Ann Pennington -- November 2, 2023

Photoplay, November, 1923

Pretty Ann Pennington danced, sang and acted on Broadway and in some movies. She appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies and George White's Scandals. She was less than five feet tall but was dynamic.

listal.com

Billie Dove -- August 6, 2023

Picture Play, August, 1923

Billie Dove was still a teenager when she appeared (under another name) in the Ziegfeld Follies. She was a poet, a painter and a pilot. Her career last only a short time into the sound period.

Alfred Cheney Johnston took the photo. 

Motion Picture News, 11-August-1923

Christie Comedies -- New Ideas -- New Laughs -- April 30, 2023

Motion Picture News, 14-April-1923

Christie Comedies were becoming more ambitious. "Backgrounds from Hawaii to Alaska -- different in every picture. "Green as Grass," centered on horse racing, starred Jimmie Adams and was directed by Scott Sidney. "... a fast and thrilling race of laughs."

Motion Picture News, 14-April-1923

Jimmie Adams and Charlotte Herriam. 

Motion Picture News, 14-April-1923

Unfortunately, Christie chose to make "Roll Along" with his actors in black face. Scott Sidney directed The movie was shot along the Sacramento River but set along the Mississippi. Jimmie Adams played Rastus Jones. "Every actor in the picture will be in burnt cork, that is to say there will be no real colored folks in the piece..."

Motion Picture News, 07-April-1923

Century Comedies, which had produced short comedies like "Sky High" was going to feature their biggest star, Baby Peggy, in a feature-length movie. Elsie Jane Wilson was to direct, but King Baggott would end up with the credit.  

Motion Picture News, 14-April-1923

Doris Eaton became known as the "Last Surviving Ziegfeld Girl" before she died in 2010. She appeared in three editions of the Ziegfeld Follies between 1918 and 1920. Her husband Joe Gorham, a former director for Flo Ziegfeld, produced a revue called the Gorham Follies. Joe Gorham died six months after they married, leaving Doris a widow at 19. At least two short comedies in the Gorham Follies series were produced. 

Doris and her sisters Pearl and Mary, all beautiful, appeared in several editions of the Ziegfeld Follies.

Motion Picture News, 14-April-1923

Hal Roach was producing short comedies which alternated between Paul Parrot, brother of Charley Chase, and Stan Laurel. 

Motion Picture News, 28-April-1923

Hal Roach's new series, Our Gang, was a hit.

Motion Picture News, 28-April-1923

Snub Pollard had his own series of two-reelers for Roach.

Motion Picture News, 07-April-1923

Lloyd Hamilton had his own series released by Educational. "His unerring sense of comedy..."

Motion Picture News, 14-April-1923

"The majority of  'F. O. B.' was shot in a box car ... The cast of 'F. O. B.' has no women."

Motion Picture News, 14-April-1923

Educational released Mermaid Comedies, produced by Jack White and often starring Lige Conley. Note the lion.

WC Fields & Co -- April 14, 2022

Washington Herald, 16-April-1922

After a long career in vaudeville, WC Fields made his film debut in 1915, but then returned to the vaudeville stage and the Ziegfeld Follies. He did not appear in another movie until 1924. Fresh out of the touring version of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921, Fields appeared at the BF Keith Theater in Washington, DC. "Presenting Greatest Travesty in His Brilliant Comedy Career, 'GOLFING.'" Fields liked golf routines. 

Bessie Barriscale was a popular actress on the legitimate stage, in vaudeville and in movies. 

Eddie Cantor -- And 73 Dainty Diaphanous Divinities -- March 21, 2022

Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, 16-March-1922

Eddie Cantor was a wildly talented performer on stage, screen, records, radio and television. He was also an activist. 100 years ago, he had not yet become a movie star. He was touring the country in Make it Snappy, a Broadway revue.

Bert Williams 100 Years -- March 4, 2022

Chicago Whip, 11-March-1922

Bahamian-American comedian Bert Williams died 100 years ago today, on 04-March-1922. Williams broke racial barriers, appearing in mainstream vaudeville and the Ziegfeld Follies. He appeared in about three movies. One was apparently not completed. 

