Born Today March 25: Binnie Barnes (Not So Silent edition)

 1903-1998

 

British born actress Binnie Barnes barely makes the list here, and if it were not for a little experimental film made in 1923, she would not. Binnie was born Gertrude Maud Barnes on this day in Islington (Great London), England. She had a whopping 15 siblings; the daughter of a policeman, she had a number of jobs before getting directly into show business, including nursing. It appears that a number of these jobs either contributed to her interest in acting as a career, or that she pursued as a result as that interest. In addition to working as a hostess in dance halls and similar venues, she got herself onto the stage via chorus lines when quite young. At the age of 20, she appeared in a little all sound film by Lee De Forest using his patented De Forest Phonofilm sound system. That film was simply entitled Phonofilm and dates from 1923.  She would not appear in a film again until 1931 when she had a role in the Leslie S. Hiscott (written and directed) mystery A Night in Montmartre. Barnes stayed in the British film industry until the mid 1930's, when she made the move to Hollywood; her first official American film was Universal's One Exciting Adventure in 1934. She was first billed opposite Neil Hamilton in the comedy, and though filmed at the Universal lot in California, the cast sported several British actors including Paul Cavanagh and Ferdinand Gottschalk. She would become a thoroughly American actor and, eventually, a naturalized citizen; most of her 80 acting credits came States-side. She worked steadily up through the 1940's; after which her work slowed. She only appeared on two television series during her career, the first in 1951 in the No will of His Own episode of the live "Lux Video Theatre" series on CBS; it was one of only six acting roles that she took during the entire decade (she appeared on the show again in 1953; she also had two appearances on The Donna Reed Show in the early 1960's).  She had just four acting roles in the 1960's and her last role came in 1973 in the Liv Ullmann comedy 40 Carats.  She then retired completely to her life in Beverly Hills, where she lived with her second husband, producer M. J. Frankovich, who was in fact the producer of 40 Carats.  She died in Beverly Hills on 27th of July in 1998 at the age of 95.  She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale in comic actor's Joe E. Brown family plot, along with her husband "Mike." 

[source: Carolyn A. (Find a Grave)]

[source: Tom and Carla (Find a Grave)]

[source: Tom and Carla (Find a Grave)]

IMDb 

Wikipedia 

Find a Grave entry

 

Born Today July 5: Jamie Darling

[Poster for David Copperfield (1913) in which he played Daniel Peggotty]

1850 (or 1951)-1934

Almost forgotten, British silent film actor Jamie Darling was born Thomas Dawson Walker on this day in Hull, England (interesting factoid: the town was located for a time in the ceremonial county of Humberside in the north eastern part of the country). There are scant biographical materials on him, but what is known is that he was a successful performer in musical theater in the Victorian music halls. He seems to have had at least one, possibly more stage names during this period of his life. He appears to have changed his name again to enter films.  His first film appearance (as far as we know) came when he was 60 or 61 years of age; that film was actually a milestone: an early full sound film featuring the  Cecil Hepworth invention the Vivaphone. Are We Down-Hearted? was a short full sound comedy directed by Frank Wilson and featured Madge Campbell. He was hired as a stock player for the Hepworth Co., and he stayed with them for the entirety of his film career; all of his film credits come from the Hepworth catalogue. Hepworth was the innovator of the feature length film in the UK and Darling was again part of history with his appearance in the company's 1 hour and 7 minute long version of Dickens' David Copperfield in 1913.  Of the 15 films that Darling acted in for Hepworth during the years 1911-1915, four of them were features: The Vicar of Wakefield (1913), The Cloister and the Hearth (1913) and another Dickens adaptation The Old Curiosity Shop (1913).  His last film was another short comedy: Cock 'o the Walk with Chrissie White in 1915. Darling/Walker died on the 10th of November 1934 in Norfolk at the age of 83 or 84. I can find no information on burial. 

[Still from The Vicar of Wakefield]

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Released On This Date: Eerie Tales (1919)

This little known German silent horror thriller had both a silent version and a sound version, quite the feat for the year of it's release 98 years ago today.  It stars a then little known actor by the name of Conrad Veidt... Below is the silent version of the film. 

