Born Today September 7: Roscoe Karns

Roscoe Karns:  1891-1970

Although he is best known for his rapid fire delivery of lines in comedies and crime films of the 1930's and 1940's, with probably his best known role coming in the Frank Capra directed remarriage comedy The Happened One Night (1934) starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, he was a serious silent era actor with his first film role coming in 1915.  There are a whole host of silent era actors who became serious stars that did not come from the theater that had no chance of making the transition to talkies (Theda Bara comes to mind), Karns was something like the exact opposite!  His first stage appearance came at the age of 15.  As for other notable speaking roles that he very, very entertaining in is in the 1940 produced His Girl Friday, another much more straight forward remarriage comedy, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy.  His rapid fire "reporters banter" as "MuCue" with Hildy (Russell) in the press room of the prison serves as a great balance to the antics of her ex-husband Walter Burns (Grant).  He is also one of the only silent era actors of significant note to make it into the world of television; including one show that he was the star of Rocky King:  Detective 1951-1954.  With his wife Mary, he had two children, one of which, Todd Karns (born 1921) went one to have a serious acting career of his own.  He even appeared with his father in Rocky King.  Roscoe is buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Roscoe & Todd Karns

Silent Era Work

Mr. Carlson Of Arizona (1915) (short)

From Champion To Tramp (1915) (short)

A Species Of Mexican Man (1915) (lost short film)

A Western Governor's Humanity (1915) (lost short film)

Know Thy Wife! (1918) (short)

Brides For Two (1919) (short)

Sally's Blighted Career (1919) (short)

Oh, Susie, Be Careful (1919) (short)

Poor Relations (1919)

The Family Honor (1920)

Life Of The Party (1920)

The Man Tamer (1921)

Too Much Married (1921)

Her Own Money (1922)

The Trouper (1922)

Afraid To Fight (1922)

Conquering The Woman (1922)

Other Men's Daughters (1923)

Down To The Ship To See (1923) (A Pal The Dog short)

The Ten Commandments (1923) (famously remade again by DeMille in 1956)

Bluff (1924)

The Midnight Express (1924)

A Foolish Virgin (1924)

The Overland Limited (1925)

Dollar Down (1925) (directed by Tod Browning)

You'd Be Surprised (1926)

Ritzy (1927)

Wings (1927) (silent with original score and sound effects by Western Electric Sound System, this one two of the earliest Oscars.)

Ten Modern Commandments (1927) (directed by Dorothy Arzner, one of the earliest female directors.)

The Jazz Singer (1927)

Beau Sabreur (1928)

The Trail Of '98 (1928) (early talkie silent hybrid, Mono by MovieTone, soundtrack and sound effects by Western.)

Something Always Happens (1928) (haunted house comedy caper)

The Desert Bride (1928)

The Vanishing Pioneer (1928) (lost film)

Warming Up! (1928) (another mono/silent hybrid, but unfortunately also a lost film)

Jazz Mad (1928)

Win That Girl (1928)

Beggars Of Life (1928) (talkie/silent hybrid, talking scenes and score by MovieTone)

Moran Of The Marines (1928)

Object: Alimony (1928)

The Shopworn Angel (1928) (talkie/silent hybrid, talking sequences by Western Electric)

The Flying Fleet (1929) (scored silent, soundtrack and sound effects by MovieTone)

Copy (1929) (early talking short, Mono by MovieTone)

This Thing Called Love (1929) (early talkie sound by RCA, hybrid black and white and color film, with color by both Multicolor and Technicolor, but again it is unfortunately a lost film)

New York Nights (1929) (early talkie, sound by Western Electric)

Born Today September 6: Max Schreck

Max Schreck:  1879-1936

Born Friedrich Gustav Maximillian Schreck on September 6, 1879 in Berlin-Friedenau, Germany, his is the most definitely the most famous face (albeit in heavy makeup) of the silent era in the modern age!  Even the youngest people with any passing knowledge of film know his face.  For a while as a child he lived in Friedenau proper, which has a very interesting history all it's own.  As he got older, he became more and more enamored with the theater, of which is father thoroughly disapproved.  His mother, however, secretly gave him money to study acting, which he did enthusiastically, graduating and got work in a number of live productions all across the country until he ended up in Berlin and Munich.  It was after this point that he began to work in films.  Despite that he's only known widely across the world for Nosferatu (1922), he acted in over 20 silent films (as the silent era lasted much longer in Germany than it did in the US), with his first talkie in 1930 funnily enough being a musical (The Land Of Smiles).  Nosferatu was basically the only horror film he acted in, however he was in one Sci-Fi talkie in 1933 entitled The Tunnel.  It turns out that the vast majority of the films he appeared in were comedies.  He had a reputation of being a rather strange character, a loner, and apparently spent a good deal of time wandering around in forests.  Despite this, he apparently also possessed a unique (some said unusual) sense of humor, and like his American contemporary Lon Chaney Sr., he had a talent for playing grotesque characters, and didn't mind make-up jobs, that other actors had no patience for.  This was helped by the fact that he stood 6'3".  His life was cut short at the age of 56 of a heart attack.  Due to his theater training, he had successfully made the transition into talkies, only to pass away from an early onset of heart failure.  Right up until his death he continued to do live theater; in fact, the night before his death he took a stand-in role as "The Great Inquisitor" in Don Carlos.  His obituary apparently made no mention of Nosferatu (as it was not the well known film then as it became), but rather highly praised a live performance as "The Miser" in a Moliére's comedy.  He is buried in the German cemetery located near Brandenburg--Wilmersdorfer Waldfriedhof Stahndorf. 

