Showing posts with label Charlie Chaplin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charlie Chaplin. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Stars Break Up Hearst Yacht Party When Death Strikes Ince -- November 19, 2024

New York Daily News, 20-November-1924

One hundred years ago today, on 19-November-1924 producer Thomas H Ince died under what some see as questionable circumstances. William Randolph Hearst and his inamorata Marion Davies invented several Hollywood acquaintances to a party on Hearst's yacht, Oneida. On 15-November-1924, the group held a birthday party for producer, director and writer Thomas H Ince. Ince took sick that evening. He may have indigestion, a heart problem or some sources insist that he had been shot. Some people believe that William Randolph Hearst was jealous of Charlie Chaplin's attentions to Marion Davies and that Hearst tried to shoot him but mistook Ince for Chaplin. Ince's family took him to their home in Los Angeles, where he died on the Nineteenth. 


STARS BREAK UP HEARST YACHT
PARTY WHEN DEATH STRIKES INCE
Director Dies in Arms of
Wife; Children Near

(Special to DAILY NEWS)

Los Angeles, Cal., Nov. 9. -- Thomas H, Ince, maker of celebrated films and film celebrities, died early this morning at his Beverly Hill home, of a heart seizure. The producer's death was sudden and came from a heart affection following an attack of indigestion which began at a yacht party aboard the Oneida, off San Diego, last Sunday.

Personages who made merry with Ince on Sunday when the yacht party was turned into a celebration for Ince's forty-third birthday anniversary, dispersed yesterday and tonight none could be reached, although a partial list of the guests assembled from other quarters contained the following names:

Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst, Elinor Glyn, Charlie Chaplin, Seena Owen, D.C. Goodman, Margaret Livingstone.

Miss Davies Hostess

It is understood Miss Davies issued the invitations for the party.

Ince died in the arms of his wife and surrounded by their children, William, 14; Thomas H. jr., 11 and Richard, 8. at his estate, Dias Dorados, in Beverly Hills.

The film magnate decided to quit the Oneida when he found that Dr. D.C. Goodman, the executive head of Hearst's film enterprises and formerly a practicing physician, was returning by train to Los Angeles by San Diego by train on Monday morning.

Became Nauseated

Shortly after taking the train at San Diego Ince became violently ill. He was extremely nauseated, and Dr. Goodman decided when the train stopped at Del Mar, 25 miles on the road toward Los Angeles, that his friend's condition was critical.

He gave the film magnate temporary attention until Dr. Parker of La Jolla, Cal., and a nurse summoned from San Diego arrived at Stratford inn, in Del Mar, to attend the sick man. Both doctors agreed Ince was suffering from acute indigestion, which often precedes heart seizure.

Mrs. Ince was notified by wire at Beverly Hills and another wire sent to the yacht party at San Diego, which broke up after news of Ince's condition.

The Oneida is said to be listed in marine records under the name of International Film Corporation.

It has been regarded however, as the personal yacht of Miss Davies, used by her on week-ends and periods between the making of pictures.

The yacht, when in New York waters, was known as the property of Mr. Hearst. It came to coast waters from New York within the past several months.

Saturday, November 12, 2016

At the Circus Blogathon -- November 12, 2016

Washington DC Evening Star, 02-August-1913

Lê at Crítica Retrô and Summer from Serendipitous Anachronisms are hosting the At the Circus Blogathon.  It has been a rough week, so our hosts have decided to extend the time of the blogathon.

I decided to write about "Charlie Chaplin and the Flea Circus," based on an unfinished film that he made.  I spent some time explaining flea circuses for the benefit of people who don't know:
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2016/11/charlie-chaplin-and-flea-circus.html


Sunday, January 12, 2014

Classic Movie History Project Blogathon -- January 12, 2014

Over at my new blog, The Big V Riot Squad (http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/), I am participating in the Classic Movie History Project Blogathon.  Each blogger is writing about one year between 1915 and 1950.  My entry is "1916, A Funny Year" (http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2014/01/1916-funny-year-january-12-2014.html).  I wrote about the state of slapstick in 1916.  Charlie Chaplin's first eight Mutual comedies came out in 1916.  Harold Lloyd and many others were still imitating Chaplin.  Lloyd Hamilton was appearing in Ham and Bud movies.  Oliver Hardy was in the Plump and Runt series. 

I'm looking forward to reading about every year. 

The image is from the 16-December-1916 Moving Picture Magazine

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Cold -- December 8, 2013

It has been very cold.  It was 42F when I left my mother's house in the city.  It was 38F, I think, when I got home in Pacifica.  Someone was parked in my parking space, so I had to park in the street and hike back across the lawn, passing a deer on the way. 

