Born Today May 26: Arthur Marvin

1859-1911

Silent cinematographer Arthur Weed Marvin was born on this day in Warners, New York (for some reason the year of his birth is erroneously cited as being 1861 in a minority of sources). He was a camera operator at Biograph and he was the brother of Harry Marvin, the inventor of the Biograph camera and one of the founders of the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.  The very first film that he operated that camera on was A Bowery Cafe' in 1897; it was a short narrative film--which was the vision that the founders of the company had for their films.  Despite the narrative focus, very many of the films that Arthur shot were newsreel documentaries, possibly to field test the camera itself.   The first of these was The Christian Herald's Relief Station, Havana in 1898.  During 1899, he spent considerable time making a series of shorts featuring heavy weight boxing champion James Jeffries.  Also in 1899, he tested the camera in series of on-location shoots in the St. Clair Tunnel located in Michigan.  He would make his directorial debut in 1900 with the first known film adaptation of a Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with Sherlock Holmes Baffled.  Toward the end of his life, he would go on to shoot a few very early D. W. Griffith films, when Griffith was hired by Biograph.  Probably the best known of these is The Adventures Of Dollie, which happened to be Griffith's directorial debut.  The last film that he shot was Priscilla's Engagement Ring, a 1911 film featuring Mack Sennett. Marvin died on the 18th of January 1911 at the age of 51.  He died in Los Angeles, making him one of the earliest cinematographers to make the "film migration" out to the west coast.   He body was shipped back to New York, where he is buried in the Calvary Cemetery in Queens.  The next year, his nephew (Harry's son) lost his life aboard the Titanic, a tragic event that he thankfully didn't live to witness.  

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Born Today May 24: Muriel Ostriche

1896-1989

Silent film actress Muriel Ostriche (full name Muriel Henrietta Ostriche) was born on this day in in New York City.  From childhood she had planned on becoming a schoolteacher, but all of that changed when she was stopped on the street by director Christy Cabanne, who asked her to screen test for the American Biograph Co. (the studio that D. W. Griffith worked for).  Passing the test, she was hired by Biograph as an extra. The first film that she was in was indeed directed by Griffith.  A Tale Of The Wilderness, which came out in 1912, was one of his signature short westerns.  The first film that she received a named credit for was her very next film with Biograph; A Blot On The 'Scutcheon'  (1912) was a short melodrama also directed by Griffith.  To make ends meet, she started modelling for advertisements for the Moxie soft drink company.  After leaving Biograph, director Étienne Arnaud became her mentor, helping her hone her acting skills.  He elevated her from extra to supporting and a few starring roles in some of his films. A good example would be The Holy City (1912), a 20 minute bible epic in which she played Rebecca.  She kind of bounced around from one studio to another before finally settling at Thanhouser--where she starred in some her most notable roles.  Her first film for them was Miss Mischief (1913).  As her star rose, she developed a love for fancy restaurants.  One in particular was a dance club, where she found a young handsome immigrant actor from Italy struggling to find roles, so he supplemented his income by dancing.  A young Rudolph Valentino would often be her dance partner, with no one having the slightest clue that he would become the superstar of the 1920's that he did.  By the late 1910's her star was beginning to fade a bit.  She starred in a series "Betty" films in 1920; they were co-produced by her own company Muriel Ostriche Productions that she had founded.  The last film that she appeared in was in 1921 with The Shadow.  She then retired completely from acting.  Not only did her entire career occur within the silent era, she also never went to Hollywood, with all of her films being made in the original studio systems in Fort Lee, NJ and NYC.  She was one of the last movie stars of that old system.  She would go on to raise 4 children.  She died at the ripe old age of 92 on the 3rd of May 1989 in St. Petersburg Fla after some sort of short illness--just weeks shy of 93rd birthday.  She was buried in her native New York in the Flushing Cemetery in Queens under her married name of Copp.  

