Born Today November 4: Will Rogers

1879-1935

Famed humorist, vaudevillian and radio personality and actor Will Rogers was born William Penn Adair Rogers on this date on the Dog Iron Ranch near the Cherokee (Tsalagi) town of Oologah in what was then "Indian Territory" (now located in Okalahoma in a county named for Rogers).  Both of Rogers' parents were Tsalagi (Cherokee), with his mother being from the Paint Clan; he was named for the Cherokee Colonel William Penn Adair [Note: there will be NO talk of blood quantums here (!)--for that please see Wikipedia].  Rogers often told people that he was born in Claremore (which is where his memorial is placed) because "only an Indian could pronounce 'Oologah.'"  Rogers' forays into public life span so many different outlets it's hard to name them all, especially considering that he died in his mid-50's.  Of course, he wouldn't be here on this blog if it were not for his silent film acting; but before this, he was: a cowboy (both entertainment and real), a circus performer, a vaudevillian (he was a member of Ziegfeld Follies), a bonafide stage actor and newspaper man.  His first film appearance is listed as dating from 1918 with the starring role in Laughing Bill Hyde.  After this he was given a contract by Samuel Goldwyn for 3 years at a substantial increase from his current Broadway pay.  Rogers moved to the west coast and purchased a ranch.  He settled into the film business, despite that he found the medium stifling.  He was first and foremost a comic with a voice.  He did find an outlet in title card writing, but it wouldn't be until talkies came along that his film acting really came into it's own.  He did have a substantial impact on silent comedies, despite his viewing the medium as stunted.  He wound up with a contract with Hal Roach in 1923 for a year that was good for a dozen comedic shorts that became some of his best remembered silent work.  He took a movie acting hiatus starting in 1924, having become a star and tired of the grind of over-acting without his voice; he took to the tour circuit, traveling the all over the U.S. and eventually to Europe.  It was in the UK that he next turned up in film in the British National Film produced Tiptoes in 1927.  He was in just one additional silent film in his career, before appearing for the first time in the all sound musical Happy Days in a small minstrel role; it was filmed in 1929 but not released until 1930.  The first full sound film that the public got to see him in was actually filmed after Happy Days, but released in September of 1929.  He was the full-fledged star of They Had To See Paris, a Fox film in which he played as mechanic from--of all places--Oklahoma, Pike Peters.  The film brought him a whole new level of stardom.  From this point on he would appear in a variety of big Hollywood films along side the likes of Janet Gaynor, Mickey Rooney, Myrna Loy and Ray Milland, just to name a few.  He even appeared with Boris Karloff.  In many of these roles, he was basically playing himself.  In addition to becoming a kind of movie star, he also became a huge star of the radio, with people tuning in coast to coast to hear his humorous rants and rambles.  All of this was cut short when a small prop plane that he was traveling on, piloted by aviator Wiley Post, crashed close to Point Barrow Alaska, killing both men instantly.  Rogers had become an aviation enthusiast and was on the plane when it was being tested by Post on multiple flights for the Lockheed Co.  The date was the 15th of August 1935 and Rogers was 55 years old.  He was first interred in Forest Lawn in Glendale, where so many other famous luminaries had been laid to rest.  In May of 1944 his body was exhumed and moved to it's current burial place in the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma (the town that he had joked about being born in).  The Rogers family tomb is there, adjacent to the Will Rogers Memorial Museum.  During his time in silent films, he appeared in nearly 50 comedies.  Please consult links below for so much more!  Wado (thanks) for reading!

