Silent Wierdness

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Born Today February 16: [Joseph] Viktor (Victor) von Scheffel

1826-1886

German writer of prose and poetry Joseph Viktor (Victor) von Scheffel was born on this day in Karlsruhe. He was born into a well off family with military ties. His mother in particular came from a very prosperous family and was herself an intellectual. This meant that the family were in a position to afford young Scheffel a first rate education, and his mother was in a position to closely over-see his schooling, even contributing to it directly. He eventually attended universities at Heidelburg, Munich and Berlin. He, like so many of his peers at the time, studied the law and graduated with a degree in in 1847 or 1848. He acted in the capacity (basically) of a town judge for four years, ending in 1852. He had already begun to write; in fact, there is ample evidence that his interest in writing particularly poetry stemmed from childhood. In 1853 he wrote and published his first poem, the romantic, but lightly comedic, epic: Der Trompeter von Säckingen. It became instantly and immensely popular. It's success sent him traveling about the continent; though his family, hoping that this was only a phase, he would eventually return to his legal career, but Scheffel developed a serious eye ailment and this meant the end of that career and to his subsequent plans to teach at university. Normally this would be a terrible life event, but in his case, he freed him eventually to write. He began work on novel while living in Switzerland for health reasons, the ultimate result was Ekkehard. And, it is these two works comprise the only source material that has thus far been used in films. To date only two films have been made using his work as source material and only one of those came in the silent era. In 1918 Eiko Film GmbH released Der Trompeter von Säckingen, obviously based on his epic poem of the same name. That film was adapted and directed by German director Franz Porten, with some help from his much more famous daughters Rosa and Henny. Well Rosa more so than Henny, whose involvement in the film is currently unconfirmed. Both daughters were well known film actors in their own rights and Rosa was greatly instrumental in the adaptation of the script. It was filmed on location in Bad Säckingen (on the border with France), the town in which Scheffel wrote the book and is popularly still known as "Trumpeter's City" because of the poem. Unfortunately the survival of the film is unknown and unlikely. The film was also a remake of an earlier film by the same name that Franz Porten had made in 1907. That version was directly based on the popular opera produced from Scheffel's work in 1884 by Viktor Nessler. The only other production so far to use Scheffel's work is the 1990 mini-series using his novel Ekkehard for the script. It was a 5 part series made for German television and was completely directed by the now retired Diethard Klante. Scheffel, who enjoyed a great deal of personal popularity during his lifetime, worked for a couple of years as custodial managerial librarian for a royal house in the Black Forest, but continued health woes forced him to give it up. He eventually settled back into life in his birth town of Karlsruhe, marrying for the first time and having a child--a namesake son--in 1867. The family moved to a villa on Lake Constance in 1872. In 1876 he was formally granted the right to claim hereditary nobility (hence the "von" in his name). Scheffel died at the age of 60 on the 9th of April and his interred in his home town at the Hauptfriedhof/Karlsruhe Main Cemetery in an family crypt that now includes his parents, wife and son. There is also a memorial statue of him in the town of Bad Säckingen. He published several more collections of writings, poems, even songs, but none were more popular than his original epic.

[source: Frank K. (Find a Grave)]

