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Movie Profiles & Premiums Newsletter Vol.3 #11
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Cliff Aliperti
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May 31, 2005 23:16 PDT
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Movie Profiles & Premiums Volume 3, Number 11. May 31, 2005
Brought to you by http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com
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FIRST REEL:
It felt like May rushed by until I sat down to work on this and it
occurred to me that it's been awhile since the last issue. Time to
brainstorm and see if I can recall all of the changes during the past
month relating to the site.
First the Catalog movie is just about complete. I'd say about 90-95% of
the items that I have prepared listings for have now been moved to the
eBay store. Many prices have been lowered from original prices in the
Marketworks Catalog. If you're interested in shopping here's the new
catalog link: http://stores.ebay.com/things-and-other-stuff?refid=store.
I believe that the home page redesign has taken place since our last
issue. I'm very pleased with it, I'm no expert but I think I put
together an eye-pleasing and quicker loading page using my web editing
software (Front Page 2002 to the curious). Here's the home page:
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com.
I mentioned the Auction Notes Supplement to this Newsletter last issue.
The Supplement contains nothing but quick notes and a few images of
items for sale during the coming week on eBay. I send it out weekly,
Saturday or Sunday. If you're not receiving it and would like to,
please send me a request at thi-@things-and-other-stuff.com. Please
refer to "Auction Notes," even place it in the subject line if you can.
I also made a page on the site which shows a sample of one of the early
issues (format has changed ever so slightly since then), here's a link
to that: http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/auction%20notes.htm.
We have added a link to a Forum on the home page. I tried this out
myself once a few years ago with little response, so Carly Svamvour, who
contributes our Crossword Puzzles each issue, has graciously opened up a
spot for us on her Boards to chat about movies. This particular forum
category was originally dedicated solely to books, but Carly and her
husband, Jeff, have modified it to "Books & Movies" and invited you in
if you please. Carly is particularly interested in discussing Movies
adapted from Books, but I believe it's fine to discuss other vintage
movies over there as well. I've started a topic on the classic "Dinner
at Eight" that has already generated some conversation with Jeff and has
morphed into a James Cagney discussion. Come on over!
Books & Movies Forum:
http://wildcity.proboards14.com/index.cgi?board=Books
Dinner at Eight Topic:
http://wildcity.proboards14.com/index.cgi?board=Books&action=display&thread=1117469802
Again, no more detailed descriptions of current auction items in this
newsletter, as that is the purpose of the Auction Notes Supplement, but
I do want to provide you with the following links each issue:
All eBay Auctions:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsascsZ1QQsassZthingsQ2dandQ2dotherQ2dstuff
eBay Store:
http://stores.ebay.com/things-and-other-stuff?refid=store
On to our show, in summary, here are the opening credits...
1. June Ladies, A Crossword Puzzle by Carly Svamvour
2. Solution to May Babies, A Crossword Puzzle by Carly Svamvour
3. Janet Gaynor by Gina LoBiondo
4. Photo ID Guide: circa 1922 Color Tobacco Cards (U.K.)
5. The Garden of Eden: A Review by Diana Savage
6. The Silent Collection featuring Gertrude McCoy by Tammy Stone
Our previously mentioned forum operator, Carly Svamvour, returns with
her latest Crossword, June Ladies, and we make available the solution to
last issue's May Babies puzzle (it's been quite a wait for some of
you!). I want to draw special attention to the Janet Gaynor piece. I
really enjoyed this one, submitted by Gina LoBiondo (a first-time
contributor) relating how Janet Gaynor affected Gina's life and sharing
a bit of correspondence with us. This is a shortened piece from a
longer 25-page memoir Gina has available, though it is quite long from
what we're used to. Gina first published this piece in The Silent Film
Annual, Vol. VIII, 2000. Following that, I have made up a new Photo ID
Guide covering a set of the most beautiful tobacco cards I've yet to
come across. Diana Savage is back with another review, this time it's
1928's The Garden of Eden which starred Corinne Griffith and Charles
Ray. Finally, Ms. Reliable, Tammy Stone finishes things off with the
latest edition of The Silent Collection, this issue featuring Gertrude
McCoy.
