Born Today October 6: Eugenio Testa

1892-1957

Silent Italian director/actor Eugenio Testa, who is more famous for directing what is considered probably the most famous lost Italian films and amongst the first Italian horror films, was born Eugenio Valentino Mario Ernesto Testa in Turin, Italy on this day.   Despite that Testa is well known as the mastermind behind Il Mostro di Frankenstein (1921) [please note that there is a big debate the year of this film], he was both a prolific actor and director.  He was the son of famed actor Dante Testa who had appeared in very early Italian films, not least of which was the epic 1914 Cabiria.  Eugenio got his start in films in 1913; his directorial debut was made that year with Jack; impressive given his young age.  He also made his screen acting debut that same year in Il cuore non invecchia, a Itala Film directed by Ernesto Vaser.  His years as a director lasted up until 1921, when he directed the Frankenstein film; his years as an actor (which he didn't do much of during his years directing) lasted much longer than that.  In fact, he acted right up to the year of his death.  He had a brief stint with a his own production company in 1914; as far as has been recorded thus far, the company only produced one film: Il battello de sangue.  The filming of Frankenstein was filled with controversy--as mentioned above, the year of it's actual release is not easy to pin down and his version of the film, a full feature length affair, never saw the light of day.  A whole post could be (and will be devoted to this), it is beyond the scope here--suffice to say, that the censorship in Italy during the silent era, especially in the 1920's, was so heavy that the film was effectively banned before release.  A heavily censored version of the film was given the "green light" to premiere, but by the time they had finished with it, the film was only around 38 or 39 minutes long.  To make matters worse, it seems that showings of the film (mostly in Europe from what I've been able to get from some research) were touted, but few and far between (!) during the 1920's.  The film went missing sometime after 1926, and, aside from a few remaining stills and rare promotional posters, nothing has been seen of if since (though it is one of those films that is the subject of all kinds of rumors of secret collections and various "sightings" over the decades).  It is hard to know if what happened to his film--by all accounts of those involved, it was a masterpiece-- had any influence on his abruptly quitting direction, and the film industry all together for a long time, but it certainly must have contributed.  

Still from the film

Testa didn't take up acting until the late 1940's, when he made an appearance in the Spanish film El tambor del Bruch in 1948.  From then on,  he had steady acting work in the Spanish film industry up until 1957.  The last film that he appeared in was Yo maté, on of two films that he acted in just prior to his death.  Testa died on the 11th of October in 1957 in his home town of Turin, just 5 days after his 65th birthday. I am assuming that he is buried there as well, but can find no information as the location of any memorial to him.  

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Leila Hyams 1928

Born Today October 5: Denis Diderot

1713-1784

Imminent French philosopher Diderot was born on this date in Langres, France.  It as in this same village that he began his formal education with local Jesuits.  By 1732 he had earned a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy, and entered the College d'Harcourt in Paris; and by 1734 he had decided to become a writer.  It is with his story writing that we are concerned with here.  In 1922, two German films companies made a film from one of his stories entitled Die Intrigen der Madame de la Pommeraye.  The film was directed by Fritz Wendhausen; it was his second film and starred German actor Alfred Abel, who would become one of Germany's most recognizable cinematic faces.  This would be the only film made from Diderot's work in the silent era.  It would be another 23 years before another film was made from his work.  Les dames du Bois de Boulogne was made by famed French filmmaker Robert Besson in 1945.  His work was first brought to television in 1967 in the Paradox über die Schauspielkunst episode of the West German series Auf der Lesebühne der Literarischen Illustrierten.  To my knowledge, there has never been an English language production of his work (yet).  The most recent film using his work as source material is the Italian production from 2013:  Il nipote di Rameau, a made for television film, which aired in December.  As for Diderot, himself, he died on the 31st of July in 1784 at the age of 70 in Paris, probably from the condition that would later be recognized as emphysema which caused bleeding in the lungs.  For more on his life and works (including the history of his controversial reception during his lifetime) please see the Wikipedia link below.  He is buried in the environs of the Church of Saint-Roch in Paris--the location is unknown today, as his body was displaced by destructive activity during the French Revolution.

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Dorothy Dix 1928

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Joan Crawford sometime in the 1920's

Born Today October 3: Henry Hull

1890-1977

Character actor from stage and screen Henry Watterson Hull was born on this date in Louisville, Kentucky.  Hull started on the stage and later became a Broadway regular, even managing to create one of Broadway's lasting characters, Jeeter Lester, a character in the novel based play Tobacco Road.  He appeared in his first film in 1917, a World Film/Peerless drama A Square Deal.  Though Hull appeared in quite a few silent films between 1917 and 1925, he was primarily an actor of the stage.  The last silent film that he appeared was The Wrongdoers , starring Lionel Barrymore.  After 1925, he left film work until 1930, when talking films had solidly overtaken silents.  Even then, he appeared in only one short (Matinee Idle (1930)--a short fancy poking fun at Broadway playboy types); he did not resume regular film work until 1934.  After this point he settled into the familiar character actor that would morph into the gravely voiced old man type that he became known for in films and television (he still made many appearances on the stage as well).  Hull (appropriate for this time of year) is best remembered for his role in the Universal Wolf Man/Monsters franchise Werewolf of London in 1935, which coincidentally starred Warner Oland who was also born on Oct. 3rd.  