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Born Today February 18: Mór Jókai

1825-1904

Hungarian writer Mór Jókai was born Móric Jókay de Ásva in Komárom, Hungary (the town is now located in Slovakia) on this date in 1825.  He had nobility on both sides of his family.  He was home schooled until the age of 10, after which he was sent to a Calvinist college to complete his education.  After his father died when he was only 12, he followed his father's profession and studied the law.  He did become a full advocate; argued and won cases; but he found the law profession dull and boring, so he began writing.  He finished his first play when he was barely past the age of twenty.  In 1848, he married famed stage actress Róza Laborfalvi.  When war broke out that same year, he went into the service, but backed the Hungarian side to depose the Habsburg dynasty and was captured.  He actually planned to commit suicide to avoid being sent to prison, however he wife was able to secure his release instead.  He was after wards active in politics, especially later in life.  Amongst other accomplishments in his life, he can be counted as one of the earliest science fiction pioneers; his book (translated) The Novel Of The Next Century was oddly prophetic and included elements, such as flying machines.  He was proud to write in his native Hungarian language and was very much tied up with his Hungarian identity.  The first film to be made from his writings came in 1915 with The Hungarian Nabob, an American film produced by Biograph (it would be one of the only English language films to be made of his work as of this writing).  Biograph also produced another film from his work a year later:  The Iron Will (1916).  The first film to be produced in his native Hungary came in 1917 with Mire megvénülünk (a partial restored edition is available today).  In all, 13 films using his work as source material were produced in the silent era.  The first full sound film to utilize his work came in 1935 with the German produced The Gypsy Baron:  a musical.  Even animated films have used his writing for scenarios, such as the 1985 Hungarian film The Treasure Of Swamp Castle.  The most recent film to use his work for a screenplay, came in 2006, with the Hungarian made for television Melyiket a kilenc közül?.  Jókai died on 5 May 1904 in Budapest at the age of 79.  He is buried with his wife in Kerepesi Cemetery there.  

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Born Today September 10: Bessie Love

Bessie Love 1898-1986

Born Juanita Horton in Midland TX to a Anglo cowboy father and (I believe) a Tejana mother, the family first moved to Arizona and finally to Hollywood, where her mother actually sent her to Biograph Studios' location, then barely an outpost of the New York based studio company, to recommend herself to be in films because the family needed money.  Apparently her father's new chosen profession of chiropractor wasn't going very well!   It seems, that because her father was a former cowboy who got to know actor Tom Mix, Hollywood's very first famous movie cowboy (at the time he was way more influential and John Wayne would ever become).  Mix saw Juanita and told her mother that she should be in films, so off to Biograph she went and at just the right time, as directorial giant D. W. Griffith had made the move west to Hollywood from Fort Lee, N.J.  She met Griffith and he agreed that she would be good for motion pictures despite that she was still in high school.  He name, on the other hand, he didn't think was star material, so it was his idea to change it to "Bessie Love."  Her first film credit comes in 1915, but that has a HUGE question mark over it (I will get to below).  Certainly she actually did appear on the screen for the first time for real in 1916 after 7 acting jobs, at least three of which her name appears on the poster--one as an equal star--Griffith gave her a small role in his epic Intolerance.  At that point she dropped out of Los Angeles High School to pursue full time stardom (incidentally, she did complete the degree years later).  Apparently possessed of a rather strong spirit, she almost immediately took an active role in her career, rare for female actors of the time, never mind one who was not even and adult.  She promoted herself with live performances supporting military audiences (apparently some these involved a ukulele) and actively sought her own representation, finding a representative in Gerald C. Duffy who had been an editor of Picture-Play Magazine.  In 1929, on January 29, she married William Hawks, brother a director Howard Hawks, on his birthday.  Together they had a daughter in 1932, who, of course, also got into pictures.  They divorced in 1936.  She went on to work in talkies, so again, here is another untrained star from the silent era, who made a very successful transition into speaking role (one of the only women that I can think of that had a long career, who is still relatively unknown).  She worked for the Red Cross during the Second World War.  At some point she moved to London, England, where she passed away on the 26 April 1986 at the age of 87.  One of the things that really puzzles me personally, is that people regarded her later in life as the old lady that you talked to about silent era Hollywood, despite that she did work consistently almost up to the time of her death and in no small films either.  She was in three films alone in 1981:  Lady Chatterley's Lover, Ragtime, and Reds.  Oddly for such a horror buff like me, her very last role came in 1983 in one of my favorite vampire films The Hunger, starring David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon, directed by Tony Scott (RIP!), brother of Ridley.  Besides, she's my kind of lady, she stood all of 5 feet tall--well, like me!  Her ashes were either scattered or buried there near a cedar tree and she is remembered with a plaque at the Breakspear Crematorium in Ruislip, Greater London, England.

