Born Today September 11: Arthur White

1881-1924

British born actor of just a few silent shorts Arthur White (born William Arthur Stewart White) was born on this day in the United Kingdom.  His life and career would more than likely be lost to history if it had not been for his appearance in a now well know Edison short from 1903 (actually staged and shot in 1902 and bearing a large similarity to a UK picture from 1901 Fire!); and his life is pretty obscure even with this information.  White is one of three actors in the short known as Life Of An American Fireman dating from 1903 (this is the first of three films--the other two from 1904 & 1905 actual remakes--with this same title). White is credited with work on just one other motion picture in 1903, as Edwin S. Porter's production assistant on Uncle Tom's Cabin (the very first film adaptation of Beecher's novel). [Note: another adaptation also dates from 1903 made by Lubin].  It's unclear (as of this writing) what else White did in the film industry aside from acting.  It is obvious, that whatever his acting "career" consisted of, he also worked in other capacities for Edison's film studio.  He only has four more film acting credits to his name: two in 1910 (for Essanay) and two in 1913 (for Vitagraph).  From this information, it appears that he did indeed have acting experience outside that of appearing in the narrative film's infancy.  We do know that he eventually moved to Hollywood/Los Angeles, because he died there. This would suggest that he stayed for some time in the film industry; whom he worked for there and what he did, I can not uncover in research as of this writing. Hope springs eternal that more information will surface from records of the era. White passed away in Los Angeles on 27th of September, just weeks after his 43rd birthday. We do know that he was had three children from one marriage. We may know when and where he passed, but we do not know were he was interred or had ashes scattered. On another note: it is an interesting fact that one of the first actors to portray a firefighter in film was born on Sept. 11. A day when so many FDNY firefighters lost there lives to terror attacks 120 years after his birth and 98 years after the release of the film. Here's to the memory of all. 

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Born Today June 15: Daniel M. Ransdell

[source: United States Senate Historical Office]

1842-1912

Another historical figure that has an entry here due to their happenstance appearance in an early "actuality" by Edison & Co. Daniel M. Ransdell was born on this day, probably in or somewhere near Indianapolis, Indiana. He certainly grew up on a farm there; the son of a local Baptist minister who schooled his children so well from an early age, that by the time the younger Ransdell was a teen, he was teaching classes himself in a number of local schools. He later attended Franklin College, though his education there was abruptly ended by his insistence on joining the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War (his family was unusual in their general opposition to Lincoln and his decision to follow the path to conflict to end the secessionist impasse [owing to their geographical locality]--his father was apparently a staunch Democrat and fiercely disagreed with Lincoln's approach to the conflict and his Republican party). Ransdell lost an arm in the Union advance on Atlanta, and was lucky to come away with his life.  After the war he resumed both teaching and his education. This is when politics entered his life. He was a protege of Benjamin Harrison, who would become the 23rd President of the United States--and by this time, a member of Lincoln's Republican party. Harrison had a great use for Ransdell, who genuinely seemed to have affection for the rather "cold" Harrison. He was certainly able to gather people to Harrison's side; and it is a bit doubtful that without Ransdell, Harrison would have made it all the way to the White House (Ransdell was one of the persons present at Harrison's death bed--he had also served as best man at Harrison's second marriage ceremony).  Nonetheless, it was because of Harrison that Ransdell eventually made into the United States Senate as it's 14th Sergeant at Arms (read more about that here) in 1900. Ransdell was sworn in on the 1st of February. He served in that capacity until his death twelve years later in 1912. The one and only film ("actuality" as Edison and team had coined them--we call them short documentaries today) that Ransdell appeared in came in 1901: President McKinley Taking The Oath.  (This film has made an appearance here before under the entry on Chief Justice Melville Fuller, who is administering the oath to McKinley.) As mentioned, Ransdell died while still serving as Senate Sergeant at Arms at the age of 70 on the 28th of November. There is no information on his burial. 

U.S. Senate Site Bio

U. S. Senate Site Serg.-at-Arms History & information

IMDb

Born Today April 6: Lorrin A. Cooke

1831-1902

Lorrin Alanson Cooke, future 57th Governor of Connecticut, was born on this day in New Marlborough, MA. He was educated in Connecticut and was a teacher in Norfolk before becoming a politician.  He was also, from the age of nineteen, a gentleman farmer and a member of the local agricultural society. It is within the society that he got his first taste of running for office, when he was elected president of the society at a relatively young age.  He served in a number of community jobs and elected positions, including state senator and Lt. Governor before becoming governor in 1897. He was in office only two years, leaving on the 4th of January in 1899. During this time, he was the subject of one Edison film (in the form of an early newsreel): Governor Cook and Staff, Connecticut in 1897 (note the Edison Co's misspelling of his last name). The film was made/directed by James H. White, who was head of the Edison production department from 1896 through 1902.  Cooke lived just 3 1/2 years after he left the governor's mansion, dying at the age of 71 in Winstead, Conn. on the 12th of August 1902. He is buried, with his two wives, at the Colebrook Center Cemetery in the Connecticut town of the same name. As with all historical figures, please follow the links posted below if you are interested in learning more about their lives, accomplishments, and why they were of interest as subjects of early film.

