No, at least in this case, the term animal magnetism does not refer to the minor-key song by headbanging German hard rockers The Scorpions - or does it?
Your somewhat intrepid correspondent, back from a great time in Northern California co-presenting the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival at Foothill College with Robert Emmett, Mr. Lobo, Sci Fi Bob Ekman and Scott Moon, is now enjoying nice hot coffee in beautiful New York City and thinking about very odd silent movies.
Since this blogger is indeed wearing an official Silent Comedy Watch Party T-shirt (thank you, Marlene Weisman), it's time to watch an excellent presentation titled ANIMAL MAGNETISM: THE SILENT COMEDY MENAGERIE that author, SCWP co-curator and silent comedy expert Steve Massa created for the Silent Laughter festival held in November 2023 at The Cinema Museum, London.
Topic du jour: furry friends who starred in silent movies, with cool film clips accompanied by excellent music by Ethan Uslan and Meg Morley. This highly entertaining presentation features generous excerpts from terrific silent comedies, notably NIP & TUCK (a 1923 Mack Sennett opus featuring Billy Bevan, Harry Gribbon and scene-stealing Cameo the Dog). Steve outlines the various trends, besides not paying human actors, that brought dogs, cats, mules, spider monkeys, chimpanzees, orangutans, lions, bears and even freakin' elephants to the silver screen.
One of our all-time favorite furry friends in movies is Pepper The Cat, here co-starring with the great comedienne "Madcap Mabel" Normand. A cat who took direction? WTF? Watch and see - our mackerel tabby mascot Raymond, whose response is "cats rock and can do everything, while always looking fabulous" heartily approves! Alas, a bunch of dogs, cute but a lot less interesting than Pepper, end up as "the cavalry," rescuing a soon-to-be-lunch bird from the feline antagonist in this 1913 opus from Mack Sennett's Keystone.
And, speaking of Mack Sennett's Keystone Comedies, the mention of Luke recalls Roscoe Arbuckle in Fatty's Plucky Pup (1915).
And then there's the one, the only Pete The Pup, star first of the Buster Brown series (as Tige) and then a mainstay of Hal Roach Studio's Our Gang.
Here, the first Pete co-stars with the very funny acrobatic comedian (and future grizzled sidekick in westerns) Al St. John in Dynamite Doggie, directed by Roscoe Arbuckle and co-starring the second Mrs. Arbuckle, Doris Deane.
Producer Hal Roach, no fool, recruited Pete for Our Gang after seeing him in such films as Dynamite Doggie and the Stern Brothers' Buster Brown series. The following, Dog Heaven (1927) is one of the strangest and darkest Our Gang comedies and more akin to the comic sensibility of Michael "Mr. Mike" O' Donaghue than to any of the Hal Roach Studio gagmeisters.
The second Pete would enliven the talkie Our Gang comedies in such Depression-era favorites as The Pooch and For Pete's Sake.
Having enjoyed viewing a lightweight but funny William Powell flick on the SFO-JFK flight (yes, TCM was available) all this correspondent can think of is the best canine comic not named Cameo, the extraordinary Asta!
Asta was trained by the frequently hilarious comedienne and sometimes writer/producer of silents and early talkies (and frequent co-star of director-writer-comic Charley Chase at the Hal Roach studio) Gale Henry and her husband Henry East.
While the diehard classic movie mavens here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog have not yet located any film footage - well, not yet - showing Gale appearing onscreen with one of the exceptionally talented canines she and Henry East trained, that said, it's as good an excuse as any to show more clips of the immortal Asta!
How funny was Gale Henry? Check out her dance in HIS WOODEN WEDDING (1925), which is just one of many memorable supporting roles she contributed to the classic Hal Roach comedies, both in silents and talkies, of comic genius Charley Chase. It's clear why Charley hired and re-hired Gale for comedy heavy lifting in his films; she was a scream!
