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The Silent Film Bookshelf |
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June, 1999 |
[The
Fabulous Tom Mix]
[Confessions of a Motion Picture Press Agent] [The Making of The Covered Wagon] [Universal Show-at-Home Libraries] [Baring the Heart of Hollywood] [Fade Out and Fade In - Victor Milner, Cameraman] [Robert Flaherty and Nanook of the North] [Classics Revised Based on Audience Previews] [J.S. Zamecnik and Moving Picture Music] [Nickelodeons in New York City] [Sunrise: Artistic Success, Commercial Flop?] [Wall Street Discovers the Movies] [Roxy - Showman of the Silent Era] [D.W. Griffith Father of Film] [Unusual Locations and Production Experiences] [Federal Trade Commission Suit Against Famous Players-Lasky] [The Top Grossing Silent Films] [Music in Motion Picture Theaters] ["Blazing the Trail" - The Autobiography of Gene Gauntier] [Salaries of Silent Film Actors] [Orchestral Accompaniment in the
1920s]
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June - The Fabulous Tom Mix
This 1957 memoir by his wife is trustworthy for the period they were
together, and offers a first-hand account of Tom Mix's initial years in
the film business.
Chapter 2 - Roaming Days Chapter 3 - Was It Real- or a Movie? Chapter 4 - The Range Rider Chapter 5 - A Bare Little Place Called Hollywood Chapter 6 - Ruth- and Tony Chapter 7 - Mixville Chapter 8 - The Summit Chapter 9 - The Big Top Chapter 10 - The Show Must Go On Chapter 11 - Ring Down the Curtain May - Investing in the Movies
Investors who bought stock in established companies didn't do much better.
The best opportunities were reserved for insiders, and the truly successful
companies (such as Famous Players-Lasky) were privately held. A series
of articles in Photoplay Magazine examined the risks (and occasional
rewards) of Investing in the Movies.
April - Road Shows
We have several overviews of this specialized method of distribution
and exploitation, and a few short articles from 1928, when the market was
suddenly glutted with films that couldn't support such lavish treatment.
The issue concludes with two Harvard Business School case studies. The
pseudonymous Ellison Pictures Corporation is probably Pathe, so the failed
road show would be Chicago. Goldstein, Incorporated might be Fox
Film Corporation.
Road Shows (The Film Daily, 1926) Road Show Picture- To Date (Variety, 1926) 6 Road-Show Films' History (Variety, 1928) Motion Picture News, 1928:
Harvard Business Reports:
March - Confessions of a Motion Picture Press Agent
As a publicist for the Montezuma [Triangle] Film Corporation, he recounts
the company's disastrous attempt to attract prestige audiences through
showing films in legitimate theatres. The series concludes with the author's
experience in independent production.
February - From Pigs to Pictures: The Story of David Horsley
January, 1999 - The Making of The Covered Wagon
The Making of a Great Director (Picture Play, 1923) Making The Covered Wagon by James Cruze (1923) The Best Moving Pictures of 1922-23, by Robert E. Sherwood (1923) How The Covered Wagon Was Made (essay from Souvenir Program) Entire Souvenir Program for The Covered Wagon (18 jpg images) December, 1998 - Universal Show-at-Home Libraries
We have an analysis of the opposition from theater owners, a glimpse
into the profitablility of these releases, and the brochure used to recruit
camera stores. Finally, a listing of known and probable 16mm releases,
many of these films surviving only in Show-at-Home library prints. My thanks
to Richard Koszarski for the Show-at-Home brochure.
Gravy Profits For U's Old Uns Cut to 16mm (Variety, 1928) Universal Show-At-Home Movie Library brochure for camera stores
Probable Show-at-Home Releases (1998) November - Baring the Heart of Hollywood
"Baring the Heart of Hollywood," a seven part investigation into the Jewish control of Hollywood, is restrained by comparison. While Adolph Zukor is the villain of the entire series, the author grudgingly admits that Zukor's personal life is without blemish. In addition, the author is amazed that the non-Jewish Frank Garbutt exhibits the same tough tactics. I have reprinted this series with some apprehension. That many of the
founders of the film industry were Jews is a historical fact, and "Baring
the Heart of Hollywood" is mild compared to "The International Jew." Nonetheless,
sections are offensive. As a result, I have marked excisions of several
paragraphs and a few words from this account. Henry Ford later retracted
his opinions (possibly under duress) in a letter posted at http://www.ahip.getty.edu/faces/protford.htm.
