Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema (Reference Guides to the World's Cinema)

GUIDE TO THE SILENT YEARS OF AMERICAN CINEMA

Reference Guides to the World's Cinema Guide to the Cinema of Spain Marvin D'Lugo Guide to American Cinema, 1965-1995 Daniel Cur ran Guide to African Cinema Sharon A. Russell Guide to American Cinema, 1930-1965 Thomas R. Whissen

GUIDE TO THE SILENT YEARS OF AMERICAN CINEMA DONALD W. MCCAFFREY AND CHRISTOPHER P. JACOBS

Reference Guides to the World's Cinema Pierre L. Horn, Series Adviser

GREENWOOD PRESS Westport, Connecticut • London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McCaffrey, Donald W. Guide to the silent years of American cinema / Donald W. McCaffrey and Christopher P. Jacobs. p. cm.—(Reference guides to the world's cinema, ISSN 1090-8234) Includes bibliographical references, filmographies, and index. ISBN 0-313-30345-2 (alk. paper) 1. Silent films—United States—History and criticism. I. Jacobs, Christopher P., 1954- . II. Title. III. Series. PN1995.75.M33 1999 791.43'09—dc21 99-10111 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 1999 by Donald W. McCaffrey and Christopher P. Jacobs All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-10111 ISBN: 0-313-30345-2 ISSN: 1090-8234 First published in 1999 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America

@r The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984). 10

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We dedicate this book to our parents, Francis and Dorothy Jacobs and John and Maude McCaffrey

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CONTENTS

Series Foreword by Pierre L. Horn

ix

Acknowledgments

xi

Introduction

xiii

The Development of the Cinema: From Scientific Novelty to a New Art and Entertainment Industry by Christopher P. Jacobs Films and Filmmakers

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The Legacy of the Silent Screen and the Birth Pangs of the Sound Film by Donald W. McCaffrey

305

Appendix: 160 Additional Films and Filmmakers of Note from the Silent Era 319 Selected Bibliography 323 Index

327

Photo essays follow pages 14 and 304.

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SERIES FOREWORD

For the first time, on December 28, 1895, at the Grand Cafe in Paris, France, the inventors of the Cinematographe, Auguste and Louis Lumiere, showed a series of eleven two-minute silent shorts to a public of thirtyfive people each paying the high entry fee of one gold Franc. From that moment, a new era had begun, for the Lumiere brothers were not only successful in their commercial venture, but they also unknowingly created a new visual medium quickly to become, throughout the world, a half popular entertainment, half sophisticated art of the cinema. Eventually, the contribution of each member of the profession, especially that of the director and the performers, took on enormous importance. A century later, the situation remains very much the same. The purpose of Greenwood's Reference Guides to the World's Cinema is to give a representative idea of what each country or region has to offer to the evolution, development, and richness of film. At the same time, because each volume seeks to present a balance between the interests of the general public and those of students and scholars of the medium, the choices are by necessity selective (although as comprehensive as possible) and often reflect the author's own idiosyncrasies. Andre Malraux, the French novelist and essayist, wrote about the cinema and filmmakers: "The desire to build up a world apart and selfcontained, existing in its own right . . . represents humanization in the deepest, certainly the most enigmatic, sense of the word." On the one hand, then, every Guide explores this observation by offering discussions, written in a jargon-free style, of the motion-picture art and its practitioners, and on the other provides much-needed information, seldom available in English, including filmographies, awards and honors, and ad hoc bibliographies. Pierre L. Horn Wright State University

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors wish to acknowledge the excellent work of Joann McCaffrey and Dorothy Jacobs in the proofreading and preparation of the manuscript. Also, the Fogelson Library of the College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, for its cinema collection that has added a great deal to researching the "Legacy of the Silent Screen . . ." concluding chapter.

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INTRODUCTION

This one-volume critical survey of key films, actors, directors, and screenwriters focuses on the silent era of the American cinema from its development in the last decade of the nineteenth century to the birth of sound film in the late 1920s. An introductory chapter explores the early growth of the infant art medium while the final chapter of this encyclopedic study examines the sophistication of the silent cinema in the final decade of film before the arrival of what were called at the time "talking pictures." These two chapters are distinctive features not found in the usual directory or compilation on the cinema. They provide an outline of film history from its beginnings until the perfection of synchronized sound, and a reflection on how themes and techniques established by the silent cinema were continued into the sound era through modern times. Between these two chapters is an alphabetic directory of films and personnel, including brief bibliographies and filmographies of varying scope. The reader might wish to explore both the first and last chapters before examining the essays that provide the bulk of the authors' evaluation. While the essays, with their abundance of facts and figures, represent the reader's main resource feature of this book, there is a strong focus on the nature and quality of the films. Most of our concentration on individual movies has been on the silent narrative feature picture, generally accepted to be four or more reels in length, produced mainly between 1912 and 1929. Many of the discussions of films and filmmakers include additional historical background on film production, trends of the time, or business practices during the silent era. The authors stress the contribu-

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tions of actors, directors, and screenwriters to the development and future of the film art. With its combination of key data and subjective interpretations in one place, we hope that this work will be a useful addition to the reference shelves of film historians, as well as a good introduction to the period for students and casual readers. In a concise encyclopedic work of this size, it is inevitable that many difficult choices must be made as to who and what will be included. In some cases, separate entries have been avoided when a film or person is discussed under another entry. An appendix lists additional notable films and persons, with some basic data. Thus, despite the book's alphabetical arrangement, the index will prove a useful tool for finding additional information. We have tried to balance the important late silent period of 1924-29 with significant discussion of films and personnel from the 1910s, especially the time during and right after World War I. The period from 1890 through the First World War is a rich field for further research. Likewise there is much yet to discover about various types of short films throughout both the silent and sound eras, including comedies, dramas, newsreels, animated cartoons, and documentaries. With a few exceptions, persons who worked in both silent and sound films but achieved their greatest prominence after the coming of sound have been omitted. Those exceptions (such as John Ford, Henry King, and Raoul Walsh) had extensive and notable silent careers. Separate entries on a number of foreign-born directors active in Hollywood have also been omitted from this volume. Directors Ernst Lubitsch, F. W. Murnau, Paul Leni, Maurice Tourneur, and Victor Seastrom, for example, receive initial prominence in their native countries. However, the influence of some of their techniques and approaches to dramatic material is noted in the introductory and concluding chapters, as well as certain film essays. The authors of this guide focus strongly on such prominent filmmakers of the silent era as D. W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Cecil B. DeMille, Lon Chaney, Charles Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and William S. Hart. These directors and actors had unusually close control of their film productions, and can be credited with significant innovations for the medium during the silent period. The evaluators recognize the faults and accomplishments of various film artists and try to put both in proper perspective, notably with directors, D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille. These two filmmakers have a substantial body of surviving work available for analysis. A variety of other creators have been evaluated in order to show the reader the full range of cinema in these two main decades of the silent screen, the 1910s and 1920s. Stars gave dimension to their films by their distinctive acting styles and personalities. Directors developed the art in

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its formative years. While the most discerning film evaluators often overlook the importance of the screenwriter, this skill early on became fundamental for a superior film. Four women —Anita Loos, Jeanie Macpherson, Frances Marion, and June Mathis — proved to be among the most prolific writers of the silent screen. When stars possessed full control of their films in the silent period, they were often actively engaged in writing. Essays on these actors usually indicate this contribution. Leaders in this activity included Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Edward Cline, and Buster Keaton. And they also directed their films. Authors Christopher Jacobs and Donald McCaffrey have evaluated the silent film for decades. They have collected data by other critics, viewed a wide range of silent films in the formats of 35mm, 16mm, and 8mm film (and, if necessary, video recordings), and published their evaluations promoting appreciation of the silent cinema. As the importance of film history gains wider public awareness, more and more titles once considered lost forever are being located in foreign archives, but also in some long-forgotten storage places and private collections. The reappearance of some of these films may require a reassessment of the importance of actors and directors long ignored due to the simple fact that their work was not a part of the few major collections of silent films available to scholars. Some of the works included in this book have only come to light in the past two decades. The amazing growth of home video in the 1980s and 1990s has made silent films easily available to a much wider audience than before. Readers of this guide may view many of the extant films evaluated in this study on tape or may see silent film presentations on television —especially on the Turner Classic Movies and American Movie Classics cable channels. At various venues around the country many silent pictures are also presented regularly on film with live piano, organ, or full orchestral accompaniment—a phenomenon that has increased dramatically over the past two decades. The authors recommend that the best way to view silent movies is at a showing of a film for an audience. Both have presented screenings of silent films for groups and can bear witness to the fascinating experience of a crowd reacting to a film with a live musical score.

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GUIDE TO THE SILENT YEARS OF AMERICAN CINEMA

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CINEMA: FROM SCIENTIFIC NOVELTY TO A NEW ART AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY Christopher R Jacobs

BEGINNINGS The American silent cinema really came into its own during and immediately after the First World War, although it flourished from the mid18908, and may be traced back as early as the work of Muybridge in the 1870s and 1880s —this before even the invention of film as a medium for recording photographic images. The " prehistory" of cinema has been treated in other works, recounting the concept of "persistence of vision" and how early experimenters applied it to various toys that produced an illusion of motion from still images. These generally had pictures drawn on cylinders or disks lined with slits, which when spun acted as shutters and created the apparent motion of the pictures. The 1826 invention of photography brought the potential for using actual objects rather than simply artists' impressions. For a number of decades the low sensitivity of emulsions required exposure times of several seconds to many minutes, but some enterprising photographers would shoot subjects in a series of poses that imitated the actual motion when viewed in these devices. After the American Civil War, photographic sensitivity gradually increased to the point where an exposure could be made in a fraction of a second. Nature photographer Eadweard Muybridge developed a passion for recording the individual elements of various animal and human motions photographically, reputedly after being hired to settle a bet on whether a galloping horse had all four feet off the ground at one time. He positioned a row of cameras, each of which was capable of a single exposure on a glass photographic plate, along side a track with strings stretching across it connected to

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each shutter. The horse running past tripped each shutter in succession, recording a series of progressive images of its movement. Then he decided to control the interval between exposures with a clockwork mechanism instead of trip cords for a more even spacing of 12 to 24 images. The experiment proved that horses did have all feet off the ground at some point, but more important, Muybridge realized that he could view these frozen slices of life in motion by means of one of the popular toys. He rigged up a large disk containing glass plate copies of his pictures with another disk of slits that could spin in front of a lantern slide projector, and was projecting the animated photographs to scientific gatherings throughout the 1880s. Then came George Eastman's introduction around 1888 or 1889 of a flexible plastic base for the emulsion, making possible long strips of what was now called "film" that could hold a row of thousands of separate images. Developments in the laboratories of Thomas Edison and others in both America and Europe soon resulted in practical systems for recording and reproducing motion using only one camera by the early 1890s. William Kennedy Laurie Dickson was the Edison researcher who was apparently responsible for the first major breakthrough. Edison first exploited the seemingly miraculous achievement of moving pictures with individual coin-operated arcade machines throughout 1894 and 1895. In December 1895 the French brothers August and Louis Lumiere projected their films on a screen before a paying audience, creating an immediate sensation. Edison quickly followed by buying the patents of Americans Thomas Armat and C. Francis Jenkins, who had developed their own projection machine to run Edison's films. Many experimenters around this time created their own cameras and projectors using a variety of film formats and mechanical methods, but the Edison format of vertically running 35mm film that had a row of rectangular perforations along each edge for the sprocket drive and an image that stretched between them exactly four sprocket holes high rapidly became the most prevalent. With minor variations it is still in use today and a film from the 1890s, if in good physical condition, could be shown on any modern theatrical projector. For several years audiences flocked to exhibitions of moving pictures, many of which toured the country, a few setting up business in permanent storefront locations. People were fascinated at first by the mere fact that pictures could move. The earliest films ran from several seconds to a minute or two in length, and ranged from mundane subjects documenting everyday life, to views of exotic foreign locales, to newsworthy events of the day, all of which could now be seen in motion. Short comic scenes performed before the cameras also proved quite popular, as did risque dancing acts and professional boxing. Special visual effects like