7000 AT BERT WILLIAMS' BIER

POLICE HOLD

BACK CROWD

AT FUNERAL

Whole Nation Mourns As

Curtain Rings Down On

Premier Entertainer

NEW YORK CITY, March 8. -- More than 7,000 persons jammed the streets leading to the church at Bert Williams’ funeral here Tuesday. Details of mounted policemen patrolled the streets to keep the crowds back.

NEW YORK CITY. March 11 -- Bert Williams, considered by many critics the foremost American comedian of all times, died at his home here Saturday night of pneumonia. He was 52 years of age.

He collapsed on the stage at Detroit Monday night in the midst of the second performance of "Under the Bamboo Tree," in which he was starring. He had been in ill health for more than a year, and shortly before his collapse was under the constant attendance of physicians, who remained with him at all times, even accompanying him to and from the theatre, and sleeping in adjoining rooms with him.

Immediately after his collapse in Detroit he was taken to New York City, where it was hoped a blood transfusion would restore his health. A relapse occurred Saturday from which he was unable to recover.

Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon at St. Phillip's Church, with a second ceremony to be held Wednesday afternoon under auspices of St. Cecile Lodge of Masons. He was a member of Haverly Lodge, of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Scores of telephone and telegraph messages were received by his widow at their home, 135th Street and Lenox Avenue. All day Sunday and Monday Bert's admirers, both on the stage and off thronged the house and requested the opportunity personally to pay their respects to the memory of the great entertainer.

Went on Nerve

During his recent engagement at the Studebaker Theatre in Chicago Wiliams is said to have gone through his ' performances on sheer nerve, expecting a collapse at any moment, although the audience was unaware oi the fact.

Born in West Indies

Williams was born in Nassau, British West Indies and came to this country when two years of age. He worked at odd jobs in New York, and after serving an enlistment in the army, went on the stage.

He began his stage career as a banjo player with a minstrel show. He then joined with George Walker in a variety show and made a name along the Pacific Coast.

Their first hit was at Jack Halahan's Midway Theatre in San Francisco. From variety the team went to "three a-day" in vaudeville. Success finally crowned their efforts in "Dahomey," and Williams & Walker became an American institution.

One of Williams' greatest shocks was the death of his partner, George Walker. He threatened to leave the stage at Walker s death, but was persuaded by his friends to remain. Williams & Walker appeared both in this country and abroad at private entertainments and at special showings before royalty and nobility.

Scored with Follies

Bert Williams reached the zenith of his career with the Ziegfeld Follies, being even a greater drawing card than Ziegteld's far-famed. shapely limbed chorus girls. Declining health compelled him to forsake the "Follies" for a production which taxed his strength less.

No figure on the American stage was impersonated more often than was Bert Williams. Every vaudeville impersonator of stage celebrities included Bert Williams in his repertoire. His pantomime of "the poker game" is familiar to thousands of theatre-goers who never even saw Bert.

He created a comedy method of his own, which has been imitated universally. The slow, shambling gait, the balanced intonation, the clear diction and the skillful pauses, are familiar to theatre-goers.

When the famous comedian broke down in Detroit, the play. "Under the Bamboo Tree," in which he was starring was immediately disbanded. No attempt was ever made to find an understudy for him. It is said that Shelton Brooks, noticing his failing health, applied for the position.

He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Lottie Williams, formerly of Chicago.

His best-known songs were "Constantly," "I Never Done Nothing to Nobody," "Woodman, Spare That Tree," "Nothing From Nothing Leaves Me," "When the Moonshine Shines Upon the Moonshine," "Save a Little Dram for Me," and "Puppy Dog."

Washington Herald, 11-May-1913

Bert Williams is listed last among the performers in the Ziegfeld Follies. Ching Ling Foo (Chee Ling Qua) was a Chinese-born magician who toured the United States in vaudeville and the Follies. Their fellow performers in this edition of the Follies included Australian Leon Errol, who later starred in short films and B features for RKO, Elizabeth (not Fanny) Brice. Williams and Errol performed as a team, and Errol was the only white pallbearer at Williams' funeral.