I've been stalling completion of this issue tonight because I wanted to
include new slide shows featuring Janet Gaynor and Gertrude McCoy.
Unfortunately this is going to have to wait (probably until the weekend
now) as my image host is taking care of some maintenance issues right
now. Thanks for the great timing guys! Anyway, the templates for the
page are complete, if you'd like to check back later here are the links:
Janet Gaynor:
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/photogallery/gaynorjanet.htm
and
Gertrude McCoy:
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/photogallery/mccoygertrude.htm
I wanted to set up the template pages for you because that way I know
I'll get around to completing the slide shows sooner rather than later.
I hate when projects slip away!
Spencer Shannon is back with another Top 10 list. This time it's War
Movies in honor of yesterday's holiday, Memorial Day. Feel free to
reply with your own list of War Movies or any other list you'd like to
send. Write to thi-@things-and-other-stuff.com. Without further
ado...
By Spencer Shannon-(AFI member/Variety's "Oscar-0racle!")
My personal top 10 all-time War Movies:
(* denotes Oscar winner)
1) "Apocalypse Now" (1979) NOTE: PREMIERE Magazine, also voted this the
greatest in an early 1990's survey. It's reputation has gained with
time.
2) "Saving Pvt. Ryan" (1998) Spielberg's somewhat follow-up to his
tremendous *"Schindler's List". & like that masterpiece, this has some
astonishing sequences! Plus, the '98 Oscars are considered a complete
rip-off, in this losing the biggie to *"Shakespeare in Love?"
*3) "The Deer Hunter" (1978) Swept the 1978 Academy Awards & ironically
*John Wayne presented the Best Picture winner. His '68 "Green Berets"
on same war in Vietnam is considered awful by most. The Duke's final
public appearance, at only about 170lbs ravaged by cancer, he only lived
another 2 months.
*4) "Platoon" (!986) Oscar sweeper of '86 and widely ranked as the most
accurate film on same above war to it's date.
5) "The Great Escape" (1963) Some may rate this more of an Adventure
film. In any case, tremendous movie-making & contains 1 of the most
legendary music-scores ever! Ridiculously only 1 nom. for Editing?
Based on a true story.
*6) "From Here to Eternity" (1953) (Columbia) Yet another war pic. to
sweep it's Oscar year & big time, with 8 Academy Awards.
7) "Paths of Glory" (1957) (UA) The main movie to put Kubrick on the
map. Although completely ignored by Hollywood/AMPAS when nomination time
came around? PS: See the great 1980 Aussie war-film: "Breaker Morant"
It virtually has same storyline.
8) "Battleground" (1949) (M-G-M) Most WWII vets rate this, "Pvt. Ryan"
& 1945's "Story of G.I. Joe" as most realistic of WWII.
9) "The Longest Day" (1962) Mammoth production on 1944 Normandy
Invasion. Though not as realistic/graphic as "Pvt. Ryan" still a great
movie.
10) "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) (Columbia) *David Lean's 1st
big OSCAR sweeper & ironically it shoulda' been in competition with
aforementioned Kubrick film. However, still a grand film! Winner of 7
overall & also loosely based on a true incident)
As usual, Spence thanks you all and asks for my own list of War Movies.
Hmm, not my favorite genre, so I'm going to decline the request for a
list and just jot down some honorable mentions: "Gone With the Wind"
(1939), "Sergeant York" (1941), "Hell's Angels" (1930), "Wings" (1927),
"The Big Parade" (1929) starring John Gilbert, Eisenstein's "Battleship
Potemkin" (1925), and then a couple of my personal favorites just to
mention the film titles: "To Be or Not to Be" (1942) How they got away
with making a comedy about Hitler during World War II I'll never know,
but it really works! I can't recall but I think this made my Comedies
list last month too! And "Desparate Journey" (1942) with Ronald Reagan
acting goofy and Errol Flynn acting quite serious.
