Silent Film Quarterly Issue 9

The Silent Film Quarterly Volume 3

Fall 2017

Issue I

The Silent Film Quarterly • 3

The Silent Film Quarterly

—————————————————————————— Volume III, Issue 1 Fall 2017 Table of Contents Editor’s Message 4 Silent Salon: Charles Epting 5 Silent Film Quarterly and Wellema Hat Co. Team Up for a Memorable Evening

4500 Sunset Boulevard:

Charles Epting 7

Early Women Filmmakers— An International Anthology:

Lewis Walker 9

A New Effort to Have a Plaque Placed at the Site of D.W. Griffith’s Former Studio

Blu-ray and DVD Review

Getting Away With Art, Part I:

Mark Pruett 11

Reckoning with Regulation in Pre-Hays America

Hometowns to Hollywood:

Annette Bochenek

16

Jobyna Ralston

Silent-ology: Lea Stans 20 Griffith’s Kids

Motion Picture Studios of G.P. von Harleman California:

26

Review of the Wonderful Development of the Film Producing Industry on the Pacific Coast

Pulling Teeth to Find Kevin John Charbeneau 46 Nelson McDowell: The Man of Many Hats

Movie Film from Camera to Screen: Tireless Industry Working Day and Night Makes Countless Reels of Celluloid that Animate the Silver Sheets

53

The Silent Film Quarterly • 4 Editor’s Message After promising no further delays in the production of this magazine, I am afraid that my professional and personal lives have once again forced me to produce two issues at once. The good news is that a part of this delay was caused by an upgrade in technology; rather than attempting to format the magazine on Apple Pages, I am now using Adobe InDesign (which I should have been doing from the start, but hindsight is 20-20). This meant entirely re-creating Issues 9 and 10 in a new program after I had already spent months laying them out. I believe the changes to the magazine to be a substantial step forward.

Over the last few months I have been fortunate to visit several silent film landmarks that I have been meaning to for years. Perhaps the most significant is Thomas Edison’s New Jersey laboratory, arguably the birthplace of the motion picture industry (at least from a comercially-viable standpoint). While many great men on both sides of the Atlantic made important technical contributions to early cinema, it was Edison who first exploited the full potential of moving pictures. To walk in his footsteps and see some of his earliest inventions in-person was nothing short of remarkable.

More recently I found myself in Dewey, Oklahoma, home of the Tom Mix Museum.

Although Mix’s time in Dewey was brief, the museum has carried on his legacy for over 50 years. Artifacts from his military career all the way up through his eventual stardom are packed into display cases; the number of personal belongings that the museum owns is quite honestly overwhelming. The main attraction is undeniably the small metal suitcase which caused his untimely death in 1940; a macabre artifact to be sure, but an important one.

Not far from Dewey is another can’t-miss attraction: the Will Rogers Museum in Claremore. While Rogers’ silent career is somewhat under-represented, there are a number of artifacts from his Ziegfeld days, as well as plenty of posters and lobby cards from his more popular talkies. Will Rogers’ grave worth the trip to Claremore alone, while the rotunda of the museum features a replica of the statue that stands in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, DC. Will’s birthplace and childhood home is preserved in nearby Oologah, just about a 10 minute drive from the museum. A charmingly-outdated voiceover by Will Rogers, Jr. plays on a loop as you guide yourself through the tiny farmhouse. Seeing the humble beginnings of one of the 20th century’s largest personalities is incredibly poignant.

Before becoming the most beloved man in America, Will Rogers was a regular person like the rest of us.

As I write this introduction I am putting the finishing touches on Issue 10 as well. I am so enamored with InDesign that I hope to go back and reformat the first eight issues at some point, in order to ensure consistency in style and design. Until then, I hope you enjoy Issue 9. As always, I think you for your continued support and readership.

—Charles Epting, editor

The Silent Film Quarterly • 5

Silent Salon: Silent Film Quarterly and Wellema Hat Co. Team Up for a Memorable Evening

by Charles Epting On August 26, 2017, Silent Film Quarterly in conjunction with Wellema Hat Company held the inaugural “Silent Salon.” A social hour followed by a screening of Harold Lloyd’s 1920 masterpiece Haunted Spooks (complete with live accompaniment by the incredible John Reed Torres), this event was the first of what we hope to be a regular series of such gatherings for passionate silent film fans.

Cody Wellema is the entrepreneur behind Wellema Hat Company, and I can honestly say that his hats are the epitome of style, class, and distinction. Using vintage hat-making tools that he has spent years acquiring, Cody is a scholar of vintage fashion and his passion is evi-

dent in each and every piece he makes.

His wonderful shop in Altadena served as the perfect backdrop for our first Silent Salon, and we are excited to work together with him on future project.

It was originally my intention to project Haunted Spooks on a 1939 Keystone Model R-8 projector, using a vintage Blackhawk print of the film. However, the best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry, and the night before the event my projector bulb burnt out after only a few minutes of use. Fortunately a modern digital projector was on hand, and the quality of the film was better than ever could have been achieved from an 8mm print.

I have gotten to know John Reed

The Silent Film Quarterly • 6

Custom show card painted by Golden West Sign Arts.

Torres over the last few years from his playing at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo, in addition to his appearances at ragtime festivals. John impressed everyone in attendance when he positioned a mirror on top of the piano in order to watch the film, being projected behind his back, as he played along. Listening to John improvise his way through a si-

Editor Charles Epting, hat-maker Cody Wellema, and pianist John Reed Torres.

lent film is like being transported back a century—he is nothing short of a genius when it comes to capturing the sounds of the early 20th century.

Perhaps the most amazing part of the evening for me was seeing a local family from Altadena who brought their three-year-old daughter along to the event. From the second we dimmed the lights and the film started, she was enraptured. Her face lit up at Lloyd’s many silly gags, and her parents told me afterwards just how much she had enjoyed herself. Many people I have interviewed have told similar stories of young children falling in love with the classic silent clowns—seeing it firsthand was incredibly uplifting.

Future events will be scheduled shortly, and will be advertised on Silent Film Quarterly’s social media pages. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, please consider attending our next Silent Salon—if it’s anything like the first, I think you’ll have a wonderful time.

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The site of D.W. Griffith’s Hollywood studio today. It was here that he filmed The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, and Broken Blossoms.

4500 Sunset Boulevard: A New Effort to Have a Plaque Placed at the Site of D.W. Griffith’s Former Studio

by Charles Epting “I have heard him called a poet and philosopher and a genius and a general and numerous other things. I dare say he is a little of all of them.”

—The Los Angeles Times, November 19, 1916

With regards to the artistic nature of cinema, I do not believe there has ever been a more important figure than D.W. Griffith. Whereas Eadweard Muybridge, Thomas Edison, and countless others perfected the science of creating moving pictures, Griffith singlehandedly shaped movies from trivial entertainment to highbrow art. A 1916 profile in Photoplay states this fact much more eloquently than I could ever hope to:

He discovered a world of moving pictures; puerile, vulgarly debasing in their triviality; an entertainment one degree removed from a magic lantern show; a passing joke that was novelly attractive as dime museums formerly attracted…sustenance for the people who gape, and first aids to the yawn.

That moving picture sphere in the universe of banalities received him coldly, apprehensively, as if it foresaw its dissolution into fertilizer for Art, thought, genius.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 8 From Mary Pickford to Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Griffith discovered many of the screen’s first idols. It was under Griffith that many acclaimed directors, including Erich Von Stroheim, got their start. Rather than merely filming stage productions, Griffith used the camera like a set of eyes, popularizing techniques that are taken for granted today (such as the close-up). Orson Welles once said of the man, “No town, no industry, no profession, no art form owes so much to a single man. He is beyond tribute.”

To this day, two films continue to define Griffith’s career: The Birth of a Nation, as notorious as it is celebrated; and the spectacular Intolerance, unprecedented in its scope and ambition. Many have attempted to frame the latter as an answer or apology for the former; this is a subject much too involved for my short article here. Whatever Griffith’s intention behind these films, they were considered to be the greatest films ever produced upon their release, and they continue to enthrall audiences and inspire impassioned debate to this very day.

What few people know about these two monoliths of the silent era is where they—and countless other films—were shot. From the mid-to-late 1910s, D.W. Griffith’s base of operations was the Fine Arts Studios, located near the intersection of Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards. The studio’s complete history will be recounted in a forthcoming special edition of Silent Film Quarterly; apart from Griffith’s involvement at the site, there are connections to Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and many other legends of the silent screen.

The purpose of this article is formally announce this publication’s efforts to have a plaque placed at the site of the former Fine Arts Studios. Now the parking lot for a Von’s grocery store, the plot of land at the southwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Virgil Avenue is undeniably one of the most significant

sites in the history of cinema. A plaque honoring the achievements of the men and women—led by Griffith—who toiled to revolutionize the film industry would help to ensure that this pioneer and his work will not be forgotten by future generations.

In the 21st century, D.W. Griffith is a polarizing and oft-scorned figure for the controversial content in several of his pictures, most obviously The Birth of a Nation. Such a plaque would allow for acknowledgment and discussion of the racial insensitivity of his films, placing it in its historical context and celebrating how far Hollywood has come in just over 100 years. The controversy surrounding Griffith’s career should not dissuade anyone from trying to place a plaque; rather it should be viewed as an opportunity to facilitate honest and open discourse regarding Griffith’s role in defining early Hollywood, for better or for worse.

In the coming months, I will begin contacting the relevant city authorities and the property-owners, as well as attempting to locate potential sources of funding for a plaque. If you are interested in learning more about the project, please do not hesitate to contact me.

This effort can only be successful with the assistance of the silent film community.

I do not believe it is a stretch to say that Hollywood, as we know it today, was born at 4500 Sunset Boulevard. After more than a century, it is finally time for that hallowed piece of land to receive the recognition it deserves. Who’s with me?

Griffith’s studio as it appeared in 1916.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 9

Early Women Filmmakers—An International Anthology: Blu-ray and DVD Review

by Lewis Walker It is argued that more women filmmakers worked during the silent era than any other period since. The silent era and the progression of filmmaking included many women that worked in a variety of positions including director, script-editor, producer, actress and writer to name but a few and in some instances they did all of these things and more!

This release comes from a collaboration between Flicker Alley and Blackhawk Films presenting 25 newly restored and remastered films from early cinema’s women directors, including films from all over the globe. The set is dedicated to the memory of David Shepard, who dedicated his career to restoring films and releasing them back in the public.It is a fitting tribute and something I’m sure he would have been proud of. The most wonderful thing, and there are many,

about this collection is that it seems to bring women back into the forefront of the history of cinema, we get a chance to view chronologically the development of not only the art form but of women in cinema.

The set itself is beautiful, including both Blu-ray and DVD versions of all the films, and comes with a 28 page booklet featuring an essay by Kate Saccade about early women directors which is a perfect accompaniment to the set. The menu of each disc is simple yet useful, giving you the option to settle in and watch all the films on said disc or skip to a particular director and film, which when wanting to re-watch or focus on a particular director is very useful. Each director is accompanied by a quick overview of their life and career and each film gets an introduction about the film and aspects to watch out for. The inclusion of the overview puts the film in perspective and shows something uniquely different about each director. The set is immaculate and proves that this has been a labour of love.

The 25 films included on the set range from 1902 to 1943, and feature genres galore, including slapstick comedy, rural realism, animation, suspense and everything in-between. For silent fans it is crammed with films from the likes of Alice Guy Blanché, Lois Webber, Mabel Normand, Madeline Brandeis, Germaine Dulac, and Olga Preobrazhenskaia. The temptation to skip ahead to a certain film, or director, is ever-present but watching the films in order of presentation adds an extra layer to the set. It feels like we are watching not only the progression of female directors but of the industry as a whole. Starting with Les Chiens Savants from 1902, which

The Silent Film Quarterly • 10 shows a famous vaudeville act from the time featuring Miss Dundee and her performing dogs which is highly enjoyable. The juvenile inside found it hilariously funny, especially when a ‘dead’ dog is joined by his canine wife dressed in mourning (which doesn’t sound particularly funny, but is). From here we see Blanché progress with the art form, presenting more elaborate shots and narratives and with each passing film presenting a more fully rounded female character. Webber is next on the list, and right away I can see why we she was so celebrated in her time. Suspense from 1913 is a brilliant piece of filmmaking. The shots are truly glorious and to realize the industry in America was less than 20 years old at this point makes it truly magnificent. One shot had me transfixed, showing a homeless man from above through the gaze of the female trapped inside her own house. The first feature length film included is The Blot from 1921, and while the film spreads on its meaning pretty thick it’s an enjoyable enough film about the class divide from that time, and the place of intellectuals and men of cloth.

We also get a superb commentary on The Blot from Shelley Stamp, author, professor, and expert on women and early film culture. From America we move on to France and Russia. The films of Germaine Dulac are a particular highlight, and La Cigarette (1919) finally shows a truly strong female lead, who epitomizes the roaring twenties but still has intelligence and integrity. It is a beautiful film, and possibly my favorite included on the set. While watching La Cigarette it struck me how easily these films could have been erased from the history of cinema.

