Spooktober 18: Haunted Spooks (1920)

 

I am having to resort to a rather lazy approach to posting, as my shoulder issues have resurfaced, so typing is right out for now. Still....Happy Spooktober! 🎃🎃🎃

 

 

Born Today January 14: Bebe Daniels

1901-1971

Born Phyllis Virginia Daniels in Dallas, Texas; her childhood nickname was "Bebe."  She was born into a theatrical family, with her mother being a stage actress and her father a theater manager.  Sometime around the age of 3 or 4 years of age, the family moved to Los Angeles with the express mission of launching her acting career in the new motion picture industry that was emerging there at the time.  She debuted on the stage there at the age of 4 in a version of The Squaw Man.  That same year she embarked on her first stage tour in a version of Shakespeare's Richard III.  She went on to have roles two more major stage productions the following year.  She seems to have made her film debut in 1910 the short The Courtship of Miles Standish, a film based on a Wadsworth poem, at the age of 10.  She starred, that same year, as Dorothy in the earliest surviving film adaptation of the Frank Baum Wizard of Oz novel--published in 1910. It's entitled after the original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz  (it is available for public viewing on Internet Move Archive).  At the earliest part of her film career, she was directed exclusively by director Otis Turner (he directed Oz and was also responsible for the holiday short A Counterfeit Santa Claus also from 1910). She went on to be one of the earliest child stars in cinema history (it is worth noting that along the way she was directed by James Young Deer in The Savage in 1913, one of the only Native Americans to direct in the silent era).  By age 15, she starred in the Hal Roach comedy opposite Harold Loyld, Giving Them Fits (1915).  Reportedly there was a romance between her and Lloyd and they later became an early Hollywood brand, she as "The Girl" and he as "The Boy"--despite his being 8 years her senior (these days that's not something Hollywood would could get away with publicly...especially in light of the last year's important #MeToo movement).  This led to the pair starring in the series "Lonesome Luke" with "Snub" Pollard (Lloyd's character in Fits is a version of this character as "Luke de Fluke").  The Luke movie series would carry the pair all the way through 1917. By 1919 they were still playing at "The Girl," "The Boy" shtick in films, but these formulaic shorts were getting old by this time (there is only so much that anyone can do with such a simple concept, only so many situations that can be contrived to place them in). So, it's hardly surprising that she wished to move on to more substantial work.  She got her chance to work on a major production for the first time in her career, when Cecile B. DeMille gave her a small supporting role in his nearly two hour long adventure film Male and Female in 1919: Gloria Swanson was the lead. This was instrumental in getting her a contract at Paramount.  She next appears Everywoman (1919), a George Melford allegorical melodrama, with a large well known cast--it was Paramount all the way: production and distribution.  After this, her appearances in one and two-reelers were a thing of the past. By the time that she was cast again in a DeMille production-- the dramedy Why Change Your Wife?--she took the supporting role to the female lead, again played by Swanson (Swanson was, in fact, only 3 years Daniels' senior).  [She would appear in another DeMille film starring Swanson in 1921: The Affairs of Anatol; she also later starred in brother William's The Splendid Crime in 1925.]  She next appears in the female lead herself in a couple of Sam Wood romance comedies with Wallace Reid in the male lead--both in 1920.  Her days of taking leading roles in comedic features had arrived.  She appeared opposite a number of leading men in the early 1920's; they ranged from the not well known to famous, they included: Harrison Ford (the original one...), Lewis Stone, Robert Warwick, Conrad Nagel, Frank Kingsley, Jack Holt, and the above mentioned Wallace Reid.  In 1924 she starred in Monsieur Beaucaire as "Princess Henriette" opposite Rudolph Valentino in the lavish Sidney Olcott "historical" romance production shot at Paramount's New York location.  After this, she went back to the workaday light romances that had become her hallmark in the 20's.  Her first sound film was yet another large production, under the umbrella of Radio Pictures (RKO); Rio Rita, in which she plays a Mexican senorita, was well over two hours long, had portions shot in the 2-color process Technicolor and featured a number of songs actually sung by stars in the cast, including Daniels.  It is a quintessential example of what a "talkie" was meant to be at the time: that is impressively overwhelming.  Radio's tagline for the film was no less understated:  Radio's Picture of the Century.  Audiences could be hard to please when they heard the voice of a silent star for the first time, so it was a big gamble that such an investment would pay off, but then again, Radio was well aware that Daniels could indeed sing and that is what won over viewers from the start (so, investment paid off).  Daniels continued on the RKO in the 1930's (Paramount dropped her with the coming of talking films...their lose).  They put her in everything from hard boiled crime flicks to more musicals (including one penned by Irving Berlin: Reaching For The Moon [1930]).  One film that stands out from this part of her career is her appearance in the short charity film The Stolen Jools; it is essentially a Laurel and Hardy film that collides with a Buster Keaton film, with the Our Gang members, and features a number of stars from silent era--even gossip queen Hedda Hopper; for Daniels, it hints at the world of slapstick comedy shorts that she starred herself in the teens, of course her part here is fleeting, but worth the mention.  In 1931, she starred in the Roy Del Ruth version of The Maltese Falcon; and her appearance in 42nd Street ranks up there as a favorite with fan of pre-code cinema.  She emerged with a whole new stable of leading men that she was cast opposite that included: Edward G. Robinson, Randolph Scott, John Barrymore and Douglas Fairbanks; she also appeared in one talking film with Lewis Stone (My Past [1931], whom her husband is in as well).  Daniels retired from Hollywood acting in 1935, she had married actor Ben Lyon in 1930 (she appears with him in the little film mentioned above as "Mrs. Ben Lyon").  Her last film in Hollywood was Music is Magic in 1935.  The couple moved to London after this.  While there she appeared in an additional 4 films, 3 of them with her husband.  Three of these films were pre-war or wartime productions.  The last of them The Lyons Abroad, is a comedy from 1955 with the two actors playing themselves as their 25th weeding anniversary is about to take place.  All the while, both of them had been busy acting on BBC radio, their comedy show based on their family is what inspired the film in the mid 1950's.  The show eventually migrated to British television; Bebe wrote a goodly number of the episodes.  She had also worked ever so briefly in the late 1940's back in Hollywood as a producer for Hal Roach Studios.  Starting in the 1940's, Daniels also appeared on the stage in London.  After two serious strokes, one in 1963 and one in 1970, a massive cerebral hemorrhage which claimed her life at age 70 on the 16th of March, 1971.  She was cremated at the well known Golders Green in England and her ashes were interred at Hollywood Forever in Los Angeles.  