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slow motion, fast motion, and backwards motion had a novelty appeal, and filmmakers like the French magician George Melies made great use of the medium's potential for trick effects such as double exposures, subjects appearing and disappearing, and perspective illusions. By the turn of the century mere novelty was beginning to wear thin and Melies, Edwin S. Porter, and other filmmakers turned to short narratives as the main basis for their pictures. The popularity of Porter's 1903 The Great Train Robbery showed the cinema's potential as a major form of narrative entertainment, using such sophisticated techniques as matte shots, a moving camera, outdoor filming with greater depth of staging, and editing back and forth from one scene to another. Its length of almost a full 1000-foot reel established a new standard that would last about a decade until the emergence of multi-reel "feature" length productions. A full reel for one story allowed more complex stories to be told in a running time of 10 to 20 minutes (depending upon the cranking speed), rather than the few minutes that had previously dominated film releases usually shown with several subjects spliced together on a reel. Nevertheless, many of these early story films, such as Uncle Tom's Cabin (1903), still emphasized the new medium's documentary beginnings, proudly advertising that they were "reproductions" of popular stage plays or famous scenes from them, now recorded for posterity on film for viewing anywhere a projector could be set up. These look primitive from a modern point of view because their purpose was to record a performance, usually in one long take for each scene, rather than to express the story in a new cinematic form. Many filmed dramas also used simple painted backdrops like those of stage shows and were careful to keep the entire set in a long shot of the scene with actors moving from side to side in the frame as they would on stage. Very early on, however, filmmakers used cinema's photographic potential to recreate visual devices from another popular narrative form, the lantern slide show. Since the mid-nineteenth century, performances of dual "magic lantern" illustrated lectures had been a common medium for both education and entertainment. Very often short dramatic stories would be posed by actors as a series of stage tableaux. These would be photographed for lantern slide showings and presented with a narrator or live actors reciting the lines. Elaborate "trick effect" slides were developed, allowing parts of a scene to change while it was on the screen. The use of two projectors also permitted one image to dissolve into the next or on top of another to indicate a flashback or a character's thoughts. Filmmakers quickly appropriated the dissolve for the same use, as well as the ordering of scenes according to a preplanned structure. As filmmakers gained experience doing dissolves and double exposures, a fad developed for a time of

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having the same actor play two or more roles and appear on the screen at the same time. During the late 1910s, stars Mary Pickford and William Farnum, among others, took advantage of the technique to act scenes opposite themselves. COLOR Lantern slides were usually hand colored to various degrees, and until the perfection of natural color photography motion pictures utilized a number of different methods to add color to the black and white image. Especially in the early years, the 1890s through the 1900s, a surprisingly large number were painstakingly hand painted one frame at a time — the manual precursor to computer colorization. The Pathe studio developed an elaborate method of stenciling to mass produce color copies once stencils had been cut by hand for each color. The most common methods of introducing color in silent films was by tinting and toning. Tinting a film involved running the desired footage through a bath of color dye, resulting in an overall color for the image. Toning was a chemical process that replaced the black silver image with a different colored metallic compound. When used in combination, tinting a toned image, a twocolor appearance could be obtained. The most commonly used color tints were blue for night scenes, red for fire scenes, yellow for sunlit scenes, green for forest scenes, and so forth. The most common tone was probably the brown or sepia appearance, especially effective with Westerns, but often used throughout an entire movie. Films that used more than one color had to be cut into separate rolls, run through the dye or toner, and spliced together in the proper sequence. This had to be done for every tinted or toned print, so the films were generally printed in tinting order and then reassembled once the colors had been added. There were a number of experimenters searching for a practical method of natural color cinematography from the very beginning. The properties of light and primary colors were understood, and full color images could be taken by photographing the same thing three times through different color filters, but it was not until the 1930s that Technicolor developed its cumbersome but effective "three-strip" subtractive process. Nevertheless there were processes that obtained limited but sometimes spectacular results using additive color. As early as 1912 the Gaumont company was making demonstration films that had three successive frames photographed and later projected through separate color filters using normal black and white film. The color was vividly realistic but the film had to run through a special projector at a very high speed to project three frames at once, and there was difficulty in overlapping the images on the screen without color fringes. An easier method that had a

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brief vogue used two complementary colors rather than the three primary colors. With the Kinemacolor process, persistence of vision was used not only to blend the still images into motion but to blend alternate orange-red and blue-green frames, again using black and white film, but projected through alternating filters connected to the projector's shutter. This technique worked well for static scenes, but even though the film ran twice as fast as standard black and white movies, fast-moving subjects were in different positions for each color record, again creating fringes of color. The Prizma Color process achieved more popularity, for while it was similar, it actually dyed the alternate frames on the print rather than using a special projector with colored filters. Later they were printed on opposite sides of the film, using a subtractive process that permitted both a standard projector and a normal projection speed. In 1917 the Technicolor company produced an entire feature with an additive process, but abandoned it for a more practical two-color subtractive process. This photographed the reddish and greenish images simultaneously on adjacent frames, but they were printed onto separate strips of black and white film that were then dyed the appropriate color and glued together back to back. The Toll of the Sea (1922) was the first feature film using this process throughout, and films like The Ten Commandments (1923), Ben-Hur (1925), and The Phantom of the Opera (1925) used it for certain scenes. Only a few full-length silent features were produced in Technicolor, notably The Black Pirate (1926) and Wanderer of the Wasteland (1925). By the end of the 1920s, Technicolor improved on its system by introducing a dye-transfer process (also used by a later stage of Prizma Color), printing the colors one at a time onto a strip of clear film instead of having to glue two rolls together. Many early sound features used this process, as well as a few late silents issued with synchronized music and sound effects like The Viking (1928) and part-talkies like The Mysterious Island (1929), a trouble-plagued adaptation of the Jules Verne novel that had actually been started as a silent production in 1926. CINEMATIC TECHNIQUE Over the first decade of the twentieth century a "grammar" of film gradually evolved. Through improvisation, trial, and error, certain techniques and practices became accepted as conventions for expressing certain ideas, indicating sequence of action, and developing characters. D. W. Griffith was one of the first directors to recognize how effective these techniques could be and was instrumental in refining them to manipulate audience response to the stories he told. Closeups had been used sparingly from the earliest days of movies to let the audience see details that might not be noticed in long shots. The very first Edison movie copy-

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righted, A Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1893), was a closeup of a man sneezing, although in general Edison's cinematographers and other early filmmakers tried to compose the frame so people could be seen head to foot. Once theatrical presentation superseded peep-show devices, the larger-than-life projected image even caused some to view closeups as unnatural distortions of life. However, not long after making his first film in 1908 Griffith intuitively used them much more frequently than before to emphasize the facial expressions of his actors, thus permitting more subtle performances. Many directors not only used long shots to present a theatre-like composition in most of their scenes but they moved the actors from side to side as on the stage. Griffith gradually had more and more scenes in which actors moved toward or away from the camera and staged action on several different planes of depth within the scene rather than in one straight line. He also regularly broke scenes down into several shots, with the camera in different positions or focused on different characters, giving them a greater intimacy. More important, he pioneered the use of cross-cutting between actions happening in different places at the same time. He learned and his work taught others how to build tremendous suspense and excitement by controlling the pacing of the editing, rather than simply splicing scenes together in chronological order. In addition he pushed for longer and more complex films, often undercranking the camera to squeeze more action into the arbitrary one and then two reels of film his employers would permit. In five years at the Biograph company (1908-13) he moved from The Adventures ofDollie, a crude one-reel melodrama running about ten minutes and filmed mainly in long shots and long takes, to fast-paced two-reel featurettes like The Battle of Elderbush Gulch, running a half hour to 45 minutes, and finally an hour-long, four-reel biblical epic, Judith of Bethulia. Once free of the restrictive Biograph hierarchy, he was able to create a series of three-hour masterpieces of cinematic style, beginning with The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). If Griffith was a major force in helping advance film drama, Mack Sennett, who worked at Biograph for and with Griffith from 1908 to 1912, helped create a frenetic new style of film comedy. Leaving Biograph in 1912 for the Keystone company, he adapted his experience in burlesque theatre to the new opportunities offered by film. His editing was even faster paced than Griffith's and gave his chase scenes a manic, even chaotic sense that distinguished his comedies from others (and quickly gave rise to imitators). Some of the shots in his films lasted mere fractions of a second while many other filmmakers were still staging scenes in single long takes of several minutes each.

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THE RISE OF FEATURES American directors before the First World War faced formidable competition from foreign filmmakers. Artistic uses of lighting, dramatic photographic compositions, daring themes, elaborate and realistic sets, and, most important, longer films imported from Europe caught the attention of audiences and critics. It did not take long for American filmmakers to pick and choose and incorporate what impressed them most into their own productions. The French Queen Elizabeth (1912) starring Sarah Bernhardt did not break new ground stylistically, but its use of a world-famous stage actress and its hour-plus running time helped give a new prestige to motion pictures in America. Until 1913 most American films were one or two reels in length, with a few three-reel productions being made after 1911 or so. Motion picture exhibition was based on the concept of variety. Even after dramatic and comic narratives superseded the multitude of documentary and trickfilm subjects that had dominated the cinema's first decade, distributors did not think audiences would sit through an hour or more of a single story. As a result they would release multi-reel films like The Life of Moses (1909) and From the Manger to the Cross (1912) one reel at a time to be shown on consecutive nights or even consecutive weeks. At that time movies in the United States were largely attended by immigrants and the working class who could afford their five-cent admission and easily follow the short, simple, visual stories. The middle and wealthy classes were more likely to spend their entertainment money on vaudeville, live theatre, and the opera. The imported feature-length films were often exhibited in legitimate theatres, rather than the small "nickelodeon" movie houses, in a conscious attempt to win over a new audience. Italian film spectacles like Cabiria (1914), with its fluidly moving camera rolling through gigantic sets, were especially influential. Movie theatre managers began to "feature" multireel productions as the main attraction for the evening, with a few shorts to round out the program instead of having an hour or more featuring a variety of short films only. As this became more and more prevalent, studio production patterns changed to accommodate the practice. Trade journals from 1912-14 reveal mixed reaction from both producers and exhibitors about some of the new directions in filmmaking. For some time, many directors steadfastly believed that films should be well photographed but should concentrate on recording the actors' performances. They found breaking up scenes into medium shots and separate closeups of the different characters to be too distracting unless done for some special purpose (e.g., an extreme closeup of a letter, locket, ring, etc.). Many also resisted the trend towards feature-length films of an

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hour or longer, but by 1914 public support at the box office made feature attractions the rule rather than the exception. Although it was by no means the first feature or even the first popular epic film, the release of Griffith's The Birth of a Nation in March of 1915 was a major milestone due to its overwhelming commercial success. From then on, short films were simply an added attraction in nearly every theatre and might be dispensed with altogether in the case of such a long feature. From then on, people from all walks of life and levels of income developed the habit of moviegoing. The Birth of a Nation, controversial as it was, was the "must-see" film that everybody went to, and substantial numbers went back to see it again and then went to see other films. Producers like Cecil B. DeMille responded with stories that would appeal to a more educated and urbane audience. SOUND FOR "SILENTS" Crowds got even bigger, and by the late 1910s new movie palaces were springing up as large or larger than traditional legitimate theatres. The "silent" cinema was presented with a musical background, just as earlier forms of entertainment had been, from slide shows to stage melodramas to grand opera. Big city theatres that could sell thousands of tickets a day had their own full-sized house orchestras to play the musical accompaniment to their films. Smaller theatres had smaller orchestras or perhaps a two- or three-piece combo. Still smaller theatres invested in one of the newly developed musical instruments especially for movies: a "unit-orchestra," as a theatre pipe organ was termed, or a "photoplayer," a hybrid piano/pipe organ with built-in percussion and sound effects. Only the very smallest movie houses and traveling shows would use a solo piano, or possibly a small reed organ. A few major studio releases had new musical scores composed especially for them, and a large number had scores compiled from existing mood music plus a few newly composed themes for the particular film. Virtually all had "cue sheets" prepared, breaking the film down into notable scenes with suggestions for the musical mood or an actual piece that a theatre might use. An individual pianist or organist would often improvise the score while watching the film, using no printed music. By the mid-1910s there were already large sheet music collections published of themes labeled as suitable for certain types of motion picture scenes. These were available in a variety of arrangements, usually for solo piano, organ or piano-conductor (with indications of instrumentation), small orchestra, and large orchestra. Besides a musical accompaniment, a number of theatres in the early years employed "lecturers" who would narrate the stories, read the in-

