than 200 films.

She died of cancer in 1937 at age 45.

• • • #1: Pearl White March 4, 1889–August 4, 1938 176 Total Chapters In 1907, when Pearl was 18, she went on tour with the Trousedale Stock Company. She worked the evening shows while keeping her day job to help support her family. Pearl continued to play minor parts, when she was noticed by the Powers Film Company and made her debut, starring in a series of one-reel dramas and comedies. In 1910, White was offered a role by Pathé. She then worked at Lubin Studios and several others, until the Crystal

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Film Company gave her top billing in a number of short films. In 1914, Pearl was offered the lead role in a twenty episode serial, The Perils of Pauline. She would be the central character in a story involving a simple plot and considerable action.

Athletic Pearl White proved ideally suited for this box-office success. It made her a major celebrity, and she was soon earning an astronomical sum of $3,000 a week.

This serial was followed by an even bigger box-office winner, The Exploits of Elaine, and by 1919 was a wealthy woman.

Influenced by the French friends from Pathé Studios, White was drawn to the artistic. White’s childhood poverty made her frugal with money. A shrewd businesswoman, she invested in different businesses in Paris. Pearl traveled with a Greek businessman and when she returned to France she made just one more film,

The Silent Film Quarterly・!35

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Plunder, starring Pearl White, 1923

Terror (1924). Pearl then retired from p e r f o r m i n g. S h e g a i n e d f a m e by performing her own dangerous and lifethreatening stunts. Only after her popularity surged were stunt doubles used.

The studio was also concerned for her safety. However, over the years Pearl’s alcohol use had increased, due to the chronic pain of injuries from her film stunts. She was hospitalized in 1933, which led to an addiction to the drugs used to ease her suffering. Her last years were spent in an alcoholic haze, and she died of cirrhosis at age 49.

Pearl was famous for her blond hair which hid her naturally dark hair. She began wearing her blond wig early in her career because it photographed better. This blond hair eventually became her trademark. Pearl could go out in public and

be unnoticed using her real hair as a disguise.

Larry Telles is one of the founding members of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum. A much shorter version of his first book was serialized in the first five issues of museum’s newsletter, The Chronicle. In 2004 Larry expanded the material further when he used it as a handout in an Elderhostal class he taught. After that class Larry took all the material that he saved over the years and the result was this unique history book for all ages. Silent film history on one page and on the opposite page, American history. Larry has two books on silent film and one DVD available on Amazon.com. www.essanayfilmmfgco.com www.hazards-of-helen.com

The Silent Film Quarterly・!36

Murray Leinster (Will F. Jenkins) & His Silent Films: As Told By His Daughter

by Wenllian J. “Billee” Stallings The five-reel silent film, The Purple Cipher, was released by Vitagraph Studios on October 11, 1920. My father Will F. Jenkins wrote the original story, “The Purple Hieroglyph.” It was published in the March 1, 1920 issue of Snappy Stories under Dad’s pen name, Murray Leinster.

Although he was only 24 years old, he was already identified in studio publicity as a “well-known magazine writer.”

Vitagraph Studios filmed The Purple Cipher in Brooklyn and in locations along the California coast. It was touted as a vehicle for one of Vitagraph’s stars, Earle Williams.

A Motion Picture News article, published December 25, 1920 (page 184), said: The past year Earle Williams has starred in stories selected by him and officers of the Vitagraph Company from the works of the greatest authors of today and a glance over the list of productions made, a number of which have been released, is like reviewing a list of the best sellers.

Will F. Jenkins was included in that list of “greatest authors.” He went on to a 50year career and is credited with writing some 1,500 stories and seven films.

Although he appeared in almost every genre from Love Story Magazine to The Saturday Evening Post, he is primarily remembered for his science fiction stories under the name “Murray Leinster.” He received two of the prestigious “Hugo” awards (equivalent in the science fiction community to the Oscar) among others.

He also patented a new process—Front Projection—for projecting backgrounds in motion pictures.

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His writing career started when he began selling epigrams to The Smart Set Magazine at the age of 17. Then, almost 2 years later on a summer day in 1915, he walked into the editorial office to see if they were interested in more work from him. The money was not much, but it was important to this ambitious 19-year-old.

Therefore he was confident when he entered the building, a slight figure not more than 5’ 7”, with brown eyes, and a full shock of dark hair. As he reported many times later, legendary editors, H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan, “almost fell off their chairs” when they saw this kid who had been submitting such pithy and sardonic fillers for their magazine.

Jenkins couldn’t have made a better connection. The Smart Set was prestigious and has been called the New Yorker of the day. What was more important, the turn of the century had seen the development of cheap pulp paper and had spawned a proliferation of magazines needing copy.

Mencken and Nathan had several other magazines in their stable. Will Jenkins was

The Silent Film Quarterly・!37

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released on February 3, 1914. He was now negotiating for the sale of one of his Anthony Trent mystery series books.