Released On This Day In 1928--October 20th

THE TERROR (Sound Version) [This is a lost film]

The Silent Version was released earlier in the year on September 6th

Born Today September 5: Doris Kenyon

1897-1979

Actress Doris Margaret Kenyon was born on this day in Syracuse, New York, the daughter of a Methodist minister and  poet.  She got her start in front of audiences singing in choirs.  As she progressed in her college education, first locally, and later at Columbia in New York, her voice stood out more and more.  Eventually she was noticed by theater scouts.  She made her stage debut in 1915, and only a little there after, she made her film debut as well in The Rack, a film made and distributed under  the umbrella of World Pictures.  Her industry standard 1 year contract under World provided here with numerous film roles throughout 1916.  Released from contract she made films for various early studios including Vitagraph, Pathé Exchange and Alice Guy's Solax.  In 1918, she started her own production company (not uncommon for stars of means at the time) called De Luxe in which she starred in four films, one of which--Twilight (1919)--was directed by J. Searle Dawley.  When the 1920's dawned, she was still working on the east coast, a situation that she was loathe to change, despite that she began working for production companies that had more "action" on the west coast than the east.  Fond of the stage, amazingly, she was able to stay through a goodly part of the 1920's in the New York area; even starring in a New York Paramount Studio [Queens] film with a young Rudolph Valentino:  Monsieur Beaucaire in 1924.  The Blonde Saint (1926) appears to be the first film shot in California that she starred in; the film which starred Lewis Stone, was filmed on location at Laguna Beach.  She was barely in California two years before landing a role in a very early talkie by Warner Bros.:  The Home Towners, which is unfortunately a lost film, was released in 1928 with full sound by Vitaphone.  She only made one more film in the 1920's and that was yet another early talkie.  Interference, a Paramount film, also dates from 1928 with Kenyon rounding out a cast that included Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook and William Powell.  Having done in the 1920's what many silent stars had to deal with in the early 1930's, Kenyon's transition to all talking films was pretty well cemented by the time she made Beau Bandit, a romantic western, in 1930.  She continued to work in film steadily up through the mid-1930's, when her appearances slowed.  Her last film appearance before retiring and moving on to other ventures, was in The Man In The Iron Mask a film directed by James Whale.  Kenyon moved on to radio in the 1940's, playing a very successful role on NBC's soap opera Crossroads.  She made her television debut in the 1950's on the Schlitz Playhouse.  She made two more television appearances before retiring from acting altogether.  The last of these was in the Double Date episode of The Real McCoys airing in 1962.  She died of cardiac arrest in her home in Beverly Hills on September the 1st 1979, just four days before her 82nd birthday.  She is buried at the Glendale location of Forest Lawn.  Kenyon's first marriage was to silent film actor Milton Sills, who died in 1930--they had one son together.  Famed actress Doris Day was reportedly named of her.

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Wikipedia

Leave Virtual Flowers @ Find A Grave

Born Today July 3: George M. Cohan

1878-1942

George Michael Cohan, giant of the Broadway stage, and all round silent film renaissance man, was born on this day in Providence, Rhode Island.  Cohan pretty much did it all: he was a composer, he penned musicals, he was a stage and film actor, a film scenario writer, a librettist and he was also a motion picture producer.  He was even a big enough character to be played by several famous actors, with Mickey Rooney and James Cagney (who also played Lon Chaney Sr.) amongst them. Public records and baptismal records show that he was indeed born on the 3rd of July, but he and his family like to say that he was born on the 4th of July instead.  His parents were traveling vaudevillians and he himself was put on the stage by the age of 8--playing the violin and later as a troupe dancer.  By 1890, the family was touring under the name The Four Cohans; they continued to do this through the year 1901.  It was at this time that he and a sister made their Broadway debut.  Around this time, he coined his famous curtain exit speech "My mother thanks you, my father thanks you,, my sister thanks you, and I thank you."  Memories of a relatively happy childhood, especially the summers spent with Grandmother in North Brookfield, Mass off the touring circuit inspired his popular musical 50 Miles From Boston in 1905.  He had already had extensive experience in both skit writing and song writing for his family on the vaudeville circuit, and would eventually become a major figure Tin Pan Alley.  His most famous song is definitely "Yankee Doodle Dandy." The first time any of his work was used in a motion picture came in 1907 with Harrigan, an experimental early sound film from the UK using the Chronophone system (of Gaumont fame), showcasing his song of the same name, written in the same year. In 1916, he added film scenario writing to his credits with Officer 666; the film was directed by his brother-in-law Fred Niblo.  He first appeared in film in 1917 when he took the starring role in Broadway Jones (he had already appeared on film as himself in 1910 in the Actor's Fund Field Day).  Broadway Jones, also gave him his only film production credit.  His music was featured in the William A. Wellman 1927 epic Wings.  His play Seven Keys to Baldpate was made into the 1983 horror comedy House Of The Long Shadows, featuring the likes of Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and John Carradine--all ganging up on Desi Arnaz Jr.  His music was first featured on television with "Yankee Doodle Dandy" being used in two episodes on the 1949 season of The Ed Sullivan Show.  The most recent use of his compositions in filmed media came last year in the film Hidden Figures (2016).  Cohan lost his battle with cancer at home in his apartment in New York City on the 5th of November in 1942; he was 64 years old.  His funeral mass was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral with giants of the stage attending, amongst them Irving Berlin, Eugene O'Neill and Eddie Cantor.  He is interred in a family mausoleum at the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.  