My thanks to Bruce Long of Taylorology for making the original articles
available. Taylorology, at http://www.angelfire.com/az/Taylorology/,
also reprints newspaper and magazine articles from the silent era.
September - "Fade Out and Fade In" - Victor Milner, Cameraman
August - Robert Flaherty and Nanook of the North
Robert Joseph Flaherty - An Appreciation (1998)
by Dennis Doros
July - Classics Revised Based on Audience Previews
Friends with numerous directors and stars, Beaton attended and reported on preview screenings of films before their release. This month we have his reports on Erich Von Stroheim's The Wedding March and King Vidor's The Crowd. Each film went through many changes before becoming the picture we now know.
Take It From Any Angle, Pat Powers Is the Real Hero (1928) Is Eric Von Stroheim a Really Good Director? (1928) "Crowd" Subjected to Too Much Supervision
(1927)
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June - J.S. Zamecnik & Moving Picture Music"Sam Fox Moving Picture Music Volume 1" (1913) by J.S. Zamecnik was the first widely published sheet music for general silent film accompaniment. We feature articles on the composer and on the music by Rodney Sauer, who is currently preparing a CD of Zamecnik's later music performed by the Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra. Join their mailing list for information on this upcoming release.
Rodney Sauer has made available the entire contents of "Sam Fox Moving
Picture Music Volume 1" by J.S. Zamecnik including the title page, 22 pages
of music, and the essay on "Moving Picture Music and MIDI Files" posted
above. This PDF document can be viewed or printed with the free Adobe Acrobat
reader.
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May - "Lost" Films
April - Camera Speeds in the Silent Film Era
Outraged by the published comments of exhibitors and projectionists, the camermen published their views in American Cinematographer. Cameraman Victor Milner took special exception to the statements of E.H. Richardson of the SMPE, Paul Perry objected to the comments of theatre owner Frank Rembusch, and John W. Boyle presented the consensus of the fraternity of cameraman.
Cause of Speedy Projection (1925) by Paul Perry A.S.C. Advocates Holding 60 Ft. per Minute Taking Speed (1925) by John W. Boyle March - Projection Speeds in the Silent Film Era
James Card argues eloquently in favor of showing most films at sound speed (though I've been told that he was also justifying the limitations of the projectors at his archive's theatre). The definitive article on this subject by scholar Kevin Brownlow is based on his experience with varying projection speeds while preparing films for use in the documentary series Hollywood: The Pioneers. Articles from the period show that projection speeds were a concern in the trade and popular press, in the United States and in England. Moving Picture World columnist F.H. Richardson made the "over-speeding" of films his personal crusade, although his belief that pictures should be shown at the same speed they were filmed was not widely shared. The Society of Moving Picture Engineers (SMPE) set standards for film projection, and these are often used to argue that silent speed was supposed to be sixty feet per minute (16 fps) in the 1920s. However, this was an East Coast-based group, and, as members noted to their regret, their standards had virtually no impact upon industry practices. Overview Essays
Silent Films by Kevin Brownlow (1980) Sight and Sound (reprinted by permission of the author)
Editorial. (1909) The Moving Picture World Motion-Picture Work (1913) Motography Joy-Riders of the Theatre (1916) Photoplay Projectionists Say Film Run at High Speed May Cause Fire (1923) Moving Picture World Excerpts from Various Articles and Books (1918-26) Literary Digest, Picture-Play Magazine, Encyclopedia of Music, Balaban & Katz
* Projection Department (1911) Moving Picture World
Motion Picture Standards Adopted in Committee of the Whole Society (1920) * The Various Effects of Over-Speeding Projection (1920) * Importance of Synchronizing Taking and Camera Speeds (1923) Discussion on Report of Standards and Nomenclature Committee (1924) The Speed of Projection of Film (1927) by Richard Rowland Report of the Standards and Nomenclature Committee: Camera Cranking Speed (1927) Report of the Standards and Nomenclature Committee: Camera and Projector Speeds (1927) Standards Adopted by S.M.P.E. (1928)
February - Nickelodeons in New York City