Martyn undoubtedly made the right introductions for his young friend. An article in the September 18, 1920 issue of Motion Picture News (page 2256) was headlined “Action Role for Williams.

‘Purple Cipher’ Rated as Best of Earle Williams Recent Vehicles.”

Will F. Jenkins ca. 1920

soon appearing in many of them, including Snappy Stories, Breezy Stories, and Parisienne.

Mencken urged Jenkins to adopt a pen name, saving his own name for the “good stuff ” like The Smart Set itself.

Jenkins was quickly drawn into the fertile literary scene that was particularly active in Greenwich Village and would have included motion picture connections.

His movie career may have opened when he met Wyndham Martyn in The Smart Set offices. Martyn was an Englishman and author of the lengthy Anthony Trent detective series. Jenkins credited Martyn with suggesting part of his pen name.

When Martyn learned that Jenkins’ middle name was Fitzgerald, Martyn told him that this was the surname of the Dukes of Leinster. Jenkins had already decided to use his mother’s maiden name, “Murray,” so they came up with “Murray Leinster” as his pen name.

But more important, Martyn had a connection to Vitagraph Studios in nearby Brooklyn. One film from a Martyn story, Caught With The Goods, had already been

“The Purple Cipher” which stars Earle Williams is, in the opinion of Vitag raph, Mr. William’s greatest picture of recent years with the possible exception of “The Fortune Hunter,” which was designed to be a larger production. “The Purple Cipher” is described as a mystery melodrama with a surprise finish, and so well has been worked out by Director Chester Bennett that even sophisticated exhibitors are compelled to admit that they were thrilled by the unusual twist to the plot, says the statement just issued

by Vitagraph in connection with “The Purple Cipher.”

Earle Williams shows to excellent advantage, it is stated, as the young American who defies the intrigue of an Oriental tong which threatens his life and that of his sweetheart after having proven its strengths by the disappearance of two of his friends. How he frustrates the blackmailing operations of the mysterious band give a plot full of action and suspense, declares Vitagraph.

The locations for “The Purple Cipher” have been well chosen. They could be, because the exact places named by the author, Will F. Jenkins, were to be found along the Pacific Coast

The Silent Film Quarterly・!38

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Scene from The Purple Cipher.

from the shipyards of San Francisco to the Naval Station at San Diego. The submarine “H-4” of the Pacific fleet appears in the climax. “The Purple Cipher” is stated to be a drama of action throughout, exciting and thrilling.

Its ending is believed to be one of the best worked out denouements the screen has seen.

Vola Vale appears opposite Earle Williams in the production.

Allen Forrest, Henry A. Barrows and Ernest Shields have the important supporting parts.

Chinese actors appear in the early scenes amid beautiful and picturesque Oriental settings.

Earle Williams began his career on the stage in 1901 and came to Vitagraph Studios in 1910. He worked with them for 15 years before moving on to Warner Brothers. An article in the same Motion

Picture News article describes him as “five feet eleven of virile manhood, possessing those qualities that charm, and possessed of a personality that ‘gets across’ on the silver screen with pleasing vigor.”

Vola Vale was considered one of the great beauties of the day and was under contract to Universal in 1920, but worked for many companies, often with cowboy star William S. Hart.

Unfortunately, the film, The Purple Cipher, has not survived. In 1930, a “talkie” version of “The Purple Hieroglyph” called Murder Will Out was released by First National Pictures, which was purchased by Warner Brothers in 1928. The soundtrack was recorded on Vitaphone discs and, although they may survive in private hands, it is listed as a “lost film.”

In 1939, another version was included in Warner Brothers’ Torchy Blaine series as Torchy Blaine in Chinatown. It starred Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane.

The Silent Film Quarterly・!39

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Norfolk, Virginia. His half-sister, Lula, 20 years older than he, was married to a Baptist minister, the Reverend George W. Cox. They lived in Fentress, and his church was located there. The 1920 census found Jenkins and his brother, George, both identifying themselves as magazine writers, staying with Lula and her husband at the parsonage in Fentress.

An article in The Washington Herald (D.C.) recorded production news in its Sunday edition on April 22, 1920, page 28, as follows: Film production was burgeoning at this time and just about everyone wanted to get in the game. While The Purple Cipher w a s b e i n g p l a n n e d , a n o t h e r fi l m opportunity presented itself. Jenkins had met Roger W. Fowler, a cinematographer with D.W. Griffith, who was in New York itching to make his own movie. Somehow, Jenkins and Fowler cooked up an idea for a two-reel comedy. The working title was Unscrambling Egbert. Jenkins had the perfect location, and it was announced in Motion Picture News, March 27, 1920 (page 2,944).

Murray Leinster was identified as “known to readers of Smart Set, Snappy Stories, Love Stories, and other popular magazines.”

