This blog has been plugging film festivals for quite a few years now - and our favorites (after the extravaganzas we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog are personally involved in) are those curated by the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, and the Noir City festival at San Francisco's Castro Theatre.
Alas, thanks to a pandemic which is raging and out of control in much of the United States, there are no in-person events. We're heading into the fifth month of watching events and TV shows via YouTube and Zoom.
"Hello Everyone, we hope you're all staying well. First we'd like to thank all of you who took part in our Charlie Chaplin Days Online celebration. It was quite an adventure to put on and we feel it was a big success. The links for each day will go ACTIVE at 12:01am that day! We hope you enjoy it all. The gang at Niles Essanay."
This year's festival shall be titled Broncho Billy and Friends. The Friends shall include the actor and director of movies, television and radio Francis X. Bushman, who began his career with Essanay, plus a few silent film luminaries who did not make movies for Essanay: Mabel Normand, Roscoe Arbuckle and the Keystone Kops. There shall be a documentary on film preservation, Saving Brinton by Iowa-based filmmakers Tommy Haines and Andrew Sherburne of Northland Films.
As always, the festival will screen a few classic westerns featuring our own Broncho Billy Anderson. In addition, museum historian and author Sam Gill tells the tale of the Essanay Snakeville Comedies, produced and sometimes both directed and written by G.M. Anderson.
This is the 23rd tribute in Niles to pioneering producer, filmmaker and cowboy star Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson. While Broncho Billy's crew and Allan Dwan's "Flying A" company were producing westerns as early as 1911, the Anderson approach incorporated nuance and characterization into the silent oater. Broncho Billy was not just the first movie cowboy, but the first thinking man's cowboy, establishing a format which William S. Hart would later ride to feature film success with Thomas Ince.
The "A" of the Chicago-based Essanay (S & A) Film Manufacturing Company, Anderson established the Essanay company in Chicago with George Spoor (the "S"), but having found few locations within "that toddlin' town" suitable for making westerns, set up shop in Niles, CA on April 1, 1912. Anderson starred in 140 films under the moniker of "Broncho Billy." More than 350 one and two-reel silent films were made in a four year period in Niles, which is now a historic district of Fremont, CA, USA.
The museum's own David Kiehn has penned the comprehensive history of filmmaking in Niles and the career of Broncho Billy. It is an outstanding book.
The Essanay Company's greatest claim to fame, along with its importance among the early film producers that put western movies on the map, remains the signing of Charlie Chaplin by Anderson in 1915.
The Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival has been an annual event in Niles since 1998 and has called the museum its home since 2005.
Here is the schedule at a glance.
Friday, July 24th Welcome to the Broncho Billy & Friends Online Silent Film Festival - Michael Bonham. Music by Janet Klein.
3:00 pm PDT / 5:00 pm CDT / 6:00 pm EDT
ZOOM Webinar on Rediscovering Roscoe: The films of "Fatty" Arbuckle hosted by Steve Massa, with Dave Glass and Robert Arkus, spotlights both the onscreen and behind-the-camera work of Keystone star Roscoe Arbuckle. Here's the Zoom meeting link.
This program shall include a screening of Dave Glass' restored version of the 1916 Keystone "slapstick ballet" starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Al St. John, The Waiter's Ball, featuring rare footage not seen in the previous Blackhawk Films and Paul Killiam versions.
Saturday, July 25
Welcome and intro to Day 2 of the Broncho Billy & Friends Online festival by Michael Bonham and silent film accompanist Frederick Hodges.
Co-presented by the Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival and FilmScene. Join historian Michael Zahs (the subject of Saving Brinton) for a Q&A about the documentary film and, as a Virtual Event, a live presentation of the 24th Annual Brinton Silent Film Festival. Zahs will narrate a selection of silent films from the W. Frank Brinton film collection including films by Thomas Edison, Georges Méliès and more streaming live on Facebook for free. Donations are welcome in support of The Ainsworth Opera House.
Michael will be joined by John Richard and Andrew Sherburne from the Saving Brinton film team. Directed by the aforementioned Mr. Sherburne and Tommy Haines, Saving Brinton is available to stream on Vimeo for a small fee - or on Amazon Prime for free.