The print is obviously in poor shape in places, but thanks to the fantastic restoration efforts by Blackhawk Films we have a record of them that will live forever. La Cigarette is the only film that really suffers from a neglected negative, as the rest are beautifully restored with perfect

scores (in particular for Falling Leaves [1912] which actually moved me more than the film). The Peasant Women of Ryazan (1927) is also a fantastic inclusion and shows a well-crafted, perfectly-acted story of Russian family and war. The thing I liked most about the set was the sheer enormity of stories and narratives collected. Women play an important part in all the films included, but it’s also interesting to see how the men are presented as well. In films like The Peasant Women of Ryazan and Making an American Citizen (1912) the men seem to be abusive, vile humans with no regard for women, where-as in The Blot and Falling Leaves the men are more understanding and modern. The main difference between the two representations of men is age, and shows again the progressive nature of the time. The older generation seem to want to keep women as household appliances, whereas the new generation sees equality. I’m sure this is something all the women included in the collection had to deal with at some point in their career and is presented well.

I was very much looking forward to Early Women Filmmakers being released, but nothing quite prepared me for what I was about to watch. The set shows the impressive variety and techniques that early women filmmakers had at their disposal. When are we ever going to see a fairy tale about a Star Prince starring only children and animals ever again?

The look of the box set and the restoration is superb and I feel that we have a stable launchpad in which to launch female directors back into the public conscience. While the films included aren’t all perfect, flawless pieces of cinema we do get an array of films that are essential for not only scholars of female cinema, but lovers of film in general. My hope is that we get more films released form this period directed by women, I have a feeling that this is only the beginning. This collection is, in a word, essential.

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Getting Away With Art, Part I: Reckoning with Regulation in Pre-Hays America

by Mark Pruett “Even with the weight of authority behind him, no bland person, with virtue obviously unruffled, is altogether convincing when he announces that the book he has just read or the moving picture he has seen is so hideously immoral that it constitutes a danger to the community. For my part I always feel that if he can stand it, so can I.” —Heywood Broun, “Censoring the Censor” (1921) The rape of Alice, the doomed young wife played by Jane Novak in Irvin Willat’s Behind the Door (1919), is one of the most indelibly horrific scenes in silent cinema.

Taken captive aboard a German U-boat during the First World War, she spurns the advances of the ship’s commander (Wallace Beery) and is thereupon flung to the wolves—that is, to the submarine’s rapacious crew, five of whom seize the terrified woman, dragging her from the commander’s doorway, and from our view, as many more sailors surge through the passage to join the mob.

The film delivers additional jolts, especially during the last moments of its notorious climax, which rivals the earlier

scene in brutality and gruesomeness. But as Jay Weissberg records in his excellent notes to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s restoration (on Blu-ray/DVD from Flicker Alley, 2017), the Paramount release, controversial as it was, had no trouble attracting an audience, eventually earning more than three times its production cost.

Reviewers who thought well of the film were initially cautious. “Behind the Door is a ghastly epic in war hysteria,” said Frederick James Smith in Motion Picture Classic,1 “but it is admirably done.” The film, Smith pontificated, was “an opus 1

March, 1920

The Silent Film Quarterly • 12

in brutality—an intermezzo in gory revenge.” Yet he happily commended its “well-knit scenario, skillfully directed and played with a fine vigor.”

Like Smith, J.S. Dickerson in Motion Picture News2 fretted about the film’s reception. Barely a month after its release, Dickerson wrote that Behind the Door “cannot hope to find universal favor because it is so vividly brutal and cruel.”

A week later—perhaps in response to box-office figures—he was more upbeat, headlining his follow-up notice “Behind the Door—A Wonderfully Realistic Story of Revenge.” But while Dickerson pronounced the film “a great drama,” he advised exhibitors to forewarn unwary patrons of the “gruesome and unpleasant” elements of the story.

How exhibitors were to accomplish this was left unsaid. Not even Dickerson could bring himself to use the word rape to describe the rape that drives Alice’s husband, Oscar Krug (Hobart Bosworth), to seek bloody revenge. For Krug, wrote Dickerson, the war has become “a personal conflict with the German who has outraged his wife beyond 2

January 10, 1920

the power of words to express it.”3 Frederick James Smith was even more allusive, skirting the subject of Alice’s rape and ensuing murder with a facile—and strangely callous—compliment: “Jane Novak is excellent as the wife sacrificed to war.”

• • • Well-intentioned reviewers were not the only ones grappling with the sometimes “difficult” subject matter of the movies. That roster included studio heads, producers, directors, actors, scenarists, artists, publicists, and exhibitors, all of whom stood to lose should they ignore criticism leveled at their product from outside the industry. One benevolent overseer was the National Committee for Better Films, the publishing arm of The Better Films Movement. It too grappled with the content of motion pictures, purporting to apply nine “principles”—including theme, plot, acting, setting, and photography, but also instructional value and moral effect—to determine “the better films,” which it would then recommend in its Photoplay Guide.

3

Motion Picture News, January 17, 1920

The Silent Film Quarterly • 13

Hobart Bosworth in Behind the Door.

When it came to judging the expertise of cinematographers and other experienced studio technicians, the Committee was out of its depth. In 1924 its executive board drew its members from the National Board of Review, the National Society of New England Women, Newark, New Jersey’s Free Public Library, the Federation for Child Study, the Campfire Girls of America, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Manhattan Council of Girl Scouts, Inter-Theater Arts, the Public Education Association, the Committee on Character Education, the Women’s City Club of New York, the Scudder School for Girls, and the YMCA. The Committee was intensely publicspirited, however, and its heart was with the movies. The Better Films Movement may have been as attentive to uplift as to art, but its members shared one conviction that linked their public mission to the increasingly embattled art of the cinema. They had no use for censorship.

• • • “The motion picture theatre,” said Exhibitors Herald in March of 1921, “needs friends today as never before.” This was six months before the Roscoe Arbuckle trial and nearly a year before the murder of director William Desmond Taylor, scandals which helped to spur the formation of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. Will Hays, installed as the MPPDA’s mouthpiece, at-

tempted to counter both negative publicity and the capricious edicts of state and local censors with the promise of industry self-regulation. It would be another five years before Hays issued his list of “Don’ts” and “Be Carefuls,” a limp precursor to the Production Code, which counseled producers to avoid or tread lightly upon topics which tended to work censors into a lather.

But the fear of censorship had long since gripped the industry. The spring of 1921 saw the defeat of censorship bills in California, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. In April all eyes were on New York, where the Republican-led Lusk-Clayton bill had reached the senate.

Opposition was vocal and immediate.

The Motion Picture Theater Owners of New York State descended on the Hotel Seneca in Rochester and made noise for two days. In Albany the senators listened to heartfelt speeches by Rex Beach, president of the Authors League of America, and D.W. Griffith, veteran of censorship battles since the release of The Birth of a Nation six years earlier.

Governor Nathan L. Miller was about to sign the bill into law when he was petitioned by 27 industry heavyweights— among them Famous Players-Lasky, Metro, Goldwyn, Associated Producers, Triangle, D.W. Griffith, Vitagraph, Educational, Fox, L.B. Meyer, and Warner Brothers—to accept a compromise: “We propose at once,” the petition read, “to establish and to maintain an editorial committee supported by the principal producers of moving pictures, to whom we will submit all films of our own production and whose directions we will follow.”4 Miller signed the bill anyway.

Efforts at repeal were beaten back, even after Democrat Al Smith recommended, upon succeeding Miller in 1923, that the New York Motion Picture Censorship Commission be dissolved.

4

Moving Picture World, May 7, 1921

The Silent Film Quarterly • 14 As 1921 came to a close, censorship bills were being debated in 36 states.

The weight assigned to particular “moral outrages” varied from legislature to legislature, as did the subjects deemed worthy of censure. Thanks to the simmering passions involved in their drafting, censorship bills were typically shot through with personal quirks, crotchets, and fixations. The resulting document was at times a crazy quilt of prohibitions.

As reproduced by Moving Picture World,5 West Virginia’s Helmick Bill set forth its “subjects which must be condemned” so haphazardly as to imbue the list with an air of desperation, as if it had been compiled by free-association rather than by sober logic. The subjects to be condemned: are those relating to ‘white slavery,’ the betrayal of young girls and assaults upon women, prenatal and childbed scenes, pictures and parts of pictures dealing with the drug habit, scenes showing the modus operandi of criminals, gruesome and unduly distressing scenes, studio and other scenes in which the human form is shown in the nude, pictures and parts of pictures dealing with abortion and malpractice, scenes holding up to ridicule and reproach races, classes or other social groups, pictures dealing with counterfeiting, pictures showing men and women living together without marriage, brutal treatment of children, gross and offensive drunkenness, pictures of gun play, etc., sensual kissing and love-making scenes, and views of women smoking.

Observing these strictures, West Virginia might have found Charlie Chaplin’s comedy Easy Street no less objectionable than Irvin Willat’s Behind the Door.

• • • State censorship of motion pictures was not new, having been instituted in Pennsylvania in 1911. But it was a sin5

April 16, 1921

William H. Hays

gle Supreme Court decision early in 1915 that would have the most devastating impact on artistic expression in the movies, not only for what remained of the silent era but for decades beyond.

In Mutual Film Corp. v. Industrial Commission of Ohio (236 U.S. 230), Mutual had argued that the timely distribution of its Mutual Weekly newsreels had been crippled by Ohio’s requirement that each installment be pre-approved by its board of censors. Crucially, Mutual’s complaint asserted that Ohio’s law restricted Mutual’s freedom of expression and thereby violated its First Amendment protection.

The Court would have none of it.

Ruling unanimously, it held that movies, like circuses, “are a business, pure and simple.” They are engines designed to turn a profit, not to promulgate ideas. It would be wrong, said the Court, to extend “the guarantees of free opinion and speech to the multitudinous shows which are advertised on the billboards of cities and towns.”

The Court went further. The Ohio statute was in force, it declared, precisely

The Silent Film Quarterly • 15 because movies “may be used for evil”: They take their attraction from the general interest, eager and wholesome it may be, in their subjects, but a prurient interest may be excited and appealed to. Besides, there are some things which should not have pictorial representation in public places and to all audiences.

The 1915 ruling would endure as the gold standard in the regulation of film content (the Court would not reverse its decision until 1952). It affirmed the authority of state and municipal censorship boards to remove objectionable footage or to ban the exhibition of an offensive film. More important, it acknowledged the role of individual boards in protecting their communities from potential “evil.” To this end, each board would continue to define offensive and objectionable film content by its own quite arbitrary standards. As noted by Anthony Slide, “brutality” raised hackles in Ohio; “immorality” got them going in New York. A 1922 treatise by Donald Ramsay Young looked at the cuts made by Chicago’s official censor in the space of a single month—November 1917. In the films submitted to him for approval, the censor made 974 discrete edits, excising a total of 55,604 feet of film. One-half of the edits were for “offenses relating to sexual standards.” The other half were for “unlawful” offenses, “scenes which would be likely to incite to unlawful acts through the portrayal of crimes and brutality.”6 • • • Those who knew that movies could be artful even when depicting sensual, vi-

olent, or criminal behavior regarded the Mutual decision as an affront. But what could be done about it?

The first meaningful gesture of resistance came just one year after the 1915 ruling, when the National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures renamed itself the National Board of Review. Firmly rooted in the Progressive Era thanks to its affiliation with the New York-based People’s Institute, the National Board had since 1909 aimed to provide a review service that would render local censorship boards obsolete. In 1916 the National Board, by now fiscally independent, shrugged off the mantle of censorship and resolved to regard movies as nothing less than artistic expression. Its members, according to historian Richard Griffith, “had come to find the powers delegated to them repugnant to their conception of freedom of expression,” believing that “neither they nor anyone else had the right to dictate standards of morality.”7 While sympathetic, of course, producers had more pressing concerns.

They needed to make movies that would fill theaters—unusual, compelling, adult movies—and they had to do so without antagonizing the censors. To their surprise, librarians, teachers, and other promoters of education, once counted among the most tireless critics of motion pictures, were coming to their aid.

These unexpected allies suggested, as the 1920s got under way, that filmmakers take a page from the censors’ own book.

If movies are capable of evil, then the opposite must also be true. Movies can be good for us.

Salvato, Richard and Cherie Meyers, National Board of Review of Motion Picture Records, 1907-1971 (1984) 7

Young, Donald Ramsey. Motion Pictures: A Study in Social Legislation (1922).

6

This is Part 1 of a two-part article. Mark Pruett’s articles on Baby Peggy and Ford Sterling appeared in the Summer and Fall 2016 issues of Silent Film Quarterly.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 16

Jobyna Ralston

Jobyna Ralston

by Annette Bochenek While fans of silent film may easily recall comedian Harold Lloyd working with many terrific actors, one of my favorite co-stars of his is Jobyna Ralston.

Jobyna easily projects an image of innocence, comfort, and sweetness against whatever chaos befalls Lloyd in their films. However, Jobyna worked with many more actors, both comedic and dramatic, throughout her film career.