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tertitles (if any), and improvise additional dialogue. Some films during the "nickelodeon" period of one-reelers had printed story outlines or scripts that clarified character relationships and motivations that might be otherwise difficult to ascertain. In ethnic neighborhoods of larger cities this practice of lecturing lingered on well after the arrival of featurelength productions. Its practitioners pointed out that new immigrants learned how to speak and read English at these movie houses without the need for formal education. Instead of undergoing the pressure of a classroom situation, they could learn simply by listening to the language while following the words and story on the screen. Not only were they being entertained at the same time they were learning English, but they could absorb the American culture and customs depicted, hastening their assimilation into society. ACTORS AND ACTING By the early 1910s, around the same time as the move toward featurelength films, came a new emphasis on the performers in films, who had previously been anonymous. As their faces became familiar and names promoted, a "star system" quickly arose, with popular actors guaranteeing an audience no matter what the story or title. As feature length dramatic films became firmly established, directors and actors (some to a greater degree than others, it must be admitted) understood the medium of silent cinema was a distinctive art form requiring a different approach from other types of performance. It could not use the spoken word like the theatre, and its nature of editing and differing perspectives required new techniques in staging the actors in front of the camera. It needed a new style of acting that recognized and exploited the absence of sound. In addition it now had to be able to adapt a performance to be effective in extreme long shots, medium shots, and close-ups. Actors had to be skillful enough at pantomime to convey thoughts and emotions but had to avoid exaggerating when the camera was close to them. Many developed a habit of acting with their eyes and subtle facial twitches even more than with their bodies, William S. Hart being especially notable in this regard. It was a new convention for audiences to become accustomed to, and when stage actor Frank Keenan used deliberately slow and underplayed facial expressions in The Coward (1915), one critic accused him of "mugging" for the camera. As late as 1929 some critics were put off by the more naturalistic acting style that motion pictures permitted, as evidenced in accusations of Louise Brooks' subtle portrayal of Lulu in Pandora's Box being wooden and expressionless. A large number of films, especially those of the 1915-1920 period, contain a mixture of acting styles, some actors being relatively restrained,

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while others in the same scene might be flamboyantly overstated. Examples of this include such notable titles as the first starring film of Theda Bara, A Fool There Was (1915), and the large-scale studio epic Ben-Hur (1925). Nevertheless, the silent cinema rapidly developed a recognizable acting style that transcended the need for extensive dialogue or descriptive titles. This helped cinema become truly an international medium of expression for three decades until the dominance of talking pictures in the 1930s. A technical factor in film production and exhibition, but one that continues to have an impact on both the actors' performances and the overall artistic impression of silent films, is the speed at which the movies were photographed and projected. Both cameras and projectors originally had variable speeds. Early experiments proved that 12 to 14 images per second were required for smooth motion, and the faster the speed, the smoother the action would appear. Some early films from the 1890s were photographed at about 48 images per second, but in order to save film most camera operators standardized a theoretical ideal speed of 16 images per second, whether cranked by hand or using an electric motor. When projected at the same speed at which the images were filmed, the action appears normal. Scenes cranked slower in the camera would appear faster on the screen, an effect often used for fights and comic situations. However, theatre operators would sometimes run all films at a slightly faster speed in order to fit in an extra show each day, with more potential income from admissions. As filmmakers realized this, they began to crank the camera faster, to 18, 20, or 22 frames per second. Theatres, of course, sped up projection speeds even more. When the Vitaphone sound system was introduced in 1926, a single set speed had to be established for maintaining synchronization with the separate disk that contained the soundtrack. Sound that was recorded on film, as with the Movietone system, had to maintain a single constant speed for proper reproduction. The average speed prevalent in theatres at the time of 24 frames per second was chosen as the new standard and has remained in effect ever since. As a result, when silent films made before 1926 are shown on modern projectors, the motion often appears unnaturally fast. On the other hand, when a silent film from the late 1920s is mistakenly shown at 16 or 18 frames per second because it is supposed to be the "silent" speed, the action and pacing becomes unnaturally slow. Ideally a variable speed projector must be used, and adjusted to match the most natural action on the screen, just as was done in the most reputable theatres of the silent era.

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POSTWAR DEVELOPMENTS The outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 severely hampered the European film industry, both in resources available for productions and in export markets. Over the next few years this paved the way for the American cinema to dominate the world market. By the war's end in 1918, American film techniques, once lagging behind, had equaled or surpassed those of foreign competitors and American stars had won large folio wings throughout the world. After the war, films became more refined not only in cinematic technique but in story material. Motion picture production had become one of the nation's leading industries and began to adjust to mass tastes on a large scale. Previously there had been a wider range of subjects treated and a larger likelihood of daring elements or tragic endings. Tastes also changed to prefer more sophistication and contemporary themes, and intertitles developed their own recognizable style of writing. Instead of straightforward descriptions they began to pack both exposition and character information into carefully worded prose poems. In feature comedies but even in some light dramas they often relied heavily on puns related to topical events and trends, and self-consciously clever and abstruse sexual innuendoes. The "jazz age" of the 1920s may have ushered in a more flippant approach to tradition and morality, but the moviegoing public still wanted its heroes to have at least the appearance of propriety. Scandals involving sex and murder destroyed the careers of more than one superstar, even when nothing could be proved to implicate any wrongdoing on the part of the star involved. The heavy sensationalism by the press of the most lurid aspects, even when information was distorted, out of context, or completely false, created public outrage and calls for film censorship. The most notorious case involved popular rotund comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, whose main indiscretion turned out to be that he hosted and was present at the drinking party at which a promiscuous young starlet died. He was finally acquitted of murder after three trials but was shunned by producers. At the same time the Arbuckle trials were going on another prominent case exposed the private lives of popular actresses Mary Miles Minter and Mabel Normand. Both were linked to the unsolved murder of director William Desmond Taylor, with whom one or both had been having an affair. Normand's career was damaged, but that of 19-year-old Minter, who had been an audience favorite since a child, was devastated. A vocal segment of the population decried both the private lives of Hollywood celebrities and the increasing suggestiveness and promiscuity portrayed on the screen. To avoid official government censorship, the

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CINEMA

major studios appointed former postmaster Will Hays to oversee the newly formed Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), a self-policing board that would approve scripts and finished films before they were released to the public. Studios started inserting "morality clauses" into contracts of major stars. Hays even banned Arbuckle from appearing on screen. The "Hays Office," as it came to be known, was widely followed by filmmakers and seemed to satisfy critics. Films of 1921 and before would occasionally include tasteful nudity and judicious use of profanity in the title cards, although sometimes excised by various state or local censorship boards around the country. After the Hays Office this became extremely rare. Towards the end of the 1920s, however, especially after the coming of sound, films ventured further and further into previously taboo areas and a new 1930 production code was widely ignored until strict enforcement began in 1934. Another development in American cinema during the 1920s was an influx of major foreign filmmakers to Hollywood, many of them from Germany. Directors like Ernst Lubitsch, F. W. Murnau, and Paul Leni had a profound influence on the "look" of American films that would last well beyond the silent period. The European directors popularized a new fluidity to cinematography and editing. Although they had been used before, moving cameras — dolly and crane shots —became much more commonplace, as did subjective shots that showed the audience the same point of view as one of the characters. Lubitsch and Murnau became a part of the Hollywood establishment, changing the fashions in filmmaking as much as they adapted to those already prevailing. Lubitsch is best remembered for his witty use of double entendres and themes of playful sexuality, but his productions like The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) also were highly polished exercises in cinematic technique. Murnau's Sunrise (1927) was essentially a stylized studio-bound artfilm along the lines of his German productions such as Nosferatu and Faust. His City Girl (1929) looks more American, while incorporating a European pastoral sensibility, but in Tabu (1931) he downplayed plot and character to accentuate the visual as he had done in the German The Last Laugh. Americans like King Vidor and Frank Borzage exploited the new freedom of movement in such late silent masterpieces as The Croivd and Street Angel (1928). Lighting and set design took on aspects of German expressionism, as in Rex Ingram's The Magician (1926), Leni's The Cat and the Canary (1927) and The Last Warning (1929), and again, Borzage's Street Angel. A number of American films in the late 1920s even tried to return to the tragic endings that were more common in foreign imports and in American pictures before 1920. Directors a n d / o r studio executives would often make alternate happy endings, as in the case of The Croivd,

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The Torrent (1926), Love (1927), and others, and give theatres the choice of which version to show. Other times, as in the case of The Wind (1928), a 1927 preview with the original tragic ending impressed critics but proved so unpopular with exhibitors that only the happy ending was used for its general release, which did not come until a full year later (and included a synchronized soundtrack of music and sound effects). A VARIED AND ENDURING ART The last few years of the American silent cinema coincided with the last few years of the 1920s. This period is sometimes called the highest point of cinematic artistry. Certainly motion pictures produced at this time were technically polished, with a confident and effortless use of editing, an artistically accomplished visual imagery, and an expressive, stylized mode of acting. They were also a lucrative industry, and just like the film industry of future generations, catered as much as possible to as wide an audience as possible. As in any era, individual films stand out as superior works of art while a large majority can be described better as competent works of craftsmanship. By the mid to late 1920s, Hollywood films often had a slick, refined style that adhered to conventional and successful formula. Ten to 15 years earlier, at the beginning of the feature film period, the styles were somewhat different, but again certain formulas and conventions predominated. In this earlier period, however, there seemed to be a greater experimentation with subject material, character types, and cinematic techniques as filmmakers struggled to determine the surest formulas for financial success. The result today is that many of the earlier films can appear quaint and primitive when their conventions did not become the prevailing style of later years. However, the same films can often have a fresher approach to their content and tell surprisingly sophisticated stories that were simplified and homogenized in later silent and sound productions. Another interesting characteristic of films made before 1920 is that many more adaptations of classic literature and theatre were made than in any other period of filmmaking, except perhaps the first years of talking pictures. Part of this was due to the struggle to prove cinema was a respectable form of entertainment. By 1920 there were more stories written expressly for the screen, but there was also a greater tendency to adapt popular literature — short stories and best-selling novels — rather than famous works of the past. The cinema by then was fully established and did not need to borrow its respectability from another medium to attract viewers. In short, the silent years of American cinema produced an incredibly large number of films that exhibit a gamut of styles, subjects, and techniques. Over a period of only three decades a new art form emerged

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from a simple toy designed to demonstrate a scientific principle and from inventions that were intended simply to provide a permanent record of real life. As filmmaking developed into an art it preserved not only a record of how actors and settings appeared, but of how writers, directors and audiences looked at their everyday world, how they felt about society and about life in general. Never before could someone from a remote culture a n d / o r time have such a vivid picture of how another group of people lived and thought. The American silent cinema reflected life as it was at the time it was created, but because of its wide reach it also became a part of life, and as such, was a molding force in setting trends, fashions, and new ways of thinking. With certain exceptions, cinema always emphasized its entertainment aspects over its artistic pretensions. It was a popular art form that people went out of their way to see. Its influence as the first form of mass media and mass art was profound, as it did not rely on literacy or the necessity for extensive travel to be experienced. By the mid-1910s, less than a generation after its invention, the cinema had matured to an extent that very little of its basic properties would ever change. Such future developments as color, sound, and wide image ratios were merely refinements of earlier experiments. Changes in styles of acting and story subjects merely indicated changing public tastes. The most effective of films produced after the silent era still rely heavily on the silent cinema's ability to convey information visually. Over a century after the first films were exhibited, the standards of photographic composition, editing, and story length that became established in the 1910s are still applied, whether a story be presented by means of a film, video, or computer format.

While shooting the pioneer one-reel Western The Great Train Robbery (1903) on location, Edwin Porter moved his actors to provide depth to the scene. From Donald McCaffrey's private photo collection.

The popular and polite A Cure for Pokeritis (1912), with John Bunny and Flora Finch, was an example of the genteel comedy that appeared in the one-reelers of the 1910s. From Donald McCaffrey's private photo collection.

This still from the wild Mack Sennett comedy burlesque of the old-fashioned melodrama, Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life (1913), shows Mabel Normand chained to the track and villain Ford Sterling holding the sledgehammer over her. From Donald McCaffrey's private photo collection.

D. W. Griffith's Intolerance was a massively produced epic that told four separate stories set in different time periods. The Babylonian episode had the most spectacular sets and action sequences and was later released as a separate film. From the collection of Christopher P. Jacobs.

In 1919, already prominent as actors, directors, and producers of their own films, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith formed their own company, United Artists. From Donald McCaffrey's private photo collection.

John Barrymore played a dual role in the 1920 screen adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novelette, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Here character actor Louis Wolheim (left) interacts with Mr. Hyde. From Donald McCaffrey's private photo collection.

In this scene from Safety Last (1923), Harold Lloyd, a comedic icon of the silent cinema, is a desperate man hanging from the hand of a clock eleven stories up from the street. From Donald McCaffrey's private photo collection.

The lonely soul on the edge of society—Charles Chaplin as the Little Tramp—looks forlornly through a window at the New Year festivities in The Gold Rush (1925). From Donald McCaffrey's private photo collection.