Gale, the prolific comedienne and character actress who must have been among the key prototypes for the character of Olive Oyl in E.C. Segar's Thimble Theatre comic strip, remains one of the most unique talents in the history of movies.
We must respectfully tip our top hat (no doubt worn by some unfortunate mustached comic who got chased around by a lion in a Fox Sunshine comedy produced and directed by Henry "Suicide" Lehrman) to the super-talented Gale Henry, as well as all the many four-legged fur-bearing stars of the silver screen.
Born on this day in 1902: the "daredevil comedienne", stuntwoman and comic actress Wanda Wiley, star of very funny films for Century Comedies and J.R. Bray Productions. Starting her movie career doing stunt work in westerns, Wanda, a cross between the winsome comedienne and an action hero, made 50 films between 1924 and 1927.
A longer version of this Century Comedy, the wonderfully frantic A SPEEDY MARRIAGE, was featured in episode 78 of The Silent Comedy Watch Party. It's the last film and begins an hour and six minutes into the show. Thanks, Ben Model and Steve Massa!
Way too many silent movie comediennes were entirely ignored for decades and decades, primarily because they did not star in comedies produced by Hal Roach Studios and Mack Sennett or feature films.
The Century Comedies star and stuntlady is in the jaunty heroic mold of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and Harold Lloyd, who she shares the 4/20 birthday with.
From San Antonio, Wanda Wiley's sensibility is that of gal next door who happens to be a daredevil, not dissimilar from Madcap Mabel Normand in A Dash Through The Clowds (1912) - and yes, she races cars in FLYING WHEELS!
She is not the traditional comedienne turned leading lady (Billie Rhodes, Bebe Daniels), the glamour girl who sometimes does pratfalls (Marion Davies, Carole Lombard), a feisty "don't you mess with me" firebrand (Fay Tincher) or the "baggy pants comedienne" persona seen from Gale Henry, Louise Fazenda and Alice Howell to Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. Possibly Wanda's characterization was modeled on the ever-plucky Constance "Dutch" Talmadge, tied with Mabel Normand as silent cinema's top comedienne in feature films. She does share charisma, spunk and athleticism with Talmadge and Fay Tincher.
As seen in her extant films, WandaVision 1925 is a very cool place!
One of the funniest extant Wanda comedies remains the action-packed A Thrilling Romance. Here is a slightly truncated version.
A more complete version of A Thrilling Romance was featured, in between Jimmie Parrott and Buster Keaton, on episode 16 of The Silent Comedy Watch Party. It's the second film and begins at 39:23.
In 1926, Wanda appears to have been demoted from star of her own series to secondary player in a new series. Why? Who knows? This was not unheard of at Universal, where top comedienne Alice Howell transitioned from headliner to supporting player.
Perhaps the powers that were at Universal feared Wanda would ask for a raise and a promotion. The subsequent What Happened To Jane? series Wanda co-starred in shifts the focus to the male leads.
The much less talented and interesting (a.k.a. dull as dishwater) male leads make Wanda a second banana in the What Happened To Jane? series.
Yes, that's right, Universal and Stern Brothers productions discontinued Wanda Wiley's starring vehicles but, hoping to compete with Hal Roach's Our Gang, launched the successful Buster Brown comedies and then, aspiring to counter Sennett's The Smith Family series, followed it with the Newlyweds & Their Baby series, featuring Sunny Jim McKeen as Snookums. This series of short subjects (and Sunny Jim, the kid with the Ed Grimley hairdo) can be excruciating, and come across more as funny-weird than funny-humorous.
How Wanda Wiley, the personalty plus girl, did not attract the attention of Universal head Carl Laemmle and continue her career into talkies, we'll never know. This brings to mind the question of how many of the LOTS and LOTS of silent film comediennes starred for Universal and who produced these fast-paced, sight gag-filled 2-reelers.
The answer to the former includes Wanda Wiley, Alice Howell, Fay Tincher, Baby Peggy Montgomery, Edna Marion and many more. The answer to the latter would be Julius Stern and Abe Stern, the brother-in-laws of Carl Laemmle and producers of over 900 films, mostly comedies.