There you go, and here we go into the time tunnel:
#
June Ladies, A Crossword Puzzle
By Carly Svamvour
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/ENTERTAINMENT/ASTOS/puzzles/053105%20puzzle.htm
Access this issue's new crossword puzzle at the link above. Answers to
be revealed next issue. For the solution to last issue's puzzle,
May Babies, click the following link:
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/ENTERTAINMENT/ASTOS/puzzles/043005%20solution.htm
Carly Svamvour is a writer who makes her home in the west end of
Toronto, Canada. She has published her poems, short prose pieces and
puzzles in many places throughout Canada and the U. S. A. She is
currently working on her photo-journals with an eye to success at being
a travel writer. See more of Carly at Wild City Times - click here
(http://wildcity.proboards14.com/index.cgi?action=logout) for the
magazine and online writing workshop.
#
Janet Gaynor: "Star, Legend, Friend & Faerie God-Mother"
By Gina LoBiondo
Unless you're a die-hard movie buff or are over the age of fifty, many
folks today have no idea who Janet Gaynor was. She was a Star in the
truest sense of the word, but for me, personally, she was much, much
more than that. She was my friend, teacher and the greatest influence
on my life of anyone I've ever known. This is our story.
It all began back in 1973 when our local Public Television station began
airing a "Silent Film Festival" every weekend. One night they aired a
film that would, ultimately, change the course of my life. It was
called "Seventh Heaven" and it starred a very young woman (barely 20!)
named Janet Gaynor and a six-foot-two stud called Charles Farrell. It
was a simple, sweet little love story--she was Diane, a physically and
emotionally abused waif who is rescued reluctantly by Chico, one of the
most perfect specimens of manhood I've ever seen! These two lost souls
eventually fall in love and, despite appearances to the contrary, the
film has a happy ending.
While I never forgot the film, the name of its young starlet was soon
forgotten. Two years later, however, in November 1975, my brother and I
were spending the weekend at our grandmother's house when a film came on
TV. It was a Selznick International Production, the 1937 original
version of "A Star is Born." I knew nothing about the film and thought
it to be an earlier version of Natalie Wood's "Inside Daisy Clover."
As it began I beheld it's star, an incredibly beautiful woman with
tightly curled auburn hair and large, expressive brown eyes. Something
about her was more than a little familiar and I took a peek at the TV
book to see who she was. It was then that I learned her name--Janet
Gaynor. Ironically, at 2:00 am the next morning a New York station was
airing "Seventh Heaven" and that's when I made the connection. Could
this really be the same woman who had won my heart playing Diane?
From that night on I was hopelessly attached to her and when I went back
tos chool on Monday went to the library first thing, before even going
to homeroom. I told the librarian who I wanted to look up and she was
most helpful, suggesting a book by Robert James Parish called "The Fox
Girls." I found it in no time and, sure enough, there was an entire
chapter on Janet. Eagerly I began to read--she was born on October 6th,
1906 on Wister Street in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, the
younger of two girls. She'd made 35 films between 1926 and 1939,
starting out several years earlier in two-reel comedies as an extra and
ending up one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood at the time she
retired, making well over $100,000 a picture. She was the first actress
to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in
"Seventh Heaven," "Sunrise" and "Street Angel." Years later she was
even considered by David O. Selznick to play the part of the virtuous
Melanie in "Gone With the Wind." Doing some quick math I realized at
the time she was 69 years old and I couldn't help but wonder what she
looked like.
Looking up at the clock I realized to my horror that I had five minutes
to get to homeroom! Quickly, I checked the book out and raced to class
with only moments to spare. It was a close call but definitely well
worth it. A week later I returned to the library and photocopied the
entire chapter, photos and all. It became the first of many items in my
scrap book.