Jobyna (pronounced “Joe-bean-a”) “Joby” Lancaster Raulston was born on November 21st, 1899, in the mountain town of South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Her stage-struck parents were Joe Lancaster Raulston and Sara E. Kemp Brady Raulston, and they named their daughter

Jobyna after actress Jobyna Howland.

The Raulstons also welcomed a son, Edward Angus, into the family on April 14th, 1905. The family lived in a red frame house on the main street in town, surrounded by many bustling businesses.

The Raulston home also boasted beautiful white rose bushes.

Jobyna’s mother was South Pittsburg’s only photographer and enjoyed posing her daughter before the camera.

She enjoyed making dresses for Jobyna and using a finger to curl Jobyna’s tresses about her face. Intrigued by the motion picture industry, Mrs. Kemp-Raulston devoured movie magazines and kept up-to-date about the latest directors and

The Silent Film Quarterly • 17 producers. Moreover, she taught her daughter how to pose before the camera to instill confidence and poise in her and to eliminate any sense of self-consciousness. At age nine, Jobyna carried out her first stage performance in Cinderella at the Wilson Theater and Opera House in South Pittsburg.

When Jobyna turned sixteen, she began dating John Campbell, who had a farm several miles away from South Pittsburg. Though the Campbells and Raulstons were amiable with one another, they did not approve of the match.

Nevertheless, the couple married but divorced shortly thereafter.

In response, Jobyna decided to leave South Pittsburg and take acting classes in New York, where she appeared in Ned Wayburn’s company of performers. In 1919, she made her film debut in a short called Starting Out in Life, though she was incorrectly billed as Juliana Ralston.

Her next film appearance was in a short called The Sultan of Djazz (1919), which credited her as Jobyna Ralston.

After working on a series of shorts, Jobyna appeared as the heroine in a nowlost production of a Marx Brothers short

Jobyna Ralston photographed as a young girl by her mother in South Pittsburg.

called Humor Risk (1921). Additionally, she was also featured in a 1921 Vincent Youmans Broadway show called Two Little Girls in Blue. Jobyna continued a career in comedy, mostly working for Hal Roach Studios, when she was recognized as a Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS) Baby Star in 1923.

Jobyna Ralston with Eddie Cantor in Special Delivery (left) and Charles Rogers in Wings (below).

The Silent Film Quarterly • 18 can also be spotted in a cameo appearance during the Our Gang short, Dogs of War (1923), as Why Worry? was being filmed alongside the short.

In the midst making films with Lloyd, Jobyna’s mother fell gravely ill and passed away in 1925. Jobyna had shared a California bungalow with her father, mother, and brother, and was inconsolable over the loss. She traveled home to South Pittsburg to clear out the house and spent time in front of the rosebushes, while also packaging the dozens of photographic plates her mother had produced over the years.

While Jobyna also worked with another comedian, Eddie Cantor, in Special Delivery (1927), she also took on a more dramatic role in the film Wings (1927).

Wings was the first film to win the AcadRichard Arlen and Jobyna Ralston with Richard emy Award for Best Picture, also starring Arlen, Jr. Clara Bow, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, and When Harold Lloyd was looking Richard Arlen. Jobyna and Richard Arto replace his frequent co-star, Mildred len met on the set of Wings and married Davis, whom he was planning to marry, later that year. Their marriage produced Jobyna Ralston was hired on as an ideal a son, Richard Arlen, Jr., who was born counterpart to his characters. The pair in 1933. worked in six films together: Why Worry?

Later, Jobyna worked in sound (1923), Girl Shy (1924), Hot Water (1924), films, which included The College Coquette The Freshman (1925), For Heaven’s Sake (1929), a Rin Tin Tin film called Rough (1926), and The Kid Brother (1927). They Waters (1930), and Sheer Luck (1931).

Around this time, Jobyna was also in a Los Angeles play called Bad Babies (1930). The entire cast was arrested by authorities due to “lewd and indecent exhibition.” All of the cast members opted to pay the $300 fine as opposed to spending 30 days in jail.

Jobyna retired from acting in 1931. She and Richard Arlen Ralston is perhaps best-remembered for her roles as separated in 1938 Harold Lloyd’s leading lady. and divorced in 1945.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 19 The last five years of Jobyna’s life left her suffering from rheumatism and several strokes. She died on January 22nd, 1967, from pneumonia at the Motion Picture Country Home in Los Angeles.

Today, South Pittsburg does possess a tribute to its famous daughter. On November 21st, 2004, which would have been Jobyna’s 105th birthday, the town dedicated a marker to her. The marker was paid through private donations and a group of roughly forty-seven people attended on the rainy day of the dedication, which included the county mayor, town mayor, road commissioner, city commissioner, and representatives from the South Pittsburg Historic Preservation Society. South Pittsburg Mayor Bob Sherrill read a proclamation during the event, which officially declared the day as Jobyna Lancaster Ralston-Arlen Day. Richard Arlen, Jr., was unable to attend, due to health issues. Upon the dedication of the Tennessee Historic Commission marker, guests enjoyed a screening of Hot Water (1924).

The Jobyna Lancaster Ralston-Arlen Birthplace marker stands in front of an apartment building at 324 S. Cedar Avenue. If you are ever in the South Pittsburg area, consider taking a moment to remember Jobyna on the location of where her childhood home once stood.

Marker Text: Born November 21, 1899, Jobyna L. Raulston became a silent movie actress, appearing in more than 90 films during her career. She made her stage-acting debut at Wilson Theatre (opera house) in South Pittsburg at age nine. Raulston later studied theater in New York, around 1915, where she dropped the letter “u” from her surname. She became a Broadway chorus dancer, and about 1920, she made her silent film debut in short comedies. She starred in some Marx Brothers’ films.

Ralston moved to California in 1922 and began her Hollywood career with Hal Roach Studios playing extras. The following year, she was silent comedian Harold Lloyd’s leading lady. In 1927, she co-starred as “Sylvia Lewis” in the first Oscar-winning film “Wings.” Ralston ended her career with two sound films and in her last played a lead role in “Rough Waters.” Married to film star, Richard Arlen, she retired in 1932. Ralston died in Los Angeles, on January 22, 1967.

Visit Annette Bochenek’s Hometowns to Hollywood at: www.hometownstohollywood.com

The Silent Film Quarterly • 20

Griffith’s Kids: The Screen Partnership of Mae Marsh and Robert Harron

by Lea Stans Cinema history has a number of famous screen pairings, from comedy teams like Laurel and Hardy to couples like Gilbert and Garbo. But there is one early pair, well known to viewers in Edwardian times, which has been virtually forgotten today—the charming partnership of Mae Marsh and Robert Harron.

Both were young, both were from humble backgrounds, and both had no previous acting experience before

joining the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (Harron joined the studio as an errand boy in 1907, and Marsh became an extra around 1910).

Their timing happened to be nothing short of extraordinary. Not only would the lanky Irish boy and freckled-faced girl be taught how to act by D.W. Griffith himself while surrounded by such talent as Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish, but they would be part of the earliest gener-

Mae Marsh and Robert Harron, one of early Hollywood’s most famous onscreen couples.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 21

Studio portrait of Robert Harron.

ation of true movie stars, free from the conventional background of stage acting. And in the process, the two would be eyewitnesses to the speedy evolution of “moving pictures” into a sophisticated art form.

Robert Emmett Harron (nicknamed “Bobby,” although he liked the spelling “Bobbie”), was an Irish Catholic native of New York City. He born on April 12, 1893 to parents John and Mary Harron, and was the second oldest of nine siblings.

The lower class Harrons lived in Greenwich Village, which by the turn of the 20th century was a quaint neighborhood of low rent that was attracting numbers of German, French, Italian, and Irish immigrants.

Young Bobby attended the highly-praised St. Joseph’s Parochial School, run by the Sisters of Charity and the Christian Brothers. In 1907, at age 14, Bobby was looking for a job so he could help support his large family. One of the Brothers sent him and friend James Smith to a place that was hiring: the American Mutoscope and Biograph Studio at 11 East 14th Street, not far from Bobby’s home. They were put to work at the busy studio as errand boys. For about $5 a week quiet, hardworking Bobby worked in the cutting room, helped build sets, picked up lunch orders, and shuttled completed films to various New York theaters.

Early film studios were a thrifty bunch, and it was common to have members of the crew step in to serve as extras or to play tiny roles. Soon Bobby was asked to play a small part in the 10-minute short Dr. Skinum (1907), directed by early filmmaker Wallace “Old Man” McCutcheon. Pleased with the results, the studio began using him as an extra and bit player.

Throughout the next few years Bobby played bit parts in dozens—and dozens—of Biograph shorts. His roles varied from “Young burglar” to “Boy passing handbills.” His earliest surviving film appearance (that’s available) is The Boy Detective, or The Abductors Foiled (1908), where we see him shooting marbles on the sidewalk and walking off with the gait of a New York boy used to hustling along those streets.

• • • Both Mae Marsh’s birthdate and the details of her early life have been in dispute in the past. It’s usually said that she was born in 1895 and that her father passed away when she was four. It’s also common to read that her stepfather passed away in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. However, early census records state that she was born Mary Wayne Marsh on November 9, 1894 in New Mex-

The Silent Film Quarterly • 22 ico territory, her father S. Charles Marsh was likely alive at least by the year 1900, and her stepfather William Hall was most certainly alive by time of the 1910 U.S. census. She was one of five children, all of whom would work in Hollywood in some capacity.

In 1910 Mae’s family was living in Los Angeles. Her parents likely took her and her siblings to the nearby film studios to find work, perhaps because of her older sister Marguerite’s background in stage acting. Soon Marguerite began working as a bit player at the Biograph company, billed as “Marguerite Loveridge.” 15-year-old Mae, who dreamt of being an actress herself (despite her lack of stage experience), insisted on tagging along and watching her sister work. At some point Griffith took notice of her and made her an extra. Soon he recognized the potential in the plain, pigtailed girl with the surprisingly expressive eyes, and began graduating her to bit parts.

Her first “major” role was as Lilywhite in the short Man’s Genesis (1912), a story set in caveman times. She was the only actress who agreed to the part, since it required her to have bare legs and to wear a grass skirt (other actresses like Mary Pickford felt it wouldn’t be ladylike). As a reward, she was cast as the lead in The Sands of Dee (1912). Lillian Gish later admitted that she and her sister Dorothy weren’t very friendly to the new actress at first, since they had a background in the theater and Mae had none. But in time they were won over by her down-to-earth, bubbly personality and undeniable talent. In her autobiography Lillian remembered, “She had a quality of pathos in her acting that has never been equaled…I later told her that she was the only actress of whom I was ever jealous.”

Mae had a crush on Bobby in those early days at Biograph, recalling in a 1924 interview with Motion Picture Magazine:

Mae Marsh in 1915.

“I thought Bobby Harron was the most wonderful being in the world. He had such beautiful eyes. I didn’t know how to get acquainted with him, but I did so want to attract his attention. So, when I’d see him hurrying around rustling props between scenes…I’d gather together a pile of pebbles, stones, and rocks of all sizes, and shyly throw them at him. The better I liked him, the bigger the rocks.”

The sweet awkwardness of this schoolgirl crush on the shy working class boy—which turned into an easygoing friendship—hinted at the many youthful roles to come. Mae and Bobby were paired for the first time in Man’s Genesis (1912), and Griffith liked the results enough to continue pairing them in various shorts such as The Tender-Hearted Boy (1913) and The Girl Across the Way (1913).

He also gave them roles in Judith of Bethulia (1914), his first feature film.

Following Judith, Griffith decided to start featuring Bobby and Mae in earnest by giving them the leads in The Great Leap (1914), a four-reel Hatfield-and-McCoy-esque drama.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 23

The Great God Fear (1914)

The title referred to a dangerous and much-publicized stunt at the climax of the film, showing the hero and heroine riding a horse that plunges off a precipice into a river 50 feet below. According to Variety, the horse didn’t so much leap as stumble and fall, but it was an eye-popping stunt nonetheless (and contemporary newspapers seem to indicate that Bobby and Mae actually did the stunt themselves).

The Great Leap was followed by features like Home Sweet Home (1914) and shorts like The Great God Fear (1914). All in all, they were co-starred nearly 30 times.

Mae often played innocent but spirited girls with names like “Apple Pie Mary” or “Hoodoo Ann,” and Bobby tended to play naive youths who prove themselves under difficult circumstances (although he could play mature men or gangsters with equal ease). Both had a flair for drama, playing emotional scenes with rare intensity.

Critics consistently praised Bobby and Mae as “accomplished artists” and “screen favorites.”

Even if the two were in lackluster films, it was

agreed that their talents were being wasted in subpar material. And audiences adored them, especially young people who related to their “true” and “human” characters. Fans wrote to movie magazines asking if Bobby was married and requesting more interviews with him (the shy actor gave very few).