The photo of Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush is from the wonderful site LucyWho (http://www.lucywho.com/), 

Monday, February 18, 2013

See Comical Charlie -- February 18, 2013

The Optic Theater in Los Angeles ran all-comedy bills for some time around 1915. I like the layout of this ad, featuring Charlie Chaplin the "The Champion."  I would be willing to pay a nickel to watch comedies from 9am to 11pm. 

The ad is from the 17-March-1915 Photoplayers' Weekly.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Optic Comedy -- January 16, 2013

I would like to learn more about the Optic Comedy Theater, "Charlie Chaplin Always Heading an All Comedy Bill."  I wonder how long that lasted.  The ad is from the 09-January-1915 Photoplayers' Weekly.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Charlie Chaplin Outfit -- July 29, 2012


"1000 LAFFS for 10 cents."  This ad, from the November, 1915 Photoplay, encourages boys to send their dimes to the NUIDEA Company in Brooklyn to receive a Charlie Chaplin outfit. I understand the mustache.  I wonder why it includes a gold tooth.  The "Ish Ka Bibble" button is interesting.  I remember Ish Kabibble, Mervyn Bogue, who performed with Kay Kyser.  According to Wikipedia, "Ish Ka Bibble" is a fake Yiddish expression that is said to mean "I should worry?"  I'd love to own a Disappearing Medallion Coin.  Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version. 

Friday, May 18, 2012

Hitchcock -- He Has Had a Non-Stop Career -- May 18, 2012


This post is part of For the Love of Hitchcock, The Film Preservation Blogathon, hosted again this year by Ferdy on Films (http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/ -- Sunday, Monday) and The Self-Styled Siren (http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/ -- Tuesday, Wednesday), along with Rod of This Island Rod (http://thisislandrod.blogspot.com/ Thursday, Friday). 

I hope to contribute these articles this week:
Monday -- Dial HOllywood 9-2411 for Hitchcock
Tuesday -- Hitchcock -- Berdarold, Piccy, London
Wednesday -- Alfred Hitchcock, SRO, RKO, UA, Univ
Thursday -- Hitchcock -- Club: Royal Auto
Friday -- Hitchcock -- He Has Had a Non-Stop Career


Click on images to see larger versions.  The image at the top of the page is a full-page ad from The 1963 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures.




Alfred Hitchcock was a rare creative artist in the movie business, but he had to function within the studio system for most of his career.  I wanted to document the way he fit in.   For this installment of the blogathon, I went through the 1933 World Film Encyclopedia, a British publication edited by Clarence Winchester. 



Many industries publish annual books which describe the people who work in them and what they have accomplished.  In the film industry, this was a useful way to determine whether someone who said he had worked for DW Griffth or CB DeMille really had.   Some of these yearbooks and many other valuable resources are available in the Media History Digital Library (http://mediahistoryproject.org/).

Most sources say Hitchcock was born in 1899.


Graham Cutts directed the movie we are raising funds for, The White Shadow, and Woman to Woman.   Hitchcock performed many tasks for both productions.  He also directed The Sign of Four, starring Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes. 


Betty Compson, an American actress, starred in Woman to Woman and The White Shadow. 

Robert Irvine's biographical sketch says he was discovered by Hitchcock.


Phyllis Konstam's entry says Hitchcock spotted her as an extra in Champagne and gave her a part in Murder


 John Longden was the leading man in Hitchcock's Blackmail.  He also appeared in The Skin Game and Juno and the Paycock.

"500 Famous Film Casts" does indeed list 500 movies and their casts.  Some Hitchcock films made the list.



Graham Cutts directed Woman to Woman.  Alma Reville edited.  Hitchcock wrote the script and served as art director and assistant director and met Alma Reville. 


Downhill was a silent, one of several films Ivor Novello did with Hitchcock.


Easy Virtue was another silent. 

Blackmail was the first British all-talkie. It was shot as a silent and then mostly reshot.  Leading lady Anny Ondra's accent was impossible, although there is a test reel of her talking to Hitchcock, so her lines were spoken off screen by Joan Barry. 

Murder, sometimes Murder!, was a rare Hitchcock whodunnit. 

The encyclopedia includes many interesting articles, such as "How Films Began" by Claude Friese-Greene, sone of William Friese-Greene, a pioneering experimenter and subject of the inaccurate biopic The Magic Box.


There are images of several famous actors, including this one of Charlie Chaplin in what appears to be a scene from City Lights.


Maurice Chevalier has always been a favorite of mine.


Mickey Mouse and an animator at work.

I did not know that Fay Wray had a dog named Kong.