Douglas Fairbanks (right) confronts pirate captain Anders Randolf in The Black Pirate (1926), one of Fairbanks' most action-packed adventures and one of the few full-length silent features filmed entirely in Technicolor. From the collection of Christopher P. Jacobs.

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FILMS AND FILMMAKERS

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A ACORD, ART. Born April 17, 1890, in Glenwood, Sevier, Utah (some sources say Stillwater, Oklahoma). Died January 4, 1931, Chihuahua, Mexico. Actor, stuntman. A prolific cowboy star throughout the silent era, Art Acord had his greatest popularity in smaller towns, where he rivaled Tom Mix, Hoot Gibson, and Buck Jones. Like them he often mixed comedy with melodrama in western settings. Unlike many Western stars, he actually worked on a ranch as a young man, and for a time performed in rodeos and wild west shows. Starting in 1909 Acord did stunt work in films and had a few cast credits by 1910-12. He had a small part in The Squaw Man (1914) and starred in a series of western shorts that started with Buck Parvin in the Movies (1915). In 1917 Acord had a supporting role in Fox's spectacular Cleopatra, and along with friend Hoot Gibson, had a bit in Douglas Fairbanks 7 Headin' South the following year. Then he fought and was decorated in World War I, returning to sign a contract at Universal in 1919. He stayed at Universal for most of his career, starting in shorts and serials through the early 1920s, moving into features in 1924-25 at independent studios and then back to Universal. The height of his success was from 1926-27, but chronic alcoholism caused Universal to cancel his contract. After several low-budget westerns for small companies in 1928-29 his career was over. Acord's drinking led to numerous bar fights and an arrest for bootlegging, and he finally drifted to Mexico and Central America trying to make money from personal appearances. Little over a year after his last film he was found poisoned in Mexico. Whether it was suicide or murder was never positively determined. Selected Filmography: The White Medicine Man (1911), The Indian Massacre

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(1912), The Claim Jumper (1913), The Squaw Man (1914), Buck Parvin in the Movies (1915), Margy of the Foothills (1916), Cleopatra (1917), Headin' South (1918), The Wild Westerner (1919), The Moon Riders (1920), Winners of the West (1921), Ridin' Through (1922), The Oregon Trail (1923), Fighting for Justice (1924), Looped for Life (1924), The Circus Cyclone (1925), The Wild Girl (1925), Three in Exile (1925), Pals (1925), The Call of Courage (1925), Western Pluck (1926), TTie Silent Guardian (1926), S/cy H/'^/z Corral (1926), Rustler's Ranch (1926), 77a? Sef-np (1926), The Scrappin' Kid (1926), 77ze Terror (1926), The Ridin' Rascal (1926), T/ie Man from the West (1926), Lrtzy Lightning (1926), Loco Lwc/c (1927), Set Free (1927), H^ni Fzste (1927), Spurs and Saddles (1927), The Western Rover (1927), Tzuo Gun O'Brien (1928), His Lasf Battle (1928), Tfa? White Owf/aw (1929), Bullets and Justice (1929), The Arizona Kid (1929), /An Oklahoma Cowboy (1929), Wyoming Tornado (1929), Fighters of the Saddle (1929). Selected Bibliography: Hanson, Patricia King, executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19111920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Katchmer, George A. Eighty Silent Film Stars. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1991. Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Liebman, Roy. Silent Film Performers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Munden, Kenneth W., executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19211930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Spehr, Paul C. American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent Film Necrology. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995. ADOREE, RENEE. Born September 30, 1898 (some sources say 1896, 1901, or 1902), in Lille, France. Died October 5, 1933, in Sunland, California. Actress. Fiery French actress Renee Adoree became a major star with her touching performance as the romantic lead in The Big Parade (1925), the most memorable role in her short career. Born Jeanne Renee de la Fonte into a French circus family, she worked with the circus all over Europe as a child and became a dancer as she got older. She danced specialty numbers in England, France, and Australia, coming to New York around 1919. Her first film appearance was the lead in Raoul Walsh's The Strongest (1920), and after a few minor parts she had another starring role in 1922 with Honor First and signed a contract with Louis B. Mayer in 1923. She played opposite John Gilbert in a number of pictures besides The Big Parade, most notably in Tod Browning's The Show (1927). Many of her roles were those of strong-willed foreign-born characters, often French, Mexican, Russian, or Gypsy women. With the coming of sound her

ANDERSON, G. M.

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heavy French accent reinforced this practice, but she developed tuberculosis and died after only two all-talking productions. Filmography: The Strongest (1920), Made in Heaven (1921), Monte Cristo (1922), A Self-Made Man (1922), West of Chicago (1922), Honor First (1922), Mixed Faces (1922), The Six-Fifty (1923), The Eternal Struggle (1923), Women Who Give (1924), A Man's Mate (1924), Defying the Law (1924), The Bandolero (1924), Excuse Me (1925), Man and Maid (1925), Parisian Nights (1925), Exchange of Wives (1925), The Big Parade (1925), The Black Bird (1926), La Boheme (1926), 77a? Exquisite Sinner (1926), Tin Gods (1926), Blarney (1926), 77a? Flaming Forest (1926), 77a> S/ZOZP (1927), Heaven on Earth (1927), Mr. Wu (1927), On Ze Boulevard (1927), Bac/c to God's Country (1927), TTie Cossacks (1928), A G?rtein Yowrz^ A t e (1928), Tne Michigan Kid (1928), Forbidden Hours (1928), TTze Mating C«// (1928), The Spieler (1928), T ^ Pagan (1929), Tide of Empire (1929), Redemption (1930), Ca// o / f e F/es/z (1930). Selected Bibliography: Brundidge, Harry T. Twinkle, Twinkle, Movie Star! New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1930. Hanson, Patricia King, executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19111920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Liebman, Roy. Silent Film Performers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Munden, Kenneth W., executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19211930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Spehr, Paul C. American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent Film Necrology. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995. A N D E R S O N , G. M. "BRONCHO BILLY." Born Gilbert Maxwell Aronson in Little Rock, Arkansas, March 21,1880. Died January 20,1971, in Woodland Hills, California. Actor, writer, director, producer. As a precursor of William S. Hart and Tom Mix, Broncho Billy proved to be the first star of the Western. While he played several minor roles in The Great Train Robbery (1903), that hardly brought distinction to his acting ability. However, the one-reeler became a hit. In order to get the job, he told director Edwin Porter that he know how to ride a horse, but the eager young man, Gilbert Anderson, had trouble even mounting one. Later he would develop a character he called Broncho Billy that would capture the imagination of the public. This cowboy portrait vacillated between the good and bad man so that he established the so-called "good badman" as critic William Everson noted when he described Anderson's 1915 Broncho Billy and the Baby. "The story was a pleasing mixture of action and sentiment, with a 'good badman' hero who gives up his chance of freedom to aid a stricken child. The film was an instant sue-

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cess. This main departure from all previous Westerns was in its concentration on a colorful 'hero' —a man who was rugged and a law unto himself, but who also possessed the nobility and courage of the Arthurian knights" (A Pictorial History of the Western Film, p. 18). Anderson played the lead, writing and directing hundreds of shorts, often using the name of Broncho Billy. Many of his one-reel works were produced for Essanay, a studio he cofounded with George Spoor in 1907. For ten years Essanay became noted for its Westerns and comedies, even releasing and sponsoring Charles Chaplin's two-reelers in 1915 and 1916. By the time the studio folded in 1917, Anderson's films had given way to the strong competition of William S. Hart and Tom Mix who would eclipse his position as a leader in the development of the Western. Eventually the Hollywood community recalled his early efforts and in 1957 the Academy of Motion Pictures presented Anderson an honorary Oscar designating this award "for his contribution to the development of motion pictures as entertainment." Critics now realize Anderson established the icon of the colorful, independent Western hero with shifting allegiances between the sides of the lawless and the law. Filmography: Selected shorts — The Great Train Robbery (1903), Raffles, the American Cracksman (1905), The Bandit King (1907) Broncho Billy's Adventure (1911), Broncho Billy and the Baby (1915), Broncho Billy and the Parson (1915), Broncho Billy and the Revenue Agent (1916).

Bibliography: Everson, William K. "The Beginnings — and Broncho Billy." A Pictorial History of the American Film. New York: The Citadel Press, 1969. Fenin, George N., and William K. Everson, The Western from Silents to Cinerama. New York: Bonanza Books (Crown Publishers, Inc.), 1962.

ARBUCKLE, ROSCOE "FATTY." Born Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle March 24, 1887, in South Center, Kansas. Died June 29, 1933, in New York City. Stage actor in stock companies, vaudeville, burlesque. Film actor, director, writer. Arbuckle's contribution to the film medium proved to be greater than his acting skills. While he was an excellent comic actor with the physical dexterity necessary for a player in the humorous movie in its formative period, he also became an effective director and writer. Most significant of all, he urged Buster Keaton, who would become one of the kings of comedy, to leave vaudeville and enter motion pictures. He became Buster's mentor by teaching him the way to direct, write, and act in this fledgling medium. His own career advanced when he took over for one of the first American silent screen male stars, John Bunny, who, like Arbuckle, was an obese comedian. He received star status by acting as a

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lead with Mabel Normand, under the supervision of producer Mack Sennett. Arbuckle formed his own film studio, Comique Film Company, and played the lead in many shorts, sometimes supported by Buster Keaton. Just as he entered feature films in the twenties with such works as Brewster's Millions (1921), a sex scandal ruined his career. The charge was rape and manslaughter. While a jury acquitted him, he never was able to recover the position of a star actor. Nevertheless, his extant films, when viewed today, reveal a comedian with exceptional physical adeptness in creating humor as well as the mental skills to supervise all aspects of the film production. Filmography: Selected shorts — The Sanitarium (1910), Fatty's Flirtation (1913), The Rounders (1914), The Knockout (1914), Mabel and Fatty's Married Life (1915), Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916), The Butcher Boy (1917), The Hayseed (1919). Selected features — Brewster's Millions (1921), Leap Year (1921, unreleased). Bibliography: Oderman, Stuart. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle: A Biography of the Silent Screen Comedian, 1887-1933. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., Inc., 1994. Siegel, Scott, and Barbara Siegel. American Film Comedy: From Abbott and Costello to Jerry Zucker. New York: Prentice Hall, 1994.

ARZNER, DOROTHY. Born January 3, 1897, in San Francisco, California. Died October 1, 1979, in La Quinta, California. Director, editor, screenwriter. Remembered mainly for the fact that she was one of the few women to have a successful career as a Hollywood director, Dorothy Arzner developed an interest in film through her exposure to the numerous movie personalities who frequented her father's Los Angeles restaurant. After driving an ambulance during World War I and working briefly on a newspaper, she got a job as a script typist at Paramount in 1919. After about six months she became a film cutter and gained her initial reputation as a film editor on such major pictures as Blood and Sand and The Covered Wagon. In late 1924 and 1925 she did script work and continuity on productions at small and independent studios, returning to Paramount to work on the screenplay and edit Old Ironsides. When she was given the chance to write and direct her own film at Columbia, the more prestigious Paramount decided to woo her with a directing assignment, which Arzner accepted. She directed four silent features and was entrusted with directing Paramount's superstar Clara Bow in her talking debut, The Wild Party, which was also released in a silent version. Arzner went on to direct a number of major films in the sound era, produced

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Women's Army Corps training films during World War II, and later taught film for a time at UCLA. Filmography as Editor or Story Adaptation/Continuity: Blood and Sand (1922), The Covered Wagon (1923), Ruggles of Red Gap (1923), Merton of the Movies (1924), Inez From Hollywood (1924), The No-Gun Man (1924), The Breed of the Border (1924), The Red Kimono (1925), When Husbands Flirt (1925), Old Ironsides (1926). Filmography as Director: Fashions For Women (1927), Ten Modern Commandments (1927), Get Your Man (1927), Manhattan Cocktail (1928), The Wild Party (1929), Sarah and Son (1930), Paramount on Parade (1930), Anybody's Woman (1930), Honor Among Lovers (1931), Working Girls (1931), Merrily We Go to Hell (1932), Christopher Strong (1933), Nana (1934), Craig's Wife (1936), The Bride Wore Red (1937), Dance Girl Dance (1940), First Comes Courage (1943). Selected Bibliography: Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Munden, Kenneth W., executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19211930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Slide, Anthony. Early Women Directors. South Brunswick and New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1977. Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent Film Necrology. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995.