A fan letter written to Mae in 1917 captures how much she was admired: “Just the mere mention of your name…is magical in its effect upon me, and I am a normally modern, normally indifferent girl. I can’t believe that any representation of emotions could touch me—until I think of you.”

Offscreen, the young duo had no traces of ego. When asked (in separate interviews) about their inspirations for their acting, both were quick to claim they owed it all to Griffith, who was a kind of father figure to them. In a 1917 interview with Photoplay, Marsh insisted, “In his pictures everything—scenery and players—is just so many instruments in his orchestra.” A journalist who inter-

The Great Leap (1914)

The Silent Film Quarterly • 24

viewed Bobby in a 1920 New York Tribune article wryly observed: “Getting him to talk about his work was like putting him unwillingly on the witness stand. He would have summed it all up in a sentence if we hadn’t kept on worrying him with questions. And the sentence would have been something like this: ‘It wasn’t I. It was Mr. Griffith.’”

Their places in cinema history were assured with their appearances in the epic The Birth of a Nation (1915)—Mae especially got the prominent part of the little “Little Sister.” But those places were further cemented by their greatest roles of all—the highly visible roles of “The

A Child of the Paris Streets (1916)

Boy” and “The Dear One” in Griffith’s massive feature Intolerance (1916).

Griffith had been working on the Bobby and Mae feature The Mother and the Law when the inspiration for Intolerance came. He decided to turn it into the “Modern Story” woven into his threeand-a-half-hour spectacle. Viewers who had been fans of Bobby and Mae for years, who remembered their little rural dramas and youthful romance pictures, now saw their talents enshrined in what is still to this day one of the most ambitious epics ever filmed. Mae’s poverty-stricken “Dear One” and Bobby’s tough reformed criminal “The Boy” are the emotional center of the story. Arguably they rose to the occasion, giving two of the greatest performances of the silent era. Harron all but bared his soul in the remarkable closeups of the “confession” scene, and of Mae’s “Dear One,” Pauline Kael would later write: “…The girl who twists her hands in the courtroom scenes of Intolerance is the image of youth-in-trouble forever.”

Following the heights of Intolerance, Mae would make a series of smaller films for Samuel Goldwyn. In time Bobby would follow to resume their screen part-

The Silent Film Quarterly • 25 nership. She would then marry publicity agent Louis Arms and make fewer films. Bobby would continue appearing in more Griffith features, such as rural drama True Heart Susie (1919) opposite Lillian Gish, and the World War I epic Hearts of the World (1918)—where he got to be a dashing hero in a cape.

In 1920, Mae had Behind the scenes on Sunshine Alley (1917). appeared in just a single film, focusing her time Bobby’s death was a shock to Holon her baby Mary (born lywood.

During his funeral studios obin 1919). Bobby, on the other hand, was served a moment of silence. Griffith’s about to embark on a series of light comstudio—where Bobby had worked for edies for his own company with Griffith’s twelve years—was deeply affected. Camsupport. On September 1, 1920, he and eraman Billy Bitzer said his death was screenwriter Victor Heerman attended a “a falling away and a breaking up of our preview of his newest film under the arformer trust and friendship—it was nevrangement, Coincidence, and planned on er the same again.” going to the premiere of Griffith’s Way Mae would continue to work in films Down East on September 3. But Bobby throughout her life, eventually settling would never make it to the premiere. on occasional small roles and bit parts.

While alone in his hotel room after the John Ford would use her in a number of Coincidence preview, he called the front films such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940) desk gasping that he had “shot himself” and The Quiet Man (1952). No doubt with a revolver. The bullet had pierced some older viewers still recognized the his left lung. He insisted that it had been little blue-eyed woman as the girlish an accident, and friends and family “Apple Pie Mary” of the silent days. She would later claim the same. While seemwould remain married to Louis Arms uningly making a recovery in the hospital, til her death, raising three children with he suddenly passed away on September him.

And while she could rarely speak 5. Whether Bobby had experienced deof him she certainly always had a place pression the night of September 1, or in her heart for the actor who died too whether it really had been a rare freak soon. “I did my best work with Bobby,” accident, will likely always remain a mysMae said in 1924, adding wistfully: “…I tery. think it is the best work I shall ever do.”

Lea Stans is a film historian from Minnesota who runs the blog Silent-ology. The information on Robert Harron is partly based on her article “The Extraordinary Talent of Bobby Harron,” which can be viewed a: www.silentology.wordpress.com

The Silent Film Quarterly • 26

Motion Picture Studios of California: A Review of the Wonderful Development of the Film Producing Industry on the Pacific Coast—Recent News of Some of the Big Plants

by G.P. von Harleman Originally published in The Moving Picture World, March 10, 1917 In the early spring of 1908 the late Frank Boggs, at the head of a company of players, blazed the pioneer trail to the Pacific Coast by establishing for Colonel William N. Selig a motion picture studio at the corner of Seventh and South Olive streets, in Los Angeles. It wasn’t much of a place, and a camera, a few lights and some painted scenery were about the entire equipment. In the party were James L. McGee, Thomas Santschi, James Crosby, Harry Todd, Gene Ward and Mrs. Boggs. Mr. Santschi and Mrs. McGee are still in the employ of Mr. Selig here, the former being a featured player and the latter western representative and general manager for the Selig enterprises on the coast.

The Selig company has now two studios in Los Angeles. One is located in Edendale, and at the present time leased by the Keystone. The other is the Eastlake Park Zoo. This is one of the show places in Los Angeles. It covers thirty-two acres of ground and is situated in Mission Road, opposite picturesque Eastlake Park. The Chicago film manufacturer

has here one of the largest animal collections in the United States, including many rare specimens. The entrance to the Zoo is beautiful. The design was executed by Carlos Romanelli, an Italian sculptor, and the figures of the animals on the pedestal between the gates were modeled from beasts within the grounds.

Matching the entrance in striking and imposing appearance is the home of the lions and tigers. It is mission style, the great patio in well kept lawn. The home of the elephants, some distance away, is in the same style of architecture. So, too, is the large amusement pavilion. There are many buildings on the grounds, among them the costume rooms, special storage structures, monkey pavilion, animal cages, bear houses, and the many buildings devoted to the sheltering of birds large and small.

The Selig Zoo is one of the playgrounds of Los Angeles. During the summer time merry picnickers invade the place and local organizations hold festivals with many thousand people participating. Mr. Selig adds to his large animal

Panorama view of Selig Zoo and

The Silent Film Quarterly • 27 collection whenever he has the opportunity, and before the war he used to buy animals from all parts of the world, and receive several times a year large shipments from Hagenbeck, in Hamburg, and Jarmack, in London. The only place now left open is Australia and the East Indies. The Zoo received a large shipment of valuable animals from Australia recently, including several kangaroos and many beautiful birds. Another recent addition to the Zoo was a collection of fifty peacocks.

The studio part of the Selig Polyscope Company is at the extreme rear end of the Park, separated from the public grounds by artistic walls, replicas of the great city walls of ancient times.

Near the stages are large concrete dressing rooms. In the rear of the stages are the extensive carpenter shops, property rooms and quarters for the scenic artists. In the garage are numbered stalls, each employee—official, director, actor or other—owning a machine having his or her individual storage place. Along the southern side are the corrals for the animals other than those in the category of the wild sort. There are stables for the ponies and the many horses; here, too, are quartered a dozen or more camels.

Colonel Selig operates at the present time two companies in Los Angeles, and two large productions are now being filmed. Director Colin Campbell is producing a large feature treating

Studio at Los Angeles, CA.

the question of capital punishment, the temporary title of which is Who Shall Take My Life? The picture probably will be in eight reels. The cast includes Fritzi Brunette, Tom Santschi, Bessie Eyton, Eugenie Besserer, Harry Lonsdale, and Al Filson. Director Al Green is producing another large picture, the title of which is Little Lost Sister, from a story by Virginia Brooks. Several pretentious sets were built for this picture. The cast includes Vivian Reed, Bessie Eyton, Marion Warner, Joe Singleton, and Will Aitken.

N.Y.M.P. Comes to Coast in 1909 The next company to reach the Pacific Coast was the New York Motion Picture Corporation. As a matter of preliminary history, it might be of interest to mention that the inception of this large film manufacturing enterprise dates back to 1908, when Adam Kessel, Jr., Charles Kessel and Charles O. Baumann pooled their assets, which were extremely thin, and undertook to produce single reel pictures at a tiny studio at Coytesville, NJ. Kessel & Baumann, in the fall of 1909, dispatched a company of seventeen to Los Angeles, to continue the work of filming the one-reelers, which, incidentally, were known, by the brand name of “Bison.” Fred J. Balshofer was cameraman and general manager, and those under his supervision included J. Barney Sherry, Charles K. French (both of whom still are with the compa-

The Silent Film Quarterly • 28 ny), Jane Darrell, Evelyn Graham, William Edwards, William Gibbons, Charles Avery, Charles Inslee, James Youngdeer, and Red Wing. The company established itself in the suburb of Edendale, on a tract of land graced only by a four-room bungalow and a barn. This same tract, since then considerably extended, is now the site of the Keystone producing plant.

The first picture turned out of the new plant was of an Italian nature, and its scenes were made in and about the orange groves of Pasadena. Then attention was directed at the making of Indian and military plays, for which there was a growing demand throughout the country. Kessel & Baumann enlarged their facilities from week to week. It was not long before the weekly expenditures of the organization approximated $1,500.

Of this amount about $600 was spent for salaries.

About two years after the establishment of the company at the Edendale plant, Kessel & Baumann engaged Thomas H. Ince in New York and sent him to the coast to direct. Ince made only two or three single-reelers at the Edendale studio. Shortly after his arrival he had “discovered” the 18,000-acre ranch in the Santa Monica mountains, and obtained possession of it. This is now known as Inceville.

Upon Ince’s arrival on the coast Balshofer relinquished to him the di-

rectorial reins and himself assumed the position of business manager. Thereupon there began a renewed campaign of expansion. Ince engaged more actors, built several structures on the Inceville domain and, in general, undertook to improve conditions in every respect.

Among those who were associated with the organization about this time and some prior to it were such well-known figures as Charles Giblyn, Francis Ford, Burton King, Ethel Grandin, Frank Montgomery, Harold Lockwood, Edna Maison, and Anna Little.

Following the making of several single-reel plays at Inceville Ince decided to introduce an innovation by offering to the market a “feature.” So he produced War on the Plains, a thrilling Indian drama, the length of which was two reels. It proved a success and he made another, Custer’s Last Fight. Then followed more Indian two-reelers, with an occasional Irish or Dutch picture intervening.

It chanced that as Ince moved to Inceville the entire personnel and equipment of the “Miller Brothers’ 101 Ranch Show” arrived in Southern California to hibernate. Ince contracted with the Miller Brothers for the use of the entire outfit. The number of weekly productions was increased from one to two two-reelers, and the “Kay-Bee” brand was inaugurated. Still later “Domino” came into being.

Panoramic view of Ince

The Silent Film Quarterly • 29 With the termination of its contract with the Mutual program and the attendant organization of the Triangle Film Corporation the company planned the construction of what is now generally regarded as one of the most completely equipped and handsomest motion picture producing plants in the country— the Ince Studios at Culver City, where the Triangle-Kay Bee plays are filmed.

Plans for this institution were drawn in the summer of 1915 and in the Spring of 1916 the plans became the new headquarters for the company.

was located at Niles, Cal. Essanay at present is not producing on the coast. The studio at Niles has been closed for more than a year, and the Los Angeles studio was abandoned when Charlie Chaplin went with Mutual. V.R. Day, special representative of the Essanay Film Company, is now at Los Angeles, where are being taken scenes for a feature production. The company is occupying the old studios of the Culver City Film Company at Culver City. The production is under direction of Dave Hartford. When the picture is finished Mr. Day will return to Chicago.

Biograph Came West for One Picture

Kalem Centering Activity at Glendale

The Biograph was the next company to reach Los Angeles, arriving here in January, 1910. At this time it only remained thirteen weeks. Among the party were General Manager Hammer, D.W. Griffith, director, and Lee Dougherty.

The first studio was at Washington Street and Grand Avenue. The company undertook the trip for the express purpose of filming Ramona in authentic locations.

The Biograph sent companies to the coast every year until 1916, when producing activities were suspended.

In November, 1910, William Wright, now treasurer of the Kalem Company, came to Los Angeles to establish a studio.

Mr. Wright found the ideal site in Glendale, and in picturesque Verdugo Canyon he built Kalem’s first Western studio.

In addition to building the outdoor studio in 1910, one of Wright’s tasks was to put up a log cabin for Kalem’s Indian thrillers. There were no logs to be had.

Mr. Wright sought the aid of William H. Clune and together they located a number of telegraph poles sufficient to build the cabin. The poles were transported several hundred miles.

In December, 1910, Kalem’s first California company arrived from New York.

Headed by Kenean Buel, the director, were Alice Joyce, Mr. and Mrs. George

Essanay a Pioneer, Too An Essanay company of players under Gilbert M. Anderson left Chicago on Sept. 8, 1909, stopping at Denver, El Paso and Santa Barbara. In 1910 a company

Studios, Culver City, CA.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 30

Kalem’s first California studios, Verdugo Canyon, Glendale, CA.