Publicity photo of Schreck from 1922, year of Nosferatu

Silent Film Credits

Der Richter von Zalamea (1920)

Der zeugende Tod (1921) (a mystery film)

Der Roman der Christine von Herre (1921)

Am Narrenseil, 2. Teil--Rätsel der Kriminalistik (1921)

Nosferatu (1922) (as Graf Orlok, his first Horror film)

Nathan der Weise (1922) (formerly lost film, essentially banned in Bavaria by intimidation from the early Nazi party who considered it "Jewish propaganda." It is a historical drama.)

The Jew of Mestri (1924) (shot in 1923, premiered in Finland in 1924, based on Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice.)

Die Straße (1923) (a drama)

The Mysteries Of A Hairdresser's Shop (1923) (comedic short, just over 30 minutes long, this remained an unreleased short for years.)

Finances Of The Grand Duke (1924) (A comedy.  A Murnau film, the only other time he worked with the director.)

Dudu, ein Menschenschicksal (1924)

Krieg im Frieden (1925)

Der rosa Diamant (1926

Out Of The Mist (1927)

Am Rande der Welt (1927) (a drama)

The Case Of Captain Ramper (1927) (a drama)

The Old Fritz (1928)

Dona Juana (1928) (a drama)

Der alte Fritz - 2. Ausklang (1928)

Luther (1929) (a biographical and historical drama based on the life of Martin Luther.  Filmed in 1928.)

Scampolo (1928) (a comedy)

Rasputins Liebesabenteur (1928) (an historical drama)

Teenager's Republic (1929) (filmed in 1928)

Modoerne Piraten (1928)

Serenissimus und die letzte Jungfrau (1928)

Volga, Volga (1928) (a drama)

Flight Of The Tertia (1929)

Ludwig der Zweite, Kônig von Bayern (1930) (a biographical historical drama)

Schreck on the stage.

Entrance into the graveyard where Schreck is buried--the whole cemetery is located in an old grove forest.

Born Today September 5: Darryl F. Zanuck

Darryl F. Zanuck:  1902-1979

Yet another giant in the entertainment world (two in a role here), this time from deep inside the industry, pretty much the opposite of Artaud.  Zanuck became one of the faces of the studio era, but unlike others of his generation, he bounced from studio or production company to studio/production company during the duration of his career.  And, unlike many other studio bosses, he got his start from the bottom up and has as many credits for writing as he does for producer (even 3 ghost director credits--one in the silent era--and a novel as well), the list here today will be long, with some very famous silents on it! He was also somewhat unique in the use of at least three aliases for his writing for film.  Not that the moving around in the oil slick was was the golden age of Hollywood, meant that he wielded any less power--in it's hey-day he was considered one of the kingpins of system.   He was one of the first studio directors to build up a "stable" of stars, including Shirley Temple.  This is the beginning of a system that came to benefit the big wigs and harm the actors.  His life after success was certainly not without controversy.  Zanuck was born Wahoo, Nebraska,  There are a couple of different versions of his early life; one stating that by the age of 13 he was abandoned by both parents, and at 15 he lied about his age in 1917 and joined the army.  Another that he moved to LA with his mother when he was six, and actually got his first job film as an extra when he was 8 (no credit or information available on the production--seems a bit questionable), but that he was recalled back to Nebraska by his father and escaped by lying about his age at 16 in 1918 (seems to me this might be cleared up in military records--they are better kept than people think);  He served in both the World Wars.  I will concern myself here with just the silent era of his career.  He spent his first years in Hollywood working with the likes of Syd Chaplin and Carl Laemmle, but most of his early work was done with Mack Sennett, creator of The Keystone Cops, where Zanuck was a sort of jack of all trades for Sennett's Keystone Co.  His earliest great break through, and first "actor" discovery (and he does, in my humble opinion, deserve credit for this, though many disagree) was not even a person:  Rin Tin Tin.  His role in the late silent era was much more in the camp of ushering in the talking era and less about advances in artistic expresses found in many late silents.  His writing credits alone are so numerous that it is head spin, so this clearly is not high art--to the extent it could be called "dime store stuff."  Vitaphone was his and his 1920's bosses thing--they certainly won the day, and added "pulp" to the film industry that quickly frustrated such greats as James Whale.   In 1925 comes his first producer (uncredited) credit, the rest, as they say, is history.  Zanuck died of cancer on 22 December 1979 at the age of 77.  His descendants continued to (and still do) make big marks on Hollywood.  He is the father of Richard D. Zanuck and grandfather of Harrison Zanuck and Dean Zanuck.  For more about his very long and varied career, see his Wikipedia page.  He is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles. 