Funeral 1935 in Glendale, California

Memorial in Point Barrow, Alaska--dedicated in 1982

Official Website

IMDb

Wikipedia

Find A Grave

Born Today September 20: Dark Cloud

1855-1918

Silent First Nations (that is Native American here in the US) actor Chief Dark Cloud was born Elijah Tahamont in the St. Francis Indian Village, (which is located near the Abenaki stronghold of Odanak in Quebec, Canada) on this day.  His "Christian name" was inherited from his father.  He was a member of and chief of the Canadian Abenaki's, and one of the first Native actors to decry stereotypes of American Aboriginals in films.  Like many natives of his time that wished to "better" themselves, he attended the Native founded Dartmouth and eventually became a lecturer of some popularity.  He also became a model for the western artist Frederic Remington.  He went to work for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Co. in 1910 and made his first film appearance that same year reportedly in D. W. Griffith's The Broken Doll.  His first credited role also came that year The Song Of The Wildwood a film more or less about a native custom dance in which he is definitely the only Native actor, starring along side of Mary Pickford (the film also features the likes of Dell Henderson and Mack Sennett). In 1911 he had the chance to play a part that actually was based on Natives from the east when he played the father of Uncas in the second production that year of The Last Of The Mohicans  (1911/II), which was filmed at Lake George, New York.  When Griffith's company moved westward in 1912, Dark Cloud was one of the actors to follow him there. For the most part during his rather brief acting career he played strictly Native American parts, most often in full plains gear that never had any association with the Band of Abenaki that he came from back east. The exception to this was when he appeared in a film about "the other Indians" in 1914--The Mystery Of The Hindu Image (a copy of the film has been restored by the George Eastman House).  He had a bit part as a general in Griffith's shameful epic The Birth Of A Nation (1915), being one of only three cast member that were actually alive during the Civil War.  Though many fanciful rumors abounded concerning his untimely death at the age of 62 on October 17, including that he had accidentally drown; and, more dramatically, that he was killed by a jealous husband--he turned out to be just another tragic statistic of the so-called "Spanish Flu" of 1918.  Several films that he appeared in were released in the next two years after his death; the last of which was The Woman Untamed (1920) in which he plays a South Seas Islander "witch doctor."  He is proudly buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  Tahamont was married to Margaret Camp who appeared in some of his films billed as Dove Eye, though it is far from clear if she was actually of Native ancestry.  One of their daughters, Beulah, also became and actress of the stage and screen.  One of her daughters was at one point in her life married to Espera Oscar de Corti, better known as Iron Eyes Cody or "The Crying Indian"--though he was actually Italian/Sicilian.

IMDb (note that his birth year if wrongly given here)

Wikipedia

Leave Virtual Flower @ 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

Native Stills From Mexico

Posting a couple of Aztec images from Sergei Eisenstein's Que Viva Mexico  (1932) in protest of Dia de la Raza (or Day Of The Races) being "celebrated" today in Mexico....don't let the name fool you, it's really just Mexican Columbus Day!

The Massacre (1912)

This is a western melodrama of war and revenge by directorial innovator and infamous director D. W. Griffith that is surprisingly sympathetic to the Indian predicament.  Which is actually not all the unusual for the earliest westerns made.  It starts out with a peaceful Indian village being attacked, and is pretty unrelenting about showing the violence of the ensuing deaths.  This then becomes a reason for revenge, where in the surviving native attack a covered wagon train heading west through their territory.  The year of this film is in some dispute, but most hard core Griffith scholars insist that it dates from 1912, not 1913 or 1914, however the reason for this dispute could differ from what can be called a premiere.  Since most film's year date is set by it's first public showing is, in the earlier days of cinema, what constituted a "public premier" really was.  

The Invaders (1912)

This is a very western that actually shows a great deal of sympathy with Native Americans.  It is a story of broken treaties.  I was either directed by Francis Ford or Thomas H. Ince, or possible co-directed by the two.  It feature Luther Standing Bear (that in Mato Nanji in Lakota) and numerous other Oglala Sioux.  It also features Anna Little, the one actor in the film playing a native role who was not Oglala, although she, like me, was part Native American.  So the native cast here is completely authentic, unlike what you find in later westerns coming out of Hollywood.  This is here today to protest the continuing celebration any where here in the New World of "Columbus Day."

Tepeyac (1917) Clip

Pacqui Miccaihuitl!

The Edison Sioux Ghost Dance Film (1894)

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