Kalem’s new interior studio under construction in Glendale.

Melford, Judson Melford, Jane Wolfe, Frank Lanning, Howard Oswald, Frank Brady, Knute Rahman, and Daisy Smith.

Early in 1911 Carlyle Blackwell and the late William H. West joined Kalem’s Glendale company. Kalem, specializing on Western pictures, found the one reel a week from California insufficient to supply the demand. An additional studio was therefore opened at Santa Monica, where Ruth Roland, Marin Sais, Ed Coxen, and Marshall Neilan were featured.

Later when the Santa Monica company became a comedy organization, John E. Brennan joined the party of fun makers.

George Melford succeeded Kenean Buel as director at the Glendale studio, Buel going to Florida for Kalem, taking with him from New York Miriam Cooper, Anna Nilsson, Guy Coombs, and Hal Clements.

In 1913 Kalem moved the Glendale studio from the Verdugo Canyon location to the present site on Verdugo Road. An additional studio was built at Hollywood, with Carlyle Blackwell directing. Then Marshal Neilan came to Hollywood to direct a Kalem comedy company. Neilan introduced Lloyd V. Hamilton and Bud Duncan, “Ham” and “Bud.” J.P. McGowan came West, after directing at Kalem’s New York studio, and produced The Hazards of Helen, featuring Helen Holmes.

In 1914, James W. Home succeeded George Melford as director, Home’s first work being The Girl Detective series, which he followed with Mysteries of the Grand Hotel, Stingaree, The Social Pirates, and The Girl From Frisco. At present Mr. Home is directing The American Girl series.

Helen Gibson, who followed Miss Holmes in the railroad series, A Daughter of Daring, then joined the Kalem tanks and carried the subject into its third year.

In December, 1916, Phil Lang, editor for Kalem since 1911, came to Glendale, to work in intimate touch with the producers. Mr. Lang was joined later by Mr. Wright, again on an investigating expedition. Additional acreage was secured at Glendale on a long lease and the work of building a big interior studio and doubling the outdoor stage space was begun, under the direction of Storm V. Boyd, Jr., for eight years Kalem’s technical director.

Mr. Lang, manager of production, still acts as scenario editor, with the assistance of Frank Howard Clark and William Piggot, formerly editor for American.

Kalem is transferring to Glendale from the Hollywood studio, which they have disposed of, the Ham comedy company, directed by Al Santell, and The Daughter of Daring company, featuring Helen Gibson, directed by Scott Sidney.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 31 The American Girl series and the Stingaree series are being produced, while every facility has been prepared for the Grant, Police Reporter series company, featuring George Larkin and Ollie Kirkby, under the direction of Robert Ellis, this Kalem organization heretofore working in Jacksonville, Florida.

Horsley Hollywood’s First Comer David Horsley’s Nestor forces were the first motion picture players to invade Hollywood, Mr. Horsley renting buildings for studio purposes at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street and occupying them in October, 1911. He was also the first manufacturer to bring three companies to California. These were under Thomas Ricketts, producing dramas; Milton Fahrney, westerns, and Al E. Christie, comedies. On May 20 following the company was merged with the Universal.

David Horsley’s new Los Angeles studios, at Main and Washington Streets, are now completed. The buildings and yard cover an acre of 300x350 feet, situated directly in the rear of the Bostock Arena and Jungle, the park in which the Bostock animals are quartered.

There is an arena 144 by 144 feet surrounded by walls twenty feet high, built to take only animal pictures. This arena is constructed like a great hexagon, the camera being mounted in the middle at the apex of six triangles, which spread away to the circumference, like so many enormous fans.

The director and the cameraman are stationed on a concrete platform in the center of this arena, from which place one camera can cover all parts of the arena from one setting. The housing for the camera is made of reinforced concrete. It is surrounded by a moat, six feet wide and four feet deep, filled with water and crossed by the dividing fences.

By plunging into the water and coming

to the surface on the other side of the fence the players who work face to face with the animals without intervening bars can easily escape in case of attack.

Each of the sections is planted with typical trees and shrubs, vines and grasses that give the character of the location to pictures—that is, bears, panthers, and pumas have Rocky Mountain and general North American scenes, while lions, tigers leopards, kangaroos, and like animals are shown in their native wilds, away into a purple distance; huge, misshapen ledges of rock with a broken sandy foreground complete the picture of desolation. By a clever device, this last arena is so managed that in a few moments the background can be changed to a marine view and other effects.

Lying immediately west of the arena are the property rooms of the stage proper, in connection with half of the scene dock. The property room is on the east end of the stage, which is 70x140 feet, and spanned by sixteen structural steel trusses which carry the diffusers and canvas roof. This roofing and the diffusers are operated by means of geared shafting. The floor is constructed of the best material, laid on concrete foundations so as to do away with all vibration. Adjoining the steel work on the west end of the stage is the other half of the scene dock, public dressing rooms, lavatories, etc. These rooms are equipped with all modern facilities, including lockers, dressers, electric lights, etc., and are ventilated from above by skylights as well as by openings at either end of the room.

The stage and arena offer accommodation for six companies in addition to the facilities it provides for making animal pictures. The Horsley studios are at the present time operating two companies. One is under the direction of Milton H. Fahrney, featuring George Ovey in one-reel comedies, the other under the direction of Crane Wilbur, who also plays the lead in five-reel productions.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 32

Panorama of Universal City, CA,

Universal Grows Fast in Two Years The Universal, as before stated, took over the Nestor Studio on May 20, 1912.

On July 12 following the company acquired the great plot of ground across the street, now the home of the L-KO Company. The next month William H. Swanson, then treasurer of the company, leased 1,299 acres at the end of San Fernando Valley, adjoining Griffith Park, and now known as the old ranch. In August, 1914, the company gave up this property, destroying the structures for picture purposes, and moved to the present site, ground for building on which had been broken the previous day. Early in 1915 the Universal again acquired the old ranch and still holds it. Carl Laemmle in the spring of 1912 made pictures for his Imp brand at a studio on Brooklyn Heights, but abandoned the plant on the organization of the Universal. Universal City was formally opened in March, 1915.

Carl Laemmle, president of the Universal, turned the golden key in the lock of the gate to the entrance to Universal City on March 15, 1915. There were then sixteen producing companies engaged in the manufacture of films, ranging from one to three reels and occasionally a four or five-reel feature.

Since then Universal City has grown by leaps and bounds, the laboratories

having tripled in size, the production, technical, art, property and wardrobe buildings having expanded, and the stage space, both exterior and interior, has increased more than fourfold.

Today between twenty-five and thirty companies are at work day and night to keep up with the demand for Universal films, and the cost of production of the photoplays, forty reels of which are turned out weekly, easily has tripled the cost of two years ago.

“The making of our plays for the screen,” said General Manager H.O. Davis, “means an annual expenditure of fully $3,000,000. If these plays were made in the unsystematic way that formerly prevailed it is safe to say that a million dollars would be tacked on to this sum.

By the methods now in operation at Universal City we know just how each dollar is to be spent and each dollar that goes into the picture renders its entire value in the production of the play, whether it be a single-reeler or a five or six-reel feature production.

“There is a thorough understanding regarding the cost among the directors, the production manager, the technical department and the superintendent of photoplay before the actual picturization of the play begins, and so perfect is this understanding and so harmoniously

The Silent Film Quarterly • 33

studios of the Universal Film Co.

do all the parties concerned work in the making of the play that frequently the picture is completed several hundred dollars under the amount allowed for its production.

“What is the value of the Universal City plant at the present time? With the improvements that have been made during the past year—electric light studios and additional equipment, laboratory additions and new stages—I should say that the Pacific Coast studios of the company and the 230 acres upon which they are located represent a value of several millions.

“The greatest stage space in the world is to be found at Universal City, amounting to 175,000 square feet, occupying something like four acres. There is ample room for fifty companies to work with comfort even with unusually large settings for their productions.”

Universal City, in addition to the regular departments to be found at an motion picture studio, maintains a thoroughly equipped hospital, a police department, a fire department, several restaurants, garages, and a zoo complete in every respect. Lions, leopards, tigers, elephants, jaguars and other beasts of the jungle are all trained thoroughly and frequently and are used in photoplays where wild animals are required.

H.O. Davis is vice president of the Universal company and general manager of Universal City; E.G. Patterson, secretary; H.R. Hough, controller; O.L. Sellers, production manager; S.C. Burr, assistant production manager; Eugene B. Lewis, scenario editor; Eugenie Magnus Ingleton, scenario editress; George W. Elkins, cashier; H.H. Barter, technical director; John M. Nickolaus, superintendent of photography; Edward Ullman, chief of cameramen; Dr. Lloyd B. Mace, in charge of hospital; George Ingleton, librarian; Marshall Stedman, engaging director; M.G. Jonas, publicity manager; L.H. Buell, purchasing agent.

Keystone Nearly Five Years on Coast Production of Keystone pictures began on July 4, 1912, on which date Mack Sennett took a small party of players, including Mabel Normand and Ford Sterling, to Fort Lee, NJ. Sennett had been working as an actor and a director of comedy films in another company. Kessel and Baumann were friends of his and the idea occurred to them that Sennett should branch out and use his intellectual resources for his own profit.

At that period it looked very easy and simple. As far as they could see, all you had to do in order to launch a motion picture company was to buy a cam-

The Silent Film Quarterly • 34

Mack Sennett Keystone

era, employ actors, stick the party of the second part in front of the party of the first, turn the crank and—well, there you were!

They had not got far into the business before they realized what appalling odds they were up against. They scraped together what little money they could get hold of and began taking their first pictures. Their eyes, even at that time, were on California as a studio location; but they couldn’t raise the price. Wherefore they decided to take the first Keystone comedies at Fort Lee. Mabel Normand was engaged as the first leading woman. The first day they started out in grand style in a hired automobile. They found a good-natured man over at Fort Lee who loaned them his house. The interior of the house was too dark to take pictures and there were no lights available. As he simply had to have an interior, Sennett moved his friend’s furniture out on the lawn and took the “interior” there.

When he came to settle the automobile bill that first day Sennett had to dig up twenty dollars. As the whole payroll of the company only amounted to fifteen dollars at that time, they decided they would have to cut out the automobile.

Thereafter the little Keystone company plodded out to work every day in the street cars. And when the actors got to the end of the street car line they went on the human hoof. The cameraman carried the camera over his shoulder and the actors packed the props on their backs. Being very husky by nature, Sennett took to himself the honor and distinction of carrying most of the scenery on his own back.

The poor little Keystone company speedily became the butt of the town.

One day an actor rolled by in a big automobile gayly decorated with “chickens.”

As the Keystone actors climbed hastily into the gutter to avoid being rolled over, the actor sang out “How’s the walking, Mack?”

Some time later, when Sennett was the proprietor of twenty comedy companies and was running between thirty and forty automobiles every day, that same actor came around to the studio and asked for a job. In the interval he had accumulated some very intimate information about walking. He knew all about walking.

These, however, were but incidents.

There was a real tragedy connected with those first Fort Lee pictures.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 35

Studios, Los Angeles, CA.

The first cameraman was a Russian.

He looked like a million dollars. He let it be generally understood that he invented the art of photography and that he had to leave Europe because the kings threatened to go to war with each other to see which should get him as court photographer. He insinuated that the filming of pictures was so easy for him that he generally wrote a book about something while he was turning the crank. He talked about cameras in such technical terms that no one could understand him; in fact, he couldn’t understand himself. Naturally Sennett let him have his own way about the photography part and trusted his judgment.

The circumstances were such that they were not able to see their first picture at once. The first film was sent to the factory for development; meanwhile they went ahead and produced five more comedies.

When they went proudly over to the factory to see their first picture run off a crushing disappointment awaited them.

The Russian cameraman had turned the crank less than half fast enough. The figures in the comedy looked like jumping marionettes. Their entire output of five comedies was spoiled.

At this time they seriously considered the advisability of throwing up the sponge. The only reason they went on was the instinctive horror that any lighting heart has of quitting. They didn’t want to go on; but they wouldn’t quit.

At a very gloomy little business meeting the partners pulled out their watches, yanked out their stickpins and pulled off their rings and put them in a pile in the middle of the table. The accumulated pile was “hocked” for funds to enable the little company to make the trip to California.

In September, 1912, Mack Sennett and his players came to Los Angeles and took possession of the studio that had been the original site of the Bison Company. The older division of the New York Motion Picture Corporation had removed to Santa Ynez Canyon near the end of 1911. It wasn’t much of a studio. A vacant lot, a couple of dilapidated sheds and a rickety stage were about all. Mack Sennett did most of the work himself. He wrote all the scenarios, lent a hand with the scenery, acted as telephone girl and gateman most of the time. After the day’s work as an actor, he came back at night and cut film until early morning.

When Sennett’s first California com-

The Silent Film Quarterly • 36 edy was sent east the verdict was quick and positive. It was punk. Nobody would buy it.