Moving Picture World, 19-August-1916

"America's Greatest Comedian."

WC Fields -- The Flivvertons and Their Family Ford -- October 24, 2021

Washington Evening Star, 02-October-1921

After a long career in vaudeville, WC Fields made his film debut in 1915, but then returned to the vaudeville stage and the Ziegfeld Follies. He did not appear in another movie until 1924. He developed and performed "The Flivvertons and Their Family Ford" as a sketch in the Ziegfeld Follies. Jim Harkins took the role of the father, which Fields had played in the Follies.

Washington Evening Star, 02-October-1921

"W. G. Fields Presents..." 

"Juggling Bill" Fields Becomes a Straight Comedian -- July 21, 2021

 

New York Tribune, 24-July-1921

After a long career in vaudeville, WC Fields made his film debut in 1915, but then returned to the stage and the Ziegfeld Follies. He did not appear in another movie until 1924. This article claims that Fields did not drop the juggling from his act until 1921. Could be.

"Juggling Bill"

Fields Becomes a

Straight Comedian

For years -- at least long before the coming of the Volstead law -- W. C. Fields hiccupped his inebriate way in and out of the scenes of Ziegfeld's annual summer pleasantry, "The Follies," juggling hats, canes, tennis balls, golf balls, hat racks, plates, dishes and cigar boxes. He was a fixture, and every year he had a surprise for Broadway audiences.

This year at the Globe, where "The Follies" is playing, Mr. Fields is revealed as a straight comedian. He does not juggle a single juggle. Fields has always been a comedian, but he didn't know it until Mr. Ziegfeld suggested to him that he was just as good without his juggling as he was with it.

"Anyway, Bill, I'm going to try you at it," Mr. Ziegfeld told Fields six months ago. And Fields was glad to be relieved of the grind of juggling rehearsals, but he approached his new sphere with great misgivings. He didn't think he could do it. But he did.

Just now Fields does not believe he will ever go back to juggling, but of course he will, for juggling, as any juggler will tell you, is a sort of habit-forming industry -- once started, you juggle all your life.

Fields began to juggle at the age of eight. He has juggled around the world, appearing at various times in London, Berlin, Paris, Melbourne, New Zealand, China, Japan and Cuba. He first ran away with a circus, but his parents yanked him back when he was two days out. He had hired out as assistant to a cannon ball juggler when his parents wanted him to study law.

Fields finally did take a job in a drugstore, sweeping out and running errands and waiting on customers when the boss went to dinner.

One day the boss returned, walked behind the prescription case, and then his hair did a splendid imitation of a comedy fright wig. It stood on end. Fields was juggling three bottles of powerful acids. When the druggist crept out and walked around the block expecting to return to find his assistant beyond human help he found him instead, at the cigar counter juggling cigar boxes.

That ended Fields's career as a pharmacist, and after playing a few small-time vaudeville houses he went to Europe. It was in Paris that Ziegfeld first saw him and put him in "The Follies." where he has been for eight years.

In the present edition of that summer revue Fields is showing that he is a real straight comedian. In the scene with Raymond Hitchcock, Ray Dooley and Fannie Brice he holds up his end of the fun-making with them all.

"It is a great relief," says Fields, "to get away from juggling for just one season. I had to keep practicing at least six hours a day. I had to keep the hours of an athlete, and, all in all, it was a tough existence. I feel that I am at last having a real vacation."

Mae Murray Season's Greetings -- December 22, 2014

Variety, 30-December-1925

Actress and dancer Mae Murray wished season's greetings to "My Friends All Over the World."  Before she became a movie star, she had been a headliner in the Ziegfeld Follies.  Murray is most famous today for starring in Erich von Stroheim's The Merry Widow. 

DVD: The Mishaps of Musty Suffer -- August 1, 2014

Moving Picture World, April 8, 1916

They're at it again.  Famous motion picture accompanist Ben Model has released two volumes in the DVD series Accidentally Preserved, and they were accompanied by a book by Steve Massa:
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2014/01/dvd-accidentally-preserved-january-27.html
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2014/03/dvd-accidentally-preserved-volume-2.html

Both were funded through Kickstarter. 