Wikipedia

Museum Of Connecticut History

National Governor's Association

Find A Grave Entry

IMDb

Born Today July 17: Conrad Diehl

1843-1918

New York state politician and prominent doctor Conrad Diehl was born on this day in Buffalo, New York. Diehl graduated from medical school in 1866. From 1870 to 1878 he was a major surgeon at Buffalo General Hospital and a member of the New York National Guard.  In 1897, he was elected mayor of Buffalo; he served through 1901.  During his tenure the first transmission of electricity from Niagara to Buffalo took place. Also under his time as governor Buffalo hosted the Pan-American Exposition, and it is the opening of this event that has him included here on this blog.  The Edison Company, filmed a newsreel of the event--which occurred in 1901--, in which he appeared.  The short is entitled Opening of the Pan-American Exposition Showing Vice President Roosevelt Leading the Procession (1901).  The film depicts happier times that would be shattered, when President McKinley, who was visiting the exposition in hopes to make speeches to kick-start a run for a second term, was shot by an anarchist on the 6th of September; Diehl was standing right next to the President when he was shot.  McKinley died on the 14th of September from infected wounds.  Diehl had no wish to continue in politics after the incident and did not seek re-election; opting instead to return to his medical practice.  Diehl died on the 20th of February 1918 in Buffalo at the age of 74.  His burial location is unknown.

See:

Wikipedia

IMDb

Born Today July 7: Peter Courtney

Peter Courtney is on the right.

1867-1896

Boxer, actor and early Edison short subject Peter Courtney was born on this day in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.  He is known for an appearance in one film only, Corbett and Courtney Before The Kinetograph, a famous Edison actuality that is mostly lost.  What survives is the first round of the match (1 reel) and, as each round was set at 1 minute a piece, the film is just 40 seconds long (originally there were 6 reels), making it a fragment of the first reel.  The whole match was filmed at the famed Black Maria studio (the world's first).  Amazingly the print that survived at the Library of Congress was in good enough condition for restoration.  It has been released on DVD and is available for viewing online.  Courtney is not known to have participated in any other boxing matches aside for this one specially set up for filming.  Courtney died very, very young, at the age of 28 from tuberculosis, just two years after this was filmed, on the 11th of May.  He may have died in Trenton, New Jersey, where was listed as a resident.  The is no information on his burial.

See:

IMDb

Born Today June 27: May Irwin

1862-1938

Canadian born actress, singer and vaudevillian May Irwin was born Georgina May Campbell on this day in Whitby, Ontario, Canada.  After the untimely death of her father, her mother encouraged her and her sister to take up singing and other performance to help make ends meet.  They were eventually billed as "The Irwin Sisters" and made a formal debut over the border  of the United States in Buffalo, New York.  The were eventually booked to perform in New York City.  Though they were finding more and more success, May struck out on her own around the age of 21.  In 1883, she joined a stock company and made her debut on the theatrical stage.  In 1884, she made her stage debut in London, England.  At this time, she was making a whopping $2,500 a week!  By the 1890's she had developed signature performance numbers on the stage, one of which ended in a kiss with her fellow performer John C. Rice.  This is where movie making history steps in.  One night, one Thomas Edison happen to catch their act and decided he wanted to memorialize the kiss for his Kinetoscope production.  He was well aware that no one had filmed an actual kiss yet; probably because it was deemed too risque for the times.  So the very famous Edison short The Kiss became the first kiss filmed for a motion picture; it dates from 1896.  As far as Edison shorts goes, this is by far one of the most famous!  She appeared in only one other silent film and that came in 1914 with Mrs. Black Is Back, which was based on a play that she had been the star of on the stage.  Her likeness from The Kiss appeared in the 1936 sound documentary Fashions In Love as archive footage.  She died two years later on the 22nd of October from pneumonia in New York City at the age of 76.  She is buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York

For More:

IMDb

Wikipedia

Leave Virtual Flowers @ Find A Grave

Born Today March 24: George Francis Train

1829-1904

Ecentrentic industrial millionaire George Francis Train was born on this day in Boston, Mass.  His family soon relocated to New Orleans.  The vast majority of his immediate family, including both of his parents and at least 3 siblings died there from a yellow fever epidemic.  He was then sent back to Boston to be raised by very strict Methodist grandparents, who very much wanted him to become a minister.  He instead went into the mercantile trade, and soon became a wanderer--and adventurer.  It is possible that reports of his crossing the planet by many transportational modes was the inspiration for Jules Verne's Around The World In 80 Days.  He was considered "different" from early adulthood, a trait that would only increase as he aged.  Thought many thought him insane, many of his actions and speeches, especially in the realm of politics and individual rights, may have had a "method in their madness" (he was, for example a financial supporter of Susan B. Anthony, but also once stood for "dictator of the United States").  More of his decidedly colourful life can be found in the links below.  The reason for his presence on a silent movie blog stems from one sole film that featured him and one other person dating from 1898.  Billed as "Citizen George Frances Train" and "Professor Mike Donovan," the short "mockumentery" Train vs. Donovan was produced by American Mutoscope was probably a spoof on an earlier film by the Edison Corp. Corbett and Courtney Before the Kinetograph, which was shot 4 years earlier.  It was filmed at the New York Athletic Club.  Train lived for nearly 5 years after the film was shot, dying on the 5th of January 1904 at the age of 74 in New York City.  He was buried in the historic Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.  He is entombed in his well off father-in-law's mausoleum there.

For More:

Wikipedia

Smithsonian article on Train's support of Susan B. Anthony's publication

New England Historical Society

Leave Virtual Flowers @ Find A Grave

IMDb

Born Today February 11: Melville Fuller

1833-1910

Melville Weston Fuller was born on this day in Augusta, Maine to a well off family.  His father was a lawyer and both of his grandfather's had been judges.  Fuller himself, would go to be the eighth Chief Justice of the U.S. supreme court.  He is notable here for appearing in two silent news-reels.  He actually became the very first Supreme Court justice to appear in a film.  The first of these dates from 1897; McKinley Taking The Oath, an Edison short, shows him swearing in President McKinley on inauguration day.  The second, President McKinley Taking The Oath, also an Edison short, shows him in the same capacity 4 years later (1901).  Fuller died of heart disease in 1910, ironically on the 4th of July, in Sorrento, Maine at the age of 77.  He is buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, IL, where he had spent some of his formative years as a lawyer.  To read more about his life, follow links below.

Wikipedia

Biography.com

Leave Virtual Flowers @ Find A Grave

IMDb

13 Days Of Creepmas: A Christmas Carol (1910)

From the Edison Manufacturing Company

Frankenstein (1910)

One Of My Favorite Horror Stills!

From the very first filmed production of Frankenstein dating from 1910, produced by the Edison Company and directed by J. Searle Dawley ans starring Charles Ogle as the above pictured Monster.  

A Trip To Mars (1910)

Stills From The Very First Frankenstein (1910)

Black and White Stills

Creation Fire Stills

Sepia Stills

Monster In Reverse

Yellow Toned Sepia Stills

Purple Toned Black and White Stills

And just for the heck of if, I'm reposting the full movie below, even though I posted during last year's Countdown To Halloween.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN SEASON!

The Execution Of Mary, Queen Of Scots (1895)

An early Edison film with a non-faithful recreation of the execution (beheading) Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland.

The Edison Sioux Ghost Dance Film (1894)

Today is "Columbus Day"--a day or mourning for Natives.  

Dream Of A Rarebit Fiend (1906)

This is an Edwin S. Porter film produced for the Edison Studio.  It is based on the then famed cartoon by Winsor McCay, whose strip ran with bizarre dreams with no recurring characters...unless you count the Welsh Rarebit as a recurring character!!  (Welsh Rarebit is a kind of cheesy toast, sometimes called Welsh Rabbit).  This film was not produced in 1903, and couldn't have; McCay's strip didn't even begin until 1904. The film actually dates from 1906.  In early film cinema, that might as well be the same thing as comparing a film from 1980 to one of the early CGI 2000's.  I have election poll training tomorrow....I might just be feeling like this 24 hours from now... Happy Election Season!

Countdown To Christmas 4

Yet another Edison Christmas short, but this is one of the company's earliest, dating from 1905.  Of all of Edwin S. Porter's directed holiday shorts, I tend to favor his earliest work.  They just have a glint of silvery charm to them.

Countdown To Christmas Day 3

A CHRISTMAS ACCIDENT (1912)

Yet another Edison Christmas short.  It's a little funny, the one earliest Edison Christmas short from 1907 that I'd really like to present here has never been uploaded to You Tube, even though, arguably, it as a great deal more charm than do many of the company's later Holiday efforts.  This film, however, is quite charming and not directed by the rather "true to life" stark style original in-house director Edwin S. Porter, but rather by a later Edison hire:  Bannister Merwin, who was primarily a writer.  Hope you enjoy.  

Countdown To Christmas Day 2

A Winter Straw Ride (1906)

Another Edison holiday short, this was photographed and directed by one of motion pictures very first director's Edwin S. Porter.  It's only 7 minutes long, so give it a look.  Happy Holidays!

Countdown To Christmas Day 1

This is another Edison Christmas short produced in 1914, I wanted to juxtapose it with the earlier Little Girl Who Didn't Believe In Santa from 1907 because their plots are almost polar opposites of each other, but alas no "Little Girl" on You Tube and I am way to busy trying to catch up on Christmas stuff to upload it right now--maybe later.


In any case, this is quite funny, considering "the wrong Santa" is a bugling burglar!