Friday, January 8, 2021

Born Today January 8: Wilkie Collins

1824-1889

Famed British writer of plays, novels, and short stories Wilkie Collins was born William Wilkie Collins on this day in the Marylebone area of London. Collins is credited with the invention of the modern English detective novel. His family was well off and well connected. His father was a celebrated landscape painter at the Royal Academy of Arts (RA); his godfather was the British painter Sir David Wilkie, for whom Collins' middle name was derived. The family moved frequently, but it was their time abroad in France and Italy that had lasting influence on him, especially in his pursuit of language. He also spent years (not consecutive) in boarding schools, which had the opposite effect on him, as he was the frequent target of bullies. It was this experience that literally drove him to begin to construct stories for escapism. So strong was this for him as coping mechanism, that he later credited a particular bully with the realization that he could write these stories down. After he finished school, he began an apprenticeship at the age of 17 in 1840, and also began to write on the side at the same time. In 1843, he published his first piece in a magazine; the very next year he started his first novel. It would not be until 1850 though until his first novel found a publisher willing to take the book. In the meantime, he had spent 5 years as a clerk and and nearly completed the study of the law in lew of becoming a clergyman, which his father was pressing upon him (he was eventually called to the bar in 1851). It was the meeting of another writer in 1851 that would be the greatest professional moment of important in his life. A mutual friend introduced him to Charles Dickens, they would not only be very good friends thereafter, they would also collaborate. Dickens' edited Collins' 1852 short story "A Terribly Strange Bed" and subsequently published the piece in his own weekly 'Household Words.' During the 1850's he had success at a number of endeavors, including getting major works published, having his published material reach the stage (again with the help of Dickens'--this time with his Tavistock House theatrical company) and finding a working position at Dickens' Household Words. But it would be the 1860's that proved his most successful. It was during this period that his most well known works were published, including The Woman in White (published in 1859 and made widely popular through serialization in the 1860's, the book is sometimes referred to as a work of "proto detective fiction" with gothic elements) and The Moonstone (1868, a work that is considered the first modern detective novel). He also began to write directly for the stage. The 1870's were not quite as kind to Collins. For starters his close friend/confidant/collaborator Dickens died, for another his long history of trying to keep the pain of gout at bay with laudanum began to take a toll. Still he had successes. His fiction, in serial form, was a popular as ever--his works selling under the moniker of "sensation novel;" and he toured the United States reading his works to eager audiences, meeting several prominent American authors along the way. Additionally The Woman in White was produced as a popular theatrical play in the West End. Later in life, as he also developed extreme trouble with his eyesight, he turned to mentoring younger writers in absence of being able to the write himself. Given the popularity even into the 20th century of both The Woman in White and The Moonstone, it is little surprise that these two works are the principle sources of his work for films over the years. Multiple versions of both were produced during the silent era; but so were multiple versions of his novel The New Magdalen made during the 1910s (though it diminished in popularity for films therafter). The first film adapted from his work was the Selig production of The Moonstone in 1909, an almost unknown film today. The second film, released the following year, was an adaptation of The New Magdalen, starring Paul Panzer and soon-to-be serial action star Pearl White (who was new to film acting in 1910). The first film adaptations of The Woman in White, came in 1912: there were two of them. The first was a small short production by Gem Motion Picture Company; their The Woman In White did have Universal Film distribution. The second film was a Thanhouser production starring Marguerite Snow and James Cruze, that lacked large scale distribution. Both film were released at nearly the same time in October of 1912. In 1914, film pioneer Alice Guy directed The Dream Woman, a seven minute horror film (yep, you read that right, a woman directed a horror film in 1914, complete with not just a ghost, but also a REALLY big knife...eat your heart out Michael Myers). The film was based on Collins' "novella" of the same name--part of his The Frozen Deep and Other Stories (1874)--it is lamentably among the long list of Guy films that is lost, hopefully not forever. The first feature treatment of The Moonstone came in 1915 with the Frank Hall Crane directed 50 minute World Film production by the same name (by the standards of the day, the first feature of Collins' work came with the 40 minute The Quest of the Sacred Jewel in 1914). Incredibly popular in the 1910's for films, the popularity of the use of his materiel fell off a cliff int he 1920's. Only two films were made during that decade using his work. She Loves and Lies was a Norma Talmadge production based on one of Collins' short stories and was released in January of 1920. The second was The Woman in White released in May of 1929, and a bit shockingly, the first British production of his work (at least as far as the research I have done indicates); the film was fully silent and starred Blanche Sweet. The Moonstone was the first work taken up in the sound era in a film independently produced as a poverty row film in 1934. There would be just three more films between this release and the first appearance of his work on television (all of them productions of The Woman in White). The series "Fireside Theater" featured two episodes of his work in 1949 and 1950 based on short stories. Since this time, more often than not, the use of his work has been for television series, with the few films also productions for television broadcast. The most recent production was the 2018 mini-series 'The Woman in White' which sports five episodes. Oh, and it is worth mentioning that one of those television productions was The Woman in White, a British made-for-television film from 1997 starring "The Walking Dead" lead (and Ian Anderson's son-in-law) Andrew Lincoln. Wilkie Collins passed away on the 23 of September at the age of 65 after years of suffering from gout. He was laid to rest in Kensal Green, one of Greater London's most well known cemeteries.