The making of the Broncho Billy DVD by Larry Telles
Writing Music for Silent Films by Rodney Sauer, Mont Alto Orchestra Symphony Conductor
FILM PREMIERE of newly discovered split reel: Mabel's Adventures and Useful Sheep (1912) Accompaniment by Rodney Sauer with the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Introducing this newly-discovered split reel featuring the great silent movie comedienne "Madcap Mabel" Normand: Nigel Dreiner, with assistance from John Bengtson, Brent Walker and David Kiehn.
Hosted by Chris Seguin with panel of historians: Rob Farr, Paul E. Gierucki, Sam Gill, Michael J. Hayde, Robert King, Brent Walker, Marc Wanamaker and others. Here's the zoom link.
Short subjects by Mack Sennett's Keystone mixed in with the discussion:
Beyond Keystone: The film work of Al St. John and Buster Keaton. Lea Stans of Silent-ology explores the career of acrobatic slapstick comedian Al St. John, focusing especially on his overlooked work with Buster Keaton in the Comique comedy series of the late 1910s.
All About Mabel: Timothy Lefler, author of Mabel Normand, the Life and Career of a Hollywood Madcap, discusses the highs and lows of the preeminent silent movie comedienne's illustrious career, with a Highlight Reel and Cinema Chat Podcast.
The Movies Go West. Geoffrey Bell's 1974 documentary explores the movies made in Niles and is narrated by Hal Angus, one of the Essanay cowboys. Bell wrote one of the first books to explore the Bay Area film history, The Golden Gate and the Silver Screen (1984). After the screening, Rena Kiehn will be doing an informative outro, not to be missed.
For the Love of Mrs. Emmons -
Author Mary Mallory (Hollywood at Play, Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays, Living With Grace: Life Lessons From America's Princess) looks at the life and career of the talented, prolific and little known silent film character actress Mrs. Louise Emmons - the movies' perennial octogenarian (in addition to Margaret Mann - and remembered here at Way To Damn Lazy To Write A Blog for her role in the Our Gang comedy Mush & Milk) - through the eyes of two devoted fans, Michael Hawks and Jennifer Lerew. The two sought information on the unforgettable actress for years, finally purchasing a tombstone for her grave at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in 2014.
Classic movie buffs and fans of silent era filmmaking who have seen every pre-1930 film ever shown on TCM, as the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog has, check the 2020 Broncho Billy festival out and enjoy!
To paraphrase the blurb from the new releases section of the Warner Archive website:
"Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle made his triumphant return to comedy in the six sparkling Vitaphone shorts he headlines in this collection. While Fatty’s return was tragically cut short by his untimely passing in June 1933, another talent, sporting the unforgettable mug of Shemp Howard, was on the rise. In this collection you’ll witness Shemp’s path from bit player to chief second banana in the span of two short years."
Among the premier comedian-gag writer-directors of silent pictures, as well as the mentor of Buster Keaton, Mr. Arbuckle managed to recapture the spirit and fun of his Keystone and Comique comedies quite well in these Vitaphone talkies.
Here's a clip from In The Dough. The bad guys are, indeed, more than vaguely familiar to classic movie and comedy fans!
A few players - gravel-voiced Lionel Stander, ultra-goofy Ben Blue, underrated Gus Shy and former Mack Sennett Studio stock company mainstay Harry Gribbon - turn up over and over in these Vitaphone "Big V" comedy shorts, all shot in Depression-era Brooklyn. Gribbon was teamed with Shemp in several Vitaphones. I'm disappointed that none of the Big V Comedies co-starring Shemp and Daphne Pollard are on this 2-DVD set, but assume they'll be on Volume 2.
Film history note: Art Trouble, one of the Vitaphones starring Shemp and Harry Gribbon on this set, is also noteworthy as Jimmy Stewart's film debut!
Lloyd Hamilton and Mermaid Comedies producer/director/writer Jack White
One wonders just how Earle W. Hammons' Educational Pictures transitioned from riding high in the 1920's by distributing Otto Messmer's internationally popular Felix The Cat cartoons, classic silent comedies (many directed by the incredibly, mind-numbingly prolific Norman Taurog) starring Lloyd Hamilton, Al St. John, Lupino Lane, Larry Semon and Charley Bowers to a largely different roster and alarmingly low budget films in the 1930's.
Let's start with what happened to the studio's headliners. In 1923-1924, the principal star of Educational's Mermaid Comedies, silent comedy's favorite sourpuss, Lloyd Hamilton, attempted to branch out from his popular and acclaimed series of short subjects by starring in two feature length films.