With bulldog tenacity he struggled on. Finally he landed with a comedy in which he had no faith and which was a careless makeshift affair. A Grand Army of the Republic convention happened to be in Los Angeles. Without any very definite idea in mind, Sennett had his cameraman take pictures of this parade.

From another company he bought some cast-off battle pictures. He rigged up one of his comedians as a soldier, had him dash in and out of some smoke from a smudge pot and make up a ramshackle comedy out of it. For some reason or other, this was an instant hit. The East demanded more like it.

The Keystone found itself all of a sudden on the map.

The demand for Keystone comedies

soon became so great that the one little company couldn’t meet the demand. Another company became absolutely necessary. Where were they to get a director and how were they to pay for a director?

Mabel Normand threw herself into the breach. She offered to direct a company herself. Miss Normand, accordingly, became the first woman director of comedies. The actors who worked in her first company say there were occasionally some wild scenes. She was not what you call a phlegmatic director, but she was a good one.

When the Keystone once got going its rise was rapid. Today the open air stages of the Keystone Film Company cover five acres. In addition to this are buildings of wood, brick and concrete, housing all the industries to be found in the average city of several thousand population, including a five-story planing mill

Panoramic views of Balboa’s

The Silent Film Quarterly • 37 and restaurant.

Another feature of the Mack Sennett Keystone studios is the big open air plunge, which is electrically heated.

When not in use for pictures it is at the disposal of the actors, who may bathe in it whenever they desire. A modern cafeteria is conducted by the company. Here everybody employed at the plant may obtain the best of food at prices considerably lower than are demanded downtown.

In the planing mill is made everything from patrol wagons to the various sections of Swiss-chalet bungalows and skyscrapers. The painters supply the realistic touches, which are given finish by wall paper and designers’ department.

All kinds of mechanical devices are made in the machine shops, and in the big garage the scores of autos used in the Keystone’s activities are housed and kept in

Long Beach studios.

repair. Many touches of humor are added to the comedies by the sign painters’ staff. The plumbing department is kept busy providing water and sewerage connections wherever necessary.

Separate buildings are maintained for the general offices, scenario and publicity departments and for other activities allied with the manufacture of motion pictures.

The studios compose quite a city within a city, thriving with industry and giving employment to more than a thousand people, in one capacity or another.

Horkheimers Have Been Manufacturing Five Years H.M. Horkheimer came to Southern California in 1912. He was a showman of a varied career in all lines of the amusement business, from ticket seller for a circus to producing manager for the le-

The Silent Film Quarterly • 38 gitimate stage.

At the time, most theatrical men were seeking to discredit photodrama, but Horkheimer thought he saw a future for screen entertainment. On the impulse, without knowing the first thing about picture making—he hadn’t even seen a cinematographic camera up to that time—he decided to get into the business for himself.

It was just about the time when others were plunging in. The fact that his total capital was only $7,000 did not deter Mr. Horkheimer. Having decided to become a photoplay producer he wasn’t long in finding a studio—or what was called one in those days. It was a small affair which had just been vacated by the Edison company under J. Searle Dawley.

It consisted of one small building and a platform 25 by 75 feet which served for a stage. Under the one roof were the dressing rooms, offices, carpenter shops, laboratory, property departments and the half dozen other necessary adjuncts—in miniature, of course.

On invoicing, it was found that the place was shy about everything needed to make picture. So a lot of paraphernalia was ordered. It came to nine thousand dollars more than “H.M.” had. Did it feaze him? Not a minute. He gathered together half a dozen actors, some carpenters and stage hands, a cameraman and a few laboratory assistants and began “to shoot” his first picture. All told, the first week’s payroll numbered twelve people and the operating expense totaled about $500.

Today, after three and one-half years, the Balboa studio occupies all four corners of the two intersecting streets where it started. A score of buildings painted uniformly green and white and surrounded by landscape gardening are required to shelter the various departments. The company roster has some three hundred and fifty names as regular employees, of which a third are players.

Not long after he got started H.M. Horkheimer found that he needed assistance. So he invited his brother, Elwood D. Horkheimer, to come west and join him. E.D. accepted and became the company’s secretary and treasurer. H.M. Horkheimer is president and general manager.

The original building was soon outgrown. So a piece of property was acquired across the street and on this a modern outdoor stage was erected and supplemented with carpenter shops, scene docks, property rooms and the like. The general offices and scenario department were housed in an adjoining bungalow. Since then the first building has been remodeled and serves now to accommodate the laboratory and wardrobe departments.

Subsequently, these quarters proved even too small. To make room for an inclosed studio the bungalow offices were moved to the third corner across the street. Adjoining thereto, a garage big enough to hold twenty cars was built.

Then a papier-mâché department was added and several large warehouses. The latter give shelter to Balboa’s magnificent stock of props and furniture. This studio makes a point of owning everything it uses. It requires a large investment, but is found more economical in the long run than renting.

For some time the fourth corner of Sixth and Alamitos Streets was used to erect large sets on, which could not be provided for on the stage. But with the beginning of the new year construction of the finest stage in Southern California was started. It has just recently been completed at a cost of $20,000. It has a hardwood floor and a system of overhead work for controlling the diffusers from a central station. This stage is 200 feet square and will be extended another hundred feet in the near future.

It is flanked on one side by a battery of thirteen private offices for directors. On

The Silent Film Quarterly • 39 the other side will be twenty of the most modern dressing rooms constructible. In early spring ground is to be broken for a glassed-in studio, 150 by 200 feet, the largest in the industry.

As the Balboa plant stands today it represents an investment of $400,000.

Plans have already been matured for further enlargements to be made during the coming year.

Many Buildings at Fine Arts Plant What is now known as the Fine Arts Studio at 4500 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, was a residence property five years ago, and was converted into a studio of toy dimensions by a pioneer producing company which soon went broke. The Kinemacolor company next took possession, and after a year or so the Reliance and Majestic companies moved in during the early winter of 1914, and for eighteen months thereafter produced pictures for the Mutual program—the studio being then known as the Reliance-Majestic.

When the new Triangle interests were formed the Majestic Company under the general management of D.W. Griffith became connected with the Triangle Program, and since the summer of 1915 it has produced five-reel Fine Arts pictures at the rate of one completed picture per week.

Three years have now passed since the Majestic organization settled here and it is interesting to note the growth the studio has made. Originally there were only three acres, part of which was covered by an orchard. There was a residence building which was used for offices, dressing rooms and laboratory; one stage 50 by 60 feet; and a small building used for a property room and projection.

The payroll then approximated $2,000 a week for the one company in Los Angeles; three other companies were also operated in New York, but the expense of them was met independent of the West-

ern studio.

The studio has grown until seven acres are now fully occupied—a veritable city by itself, so complete is the organization. There are now two open-air stages, one 50 by 100 and the other 70 by 200; also two inclosed electric light studios, one with a stage 60 by 70 feet and the other 60 by 120 feet, each equipped with enormous generating units and the stages lighted with the latest type of Cooper-Hewitt, Aristo, Winfield and Majestic lamps.

There are two projecting rooms each equipped with the best known apparatus and equipment for ideal projection. These rooms are for inspection of the film during the progress of the picture or for final study by the directors, film cutters, or title department.

The large property rooms, 50 by 60 feet each, take care of the furniture and other props, and recently there has been built a new scene dock 60 by 130 feet centrally located and connected by broad walks with all four stages.

The factory itself is an extensive institution of which little is generally known except to those engaged directly in its operation. The factory buildings contain laboratories, developing, drying and printing rooms, camera rooms and store vaults, and it is possible to handle four hundred thousand feet of negative and positive film a week. Adjoining the factory is a large two-story building where the

Fine Arts Studio.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 40 films are cut, trimmed, spliced and the pictures assembled; and just outside the cutting room are three special inspection rooms, where each commercial print is carefully inspected on a screen before it is shipped.

The Fine Arts Studio also has the mechanical end of the business well provided for by the installation of an up-to-date carpenter shop, an electrician repair shop, camera repair shop, decorators’ work shop and supply Lasky stages, glass-enclosed studio in background. room, paint shop, etc.

Adjoining the two Lasky Studio Is One of the Finest principal stages are located the buildThree years ago at this time the Jesse ings in which also are the executive and L. Lasky Feature Play Company were at scenario offices, as well as a school for work on their second picture on a little the education of children used in the 40 by 60 stage at the rear of a garage on pictures. Two buildings are employed the corner of Vine and Selma Streets, for wardrobe and dressmaking establishHollywood. Six months ago, having acments. One is a two-story building—the quired the entire block on which the lower floor being used for the recepformer garage was located, the Lasky tion and storage of special wardrobe for Company took over an entire adjacent mobs and the upper floor for the doucity block. ble purpose of an extra large rehearsal The former garage, which had room and for dressing the mobs. In the housed the executive offices and laboraother wardrobe building the upper floor tories, has been transferred into a small is reserved for the use of the modistes property room and the business offices and the lower floor for the storage of the moved into a new administration buildvast quantity of wardrobe which has acing which extends practically the entire cumulated in the last three years. There length of the entire block facing Vine are sixty dressing rooms in all, for the acstreet. This building houses the offices commodation of the stars, stock people of Cecil B. De Mille, director-general; and extras.

Milton E. Hoffman, studio general manTwo up-to-date heating plants are ager; Frank G. Garbutt, Pacific Coast installed—a steam plant for the factory general manager; Fred Kley, studio busiand cutting rooms, and a gas heating sysness manager; Kenneth McGaffey, studio tem for the two electric light studios and publicity representative; W. E. Wales, aufor the offices. ditor, and the auditing department; LouThere are now approximately 350 is Goodstadt, engaging department; Miss regular employees, including actors, carAlpharetta Hoffman, wardrobe departpenters and office people, with a payroll ment, William C. De Mille, head of the averaging about $18,000 a week.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 41 scenario department, and the scenario department, as well as all of the directors and their assistants.

A new glass stage has been erected 60 by 200 feet, and another glass stage of the same length. New carpenter and property construction shops have been built 300 by 100 feet in size.

An addition to the laboratory is contemplated. This building six months ago handled the entire Lasky output, but it is now necessary to work in two shifts, night and day, to fill the demand for Lasky pictures.

The block across the street from the main plant, generally referred to as the “backyard,” contains the fourteen garages and all of the exterior sets, such as streets, house fronts and the like.

A new double deck paint frame has been erected, eight times the size of the former paint frame, which a few months ago, at the time of its construction, was the largest on the Pacific Coast. Over 150 new dressing rooms have been built for the stars, members of the organization and the extra people.

At the Morosco-Pallas studios, which are now controlled by the Famous Players-Lasky Company, a new stage is being built and the plant so adjusted that it can handle at least six companies.

From an entire staff of fifteen people three years ago, the Lasky company has now nearly a thousand on its weekly payroll. It has a complete printing plant on the grounds, which is used not only in printing sub-titles, but for preparing all stationery and the like.

From having two automobiles, one of which was the personal property of Cecil B. De Mille, the Lasky Company now has fourteen machines, as well as three auto trucks. At the rear of the garages a complete machine shop has been erected and all repairs are made by an expert mechanic and his force of helpers.

A concrete building has been put up especially for the housing of the trans-

formers for the electricity for lights on the stages and the adjacent yard. Over $7,000 worth of electrical equipment has been built into each of the new stages to supply all the Lasky lighting effects.

In spite of the vast increase in the size of the Lasky studio, none of the efficiency co-operative spirit has been lost—in fact, under Milton E. Hoffman’s direction, it has been increased so that now there is really not a delay from any source in the production of Lasky pictures.

William Fox Branching Out The Fox Company was one of the latest to establish a studio in Southern California. In December, 1915, a party of Fox players left New York to explore the wild and woolly West. They were headed

by William Farnum, who was to star in a series of pictures made on the Coast.

Within a few days after their arrival in Los Angeles they had completed arrangements for taking over the Selig studio in Edendale. Their first production was entitled Fighting Blood, which was released in February, 1916. When the film arrived East it pleased Mr. Fox so much that he immediately dispatched another company to Los Angeles. This organization was headed by R.A. Walsh as director, with his brother George Walsh as the star.

That was the beginning of the Fox Company’s work in California. After completing his first picture here, Blue Blood and Red, R.A. Walsh began the making of the cine-melodrama, The Honor System.

The next additions to the Fox directorial staff in the West were Otis Turner, Richard Stanton, Frank Lloyd and William D. Taylor. The dramatic stars working under these supervisors are William Farnum, Dustin Farnum, Gladys Brockwell, George Walsh, and Miriam Cooper.

About July, 1916, the Fox Company began the making of comedies. Charles

The Silent Film Quarterly • 42

William Fox Hollywood studios.

Parrott directed the first organization.

Five other comedy companies were quickly added to the list, and among their directors were such well known men as Hank Mann, Tom Mix, Harry Edwards, and Walter Reed.