Source:Wikipedia

IMDb

Find a Grave Entry

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Born Today December 29: Karel Sabina

1813-1877

Czech writer Karel Sabina was born on this day in Prague; he was born illegitimate from an extra martial affair and was not treated well as a child, growing up without privilege or money. He was apparently given to family of servants that may have worked for the rather wealthy family into which he was physically born--the son of of one their unwed daughters. Despite his background, he was able to attend University, where he set his sights on studying the law and doubling up with a major in philosophy. He did not, however, graduate. He did discover a talent for writing. In the late 1840's Sabina became involved with the Czech democratic movement, a quite early version of several similar movements to follow over the next 60 years. Any sort of movement advocating an electoral government was a threat to monarchical rule. In 1848 he founded both a political secret circle and became an member of what amounted to the earliest form of the Czech National Congress (he said his political ideas of organization had been deeply influenced by the Irish struggle for independence). This is when he first found the need to write under pens names (he had so many by the end of his life, they are still not all known to a certainty). Under pen names, he wrote political tracts, while simultaneously working the news business (in addition to journalist, he also edited news magazines). There are two things to keep in mind about this period in Czech history. One was these types of political movements were very new at the time, it would be another 30 years before any of them came to any sort of prominence (although the Czech National Revival had it's inception as far back as the 18th century). The second is by far the most important. It is not well known that Czech, a West Slavic language, along with it's closely related tongue Slovak, were endangered languages by the 1830's, largely by both lack of standardization and because Czech speakers were regarded as second rate (and Protestant) by the Catholic aristocracy--largely German speakers. Both were pulled back from the brink of extinction by 1840's. Linguists Josef Dobrovsky and Josef Jungmann were principally responsible for the revival and standardizing of the Czech itself. Because the language was so tied up with other aspects of Czech identity, the language itself became, if not a political statement, then a type of political tool. It is hardly surprising then, that several of Sabina's articles were censored upon publication. The most serious moment of his adult life came in 1849, when he was arrested of planning on taking part in a coup, in 1851, he and 24 other men were convicted and sentenced to death, before the emperor commuted the sentences to 18 years of hard time. They were all released six years later, when on the 8th of May in 1857 a general amnesty was declared and he was released. He returned to Prague and set himself up as a freelance writer. His sense of freedom was not to last however. Though during this time, he made the most of his writing skills from 1857 through 1870. He wrote novels, plays and librettos--he was for a time even celebrated. One of his librettos was for the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana another celebrated revivalist who is now regarded as father of Czech music. He wrote the libretto for Prodaná nevesta (The Bartered Bride), a hugely popular comic opera, in the mid-1860's. It was first performed as a live opera in 1866; and was later made domestically into the a film for the first time in 1913 by early Czech film director Max Urban. His Prodaná nevesta was a bit unique by early film standards, as it was a film of a performance, though it was without actual singing. Filmed in Prague, it's unclear if it was intended to be accompanied by live music, or perhaps one of the newer amplifications of some form of recorded music. But for a writer, first and foremost, of Czech revivalist pamphlets and literature, it is important that the first film made from his work was a Czech one. One more film was made from libretto during the silent era, also in Czechoslovakia; this one-unlike the first-was actually a developed into a conventional screenplay by director Oldrich Kmínek. His Prodaná nevesta was made through the Czech production/distribution company Atropos and was filmed in Prague; it was released in September 1922. Given it's popularity, it is not surprise that The Battered Bride is the only one of his works so far to be adapted for film. It's first turn in a sound production was also no small thing! Legendary German theater director Max Ophuüls, who was to go on to a famed directing career in film in both France and the United States, was just getting into film directing at the time he made Die verkaufte Braut in 1932. The film was a full on musical adaptation (compare it to say, The Sound of Music) filmed at Bavaria Studios; it was his third film and his second to last feature made in Germany before he had to flee to France in 1933 because he was Jewish. It's next adaptation was also a German one, albiet a West German television production some 25 years later: Die verkaufte Braut aired on Christmas Day in 1958. While the American series The Metropolitan Opera Presents, a series airing on PBS, presented The Bartered Bride as one of it's early episodes in November of 1978 (directed by Kirk Browning). It was most recently presented as a 2-hour television production in 2006 on Czech television, airing on the 26th of September. As for Sabina himself, his life began to unravel in 1870. He first successfully sued a German language newspaper in 1870 who had published that he had been, and continued to be, a police informant--supposedly dating back to his incarceration. In 1872, though, things came completely apart for the writer. A sanctimonious group of eight Czech nationalist intellectuals, lead in part by Jan Neruda, held a trial of Sabina and found him "guilty" of being a police informant. For the rest of his life, he had to live in hiding, skulking about Prague quietly and often in disguise. There is little evidence that he was an informant and it is a stain on the life of Neruda, who like Sabina was a writer of many styles/genres and also worked in Czech language news journalism (thank goodness that are buried in separate cemeteries in Prague!). Sabina became such an outcast, posters containing his name at opera houses where removed; and his books, though not officially banned, were no longer sold. It was during this time that he wrote under many pens names, many of whom have to this day not been properly worked out (a singularly frustrating task taken on by more than one scholar over the years)--the result is that a complete bibliography of his works simply does not exist. It is hardly surprising to learn that Sabina died in extreme poverty on the 8th of November in 1877 at the age of 63. He was given a proper burial in Prague's historic Olsany Cemetery.