Ivor Novello, actor, singer and songwriter, appeared in The Lodger and Downhill for Hitchcock.  Elizabeth Allan did not appear in The Lodger


A map shows the location of Hollwood.


Another map shows the locations of studios in Hollywood.


This map shows the locations of studios in Britain.


Thank you to Ferdy on Films (http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/), The Self-Styled Siren (http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/) and This Island Rod (http://thisislandrod.blogspot.com/) for organizing this blogathon. I'm having fun and learning. 


Please consider donating to the National Film Preservation Foundation. For the Love of Film III is raising money to place The White Shadow, a 1923 Graham Cutts movie on which Alfred Hitchcock served as assistant director, on the internet for free viewing.




Friday, February 17, 2012

The Highest Priced Picture Ever Shown in Corpus Christi! -- February 17, 2012

This week at the AMUSU (think about it) Theater in Corpus Christi, TX, Charlie Chaplin in The Kid, supported by Jack Coogan, also a Snub Pollard comedy and Literary Digest Topics of the Day.  Wow, what a show.  Chaplin's young costar was usually called Jackie Coogan; his dad was billed as Jack Coogan.   I wonder if The Kid was really "The Highest Priced Picture Ever Shown in Corpus Christi!"

From the 04-July-1921 Corpus Christi Caller.Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Slapstick #16 -- December 16, 2011

The Philadelphia Academy of Music is America's oldest active opera house.  This ad, from the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, 24-December-1921, describes a performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Richard Strauss, a Metropolitan Opera performance of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin, starring soprano Maria Jeritza, and a program of three Charlie Chaplin shorts, "Shanghaied," "A Dog's Life," and "Shoulder Arms."  I like the prices, 11, 22 and 33 cents in the morning and 11, 22, 33, and 44 cents in the afternoon.


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Slapstick #8 -- April 19, 2011

"With Mr. Charles Chapin as Archibald Binks, the inebriate." Charlie Chaplin made his first visits to America as a member of Fred Karno's pantomime company. Alf Reeves later worked closely with Chaplin on his movies. "Ladies' Night in a London Club" sounds like a variation on "The Mumming Birds," in which Chaplin played a drunk who repeatedly interrupted a variety show.

The ad, from his second US tour, comes from the 14-June-1913 Washington Times. I wish the photo had scanned more clearly.

Later that year, Chaplin signed a contract with Mack Sennett's Keystone company to go into the movies. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Note that Sunday, an out-of-town baseball game will be presented on a board in the theater.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Slapstick #7 -- March 20, 2011

The March, 1922 issue of Picture Show magazine featured an out-of-makeup portrait of Charlie Chaplin.

The image comes from the excellent site AceCovers:

http://www.magazine-covers.net/

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Slapstick #5 -- January 16, 2011

Charlie Chaplin was the first comedian to appear on the cover of Time Magazine, in a scene from The Gold Rush, on the 06-July-1925 issue.

The image comes from the excellent site AceCovers: http://www.magazine-covers.net/

Monday, November 15, 2010

Slapstick #3 -- November 15, 2010

Roscoe Arbuckle, who did not like to be called "Fatty," was a skilled comedian who started his movie career with Selig and Universal before he came to Keystone in 1913. While there he made many movies with Mabel Normand. They were a good team. He also helped Charlie Chaplin learn the ropes of working in movies. Like many of Mack Sennett's stars, Arbuckle left to get a raise. He made a series of short films that gave Buster Keaton his start in movies. Arbuckle moved up to feature films before getting tarred in a scandal in San Francisco. Even though he was found not guilty, his career was ruined. He returned to directing and eventually made a series of short sound films before he died in 1933.

The cover of the April, 1916 Film Fun comes from AceCovers: http://www.magazine-covers.net/
Buster Posey was named National League Rookie of the Year. Good choice.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Slapstick #1 -- September 27, 2010


Chester Conklin, sometimes called "Walrus" because of his moustache, had a long career in slapstick comedy. After playing in vaudeville, he joined Keystone and appeared as a Kop and supporting player. After working his way up to lead roles, Chet left Sennett in the usual contract dispute. He played in short comedies and supporting roles in features throughout the Twenties. He was teamed with WC Fields in a series of Paramount silents. He continued to work in small parts in the 1930s and 1940s. He died in 1971.

The cover of the September, 1916 Film Fun comes from AceCovers: http://www.magazine-covers.net/

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Mutoscope #4 -- August 15, 2010


I photographed Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand on a Mutoscope card in the Penny Arcade at Disneyland in July, 2010.

Abbey Lincoln died. A voice for justice.

