Born Today September 6: Charles Giblyn

1871-1934

Prolific director (and actor) of and in silent films, Charles Giblyn was born on this date in Watertown, New York. Though mostly known as one of the founders of the Motion Pictures Director's Association dating from 1915, he was first an actor on the stage; he is known to have starred in a few Broadway productions at the turn of the 20th century. His first credit as a director dates from 1912 with the short western An Indian Legend, which came out in October and was produced by the Broncho Film Co. [affiliated with Essanay] and distributed theatrically by Mutual. Ironically, since he started out as an stage actor, it would be two years later that he would appear as an actor in a film (that he directed, of course): The Silent Messenger is a short drama about Italian village life where Giblyn plays a rather major role of the village doctor.  Probably his most notable (tongue-in-cheek) acting role had to be in the part of "Le Monde--The Film Star" in the Victor comedy The Nightmare of a Movie Fan (1915)--a film that he, of course, also directed.  Giblyn also dabbled in writing. His first produced (and self directed) scenario was The Brand Of Cain in 1914, a Powers Pictures Plays film. Giblyn's years active as a director span between 1913 and 1927 and number around 100, but the lion's share of those came between the years 1913 through 1916.  As film lengths stretched into the more modern "feature length" time frame (over 60 minutes), the number of films he directed gradually became less and less after 1917.  Over the years, he also worked for a number of different production houses; for example, the 1 hour and 10 minute lost drama The Price She Paid, which starred Clara Kimball Young (who he shares a birthday with), was written and directed for her company and distributed by Selznick Distributing.  In 1922, he founded his own production company, Albion.  Just before this, he was working at Fox--his stint there in the early 1920's looks to be his longest stay with a company (this is where he directed Pearl White in several films--see photo below).  The first film that he made under his own production umbrella was A Woman's Woman (1922) based on a Nalbro Bartley novel.  He would direct just six more films after this, the last of which was the Ladies Beware in 1927.  Many of the films that he directed have not survived; probably the most famous of these is the June 1925 release The Adventurous Sex starring Clara Bow.  One of his films that does survive that has a bit of a reputation outside the world of silent film buffs, is the dramatic horror film The Dark Mirror made for Famous Players-Lasky, which was released in May of 1920 and distributed by an early incarnation of Paramount.  After Giblyn quit directing, he continued to act in films.  He appeared in films from 1927 through 1934, with most of his roles coming in early talkies.  His first speaking role came 1929 in one of Warner Oland's first Fu Manchu full sound talkies The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu.  He also had a role in William A. Wellman's Woman Trap, also in 1929.  Most of the roles that he took after this point were in uncredited parts; the last film that he appeared in was This Side Of Heaven in 1934.  The film was released just weeks away from his death on the 14th of March in Los Angeles.  He is interred in the mausoleum at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Giblyn was married to silent actress Ernette Tamm, who, though she has only one credit on IMDb, actually appeared in several silent films before retiring. She is interred with him, but there is not marker for her on the tomb. 

Seen here on the left with actress Pearl White on the set of The Tiger's Club (Fox) in 1920.

Photo: Find A Grave

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