[Source: Barbora (Find a Grave)]

[Source: WikiMedia Commons]

Encyclopedia Britannica entry Czech Language Revival

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Born Today December 20: John Fletcher

1579-1625

Jacobean playwright and frequent writing partner of Frances Beaumont was baptized on this day in Rye, England (Sussex), where he was born some time earlier in the month. His father was a prominent cleric who was, among other things, chaplain to Queen Elizabeth I until he fell out of favor with her. His father died not long after this, so it fell to an uncle to take in Fletcher and his seven siblings. It would prove to be an important catalyst in his life, as his uncle, Giles Fletcher, was a poet. This was apparently the only benefit that he gained from this particular family connection, as his uncle too would become persona non grata through an ill fated patronage. It is thought that young John entered college at the University of Cambridge at just the age of 11. From what records remain, he was studying to follow in his father's footsteps and take up a career in the church. Somehow, and it is unclear how it came about, he instead made his way into London theatrical circles. Though he wrote many plays on his own, he is by far more well known as a writing collaborator of Beaumont. It is again unclear how he came to know Beaumont, but Fletcher was, at the beginning of his work in London, in the company of several theatrical company's. The first of which was as a writer for the Children of the Chapel, a choir that clearly had connections with the church and may provide some clue as to how he ended up in this line of work in the first place. This is likely the meeting place for Beaumont and Fletcher's, as their earliest collaborations were penned for the Children. Early in his career, it can also be confirmed that Fletcher was, for a time, in the employ of well known writer Ben Jonson. Aside from his collaboration with Beaumont, Fletcher is most famous for his being a later associate of Shakespeare, who eventually would be the famous writer's successor at the King's Men as house playwright. Of course, as with all important writers, artists and historical figures, please follow links below for more information. As far as films are concerned Fletcher's work has only been used in six productions, the most recent of which was in 1999 (see: Shakespeare's Women & Claire Bloom). None of these productions have been based on his work with Beaumont or even his solo work, but have been based solely on one of his collaborations with Shakespear: the play Henry VIII. The first two films based on this work came in the 1910's; the first being the rare early near-feature length (by today's standards) British production Henry VIII in 1911. It was a heavily promoted film, is listed as Britain's first feature film and is now sadly lost. The second film by contrast, really was a short and only featured a section of the original play. Cardinal Wolsey was a Vitagraph production released the following year (thus was a product of the U.S.A.) and was co-directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Laurence Trimble. The film featured Hal Reid and Julia Swayne Gordon in the lead roles, supported strongly by Tefft Johnson as Henry VIII and Clara Kimball Young as Anne Boleyn. The next production of the play, was for television a whopping 57 years later, as an episode of the short lived BBC West series "Whatever Next?" airing the 14th of June in 1969. Just like we are not completely certain of Fletcher's actual birth date, we are also not totally certain of his death date. He died at the age of 45 from plague on, or about, the 28th of August in 1625. He is entombed at London's Southwark Cathedral.

Source: Connie Nisinger [Find a Grave[)

Encyclopedia Britannica

Project Gutenberg

LibriVox (publicly available audio books)

Monday, December 7, 2020

Born Today December 7: Johann Nestroy

[photo: Ludwig Angerer]

