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Mabel's Blunder
Mabel’s Blunder By Brent E. Walker Mabel Normand was the first major female comedy star in American motion pictures. She was also one of the first female directors in Hollywood, and one of the original principals in Mack Sennett’s pioneering Keystone Comedies. “Mabel’s Blunder” (1914), made two years after the formation of the Keystone Film Company, captures Normand’s talents both in front of and behind the camera. Born in Staten Island, New York in 1892, a teenage Normand modeled for “Gibson Girl” creator Charles Dana Gibson before entering motion pictures with Vitagraph in 1910. In the summer of 1911, she moved over to the Biograph company, where D.W. Griffith was making his mark as a pioneering film director. Griffith had already turned actresses such as Florence Lawrence and Mary Pickford into major dramatic stars. Normand, however, was not as- signed to the dramas made by Griffith. Instead, she went to work in Biograph’s comedy unit, directed by an actor-turned-director named Mack Sennett. Normand’s first major film “The Diving Girl” (1911) brought her notice with nickelodeon audiences. A 1914 portrait of Mabel Normand looking Mabel quickly differentiated herself from the other uncharacteristically somber. Courtesy Library of Congress Biograph actresses of the period by her willingness Prints & Photographs Online Collection. to engage in slapstick antics and take pratfalls in the name of comedy. She also began a personal ro- to assign directorial control to each of his stars on mantic relationship with Mack Sennett that would their comedies, including Normand. Mabel directed have its ups and downs, and would eventually in- a number of her own films through the early months spire a Broadway musical titled “Mack and Mabel.” of 1914. -
January, 2006
J A N U A R Y, 2006 V O L . 3 I S S U E N º 1 The Internet Noiseletter of Looser Than Loose Publishing LOOSER THAN LOOSE 373 South Willow Street Nº 227 Manchester, New Hampshire 03103 www.looserthanloose.com JUST RELEASED! TThhee LLaarrggeerr WWoorrlldd ooff LLaauurreell aanndd HHaarrddyy Volume III The second disc in this series offers another group of seldom seen comedy shorts populated (at least in part) by familiar figures in the world of Laurel and Hardy. With us this time are Babe London in a com- plete Christie-Educational two-reeler, Charley Chase in two shorts, Ed Kennedy in two shorts, another Billy West title with Babe Hardy in support and a handful of less familiar faces like Jess De Vorska and Billy Bletcher filling out the various casts. We’ve also included a spe- cial audio section featuring Music Hall performers Gracie Fields and Kirby and Hudson. Just in case that isn’t enough, our opening montage features a clip of Stan Laurel and Babe London “watching” the L&H short Our Wife in Stan’s apartment at the Oceana! As always, we have labored over the presenta- tion of these films. To that end, correct titles and inter- titles have been recreated whenever necessary, proper projection speeds (24 fps) have been observed and period (dance music) scores have been created from restored acoustic and electric 78 rpm records. The source materials for the visual elements on this dvd are all 16mm prints, except The Other Fellow which came originally from 35mm. -
FILMS by LAWRENCE JORDAN Lawrence Jordan in Person
Bay Area Roots, Risk & Revision FILMS BY LAWRENCE JORDAN Lawrence Jordan In Person Sunday, May 13, 2007 — 7:30 pm — Yerba Buena Center for the Arts I don’t know about alchemy academically, but I am a practicing alchemist in my own way. —Lawrence Jordan Lawrence Jordan has been making films since 1952. He is most widely known for his animated collage films, which Jonas Mekas has described as, “among the most beautiful short films made today. They are surrounded with love and poetry. His content is subtle, his technique is perfect, his personal style unmistakable.” Tonight’s screening sketches out a sampler of Jordan’s films, starting with Trumpit, a 1950s ‘psychodrama’ starring Stan Brakhage, with sound by Christopher Maclaine; Pink Swine, an anti-art dada collage film set to an early Beatles track; Waterlight the first of Jordan’s “personal/poetic documentaries” made in the 1950s aboard a merchant marine freighter during his days as a wandering flâneur; and Winterlight, a visual poem of the Sonoma County winter landscape. Lawrence Jordan’s four most recent films will conclude the night: Enid’s Idyll, Chateau/Poyet, Poet’s Dream, and Blue Skies Beyond the Looking Glass. (Jenn Blaylock) Trumpit (1956) 16mm, b&w, sound, 6 minutes, print from the maker Stan Brakhage stars as the constricted love in this spoof of pseudo-erotic card play. (LUX) Waterlight (1957) 16mm, color, sound, 7 minutes, print from the maker Among the wanderings that began in the 1950s was the filmmaker's 3-year stint in the merchant marine. Waterlight is a night and day impression of the never-constant, ever-changing vast ocean and its companion the sky. -
Pass the Gravy by Steve Massa