The outstanding cinema detective, author and film historian Thomas Reeder has focused two books on the comedy that emerged from Universal in the teens and 1920's - and the second one, Time is Money! The Century, Rainbow, and Stern Brothers Comedies of Julius and Abe Stern, covers their lives and movie career in detail. It would appear from the surviving footage that Wanda Wiley's best films were from the first year of her Universal series produced by the Stern brothers in 1924-1925.
Alas, and unfortunately, Hal Roach, Mack Sennett and Jack White (at Educational Pictures) did not step in at the point in 1927-1928 and hire Wanda to headline a series. Too bad - maybe the unexpected impact of The Jazz Singer was a factor. In a move that got me thinking of Paramount Pictures and the Fleischer brothers, Universal cut ties with the Stern Brothers in 1929.
Wanda made a few more movies, very briefly returned to vaudeville, then married well and gave up showbiz in 1933. There is a mention in Anthony Balducci's superlative book Lloyd Hamilton: Poor Boy Comedian of Silent Cinema of a severe accident on set in which Wanda was thrown from a horse. The response of famed superhero Captain Obvious would be that perhaps this was the reason Wanda did not continue in motion pictures. As athletic, fearless, intrepid and super-fit as Wanda was, getting thrown from a horse could emphatically influence one to seek a less dangerous line of work.
Additional battered top hat tips go to the April 20, 2023 post about Wanda from Travalanche and to Steve Massa, for writing his Slapstick Divas book about the many super-talented comediennes of silent pictures.
Bravos, kudos and huzzahs to Mr. Reeder, Mr. Massa, Mr. Ross (and The Lost Laugh) and, for much of the footage in today's post, the Library Of Congress. We at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog applaud the excellent research that has brought the spotlight back to Wanda Wiley, the superb daredevil comedienne. Now we'll watch a slew of super-talented comediennes and character actresses who are still with us in April 2024 get big laughs in the Palm Royale series.
One of the key things, in addition to our pets, that got this household through many months of lockdown in 2020-2021 was watching The Silent Comedy Watch Party, presented with wit and panache by intrepid film historians, authors and curators Ben Model and Steve Massa on Sundays.
On this Sunday, St. Patrick's Day, the series will return to YouTube for its 4th anniversary extravaganza and episode #100 - HOORAY!
One of the many things I love about the series is that, unlike 99% of silent era comedy programs, The Silent Comedy Watch Party does not limit the focus strictly to The Big 3, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.
While we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog love those guys, unquestionably the other silent movie laughmakers, lesser known but often hilarious, richly deserve kudos, bravos and huzzahs for their contributions to film humor.
It's noteworthy that acrobatic Al St. John, the ever-persnickety Johnny Arthur and wacky redhead of silents Alice Howell - all very funny performers - are featured in Silent Comedy Watch Party episode #100.
The following graphic for Silent Comedy Watch Party episode 50 shows just a few of the amazing comics featured in the series.
The dyed-in-the-wool silent comedy aficionados at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog extend big time thanks to The Silent Comedy Watch Party for repeatedly delivering big laughs during 2020, a difficult time (even for those fortunate enough to not lose family members and friends to coronavirus) and continuing to do so with good-natured enthusiasm in only slightly less bat guano crazy 2024.
We're about to watch today's much-awaited edition of the Silent Comedy Watch Party - and, not surprisingly, thinking about the great comediennes of silent pictures
One of the funniest extant Wanda comedies, A Thrilling Romance, was featured on episode 16 of The Silent Comedy Watch Party.
How Wanda did not attract the attention of Universal head Carl Laemmle and continue her career into talkies, we'll never know. Her 1925 Century Comedy The Queen Of Aces is a hoot!
This brings to mind the question of how many of the LOTS and LOTS of silent film comediennes starred for Universal and who produced these fast-paced, sight gag-filled 2-reelers.