This continued increase had made the Fox organization outgrow the three-quarters of an acre which it occupied in Edendale. Abraham Carlos, general representative of the company, had meanwhile arrived from New York and he immediately took steps to find a larger field of operation. The studio of the National Drama Corporation in Hollywood was leased and a fifteen acre lot opposite it on Western Avenue was also taken over. Here an enormous glass studio, an inclosed studio and six open air stages have been built, while a large area of ground at the rear is used for “sets.”

A four-acre tract near Silver Lake and six acres in the San Fernando Valley for exterior locations have also been taken over.

In little more than a year the William Fox Studio in California has grown from an organization covering less than an acre of ground, and employing about thirty persons, to one which covers thirty acres and pays a weekly salary to more than 500 persons. Instead of the single company which ventured from New York at the end of 1915, the corporation now

Portion of studio of American Film Co. (Inc.), Santa Barbara.

employs twelve companies of actors.

Mutual Has Three Los Angeles Studios The Mutual Film Corporation operates at the present time three studios in Los Angeles, the Signal, Vogue, Lone Star, and also one in Santa Barbara, the American. The American Studio is one of the most beautiful plants on the Coast.

The property comprises a great plot of ground surrounded by a large wall of cream-colored concrete, banked with masses of flowers and shrubbery. All the buildings are in mission style and surrounded by a semi-tropical garden.

The plant has been in operation since July, 1912, when a company of “Flying A” cowboys with their cameramen and directors came from La Mesa, CA, and permanently located in the quaint old city. The American is at the present time operating three companies producing large feature productions.

The Signal Film Corporation and the Vogue Films, Inc., started production in Los Angeles in October, 1915. Both of the companies were then located at the old Western Lubin studios, at 4560 Pasadena Avenue. The Signal Film Corporation is under direction of J.P. McGowan and is making a specialty of railroad pictures. Miss Helen Holmes is the featured player, supported by a cast including Leo

The Silent Film Quarterly • 43 Maloney, William Brunton, Thomas G. Lingham, and Paul C. Hurst. A second company under the direction of J. Murdock McQuarrie was operated in 1915 for a short while, producing five-reel dramas. The McGowan company has produced three large serials of thirty reels each. The first of these was The Girl and the Game, the second The Lass of the Lumberlands, and the third is now under production, The Railroad Raiders. The company has only on one occasion deviated from its specialty of railroad pictures and produced a five-reel drama entitled The Diamond Runners, which was taken on a trip last year to Honolulu. It may be of interest to mention that the company still is employing the identically same cast with which it started production.

The Vogue Films, Inc., moved to its own studio at Santa Monica Boulevard and Gower Street in the early part of 1916. The company is producing tworeel comedies only. The Vogue operates two companies, one under direction of Rube Miller, with Ben Turpin and Gypsy Abbot as featured stars. R.E. Williamson is directing the other company, with Patsy McGuire and Lillian Hamilton. S.S. Hutchinson, president of American, is also president of the Signal and Vogue Companies.

The Lone Star Film Company is the third studio operated by the Mutual Film Corporation. Charlie Chaplin, the world famous comedian, is the lone star of this company. The studios are at 1025 Lillian Way, in Hollywood.

Yorke-Metro Situated in Hollywood The Yorke-Metro studios, of which Fred J. Balshofer is the president and general manager, started production in Los Angeles in 1916. The studios are at 1329 Gordon street in Hollywood. Mr. Balshofer is now producing five-reel features, with Harold Lockwood and May Allison as featured stars. The company

is at present producing two features, The Hidden Children, directed by Oscar Apfel, and The Promise, under Mr. Balshofer.

Charles P. Stallings is assistant director, Tony Gaudio the chief cinematographer, and Clark Irvine, formerly of the Moving Picture World, is manager of the publicity department. Mr. Balshofer is one of the pioneer producers on the Pacific Coast, and as previously mentioned was at the head of a company of players sent to California in 1909 by the New York Motion Picture Corporation. Later Mr. Balshofer organized the “101” company with the Miller Brothers, the Ford Sterling Company with Universal, and then the Quality Pictures Corporation, with Francis X. Bushman.

Christie a Long Time Coast Producer Al E. Christie is another pioneer producer. Away back in October, 1911, he was sent by David Horsley to Los Angeles with three companies of players which at that time included Dorothy Davenport, Harold Lockwood, Victoria Forde, Eugenie Forde, Russell Bassett, Horace Davey, Gordon Sackville, Leo Maloney, and directors Thomas Ricketts and Milton Fahrney. In addition to directing the comedy company Mr. Christie acted as general manager of the plant, which they located at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street. This corner is still practically the pivotal center of the industry in Hollywood.

The first pictures were made without diffusers in the shadow of a barn then on the premises, while an old roadhouse on the corner housed the actors, offices, laboratory and all equipment. Where one of the new stages recently added by Mr. Christie now stands was the corral where upward of fifty horses were often kept for Western pictures, one of which was turned out each week in addition to the comedy produced by Mr. Christie and a modern drama.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 44

Christie Studios.

The Nestor brand covered all three types of pictures at that time. When the Nestor became part of the newly-formed Universal (in June, 1912) Al E. Christie was given charge of the comedy companies. At the time of the merger Universal also leased and built on the opposite corner (where L-Ko now stands). Mr. Christie worked for some time on that lot, and this was the scene of his activities until March, 1915, when Universal City was opened, at which time a special stage was constructed for his comedy companies in that big plant. He remained there until January, 1916, when with his brother, Charles H. Christie, he formed the Christie Film Company and leased, from Quality Pictures Corporation, the original lot which had seen his early successful endeavors. The first six months the newly formed company made comedies on contract for Universal, and these were distributed under the old Nestor brand.

In May, 1916, Fred L. Porter, a man of experience in the film business, was added as secretary of the company. In July the same year Mr. Christie entered the open market with a weekly comedy release to independent exchanges. The studio, lands, buildings, etc., were purchased outright in October last year and the stage capacity has been nearly doubled since that time, as well as an up-to-

date laboratory being installed.

At present one one-reel comedy is released each week and in addition two special comedies of two-reel length are released each month. Two companies are at all times active, one under Mr. Christie’s direction and the other under Horace G. Davey, featuring Miss Betty Compson and Miss Billie Rhodes.

W.H. Clune, local theater magnate, entered the film-producing field in the summer of 1915. The Clune Film Producing Company, of which Mr. Clune is the president and Lloyd Brown general manager, acquired the studios of the Famous Players and started production on large feature films. The first subject was a twelve-reel picturization of Helen Hunt Jackson’s famous California classic Ramona. Then followed an adaptation of Harold Bell Wright’s popular novel, The Eyes of the World, which recently has enjoyed a phenomenal run at Clune’s Auditorium in Los Angeles, and the company is now preparing for another large multiple feature, The Shepherd of the Hills, by the same author.

Other film companies at the present time producing in or around Los Angeles are L-Ko, Monogram, Rolin, Corona, Frieder, Continental, Monrovia Feature Film, Bernstein Film Productions, La Salle Film Company, E. & R. Jungle, Problem, Sierra Photoplay, Redlands Beauty Films, Fuji YAMA Features, Nevada, and the Lincoln.

Biggest Industry of Southern California The motion picture business is the largest single industry in Southern California. It is conservatively estimated that the motion picture companies in and around Los Angeles spend more than $30,000,000 a year. Probably more than 20,000 people are more or less perma-

The Silent Film Quarterly • 45 nently employed by these companies. It is said the city of Los Angeles does not fully appreciate the motion picture people. About a year ago the producers were so dissatisfied with conditions here that many of the studios were contemplating a move to more congenial surroundings.

The matter of censorship was then one of the burning topics, and the film producers objected most strenuously to having the one city in the United States which benefits most from the motion picture industry mutilate their productions and thereby set a bad example for other communities.

It has been recorded in this paper at length how the producers formed the Producers’ Association and in conjunction with the exhibitors, headed by J.A. Quinn, completely annihilated the censor board and abolished censorship in Los Angeles.

The producers have been annoyed in many other ways by red tape regulations and by unfriendly newspaper criticism. When many of the film companies threatened to leave conditions became better and things were running satisfactorily for many months. Now trouble seems to have started again. Local merchants, it is stated, are holding up the picture companies for exorbitant prices on props and furniture, so the producers are now contemplating building a facto-

The Bernstein Studios with Mr. Bernstein, director Jack Pratt and Harry Jay Smith in foreground.

ry and manufacturing their own stuff.

The little city of Hollywood, a suburb of Los Angeles, where most of the studios are located, has also shown a peculiarly unfriendly attitude of late. The non-film residents of the burg have gone on record as making a petition to the city council that motion picture studios are more or less of a nuisance and should be restricted in a zone by themselves. This attitude is unexplainable and different from that of other communities in California and elsewhere who even offer large bonuses for picture companies to locate with them.

It is a well known fact, however, that nobody is a prophet in his own country, but who will be so foolish as to kill the goose that laid the golden egg?

Mabel Normand Studios, Los Angeles, CA.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 46

Pulling Teeth to Find Nelson McDowell: The Man of Many Hats

by Kevin John Charbeneau So much of what is written about Hollywood and the personnel, both cast and crew, who made films is taken for granted. Even when researched and written by trusted sources, sometimes, the facts are all there, yet are still missed.

This especially holds true when names are changed and certain information, as is human nature, is lied about, or altered deceiving the reader, and researcher.

One such case is Louis Larue. The person is real, but the name is fake.

We first come across the name of Louis Larue, as being married to a Fontaine Larue, and living in Hollywood, in the 1920 U. S. Census. In tracking a particular person, sometimes the trail goes cold.

This is the case, with Mr. Larue. The census, after all is only taken every ten years, and one needs other sources to piece together a life. In this instance, other sources come to light. Usually, they take the form of a marriage license application, military records, newspaper accounts, possible police records, education, hospital records, or even a death notice or certificate.

None of those records seem to turn up for the mysterious Louis Larue, who was also an “actor” according to the Census taker’s form. As an actor, one is usually prolific and seeks publicity. There are generally reviews and write-ups about performances, good, bad, or indiffer-

ent. Whether, acting on stage, or in front of the camera, for the cinematic screen.

Again, no such written records exist for this Larue individual.

When one digs deeper, we find that he wasn’t Mr. Louis Larue, at least, not in name. He was someone else, in fact one person with two different lives. One life was lived, prior to Hollywood, and another as an actor, in Hollywood. Again, two additional different names come about for this one individual. So, who is our mystery man? His real name James N. MacDowell. A man who was a Dr. MacDowell, a dentist. He lived with his wife, L.G. MacDowell, in Los Angeles.

According to research and records, James N. MacDowell was born in Greenville, Missouri on August 14, 1870, the son of Nelson B. and Annie Hampton MacDowell. The parents had one previous child, his older sister, named Helen. According to Census records for 1880, now age 9, he’s living with his family in Leadville, Colorado. In the years following, he received a formal education at Leadville High School, as well as, Normal College in Fremont, Nebraska. He earned his A. B. and D.D.S. degrees from Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois. Besides dentistry, among his specialities were also singing and elocution.

In 1900, the Census

The Silent Film Quarterly • 47 states he had a wife, who was Sophie Lottie Green. They had married in Chicago, that same year, and relocated to Pasadena, California. Their new address was listed at 985 South Pasqual Street. He listed his occupation as dentist. Life seemed to be decent, in the posh, smart, tree-lined residential neighborhood of the San Gabriel Valley. Or, at least, all seemed so until December 1915. According to an article in the Los Angeles Herald, dated January 8, a Los Angeles dentist was sued for divorced, by his wife. Evidently, it was alleged in the complaint, that on ‘two occasions’ the conduct of the dentist and an actress were sufficient grounds for legal separation.

In a more detailed article from the same paper, dated October 24, of that same year, it was claimed by Mrs. MacDowell, that her husband was infatuated with Dora Rogers, an actress, and that they had lived together. Evidence introduced claimed “they had stayed at three different apartment houses and passed as Mr. and Mrs. D. R. Rogers.” An unnamed landlady identified photographs of Dr. MacDowell and Miss Rogers. The article further stated Mrs. MacDowell, was the widow of a wealthy Chicago lumberman when she married Dr. MacDowell. Judge Wood granted a decree.

So, we know he used an assumed name passing as Mr. D. R. Rogers from the newspaper article. And, that leads to circumstantial evidence that he is ‘the’ Louis Larue, as mentioned earlier in this biographical piece. Although, no other documents can be found to substantiate this claim such as a notice of engagement or an official marriage license. We can, however, find further printed evidence to back up the claims in the Census of 1920. Yet, names have been changed, in the other sources. ‘Mrs.’ Larue is not his wife, but her name is Larue, or rather Fontaine LaRue, the same actress as Dora Rogers. She used both names throughout her acting career.

Glass slides from two productions featuring Nelson McDowell.

And, in fairness, ‘Mr.’ Larue was an actor. However, he used a different moniker. He began his new career, as an actor, instead of dentist, in 1917. Simple enough, a new career a new name.

Instead of Dr. James N. MacDowell you simply drop your first name, using your middle name Nelson, as your first name.