Headlined “Fowler Starts out for Virginia,” the article goes on to say: “Roger W. Fowler, of Fowler Films, and his staff have gone to Fentress, Virginia, heretofore undiscovered as a movie ‘location,’ to stage a rural screen comedy entitled Unscrambling Egbert, in the rustic environment.”

Elsewhere it was announced that Fowler had opened an office in the Candler Building in New York City and planned to produce a series of two-reelers, Unscrambling Egbert by Murray Leinster to be the first.

Jenkins was already familiar with Fentress, a farming community just outside

S e l e c t s M ov i e Ty p e s While Choir Singing in Virginia Church Roger W. Fowler, of Fowler Films, has returned to New York City from Fentress, the mysterious little village in Virginia, where he staged the truly rural farm comedy, “Unscrambling Egbert,” written by Murray Leinster.

“Our stay in Fentress was full of interest,” states Mr. Fowler. “To begin with, we lived at the local parsonage. Can you imagine picking your extra players in church? That is just what we did, for the simple reason that during the week all the population (fifty people) was scattered about their farmlands plowing for the spring crops.

But on Sunday, they all came together in the little village church (there are no heathen in Fentress).

To obtain the best possible view of the congregation—and the stove—my staff and I joined the volunteer choir. If it had not been for Suzie Smith, we might have heard the organ. By the end of the twentieth amen, we had completely catalogued our cast. I cannot claim that the choir was

The Silent Film Quarterly・!40

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Scenes from Good As Gold.

improved vocally or in appearance, but we did see the types we wanted.

After service, with much persuasion, we convinced our rural characters that ‘shooting’ them with a movie camera was a painless operation. At the dinner hour on the next day we assembled our extras and took the required scenes. Our experiences may sound funny, but upon my word, brother, they are true—too true.”

There is no evidence that this film or any others by Fowler Films were ever released.

Good as Gold was the third silent film based on a plot by Murray Leinster. The original story. “The Owner of the Aztec,” was published in West magazine May 5, 1926. The movie was released by Fox Films June 12, 1927. Although Fox had bought rights to the Movietone sound-on-film system in July of 1926, Good as Gold was silent. Buck Jones and Frances Lee starred.

Jones was one of the most famous stars of the day in what some call “B” westerns.

He died tragically in 1942 in the Coconut Grove nightclub fire in Boston. Almost 500 people were fatally burned that night.

Many others, including his close friend and manager Scott R. Dunlap, were seriously burned Billee Stallings is the daughter of famed science fiction author Murray Leinster. Along with her sister, Jo-ann Evans, she co-authored a biography of her father, Murray Leinster: The Life and Works, published by McFarland in 2011.

Other films by Murray Leinster are: Border Devils: Supreme Features Inc., 1932, starring Harry Carey, Kathleen Collins, and George “Gabby” Hayes.

The Navy and the Night Monsters: Standard Club of California Productions, 1966, starring Mamie Van Doren.

The Terrornauts: Amicus Productions, Ltd., UK, 1967, starring Simon Oates and Zena Marshall.

The Silent Film Quarterly・!41

Don’ts to Screen-Struck Girls

by Mary Miles Minter Originally published in the Atlanta Constitution, October 3—November 8, 1920 The following six articles appeared weekly in the Atlanta Constitution between October 3 and November 8, 1920. At the time, Mary Miles Minter was one of the leading actresses in all of Hollywood—her million-dollar-plus contract had recently made national headlines. However, her career would prove to be shorter-lived than most; by 1922, she was e m b r o i l e d i n t h e Wi l l i a m Desmond Taylor scandal, and shortly thereafter retired from acting. Her advice to aspiring young actresses demonstrates the considerable influence she had over scores of moviegoers; it is certain that countless young girls hoping to follow in the footsteps of Minter took her words very seriously.

• • • Don’t Think It’s Easy In all of the thousands of requests I have received to aid ambitious girls toward motion picture success a certain misconception has prevailed. It seems to be the popular belief that if a girl is good-looking and can wear clothes that’s all that’s required. In other words, thousands think that the screen is an easy road to fame and fortune.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Of course, an attractive appearance helps wonderfully—but that’s only a single

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step up the “Ladder of Million Disappointments.”

Motion pictures require acting ability, a thing that can only be built by long and arduous practice. A good-looking face is of no value if it can’t be trained to limn accurately the multiple emotions of human life. If you’ve had no experience you must start at the bottom, play “extra” in mob scenes and take whatever small parts are offered. It’s the slow way up—but the only way. An exceptionally attractive girl sometimes gets a good part the first time out—but she often regrets this good fortune at a later date. For the screen puts a terrific strain on ability—and the girl with the most thorough preparation wins the greatest prize.