One, A Self-Made Failure, directed by the ubiquitous William Beaudine, is a lost film. His Darker Self, originally titled Black And White, was designed by D.W. Griffith as a vehicle for stage star Al Jolson. When Jolson abruptly quit the project, Griffith asked Hamilton to replace him in the starring blackface role.
This was a bad career move, very bad idea and by all accounts - and if what footage exists is any indication - an even worse film.
After Hamilton returned to comedy shorts in 1926 and starred in such classics as Move Along, he was banned from making films for the entire 1928-1929 season. How? Hamilton and character actor Johnny Sinclair happened to be present when a certain barroom brawl took place in which pugilist Eddie Diggins was killed. Hamilton wasn't responsible for the stabbing death of Diggins, but his presence at the drunken donnybrook was enough to get him a one year ban from films.
The suspension was neither good for Educational nor the gifted yet booze-soaked comedian. At one point, Hamilton ended up homeless. The ban meant that an excellent opportunity to hit the ground running in a smooth transition to talkies was lost - and Hamilton's voice fitted his world-weary yet shabby genteel characterization to a T.
Before re-inventing himself with panache as prolific western sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones, Al continued to star in Mermaid Comedies, some directed by Stephen Roberts (later known for the ultra-racy pre-Code melodrama The Story Of Temple Drake) and moved into talkies without a hitch in Educational's Cameo Comedies series, many helmed by Roscoe "William Goodrich" Arbuckle. Even in the most threadbare of low budget 1-reelers, Al, ever the pro's pro, gets laughs.
Only equaled by St. John and Buster Keaton as an acrobatic and gymnastic comedian-athlete, Lane, also a pro's pro, starred in his last U.S. comedy short subjects, including a few early talkies, in 1929.
After plum supporting roles in the musicals The Love Parade and Bride Of The Regiment, this brilliant physical comic appeared in one of the all-time bombs, Golden Dawn.
This early talkie musical was a golden turkey of golden turkeys, in spite of some very funny and spirited performances by Lane, Marion "Peanuts" Byron and Lee Moran.
Following the release of this 1930 stinker, Lane did what any reasonable actor would do, flee the U.S. and return to the United Kingdom!
There, he would become an enormous star of the stage and enjoy renewed prestige as one of England's premier show business icons! Lupino Lane became the mainstay of the musical comedy smash Me And My Girl.
Larry Semon, the uncrowned king of prop comedy and elaborate sight gags, early 1920's style and key predecessor of "Three Stooges" style slapstick? Died in 1928. Although Semon's career had taken quite a bad turn since his heydey as the very popular star of lightning-paced, sight gag-filled Vitagraph shorts, his success in latter 1920's character roles (especially in Josef von Sternberg's gangster flick, Underworld) pointed towards a comeback. Unfortunately for Larry, a young man (39) at the time of his passing - and film history - that second act in sound films as a director, character actor, storyboard artist, animator, scenarist or gagman didn't happen.
The great stop-motion animator and reluctant 2-reeler star Charley Bowers?
Alas, the Bowers Comedies series, delighting the Dadaist/Surrealist movement in Paris while dumbfounding small-town movie audiences worldwide, officially ended in 1928 - and not without leaving some amazing imagery behind.
Bowers continued to sporadically function as an independent producer with such remarkable stop-motion films as the following early talkie, It's A Bird.
Bowers subsequently joined the story department of the Walter Lantz studio and produced occasional strikingly imaginative and bizarre stop-motion cartoons, but did not appear on-camera again.
So, as the 1920's ended, most of the Educational Pictures comedy stars had moved on - and the essential alliances also changed.
At the beginning of the decade, Hammons cut a deal to distribute the Al Christie Studio's "Torchy" series starring Johnny Hines around the same time he contracted with Jack White. Christie, who had supplied tons of comedy films to Educational Film Exchange, signed a three-year deal with Paramount starting with the 1926-1927 season.
Educational responded to the loss of the Al Christie Studio and its prolific short subjects production units by contracting with Mack Sennett.
Sennett's Fun Factory continued cranking out 2-reelers, first for Educational release, then later for Paramount. The best known Sennett talkies feature Andy Clyde and W.C. Fields. Other "Mack Sennett Star Comedies" include the last appearances of a rather haggard and spent looking Lloyd Hamilton, as well as comedienne Marjorie Beebe (who Lucille Ball must have been aware of).