The years passed and I continued to collect more articles and photos.
On May 6th, 1978, Janet made and appearance on the 50th Annual Academy
Awards broadcast, presenting Diane Keaton with her Best Actress Oscar
for "Annie Hall." The memory of that night remained in my heart and
would sustain me until November 1979 when, three years after I'd seen
her in "A Star is Born," a headline appeared in the no defunct
Philadelphia Bulletin. It said simply--"Comeback for Gaynor." My eyes
were glued to the page as I continued to read--Janet Gaynor, after a
41-year retirement, was to star in a Broadway play by Colin Higgins.
The play was called "Harold and Maude" and it was to open at the Martin
Beck Theatre on January 28, 1980.
On February 2, 1980, the day I was to see "Harold and Maude," I awoke a
nervous and excited wreck! As my mother and I took the Amtrak from
Philadelphia to New York my excitement grew until I felt I would burst!
Finally, after a brief ride on the subway and a short walk we were
standing in front of the Martin Beck Theatre. I wanted to buy my mother
a ticket but she doesn't particularly care for the theatre so she
planned to take a stroll around, perhaps do some shopping, and meet me
in the lobby when the show was over.
I don't even remember walking into the theatre but suddenly I was in Row
A, Seat 106. The lights went down, the curtain rose and the most
enjoyable two hours I can remember began. Janet was absolutely
wonderful as Maude and I laughed so hard I cried. She'd changed a lot
from the photos in my scrapbook--she was 73 years old, plump, cheerful
and her hair was as white as snow, but the quiet power I'd always sensed
in her was still there.
When the show ended at 4:00 pm I met Mum in the lobby as promised and
together we went to wait by the stage door, hoping to catch a glimpse of
Janet or one of the other actors. There were about a dozen or so people
waiting with us. At last she came out, wrapped up in a heavy coat with
a light green scarf around her head--after all, New York City in
February is a heck of a lot colder than Palm Springs, California!
The stage manager, a mountain of a man, escorted Janet to the limo
parked at the curb. Just before she reached it I managed to squeeze
past him to find myself standing right next to her. Putting my hand
gently on her arm I asked if she had gotten the engraved gold locket I'd
sent her for Christmas. Well, that dear lady's whole face lit up, like
the sun bursting through storm clouds, and she got so excited I thought
for sure she was going to take off like a rocket into orbit! She smiled
radiantly at me and I could tell how glad she was that we'd met. Then
Janet did something I'd never expected--she squeezed my hand. In that
moment I felt such a tremendous warmth coming from her, a feeling that
reached into the very core of my soul, and I knew that I'd come face to
face with a higher intelligence!
Somehow, through my dazzled brain, I heard Janet say softly, "Yes, I
did, but I haven't had a chance to send a thank you note." I heard
myself reassure her that it was okay, then she signed the cover of my
Playbill, hopped into her car and was gone.
Sadly, "Harold and Maude" closed a week later after only 17
performances. On February 22 I called home from work during my lunch
hour as I usually did and Mum excitedly told me, "You got a letter from
Janet Gaynor!" Needless to say I couldn't keep a straight face the rest
of the day and would break into a huge grin whenever no one was looking.
I never thought 5:30 would ever come, but at last it did and soon I was
reading the following letter:
Feb. 18, 1980
Dear Leia,
Thank you so very much for that lovely little locket.
I was very sorry not to be able to stop and say a few words with
you but if I stopped for one person I would have to talk or autograph
for all the others and would never get away.
I am sure you understand.
Again, many thanks and with warm good wishes
Janet Gaynor
Before you folks get totally confused I must explain that "Leia" was a
nickname I'd acquired in Summer Stage when the others in my Little
Theatre class decided I looked like Carrie Fisher, who played Princess
Leia in the "Star Wars" films. Since I was hell-bent on a theatrical
career at the time I came up with the stage name of "Leia Anderson," all
of which I had explained to Janet. She obligingly agreed to call me
Leia, much to my delight.
