"Buck" Discarded at Church Christening -- November 14, 2021

Motion Picture News, 19-November-1921

100 years ago, cowboy star Buck Jones was thinking of going back to his birth name, Charles Jones.

Moving Picture World, 12-November-1921

Buck Jones was baptized into the Episcopal Church on 30-September-1921 at Saint Mary of the Angels Church in Hollywood. The article says that he might drop the "Buck" and go by "Charles." 

Moving Picture World, 12-November-1921

Moving Picture World, 05-November-1921

Hoot Gibson was a contemporary of Tom Mix and Buck Jones. His movies tended to emphasize humor. He starred in Universal productions.

Motion Picture News, 05-November-1921

Exhibitors Herald, 05-November-1921

Lester Cuneo had worked with Tom Mix at the Selig Polyscope Company and then served in the army during World War One. Unable to deal with the death of his wife, Cuneo died by his own hand in 1925. Mrs Wallace Reid was Dorothy Davenport. Learn more about her here: 

Dorothy Davenport: Her Life and Career 

http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2017/03/dorothy-davenport-her-life-and-career.html

Moving Picture World, 05-November-1921

Bill Fairbanks, no relation to Doug, appeared in many westerns during the 1920s.

Albuquerque Evening Herald, 02-November-1921

The Ideal Theater in Albuquerque offered a double bill of Hearts of the West starring Bill Fairbanks and The Show Down, starring Art Acord. 

Motion Picture News, 12-November-1921

Art Acord was the star of Winners of the West, a Universal serial.

Moving Picture World, 12-November-1921

Guinn "Big Boy" Williams was a tall, muscular guy who had worked as a cowboy and played professional baseball. Will Rogers helped to get him into the movies and gave him the nickname. Big Boy had been an Army officer during World War One. He remained active during the talkie era.

Snowy Baker was an athlete who first appeared in Australian movies and made several in the US. 

Exhibitors Herald, 05-November-1921

Al Jennings was a former bank and train robber who once shared a prison cell with O. Henry. The Lady of the Dugout, which stars and was produced by Al Jennings, was allegedly based on true events in his life. Jennings was known for telling stretchers, so I wouldn't accept the movie as a documentary, but it does have a very realistic feel to it. The only parts that didn't feel real were the Mojave Desert standing in for Oklahoma and Tehachapi with its huge mountains representing a Texas town. Jennings and his brother Frank were good, understated performers.

William Desmond was a popular actor, who appeared in many serials. Fightin' Mad was a feature. 

Moving Picture World, 19-November-1921

Never Before, a Mix Picture Like This -- November 13, 2021

Exhibitors Herald, 05-November-1921

The Rough Diamond appears to have been a Ruritanian romance/comedy. It is probably lost.

Omaha Bee, 06-November-1921

It is interesting to see Tom Mix with a mustache.

Bonner's Ferry Herald, 24-November-1921

The Big Town Round-Up was a more conventional Mix film.

Brownsville Herald, 05-November-1921

"A Rapid Fire Western Comedy."

Alexandria Gazette, 23-November-1921

In-Flight Movie, 1921 -- November 12, 2021

Photoplay, November, 1921

Photoplay says that this was the first in-flight movie. I think I read somewhere that it had been done earlier in Europe. Rothacker produced industrial films. I imagine there was no need for musical accompaniment because the cabin noise would have drowned it out.

1000 and One--the Blue Book of Non-Theatrical Films, 1926

The Men -- November 11, 2021

listal.com

Happy Veterans' Day, everyone. Marlon Brando's first movie was The Men, the story of a VA hospital which treated paraplegic veterans. Marlon Brando made an impression on people as he portrayed a man who couldn't accept his disability. Everett Sloane was the doctor who ran the unit. Teresa Wright was the wife of Brando's character. Actual wounded vets played many of Brando's fellow patients.

