Born Today February 14: Ernest Legouve

1807-1903

French dramatist Ernest Legouve was born Valentine's Day in Paris; his birth name was Gabriel Jean Baptiste Ernest Wilifrid Legouvé.  Though writing came as an inheritance--his father was a poet, and his grandfather was a well known writer and reader--his young life was rocked with tragedy.  His mother died when he was only 3, and his father was soon after placed in lunatic asylum.  The family was extremely well-of and he inherited that fortune at this young age and was carefully educated by a tutor.  By his early 20's he was already an award winning poet and would go on to find success and fame both inside and outside of academia.  Today he is by far most well known for the collaborative play Andrienne Lecouvreur, which he wrote with A. E. Scribe.  He is also known for being the grandfather of the French writer Maurice Desvailliéres.  Almost all the films that have used his work as source material have been based on that play.  In the silent era, 5 films were produced using his work for screenplays, the first coming in 1913 with a French short rendition of Adrienne Lecouvreur, which is unfortunately a lost film.  The last silent film made from his work was Dream Of Love, starring Joan Crawford. The first sound film to use his work for a film production came in 1929 with Devil-May-Care, a comedic musical, starring Dorothy Jordan and the tragic "other Latin Lover" Ramon Novarro.  The sound was by Western Electric System and the film sported one color sequence with the early Technicolor 2-strip technique. The most recent film to be produced from his work came in 2000 with a very lavish production of Adrienne Lecouvreur, under the title Adriana Lecouvreur, made in Italy.  Lagouve died in Paris at the age of 96 (!) on 14 March 1903, exactly one month after his birthday.  He was a lifelong proponent of physical exercise and made fencing his sport and workout of choice.  He is buried in Paris' Cimetiere de Montmartre.

 

[source: Tyler Li (Find a Grave)]

[Source: Tyler Li (Find a Grave)]

 

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View of Montmartre facing a major road over pass [Rue Caulaincourt]--showing how urban the cemetery really is.

Born Today February 13: Charles Barnard

1838-1920

American author Charles Barnard was born on this day in Boston, Mass. to parents Charles Frances Barnard and Sarah Barnard (nee Holmes).  His writing had great expanse; he dabbled in everything from journalism, stories, plays to non-fiction subjects such as gardening and electricity.  His work has only been adapted to a screenplay for a film once; that film The County Fair, based on his dramatic play of the same name, was released the year of his death: 1920.  The film was a Maurice Tourneur, production (he is also credited as co-director).  Barnard died on 11 April in Pasadena, CA. at the age of 82.

Poster for the film

Barnard's Page on IMDb

Scene From County Fair

Watch The Film at Internet Archive

Wikipedia Entry For The Film

Film's IMDb page

Born Today February 12: Friedrich de La Motte

1777-1843

German romantic writer Friedrich de La Motte, Baron Fouque' was born on this day in Brandenburg, Prussia--then part of the Holy Roman Empire.  His family was of French Huguenot ancestry, and his grandfather had been a general to Frederick The Great.  Originally intended for university by his military father, he instead quit and joined the army. He was thrice married, with his second wife Caroline Philippine von Briest being a novelist herself.  Though he was an extremely prolific writer, it mostly by one tale that he is exclusively known by today: Undine, which appeared in 1811.  Every film that has been produced using his work is based on this tale.  The very first film made from his work came in 1912 called Neptune's Daughter was made by the famous Essanay Film Manufacturing here in the U.S.  In all, 4 films from this source would be made in the silent era; all of which were made by American production companies, the last of which dates from the year 1918.  It would not be until 1955 that the tale would again be used as source for a film; that was a West German production, and the first in the sound era.  The most recent film of this work used in a film, came in 1992 with a full theatrical release--that was a German production as well.  La Motte died on the 23rd of January in Berlin, just a few weeks shy of his 66th birthday.  He is buried in Berlin at the Alter Garnisonfriedhof.

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Born Today February 11: Melville Fuller

1833-1910

Melville Weston Fuller was born on this day in Augusta, Maine to a well off family.  His father was a lawyer and both of his grandfather's had been judges.  Fuller himself, would go to be the eighth Chief Justice of the U.S. supreme court.  He is notable here for appearing in two silent news-reels.  He actually became the very first Supreme Court justice to appear in a film.  The first of these dates from 1897; McKinley Taking The Oath, an Edison short, shows him swearing in President McKinley on inauguration day.  The second, President McKinley Taking The Oath, also an Edison short, shows him in the same capacity 4 years later (1901).  Fuller died of heart disease in 1910, ironically on the 4th of July, in Sorrento, Maine at the age of 77.  He is buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, IL, where he had spent some of his formative years as a lawyer.  To read more about his life, follow links below.