B BADGER, CLARENCE. Born June 8, 1880, in San Francisco, California. Died June 17,1964, in Sydney, Australia. Director, writer. An active director of comedies throughout the silent era, Clarence Badger did not enter the film industry until his thirties. He moved to Los Angeles after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his art and photoengraving business and began submitting scripts to various film companies as a sideline. After several scenario credits from 1913-14, Universal finally hired him as a full-time writer and Badger penned numerous Joker Comedies in 1915. By the end of that year Keystone lured him away, and he quickly advanced to directing shorts for Sennett. His first feature was a codirecting assignment on A Modern Enoch Arden (1916), which was a Sennett parody of a D. W. Griffith-produced feature released several months earlier. One of his better-known Sennett pictures is the two-reel short Teddy at the Throttle (1917), with Gloria Swanson and Bobby Vernon. Badger preferred a less frenetic comedy style and moved to Goldwyn in 1918 to direct lower-key comedy-dramas including Will Rogers' Jubilo (1919) and other Rogers pictures. In the early 1920s he worked at a number of studios before settling at Paramount for the remainder of his silent career. There he made two of comedian Raymond Griffith's best pictures, Paths to Paradise (1925) and Hands Up (1926), as well as many popular comedy vehicles starring Bebe Daniels, such as Miss Brewster's Millions (1926) and Senorita (1927), and two major Clara Bow hits, It (1927) and Red Hair (1928). With the coming of sound, Badger moved to First National studios, where he made a number of early talkies from 1929 to 1931 including the French-language version of Mervyn LeRoy's Showgirl in Hollywood (1930). Thereafter he made two

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pictures for C o l u m b i a in 1933 and 1936 (the latter filmed in Australia) and then retired from filmmaking to live in Australia. Filmography: Features—A Modern Enoch Arden (1916), The Floor Below (1918), The Venus Model (1918), Friend Husband (1918), The Kingdom of Youth (1918), A Perfect Lady (1918), Day Dreams (1919), Sis Hopkins (1919), Daughter of Mine (1919), Leave It to Susan (1919), Through the Wrong Door (1919), Strictly Confidential (1919), Almost a Husband (1919), Jubilo (1919), Water, Water Everywhere (1920), The Strange Boarder (1920), ]es' Call Me Jim (1920), Cupid, the Cowpuncher (1920), Honest Hutch (1920), Guile of Women (1921), Boys Will Be Boys (1921), An Unwilling Hero (1921), A Poor Relation (1921), Doubling For Romeo (1922), Don't Get Personal (1922), The Dangerous Little Demon (1922), Quincy Adams Sawyer (1922), Your Friend and Mine (1923), Red Lights (1923), Potash and Perlmutter (1923), Painted People (1924), The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1924), One Night in Rome (1924), New Lives for Old (1925), Eve's Secret (1925), Paths to Paradise (1925), The Golden Princess (1925), Hands Up (1926), Miss Brewster's Millions (1926), The Rainmaker (1926), The Campus Flirt (1926), If (1927), A Kzss m a Taxi (1927), Senorita (1927), Man Power (1927), Swim, G H Szwm (1927), She's a Sheik (1927), Red Hair (1928), The Fifty-Fifty Girl (1928), Ho* Nez Munden, Kenneth W., executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19211930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Spehr, Paul C. American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent Film Necrology. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995.

CLEOPATRA (1912). Historical drama. Directed by Charles L. Gaskill; with Helen Gardner, Mr. Sindelar, Harley Knoles, Mr. Waite, Mr. Howard, Miss Winter; screenplay by Charles L. Gaskill, from plays by William Shakespeare, Victorien Sardou, and Emile Moreau. Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, sets free an escaped slave who is in love with her. Later, she meets Roman general Marc Antony and falls in love with him, but he marries the Roman emperor's sister for political reasons. When Antony commits suicide after Cleopatra's desertion results in his defeat at Actium, she has her dying lover brought to her tomb and joins him in a romantic death. This hour-and-a-quarter version of the oft-filmed romantic tragedy is one of the first feature-length films produced in America. Its star Helen Gardner is today an obscure name from the earliest days of filmmaking, yet the one-time pantomime instructor may have been the first woman to start her own movie production company and was a pioneer in making full-length feature films (along with her writer-director husband, Charles Gaskill). They turned out several films but in 1914 returned briefly to Vitagraph, where they had worked before setting out on their own. After the early 1920s they seem to vanish from the movie industry. Their Cleopatra was presented in opera houses and legitimate theatres as a special traveling roadshow in 1912, with an advance man, a lecturerprojectionist, and a manager. They filmed additional scenes in 1917 and reissued it in 1918 to compete against the new Theda Bara version, boasting that theatres could "exhibit a big $2.00 feature for 25C and make a big profit." Only the 1912 original appears to have survived. Both the production values and acting in Cleopatra show a strong in-

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fluence of the theatre. The sets are mainly well-painted backdrops that become less distracting if one thinks of the film as a recorded stage performance. The costumes and art direction are more art nouveau than Egyptian. The slightly Rubensesque Miss Gardner projects an appealing screen presence and definitely dominates the picture. The actors' stylized performances are not always so exaggerated as one might expect and actually are understated at times, especially Gardner's. Besides the fact that the crucial sea battle is presented via titles and cutaway shots, it is the film's lack of closeups that is its major weakness from today's perspective. Like other films of its era it suffers from a paucity of intertitles and a tendency for descriptive rather than dialogue titles. Many of the dialogue titles it does have are in the florid tradition of nineteenthcentury melodrama. Nevertheless it remains an interesting curiosity, especially if viewed in a color tinted print. CLEOPATRA (1917). Historical romance. Directed by J. Gordon Edwards; with Theda Bara, Fritz Leiber, Thurston Hall, Albert Roscoe, Herschel Mayall, Dorothy Drake, Dell Duncan, Henri de Vries, Art Acord, Hector V. Sarno, Genevieve Blinn; screenplay by Adrian Johnson, based on plays by William Shakespeare and Victorien Sardou, other works. Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, easily makes conquering Roman Julius Caesar into her lover and ally. After his assassination Mark Antony likewise falls under the allure of Cleopatra but eventually returns to Rome to marry Octavia, sister of Octavius, for political reasons. Then he rejoins Cleopatra to fight against Octavius for the possession of Egypt but is defeated in a spectacular sea battle at Actium. In shame, he kills himself, and Cleopatra upon learning the news holds a poisonous snake to her breast so she can join him in death. The Fox production of Cleopatra was one of the most notable historic spectacles of the silent era, running two and a half hours or longer, but unfortunately no prints have been known to survive. Theda Bara was Fox's biggest star after her overnight success as the amoral temptress of A Fool There Was (1915), and the studio exploited her "vamp" image in numerous films over the next four years. Cleopatra was a good excuse to promote the cinema as an educational method of historical recreation and literary adaptation while using the vamp craze to pull in crowds hungry for sexual intrigue and scantily clad females. Actually, the J. Gordon Edwards film displayed surprisingly accurate architecture of ancient Egypt, constructed on an immense scale in a California desert. The interior art design, however, while not as improbable as that of the 1912 version, also had a more stylized contemporary "nouveau" look

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with an Egyptian flavor and little attempt to use authentic hieroglyphs. The climactic naval battle, which occurred off screen in the primitive 1912 production, was vividly staged off the California coast for the 1917 version. Bara's performance received mixed but generally favorable reviews. Widely circulated publicity poses may distort the impression she actually conveyed on the screen, for Bara was capable of a natural subtlety that belied her image. Contemporary comments, however, do refer to "much rolling of eyes and many other maneuvers," that support the stereotyped notion of her acting. The release of the Fox Cleopatra in October 1917 inspired actressproducer Helen Gardner to reissue her relatively crude 1912 production with hastily filmed additions. It must have suffered greatly by comparison to the elaborately mounted Fox version. As the fine Fox costume drama A Tale of Two Cities released earlier that year demonstrates, the new Cleopatra would also have benefited from the far more sophisticated editing techniques in common use just five years after Gardner's pioneering effort. Except for an attractive but small-scale short Technicolor demonstration film in the late 1920s and a few short comedy spoofs, the Cleopatra story would not be produced again in the United States until the coming of sound. CLINE, EDWARD ("EDDIE") F. Born Edward Francis Cline November 7,1892, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Died May 22,1961, in Los Angeles, California. Film director, writer, and actor. With some stage experience before he became a Keystone Cop in 1913 for producer Mack Sennett, Eddie Cline moved into a director's chair within three years. While most of Cline's short comedy films in the years between 1916 and 1919 were rather routine fare, he would soon learn the profession of directing — and also screenwriting — in a way that would lead to some superior work in the future. It would make him one of the most important comedy graduates from the Keystone Film Company. In the early 1920s Eddie Cline codirected and coscripted more than 15 shorts with Buster Keaton, films such as One Week (1920), The Haunted House and The Playhouse (1921), Day Dreams, The Electric House, and Cops (1922). These two-reel comedies remain as some of the best shorts created in that decade. Cline would also direct one feature for Keaton, Three Ages, an innovative spoof of D. W. Griffith's 1916 Intolerance. After this important contribution to the career of Buster Keaton, the director-writer moved back to Keystone to direct comedy for entrepreneur Sennett. There Cline guided the talented comedy actors Ben Turpin, Andy Clyde, and Carole Lombard. Director Cline would make his last

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significant contribution to the c o m e d y film w h e n he piloted the eccentric W. C. Fields s o u n d features: You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939), My Little Chickadee and The Bank Dick (1940), and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941). With his b a c k g r o u n d in silent c o m e d y E d d i e Cline translated to the s o u n d m e d i u m s o m e the rush-to-the-rescue a n d chase elem e n t s of the older tradition. A n d , of course, h e allowed W. C. Fields to execute s o m e of his delightful, wacky, verbal h u m o r . The director a n d actor w o r k e d in h a r m o n y to p r o d u c e s o m e classic s o u n d comedies. Filmography: Selected silent shorts — The Knockout (1914), Sunshine (1916), His Busted Trust (1916), Hide and Seek (1918), Cupid's Day Off (1919), Uncle Tom Without the Cabin (1919), One Week (1920), The Haunted House (1921), The Playhouse (1921), Cops (1922), Day Dreams (1923), The Electric House (1923), A Harem Knight (1926), When a Man's a Prince (1926), A Blonde's Revenge (1926). Selected silent features - Three Ages (1923), The Head Man (1928), The Crash (1928). Selected sound features- Cracked Nuts (1931), Million Dollar Legs (1932), Peck's Bad Boy (1934), You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939), My Little Chickadee (1940), The Bank Dick (1940), Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941), Crazy House (1943) Ghost Catchers (1944). Selected Bibliography: Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. 2d ed. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1994. Langman, Larry. Encyclopedia of American Film Comedy. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1987. C O D Y , LEW. Born February 22, 1884, in Berlin, N e w H a m p s h i r e . Died M a y 31,1934, in Beverly Hills, California. Actor. A p o p u l a r leading m a n t h r o u g h o u t the silent era, Lew C o d y p l a y e d s m o o t h , sophisticated villains as well as romantic leads. H e g a v e u p a p l a n n e d medical career to go into stock theatre a n d vaudeville. His film credits go back as far as 1914, a b o u t the time of his divorce from stage actress D o r o t h y Dalton, soon to be a m o v i e star herself. H e p l a y e d a villain o p p o s i t e childhood friend Mabel N o r m a n d in Mickey, which started p r o d u c t i o n in 1916 b u t w a s not released until 1918 w h e n both w e r e m u c h bigger stars. In late 1919 a n d 1920 he h a d his o w n p r o d u c t i o n c o m p a n y , Lew C o d y Films Corporation, which c o m p l e t e d four pictures. H e played the title role in the Selznick p r o d u c t i o n of Rupert of Hentzau (1923). In 1926 he m a r r i e d Mabel N o r m a n d , w h o s e life a n d career h a d taken a t u r n for the w o r s e a n d w h o died of p n e u m o n i a a n d tuberculosis in 1930. C o d y m a d e a successful transition to s o u n d films b u t died in his sleep of a heart ailment in 1934. Selected Filmography: The Harp of Tara (1914), The Floating Death (1915), The Mating (1915), Comrade John (1915), Should a Wife Forgive? (1915), The Crime of Circumstance (1916), The Grinning Skull (1916), The Cycle of Fate (1916), The Bride's