Why, the screen is changing and expanding so tremendously that even we who have long been with it constantly find ourselves face to face with new and perplexing problems which require every bit of our experience. I wouldn’t want every girl to start acting at four as I did—but from an artistic standpoint I’ve often been thankful for such an early start.

Don’t think it’s easy. Carefully diagnose your abilities and personal attraction—then prepare for a hard, gruelling period of work —and many, many disappointments.

That’s positively the only road to screen success.

Don’t Paint In my first article I cautioned “Don’t Think It’s Easy” to break into motion pictures, showing how hard, strenuous training is required to develop a capable actress.

The Silent Film Quarterly・!42 Now I want to tell you how to make your entrance as easy as possible. And the first admonition is “Don’t paint.”

There’s nothing that appeals less to a studio casting director than a much bepainted girl applicant. He is unconsciously prejudiced against her. Screen success depends on “natural” charm and ability— and certainly the girl isn’t “natural” who feels that external aids are needed to make her appear at her best.

Deeper than that, however, is the reason that make-up, presented to the human eye across a casting director’s desk, destroys those fleeting changes of expression that tell whether or not a girl has dramatic possibilities. The come-andgo of blood in the skin is a guide that the trained casting expert has come to watch with exceeding care. The wise girl will not hamper her chances by excessive use of cosmetics.

The question of good taste also enters into the situation. A casting director seeking for some one to interpret a woman of careful breeding, for instance, would pick a girl who really looked the lady—who in her manner and deportment portrayed the good judgment and poise she was later to depict upon the screen.

Particularly a young girl should be careful about painting. With the natural complexion of youth—there is no excuse for ill-timed use of lip sticks, eyebrow pencils, rouge, etc.

Personally I have always been taught by my mother that soap and water, and good cold cream, are the only beautifiers a girl needs. Mixed, of course, with judicious exercise and careful diet. But I’ll speak more on that subject later.

In conclusion, let me say to you who aspire to screen success, DON’T PAINT. Don’t Imitate “Imitation,” some one once said, “is the sincerest form of flattery.”

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Certainly it is a term infrequently applied to screen stars. It often seems to us of the profession that every beginner has the firm idea that success lies in being as much like a popular star as possible.

Brunettes present themselves in a copy of the costume and “hair do” that brought Bebe Daniels success; comedians don the big shoes and little hat of a Chaplin, while would-be emotional actresses copy to the smallest detail the walk and actions of Elsie Ferguson, etc.

We who have attained a certain degree of success in motion pictures cannot help but feel pleased that our efforts have been deemed worthy of imitation. But that is purely vanity. From a professional standpoint we know it is a poor thing for the future of the stage and screen drama, and whenever possible raise up our voices against this tendency.

DON’T—Those of you who aspire to success in motion pictures—DON’T IMITATE. The secret of success in filmdom is originality. The person of unusual characteristics who first catches the attention of the public is the one who makes the big salary. Imitators must necessarily accept a declining scale, if not altogether repudiated by the public.

BE YOURSELF. That’s the only way to success in pictures. Develop your own personality to its highest possibilities. Study yourself. Train those things about you which most attract people. If you have within you that “divine spark” of which the poet speaks, sooner or later your merit wilt be recognized. Providing, of course, that you do not smother your own abilities beneath an attempt to imitate some one else.

It’s natural human beings the public wants to see on the screen; real people doing real things in a real way. You can’t be natural, you can’t be real—if you imitate.

I well remember my own lesson on this point. When I was still a child actress, I entertained a tremendous admiration for a

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certain star. I began to imitate her in every way possible.

One day my mother caught me as I was trying to copy her method of handling a dramatic scene. She thrust a mirror in front of my face. “Look at yourself !”

And I did. It wasn’t Mary Miles Minter at all, but some little girl with her face screwed up in a most unbecoming manner. Right then I learned my lesson. I couldn’t hope to excel this great star in her own line—but I could make Mary Miles Minter the leader in her particular niche of dramaturgy! And since then I have tried to be just myself.

Personality and originality are the two watchwords of motion pictures. Don’t kill them by imitation of others.

Don’t Doll Up Lots of people are going to laugh at the above “Don’t.” “What does that have to do with screen success?” I can hear them say. I can only reply that I have known literally hundreds of promising girls who have faded into oblivion because of a lack of good sense in dress.

To lace to excess—or to wear shoes a size too small may improve the outward looks temporarily, but in the end such subterfuges do more harm than good. A girl cannot be natural or spontaneous if she is conscious of her clothes, or if they cause her pain.

The best of acting requires absolute forgetfulness of self. You must lose your own identity in that of the person interpreted—forget for a moment that there is such an individual as “I.” And certainly this is impossible it the throbbing corn on the foot of “I” constantly breaks in to destroy the smooth flow of your characterization.

Don’t worry about your looks. It’s personality that the picture producer wants, and while in some parts beauty is an asset, there are equally as many others where it does not count at all.