The answer to the former includes the aforementioned Wanda Wiley, Alice Howell, Fay Tincher, Baby Peggy Montgomery and Edna Marion. The answer to the latter is the Stern Brothers, who produced over 900 comedy short subjects. The intrepid cinema detective, author and film historian Thomas Reeder has focused two books on the comedy that emerged from Universal in the teens and 1920's - and the second one, Time is Money! The Century, Rainbow, and Stern Brothers Comedies of Julius and Abe Stern, covers their lives and movie career in detail.
Preceding Baby Peggy and Wanda Wiley as Century Comedies headliner was Alice Howell, whose work with Sennett, Lehrman, Reelcraft and Universal demonstrates her formidable comedy mojo. The excellent writers Tony Slide and Lea Stans have covered Alice Howell at length.
We're big fans of Fay Tincher at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog.
Fay, a super-talented actress of stage and screen, passed at age 99 in Brooklyn, NY in 1983. It appears she successfully eluded any efforts to be interviewed about her career making movies and kept a low profile after her retirement from show business at the age of 46.
Fay had a 15 year movie career that spanned stints with The American Eclair Company, Komic Komedies, Triangle, Christie, and Universal.
After beginning in movies as a big time vamp in D.W. Griffith's feature The Battle Of The Sexes, Fay's screen popularity took off in 1914 with her scene-stealing antics as Ethel, the outrageous stenographer in Komic Komedies' Bill The Office Boy series.
Alas, Fay wanted more than anything to produce, direct and write and have creative control over her own films, preferably dramas. Although she did have her own production company in 1918 and made several Fay Tincher comedies for World Pictures, for the most part, that scenario was not to be, with the shift from the wild and wooly days of early motion pictures to the studio system already well underway when she began working for Al Christie in 1919.
A few entries from Fay's Christie Comedies series survive, and, as much as she wanted to be a dramatic actress, these films - very likely much to her chagrin - are hilarious. One film that has made it to DVD and is especially memorable stars the indefatigable Fay as as the badass "Christie cowgirl," the personification of a "pistol packin' mama."
Fay was on record as finding the Christie Comedies too slapstick-oriented for her taste. This may be due to various injuries suffered doing stunts as rugged, take-no-prisoners Rowdy Ann in the western comedies series, as well as an impression on Fay's part that she would get to star in 5-reel featurettes at Christie Comedies and pursue storylines more along the lines of the genteel and sophisticated farces exemplified by Mr. And Mrs. Sidney Drew.
For the remainder of the silent era, Fay starred in various Universal comedies, most notably as Min Gump in "The Gumps" series. Her last silver screen appearance (and only talkie) was a supporting part in a Universal Syd Saylor 2-reeler released theatrically in March 1930.
In addition to the Topeka-born actress' talents in front of and behind the camera, she was an athlete and accomplished craftswoman/seamstress, devoted to needlework and creating artwork using vitreous enamel.
Now, as far as those last-second stocking stuffers go - and, no, the 2023 Rolls-Royce will not be among them - at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, we'll delve into the latest and greatest books about classic movies and animation. One stellar tome by Keith Scott has been covered enthusiastically here - and it bears repeating, his 2-volume work on Cartoon Voices Of The Golden Age 1930-1970 (Animation and Radio) is AMAZING.
There are also two books on silents the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog love. One is an outstanding biography, ten years in the making, of the great movie comedienne Marion Davies, by Lara Gabrielle.
In such classic late silents as The Red Mill, The Patsy and Show People, Davies proved a frequently inspired mimic and comic actress.
Lara has done a terrific job tracing the life and times of an inspired and very funny comedienne who remains better known as the mistress of publisher-magnate William Randolph Hearst than as a notable actress in movies.
The other incredible book, Lame Brains & Lunatics Volume 2, the latest by silver screen comedy expert Steve Massa explores the nooks and crannies of silent era comedy films.