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Silence (1917), Southern Pride (1917), A Game of Wits (1917), A Branded Soul (1917), Painted Lips (1918), Daddy's Girl (1918), Treasure of the Sea (1918), For Husbands Only (1918), The Bride's Awakening (1918), The Demon (1918), Mickey (1918), Playthings (1918), Borrowed Clothes (1918), Don't Change Your Husband (1919), As the Sun Went Down (1919), Men, Women, and Money (1919), Our Better Selves (1919), Are You Legally Married? (1919), The Life Line (1919), The Broken Butterfly (1919), The Beloved Cheater (1919), The Butterfly Man (1920), Wait for Me (1920), Occasionally Yours (1920), The Sign on the Door (1921), Dangerous Pastime (1922), The Valley of Silent Men (1922), The Secrets of Paris (1922), Jacqueline, or Blazing Barriers (1923), Souls for Sale (1923), Within the Law (1923), Rupert ofHenzau (1923), Lawful Larceny (1923), Reno (1923), The Woman on the Jury (1924), The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1924), Revelation (1924), Three Women (1924), So This is Marriage (1924), Man and Maid (1925), The Sporting Venus (1925), A Slave of Fashion (1925), Exchange of Wives (1925), Time, the Comedian (1925), His Secretary (1925), The Gay Deceiver (1926), Monte Carlo (1926), Adam and Evil (1927), Tea for Three (1927), The Demi-Bride (1927), On Ze Boulevard (1927), The Baby Cyclone (1928), Beau Broadway (1928), Wickedness Preferred (1928), A Single Man (1929), What a Widow! (1930), Divorce Among Friends (1930), Dishonored (1931), The Crusader (1932), A Parisian Romance (1932), Undercover Man (1932), Sitting Pretty (1933), Wine, Women and Song (1933), Private Scandal (1934), Shoot the Works (1934). Selected Bibliography: Hanson, Patricia King, executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19111920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Liebman, Roy. Silent Film Performers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Maclntyre, Diane. " L e w C o d y / ' The Silents Majority 1997. < h t t p : / / w w w . mdle.com/ ClassicFilms/ FeaturedStar/ > Munden, Kenneth W., executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19211930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Spehr, Paul C. American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent Film Necrology. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995. COMPSON, BETTY. Born March 18, 1897, in Beaver City, Utah. Died April 18,1974, in Glendale, California. Actress. Star of numerous silent dramas, Betty Compson made her screen debut in short comedies at the Nestor studio in 1915, many for director Al Christie, having previously performed as a violinist in vaudeville. Her first feature film appearance was a starring role in a Pathe western, The Border Raiders (1918). The following year she made a seven-episode Pathe serial, The Terror of the Range, and achieved major critical notice with her dramatic role in Paramount's Fhe Miracle Man, which also brought fame to Lon Chaney. Nevertheless, she has no film credits for the year 1920.

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Other important films featuring Compson include Clarence Badger's Paths to Paradise (1925) costarring with Raymond Griffith; James Cruze's The Pony Express (1925); Tod Browning's The Big City (1928) with Lon Chaney; Josef von Sternberg's The Docks of New York (1928); and George Fitzmaurice's The Barker (1928), for which she received an Oscar nomination. Through the last half of the 1920s Compson was married to James Cruze, who directed a number of her pictures. She continued making films after the coming of sound, with key roles in The Great Gabbo (1929), The Spoilers (1930), and The Case of Sergeant Grischa (1930). Several of her early talkies were released in silent versions. Her parts soon diminished in importance, however, and most of her later career was in lesser roles in low-budget features until her retirement in 1948. Selected Filmography: Silent features — The Border Raiders (1918), The Prodigal Liar (1919), The Light of Victory (1919), The Little Diplomat (1919), The Devil's Trail (1919), The Miracle Man (1919), Prisoners of Love (1921), At the End of the World (1921), For Those We Love (1921), Ladies Must Live (1921), The Little Minister (1921), The Law and the Woman (1922), The Green Temptation (1922), Always the Woman (1922), The Bonded Woman (1922), To Have and to Hold (1922), Kick In (1922), The Rustle of Silk (1923), The Woman With Four Faces (1923), Hollywood (1923), The White Flower (1923), The Stranger (1924), Miami (1924), The Enemy Sex (1924), The Female (1924), The Garden of Weeds (1924), The Fast Set (1924), Locked Doors (1925), New Lives for Old (1925), Eve's Secret (1925), Paths to Paradise (1925), The Pony Express (1925), Counsel for the Defense (1925), The Wise Guy (1926), Palace of Pleasure (1926), The Belle of Broadway (1926), The Ladybird (1927), Say It With Diamonds (1927), Temptations of a Shop Girl (1927), Cheating Cheaters (1927), Love Me and the World Is Mine (1928), The Big City (1928), Masked Angel (1928), Court Martial (1928), The Docks of New York (1928), The Barker (1928), Scarlet Seas (1929), Weary River (1929), The Time, The Place, and the Girl (1929), Skin Deep (1929), The Case of Sergeant Grischa (1930), The Czar of Broadway (1930), Those Who Dance (1930). Selected Bibliography: Hanson, Patricia King, executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19111920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Liebman, Roy. Silent Film Performers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Maclntyre, Diane. "Betty Compson. // The Silents Majority 1997. < h t t p : / / w w w . mdle.com/ClassicFilms/FeaturedStar/> Munden, Kenneth W., executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19211930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Spehr, Paul C. American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent Film Necrology. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995.

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CONKLIN, CHESTER. Born Jules Cowles January 11, 1988, in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Died October 11, 1971, in Van Nuys, California. Stock theater, vaudeville, circus actor, film comedian. After an actor on the stage and in the circus, Conklin began his film career upon entering producer Mack Sennett's movie studio in 1913. He was enough of a physical oddity to quality for one of many unusual body types of the Keystone cops. Conklin had a long career as a movie comedian—fifty-three years —until his retirement in 1966. This short, moonfaced actor sported a large walrus mustache when he played both villainous and mild-mannered comic portraits. In his early works he performed as a minor character in Charles Chaplin 1914 short films. He received a more prominent role as a villain opposite Mack Swain in the "Ambrose" series developed by Keystone Company. What is unusual about this minor comedian, when compared with many other comedians, is that he appeared in so many important films from the silent era into the sound era: Tillie's Punctured Romance and Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914); Anna Christie (1923); Phantom of the Opera and Greed (1925); The Virginian (1929); two Chaplin films, Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940); and two Bob Hope films, My Favorite Spy (1951) and Son of Paleface (1952). Conklin's comic, hangdog look in Modern Times punctuated situations that go wrong with a bungling helper, played by Chaplin. Chester is a master mechanic in who added much to an elaborate sequence in a factory. In a shorter scene in The Great Dictator, Conklin is a baffled customer of a barber, a character enacted by Chaplin, who has a wacky way of shaving the hapless, puzzled man to the tune of a Hungarian rhapsody. This type of confused comic reaction from a tortured soul, a victim, made his latter efforts as an actor distinctive — much better than his early efforts as a diminutive, leering villain in the "Ambrose" series with Mack Swain. Filmography: Selected short films — Making a Living (1914), Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914), Ambrose's Sour Grapes (1915), Love, Speed, and Thrills (1915), A Tugboat Romeo (1916), A Clever Dummy (1917). Selected silent features — Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), Anna Christie (1923), Greed (1925), Phantom of the Opera (1925). Selected sound features — The Virginian (1929), Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933), Modern Times (1936), Hollywood Cavalcade (1939), The Great Dictator (1940), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), The Perils of Pauline (1947), Fancy Pants (1950), My Favorite Spy (1951), Son of Paleface (1952). Selected Bibliography: Lahue, Kalton C , and Sam Gill. "Chester Conklin." Clown Princes and Court Jesters: Some Great Comics of the Silent Screen. New York: A. S. Barnes and Co., 1970. Miller, Blair. American Silent Film Comedies: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Persons,

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COOGAN, JACKIE. Born John Leslie Coogan, Jr. October 26, 1914, in Los Angeles, California. Died March 1,1984, in Santa Monica, California. Vaudeville, film actor. Charles Chaplin witnessed the Coogan family's vaudeville sketch with the boy Jackie Coogan and saw the acting potential of the child. The famous comedian hired the boy and his father in order to use the boy in a short comedy, A Day's Pleasure (1919). This two-reel work did not effectively show Chaplin's young discovery, however. But the comedian's first feature, The Kid (1921), gave Jackie Coogan a career opportunity that would make the boy the most lauded child actor in the last decade of the silent cinema. Many of the pictures Jackie acted in after The Kid were variations of the lost child or orphan that Chaplin exploited in this well-received first feature. In fact, The Kid has many characteristics of a nineteenth-century Charles Dickens novel. Consequently it became evident why director Frank Lloyd wrote his adaptation of Oliver Twist (1922), a lost boy novel by Dickens. In this film Coogan played the title role opposite Lon Chaney's Fagin. Three years later Coogan played a street urchin befriending a man of limited means in The Rag Man (1925). To achieve genteel humor the film story shows the boy becoming the aggressor when he meets a timid "junk man" played by the self-effacing comedian Max Davidson. In a few ways this pairing followed one similar to that exhibited in The Kid. This film spawned the boy actor's career. By 1925 Jackie had grown up to the moppet stage and the chemistry between a child and a adult became different, more serious and less comic. As a sixyear-old actor, Jackie Coogan in The Kid proved to be humorous because he tried to ape the actions of his mentor with laughable results. He became a miniature version of Chaplin's little tramp. When sound arrived, Coogan as a teenager would play in two Mark Twain adaptations, Tom Sawyer (1930) and Huckleberry Finn (1931). In both films Jackie enacted the role of Tom Sawyer. Coogan would experience a second career as an adult from the 1940s through the 1970s as a character actor. He was especially known for his comic role as Uncle Fester in the television comedy series based on the ghoulish Addams family magazine cartoons. Filmography: Selected shorts — Skinner's Baby (1917), A Day's Pleasure (1919). Selected silent features - The Kid (1921), Peck's Bad Boy (1921), Oliver Twist (1922), Circus Days (1923), The Rag Man (1925), The Bugle Call (1927), Buttons (1927). Selected sound films — Tom Sawyer (1930), Huckleberry Finn (1931).

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Selected Bibliography: Huff, Theodore. "The Kid." Ch. 15. Charlie Chaplin. New York: Henry Schuman, Inc., 1951. Langman, Larry. "Jackie Coogan," Encyclopedia of American Film Comedy. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1987.

COSSACK WHIP, THE (1916). Drama. Directed by John H. Collins; with Viola Dana, Grace Williams, Bob Walker, Frank Farrington, Richard Tucker, Sally Crute; screenplay by Paul H. Sloane; story by James Oppenheim. A peaceful Russian village is raided by Cossacks trying to stamp out revolutionaries. In the process a young woman is whipped to death and her sister escapes the country, vowing revenge. Later she becomes a famous ballerina and her company travels to Russia. There she is wooed by the prefect of police responsible for the pogrom and she plots her revenge. Besides being a well-photographed and skillfully edited romantic melodrama, The Cossack Whip is notable as one of the few surviving films of director John Collins and one of the few surviving features from the Edison studio. Made before the Bolshevik revolution, it has a strongly prorevolutionary point of view, including scenes and filmmaking techniques that suggest postrevolutionary Soviet cinema. The art direction is particularly evocative of its Russian winter setting. The film also takes its subject far more seriously than slick studio formula pictures of a dozen years later like MGM's The Cossacks (1928). Collins was a major directing talent the last half of the 1910s. He worked for the Edison and then the Metro studios, most of his films for both companies starring his wife, Viola Dana. His career was cut short by his tragic death at age 28 in the influenza epidemic of October 1918. His final film, a romantic comedy of manners called Satan Junior, was completed by Herbert Blache and released in March 1919. COSTELLO, DOLORES. Born September 17, 1905, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Died March 1,1979, in Fallbrook, California. Actress. A popular blonde star of the 1920s, Dolores Costello acted in Vitagraph films as a child from about age four through ten, often with her sister Helene and matinee idol father, Maurice Costello. She then concentrated on school and professional modeling for six or seven years, reentering films at age 17 with a small part in her father's The Glimpses of the Moon. She and Helene danced together in the "George White Scandals" of 1924 and then both accepted film contracts at Warner Brothers. Acclaim and more major roles followed her appearance opposite John Barrymore, whom she later married, in The Sea Beast (1926). Dolores and