Golders Green

Hollywood Forever

Wikipedia

IMDb

Born Today November 8: June Havoc

1912-2010

Either born Ellen Evangeline Hovick or Ellen June Hovick (probably the later) on November 8 (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada).  She was famous for being pushed into vaudevillian work, along with her sister, by an over-bearing mother.  Eventually, she and her sister, who was famous as Gypsy Rose Lee went on to fame in different, but related lines of work.  Her acting career is known from the 1940's, but she appears in two Harold Lloyd film as a child, both dating from 1918. They are: On The Jump and Hey There; both films feature Bebe Daniels and Snub Pollard.  In both films, she was billed as June Hovick ("The Child").  She was not in another film until 1942, when she was nearing her 30th birthday.  In the time between she had been a stage actress, toiled as a model, danced in chorus lines and finally, made her big stage debut on Broadway.   She had also become a mother (her daughter would eventually also do some acting).  Her return to film in 1942 came in the Ray Bolger film Four Jacks and a Jill made for RKO.  Her acting career took off from there.  She didn't move formally to the west coast until the late 1940's (and reportedly never really like it there), but here and her sister both still had to contend with their grasping mother in their lives until her death in 1954.  Her constant threats of suing them was gone and both sisters turned to writing (this would eventually cause trouble between the two).  By this time, she was already working in television, having made her debut in 1950 episode of This Is Show Business.  For younger a generation, it is her television work for which she is remembered.  She appeared in all types of television: from drama to horror, children's shows to soap operas (she was member of the cast of General Hospital).  There was even a June Havoc Show for a short time.  Her last film, funnily enough, was Larry Cohen's A Return To Salem's Lot in 1987 as Aunt Clara.  Finally, she was twice on Murder She Wrote, her last appearance coming in 1989.  Havoc was even by this time in semi-retirement on here complex in Connecticut and deeply involved in the building of that compound and using it for animals of all kinds in need.  She retired to her animal good works in New England.  She passed away there in Stamford (North Wilton) on the 28th of March in 2010 at the age of 97.  She was cremated and her ashes were scattered in her garden.  Note:  Sources often cite her birth year as 1913 or 1916, but she confirmed the correct year to be 1912.

IMDb

Wikipedia

Find A Grave

Born Today September 2: Queen Liliuokalani (Not So Silent edition)

Queen Lilioukalani 1838-1917

Born Lydia Lili'u Walania Wewehi Kamaka'eha on September 2 1838, she was also known as Lydia Kamaka'eha Paki, her married name was Lydia K. Dominis, with Liliuokalani being her chosen royal name (that's a lot of names!!).  She was the last sovereign monarch of the united Hawaiian islands.  So you might ask what she is doing on a silent film blog--probably assuming that there is documented archival film footage of her, and there well may be--but none that I have discovered so far.  Interestingly she is here for credit writing one of the most famous songs from the islands Aloha 'Oe.  It has been used, according to IMDb dozens upon dozens of times in movies since 1927.  Okay, so if this is a soundtrack entry, why is it on a blog about silent film?  Well, because in the silent era, there were a number of sound film experiments and the first credit for this song being used in a movie was just that sort of film.  It's what I like to call "Not So Silent Wierdness" That film was Modern Song And Syncopation.  The sound was by Vitaphone, who had a history of experimental sound films prior to 1927.  I have not found any evidence that the film has survived unfortunately--I love this sort of stuff.  You can listen to the song below.  Interestingly she shares as birthday with actor Keanu Reeves who is also of Hawaiian Native ancestry. She is interred in Hawai'i's Royal Mausoleum in Honolulu, along with other members of the royal house of the United Islands.

Experimental Sound Films & Earliest Talkies

Modern Song And Syncopation 1927

Alibi 1929 (early talkie MovieTone sound)

Jungle Rhythm 1929 (Mickey Mouse animation, Powers Cinephone Sound System)

The Bishop Murder Case 1930 (talkie, Western Electric System sound)

The Unholy Three 1930 (talkie, Western Electric Sound System) [this was a talkie that featured silent acting god Lon Chaney Sr.]

Feet First 1930 (a Harold Lloyd talkie, Western Electric]

Wikipedia

Now Or Never With Chamber Music

A Harold Lloyd classic from 1921, this version of Now Or Never, a sepia toned comedy farce, features a specially composed chamber music soundtrack by Donald Sosin.

Haunted Spooks (1920)

A classic Harold Lloyd spoof from 1920, but with spooks!  This is considered to be the very first horror comedy even made (though I think that some of Méliés might actually qualify as earlier).  Still this is Harold Lloyd!!  Some even contend that not even Charlie Chaplin could touch his comedic genius.  Happy Halloween Eve!