Monday, June 7, 2010

New Chaplin Credit -- June 7, 2010

Paul E Gierucki of CineMuseum LLC discovered a previously unknown cameo by Charlie Chaplin in a Keystone comedy, "A Thief Catcher." Charlie appears as a Keystone Kop. The movie will be shown at this year's Slapsticon in Rosslyn, Virginia.

The cover of the August, 1915 Film Fun comes from AceCovers: http://www.magazine-covers.net/

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Chaplin and Fields -- May 23, 2010


Charlie Chaplin and WC Fields at the at the San Francisco Wax Museum, 04-August-2007. Chaplin was the greatest comedian and director and writer and everything else in silent movies. And sound movies. WC Fields started in vaudeville as a juggler and worked his way up to the Ziegfeld Follies. His film career began in silent movies, but sound allowed him to bloom.

It was very windy and cold today.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Killed By an Ostrich -- September 9, 2007


Please see my 13-January-2008 update at the bottom.

This post is part of The Slapstick Blog-a-Thon being coordinated by Thom at Film of the Year. My first post for the blog-a-thon was With Their Odd Little Youngster, "Buster". My second post was Fred Karno's Army.

For the third time, I am taking advantage of the recent work of the Library of Congress, which has digitized a sampling of newspapers from 1900-1910 as a pilot for its Chronicling America project. I wanted to see where silent movie slapstick performers came from.

Many silent comics started their careers by imitating Charlie Chaplin. Harold Lloyd created Lonesome Luke by trying to do everything the opposite: tight trousers instead of baggy, a big coat instead of a tight one, a thin moustache instead of a toothbrush. Billy West imitated Chaplin almost exactly. Both men moved on to adopt other characters. Harold Lloyd did pretty well with his career.

Billie Ritchie, on the other hand, claimed he was wearing the tramp costume two or three years before Chaplin was born in 1889, and that Chaplin was imitating his act. He may have had a point. Much of the information I found about Billie Ritchie came from Robb Farr's wonderful Mug Shots website, which appears to have gone out of business.

William Monro was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 05-September-1874. He was performing professinally as early as 1887. He worked for Fred Karno, playing many of the roles that Chaplin later took, including the drunk in "Mumming Birds"/"A Night in an English Music Hall".

Ritchie left Karno and travelled the world performing in slapstick shows. Here is an ad from the Washington Times, 11-October-1908 for a show in a burlesque theater. This was during the period when burlesque focused more on broad comedy.




Here is an ad from the Washington Times, 08-September-1909 for a show at the same theater. Notice that the show, "A Night in a Music Hall", must have derived from Karno's production.


Ritchie claimed that he had played the drunk character 5,000 times. Here is an item about the show from the same edition:

The Gayety -- "Vanity Fair."
The latest musical entertainment that is to hold the boards at the Gayety Theater next week is called "Vanity Fair," which has been chosen as a fitting medium for the introduction of the Ritchie London Comedy Company, a band of players who are without a peer in their particular branch of work andwho were one of the real hits last season when they presented their world-famous travesty called "A Night in a London Music Hall." The company includes Billie Ritchie, Dick McAllister, Clark and Turner, Nelda Noble, the Cycling Brunettes, Winifred Francis, Charles Cardon, and a chorus of thirty show girls and "ponies." An extra added attraction is Conchitte, the world-renownedHindoo nautch dancer.

A nautch dance is apparently an adaption of some dance from India.
After Chaplin's early success, movie producers signed Ritchie. He started to make L-KO Comedies under director Henry "Pathé" Lehrman in 1914. In 1917, Ritchie moved with Lehrman to Fox/Sunshine Comedies.

Not many of Lehrman's films survive, but he is known for making rough and ready slapstick comedies. Ritchie's character did not grow the way Chaplin's did.

Ritchie's career was cut short in what sounds like a scene from a slapstick movie. In fact, it was a scene from a slapstick movie. While shooting a scene in 1919, he was attacked by one or more ostriches. Ritchie was seriously injured, and never recovered. He died in 1921.




I'd like to say a final thanks to Thom for organizing the Slapstick Blog-a-Thon. I've had fun writing these articles, and had even more fun reading the articles written by other people.


Update 13-January-2008: I joined a mailing list about silent comedians (http://www.silentcomedians.com/). What did I find there but a thread started by Frederica Merrivale entitled "I'm Going to Miss Thse Ostriches." She dug up a copy of Ritchie's death certificate and found that the cause of death was listed as stomach cancer. I shouldn't say I am sad to hear that. Sometimes the stories play better than the truth, but the truth is better to know.