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PBS' Broadway Stars List

Leave Virtual Flowers @ Find A Grave

His Obituary in The New York Times

Born Today May 15: Michael William Balfe (Not So Silent Edition)

1808-1870

Irish composer Michael William Balfe was born on this day in Dublin.  He showed extreme musical talent at a very early age; in fact, by the time he was just 7, he had already composed a polish style dance.  Also by this time, he was playing violin for his father's dancing class business.  He made his public musical debut at the age of 9 on the violin and had also composed a ballad entitled "Young Fanny." His father died in 1823, so the teenager moved by himself to London, England.  He was then hired as a violinist by the orchestra of the Theater Royal in Drury Lane.  While continuing in that capacity, he also attempted to make a career for himself as an opera singer--a venture that failed.  In 1825, a member of the aristocracy arranged for him to travel to Italy for music and voice lessons.  While there, he was introduced to Italian composer Luigi Cherubini; through him, he wound up as an protege of Rossini.  It was at this time that he started to take up composing seriously.  By 1835, he was back in London--where his light opera's began to bring him success after several well thought of performances in Drury Lane.  In 1841, he founded the National Opera at the Lyceum Theater, but it was doomed to fail.  After this failure, he and his young family moved to Paris, France; and though several performances of his works were successfully staged there, by the end of the year the family was back in London.  Upon his return, he successfully staged a production of the work that he is most well known for today The Bohemian Girl.  It ran, to packed houses, for over 100 nights and inspired productions to be staged in a number of other countries as well.  In 1846, he was appointed musical director and conductor for the Italian Opera at Her Majesty's Theater.  He also composed special pieces for the 1851 Great International Exhibition that was set to take place in London.  He retired in 1864.  In all he had composed around 30 operas, several cantatas and one symphony.  The first time a film was made using his music came with the extremely early sound The Heart Bowed Down, dating from 1906; this little film used Chronophone system--the film was produced by the Gaumont British Picture Corp. and was named for one of Balfe's songs.  His material was next used in a Charlie Chaplin film dating from 1919 a film that Chaplin also penned: Sunnyside has both a full mono and a silent version--the 1974 mono reissue of the film featured Balfe's song "When Other Lips."  Finally, in 1929, his song "Excelsior" was featured in the short musical comedy Satires.  The first full length film to feature his music came in 1930 in Song o' My Heart.  The latest use of his music in a film came in the 2011 horror film The Shadows.  Balfe died in his home,  in Romney Abbey, Hampshire, England on 20 October 1870 at the age of 62.  He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in London.  

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Born Today March 17: Brigitte Helm

1906 (her grave marker states 1908)-1996

Famed early German actress Brigitte Helm was born on this date as Brigitte Eva Gisela Schittenhelm, to a Prussian military family (her father was an officer in the Prussian army).  She made her film debut in one of the most famous of silent films:  Fritz Lang's Metropolis in 1927.  She was cast in the lead as Maria/The Robot.  She worked steadily throughout the end of silent era, but was ambivalent about film acting and did not last long into the sound era.  She is a prime example of an actor, so loved for her work in silents, that just could not seem to make the successful transition to sound work.  Though her fame did allow for her casting in a very early German sound film in 1929 Alraune. It's not that she lacked for talent; she had that in spades--she just didn't care for the lifestyle.  Couple that with the rise of Hitler in her native country, and incurring the wrath of the Nazi party when you married her second husband, a wealthy Jewish industrialist (she was charged with "race defilement"); she was simply fed up with it all.  In 1935 she retired from acting and fled to Switzerland, where she remained until her death.  There she raised a family of 4 children. She reportedly would not speak at any time to any one about her days in the movie industry.  The last film that she voluntarily made was Ein idealer Gatte (1935); though she was featured in the 1978 short Wie im Traum.  Helm died on the 11 June 1996 is Ascona, Switzerland at the age of 90; her husband had preceded her in death by ten years.  She is buried in there in the Cimitero di Ascona, along with her husband, under her married name of Kunheim.

As The Robot in Metropolis (1927)

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Leave Virtual Flowers @ Find A Grave (marked as year of birth

      1908)