Model's latest project, also accompanied by a book by Massa, presents 11 of the 30 one-reelers starring Harry Watson, Jr as Musty Suffer.  All but 5 of the 30 survive because producer George Kleine was careful to preserve his work and release it to the educational market. 

Harry Watson, Jr and his partner George Bickel started working together in circuses, including Ringling Brothers and Forepaugh-Sells Brothers.  They moved on to vaudeville and then early editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. 

Producer George Kleine made two features with Bickel and Watson in 1915.  These count as very early slapstick features.  Later in 1915, Kleine produced Keep Moving, a picaresque fantasy feature starring Harry Watson, Jr as Musty Suffer.  Kleine did not release the feature.  Instead, he recut it into a series of one-reelers.  He must have added more material, because the first group included ten films.  Two more groups of ten films each followed.  The last group was released by Essanay, and half of those were produced by that company.  Those are the films that are lost. 

Most of the films open with a title that says "The Mishaps of Musty Suffer in Numerous Whirls." 

The quality of the images is generally excellent, with lots of sharp detail. 

The first film in the set, "Going Up!," was the fourth Whirl in the first series and definitely one of the ones taken from the feature.  It includes the Fairy Tramp and Musty's magic horseshoe.  I was stunned by the quality of the image in the opening, where Musty drains some gasoline from a car and then drinks, and then hops a ride on the luggage rack of another car. 

Many films in the series included fantasy elements, like the Fairy Tramp, quick changes done with stop motion, and stop motion animation of objects. 

The next film in the set, "The Lightning Bell-Hop," was Whirl #6 in the first series.  It includes fantastic gags such as a working gaslight drawn in chalk, and a very skinny room with very skinny furniture for a very skinny customer. 

The third film in the set, "Just Imagination," was Whirl #8 in the first series.  The Fairy Tramp and the magic horseshoe appear again.  The Fairy Tramp gets Musty a job in a medical study, which turns out to be a series of cruel, but mostly funny, pranks. 

"Blow Your Horn" was the first Whirl in the second series of ten films.  Musty becomes a bicycle messenger and has a series of adventures.  The best part is when he works with two life-sized dummies who move in unison with him. 

"While You Wait" was the third Whirl in the second series.  Musty gets a series of jobs from an employment agency, but they are all in the same house at the same time.  He is a maid, a butler and a gardener. 

"Local Showers" is the fourth Whirl in the second series.  Musty has a toothache and goes to a nightmarish dental office. 

"Outs And Ins" is the seventh Whirl in the second series.  Musty is magically transformed into a worker in an automat restaurant.  When he finds people trying to cheat, he deals with them harshly.  There are some interesting sanitary practices, like putting dirty plates back on the shelf. 

The last complete movie in the set, "Spliced and Iced," is the only representative of the third series, being the seventh member.  A tall Cupid, possibly played by the actor who was the Fairy Tramp, shoots Musty with a huge arrow.  A mysterious man called "Mister Sherman" keeps giving Musty advice about love and marriage.  I had to run the movie back to see if I had missed his introduction, but he just popped up.  Musty marries a woman who may have been played by a fat, ugly man and it is not a happy match.  At the end, Musty declares "Sherman was right" and jumps off a cliff.  He doesn't jump up at the bottom.  The shot is followed by a shot of an American flag.  I had to think about it, but "Sherman was right" is a phrase that comes up at times, generally agreeing with General William Tecumseh Sherman's "War is Hell." 

Extras include a boxing scene from "Hold Fast," the third Whirl of the first series.  This was a famous Bickel and Watson routine.  There is also a newsreel showing Watson visiting Chicago for an exhibitors' convention, and a gallery of stills. 

Watson was a great clown, with a very expressive face.  I enjoyed the set. 

Ben Model's music enhanced every item.   Steve Massa's book filled in many of the details I would not have known about.  Thanks to both of them and everyone who contributed to the production. 

Daily Variety, 02-June-1916.