1801-1862

Musician, operatic actor, and Viennese playwright of popular humor and satire Johann Nepomuk Nestroy was born Johann Nepomuk Eduard Ambrosius Nestroy on this day in Vienna during empirical times. Like so many talented writers of his time he was set to study and practice law, but his love of the stage and performance apparently got the best of him and he chose that path instead; he abandoned his studies altogether. He started singing opera at the professional level locally, but left for Amsterdam for a time to perform German productions there. After performing in different continental cities, he eventually returned to Vienna where he took up writing. His deeply satirical themes, complete with parodies, were an instant success. This brought him in for censorship in the 1830's, especially after his taking over "the people's theater"--the Volkstheater--from romantic writer Raimund. Nestroy was obviously dead and gone before the introduction of motion pictures in the late 1880's, but during Nestroy's lifetime a plethora of new inventions for animation were invented and introduced and, of course, so was photography itself. Nestroy was photographed dozens and dozens of times during the later half of his life, principally by prolific photographer Ludwig Angerer. It would be well into the the new century, and with the introduction of the feature film, before any of Nestroy's work was adapted for the motion picture screen. Brought to the German screen by Max Mack, who had been making films since 1911, Robert and Beltran was adapted and directed by Mack, and sporting one Ernst Lubitsch as an actor, was based on a Nestroy farce about escaped convicts. The film was released in August of 1915. The following year saw the release of the first short film based on one of his plays; Einen Jux will er sich machen was adapted and directed by Emil Leyde and released in Austria in October. There were just three more films made from his work in the silent era, the last being the comedy Frühere Verhältnisse: adapted by Viktor Klein and directed by Arthur Bergen (who was killed in Auschwitz in 1943); the film was released in June of 1927. All the films made from his works up to this point were in the German language. Likewise, the first film made from his work in the sound era was also in German; Das Einmaleins der Liebe was released in Germany in 1937. Almost two decades later, 1953 saw the use of his work on television for the first time; with Lumpazivagabundus airing in West Germany on the 8th of August. While most of remainder the, to date, of filmed productions of his work have been in German, there have been the odd-out exceptions, such as the 1991 television film Talisman in Czech. Or, much more famously: Hello, Dolly! the Gene Kelly directed 1969 musical which used comedic portions of Nestroy's work. That was taken from an famous English language stage production by Thornton Wilder. Playwright Tom Stoppard adapted On The Razzle, translated by Stephen Plaice, for the English stage in the early 1980's. There have been (so far) eight film adaptations of his work since the turn of the century the most recent of which is Der Zerrissene, fittingly from Austria. Nestroy died in Graz, located in Styria, Austria on the 25th of May in 1862 at the age of just 60. In addition to his works for the stage, he also wrote number for musical productions, including an operatic work that matched to music by Offenbach (which, I suppose would--in a funny sort of way--make it his only brush with the Romantic movement). He is buried at Vienna's Central Cemetery.

[Source: Wolfgang Ilgner (Find a Grave)]

Absolutely excellent piece by Michael Lorenz

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Born Today November 14: Adam Oehlenschäger

1779-1850

Danish poet and playwright Adam Gottlob Oehlenschäger was born on this day in Copenhagen. Credited with introducing romanticism to Danish literature, Oehlenschäger began to write poetry at the age of nine. At just the age of twelve, he was noticed by another Scandinavian poet of note Edvard Storm of Norway; who began to tutor him. As a young man, he became an apprentice and was set to become a man of trade, but wound up on the stage as an actor instead. Slowly he understood that his path in the theater lie in writing and not acting; around this time he also undertook to further his education at the University of Copenhagen, reading philosophy and history--but writing all the while in verse. This also lead to writing lyrics for music. He then spent a considerable amount of time in Germany and upon his return to his native Denmark began to lecture at the University on the ideas of romanticism and on important Germanic romantic writers--hence the introduction of the above romanticism to his home land. In 1806, he embarked on a trip through the continent, starting in Berlin; he did not return until 1810, when he also returned to the University and to lecturing. His travels would further solidify his commitment to romantic ideals of writing and philosophy. By 1815, he was writing plays and continued to do so for the rest of his life; by the end of his life, he was an internationally recognized and appreciated writer--one of the first from Denmark to become so. To date, only eight films have been made using his work as source material or inspiration; and three titles have used at least one of his songs for soundtracks. Only two films were produced in the silent era using his writing for scenarios, the first of which was the Danish film The Isle of Death [De Dødes Ø] in 1913. Produced by Filmfabrikken, it was directed by Vilhelm Glückstadt; Oehlenschäger, along with Swiss painter Arnold Böcklin, are listed as "inspiration." The other film, also Danish, was released in 1914 and was directly based on one of Oehlenschäger's poems. Guldhornene was directed by Kay Van der Aa Kühle and was just his third film. It would be nearly 30 years before another film was made using his work as film material; Langelandrejsen was based on the rare novel that he penned and was released in 1943. The very next production of his work was produced for television for the first time; Aladdin, made for Danish television in 1952, was based on his play of the same name. In 1975, that same play was included in an episode of the television mini-series Aladdin eller den forunderlinge lampe, oddly produced by Danmarks Radio. The most recent use of the his work came in 1979 with the film A Midsummer's Play, based on another play. Though Oehlenschäger is an internationally read author, his work has not been produced for film and television outside of Denmark. His music has been used twice in productions in the 2000's, including in the Danish film Druk, set for release this December. Oehlenschäger passed away on the 20th of January in 1850 at the age of 70. He was buried Frederiksburg Old Cemetery.