Pass the Gravy By Steve Massa Max Davidson had appeared in movies since the early teens – act- ing at Biograph, supporting Fay Tincher in her Komic Comedy and Fine Arts comedy, and briefly headlining in his own Izzy Come- dies” – usually portraying stereo- typical Jewish tailors and mer- chants. After scoring a notable success co-starring with Jackie Coogan in the features “The Rag Man” and “Old Clothes” (both 1925) he was hired by producer Hal Roach to be part of his stable of supporting comedians. Proving himself in the service of Roach star comics Cuckoos” (1927) introductory description of “Love’s such as Stan Laurel, Charley Chase, and Mabel Greatest Mistake.” Screen freckles usually denote Normand in the shorts “Get ‘Em Young,” “Long Fliv fresh and fun-loving characters, but Spec’s spots the King” (both 1926), and “Anything Once” (1927), came with an icy heart, a malevolent grin, and Max was bumped up to the leading role in his own beady eyes that loved to see his screen father series and given the opportunity to flesh out his squirm. standard screen persona. The first entries were di- rected by Leo McCarey, then director-general of the In contrast to his sons like Spec, Max’s screen Roach Studio, who laid the ground work with shorts daughters are always his pride and joy, but still such as “Why Girls Say No,” “Jewish Prudence,” cause him a lot of aggravation, particularly when “Don’t Tell Everything,” and “Should Second they take up with boys he doesn’t approve of or as- Husbands Come First?” (all 1927). -
Marie Dressle? S'"M'em-Orypr~~T~M~R.Cc::-If) O ~E Honored B Plaque (} Powell of Port Hope, a Cousin of Marie Dressler, and Will Be Dedicated by the Rev
Marie Dressle? S'"m'em-orYPr~~t~M~r.cC::-If) o ~e honored b plaque (} Powell of Port Hope, a cousin of Marie Dressler, and will be dedicated by the Rev. S.D. Abraham, Rector of St. Peter's Church. The baptismal records of St. Peter's show an entry which states that a daughter, born on November 9, 1868, to Alexander Rudolph Koerber and Anna, his wife, was baptized in St. Peter's on June 27, 1869. Since the date of birth given differs from that usually given in accounts of the life of "Marie Dressler", the name under which this child became famous as an actress and alsoJrom the date implied in some passages of her autobiography, it is well to point out that ba(J- tismal records of thiS kind are now accepted in applications for old age pension in the absence of regular registration. They have, therefore, almost as much authority Thc mcmory of deputy-rceve of Cobourg, as a registration cer- Cobourg's famous ac- and which is known tificate. At that time, and tress, Marie Dressler, across the country as for many years af- will be honored this "Marie Dressler's Bir- terwards, the Friday afternoon when a thplace", one of registration of births was provincial historical Cobourg's attractions to optional in Ontario. plaque will be unveiled on travellers. The attractive brick the grounds of St. Peter's The plaque is one of a cottage believed to have Anglican Church, where series being erected been rented by the her father was organist throughout the province Koerbers at the time of when she was born and by the Department of Leila's birth, still stands where her birth is Public Records and on King Street West in recorded. -
“The Spice of the Program” Educational Pictures and the Small-Town Audience
3 “The Spice of the Program” Educational Pictures and the Small-Town Audience “What the hell’s educational about a comedy?” asked slapstick producer Jack White in an interview toward the end of his life. “Something that was very offen- sive to me,” he continued, “was [the slogan] . ‘This is an Educational Comedy.’ There’s no such thing as educating yourself with a comedy. It’s a stupid name.”1 The object of White’s ire? The company for which he had produced and directed two- reel shorts for over a decade—the comedy distributor with the most unlikely of names: Educational Pictures. The company had been formed in 1915 as the Educational Films Corporation by real-estate man Earle W. Hammons, with the intent indicated by its name: to provide educational subjects for school, church, and other nontheatrical pur- poses. But by the late 1910s Hammons had realized little profit from this idea and began to target the commercial field, setting in motion a process of expan- sion that would see Educational become the dominant short-comedy distributor of the late silent era. “It did not take me long to find out that the demand [for educational films] did not exist and that we could not survive by doing that alone,” Hammons later recalled.2 As early as the 1918–1919 season, Educational had begun to diversify its product lines, adding Happy Hooligan and Silk Hat Harry cartoons to its weekly program of travelogues and informational sub- jects.3 In April 1920, Hammons signed director Jack White and comedian Lloyd Hamilton from Fox’s Sunshine Comedies to produce two-reel comedies under the brand name Mermaid Comedies, and began immediately taking further strides into the comedy market.4 The program for Educational’s 1920–1921 season, which represented the company’s first year of general commercial release, included four comedy series: the Mermaids, produced by White; C. -