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Biography.com

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Born Today February 10: Alan Hale Sr.

1892-1950

Character actor Alan Hale Sr. was born Rufus Edward Mackahan in Washington D.C. on this day in 1892.  Along with being famous in his own right, he is equally as famous for being the father of "Skipper" Alan Hale Jr. of "Gilligan's Island" fame.  Initially he studied to be an opera singer, but when that didn't work out, he decided to go into acting.  The first film he appeared in came in 1912 with a little known comedy short The Drummer.  As films got longer in time, he became a go-to man for supporting roles, which he occupied for very many famous silent and early sound actors, including, but not limited to:  Douglas Fairbanks, Wallace Beery, Errol Flynn & Clark Gable.  He also acted along side Lon Chaney Sr., whose son, Lon Jr., shared a birthday with him.  The first sound film that he appeared in came in 1928 with Sal Of Singapore, a partial silent with sound (talking sequences) by RCA Phonophone System.  His first full sound film came the next year with Sailor's Holiday.  Hale was married to silent film actress Gretchen Hartman; together they had 3 children (including Alan Jr. mentioned above).  Hale was also a keen inventor.  He invented several interesting, but unrelated, gadgets.  Probably the most helpful of his inventions, (and also relating to his work as a film actor) was a sliding theater seats, that would allow patrons to lean back and let people pass without having to stand up.  Hale worked as an actor right up until the time of his death, setting a record that has yet to be broken for the number of times that he played "Little John" in Robin Hood films.  The first of which came in 1922 with Robin Hood, starring Wallace Berry and Douglas Fairbanks (who provided the script under an alias).  The last came with Rogues Of Sherwood Forest, which was released in 1950 after his death.  Hale died in Hollywood, CA. on January 22, 1950 following a shift liver ailment and a massive infection.  He was survived by his wife and three children.  He was buried at the fame Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale.

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Born Today February 5: Giovanni Capurro

1859-1920

Italian poet, playwright, and lyricist Giovanni Capurro was born on this day in Naples, Italy.  Though he primarily made his living writing plays, he is most famous for providing the lyrics to "O Sole mio"--which he wrote with singer/composer Eduardo Di Capua.  For thirty years, he worked at the newspaper Rome in various capacities: reporter, drama critic and, later on, in the administrative department.  Quite the character, Capurro loved the lounge scene; he frequented many late night establishments where he would sing and play piano, and on occasion, perform comical imitations of people.  In movie terms, the song was featured in 4 films in the late 1920's; the first being the only silent of the lot.  The music for "O Sole mio" was used in the all silent Italian documentary short When Naples Sings (1926) (Napoli che canta).  The first time the full song was used in a full sound production came the following year, with the Warner Bros. short A Program Of Concert Favorites, presented in Vitaphone mono.  The song, of course, would go on to be world famous with many Italian opera singers belting it out through the decades.  The most recent use of it in film/television medium came just last month in an episode of an Italian talk show. There is some confusion has to where Capurro died, many sources say his native Naples, others cite Mexico City.  The date of his death is not in question however: 18 January 1920.  He was just shy of his 61st. birthday.

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Born Today February 4: Marivaux

1688-1763

French writer Pierre de Marivaux, more popularly known simply as Marivaux, was born Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux on this day in Paris.  His father was a Norman financier whose actual surname was Carlet; he assumed both the surnames of Chamblain and Marivaux, was the director of the royal mint in Auvergne--the family lived in two towns in that region.  Young Pierre produced his first play at age of 18 (it was actually published several years later), and it would be that medium that he became the most prolific in, though he was also an essayist and he wrote in the novel form, though none of those works were actually finished.  The plays he produced were mostly in the French-Comedy or Italian-Comedy genre (my translation); and he would, in fact, become one of the important and influential playwrights of the 18th century.  Only one film was made from his work during the silent era; that came in 1914 with I nostri figli, a short Italian film based on one of his plays.  It would not be until 1940 that another film would be produced based on his writing.  Over the decades, many films have made use of his writings as source material, with the most recent coming last year with a made for television film Les fausses confidenses (2016); produced in his native France.  He died on 12 February 1763, just 8 days after turning 75.  He is buried in Paris' Catholic Church of Saint-Eustache.  To read more about his remarkable life, follow links below.