Even cartoons were affected; Felix The Cat was lost to Jacques Kopstein and Copley Pictures - and Paul Terry's Terrytoons were lined up as the replacement.
We'll get into what the heck happened to Educational when the movie business made the painful transition between silents and talkies and the 1930's progressed in Part Three.
Ever-attracted to films that either/or are odd, hilarious, surreal, inexplicable and in some instances widely panned (both in their time and decades later), I personally find the wide-ranging short subjects distributed by Earle W. Hammons' Educational Pictures - and promoted as The Spice Of The Program - a intriguing, bizarre and frequently surprising corner of film history.
If the following detailed yet anonymous capsule history posted on Wikipedia is any indication, I am not the only one who greets the Spice Of The Program logo as an invitation to a weird and wonderful place in 1920's and 1930's cinematic lore.
There are numerous instances in which Educational was historically important. Mr. William Goodrich, A.K.A. The Artist Formerly Known As Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, was still banned from cavorting on the silver screen, but directed scads of comedy shorts for Educational. Although silent movie icon Louise Brooks, cast in a remarkably bad Educational short Arbuckle directed, described the former Paramount star as a Dead Man Walking - "just sat in his director's chair like a man dead. . . had been very nice and sweetly dead ever since the scandal that ruined his career" - there are individual films from this period in which the sleeping giant's comedy mojo came roaring back to life. One is the following terrific, outrageous, surreal example of It Came From Educational Pictures: the 1932 short comedy, Bridge Wives, featuring a wonderfully unhinged performance by Roscoe's nephew and former cohort from the Sennett and Comique studios - and soon to be grizzled western sidekick - Al St. John.
The comic brilliance of this wild and wooly 1-reeler indicates that Roscoe may not have been a Dead Man Walking after all. Perhaps working with Al again enlivened him.
And . . . for another prime example of sheer silent movie wonderfulness, there are the comedies designed by and starring actor/animator Charley Bowers, whose 1920's series for FBO and Educational showcased his innovative and imaginative stop-motion technique.
Paralleling the country at large, Educational Pictures rode high in The Roaring Twenties before hitting hard times in the 1930's. Founded as a instructional film producer/distributor by real estate tycoon Hammons, who soon determined that the dough-re-me was definitely NOT in educational short subjects, Educational Pictures got in the laughs biz by contracting with two principals from the successful Fox Sunshine Comedies, producer-director Jack White and comedian-gagman Lloyd "Ham" Hamilton in April 1920.
The company would eventually end up distributing short subjects from three major producers - White (a.k.a. Preston Black), Mack Sennett and Al Christie - and be directly responsible for a huge portion of silent film comedy history.
Having hit the big time with Hamilton, Educational raided the Fox studio's comedy shorts department with the aggressiveness of the New York Yankees.
The company bolstered their roster with two triple-jointed acrobatic gymnastic comics, the best in the business, from Fox: the aforementioned Al St. John and Lupino Lane (as well as, a few years later, Clyde Cook).
Adept at signing headlining comedians between stints at all the fun factories, Educational Pictures gave Mack Sennett and Hal Roach a run for their money as "king of the comedy short".
The Mermaid Comedies unit made quite the splash in the Harold Lloyd style "daredevil" genre with a series starring ex-Sennett player Lige Conley, whose fast-paced, hair-raising thrill comedies included Fast And Furious and Air Pockets.
Educational also distributed films by popular "king of prop comedy" Larry Semon, after chronic over-spending on his productions ended a lengthy stint as Vitagraph's top comic.
Without a doubt, Hammons' deal to distribute the internationally popular Felix the Cat cartoons, directed and designed by animation genius Otto Messmer, still qualifies (in 21st century vernacular) as a GOOD CALL!
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Since the story of Educational Pictures spans two decades, a zillion films, and even a "just the facts, 'maam" version is way too long for one paltry blog posting, your correspondent will have to follow this up with a Part Two and possibly Parts Three, Four and Five!
Until then, here are some laughs, 1920's style, courtesy of the Mermaid Comedies unit. First and foremost, here's a very rare entry in Jack White's Our Gang style Juvenile Comedies series starring Malcolm Sebastian. While the picture jumps in the opening minutes, stick with it - this is a funny film, restored and with sprightly piano by historian/accompanist Ben Model.
Last but not least, here's the guy who, in this blogger's opinion, still ranks among the very best of all silent era comedians and character actors, the perennial sourpuss himself, Lloyd Hamilton.