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Helene appeared in two feature films together, How Cissy Made Good (1915) and The Heart of Maryland (1927). Leaving films briefly after the coming of sound to raise her children, she again resumed her screen career in 1936, playing character parts in such films as Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) until retiring in 1943. Selected Filmography: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909), The Telephone (1910), A Geranium (1911), The Meeting of the Ways (1911), The Child Crusoes (1911), Her Sister's Children (1911), Ida's Christmas (1912), A Juvenile Love Affair (1912), The Money Kings (1912), The Troublesome Step-Daughters (1912), The Llindu Charm (1913), Some Steamer Scooping (1914), The Evil Men Do (1915), Haw Cissy Made Good (1915), The Glimpses of the Moon (1923), Lawful Larceny (1923), Greater Than a Crown (1925), The Sea Beast (1926), Mannequin (1926), Bride of the. Storm (1926), The Little Irish Girl (1926), The Third Degree (1926), When a Man Loves (1927), A Million Bid (1927), Old San Francisco (1927), The Heart of Maryland (1927), The College Widow (1927), Tenderloin (1928), Glorious Betsy (1928), Noah's Ark (1928), The Glad Rag Doll (1929), The Madonna of Avenue A (1929), The Show of Shows (1929), Hearts in Exile (1929), Second Choice (1930), Expensive Women (1931), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), Yours for the Asking (1936), The Beloved Brat (1938), Breaking the Ice (1938), King of the Turf (1939), Whispering Enemies (1939), Outside These Walls (1939), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), This Is The Army (1943). Selected Bibliography: Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Liebman, Roy. Silent Film Performers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Munden, Kenneth W., executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19211930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Spehr, Paul C. American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent Film Necrology. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995. COSTELLO, HELENE. Born November 18, 1902 (some sources say June 21, 1903), in New York City. Died January 26, 1957, in Hollywood, California. Actress. Like her younger sister Dolores, Helene started acting in her father Maurice's 1909 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and appeared in many Vitagraph films as a child until she was 13 or 14. After school and a New York modeling career she and her sister had a dancing act in the "George White Scandals" of 1924. She then joined her sister at Warner Brothers, where she appeared in the Syd Chaplin vehicle, The Man on the Box (1925), in Don Juan (1926), starring future brother-in-law John Barrymore, and other films. She acted once more with her sister in The Heart of Maryland (1927), the second remake of a play first filmed back in 1915, the last time they had appeared together in films. Her popularity

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was on a par with her sister's for a time, but she faded from the screen after the coming of sound. Interestingly she starred in the very first alltalking feature, The Lights of New York (1928) as well as acting in the first Vitaphone synchronized sound feature, Don Juan (1926). Selected Filmography: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909), A Geranium (1911), The Child Crusoes (1911), The First Violin (1912), The Troublesome Step-Daughters (1912), Rip Van Winkle (1912), The Night Before Christmas (1912), The Doctor's Secret (1913), The Barrel Organ (1914), Some Steamer Scooping (1914), Lifting the Ban of Coventry (1915), The Evil Men Do (1915), How Cissy Made Good (1915), Billie's Mother (1916), Ranger of the Big Pines (1925), The Man on the Box (1925), Wet Paint (1926), Don Juan (1926), The Honeymoon Express (1926), The Love Toy (1926), Millionaires (1926), While London Sleeps (1926), The Heart of Maryland (1927), Good Time Charley (1927), The Broncho Twister (1927), In Old Kentucky (1927), Husbands For Rent (1927), Finger Prints (1927), The Fortune Hunter (1927), Lights of New York (1928), The Midnight Taxi (1928), Burning Up Broadway (1928), Comrades (1928), The Circus Kid (1928), Broken Barriers (1928), The Fatal Warning (1929), When Dreams Come True (1929), Riff-Raff (1935). Selected Bibliography: Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Liebman, Roy. Silent Film Performers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Munden, Kenneth W., executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19211930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Spehr, Paul C. American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent Film Necrology. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995.

COSTELLO, MAURICE. Born February 22, 1877, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Died October 29,1950, in Hollywood, California. A stage matinee idol through the 1890s and early 1900s, Maurice Costello made films at Edison in 1907 and then moved to Vitagraph, where his name brought prestige to numerous short films, including several adaptations of famous stage plays and novels. His starring role in the three-reel A Tale of Two Cities (1911) is one of his more notable of this period. In 1913-14 he directed and codirected several of his films. He stayed at Vitagraph until 1920, by which time his popularity had declined. Throughout the 1920s and well into the sound era he played in numerous low-budget and independent films, with a few character parts at major studios, including MGM's Camille (1927). His daughters Helene and Dolores appeared as children in some of his Vitagraph films, and later went on to become major stars themselves.

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Selected Filmography: Salome (1908), Richard III (1908), Antony and Cleopatra (1908), Julius Caesar (1908), The Merchant of Venice (1908), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909), King Lear (1909), Uncle Tom's Cabin (1910), A Tale of Two Cities (1911), My Old Dutch (1911), The Night Before Christmas (1912), Cupid vs. Women's Rights (1913), The Ambassador's Disappearance (1913), Mr. Barnes of New York (1914), The Man Ww Couldn't Beat God (1915), The Crown Prince's Double (1916), The Captain's Captain (1919), The Cambric Mask (1919), The Man Who Won (1919), The Girl-Woman (1919), The Tower of Jewels (1919), Human Collateral (1920), Deadline at Eleven (1920), Conceit (1921), Determination (1922), The Glimpses of the Moon (1923), Fog Bound (1923), Man and Wife (1923), None So Blind (1923), Let No Man Put Asunder (1924), Roulette (1924), Week End Husbands (1924), Virtuous Liars (1924), Love of Women (1924), The Story Without a Name (1924), The Law and the Lady (1924), The Mad Marriage (1925), The Last Alarm (1926), T/ze Wives of the Prophet (1926), Johnny Get Your Hair Cut (1927), Wolves of the Air (1927), Camille (1927), The Shamrock and the Rose (1927), Spider Webs (1927), The Wagon Show (1928), Eagle of the Night (1928), Black Feather (1928), Hollywood Boulevard (1936), A Little Bit of Heaven (1940), Lady From Louisiana (1941). Selected Bibliography: Hanson, Patricia King, executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19111920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Liebman, Roy. Silent Film Performers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Munden, Kenneth W., executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19211930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Spehr, Paul C. American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent Film Necrology. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995. COVERED WAGON, THE (1923). Western. Directed by James Cruze; with J. Warren Kerrigan, Lois Wilson, Ernest Torrence, Charles Ogle, Alan Hale, and John Fox; screenplay by Jack Cunningham; based on novel of the same name by Emerson Hough. In a short John Steinbeck novel, The Red Pony, a wife explains to her husband why her father had become a bore when telling the same stories of his past over and over again: "He led a wagon train clear across the plains to the coast, and when he finished, his life was done . . . . He lives right by the ocean where he had to stop" (The Red Pony, p. 177, Penguin Books, 1986 edition). Steinbeck wrote this novel ten years after The Covered Wagon was released in 1923. As late as Steinbeck's day many pioneers who settled the west were still alive and proud of their accomplishment under great hardships. James Cruze directed this movie that

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became a critical and popular success in the golden twenties of the silent film. There was an even more ready audience in that decade. The Covered Wagon reinforced the more conservative values of the past in the wake of a more cynical climate following World War I when there was disenchantment among many veterans and others who found financial problems in the 1920s. In a 1924 Palmer Institute of Authorship stressing film screenwriting, Scott O'Dell wrote about the "sturdiness and quiet heroism" of these pioneer farmers. And this evaluator notes one of the most important elements of the film: the dramatic visualization. "What is left of these purposeful colonists constitutes the wagon train which finds its way to Oregon. The end is indeed impressive, and, in a sense, it is a dramatic end —the arrival of weary travelers in the snowfields." (Representative Photoplays Analyzed, p. 131). The Covered Wagon possesses memorable scenes as does its 1924 successor, The Iron Horse. However, both films are burdened with "human interest" cliche plotting that has plagued the Western throughout time. Both of these westward movement epics have triangle conflicts with two men struggling for the affections of one woman. In this earlier work the hero is played by one of silent screen's leading men, J. Warren Kerrigan, and Alan Hale enacts his rival (who evolves into a villain bent on killing the hero). Further complicating the plot is a conflict with Native Americans, called simply "Indians" in the twenties film. This conflict in The Covered Wagon has a clear-cut motivation for the attacks by Indians, which does not exist in The Iron Horse. The Native Americans know that this wagon train holds a community of farmers. The plow becomes a symbol —a visual close-up is used throughout the movie —with the Native Americans viewing it as a threat to their existence. Use of this key concept adds depth to The Covered Wagon's portrait of the white man's conquest of the west in the nineteenth century. Other merits also exist in this 1923 epic. Probably the most important is the visualization of the trek, featuring the long curving line of covered wagons stretching to the horizon. At one point in the journey a conflict develops when one group wishes to seek gold in California. As one group of wagons moves to the left, or west, the other train of wagons climbs up a hill, or north — an image effectively framed in one long shot. This film on the wagon train moving west also featured a good performance from the lead, Kerrigan and an excellent comic performance from Ernest Torrence. Furthermore, The Covered Wagon proved to be a precursor of the epic Western and a new incentive for the Western genre in general. Three times as many regular length westerns were created in 1924 as were created in 1923, a total of nearly 150.

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CRISP, DONALD. Born July 27,1880, in Aberfeldy, Scotland. Died May 25,1974, in Van Nuys, California. Actor, director. Although he was active as a director throughout the silent era from 1914 until the coming of sound, Donald Crisp is today remembered primarily as a character actor of the sound era with a couple of notable acting roles in major silent films. Crisp joined the British army, serving from 1899 to 1902 and fighting in the Boer War. Following this he did theatre and opera for a few years in London before moving to the United States in 1906, where he spent another two years on the stage with George M. Cohan and John Barrymore, among others. He started work at Biograph in 1908, acting often for D. W. Griffith and sometimes assisting him. His first directing credit appears to be for the Biograph one-reeler, Her Father's Silent Partner (1914). He then followed Griffith to the RelianceMajestic studios where he continued acting but began directing in earnest, sometimes acting in his own films. Crisp also assisted Griffith on The Birth of a Nation at this time as well as appearing as Ulysses S. Grant in the film. In 1915 he acted in several features for Famous Players (Paramount) and the following year directed two epics for the short-lived Clune Film Producing Company, formed by W. H. Clune, whose auditorium had premiered The Birth of a Nation. One of these was the first feature version of Ramona, which Crisp also acted in under the name of James Needham. In 1917 Crisp went to work for Paramount as a director, helming more than 30 films for the studio until 1921, the last few filmed in England. In 1919 he stopped directing long enough to work in Griffith's Broken Blossoms as the villainous father of Lillian Gish, a film produced at Paramount but sold by the studio to Griffith and released through United Artists. Throughout the rest of the 1920s Crisp directed for a variety of studios, including such notable films as The Navigator (1924), codirected with Buster Keaton, and Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925), starring Douglas Fairbanks. Crisp also acted with Fairbanks in that film and in The Black Pirate the following year. In 1928 he directed two films and then returned to acting full time, directing one more picture, Runaway Bride, in 1930, his only talkie as a director. He appeared in numerous films in a wide variety of parts until 1963, and did occasional television roles as well. Upon D. W. Griffith's death in 1948, Crisp was one of the few Hollywood notables to attend his memorial service and delivered the eulogy for his old mentor. Selected Filmography as Director: Her Father's Silent Partner (1914), The Mysterious Shot (1914), The Idiot (1914), Paid With Interest (1914), Ramona (1916), The Eyes of the World (1917), The Marcellim Millions (1917), The Countess Charming (1917), The Clever Mrs. Carfax (1917), The House of Silence (1918), Believe Me Xantippe (1918), The Goat (1918), Under the Top (1919), The Poor Boob (1919), Johnny