Once again the months came and went and Janet and I continued our
correspondence, beginning with a New Year's wish from her. I was to
wind up doing the majority of the writing, but I didn't care. I
understood that she had her own life. She traveled and worked on her
paintings and a new resurgence began in her acting career. Between
January 1981 and September 5, 1982 Janet appeared in an episode of "The
Love Boat" with Lew Ayres, opened in "On Golden Pond" as Ethel Thayer
and gave delightful interviews with Merv Griffin and on the PBS series
"Over Easy."
It was just after the taping of this last interview that all our lives
would be forever altered. Janet, her husband, Paul Gregory, Mary Martin
and their friend Ben Washer were in a terrible accident. The cab in
which they were going to dinner was rammed broadside by a drunken
degenerate's speeding van. The cab spun out of control and wrapped
itself around a tree. In the aftermath, Ben Washer was dead and Paul
Gregory and Mary Martin were left with bruised organs and broken bones.
The worst of the injuries, however, was inflicted on my darling Janet.
She had caught the impact of Washer and Martin's bodies and the result
was devastating: 11 broken ribs (the human body only has 12!), a broken
collar bone, a ruptured bladder, a bleeding kidney, multiple pelvic
fractures and on top of all of that, her feet were mangled. Within
minutes they were rushed to the trauma center at San Francisco General
Hospital and Janet was listed in critical condition. She was fighting
for her life with every bit of will she had, but her doctors had little
hope of her living through the first few days. They took her into
surgery to try to repair some of the damage. It lasted five hours and
in that time she needed ten pints of blood.
The night I heard of the accident I didn't sleep a wink. I kept
fighting for my friend's life, praying she would make it, willing her
with my own spirit, my own soul, to survive! The Goddess, or perhaps
the Fates, I don't know which, smiled on us and Janet make it. She
stayed in the hospital for four months, during which time she had six
more operations. At last, in January 1983, my friend went home to the
Singing Trees Ranch in Palm Springs to complete her recovery.
Over the next 18 months Janet was on a rollercoaster ride. For every
step forward she took to complete recovery, she'd take two steps back.
Finally, as hard as her spirit continued to fight for her life, her body
was unable to any longer and Teacher, as I had come to affectionatly
call my friend, journied to the House of the Dead at 1:45 am Pacific
time on September 14, 1984, with Paul and her son Robin by her side.
She was three weeks from her 78th birthday. Her attending physician,
Dr. Bart Apfelbaum, listed the cause of her death as pneumonia, renal
failure and other complications caused directly by the accident in San
Francisco two years prior.
It's been over twenty years now since Janet died in Palm Springs and not
a day has gone by that I don't think of her or miss her, especially when
I think of all of the things I could have shared with her. After her
death Jimmy Stewart was quoted as saying that she was a great lady and
that as long as movies survive she'll never be forgotten. He was right.
I know for sure that I'll never forget her and my goal now is to see
that "Seventh Heaven," "Street Angel," "Lucky Star" and every one of
Janet's films that have survived is fully restored and released on home
video, maybe with a little help from genius composer Lord Andrew Lloyd
Webber, who I would love to see get his hands on some of them. Janet
Gaynor was more than just my idol. As I've said, she was my closest and
dearest friend, and I'll love her until both time and the universe cease
to exist.
#
Gina LoBiondo offers a 25-page expanded memoir about her friendship with
Janet Gaynor. To own a copy send $5 to cover costs to: Gina Lo Biondo,
105 Green Briar Lane, Havertown, PA 19083-2833.
#
Photo ID Guide:
Circa 1922 Color Tobacco Cards from the U.K.
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/ENTERTAINMENT/prices%20realized%20ID%20folder/1922%20mys.htm
Click the link above for images & details!
A colorful and early British Tobacco set featuring many big American
stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Constance & Norma
Talmadge, Tom Mix, William S. Hart and several others. More information
and a 22-image slide show are featured on the Photo ID Page.