Harry Carey -- That Greatest of All Western Character Players -- November 10, 2021

Motion Picture News, 05-November-1921

Harry Carey, a pioneering western star, played the lead in Universal's "first Superwestern," The Fox.

Motion Picture News, 12-November-1921

I like the vertical stripes in the lettering. This ad says that in Priscilla Dean's movie Conflict that "The Famous Ice-Scene from 'Way Down East' Scarcely Equals it." Way Down East was a current big hit.

Here we see Priscilla Dean in the big scene in Conflict. 

Motion Picture News, 05-November-1921

"Carl Laemmle offers you Three Sure Money-Getters of 1921."

Motion Picture News, 19-November-1921

The supporting cast of The Fox included 6-year-old Breezy Eason, who died when an auto hit him while he rode his bicycle. We saw some articles last month:

Big V Riot Squad: "Breezy Eason" Killed by Auto -- October 25, 2021 

Motion Picture News, 05-November-1921

Big "Bill" Hart -- November 9, 2021

Great Falls Tribune, 06-November-1921

William S Hart looks properly imposing in this ad for Three Word Brand.

Moving Picture World, 05-November-1921

And Big Bill Hart displays his wrath in Three Word Brand. 

Motion Picture News, 05-November-1921

"It's the greatest western picture ever made!"

Motion Picture News, 19-November-1921

"The greatest western picture ever made!"

Cine-Mundial, November, 1921

DW Griffith -- Romance From Moth-Balls -- November 8, 2021

Photoplay, November, 1921.

DW Griffith's last movie with Dorothy and Lillian Gish was Orphans of the Storm, which was adapted from an 1874 French melodrama, The Two Orphans, by Adolphe d'Ennery and Eugène Cormon.

Photoplay, December, 1921.

Photoplay, March, 1922.

Orphans of the Storm got a rave review from Photoplay.  "Don't miss this."

Moving Picture World, 26-November-1921

Moving Picture World, 26-November-1921

Moving Picture World, 26-November-1921

Motion Picture News, 04-September-1915

Theda Bara appeared in an adaption of The Two Orphans in 1915. Herbert Brenon directed. Like most of Theda Bara's Fox features, it is presumed to be lost. 

Albuquerque Evening Herald, 02-November-1921

Dream Street and Orphans of the Storm were the only features that Griffith released in 1921. Dream Street was not a hit. Many people have said mean things about the leading lady, Griffith's protégée, Carol Dempster.

Albuquerque Evening Herald, 03-November-1921

Screen Snapshots was a series of short films produced by C.B.C. Film Sales Corp and its successor, Columbia Pictures, from 1920 to 1958.

Bemidji Daily Pioneer, 05-November-1921

Way Down East, released in 1920, was still touring the country, doing land office business.

Amarillo Daily News, 20-November-1921

All of these items, a still from the icy river scene, an ad for the showing at the New Diandi Theater and a collection of quotes from eminent people like actor John Barrymore and artists Howard Chandler Christy and Charles Dana Gibson. Way Down East, like many of Griffith's big productions, was shown in a roadshow format, with higher ticket prices, a special orchestra and a limited number of showings daily, as opposed to the continuous programs shown by most theaters. 

Conway, Arkansas Log Cabin Democrat, 11-November-1921

Washington Evening Star, 27-November-1921

Note that many ads for Way Down East featured a large black circle, just like ads for Griffith's Birth of a Nation. 

Rockingham Post Dispatch, 12-November-1921

Birth of a Nation was still in release, giving aid and comfort to the second Ku Klux Klan. 

Moscow, Idaho Daily Star-Mirror, 12-November-1921

Griffith's war film, Hearts of the World, was shown to raise money for the American Legion. 

Amarillo Daily News, 20-November-1921

While Way Down East was playing at Amarillo's New Diandi Theater, the Olympic advertised a 1915 feature film, Martyrs of the Alamo, "Personally Directed by D. W. Griffith." Griffith produced the movie and Christy Cabanne directed. Producers were often called supervisors then.