Dinner at Eight CELEBRATING MARIE DRESSLER’S 150Th BIRTHDAY
SOUVENIR PROGRAM Dinner At Eight CELEBRATING MARIE DRESSLER’S 150th BIRTHDAY from the collection of Marie Dressler Foundation Saturday, September 29, 2018 Best Western Plus Cobourg Inn, Cobourg, Canada MARIE’S 62nd BIRTHDAY SCRAPBOOK November 9, 1933 A STORY WORTH TELLING Almost one hundred and fifty years ago, a little girl named Leila Koerber came into this world here in Cobourg. Who was to know that some sixty plus years later, Leila, now named Marie Dressler, would become an Academy Award winner and the highest grossing movie star in the world for the years 1932 and 1933? While Marie would only spend the earliest years of her life here in Cobourg, she made a lasting impression. Once she arrived on Broadway in the late 1890’s, after almost twenty years of honing her operatic and comedic skills in travelling troupes, people began to notice and fall in love with this not-so-little girl. Although she starred in the first full length silent comedy, “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” in 1914 with a young Charlie Chaplin, her promising silent film career was interrupted by WWI. Afterwards, no one seemed interested in a fifties-something actor. Marie turned to charity work and became known for her social activism, always looking to help women less fortunate than herself. But she was destined to become a movie star. And it happened in 1930, when her friend, Frances Marion, the most successful screenwriter in Hollywood, tailored a star-worthy supporting role for her in “Anna Christie”. This film was a big deal as it was Greta Garbo’s first speaking role. -
Early Spring 2017
Early Spring SPECIAL EVENTS Wednesday, March 22 – Sunday, March 26 Friday, April 14 – Sunday, April 16 (Visit brattlefilm.org for ticket prices and more info) The Nineteenth Repertory Series! BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL Cambridge Science Festival: Sunday, February 26 2017: The 17th Annual Boston’s premiere festival highlighting the bizarre, the troubling, and the CONTACT! Friday, February 24 – overlooked returns to the Brattle for their nineteenth year. We are thrilled to In celebration of this year’s Cambridge Science Festival, the Brattle is BRATTLE OSCAR PARTY! welcome back these purveyors of the weird and wondrous, and eagerly pleased to present a brief program of films in which the aliens actually do Save the date for the Brattle’s annual celebration of Hollywood’s biggest Monday, May 1, 2017 await their full line-up. ‘come in peace.’ It’s easy to be overwhelmed by blockbuster sci-fi flicks fea - night! Come join us for snacks and drinks as we cheer our favorites during Keep watching BOSTONUNDERGROUND.ORG for more details but, in the turing bombastic scenes of world landmarks being blown to bits by aggres - “the movie-lover’s Super Bowl.” Visit Brattlefilm.org/oscar for more infor - meantime, we can announce the following features: HIDDEN RESERVES, THE sive E.T.’s – but let’s not forget those times when the visitors have been enig - mation on how to attend. SPECIAL ENGAGEMENTS & PREMIERES VOID and A DARK SONG. No Brattle Passes accepted. matic messengers, curious explorers, or even fun-loving stoners. Please join us for some fun from the stars with this survey of (relatively) benign aliens. -
Prospectus July 2, 2021
Written by Diane Sampson and Lauren Mayer Based on an idea by Tim Heitman Prospectus July 2, 2021 1 Table of Contents Page Description 3 Creative Team 4 A Story Worth Telling 5 Synopsis 6 Next Steps, How You Can Help – Subscriptions 6 How You Can Help – Buying Tickets 7 How You Can Help – How to Make a Contribution Thank you for helping to bring the story of Marie Dressler to the stage. 2 Creative Team Lauren Mayer (composer, co-lyricist) is a songwriter who works in educational theatre, musical revues, cabaret acts, and her own comedy performances. She wrote the music, lyrics & books for several published children’s shows, including December Rainbow which was commissioned by Broadway by the Bay, and she was the songwriter/music director for Darlene Popovic’s award- winning solo show. She has performed her own comedy songs at Society Cabaret, The Plush Room, Feinstein’s at the Niko, and others, and she is a 5-time recipient of the San Francisco Cabaret Gold Award, as well as a phi beta kappa graduate of Yale University (where she studied songwriting and music theory with composer/lyricist Maury Yeston). Lauren is thrilled to be working with Diane and Tim to help audiences fall in love with Marie Dressler, just like we have. Diane Sampson (librettist, co-lyricist) has written the books and lyrics for 4 other musicals, including Oh, Progeny! (two Bay Area productions) and The Tale of Sleeping Cutie, a commissioned work produced in San Francisco in 2014. Full-length non-musicals include Naked and The Greater Good, a finalist in Memphis’s Playhouse on the Square’s New Works Competition in 2019. -