#
The Garden of Eden
A Review by Diana Savage
Date: 1928
Country: USA
Director: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Corinne Griffith, Louise Dresser and Charles Ray
Review based on Flicker Alley (2002) version.
Flicker Alley: http://www.flickeralley.com/
Balance, that was the first word that came to mind after watching this
film. “The Garden of Eden” (referred to as GoE from this point forward)
provided a good balance between the serious, romantic, and comic. GoE
was nicely balanced between melodrama and dramatic, a rare balance in
any era. The film is carefully setup as a serious film and the comedy
slowly and unobtrusively creeps in, without turning silly, at least so
the conscious mind notices. GoE is not a classic, but is a good solid
film better than most films and well worth watching multiple times.
Corinne Griffith as Toni LeBrun shines. Louise Dresser as the secret
baroness, Rosa, puts in a solid performance. Charles Ray escapes his
normal hick role even if the naïve innocent aura still hangs over him.
Maude George plays the bad woman excellently. We do not see much of her
but she provides a wonderful example of the silent era’s predatory woman
stereotype.
GoE was adapted by Avery Hopwood from a Broadway play. It is a romantic
comedy and maintains a wonderful balance between the two. The film moves
at a stately pace quite different than the frantic pace of a Keystone
comedy. GoE is punctuated by humorous vignettes such as Griffith’s and
Ray’s light blinking game or “Baron” D’Arvil being served seagull
instead of squab. The picture could easily have descended into silliness
but the pacing by the director Lewis Milestone, of “All Quiet on the
Western Front” (1930) fame, with the help of the expert orchestration of
Richard Isreal kept that from happening. All the actors approach the
material with dead, but not leaden, seriousness. It was not till my
second viewing of the movie that I became aware of how much of the film
is actually devoted to comedy.
Structurally the film is divided into three sub-movies which could
almost be played independently. The first portion is Toni LeBrun’s
experience at the “Palais de Paris,” a cabaret that she naively thinks
is an opera hall. Until D’Arvil’s attempt to “seduce” Toni, half way
through the cabaret sequence, the movie is indistinguishable from a
drama or melodrama. This impression is reinforced by the highly symbolic
scene where Toni, standing in a garbage strewn street, first sees the
Palais de Paris. As Toni looks on the camera lingers on a garbage can
with the Palais de Paris name on it.
It is at the Palais de Paris that Toni meets the delightfully wicked
Maude George playing the Cabaret owner, Madame Bauer. Madame Bauer is a
Marlene Dietrich like character who has gone wrong. Under her hard
exterior there is no heart of gold waiting to be thawed. Instead she is
a cigarette smoking business woman who doesn’t think twice about
exploiting the naïve Toni and pimping her out to “Baron” D’Avril. It is
also at the Palais de Paris that we meet Rosa, the secret Baroness.
Rosa’s heart inherited all the gold lacking in Madame Bauer’s heart.
Rosa befriends Toni. Griffith and Dresser are perfect foils for each
other, their expressive faces reacting wonderfully to each other.
The next movie segment concerns the wooing of Toni by rival uncle and
nephew. The former being the dapper Colonel Dupont, played by Edward
Martindel, and latter Richard Dupont, played by Charles Ray. Both actors
put in solid but uninspired appearances. Charles Ray had been a popular
actor in the 1910s under the direction of Thomas H. Ince. Charles was
more or less confined to the role of naïve country bumpkin who becomes
wise to the sins of the city and finally gets the girl he is too bashful
to speak too. By the time of GoE, Ray was well beyond that, He had left
Ince years before and had run his own production company until he was
bankrupted by the production of “The Courtship of Myles Standish”
(1923).
The setting for this segment is the Hotel Eden. The setting provides an
interesting back ground for humor moments as Toni unsophisticated
background is played off the sophisticated atmosphere of the hotel.
Watch those oysters! The setting also provides appropriate romantic
settings such as the garden, which the film is named after, or scenes
around the piano.