Acting:

Find Your Man (1924) (Rin Tin Tin, his only known silent acting credit)

Writing Credits

Round Two (1922) (partially lost)

The Storm (1922)

Fighting Blood (1923)

The Knight in Gale (1923) (Series Short)

The Knight That Failed (1923) (Series Short)

Six Second Smith (1923) (Series Short)

Two Stones with One Bird (1923) (Series Short)

Some Punches and Judy (1923) (Series Short)

Gall of the Wild (1923) (Series Short)

The End of a Perfect Fray (1923) (Series Short)

When Gale and Hurricane Meet (1923) (Series Short)

Judy Punch (1923) (Series Short)

Julius Sees Her (1924) (Short)

When Knighthood Was in Tower (1924) (Short)

Money to Burns (1924) (Short)

King Leary (1924) (Short)

William Tells (1924) (Short)

Sherlock Home (1924) (Short)

For The Love of Mike (1924 (Short)

Find Your Man (1924)

The Millionaire Cowboy (1924)

A Lighthouse by the Sea (1924) (Rin Tin Tin feature)

On Thin Ice (1925)

A Broadway Butterfly (1925)

Eve's Lover (1925) (lost film)

The Limited Mail (1925)

Red Hot Tires (1925)

Seven Sinners (1925)

Hogan's Alley (1925)

Three Weeks in Paris (1925) (lost film)

The Caveman (1926)

The Little Irish Girl (1926)

A What A Nurse (1926)

The Social Highwayman (1926)

Footloose Windows (1926)

Across The Pacific (1926) (lost film)

The Better 'Ole (1926)

Wolf's Clothing (1927)

Tracked By The Police (1927) (Rin Tin Tin film)

The Missing Link (1927)

Irish Hearts (1927)

Simple Sis (1927)

The Black Diamond Express (1927)

The First Auto (1927) (Partial silent, Vitaphone sound)

The Desired Woman (1927) (directed by Michael Curtiz)

Slightly Used (1927)

Jaws Of Steel (1927)

Good Time Charley (1927) (lost film)

Ham And Eggs At The Front (1927) (this was a film that Zanuck had personal guilt about later in life and produced a number of well known films to counter stereotypes)

Tenderloin (1928) (partial silent, small speaking parts sound by Vitaphone, lost film, also has a production credit.)

Pay As You Enter (1928) (Vitaphone sound effects and music)

State Street Sadie (1928) (partial talkie, talking sequences by Vitaphone, lost film)

The Midnight Taxi (1928)

My Man (1928) (talking sequences by Vitaphone)

Harboiled Rose (1929) (partial silent, Vitaphone sequences)

Madonna Of Avenue A (1929) (early talkie, full sound by Vitaphone)

Say It With Songs (1929) (early talkie musical, Al Jolson film, full sound by Vitaphone)

Production Credits:

Lady Windermere's Fan (1925)

So This Is Paris (1926)

Old San Francisco (1927) (writer credit here, two version of film, one silent, one sound, with soundtrack and recorded sound effects.)

The First Auto (1927)

The Desired Woman (1927)

The Jazz Singer (1927) (he is uncredited here, several now documented production credits were first uncredited, but because this is such a giant in the silent world, I am making a note of it.)

Tenderloin 1928

The Terror (1928) (partial talkie, and partially lost, unfortunately, because it's a horror film--and features an early depiction of a serial killer--as such a horror fan, I'd love to hear that complete footage had been found!)