Naturalness is the main thing you should have in seeking a position in pictures. Dress in a way that will be yourself—and not an uncomfortable person, stiff and self-conscious through misguided vanity.

“Dolling up,” as the expression goes, I consider a mistake on the part of the applicant for work before the camera.

“Sunday-go-to-meeting” clothes are very beautiful —but they don’t show the everyday girl the casting director wants to see. I feel that she who seeks screen success would stand a far better chance in the simple little frocks she wears around home than the exaggerated frills and furbelows so many display on their first visit to a studio.

The intelligent photoplay producer wants to make his productions accurate representations of human life. To do that —don’t spoil YOUR chances by lack of

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sensible judgment in dress. A gown n o t q u i t e i n t h e vo g u e, bu t accompanied by a sweet, natural disposition, will go farther, nine times out of ten, than a be-corseted creation that squeezes one into a state of uninteresting artificiality.

Don’t Be Lazy As in all other enterprises, the biggest successes in filmdom go to those who are alert and active. The chronically lazy, those who are late to work; who loll listlessly around the set when not actually in a scene—are those who sooner or later fail into the “failure” class.

There is so much to learn in this business that it requires a clear, watchful brain; one not cluttered with the debris of slothful thought and action.

One of the best ways to avoid being or seeming lazy is to adopt a schedule of living far removed from lazy habits. School yourself to a vigorous course of exercise the first thing in the morning. This will clear your brain and cause the blood to course through your veins in a way to make you glad you’re alive; to bring quick, decisive action and an alive, vital manner of approaching the day’s work.

But such a regime is only a starter if you wish to arouse your body and redeem it for all times from the curse of laziness.

Supplementing the morning exercises should be a definite program of outdoor sports to be sandwiched in whenever your work makes it possible.

Personally I take a ride on my big saddle horse, “Sea Gull,” every morning of the year. And I golf and swim whenever it is possible. There are just lots and lots of times when I feel tired and it would be very easy to stay at home and sleep away the hours. But I realize that the tiredness is mental—rather than physical—and that

the best remedy is a strenuous session on the links or in the swimming pool. Bodily exertion is the only true way to help the body throw off its poisons. Plenty of sleep and rest, yes—but don’t allow a passion for “rest” to become all-absorbing. You may find yourself slipping back into slothful habits, losing your grip so to speak. It’s a danger that can he fought most successfully with unceasing exercise, both indoor and outdoor.

Life in the studio is hard, long and tedious. It is an actual fact when I tell you that only people of strong physiques are able to stand it. Hundreds, not sufficiently equipped, have fallen by the wayside. It takes real strength to work at “top notch” after hours of steady rehearsal. You must be in the finest sort of condition.

Don’t be lazy I would again entreat you. Laziness is a cardinal sin in motion pictures and many a promising aspirant has lost out because of it.

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The So-Called “Jazz Age”: The Problems Confronting Young People—And Their Parents—Today

by Dorothy Davenport, Mrs. Wallace Reid Originally published in the Austin Statesman, December 22-27, 1924 Wallace Reid’s untimely death in 1923 sent shockwaves through Hollywood.

Following the deaths of Olive Thomas and William Desmond Taylor and the downfall of Roscoe Arbuckle, the cinema world was already facing growing concern from the public. The drug-induced death of an incredibly popular matinée idol spurred further criticism of Hollywood (and the cultural climate of the 1920s in general).

In the wake of her husband’s death, Dorothy Davenport (herself an actress, although her popularity was nowhere near Reid’s) began a crusade against drug use and other “immoral” behavior. She began producing propagandistic films and became an outspoken critic of the “Jazz Age.” Towards the end of 1924 Davenport authored a series of six articles under the name Mrs. Wallace Reid, which have been reproduced here in their entirety. Although not directly related to silent film, they nevertheless are an important piece of the complex puzzle that was Hollywood in the early 1920s.

• • • Jazz Age Brings Big Change in Conduct They have called it the Jazz age. Into this endless turmoil of pleasure-mad years are thrust our children. Can they find themselves amidst all this confusion? And what are they doing with their lives?

In my recent nation-wide campaign against the drug traffic I discovered many

Dorothy Davenport and Wallace Reid, Jr. in 1917.

remarkable things about the young people of today.

Sitting on the bench with Judge Helander in his Morals Court in Chicago, I saw young girls and young boys brought before him—fine looking, most of them, and in many instances from good homes. I heard them plead guilty to all sorts of serious charges, and I wondered what malign influence brought them before the law.

In the Kansas City Reformatory I talked with other young people who were in trouble. Similar experiences in other cities led to the determination to try to get to the bottom of this whole question of our modern young people and the new freedom that has been givers to them since the World War. Is there really a laxity in the morals of young people now? Is the situation becoming more serious? Who is to blame, the children themselves? The parents? Evil associates?