Born Today February 21: Henri Meilhac

1831-1897

French dramatist and librettist Henri Meilhac was born on this day in Paris.  He got his start in writing at a young age, when he went to work writing free-lance works of fancy that he sold to various Parisian newspapers; he also began to write comedy skits for the vaudeville stage.  Somewhere around 1860, he made the acquaintance of fellow writer Ludovic Halévy--their writing collaboration would last for over 20 years.  While he is most famous for co-writing the libretto for Bizet's Carmen, he did work on other librettos and also wrote stage plays--all of which have provided source material for motion pictures.  The very first film to be produced from Carmen was a very early experimental sound film that was produced in 1907.  Carmen (1907) was a British film produced by Gaumont British Picture Corp. and used a sound mix called Chronophone.  The process involved synchronizing sound on vinyl with the action of the film.  It is a short film; lasting only 12 minutes. The first all silent film to use his writing for a scenario came in 1912 with the Italian produced Mam'selle Nitouche; that film was based on the libretto to the operetta of the same name.  In all 11 films using his solo and collaborative work were produced in the silent era. The last of these was the Ernst Lubitsch directed So This Is Paris (1926).  The first sound era film to use his work came in 1931 with the German production of Mam'selle Nitouche.  The latest filmed performance of his work, was in 2015 with The English National Opera's performance of Carmen.  Meilhac died in Paris on July 6 in 1897 at the age of 66.  He is buried in Paris' Montmartre cemetery.

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Born Today January 30: FDR

1882-1945

So this may be a bit confusing.  FDR was a politician, right?  Not an actor.  True enough; but he did become one of the first politicians and "man of government" to take advantage of the new technology of film to promote government efforts. He was, of course, born Franklin Delano Roosevelt (which he personally pronounced in the proper Dutch fashion as "Roos-ah-veldt," not as "Rose-ah-velt" as most do today).  He was born in a Hyde Park home in New York state.  The family were as close to aristocracy as this country got.  He was also the distant cousin of the first Roosevelt in high office Theodore (Teddy).  In fact, they became more closely related after Franklin's marriage to Eleanor in 1904, when he was 23 and she was 21, as President Teddy Roosevelt--who gave her away at her weddin--was her uncle (her maiden name was the same as her married name).  After entering politics in 1910 on the state level (New York), he was by 1913 appointed Assistant Secretary to the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson.  In 1914 World War I broke out.  By 1916 he was actively campaigning for naval issues in regards to war, including arming the navy with more modern equipment and much more extensively than had been previously done.  The Germans then launched their submarine campaign in 1917; Roosevelt went to Wilson and asked permission to fit the naval fleet out for full war duty--the request was denied.  Roosevelt had by this time, developed a deep fascination with submarines.  [As an aside note:  submarines were not new to the U.S., as they were used in a very limited way in the Civil War.]  By the 1910's, newsreels had become a part of the movie going experience.  This exploded after the 1914 here in the U.S., because the country was not actively involved in a war the likes of which the country, or the world--for that matter--had ever seen before.  Citizens became anxious, and this catapulted the newsreel into extreme importance to the movie going public; they actually drove ticket sales for main features. People would attend showings just catch the latest in the news.  The first newsreel that Roosevelt appeared in was part of a series called the "Animated Weekly."  Roosevelt appeared as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in Animated Weekly, No. 31 in 1916; this included the christening of the U.S.'s "first undersea fighter" in Quincey, MA, which Roosevelt was present for (oddly enough, it also includes information about a great white shark--over 400 lbs.--caught off the shore in New England, blamed for the death of "five bathers."  This was the inspiration for the novel Jaws! [BTW, it had to be a bull shark--not a great white.]).  The next newsreel that he appeared as Assistant Secretary of the Navy came in a series called "Mutual Weekly."  He appeared, this time by name, in Mutual Weekly, No. 111 in 1917.  The description given, is that of him inspecting the the marine forces in Philadelphia.  This is the last of the silent Newsreels of him that exited, as far as anyone knows.  In 1924, the Lee De Forest Films company filmed him giving a speech nominating New York governor Al Smith as the Democratic candidate for President at the Democratic National Convention:  the little film was simply entitled Franklin D. Roosevelt Speech.  De Forest was one of the leading pioneers in early sound film; they had that same year, produced the first sound film that was shot at the White House.  They managed to get "Silent Cal," President Calvin Coolidge to make campaign speech in a garden (Rose Garden?) at the famous residence.  It was a first on many levels.  It has been called the first sound newsreel, but in reality it is the first sound campaign pitch or appeal to voters on the part of a campaigning politician (even if he is already the President).  Most importantly, it was the first time any president of the U.S. had spoken on film!  It still survives to this day and is preserved at the Library Of Congress.  The fate of the Roosevelt speech, on the other hand, is currently unknown.  Of course, FDR would go on to be the longest serving president in U.S. history; elected to office an unprecedented 4 times, serving between 1933 until his death in 1945, when he was succeeded by then vice-President Harry Truman.  Roosevelt succumbed to a massive cerebral hemorrhagic event (bleeding stroke) in Warm Springs, GA (a favorite resting place of his) on the 12th of April 1945.  On the 13 of April his flagged draped coffin was returned to the White House, in Washington D.C..  On the 14th his funeral was held there and his body was returned to Hyde Park in New York for burial.  He remains one of the earliest high ranking members of the federal government to show up on film.

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White House Historical Website

FDR Library