Noah's Ark (1928) (he also has an uncredited Director role in this film--his earliest, he also has a writing credit here )

On With The Show (1929) (early talkie, Vitaphone with a Western Electric Apparatus)

The Show Of Shows (1929) (early talkie with the same sound as above, John Barrymore film)

Production Manager:

Lights Of New York (1928) (extremely early talkie, often credited with being the first full sound film with full syncopation)

Born Today September 4: Antonin Artaud

Antonin Artaud 1896-1948

Artaud was not merely an actor, he was also a very well known artist, dramatist--writer of scripts, essays and surrealist poems, both a theater director and stage actor and an artist.  He is one of the most recognizable faces of 20th century avant-garde and an inventor of the theater of cruelty, which later branched off into the theater of the absurd and early live shows that morphed into modern stage artistry such as cirque de soleill.  Born Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud in Marseilles, France to Greek immigrant parents, he spent a good deal of his young life in sanatoriums due to a severe bout of meningitis when he was just 4 years old.  He had bouts of what appeared to be clinical depression and true mania throughout his life.  But he was also prolific in all the fields in which he worked.  He died alone in a psychiatric hospital of cancer on 4 March 1948 and buried in Marseille's Cimetiére Saint-Pierre.  In many ways he was a tragic figure.  With such a dynamic and influential figure, I am in no way going to attempt anything comprehensive here, I will instead just focus on the films.  

Self Portrait from 1947

The Films

The Torture Of Silence (1917)

L'enfant roi (1923)

Fait-divers (1923)

Surcouf (1925)

Gsziella (1926)

Le Julf errant (1926)

Napolean (1927)

Mathusalem (1927)

The Passion of Joan Of Arc (1928)

Verdun, visions d'historie (1928)

L'argent (1928)

Tarakanova (1930) (mostly silent, with early talkie parts, sound by RCA Phonophone System)

For More:

Wikipedia Page

The Poetry Foundation

Encyclopedia.com

Leave Virtual Flowers @ Find A Grave

Born Today September 3: Wally Albright

Wally Albright 1925-1999

Born Walton Algernon Albright, he was a child actor in the late silent era and was a member of the Our Gang cast, more popularly known later on as "The Little Rascals," where he was billed as "Wally Albright."  He appeared in 6 Little Rascals. He was one of the very first well recognized child actors of the end of the silent era.  He also worked as a child/teen actor in various talking roles, right up through the 1940's.  His last two acting credits are from the 1950's as an adult.  He was sometimes billed as Wally Albright Jr.  He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA.

He served in World War II and later in life went on to found a very successful trucking company.  He was also a well known water sportsman .

Silents And Early Talkies

Going Ga-Ga  1929 (this is a partially lost film--exists in fragments only)

The Case Of Lena Smith 1929 (exists in one fragment only)

Scandal  1929 (partial talkie)

Thunder 1929 (early talkie Western Electric) [Lost Film]

Wonder Of Women 1929 (partial talkie)

The Single Standard 1929 (this Garbo partial talkie, was one of the first films to feature it's own composed soundtrack, written especially for the silent parts of the movie.)

His "Our Gang" credits date from 1934

IMDb

 

Wikipedia 

Find A Grave entry

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

Born Today September 1: Johnny Mack Brown

 

Johnny Mack Brown 1904-1974

Arguably the first true sports film star, he was a star football player (American football, of course) at the University of Alabama, where he was known as "The Dothan Antelope" (strange nickname for a sports player from the south).  He went on to help get his team to the 1925 Rose Bowl, which they won over the heavily favored Washington Huskies.  Here in the south, it became known as "the game that changed the south."  After  being noticed by Hollywood in a box of Wheaties, he was approached to make films.  Unsurprisingly his first films were sports related dramas.  It is ironic that his film debut came in a baseball picture:  MGM's Slide, Kelly, Slide in 1927.  He would not be in another starring role, until he played the lead opposite Marion Davies (yes, that Marion Davies) in another sports film, this time centered around basketball--women's that is. The role as the coach of women's college basketball team in The Fair Co-Ed  would be his last silent sports film. He was then moved into leading man roles in romances of various sorts (even playing opposite Joan Crawford in the film that made her a star Our Dancing Daughters); he was even type-cast a bit as a southerner, despite that there was no spoken dialog. His first all sound (talkie) picture came in a supporting role in the Paul Muni "death row drama" The Valiant. His southerner background was furthered in RKO's Jazz Heaven, released in November of 1929.   Later in his acting career he was more known for his roles in westerns. His start in the genre came in the quite strange little MGM musical western Montana Moon in 1930; again, opposite Crawford--although the film was released in March of 1930, MGM actually released a silent version (not quite sure how "silent musicals" would be a thing....) Brown's last role was in Apache Uprising in 1965 before retirement. He passed away in Los Angeles on the 14th of November at the age of 70. His ashes are interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, along with those of one of his daughters.  He has been inducted in a number of Halls of Fame as disparate from each other as the College Football Hall of Fame to the World Cowboy Gunspinning Hall of Fame. 

List Of His Silent/Partial Silent Films

Slide, Kelly, Slide

The Bugle Call

Mockery

After Midnight

The Fair Co-Ed

The Divine Woman

The Soft Living

Square Crooks

The Play Girl

Our Dancing Daughters

Annapolis

A Lady Of Chance

A Woman Of Affairs

The Single Standard

Jazz Heaven

Undertow