The Silent Film Quarterly・!46 I think it is generally agreed that there HAS been a radical change in the conduct of both adults and children in the past few years. A new viewpoint exists today in respect to freedom of thought and action.

This is expressed in the modern styles of clothing, hairdressing and in other ways— mannerisms, words, conversation, attitudes toward life.

The entry of women into business has much to do with it. The so-called jazz music and the swift-moving automobile may be blamed for many other changes.

And all these changes affect children and young people as well as adults.

There was once a well-known word in the English language that is seldom heard now. It is “chaperon.” Can you imagine a young couple nowadays going for an auto ride and taking along a chaperon? This is just as ludicrous an idea as that of young girls of twenty years ago appearing in public in one-piece bathing suits.

I cite these instances, not at all in a condemnatory way, but as examples of the change that has come upon us, and particularly upon our children.

How are we to meet these changes, that our children may grow to splendid manhood and womanhood?

I want to discuss this question, particularly with mothers, in the light of my recent investigations, and to give my conclusions, whether they may be right or wrong.

I believe that the crux of the whole problem of this “jazz age” as it applies to children, can be given in a single sentence: “How can we arm our children so that they can handle this freedom, given them now at so early an age?”

Children Should Be Taught to Obey How can we arm our children to cope with this new freedom that has been given to them in the turmoil of an after-war period?

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Principally they must be taught obedience and respect for law. The initial step in this plan is for parents to observe and respect laws themselves.

In the eyes of children, the parent is law. The insubordinate child of today is the lawbreaker of tomorrow. Parents who are inclined to humor their children and who fail to demand discipline in the home should remember this.

But in demanding this discipline of the children we should also demand it of ourselves. Children are ever observing of their elders. If you lose control of yourself you lose control of your children.

Every time children hear their parents quarreling they lose some respect for them.

Without respect there is no obedience.

Have you ever heard a father say before his children: “I was chased by a speed cop, but I got away from him!”

Or a mother say in the presence of her daughters: “I won the bridge prize at our table today. But it was easy—I kept score.”

Even if said in jest, such remarks plant the seed of disregard for law and for right.

The ancient Chinese were wise in their day and age. One of the oldest Chinese adages deals with filial devotion. Here it is: “There are five punishments for three thousand offenses, none of which is greater than the lack of filial devotion.”

This devotion will exist only in families where the children are taught to respect their parents, are taught to obey their parents, and to have respect for the laws—the laws of the home, the state and the nation.

So it remains for the parents to inspire this respect by respecting the laws themselves, by setting the right example before their children and by training the children to know the difference between right and wrong and to WANT to do right.

Once this is accomplished you have made a good start in providing the child with equipment to think for himself or herself, to use that equipment properly and to be ready to use, and not misuse, the

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The author in 1914.

freedom now accorded young people— freedom that was denied their parents as young people a generation ago.

Happy Home Deadly Enemy of ‘Jazz’ I want home and mother to be associated with good times in the minds of my children. I want them to find their, best' times right at home when they are older— not just by themselves, but with their friends, too. I do not want them to have to seek their jazz elsewhere—although, of course, they may have good times away from home.

The point is that the home should be the place where children can enjoy themselves in a healthy, hearty way. Then they’ll be content to enjoy themselves at home when they are older. When parents can insure this, they have thwarted many of the dangers that beset children who get too far away from home influence.

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Make your children’s friends welcome at your home. By this you have accomplished two things—you have kept the children at home and you have had a chance to make a close acquaintance with their friends.

But only a part of a child’s time is spent at home. Much of the rest is spent at school. And here is a word of advice to parents: Know your children’s teachers.

Remain in close contact with their school work. It will pay. You cannot expect a teacher to spend time with each parent every day, of course, but there are organizations that provide a meeting ground for parents and teachers and you should take fullest advantage of them.

Showing an interest in your children’s school work is one sure way to make chums of them. It is a habit that will continue after they are grown, and you will never regret the time so spent.

Furthermore, you can learn much about the success or failure of your home discipline by learning about your children’s actions at school.

Thus we have the start of our program for preparing our children for their freedom from home ties and home influence that young people boast, in spite of all parents may think they have tried to do to stop it. It may be summoned up as follows: Happy home life, close supervision of school work and companions, and giving the children a fundamental idea of thinking and deciding for themselves, knowing right from wrong and choosing of their own volition the former in preference to the latter.

Automobile Chief Aid to “King Jazz” Of all the complex changes that affect young people today the automobile has had more to do with this so-called “jazz age” than any other one factor.

The Silent Film Quarterly・!48 The automobile makes it possible to cover great distances quickly. This means that in a very few minutes boys and girls may be far removed front home influence and jurisdiction.

Furthermore, the very speed at which they travel contributes to the excitement of the occasion.

Add to this situation the modern styles of dress, makeup, dancing, and, I am afraid in some instances, pocket flasks, and you have a situation that requires much more judgement and common sense than was asked of young people a generation ago.