[Source: Erik Skytte (Find A Grave)]

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Born Today August 5: Guy de Maupassant

1850-1893

French writer Guy de Maupassant was born Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant on this day at a chateau in Tourville-sur-Arques near Dieppe in Normandy. His parents were the equivalent of "landed gentry" in France and he was their first born child (his parents had obtained the right to formally use the royal name designation "de" by formal decree). Despite this, his parents marriage was a rocky one; his father was reasonably accused of violence toward his wife and she--shocking for the time--obtained a legal separation from him on those grounds. She then took her two sons--then aged 11 and 5--to raise alone. So it is hardly surprising that his mother became his greatest influence. Add to this, that she was a lover of literature, which greatly piqued his interest in reading, especially English classics. At the age of 13, his was sent to a formal boarding school for a classical education. It is at this time that he began to write; his first efforts were in verse; though like Shelley before him, his writings eventually got him expelled from school--which was actually his aim, given that he clearly despised the place. He did manage to finish his education, just in time (so to speak) for his involvement in the newly broken out Franco-Prussian war which lasted from July of 1870 to late January of 1871. It was just long enough for him to enlist in and later gain employment in Paris with the Navy as an office clerk. He continued to write and began writing fiction. Today he is remembered as a first rate short story author, but at that time, his ambition was to pen novels. He came to enjoy the home of French author Flaubert, who he had meet as a young man in school. Flaubert, not only greatly encouraged and promoted his literary efforts, he also introduced him to continental writers, who in turn influenced de Maupassant to write in the popular school of realism/naturalism (in writing, de Maupassant was much more of a realist). It was at this time that he appears to have produced his first play. In 1878, he was also offered the chance to apply writing skills in the form of editing in his job with a promotion to Public Instruction with side jobs in the newspaper industry. In 1880 he began successfully publishing works, which continued through the early 1890's--during this time he used a number of pen names--owed to his government employment. Left to his own nature, he was a loner--a tendency that only increased with age. He also clearly was little suited for work in Paris in general and did not care for the indulgent atmosphere around artists of any sort in the city. Couple that with the fact that his health was growing increasingly worse due to having contracted syphilis at some point, his fear of death eventually over came his fear of public shame and ridicule (his brother suffered from the same and it is generally accepted today that the two were actually born with the condition). On the 2 of January of 1892 he attempted to slit his own throat, but only did enough damage to require serious hospitlization. It did occasion his being committed to a private asylum. He died there a year and half later on the 6th of July at just the age of 42. Today he is considered one of the greatest short story authors in history, having written over 300 of them. Though he is not widely known, he has still, none-the-less been called the "father of the modern short story." In regards to film, it is almost an irony that this first film to made from his works was a dramatization of one of his novels. That film, a French production of Pathé Frères, was funnily enough a short entitled Pere Milon and was released in May of 1909. That same year, American director D. W. Griffith got his mitts into one of de Mauppassant's novels and turned out The Son's Return for Biograph. The Edison studio soon got in on the action with A Coward (1909), adapted and directed by Edwin S. Porter. It would take until 1912 before one of his hundreds of short stories was adapted for the screen, that came with Essanay's Her Hour of Triumph. Then came Vitagraph's At The Eleventh Hour (1912). Fox followed on in 1918 with The Bird of Prey. The fact that all of these American studios were making films from his work so early in the making of narrative films is testament to how popular his writing was internationally at the turn of the century. Denmark was the next country to bring out a Maupassant production with His Great Duty. Italy produced Gente onesta in 1912. While the Russians are thought to have produced the first feature length film from his work; Doch isterzannoy Pol'shi was released in 1915 and was adapted from de Maupassant's story "Mademoiselle Fifi." Germany made Opfer der Liebe in 1923; and even China got in on the act (!) in 1926 with the rare Chinese silent Yichuan zhenzhu (A Pearl Necklace), it featured an interesting bi-lingual title card effect, first showing lines in Mandarin that then faded into English (and though taken from de Maupassant as an original source, screenwriter Hou Yao was said to have used the script from D.W. Griffith's The Necklace--thus making it a remake of that film). Japan came in relatively late to the game, making Onna no isshô in 1928. The first major American production of his work, clocking in at nearly 2 hours, was also the first film of his work produced with sound. The Woman Disputed featured Norma Talmadge in the lead and was a partial silent with music and sound effects by the Western Electric Sound System; the film was released in September of 1928. Yvette, back in his native France, became the last silent film made from his work, like Woman Disputed it was also released in 1928. Fittingly, the first full sound film to adapt his work for a screenplay (a novel) was also a French production in 1932: He. For what ever reason, with coming of full talking pictures, interest in his work for films kind of fell off a cliff in the United States; while international productions were wide spread and frequent. It took until 1944 for a major American studio to bring out such a production when RKO released Mademoiselle Fifi--which was a story drawn from de Maupassant's experience in war; the film was clearly produced in part because of World War II and was directed by Robert Wise in only his second directorial outing after the Val Lewton production The Curse of the Cat People (1944). Maupassant's work then made onto the the small screen relatively early in television history when the NBC series Your Show Time presented three episodes based on his short stories in it's one year on the air in 1949. I do believe that my earliest exposure to his work (though I certainly didn't know it at the time) came in the viewing of the 1963 Reginald Le Borg directed horror film Diary of a Madman starring Vincent Price as a television re-run when I was just a kid. This was not the only horror film his work was adapted for in the 1960's. In 1963 horror mastermind Mario Bava included a segment based on de Maupassant's work in his classic horror anthology Black Sabbath, "hosted" by horror icon Boris Karloff. Also in 1963, the UK produced entire television series around his work simply entitled "Maupassant"; and France followed suit in 1964 with "Trieze contes de Maupassant". As of this writing the most recent film produced from his work was a 2019 short: Le signe; and the most recent series usage is from the Argentinian for-the-web produced "Cineficción Radio"--episode Guy de Maupassant (the partially animated film Boule de suif has been complete for years, but shows no sign of being released). In all more than 250 films or series episodes have been produced from his writing so far. He is buried in Paris' historic Montparnasse cemetery.