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Get your Gun (1919), A Very Good Young Man (1919), It Pays to Advertise (1919), Venus in the East (1919), Too Much Johnson (1920), The Six Best Cellars (1920), Mz'ss Hobbs (1920), Held by the Enemy (1920), The Barbarian (1920), Appearances (1921), The Princess of New York (1921), The Bonnie Briar Bush (1921), Ponjola (1923), The Navigator (1924), Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925), Sunny Side Up (1926), Young April (1926), Man Bait (1926), Nobody's Widow (1927), Vanity (1927), The Fighting Eagle (1927), Stand and Deliver (1928), The Cop (1928), Runaway Bride (1930). Selected Filmography as Actor: Effecting a Cure (1910), The Diving Girl (1911), The Battle (1911), The Squaw's Love (1911), The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912), The Mothering Heart (1913), The Blue or the Gray (1913), The Battle of the Sexes (1914), Home Sweet Home (1914), Over the Ledge (1914), The Birth of a Nation (1915), The Commanding Officer (1915), A Girl of Yesterday (1915), Ramona (1916), Broken Blossoms (1919), Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925), The Black Pirate (1926), The River Pirate (1928), The Pagan (1928), Trent's Last Case (1929), The Viking (1929), The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929), Svengali (1931), Red Dust (1932), The Crime Doctor (1934), The Little Minister (1934), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Mary of Scotland (1936), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), A Woman Rebels (1936), The Life of Emile Zola (1937), Jezebel (1938), The Dawn Patrol (1938), Wuthering Heights (1939), /tzarez (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Gay Sisters (1942), Lassie Come Home (1943), T/ze Uninvited (1944), Son o/ LflssH? (1945), Bright Leaf (1950), Pn'rzce Valiant (1954), T/ze Las£ Hwrra/z (1958), A Dog of Flanders (1959), Pollyanna (1960), Greyfriar's Bobby (1961), Spencer's Mountain (1963). Honors: Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor, How Green Was My Valley, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1941. Selected Bibliography: Katchmer, George A. Eighty Silent Film Stars. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1991. Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. CROWD, THE (1928). Drama. Directed by King Vidor; with James Murray, Eleanor Boardman, Bert Roach, Estelle Clark, Daniel G. Tomlinson, Dell Henderson, Lucy Beaumont, Freddie Burke Frederick, Alice Mildred Puter; screenplay by King Vidor, John V. A. Weaver, Harry Behn. A young office worker meets and marries a working girl, they honeymoon at Niagara Falls, and settle down to raise a family. Five years later, they have two children in their small apartment and the man is still plugging away at the same routine. Then he wins an advertising slogan contest and believes events are finally turning in his favor, but a tragedy strikes that tests both his love for his wife and his will to live at all. A commercial failure upon its release, King Vidor's The Crowd was too depressingly realistic for audiences a year before the stock market

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crash heralded the Great Depression. Its story of the trials and tribulations of a common, everyday man who cannot get ahead no matter how hard he tries was the antithesis of the glamorous larger-than-life world generally shown in Hollywood movies. Starting out as a sweet, whitecollar working class romance, the story gradually introduces frustrations and tragedies into its characters' lives. Six different endings were filmed, but the one generally circulating today is Vidor's preferred bittersweet conclusion that simply shows life going on —no better, no worse than before. The film today remains one of the most powerful silent dramas ever created. Tragically, star James Murray would never achieve the success promised by this, his first major role, and he died unemployed and alcoholic several years later. CRUZE, JAMES. Born March 27, 1884, in Five Points (Ogden), Utah. Died August 3,1942, in Hollywood, California. Director, producer, actor. A prolific film director throughout the silent and into the sound era, James Cruze began as an actor, but a fewr years after feature films replaced shorts as the main studio product, he moved into directing. He was interested in the theatre as a child, went to dramatic school, and was acting professionally at age 16. By age 22 he was in the Belasco company acting on Broadway but within a few years had switched to films. He acted in numerous Thanhouser shorts, serials, and five feature-length films from 1911 to 1915, and then appeared in Lasky, Metro, Fox and Gold Medal releases before settling in at the Lasky studio in mid-1917. There he continued to act for more than a year before directing his first picture, Too Many Millions (1918), a sure-fire comedy starring Wallace Reid. He made a large number of comedies, including several Reid action vehicles and slapstick farces of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle but worked in all different genres. The Roaring Road (1919), starring Reid, is a slick, polished comedy-drama that looks as if it could have been made five to ten years later. Leap Year (1921) is one of his Arbuckle features that was never released because of Arbuckle's infamous scandal, yet viewing this comedy today reveals it to be an entertaining film, slow starting with a fastpaced slapstick final half. Cruze is noted especially for reviving major studio interest in large-scale Westerns with his epic The Covered Wagon (1923), following it up two years later with The Pony Express (1925). He served as producer as well as director on most of his films from 1923 un-

til the early thirties. Cruze was not afraid to try off-beat material, such as Hollywood (1923) and an extended fantasy sequence in Beggar on Horse-

back (1925). His historical naval epic Old Ironsides (1926) was impressive but lacked some of the spirit of his two big westerns and was not a big hit. Nevertheless, by the end of the silent era Cruze is said to have been

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the highest-paid director in H o l l y w o o d . H e m a d e the transition to s o u n d w i t h o u t m u c h p r o b l e m , a l t h o u g h his talkie o u t p u t w a s m o r e u n e v e n t h a n his silent work. His first talking film, The Great Gabbo (1929), h a d a m o r e interesting t h a n u s u a l backstage plot a n d a d o m i n a t i n g performance by Erich v o n Stroheim. It w a s not a big success, h o w e v e r , suffering from the sluggish pacing c o m m o n to m a n y early s o u n d pictures a n d an uneasy mixture of musical numbers with heavy melodrama. Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932) was a dark, hard-hitting, precode political satire. 1/7 Had a Million (1932), / Cover the Waterfront (1933), David Haruni (1934), a n d Slitter's Gold (1936) are also of interest. C r u z e often w o r k e d with his actress wife, Betty C o m p s o n , a n d h a d previously been m a r r i e d to his frequent T h a n h o u s e r cos tar M a r g u e r i t e Snow. Selected Filmography as Actor: She (1911), The Pied Piper of Hamlin (1911), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912), The Arab's Bride (1912), Lucile (1912), Undine (1912), Cymbeline (1913), The Snare of Faith (1913), The Legend of Provence (1913), Frou Frou (1914), Joseph in the Land of Egypt (1914), Cardinal Richelieu's Ward (1914), The Million Dollar Mystery (1914), The Adventures of a Diplomatic Freelance (1914), Zudora (1914-15), The Patriot and the Spy (1915), Armstrong's Wife (1915), The Snowbird (1916), Nan of Music Mountain (1917), Hidden Pearls (1918), Wild Youth (1918), Believe Me, Xantippe (1918), The City of Dim Faces (1918), Less Than Kin (1918), The Source (1918), Under the Top (1919), Johnny Get Your Gun (1919). Filmography as Director: Too Many Millions (1918), The Dub (1919), Alias Mike Moran (1919), The Roaring Road (1919), You're Fired (1919), The Love Burglar (1919), Valley of the Giants (1919), An Adventure in Hearts (1919), Hawthorne of the U. S. A. (1919), The Lottery Man (1919), Mrs. Temple's Telegram (1920), Terror Island (1920), A Full House (1920), The Sin of St. Anthony (1920), What Happened to Jones? (1920), Always Audacious (1920), The Charm School (1921), The Dollar-a-Year Man (1921), Food For Scandal (1921), Leap Year (1921-unreleased), The Fast Freight (1921unreleased), Gasoline Gus (1921), Crazy to Marry (1921), One Glorious Day (1922), Is Matrimony a Failure? (1922), The Dictator (1922), The Old Homestead (1922), Thirty Days (1922), The Covered Wagon (1923), Hollywood (1923), Ruggles of Red Gap (1923), To The Ladies (1923), Merton of the Movies (1924), The Fighting Coward (1924), The Garden of Weeds (1924), The City That Never Sleeps (1924), The Enemy Sex (1924), The Pony Express (1925), Beggar on Horseback (1925), The Goose Hangs High (1925), Marry Me (1925), Welcome Home (1925), Waking Up the Town (1925), Mannequin (1926), The Waiter From the Ritz (1926), Old Ironsides (1926), We're All Gamblers (1927), The City Gone Wild (1927), On to Reno (1928), The Red Mark (1928), The Mating Call (1928), The Duke Steps Out (1928), A Man's Man (1928), The Great Gabbo (1929), Once a Gentleman (1930), She Got Wliat She Wanted (1930), Salvation Nell (1931), If I Had a Million (1932), Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932), Racetrack (1933), Sailor Be Good (1933), I Cover the Waterfront (1933), Mr. Skiteh (1933), David Harum (1934), Their Big Moment (1934), Helldorado (1935), Two-Fisted (1935), Slitter's Gold (1936), The Wrong Road (1937), Prison Nurse (1938), Gangs of New York (1938), Come On, Leathernecks! (1938).

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Selected Bibliography: Hanson, Patricia King, executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19111920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. "James Cruze." All-Movie Guide 1997. Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Munden, Kenneth W., executive editor. The American Film Institute Catalog 19211930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Spehr, Paul C. American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent Film Necrology. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995.

CURE FOR POKERITIS, A (1912). One-reel comedy. Directed by William V. Ranous; with John Bunny, Flora Finch This typical John Bunny vehicle has all the characteristics of a one-reel comedy replete with gentility. While Bunny's development of a comic character tied to his acting skills may be applauded, the story and comic invention of his film are trite, labored, and overly sentimental. The humor of this work leans heavily on the minor foibles of a husband who is addicted to cardplaying. The husband's attempts to outwit his wife in order to carry on his vice are thwarted when a kindly young man called Cousin Freddie gets his Bible class to imitate policemen and raid the poker-playing den of erring husbands. Since the wives of the offenders are part of this conspiracy, they stage a feigned rescue after their husbands are collared by Freddie's mock police force. The "sinners" are grateful and repent as the last scene of the film fades to black. By today's standards, this work is so bland that it scarcely produces a flicker of a smile from a viewer. It is slow moving and theatrically oriented. The humorous situations obviously reflect an age in the grip of Victorian codes of behavior. At best the film could be credited as a polite poke at such standards; but there seems to be a half caress in the jab. Sentiment produces creampuff humor. Only Bunny's performance plus the acting of Flora Finch as his wife make this one-reeler interesting today.

D DANCING MOTHERS (1926). Society drama. Directed by Herbert Brenon; with Alice Joyce, Conway Tearle, Clara Bow, Donald Keith, Dorothy Cumming, Norman Trevor; screenplay by Forrest Halsey; based upon play by Edgar Selwyn and Edmund Goulding. A neglected wife does little but sit at home while her womanizing husband and wild teenage daughter both prefer to go out partying every night. When the mother learns that her daughter has become involved with a notorious playboy she decides to break them up by seducing the man herself. Her hypocritical husband and daughter find this disturbing, but the newly liberated wife is now making decisions for herself instead of only for their benefit. This soap-opera type drama is a lively reflection of life among the moneyed classes during the wild and carefree "Jazz Age" of the 1920s. Somewhat controversial in its own time, it remains remarkably modern in its treatment of both the generation gap and family values. The beautiful Alice Joyce has a very strong role as the woman who decides finally to do something about her own happiness. Clara Bow is vibrant as the fun-loving daughter, showing the screen charisma that made her a superstar and the personification of the decade by the end of the following year. DANIELS, BEBE. Born Phyllis Daniels January 14,1901, in Dallas, Texas. Died March 16,1971, in London, England. Stage, film, radio actress. As a daughter of a theatrical company manager, Bebe Daniels became a child actor in touring stage dramas. She would act in her first film, The Common Enemy (1910) when she was a nine-year-old. Hired for $50 a week at age 14 by comedy producer Hal Roach, Bebe achieved the status

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of Harold Lloyd's leading young woman for more than two hundred one- and two-reel films. She would learn the art of comedy acting that would assist her greatly in her total career. However, the actress desired to become a performer in serious film drama. She left Hal Roach's comedy for a $1,000 a week contract to act in features for director Cecil B. DeMille. Her first role with him was a small part in Male and Female (1919), a screen adaptation of British playwright James M. Barrie's The Admirable Crichton. Soon Daniels would become a rising star for DeMille and Paramount —almost the equal of Gloria Swanson, one of the favorite actresses for the company and director DeMille. She took another step with higher status when she appeared in The Affairs of Anatol (1921) and Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), playing opposite the leading actor of the decade in the latter, Rudolph Valentino. Actually, Daniels acted in less prestigious films more often: such light fare as The Dancin' Fool (1920), The Speed Girl (1921), and The Campus Flirt (1926). Daniels amazed Hollywood with her ability to meet the challenge of the transition to sound pictures. She proved she could talk, sing, and dance when she was cast in the 1929 Rio Rita. With the deluge of musicals in the early thirties she proved her mettle with Reaching for the Moon (1931) and 42nd Street (1933). When she married Ben Lyon, Bebe and her husband returned to the stage and toured in plays, moving to London where the couple established another career — on stage, plus a radio and TV show that captivated the audiences in England. Filmography: Selected silent screen shorts — The Common Enemy (1910), Luke's Society Mixup (1916), The Flirt (1919), Lonesome Luke's Honeymoon (1919), Stop! Luke! Listen! (1917), Bumping Into Broadway (1919), Captain Kidd's Kids (1919). Selected silent features-M«Z