Now, how are we to prepare to meet this newly found freedom? We cannot keep our young people at home all the time.

And we cannot always accompany them when they go out. They must be educated to think and decide for themselves—to want to do the right thing.

In the first place, the automobile may be regarded as a sort of two-edged sword.

It has its good points as well as its dangers.

For an automobile may be used to broaden the young folks’ vision. They are able to get to places and see things and learn about people as it was impossible for children to do in the days before this rapid means of conveyance.

Pay even more attention to the companions of your sons and daughters at the “flapper” age. You can help to choose those companions without causing resentment, oven without the knowledge of the young people. You can accomplish this by entertaining in your home, and encouraging youngsters to come. It is remarkable how soon a home may become it social center in this way, and it will surprise you how popular your own sons and daughters will be.

Plan unique parties and clever games.

It is easy to do and well worth the time.

Popular magazines and the magazine pages of newspapers are full of ideas.

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Mothers of America Are Flappers Too Be a “Do” parent—not a “Don’t” parent.

Do you know what I mean?

For instance, how much better results we get when we say, “Now, if I were you, I would do it this way,” than when we snap out, “Don’t do that!”

You hear a lot about parents being chums of their children. It is a hard thing to accomplish when they start to grow up, but it is a wonderful situation. And “Don’t” parents never succeed.

If you reason with a child it is very apt to remember what you say and to profit by the lesson. If you yell “Shut up!” at your children, they will yell it at the neighbors.

Preaching and arbitrary commands are not likely to make children think for themselves. The former makes them yearn for solitude, and the latter makes them rebellious.

A quiet talk and an explanation of some difficulty or problem is pretty apt to make the youngster think for himself.

And that is true education.

I am reminded of a friend of who has two daughters of the “flapper” age. This friend was the “bad sheep” of her family.

She nearly drove her people to distraction with her school girl escapades. As a girl she was so full of life she could scarcely find expression. for her pent-up enthusiasm and energy. The result was a series of difficulties at home which led to her running away from school, and rather than return she married at a very young age.

Today this friend has one of the happiest homes I know. She is a real companion to her lovely girls, who worship her. Their home is the meeting place for all the young people in the neighborhood. Still young herself, this mother enters into the affairs of the young people with all the zest of another flapper.

The other day an old lady who is related to the family said to her: “I can not

The Silent Film Quarterly・!49 understand you. You are the only mother in the family, and I never saw a more ideal mother. Can you tell me the secret of your success?”

“Yes,” was the prompt reply, “I give my daughters everything I was denied an a girl, and nothing that I got.”

How would you feel, mothers, to hear your daughter speak so of her girlhood?

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She is going to be tolerant and patient and interested in the things that interest them.

That’s certainly a good start toward motherhood, isn’t it?

And I am just as optimistic about the young men. I refuse to be a pessimist about the “jazz age.” The young people were fast “going to the dogs” when I was a girl, and I believe they were in my mother’s time, too.

But I do see that it is Flappers Become necessary for the Best of Housewives parents of today to adjust themselves to Well, then, what meet changed about the future of the conditions, and to plan “ fl a p p e r ” a n d h e r the education of their dancing partner, the children so that they modern young man? can meet these changes What of the without danger to products of this sothemselves. called “jazz age” ten I want to say again that years from now? the first thing and the Personally, I believe most important thing in with Judge Ben Lindsey this connection is law that the modern observance on the part “flapper” makes a good of parents and the wife. teaching of respect of She may roll her all laws to their s to c k i n g s ; s h e m ay children. dance, corsetless and Discipline in the home carefree; she may do is more necessary now things that would have than ever before, but it shocked her mother m ust be properly Wallace Reid, Sr. and Jr. in 1919. terribly at her age, but— administered.

It can not This: girl likely to be b e t h r u s t u pon the looking forward to the day when she can children in this day. have a home of her own, a good husband, Motherhood and fatherhood, always a and children on the doorstep. And the grave responsibility, become oh, so grave, chances are favorable that she is going to now!

For we must prepare our children for be better equipped to guide these children the world in fewer years than has been the over some of the rapids of life than was case in times past. even her own mother.

It is not long until the bars are let She is certainly going to know how to down and the child-man and the childchum with those children of her own as woman come to grips with modern life. they grow to manhood and womanhood.

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Cross-World Puzzle Originally published in The Universal Weekly, November 29, 1924 About two years ago the New York World started a nationwide and, we might also say, a world wide craze for cross-word puzzles. Statistics prove that twenty-eight persons in every two hundred thousand of population have been confined in lunatic asylums or have lost their jobs on this account. But on the other hand the New York World has almost doubled its circulation and, furthermore, the craze for cross-word puzzles has reached such phenomenal proportions that the Universal Weekly can no longer afford to ignore them.