[Source: WikiMedia Commons]

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Saturday, July 18, 2020

Born Today July 18: Gene Lockhart

1891-1957

Canadian born actor Gene Lockhart was born Edwin Eugene Lockhart in London, Ontario on this day. His father was an accomplished singer and thus encouraged his young son when the later showed an interest in performance. He began acting as a child and made his professional stage debut at the age of just six; he also said that he made his professional dance debut a year later. He was educated in both London, Canada and London, England and as a young adult became a professional football player in Toronto. His very long association with the theater was the most pervasive portion of his career; movies came second--but when he appeared in films he always shone through--even in bit parts; this is especially true of the villains and "heavies" that he played so well (so much fun to watch!). Early on, his career in theater took him to New York, while there he actually taught at Julliard. There, he made his Broadway debut in 1916 at the age of 25. His film debut followed six years later in 1922. It would be his only appearance in a silent film. The film was a Norma Talmadge vehicle (made by her production company)--Smilin' Through --and directed by Sidney Franklin. His part was rather small--that of "Village Rector"--he was credited as Eugene Lockhart. Returning to the stage, Lockhart did not appear in film again until 1933 in a little known comedic short called The No Man (an example of a "Broadway Brevity"--you can read more about them here). The first major production that he acted in was RKO's 1934 comedy By Your Leave; an accomplished singer and songwriter--Lockhart contributed to the soundtrack by singing a rendition of "Far Above Cayuga's Waters." He was by this time transplanted to Hollywood and his film rolls increased exponentially. He made appearances in such well known films as: the 1938 Reginald Owen rendition of A Christmas Carol, His Girl Friday (1940), Capra's Meet John Doe (1941), Curtiz's The Sea Wolf (1941), The Devil And Daniel Webster (1941), Northern Pursuit (1943) starring Errol Flynn, the film noir The House on 92nd Street (1945), and Miracle on 34th Street (1947). He made his television debut in 1950 the series Lights Out -- a horror/mystery/science fiction affair that was a fore-runner of The Twilight Zone (episode: Dr. Heidegger's Experiment). He also made an appearance on the similar series Tales of Tomorrow. In the 1950's, he divided his time between television and the big screen, with the film Jeanne Eagels starring Kim Novak and based on the life of the silent film starlet of the same name as the film, being his last film. It was released several months after his death on the 31st of March in Santa Monica of a heart attack. He was 65 years of age. He was buried at Holy Cross in Culver City. During his career, Lockhart became a naturalized U.S. citizen, wrote several plays and was nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role in Algiers. If Lockhart's last name rings a bell that you can't quite place, that is because he was the father, with his actress wife Kathleen Lockhart, of well known actress June Lockhart of "Lost In Space" fame (she strongly favors her father). All three of them appeared in A Christmas Carol.