And, add a slight change, by dropping the ‘a’ from MacDowell to simply read McDowell.

The Census showed Mr./Mrs. Larue living at 1802 North Van Ness Avenue, located in Hollywood, California. Further evidence, The Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual, 1920. On page 241 the actor Nelson McDowell born Greenfield, Missouri. Residing at the same address as on the census taker’s form. Page

The Silent Film Quarterly • 48

Ed Cassidy, Hoot Gibson, and Nelson McDowell in Feud of the West (1936).

271, the entry for Fontaine La Rue has the same address again. Also both performers were registered with the Willis & Inglis Agency, in Los Angeles.

Seemingly, though this relationship did not last, longer than five years, for the Los Angeles City directory, from 1921, shows Nelson residing at 1549 N. Western Avenue, in Los Angeles. He was still living at this same address per the Los Angeles Voter Roll, in 1938. A couple years later show him living at 1309 N. Hobart Blvd. His later years, from 1944, show him living at 5302 Sunset Blvd.

He acted in shorts and features, and portrayed everything from sidekick, fur trapper, conductor, motorist, townsman, bailiff, sheriff, doctor, sea captain, and often as a deacon or parson, even as an undertaker or professor. A fair number of his film appearances were in Westerns.

Many of his early films are lost, but much

of his work is available to view on video and DVD. He stood six feet two inches tall, and weighed approximately 180 pounds, with brownish-gray hair, often with a drooping walrus mustache or mutton-chop sideburns.

He supposedly appeared on stage, in plays and with stock companies, in Chicago, Illinois and Lincoln, Nebraska.

However, I can find no such credit listings. As for film credits these began in 1917, though some sources claim earlier years (again, I can find no credits prior to 1917/18). In 1920, he portrayed the character of preacher David Gamut in The Last of the Mohicans, opposite Wallace Beery, as Magua. Twelve years later, 1932, McDowell reprised his Gamut role, while Bob Kortman played the role of Magua, a war chief of the Huron tribe. Another role he duplicated was in Oliver Twist. He played the role of Sowerbery, which in

The Silent Film Quarterly • 49

McDowell in Asleep in the Feet (1933).

the 1922 version his part was uncredited.

The 1922 version starred Jackie Coogan in the title role, while the 1933 Monogram production starred Dickie Moore.

Also, though uncredited, he can be seen as the lawyer advising the editor in the Arthur Conan Doyle-inspired classic The Lost World.

Film historian George A. Katchmer, in Eighty Silent Film Stars1 put it in context that Nelson McDowell was a “character actor who, to most fans, was another face on the screen. This actor rated some statistics but no newspaper or magazine publicity releases.” Yet, he played in nearly two hundred films through the silent and sound eras. Like many, he played his share of uncredited roles in his early and later film career, his distinct features, helped him stand out on film, even when he didn’t receive screen credit.

His credits, and the performers he worked with, as well as, directors reads like a ‘Who’s Who,’ of the film world.

The list is simply incredible. Names that are remembered, forgotten, and more, include but are not limited to Tom Tyler, Hoot Gibson, Gladys Hulette, Strongheart (the dog), Ramon Navarro, Bessie Love, Jack Dempsey (the fighter), Edward Sedgwick, Frank Campeau, Bull Katchmer, G. (2012). Eighty silent film stars : biographies and filmographies of the obscure to the well known. Jefferson: McFarland.

Montana, Boris Karloff, Colleen Moore, Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur. Then, there’s stuntman/actor Yakima Canutt, Charley Chase, Thelma Todd, Jeanette MacDonald, Larry Parks, J. P. McGowan, Vincent Price, Jackie Coogan. Also, Lon Chaney, Lewis Stone, Jay Wilsey, Helen Holmes, Edgar Kennedy, as well as, Harold Lloyd, Viola Dana, King Vidor, Wallace Beery, Conrad Nagel. This partial listing touches just about every genre, mood and style Hollywood had to offer.

On the other hand, allegedly, his relatives possibly include General McDowell, from the infamous Civil War battle of Bull Run, and Lewis Wetzel a famed Indian fighter, but these have yet to be confirmed. Many film historians only know him as Nelson McDowell, and state he was unmarried. Simply because they do not know his previous life as a dentist, nor do they know of the ‘Louis Larue’ factor. While the Internet has made re-

1

Rawhide Mail (1934) with Nelson McDowell.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 50 search easier and opened many new doors, the same old false facts, lies and deceits continue to be published. These are the challenges that make dissecting the movie life, a never ending challenge.

In Stars on Parade (1944) he plays an ‘old actor,’ in a film about two Hollywood hopefuls who try to convince producers of the talent in their own town. In his last film he plays an uncredited guest in That’s the Spirit (1945). His later life, was plagued by illness, which hampered his ability to appear in films. He became a caretaker of the building he resided in, located at 5302 Sunset Boulevard, at the corner of North Hobart Street. His despondency over cancer, led to him taking his own life, committing suicide using an Old Western six-shooter he had carried in so many of his films. He died at his home from a gunshot wound to the head, at the age of 77 years, on November 3, 1947.

Afterword To summarize it seemed almost ideal, his life, until you dig deeper. He had an education. A decent career. A marriage even. And, his wife had her own money. They moved to an ideal neighborhood. Then, he fell in love with the whole Southern California experience, and the movies. He was bitten by the bug. It seems the classic mid-life crisis scenario. Almost as if his life were a scenario for a film: Marriage, romance, an affair, divorce, name change. He kept on going when the romance ended. Against all odds, and actually had a decent second career. Didn’t live high on the hog (as the other addresses showed). Kept his nose clean, and worked steady. However, an illness sidelined everything, he became disillusioned. It’s almost as if the script called for a surprise, unhappy, ending.

Nelson McDowell Silent Filmography Year 1917 1919

1920

1921

1921

Title The Scarlet Car The Feud Her Honor, the Scrublady Chasing Rainbows Shod with Fire Riders of the Dawn Masked Everything But the Truth Going Some Cupid the Cowpuncher Down Home

Studio Universal Fox Bull’s Eye/Reelcraft Pictures Fox Fox Zane Grey Pictures/Hodkinson Universal Universal Goldwyn Goldwyn Irvin Willat

The Last of the Mohicans Home Stuff Shadows of Conscience The Silent Call I Can Explain

Maurice Tourneur Metro Russell Productions Associated First National Metro

Notes ** * ** ** *

The Silent Film Quarterly • 51 Year 1922

1923

1924

1925

Title Defying the Law The Girl Who Ran Wild Oliver Twist Another Man’s Shoes Blood Test The Girl of the Golden West Warned in Advance Scaramouche Pioneer Trails The Heart Bandit Galloping Gallagher The Shooting of Dan McGrew Circus Lure Rainbow Rangers Pot Luck Pards Along Came Ruth The Ridin’ Kid from Powder Range Gold and Grit The Lost World Idaho On the Go The Power God The Train Wreckers Kit Carson Over the Great Divide Manhattan Madness Dangerous Fists A Streak of Luck

1926

Cactus Trails The Blind Trail Hoodoo Ranch Whispering Smith The Phantom Bullet

Studio Capitol Pictures Universal First National Pictures Universal Adventure Productions Associated First National Malobee Productions/Pathé Metro Vitagraph Metro Monogram Pictures Metro Sanford Productions William Steiner Productions William Steiner Productions MGM Universal Weiss Brothers/Artclass Pictures First National Pictures Pathé Action Pictures/Weiss Brothers Ben Wilson Productions Anchor Films Sunset Productions/Aywon Films Fine Arts Pictures/Assoc Exhibitors Rayart Pictures Weiss Brothers/Artclass Pictures Harry Webb Productions Weiss Brothers/Artclass Pictures Action Pictures Metropolitan Pictures Universal

Notes

**

* **

*

**

The Silent Film Quarterly • 52 Year 1926

1927

1928

1929

Title Valley of Bravery The Frontier Trail That Girl from Oklahoma Ward Fighting with Buffalo Bill Crossed Signals The Outlaw Express The Ramblin’ Galoot Lightning Reporter The Outlaw Breaker The Iron Rider Code of the Range The Claw Whispering Smith Rides Hands Off The Great Mail Robbery The Bugle Call Border Blackbirds Danger Ahead Uncle Tom’s Cabin Blind Man’s Bluff The Vanishing Rider Wild Blood The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come Kit Carson The Michigan Kid The Code of Scarlet Lilac Time Heart Trouble A Clean Sweep Grit Wins Born to the Saddle Queen of the Northwoods

Studio Film Booking Offices Charles R. Rogers Productions Lascelle Productions Universal Rayart Pictures Leo Maloney Pictures Action Pictures Ellbee Pictures Goodwill Productions Goodwill Productions Rayart Pictures Universal Universal Universal Robertson-Cole Pictures MGM Leo Maloney Pictures Universal Universal Universal Universal Universal First National Pictures Paramount Universal First National Pictures First National Pictures Harry Langdon/First National Pictures Universal Universal Universal Pathé

Notes

* *

*

* Short Features ** Uncredited All films that followed were sound pictures. McDowell made nearly 120 talking pictures in his career.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 53

Movie Film from Camera to Screen: Tireless Industry Working Day and Night Makes Countless Reels of Celluloid that Animate the Silver Sheets Originally published in Popular Mechanics, January, 1925 Beginning its work of reproduction with the clamorous click of the movie camera, the more than 500,000,000 feet of film yearly consumed in printing the numerous reels of motion pictures daily exhibited in theaters, halls, offices and factories is subjected to many delicate operations before it is finally ready for the projection machines. Whisked from the camera at the studio or on location, the precious ribbons are rushed to the developing laboratories by speedy and trusted messengers who guard them carefully against injury or exposure to light. When fully developed, they become the negatives from which any num-

ber of copies may be printed for screen showings. Such negatives are the only products resulting from the labors of scores of highly paid actors and months of planning and building the sets and scenes whirring cameras record. On receipt of the undeveloped films at the laboratories, they are started through a maze of dark, shadowy rooms under dull rays of deep-red lights where they are treated with various solutions that disclose the hundreds of tiny pictures and set the coating on the strips so it cannot be disturbed under careful handling. A positive print is then made and returned to the studio for inspection, while the

Splicing film in a movie factory: ends are carefully trimmed and joined by strong cement to prevent tearing when the ribbon is speeding off the projector reel.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 54

Shaving the edges of a print to give a smoothly surfaced seam.

200 feet and run through the printing machines. So fast do these work that but four minutes are required to complete one of the wound lengths. As soon as the reels are exposed, they are wound over large flat racks for developing and fixing in another room. Thoroughly washed in pure water, they are allowed to drain and are then put into a rapidly rotated device which drives off most of the remaining moisture by means of centrifugal force.

In the laboratories of the Rothacker Film Manufacturing company, drying is accomplished by means of gigantic revolving drums fitted with grooves to receive the film racks. Constant motion through filtered air while on the wheels, removes any traces of moisture the draining operations may leave on the film.

After inspection the film is taken to the assembling rooms where the sections are united in one continuous length. The film is first polished and waxed along the edges and then is projected on a small test screen for inspection. Here flaws are revealed that generally are not visible on the bare film. Digs, scratches, dirt, misprints, and misframing call for replacement of those sections where they occur.

Substitute film which has been prepared for this purpose is used for the corrections, and a final inspection certifies the reel for the cleaning that precedes its packing for shipment or storage.

negative is deposited in a fireproof vault to await future requirements.

Raw film from which the positive or exhibitors’ reels are made is received in circular metal cans each containing a thousand feet. The packages are opened only in a dark room equipped for that purpose and reach the printing department without being touched by any light other than the dull-red glow under which all work is performed until the strips have been passed from the fixing or hypo baths, when light becomes harmless to them. As a reel may contain both interior and exterior scenes, exposure time must be determined for the various degrees of tones and shadows covering the different sections. Experts in Gathering and slicing first prints from which directors and the measurement of exposure estimate the periods while pass- film editors select scenes and “takes” for assembling into full feature reels for the movie screen. ing the negatives across a glass panel illuminated from beneath by a strong light. Each change is carefully marked and a machine cuts notches along the edges of the ribbon so that a warning buzzer on the printing device can be operated to notify the attendant when the period of exposure is to be decreased or increased.

When prepared for copying, the negatives are wound in lengths of

The Silent Film Quarterly • 55

Positive film appears exactly like negative in developing bath.

Cutting and assembling prints to conform with edited master reels.

Trick negative that requires special chemicals in the hands of expert developers to bring out the faked effects.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 56

To guide film assemblers a “key” plate is exposed to camera before each scene.

Sliding racks of film into drying wheels which whirl them through filtered air to remove moisture.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 57

Photographing lead and title lines for splicing into picture strips.

Portable electric generating plant with collapsible high-tension tower for supplying current to lights on night location.

Immersing film-wound racks in fixing and hypo baths.

The Silent Film Quarterly • 58

Assembled and finished film is spread over revolving drums for polishing and cleaning before packing.

Marking exposure time for direction of printing-machine operators.

After developing, the racks of film are rinsed in tanks of distilled water.