The last section of the film is also set in the Hotel Eden. The plot of
this section deals with Toni’s wedding. No significant new characters
are introduced in this portion of the film, but D’Avril reappears as the
groom’s cousin. In the first segment, D’Avril is portrayed as a cad who
uses money to buy respectability. In the second segment he is portrayed
as noble at heart but with a weakness for woman. D’Avril refuses to
reveal the bride’s secret and ultimately chiding his cousin for
listening to his title chasing relatives. This piece of hypocrisy can
easily pass one by but does stand at sharp contrast to the scene where
D’Avril is first introduced in the Palais de Paris. In that scene he
uses money to essentially appropriate a variety of noble titles from
baron to his grace.
GoE is in no sense a moral drama and bears no serious message. It is a
light hearted romantic comedy. It sustains very humorous acting while
remaining serious. GoE is a wonderful movie to watch on a night when one
wants to be entertained and humored but one is not up to a slap stick
farce.
Flicker Alley has added to this movie a fine assortment of extras. The
disk contains two shorts; “The Toy Shop” (1928), an entertaining
sentimental piece, and “Hollywood the Unusual” (1927), a Hollywood
promotional pieces that showcases unusual architecture of the dream
factory. Also included are text excerpts, lobby card stills, images from
GoE’s 1928 press book, cast biographies, promotional photographs and
production stills. Like the movie the disk is well balanced, all
together a disk well worth owning.
© 2005 Diana Savage
#
Diana Savage is a silent film buff and collector of early film
collectibles. The Garden of Eden is Diana's third submission in as many
issues to this newsletter.
#
The Silent Collection by Tammy Stone
Gertrude McCoy
For every silent film star that has become legendary if not iconic in
the ensuing decades, there are hundreds who worked tirelessly in the
industry for years, doing bit roles and even many starring ones while
remaining off the radar of movie stardom. Gertrude McCoy is one of these
hard-working actresses. She made endless films in the early silent years
before fading into obscurity a year before the first talkie was made,
and it’s through actresses like her that we can trace the inner workings
of the new and growing medium of moving pictures.
Gertrude was born Gertrude Lyon on June 30, 1890 in Sugar Valley,
Georgia. The story has it that she started performing at a very early
age, making quite a name for herself as a child star on the vaudeville
stage before heading off for a life on the big screen. Of course, there
were stars in vaudeville, but the world prior to mass production was a
completely different beast, and no one knew yet just how big stars could
get. It’s one thing to be a key attraction in a nightly show, and
another altogether to have your face projected to millions of people at
the same time around the world.
In 1910, Gertrude was ready to give the movies a try. She became a
member of Thomas Edison’s company (aptly titled Edison Company). Since
this company gets mentioned a lot on these pages, perhaps the time has
come to give a little background on them, since they were key to the
development of motion pictures, and people like Gertrude wouldn’t have
had careers without them.
Thomas A. Edison, as we all know, was an inventor: we owe our everyday
use of lightbulbs to him, to name one example. In 1888, he turned his
inquisitive mind to the phenomenon of capturing and fixing light, and
the man who invented ways of capturing sound was quoted as saying the
following: “I am experimenting upon an instrument which does for the eye
what the phonograph does for the ear, which is the recording and
reproduction of things in motion .... .” To make a long story short, the
first movie camera was born in Edison’s lab. His assistant, William
Kennedy Laurie Dickson was an instrumental figure in this invention,
which came in two parts: the Kinetograph was the camera, and the
Kinetoscope was a sort of peep-hole contraption with which one viewed
films.
We say the word “films” now so often that we can easily forget that
films back then, during the first few years of capturing images on film
stock, barely resembled the concept of motion pictures we have today.
