Born Today January 13: Adrian Johnson

1883-1964

Known mostly for his work with Fox, Adrian Owen Johnson was born on this day in Knoxville, Tennessee. Though he had older half siblings, the fact that he was the only child of his military father's third and last marriage, and that his father died when he was just three years of age, meant that Johnson effectively grew up without brothers or sisters. Despite losing his father at such a young age, the fact that his father came from a very well connected family meant that he had educational options in life that most children in his situation would not have. He eventually completed a college degree and at some point began to write scenarios for films. Though when he is remembered in film history, it his connections to Fox and some it's most famous Theda Bara's films, he actually got his start in the business at Metro, moving over briefly to Mirror Films. Dates are hard to pin down owed to very little information about his life having been preserved. There is some evidence that his earliest scripts may date from 1913 or 1914 and that he landed his job at Fox sometime (probably late) in 1915--the earliest film credit that has his name actually attached to it dates from 1916: The Marriage Bond, a melodrama directed for Mirror by Lawrence Marston.  The earliest Fox film that we have definite credits for that has his name attached as a screenwriter is Romeo and Juliet, released in October of 1916. The film starred Theda Bara, was, obviously, an adaptation of Shakespeare, and is amongst the many Fox/Bara productions lost (as far as any knows, the only known copy was burned in the infamous Fox fire of 1937 in New Jersey). His last adaptation for Fox came in 1919 with Checkers based on Henry Martyn Blossom novel. Along the way, he was a writer on some of Fox's most famous lost films of the 1910's, including the   J. Gordon Edwards films Camille (1917), Salome (1918) & the nearly two hour long Madame Du Barry (1917). He was also a writer on the World War I Fox production Why America Will Win and what can only be assumed was a "silent screw-ball comedy" Tell it to the Marines (1918).  In this modern age, the most historically significant film that he adapted for the screen was Cleopatra. Dating from 1917, and also directed by Edwards, this was amongst the more famous films that Theda Bara starred in outside the "vamp" role in her Fox career. The film is one is one of the biggest laments of lost silent cinema history. It is this film that was the subject of a "video reconstruction" by Phillip Dye in 2017. Johnson's first screenplay post Fox, was an adaptation of a popular Cosmo Hamilton novel at a new production company: The Miracle Of Love  (1919).  He next went on to work for Marion Davis' production company. His first screenplay of the 1920's was for her; a crime vehicle April Folly, an adaptation of a Cynthia Stockley serialized story, it is a film very much still available for viewing.  From this point forward, Johnson wrote for a variety of production houses, including a couple for British companies (see, for example, Carnival (1921) and His Wife's Husband). One of his later screenplays was for a film that starred Baby Peggy who passed away not quite a year ago; The Darling of New York (December 1923) was her first feature and was written with director King Baggot.   The Look Out Girl was his last screenplay to be produced in the 1920's. The film, a mystery/crime melodrama, was a late presentation of  A. Carlos (himself more than a bit of a mystery) and his Carlos Productions; it was directed by Dallas Fitzgerald and starred Jacqueline Logan as "the look out girl" turned bride to a wealthy doctor. He was involved in five screenplays--to varying degrees--in the 1930's. The first of these was The Jazz Cinderella (September 1930)--starring Myrna Loy and Jason Robards Sr.--where he was involved with a bank of writers working for Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corp.  He worked for them for one more film in 1931, another domestic crime film The Lady from Nowhere with Alice Day.  The last film that he that he is known to have worked on for sure was a "custody melodrama" Found Alive, released in April of 1933.  After 1935, he was associated with just one other title and rather infamous one at that...at least where I come from in northern Florida. He is thought to have provided some of the narration dialogue for the "documentary" Killers of the Sea in 1937 (shot in Panama City, Florida--people remembered Captain Caswell locally).   Johnson stayed in Los Angeles for the rest of his life, where he sold a "full proof" screenwriters guide via mail.  He was married to silent film actress Margaret Cloud and they remained married until his death on the 14th of September in 1964 at the age of 81. He was cremated; his wife followed him in death six years later. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Born Today December 4: A. Carlos

 

 1876-1930

 

 Not very much is known about this silent film "presenter" that went simply by A. Carlos, except that he was indeed male, born in Poland and ultimately died in Paris, France. We also know that he founded a production company in the United States somewhere along the way.  The first film listed from both the production company--Carlos Productions--and Carlos himself as a presenter was The Unknown Purple which was released in October of 1923.  The company was only involved in 22 recorded productions between the years 1923 and 1928 and Carlos himself is credited on 20 of those as a presenter. [Note:  the second company credit comes closely on it's first with the film Let's Go, a co-production with the Richard Talmadge Productions Co. the company of acrobat/stunt man turned actor Richard Talmadge--no relation to the famous Talmadge sisters; Carlos himself is not listed among the film's credits.]  It is quite possible that the company has other credits and so to does Carlos himself, that are hard to track down, but for the purposes here I will stick to what is readily available.  Also, the title "presenter" would be recognized today as a kind of executive producer, and clearly as the founder of a production house, the films that bear Carlos' name should be considered in some respects made by him. In the mid-1920's his company produced several more films made for the above mentioned Richard Talmadge (one of the strangest being Laughing at Danger, a 1924 comedic yarn about a death ray). Another company that Carlos Productions teamed up with during this time was the Truart Film Co., a tiny company that nonetheless had a presence in the distribution business. By 1928 Carlos and his production company were out the Richard Talmadge promotion business and produced four films with actors and/or directors that were relatively well known. They included Jobyna Ralston in Black Butterflies, King Baggot directing Romance of a Rogue and Dallas M. Fitzgerald directing The Look Out Girl.  The latter two of these were adapted for the screen by Adrian Johnson who had been a major writer at Fox during the teens. His last film production came with Jazzland (poster pictured above) in 1928.  It starred Bryant Washburn and Vera Reynolds, was again directed by Fitzgerald and, despite it's title, was a completely silent release. The film was completely produced by Carlos Productions and distributed by Quality Distribution Company.  Carlos' credits in the film industry end there, and it is probable that he did not make any more films after this point, because he was known to be in Paris, France at the time of his death just two years later. He died in France on the 30th of January at just the age of 53. It is recorded that his remains were shipped back to New York for a funeral and burial. Records show that he was buried at one of the cemeteries in Glendale, Queens--likely Cypress Hills--but nothing else is recorded about his life (at this time).