Her Silent Era Work:

Georgia Pearce (1915) (Okay, this is truly a strange one!  This is a title that no one can even find evidence that it was even made.  Some people list it as a hoax; I do not think it is.  It seems like a project that was planned and never filmed--there are a number of films that fall into a category of "unfinished" and do not belong to the "partially lost" category.  Because the title has such a long history of being listed for the three actresses involved--I believe it must be some sort of aborted production.  Either that, or it's a film that's been lost so long, like since 1917 or 1918 that no one has any clue that it ever really existed in the first place.  It's "wierd" and probably deserves it's own post.)

Acquitted (1916) (this one we know she was in!)

The Flying Torpedo (1916) (appears to the first film on which her name appears on the poster.  Also one of the first, if not the first, film to be set in the future....1921.)

The Aryan (1916) 

The Good Bad Man (1916)

Reggie Mixes In (1916) (Her first real starring role, opposite Douglas Fairbanks.)

The Mystery Of Leaping Fish (1916) (also with Fairbanks)

Stranded (1916)

Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through The Ages (1916)

Hell-To-Pay Austin (1916)

A Sister Of Six (1916)

The Heiress At Coffee Dan's (1916) (Her first top billed role)

Nina, The Flower Girl (1917)

A Daughter Of The Poor (1917)

Cheerful Givers (1917)

The Sawdust Ring (1917)

Wee Lady Betty (1917) (a haunted house drama)

Polly Ann (1917)

The Great Adventure (1918) (Directed by Alice Guy, considered to be the world's very first female directors.)

How Could You, Caroline? (1918)

A Little Sister Of Everybody (1918)

The Dawn Of Understanding (1918)

The Enchanted Barn (1919)

Carolyn Of The Corners (1919)

The Wishing Ring Man (1919)

A Yankee Princess (1919)

The Little Boss (1919)

Cupid Forecloses (1919)

Over The Garden Wall (1919)

A Fighting Colleen (1919)

Pageen (1920)

Bonnie May (1920)

The Midlanders (1920) (one of the first films co-directed by a man and a woman._

Penny Of Top Hill Trail (1921)

The Honor Of Ramirez (1921) (short)

The Swamp (1921)

The Spirit Of The Lake (1921) (short)

The Sea Lion (1921)

The Vermilion Pencil (1922)

Forget Me Not (1922)

Bulldog Courage (1922)

The Village Blacksmith (1922)

Deserted At The Altar (1922)

Three Who Paid (1923)

The Ghost Patrol (1923)

The Purple Dawn (1923) (lost film)

Mary Of The Movies (1923) (this is supposed to by the oldest surviving Columbia Pictures feature film.)

Human Wreckage (1923) (lost film)

The Eternal Three (1923) (lost film)

St. Elmo (1923)

Slave Of Desire (1923)

Gentle Julia (1923)

The Adventures Of Prince Courageous (1923) (a silent fantasy film)

Torment (1924)

The Woman On The Jury (1924)

Those Who Dance (1924)

The Silent Watcher (1924)

Dynamite Smith (1924)

Sundown (1924) (lost film, and makes me particularly sad, because it was released on the same day as what would many years later become my birthday--plus it's a western--my Dad would have loved it!  ;-()

Tongues Of Flame (1924)

The Lost World (1925) (a giant in the silent science fiction film world.  It was a major influence on the very young Ray Harryhausen--king of stop motion animation!!  It was hand tinted and also theme color toned, but was also shown in black and white as well.  If this had been a sound film, Bessie Love, and not Fay Ray, would have been the original scream queen!)

Soul-Free (1925)

A Son Of His Father (1925)

New Brooms (1925)

The King On Main Street (1925)

The Song And Dance Man (1926)

Lovey Mary (1926) (lost film)

Meet The Prince (1926)

Young April (1926)

Going Crooked (1926)

Rubber Tires (1927)

A Harp In Hock (1927)

Amateur Night (1927) (there is some dispute or debate as to whether she should be credited in this short film.)

Dress Parade (1927)

The American (1927)

The Matinee Idol (1928) (formerly lost film, directed by Frank Capra)

Anybody Here Seen Kelly? (1928)

Sally Of The Scandals (1928)

The Broadway Melody (1929) (Silent with a mono soundtrack by Western Electric one of the only musicals to have ever won the Best Picture Oscar--it is partially (slightly) lost)

The Idle Rich (1929) (early talkie, directed by William C. DeMille, sound by Western Electric)

The Girl In The Show (1929) (early talkie, sound by Western Electric)