The Nickelodeons: The Poor Man's Elementary Course in the Drama The Saturday Evening Post (1907) Report on Motion Picture Theatres of Greater New York (1911) January, 1998 - What the Picture Did For Me
The results include rebellion against art films - they hated Docks of New York, Napoleon, The Man Who Laughs, Spies, The Wedding March and The Wind- and pictures with too much sex (Drums of Love), and too many crime pictures (Captain Swagger), though they still ran the salacious The Road to Ruin. They objected to screen portrayals of drinking (Chicken a La King), tobacco (Submarine). They loved William Haines (Excess Baggage, Telling the World), thought that Buster Keaton's The Cameraman was fine, and commented on Marion Davies (The Cardboard Lover) and Clara Bow (Red Hair). The theatre owners were very aware of the coming of sound- some thought
it would be their salvation, others their ruin (Excess
Baggage,
The Home Towners and The
Singing Fool). The exhibitors loved westerns and dog pictures,
and resented big budget pictures (Wings)
because of their high rentals.
Part Two 21 features: Dawn - French Dressing Part Three 23 features: Gang War - Loves of an Actress Part Four 30 features: Mademoiselle From Armentieres - Prep and Pep Part Five 35 features: The Racket - Synthetic Sin Part Six 27 features: Take Me Home - The Wright Idea December - Sunrise: Artistic Success, Commercial Flop?
November - Wall Street Discovers the Movies
The Wall Street Journal tried to document this transition in
a starry-eyed series of articles in 1924. Largely based on an examination
of Famous Players-Lasky and First National (both better managed and financed
than their competitors), this series clearly presents the view of an uninformed
outsider. The predictions in the fourth article that production was shifting
from California to the East Coast could not have been less prescient. (There
might have been a fifth article in the series, but the subsequent issue
was missing from the microfilm.)
Most Banks Shun Movie Promoters (1924) Movie Producers Gauge Public (1924) Movies Come East from California (1924) October - Roxy - Showman of the Silent Era
For more information on Roxy, see "The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace" by Ben M. Hall, originally published in 1961.
New Strand Opens; Biggest of Movies (1914) (The New York Times) Tuning In On Roxy (1927) (Theatre) Roxy (1927) September - D.W. Griffith - Father of Film
Gene Gauntier recalls the atmosphere at Biograph when Griffith made his first film. Griffith's wife Linda Arvidson recalls working for her husband at Biograph in her 1925 memoir. Griffith announced his departure from Biograph with a full page advertisement in The New York Dramatic Mirror. An article and two interviews conducted shortly after Griffith left Biograph give a good sense of his position in the industry. Mae Marsh recalls working for Griffith at Biograph, and during The Birth of a Nation. An authorized biography of Lillian Gish describes the early years of their collaboration. Photoplay visited the set of The Birth of a Nation for a view of Griffith's style of direction. An essay from 1922 gives a critical overview of how the mainstream industry
viewed Griffith; he speaks from the position of a senior industry sage
in 1927. Legend overtakes truth as Griffith fictionalizes his commercial
success in a press release swallowed whole by Variety. Finally,
Homer Croy's biography of Griffith mixes fact, fiction, innuendo and reconstructed
dialogue for a wholly unsatisfying look at Griffith's declining years as
a director.
On Location at Biograph (1925) Producer of all great Biograph successes (1913) (The New York Dramatic Mirror) David W. Griffith (1914) (Moving Picture World) David W. Griffith Speaks (1914) (The New York Dramatic Mirror) Five Dollar Movies Prophesied (1915) (The New York Times) Mae Marsh on Screen Acting (1921) Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith (1932) The World's Master Picture Producer (1915) (Photoplay) (from our February issue) Mainly About D.W. Griffith (1922) The Motion Picture To-day- and To-morrow (1927) (Theatre) D.W. Griffith (1927) D.W. Griffith's Twenty-Year Record (1928) (from our April issue) Griffith's 20 Year Record (1928) (Variety) (from our April issue) He Starts Downhill (1959) August - Unusual Locations and Production Experiences
The 1924 edition of the Film Daily's Annual Yearbook (reviewing
the events of 1923) published several articles by location filmers.