Edison’s company managed to make movies a hugely successful
entertainment industry within a decade of operations, but most of what
was being seen amounted to one or two reels (a few minutes) of
actualities (news) showing timely events of the day, disasters (sound
familiar?) travelogues, and eventually, mini-dramas. During this time,
technology developed so that people didn’t have to watch movies one by
one through Kinetoscopes, but in crowds at screenings projected to mass
audiences (like today). In other words, Edison’s company gave rise to
the movies as an entertainment phenomonen.
So this is where Gertrude, like so many of her contemporaries, comes in
to the picture. She joined Edison’s company, and made dozens upon dozens
of one- and two-reelers with them. She worked exclusively with Edison
for a number of years, making such films as Heroes Three, The Summer
Girl, Mike’s Hero (1911); Winnie’s Dance, Apple Pies, Annie Crawls
Upstairs (1912); The Title Cure, The Mountaineers, The Cabaret Singer
(1913); The New Partner, All For His Sake, and Andy Play’s Cupid (1914).
The story has it that Gertrude left Edison to freelance in 1914 after
three years of enormous and increasing success with the company, but her
filmography suggests otherwise. Through 1915, she made many more Edison
films, like On The Stroke of Twelve, Greater than Art, Through Turbulent
Waters, June Friday and Friend Wilson’s Daughter.
Titles, of course, don’t always give us a full sense of what these
actors and actresses were doing, despite the melodramatic and comedic
natures of these films as suggested by their names. Sometimes it’s not
what you do – especially in an era where there was such a quick
production turnover and so many films were being made – but who you do
it with. During these early, heady years, Gertrude had the pleasure of
co-starring with the likes of John R. Cumpson (who made literally
hundreds of films from 1905 until his early retirement in 1912); Charles
Ogle (who also made hundreds of films in the silent era, including
1923’s The Ten Commandments); Claire Adams (a silent starlet who will
grace these pages soon); Viola Dana (soon to be a huge star, she starred
with Gertrude in 1915’s The House of the Lost Court.
Among the first films Gertrude made without Edison was 1916’s The Isle
of Love, a drama co-starring Earl Schenck, whose career lagged in the
1930s but revived again in the early 1940s; Gertrude made this film with
Gaumont. She then made The Lash of Destiny (1916) with the Van Dyke Film
Corporation, The Silent Witness (1917) and Madame Sherry with the
Author’s Film Company. It should be said that leaving a exclusive
contract with a big company works for some people, but in Gertrude’s
case, the number of films she was making annually after leaving Edison
dropped substantially.
She did, though, have a few shining moments in the remainder of her
careers. In 1918, she played Light in the delightful first film version
of the classic, phantasmagoric Blue Bird – a Famous Players-Lasky
Corporation production – starring child actress Tula Belle. This was one
of the early films made by Famous Lasky, and really helped entrench them
as one of the great studios of the era. She also co-starred with Seymour
Hicks in the successful 1923 comedy Always Tell Your Wife, and made a
few more films before concluding her career in 1926 in the Cedric
Hardwicke vehicle Nelson, produced in England.
It seems like our lady Gertrude didn’t attempt a career in the sound
age. She married British actor/director Duncan McRae (brother of silent
film actor Bruce McRae. She passed away in her home state of Georgia on
July 17, 1967.
#
Tammy Stone is a freelance writer and journalist based in Toronto. Watch
for her regular column on the greats of the Silent Screen in each issue
of ASTOS. Tammy invites you to write her at tammyst-@yahoo.ca with
any questions or comments on her column.
#
End Credits:
Well, we're going to keep it monthly for a little while now, at least
through the summer. So for now plan on June 30, July 31, August 31
issues and then I'll see how it goes for September when planning,
perhaps back to two issues then. It's amazing, I keep having these
great ideas to save me time but somehow I end up with less every time I
implement something new. Oh well, I love doing this stuff, so I won't
complain--talk to you all June 30 or later this weekend for Auction
Notes subscribers, thanks!
As always feel free to e-mail any thoughts or ideas to us at
thi-@things-and-other-stuff.com, we're always willing to listen.
#
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