Saturday, September 8, 2007

Fred Karno's Army - September 8, 2007







This post is part of The Slapstick Blog-a-Thon being coordinated by Thom at Film of the Year. My first post for the blog-a-thon was With Their Odd Little Youngster, "Buster".




"Fred Karno's Army" is an expression that still turns up in the UK. According to phrases.org, "'Fred Karno's Army', meaning a chaotic outfit, became enshrined in the English language" during World War I, when soldiers sang songs like:

We are Fred Karno's army,
We are the ragtime infantry.
We cannot fight, we cannot shoot,
What bleeding use are we?
And when we get to Berlin
We'll hear the Kaiser say,
"Hoch, hoch! Mien Gott, what a bloody rotten lot,
Are the ragtime infantry."

(Thanks to The Britannia and Castle/Norfolk Section for the lyrics. Visit their site to hear the tune.)

Again I am taking advantage of the recent work of the Library of Congress, which has digitized a sampling of newspapers from 1900-1910 as a pilot for its Chronicling America project. I wanted to see where silent movie slapstick performers came from.

In this article, I will discuss a man who employed Charlie Chaplin, Charlie's brother Sydney, and Stan Laurel (then known as Stan Jefferson) at the same time: music hall impresario (isn't that a great word? I'd like to be an impresario some time) Fred Karno.

Fred Westcott was born in Exeter, UK, in 1867. He left home and went into show business as an acrobat. He changed his name to Karno somewhere along the way. Fred worked his way up in the business and gained great fame as the producer of music hall pantomime shows. Pantomime in this sense is not silent, like mime. It is a tradition of comedy, still commonly performed around the holidays in the UK, involving song, spoken dialogue, and physical slapstick. At any one time, Karno had several companies touring the theatres in Britain and other countries. His headquarters became known as the Fun Factory. Some sources claim that the pie-in-the-face-gag was a Karno creation.

Karno signed Chaplin's older half-brother, Sydney, in 1906. Sydney persuaded Karno to sign Charlie in 1907 or 1908. Stan Jefferson joined Karno in 1910 and served as Charlie's understudy. That is a pretty good roster of talent.

I found some newspaper clippings reporting on a Karno company travelling in the United States, but they were from before 1910, when Karno sent Chaplin and Laurel to America for the first time. While Charlie toured America for the second time, he caught the eye of movie producers, and was signed by Keystone in 1913.

Here is an advertisement from the New York Sun, 09-June-1906.


Notice that the manager of the Jardin de Paris was Flo Ziegfeld, and that the first-ever edition of the Ziegfeld Follies was going to be opening soon.

Karno's troupe was performing "A Night in an English Music Hall", one of their most popular shows. In Britain it was called "Mumming Birds". Chaplin played a drunken audience member who disrupted the music hall show-within-a-show. Chaplin adapted the story and played the same role in his Essanay comedy "A Night at the Show".

The same issue of the New York Sun carried a brief item about the program. Roof garden theaters were popular in New York before air conditioning. "Living pictures" were not movies, but people who posed in tableaux representing works or art or historical scenes.




The third of the roof gardens the Jardin de Paris on the roof of the New York Theatre, announces these attractions: Mlle. Dazie, Fred Karno's pantomime troupe in "A Night in an English Music Hall" Celia Galley, the Four Mortons, the Stewart Sisters and the living pictures.



Here is an advertisement from the New York Sun, 10-May-1908.





"Early Birds" was another of Karno's popular shows. Many US ads refer to it as "Slums". Eva Tanguay was a major vaudeville headliner. Note that Vitagraph motion pictures are included on the bill.

Here is a New York Sun item about the show:



Eva Tanguay will be the headliner at Percy G. Wiliams's Orpheum this week, when she will appear in her cyclonic act. Karno's "Slums" will amuse. Pat Rooney and Marian Bent are a singing and dancing duo. La Gardenia is a Spanish dancer, and she is assisted by troubadours, mandolin players. Julius Tannen is a monologist Lee Amatis is a musical act. Coram is a ventriloquist. The Jack Wilson Trio is scheduled, while the Bessie Valdare troupe are bicyclists.


Stan Laurel said "Fred Karno didn't teach Charlie and me all we know about comedy, he just taught us most of it. Above all, he taught us to be supple and precise. Out of all that endless rehearsal and performance came Charlie, the most supple and precise comedian of our time." It is ironic that the name of a man who taught precision above all became a synonym for a disorganized mob. Thanks to the Sherwood Times for the quote.

The movies ruined the music hall business and Karno went broke.

Coming up next: Other people imitated Charlie Chaplin. Billie Ritchie said that Chaplin was imitating him.