Some such as Robert Flaherty, Tom Terriss and Frederick Burlingham filmed
on location, producing travelogues or documentaries. Director James
Cruze used locations as a backdrop for a conventional narrative.
As a reminder that realism was subjective, the yearbook concluded the survey
with a description of a visit to the backlot at the Pickford-Fairbanks
studio.
Tom Terriss' Experiences in Egypt Making Fires of Fate by Tom Terriss (1923) Making "Outdoor Stuff" A He-Man's Job by Bert Van Tuyle (1923) Making The Covered Wagon by James Cruze (1923) Working in the Desert by Fred Leroy Granville (1923) Getting Animal "Close-ups" by H.A. Snow (1923) Picturesque and Unusual Siam by Henry MacRae (1923) Frederick Burlingham's Adventures by Frederick Burlingham (1923) The World on a "Lot" (1923) July - Cecil B. DeMille Filmmaker
Two more recent views of DeMille give a more balanced perspective. Robert
S. Birchard puts DeMille in context with his contemporaries and trends
of the period. David Pierce (also the editor of this site) examines the
financial success of DeMille's productions from the silent period and how
his films compared to other productions of the time.
Motion Picture Directing by Cecil B. DeMille (1927) The Screen as a Religious Teacher by Cecil B. DeMille (1927) Cecil B. DeMille Vs. The Critics by Robert S. Birchard (1991) Costs and Grosses for the Early Films of Cecil B. DeMille by David Pierce (1991) June - Federal Trade Commission Suit Against Famous Players-Lasky
By the time the Commission reached a verdict in 1927, Famous Players-Lasky's
position in the industry was challenged by Loew's Inc. and its MGM producing
subsidiary. Still, the abuses of monopoly power were picked up by subsequent
suits and led to the consent decree of 1948 that forced the major studios
to divest their theatres. My thanks to Bruce Long of Taylorology
for providing the article from the Los Angeles Examiner. Taylorology,
at http://www.angelfire.com/az/Taylorology/,
also reprints newspaper and magazine articles from the silent era.
Mary, Doug on Stand in Federal Hearing (1923) (Los Angeles Examiner) Federal Trade Commission: Famous Players-Lasky Corporation et. al. (1927) May - Geraldine Farrar
Winning Farrar by her personal manager (1916) "Jerry on the Job" on the set of Joan the Woman (1917) Such Sweet Compulsion: The Autobiography of Geraldine Farrar (1938) April - The Top Grossing Silent Films
Biggest Money Pictures (1932) (Variety) D.W. Griffith's Twenty-Year Record (1928) Griffith's 20 Year Record (1928) (Variety) March - Music in Motion Picture Theaters
February - On the set in 1915
January, 1997 - "Blazing the Trail" - The Autobiography of Gene GauntierGene Gauntier (1885-1966) was an actress and screenwriter remembered
for her association with the Kalem company, and her scenarios for Ben-Hur
(1907) and From the Manger to the Cross (1912). Her autobiography,
"Blazing the Trail," was serialized during 1928 and 1929 in the popular
magazine "Woman's Home Companion."
Part One (early days with Kalem) Part Two (filming Ben-Hur) Part Three (working at Biograph with D.W. Griffith) Part Four (filming on location in Florida) Part Five (a second winter filming in Florida) Part Six (a location trip to Ireland) Part Seven (the Florida company) Parts Eight- Twelve (to be posted soon) December - An Atypical 1920s Theatre
November - Salaries of Silent Film Actors
October, 1996 - Orchestral Accompaniment in the 1920s
"The Music for Your Theatre" by Erno Rapee "Managing a Film Theatre" by Erno Rapee This site is updated monthly. Send suggestions to David Pierce, s7u6n5r4i3s2e@pobox.com (remove the numbers from the email address before sending a message). You are visitor number: since August 1, 1997 |