D.W. Griffith, the Keystone Kops and the Canadian Connection by Wyndham Wise
D.W. Griffith, the Keystone Kops and the Canadian Connection By Wyndham Wise In his fulsome introduction in Maclean's as' (September 2003) to an excerpt from Kay Armatage's revisionist biography of the Victoria—born Nell Shipman, The Girl from God's Country: Nell Shipman and the Silent Cinema, crit- ic Brian D. Johnson claimed Shipman to be "Canada's first movie star." Johnson was not entirely accurate, however. Shipman was only a bit player in the history of Hollywood, never more than a starlet. Ten years prior to her appearence in Back to God's Country, which was released in 1919, no less than three actresses could lay claim to the title of the first Canadian movie star, and, remark- ably, they all appeared in films by D.W. Griffith, the legendary father of cinema, at the Biograph studios between 1908 and 1912. Biograph is the abbreviated name commonly used for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. It developed into one of the most active forces in the early years of American cinema and its studios at 11 East 14th Street in New York City were the spawn- ing ground for such formative talents as Griffith's stock company of players at Biograph included three Canadian leading ladies: Florence Lawrence, Florence LaBadie and Mary Pickford. Griffith and Mack Sennett. An itinerant actor and fledgling playwright, Griffith joined Biograph in early 1908, first as a writer and then as an actor. Later that same year, he directed his first film, The Adventures of Dollie. Over the next 18 months (from June 1908 to December 1909), Griffith personally directed all of the Biograph pictures, an incredible 200 TAKE ONE 37 Florence Lawrence Picture Company of America at the end of 1909. -
Guide to the Brooklyn Playbills and Programs Collection, BCMS.0041 Finding Aid Prepared by Lisa Deboer, Lisa Castrogiovanni
Guide to the Brooklyn Playbills and Programs Collection, BCMS.0041 Finding aid prepared by Lisa DeBoer, Lisa Castrogiovanni and Lisa Studier and revised by Diana Bowers-Smith. This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit September 04, 2019 Brooklyn Public Library - Brooklyn Collection , 2006; revised 2008 and 2018. 10 Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn, NY, 11238 718.230.2762 [email protected] Guide to the Brooklyn Playbills and Programs Collection, BCMS.0041 Table of Contents Summary Information ................................................................................................................................. 7 Historical Note...............................................................................................................................................8 Scope and Contents....................................................................................................................................... 8 Arrangement...................................................................................................................................................9 Collection Highlights.....................................................................................................................................9 Administrative Information .......................................................................................................................10 Related Materials ..................................................................................................................................... -
Shelley Stamp: My Name Is Shelley Stamp. I'm Professor of Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz
Shelley Stamp: My name is Shelley Stamp. I'm professor of Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz. It's March 24, 2016. And, I'm here in Chicago at the Fairmont Hotel to interview Jane Gaines, professor of film, at Columbia University. Professor Gaines has been instrumental in the development of three subfields within media studies; the study of Oscar Micheaux and his circle, physical evidence, and women in the silent screen. Her two books Fire and Desire: Mixed-Race Movies in the Silent Era, and Contested Culture: The Image, the Voice, and the Law, both won the Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. I want to begin by asking how you got interesting in becoming a film and media scholar? You begin your working life as a schoolteacher, correct? And, what prompted you to switch gears? Jane Gaines: Well, I think this is very important for our field, Shelley, because the statistic is over 50 percent of those who founded the field of film and media studies began in literary studies. So, I had my first degree from Northwestern in American and British literature. And, I got a job. And, I discovered that the students were not interested in Shakespeare. I think it's historically important because that first job I did creative dramatics. And, the second job was in a high school at the time that President Johnson had instituted the Title IV funding for upgrading American public education. So, the school I was in had a new curriculum full of electives.