Hull and Oland together

Hull would also appear in the very last film directed by Tod Browning in 1939; Miracles For Sale.   Between the late 1930's and mid 1940's, he made appearances in several well known films including Boys Town (1938), High Sierra (1941) and Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944).  Hull made his television debut in 1949 in the episode The Birthday Party of The Chevrolet Tele-Theater (1949-1950).  As time went on, he became almost totally recognizable from television, and a later career in westerns.  Hull's last role was Briggs in the Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda 1966 picture The Chase.  He retired after this; and when his wife of many years died in 1971, he went to live with his daughter who resided in Cornwall.  He died there at the age 86 on the 8th of March, 1977 following complications from a stroke.  He is buried, along with his wife, in Rockland Cemetery in Sparkill, New York

From Werewolf Of London

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Clara Bow 1929

Born Today October 2: Paul von Hindenburg

1847-1934

Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, better known to history as simply Paul von Hindenburg was born on this date in Posen, Prussia (which became a part of Poland in 1919) to an aristocratic family.  After a long and lofty military career, he served as Germany's president starting in 1925 until his death in in 1934.  Historically, he has become a controversial figure; he is cited by many as the man who gave Germany--and thus the rest of the world--Adolf Hitler by appointing him Reich Chancellor of the country in January of 1933.  To be fair, Hindenburg, who had only met Hitler for the first time in 1931, and was known not to like him, or his dictatorial political ambitions, was reportedly suffering from increasing dementia at the time.  He may have also been motivated to cave to Hitler's naked lust for power, after securing a promise from him that he would move to restore the German royal family; a misguided goal that many early followers of Hitler maintained, and a promise that Hitler would not keep (see, for example, the Stauffenberg family, and Claus von Stauffenberg, the German officer that the film Valkyrie was based on--included in the Wikipedia page is the sickening account of Claus' older brother's execution and Hitler's film of the event).  By the time it became clear that Hindenburg had been seriously deceived, he, personally was in no position to recant.  Not only did he have an ever worsening dementia, he also had cancer that would metastasized to his bladder.  The condition would kill him in 1934.  Still, he remains a deeply troubling historical figure and one that deserves blame for the easy rise to power that Hitler "enjoyed." Hindenburg appeared in at least 3 films, the most famous of which is the 1927 documentary Berlin: Symphony of a Great City  by filmmaker, later turned propagandist, Walter Ruttman.  Hindenburg died on the 2nd of August at the age of 86.  Against his expressed wishes laid out in his will, he was interred--along with his wife--in great pomp and circumstance at the infamous Tannenberg Memorial (he was in fact interred twice there--with the second interment more elaborate and pompous than the first).  In 1945, with the approaching Soviet forces closing in on that section of Old East Prussia, Hindenburg and his wife were moved, they are now viewable at their current location of interment in Saint Elizabeth's in Marburg, Germany (the memorial has been completely destroyed).  A film in 1934 was made of the event of his first burial by Pathe and can be viewed on YouTube here.  

2nd Burial Location above ground at Tannenberg Memorial (Paul von Hindenburg on right)

Current interment 

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Mary Pickford 1910's

Born Today October 1: Alice Joyce

1890-1955

Silent movie star Alice Joyce was born on this date in Kansas City, MO.  Her parents divorced when she was quite young and she and her family moved with her mother to Falls Church, Virginia where she grew up.  According to a census in 1910 the family were relocated in The Bronx, after her mother's remarriage.  In New York, Alice worked at a very young age as a telephone operator before she was noticed for her looks.  She then became a fashion model, along with her younger brother, who would later become an entertainment manager.  This lead to her appearance in several illustrated songs.  It was not long before she gained the attention of early studio film makers.  It was Sidney Olcott at Kalem that got her into her first film and her first contract.   The film was A Deacon's Daughter, a film that Olcott appeared in himself.  She was one of their first stars poached from the fashion world to be sent westward  to Hollywood.  She had a rare multi-year run at Kalem that lasted through 1915, during which she became a real super star.  She earned the nickname The Madonna Of The Screen.  After this, she signed in 1916 with Vitagraph.  The first film that she made for them was Whom The God's Destroy.  She stayed at Vitagraph through 1921, after which she worked as at various independent studios, her career was then under the management of her brother Frank (who had gotten into the talent buisiness with Myron Selznick).  Her first film after leaving Vitagraph was probably her most well known--The Green Goddess in 1923.  The film was shot on location back in New York and was directed by her first director Sidney Olcott.  Though she appeared in a number of films in the 1920's her career began to slow, the sound era basically brought an abrupt end to her career.  She did appear in an early talkie in 1929, The Squall, a very late "vamp" film with Loretta Young.  She also appeared in a full sound remake of of The Green Goddess in 1930.  She would appear in just two more films--both in 1930.  The last of these was the musically whimsical romance picture Song o' My Heart featuring Maureen O'Sullivan in her sophomoric role.  During her career, she appeared in more than 200 films--almost all of them silent.  She was also married several times, twice to industry insiders (Tom Moore and Clarence Brown).  After the end of film career, she worked a late era vaudeville circuit with her first ex-husband Tom Moore--though she was forced to declare personal bankruptcy in the early 1930's.  She married for the 3rd time and settled into life in the San Fernando Valley.  She spent time writing book reviews.  Joyce was seriously injured following a car accident in 1946 and her health never seemed to recover fully from that.  She remained in the valley area living to herself following her third divorce in mid 1940's.  She developed a heart condition and on October 9, just 8 days after her 65th birthday, she succumbed to heart failure.  She is buried next to her mother in San Fernando Mission Cemetery.

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