[Source: Scott Michaels (Find A Grave)]

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Friday, July 17, 2020

Born Today July 17: Jakob Christoph Heer

1859-1925

Swiss novelist Jakob Christoph Heer was born on this date in Töss in the Kanton of Zurich (a village still located on the the outskirts of Zurich proper). Heer was educated at Winterthur and became a teacher by profession. He had worked as a Vicar until 1897 when he obtained his teaching certificate and then worked in as an educator full time after 1882. All the while, he wrote novels in the romantic style, focusing on a sub-genre of "Domestic Romance." Writing in Swiss German, his theme heavily eschewed the increasing advance of technology and the increased removal of populations from rural life, focusing instead on the "idyllic" in living in natural settings surrounded by the pastoral rather than advances in technology (even in pursuits like farming). In 1902 he was finally able to take up full time free lance writing. Heer's work has not been adapted for film often, but all the four films have been features; including the very first film made in 1929. This film was, though, was no small deal. It was a partial silent American production directed by none other than Ernst Lubitsch. Eternal Love would be the last "silent" film that he made (it actually featured sound effects by MovieTone). It also starred Camilla Horn and John Barrymore in the leads and was based on Heer's novel Der Koenig der Bernina. The other three productions have all been German language films of Austria, Germany and his native Switzerland. The first full sound film made from his work was the 1932 German Sacred Waters; this was followed some 25 years later by the Austrian Der König der Bernina in 1957. The most recent use of his work for an adapted script came just three years later, way back in 1960 with the joint Swiss/West German production of Secred Waters. Though Heer is known as a novelist, he was also a prolific writer of short stories, poems and--not surprisingly--local travel literature (though he is said to have very much disliked the concept of tourism). Heer died in Zurich on the 20th of August, a little better than a month after his 66th birthday. A huge stone memorial was put up in his honor at Winterthur, the village where he recieved his education and began his writing career.

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Thursday, July 9, 2020

Born Today July 9: Jan Neruda

1834-1891

Czech writer of many styles and genres Jan Neopmuk Neruda was born on this day in Prague. Neruda was part of the Czech school of literary realism and was involved with Czech revivalism, a school that started 18th century Prague and was deeply involved in the promotion and standardation of the Czech language--favoring it over romance/Latin languages and local German. Neruda wrote exclusively in the language. In this capacity, he became one of the most well known national literary figures of his time, despite that he was deeply shy and quite introverted in his private life. A journalist by trade, Neruda was very much admired both Czech writers and English authors when he was in grammar school as a young man. He particularly loved reading Shakespeare, but also had a love of the romantic poetry of both Germany and England. Despite all of this, he went through a rough patch in his life in which he was basically unwelcome in Prague; labeled a "national traitor"(keep in mind that what is now the Czech Republic--Czechia--was then still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire); because of this, Neruda went traveling on the European continent and eventually wound up in Egypt of all places; these have provided some interesting history of these places during the 19th cnetury. While traveling, he kept a detailed diary of events and keen observations. Outside of his homeland, his Prague Tales have been widely translated, and remain today his most well known and read works. Given that Neruda was a writer, it's obvious that the write-up here means that his work was used for source material for a silent film screenplay at least once. And, in fact, it was just once. What is of interest (at least I find it really facinating!) is that the source material used was actually a column (albeit in the form of a story) that he wrote in the capacity as a journalist. This simply does not happen very often: sure plays, novels, short stories, librettos, poems...even placards on paintings have all been used for film scenarios, journalistic columns...not so much. The film in question is a comedy dating from 1924: Kam s nim? (the column would be remade into a full sound film in 1955). The film was adaptated from the column by Neruda and directed by Václav Wasserman. This was the only silent film (that we know of) made from his work. It would be 12 years before another film was produced using his writing for the screenplay; that was another Wasserman film Quarryman (Trhani). One of his novels was made into a Czech language television series in 1984. Until 2009, the most recent use of his work came in 1989 with the release of the short horror film Vampyr; 20 years later Beggar's Story, another short, was released--the first of his work to be adapted and directed by woman: Lucie Groene. To date this is the most recent film of his work. All of the 15 films and television productions made from his work has been in the Czech language that he so loved. In failing health for years due to an inflammatory condition and an accident that left it hard from him to walk, he finally succumbed on the 22nd of August 1891, after a bout with intestinal cancer, at the age of just 57. He is buried at Prague's historical Vysehrad Cemetery which is located at 10th century castle of the same name.