October 1: Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel (1900)

 

The Uncle Josh series by the Edison studio was among the first narrative film series to feature a recurrent character. It was also very much in the slapstick vein. In this film, which runs a little less than 2 minutes, Uncle Josh finds himself in a haunted hotel with a decidedly mischievous ghost and a less than understanding hotel manager.  These films, another of which, Uncle Josh's Nightmare (1900), is in a same narrative ball park, are examples of the very wide influence that French filmmaker Georges Méliès had on early fantasy films. Edison, never to be a "one upped" by anyone, felt the need to make "trick films" in-house. They are fun to watch, but never match the brilliance of Méliès earlier (and later) works. Director Edwin S. Porter was a fine filmmaker in his own right, and left to his own devices, was also an innovator. But in this style of film making, which involved a lot of editing, the finished product comes off as a bit of a lazy rip off. But, still, these little films are fun to watch and deserve their place in American cinematic history as being some of the earliest examples of the fantasy genre produced in the United States. 

(all stills from The Library of Congress)

 

Born Today May 13: J. Searle Dawley

1877-1949

The man who considered himself the very first real motion picture director, who the world came to know as J. Searle Dawley, was born James Searle Dawley on this date in Del Norte, Colorado.  I would say that it's more accurate to say that he could be considered the very first director of purely narrative films; but the honor of very first director really should go to the man who hired Dawley at the Edison Co., and that would be Edwin S. Porter.  Dawley at first wanted to break into the acting circuit, securing a position in the acting house run by Louis Morrison; however the tour that he was hired to work on was canceled and his was obliged to return home to Colorado.  This was in 1895 and came just after his high school graduation.  He rejoined the group in 1897, and worked both as a actor and a stage manager for 3 years.  He then left for the vaudeville circuit, with ambitions to become a writer.  He worked there both as a writer and actor, before joining the Spooner company, where he plied all of his talent accrued to date: acting, writing and stage managing.  Having gained attention of the Edison Co. and of Porter, he was hired in 1907 specifically to direct.  This was indeed a first.  He was hired to direct a short film that already had a scenario attached to it:  The Nine Lives Of A Cat became his directorial debut in 1907.  Though D. W. Griffith was two years older than Dawley, he wouldn't make his directorial debut until 1908.  In fact, Dawley would direct Griffith in a film that survives to this day; Rescued From An Eagle's Nest was filmed in 1908, before Griffith made his debut later in the year.  It is a remarkable film, because it contains some of the earliest complicated special effects--films had formally moved on from good old fashioned trick photography.  Some of Dawley's early work in Fort Lee for Edison available on disc include:  A Little Girl Who Didn't Believe In Santa Claus  1907, A Suburbanite's Ingenious Alarm 1908, Fireside Remembrances 1908 (all up to this point co-directed with Porter), and  Cupid's Pranks 1908.  Dawley made the move to California in 1910, earlier than most directors--though he still worked for Edison Manufacturing.  He began to focus of films on works of literature.  He brought works by Twain, the Brothers Grimm, Dickens, Dumas,  and Stevenson amongst others, to the moving picture.  But it would be one work of literature by a female author that Dawley would forever be known for.  In 1910 he made the first ever filmed adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  The film, though a short, features extremely sophisticated special effects--cutting edge for it's time.  

It was released on March 18th and starred Augustus Phillips (in his first film appearance) as Frankenstein and Charles Ogle as his monster.  Being the person chosen to set up Edison in a new studio in the Hollywood area, he also brought in new directors that would go on to have a big impact on silent cinema.  The first non-Edison film that he directed was for Solax (Alice Guy's studio).  The film was Between Two Fires (1912), this was quite a long time before he severed work for Edison.   In 1912 and 1913, he began filming outdoor documentaries, most in Yellowstone National Park, but at least one film was produced in Yosemite as well (Dawley had developed a penchant for photographing and filming in the locations as he made his way from the east coast to the west coast--many of these films were actually filmed during the his time of travel and released later).  In 1913, he made his first film for Zukor's Famous Players, a adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess Of The D'Urbervilles.  Though known as a famous silent film director, it should not be forgotten that one of his first skills in the theater was writing, and though he was adept and literary adaptation, he also wrote original scenarios for films as well.  The first of these came in 1909 with The Legend Of Sterling Keep.  In all, he has 40 writing credits to his name.  And though he would never make a film in the sound era, his films were not all silent, in fact, the one credit that he has for cinematographer comes in a De Forest Phononfilm demonstration entitled Adolph Zukor Introduces Phonofilm, a film that has Zukor explaining the Phonofilm sound on film system, it dates from 1923.  In fact, his last 3 films used the De Forest Phonofilm system and were full sound movies:  Abraham Lincoln dates from 1924 and Roger Wolfe Kahn Musical Number dates from 1925.  Dawley's last film came out in 1926:  Brooke Johns and Goodee Montgomery, it is a formally lost and now restored film.  After this, Dawley decided to retire from the movie industry; he eventually made his way over to radio, where he worked successfully through the 1930's.  Dawley would also go on to be one of the founders of an organization to would eventually turn into the Screen Director's Guild.  He certainly influenced a whole host of other directors, both contemporary with him and a younger generation coming into their own when he decided to retire.  Walt Disney mentioned several times how influential Dawley had been for him on multiple levels.  Dawley passed away in Hollywood at the age of 71 on the 30th of March 1949.  Strangely there is no information about a funeral service of any sort.  

For More:

IMDb

Wikipedia

Born Today November 20: Reginald Denny

1891-1967

Born Reginald Leigh Dugmore in Richmond, Surrey UK, he started his acting career as a child on the stage at the age of 7.  At one point in his young adult life he joined an opera company as a baritone.  He came by his stage name (actually he had two, briefly going by Leigh Denny), from his actor father W. H. Denny, who was a baritone in Savoy operas, most notably working with Gilbert & Sullivan; hence Reginald's young start on the the stage and his honing of his singing talent.  At some point before his first film appearance in 1915, he came to the United States to further his stage career, which he did even after entering the motion picture industry.  Denny well remembered for his appearance on Broadway of John Barrymore's production of Shakespeare's Richard III.  He entered the film industry with an appearance in Niobe in a 1915, a film, that unfortunately is probably lost, was partially directed by Edwin S. Porter--one of Edison's men, and one of the very first directors of film.  He had a very prolific film career during the silent era, but like all actors of the time that trained and starred on the stage, he had the skills to seamlessly make the transition into talkies and became a recognizable character actor.  He was also a pilot--as seen above, he served his country in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and in the 1920's was a stunt pilot, the photo of him in his uniform dates from 1917.  He passed away where he was born, when he was just visiting from Hollywood of a stroke on 16 June 1967.  His body was shipped back to California where he is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills location.

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 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!