Wikipedia

Britannica

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Born Today February 3: Tsuzuya Moroguchi

1891-1960

Japanese silent actor Moroguchi was born on this date in the prefecture of Fukui.  Not a great deal of biographical material is available about his life or how he got into acting; what is known is that almost all the films appeared in were silent or partial silents.  Right up through the 1930's most Japanese films meant for popular consumption were silents with just sound effects.  Part of the reason for this was the culture of the Benshi performers.  It is well remembered here in the U.S. and elsewhere, that most silent films were accompanied by a live organist employed by individual theaters.  In Japan, a practice of have a live actor to the side of the screen to introduce the film and provide narration when needed sprung up instead of musical accompaniment.  This held true whether the film was Japanese or western.  For his part, the first film that Moroguchi is listed to have appeared in was Shinsei in 1920, produced by Shochiku Kamata company; Moroguchi appears to have been the star.  Between 1920 and 1924 he appeared in dozens of films, but appears to have slowed his film career in 1925.  Between 1925 and 1938, he appeared in just 10 films.  In 1938 he apparently retired from film acting, perhaps acting altogether.  He passed away on 17 April 1960 at the age of 69.  

His IMDb Page

Japanese Silents Listed On Wikipedia

Learn More About Benshi

Born Today February 2: William J. Gaynor

1848-1913

Judge and New York City Mayor William Jay Gaynor was born on this date in Oriskany, New York into a devoutly Catholic Irish family on a farmstead.  He grew up there with his brother and his parents.  From an early age, he developed a keen fascination with the natural world, reportedly spent hours roaming the countryside attempting to understand and figure how various things worked the way that they did.  This curiosity lead him to be an excellent student from the very start of his education.  His parents pushed him toward a vocation in church, but while studying toward this goal, he became intensely interested in Stoic philosophy.  This lead him to lose his faith in the Christian religion all-together and as a result he left religious studies to move back in with his family in Utica, where they had since relocated.  His father then managed to procure for him a position with a local law firm, with the goal of him actually taking the bar exam and becoming a full fledged practicing lawyer.  It, instead, lead to a interest and career in politics.  Gaynor was first a judge on the New York Supreme court, before becoming Mayor of New York.  Amongst a lot of other things Gaynor did as mayor, one big move was to remove any lasting opposition to the finishing of the New York subway system.  He also, to the chagrin of the city coffers, removed tolls on the Williamsburg Bridge.  To read more about his life and his politics, follow links below.  For the purposes of film, all the shorts he appeared in (many of them in Pathe's Weekly's) were in newsreels in the capacity of mayor, save one--the very first one.  He appeared in 1909 in Vitagraph's Judge Gaynor and Hon. John McCooey.  In all, he was in 12 known newsreels between 1909 and 1913, the year of his death.  Very early in his term as mayor, Gaynor survived an assassination attempt by a disgruntled ex-city employee.  He was struck in the neck and the bullet was never removed.  He died on board the RMS Baltic on his way to Europe on September 10, 1913.  Doctors determined that he most likely died of a massive heart attack while lounging in a deck chair.  It was also determined that his old wound likely played no role in his passing.  His remains were returned to the U.S., where he was buried in Brooklyn's famed Green-Wood Cemetery (family burial located in Section 7, Lot 7051).  As a matter of film and television related trivia, one of his granddaughters Jean "Foxy" Rennard was actor Fred Gwynne's (Herman of "Munsters" fame) first wife; together they had 5 children.  

The is the marker for the entire Gaynor family in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn New York.

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City Room Blog (NYTimes)

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Born Today February 1: Germaine Delavigne

1790-1868

French poet and librettist Louis Marie Germaine Delavigne was born on this date in Giveny (Eure) France.  He was the son of a Royal forest surveyor and was the brother of Casimir Delavigne a famed theatrical figure of his time, who was also a poet.  After his studies at the Napoleon High School, he went to the court of Louis-Phillipe I, as keeper of the furniture.  Inspired by his brother's poetry, he began a dramatic career of his own.  He became a frequent collaborator of Eugéne Scribe (page in French, can be translated), who was a class mate of Delavigne's in Paris.  The partnership produced a number of opera libretto's (or libretti) and a quantity of plays.  Only one film has ever been produced from his work; coming in 1916 The Dumb Girl Of Portici is actually a fairly important film by historical standards.  Based on one of Delavigne's libretto's, the film was co-directed by Lois Weber, one of the earliest female film directors, together with her husband of the time Phillips Smalley--the film was made through Universal.  It stars the premiere Russian ballerina of the time: Anna Pavlova. The film survives in two prints: one, a 16 mm print housed at the New York Public Library and the second, a 35 mm print by the BFI.  The later of the two dates from 1920.  Material from both sources were used in a restoration in 2015 that runs 112 minutes.  Delavigne died on 30 November in 1868 at the age of 78 in Montmorency, France.  

Family plot/crypt in Paris' Pére Lachaise

Still from the film showing Palova as "Fenella" (1916)

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Wikipedia France (can be translated)

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