It’s a cross-eyed cinch that every theatre audience in the United States numbers a certain proportion of these cross-word puzzle enthusiasts. Would you be interested in a series of cross-word puzzles which could be easily copied and used in connection with the advertising of moving pictures? Our interests are the interests of exhibitors. If exhibitors can profit by cross-word puzzles, we want to give them cross-word puzzles.

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Horizontal 1—A Great Motion Picture, starring: Virginia Valli.

13—Motion Picture Star.

14—What women don’t like to be.

16—Otherwise.

17—Sharp.

18—An armed contest.

21—Army Officer (abb).

24—Southwestern State (abb).

25—Unit of electrical resistance.

27—Debt.

29—Feat.

32—Mimic.

33—Support.

34—Motion Picture star.

35—The first name of a great motion picture producer.

37—The first name of Philbin.

40—Cravat.

41—Touch.

43—A small word with lots of meaning.

45—The germ of a plant.

47—Cooling apparatus.

48—A male.

49—Youth.

50—What the critics say about Mary Philbin’s picture, “5th Ave. Models.”

51—Liquor.

52—Alongside.

53—Breezy.

54—South African animals.

56—Printer’s measurement.

57—Wheel tracks.

58—Our Country.

60—Vast age.

62—Midday.

64—Slow speech.

66—Without color.

68—A Kernel.

69—A Motion Picture Star.

70—To go.

71—A black mineral.

72—A place of learning (abb).

74—An English Order (abb).

76—Enactment.

78—Robust.

80—Rubber tube.

82—Handclasp.

83—Tooth.

84—A great motion picture, starring Mary Philbin.

Vertical 2—A nickname.

3—Place of imprisonment.

4—Retrospective time.

5—Raw material.

6—Suffix: make.

7—An exclamation.

8—Reindeer (a species of).

9—British possession in Arabia.

10—Appear.

11—A vase.

12—The star of “Wine.”

15—Subdued light.

19—Atmosphere.

20—Chamber.

22—Permanent.

23—Girl’s name 25—A gem.

26—Possessive case of she.

28—Tree with poisonous sap.

29—Northwestern State (abb).

30—A Great Motion Picture Corporation.

31—Nickname of baseball player.

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32—Better than kings.

33—Popular motion picture Star 36—The man who writes “Watch This Column.”

38—Send in payment.

39—Annual (pl).

41—Animals within a given area.

42—Follow.

44—A fairy.

46—Without moisture.

47—Mist.

48—A tint.

53—A relative.

55—A student.

57—An overwhelming defeat.

58—A chain of mountains in Asia.

59—Small pointed tools.

61—On the end of a finger.

63—A unit.

64—Brand of radio tube.

65—An Island in New York (abb).

67—A grassy field.

71—What you will have when you see “The Price of Pleasure,” starring Virginia Valli.

72—Laughter.

73—A European race.

74—A standard of measurement.

75—A nail.

77—A fatty solid substance.

78—A royal appellation (abb).

79—To piece out.

80—A male cat.

81—Before.

83—A personal pronoun.

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The Young Lady On The Cover: Has Large And Varied Collection In Which She Takes Great Pride

by A.W. Sobler Originally published in Roessler’s Stamp News, February 1918 It is a well-known fact that most motion picture players, being human beings despite the fact that they are r e g a r d e d i n t h e l i g h t o f c u r i o s, monstrosities or tin gods, as the case may be, have hobbies. Some have hobbies, so

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contorted. and exaggerated by a press agent’s uncramped fancies, degenerated into idiosyncrasies, while others, more conservative, admit to plain, unpretentious hobbies.

Included in this latter category may be placed Miss Corinne Griffith, a brilliant m e m b e r o f G r e a t e r Vi t a g r a p h ’s constellation. Miss Griffith’s hobby is, and has been from early youth, stamp collecting, a hobby which has since generated into almost an obsession.

During the period of Miss Griffith’s stamp collection proclivities she has accumulated a vast amount of stamps, many of which are exceedingly rare and some almost unobtainable.

Since entering motion picture work, Miss Griffith’s collection has been materially increased both in quantity and in the rarity in component items. Her professional fame has spread to the Orient and has even permeated the remotest parts of the earth, and from admirers, there she receives many unusual specimens.

She takes great pride in her stamp assemblage and to her it is almost priceless. She values it most for its sentimental significance as it is reminiscent of many happy moments in her youth that she spent in hinging her stamps in the album and exhibiting them to her friends. She is using two albums.

M i s s G r i f fi t h h a s re c e i ve d hundreds of stamps from her admirers in every quarter of the globe. The Tommies guarding the Straits of Gibraltar; the quaint citizen of Nippon; the natives of India, all have added to the collection. We predict, now that it is generally known, that Miss Griffith will receive many more stamps from admirers of her screen work in O. Henry’s stories.