Lloyd Hamilton -- His First Five Reel Comedy -- May 31, 2024

Film Daily, 29-May-1924

Lloyd Hamilton starred in a series of two-reel comedies released by Educational. Many are lost. I like the skunk.

Film Daily, 11-May-1924

Film Daily, 07-May-1924

Exhibitors Herald, 03-May-1924

Some of us will remember that in 1923, Al Jolson signed a contract to star in a movie produced by DW Griffith. Jolson got cold feet and broke the contract. Albert L Grey was DW Griffith's brother, who worked on many of his films. Lloyd Hamilton replaced Jolson in the movie that was made, His Darker Self. I love Lloyd Hamilton, but the movie is revolting. We may be lucky that the feature length version is lost. The surviving two reeler is bad enough.

Larry Semon was also trying to move into feature films. 

Exhibitors Herald, 24-May-1924

Photoplay, May, 1924

Baby Peggy Montgomery had been Century's biggest comedy star. She moved on to starring in features for Universal. 

Exhibitors Herald, 10-May-1924

"Hit 'em Hard" is a century comedy starring Jack Earle and Harry McCoy. "Checking Out" starred Pal the Dog. 

Exhibitors Herald, 10-May-1924

"Pretty little Evelyn McCoy" appeared in the Century Follies series. 

Exhibitors Herald, 03-May-1924

Christie Comedies emphasized situation comedy over slapstick. 

Exhibitors Herald, 24-May-1924

Film Daily, 21-May-1924

"A Christie Comedy of love among the cows."

Film Daily, 11-May-1924

"A Safe Bet That You'll Crack With Laughter."

Film Daily, 21-May-1924

"A Laugh a Day Keeps the Doctor Away."

Film Daily, 11-May-1924

"Sensible Nonsense, with plenty of hokum and laughs."

Exhibitors Herald, 10-May-1924

Exhibitors Herald, 10-May-1924Film Daily, 20-May-1924

Dorothy Devore's success in short comedies led Christie to put her in feature-length comedies. Hodkinson released Christie's features. 

Exhibitors Herald, 03-May-1924

Film Daily, 07-May-1924

Film Daily, 14-May-1924

Film Daily, 21-May-1924

Film Daily, 28-May-1924

They Are Subtly Teaching Us That They Are Superior -- May 30, 2024

Baltimore Afro-American, 02-May-1924

The author of this article hopes that Oscar Micheaux will succeed so that "we may have more colored films." The author says that white-made films "are subtly teaching us that they are superior." "The influence of the devilishly conceived 'Birth of a Nation' will not soon be counteracted." 

I like the 3-D effect in this ad for Micheaux's Symbold of the Unconquered. 

Kentucky Post, 24-May-1924

This may be the first reference I have seen to The Flaming Circle, a western directed by William H Grimes and Leo C Popkin. I don't know anything about William H Grimes but Leo C Popkin directed other race films like The Duke is Tops and later directed the original version of D.O.A. 

The lines are out of order, but the item states that "This is said to be the first film drama ever produced with an all-colored cast." We know that is not true. 

I will keep digging for information about Monarch Productions.

The Answer is Colleen Moore -- May 29, 2024

Exhibitors Herald, 24-May-1924

Colleen Moore, the perfect flapper, starred in The Perfect Flapper. Unlike many of her other movies, this one still exists. 

Plainfield Courier-News, 06-May-1924

A Spectacular Moment from Yolanda -- May 28, 2024

Exhibitors Herald, 03-May-1924

Yolanda was another epic starring Marion Davies. 

Shreveport Times, 04-May-1924

William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions signed Fields to play a supporting role as a Red Coat Sergeant in Janice Meredith, a movie about America's Revolutionary War, which starred Hearst's inamorata, Marion Davies. Despite the statement that "This marks Mr. Fields' debut on the screen," Fields' film career had been paused since he made two short comedies in 1915. Janice Meredith was Fields' first feature film.

In Harm's Way -- May 27, 2024

listal.com

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. I thought this was a good day to write about Otto Preminger's In Harm's Way, which was the last big World War Two epic shot in black and white. It starred John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal and a host of others. Critics didn't like the movie and Kirk Douglas thought the special effects in the final battle were amateurish, but I enjoyed. It starts in Hawaii before Pearl Harbor and shows how the US Navy adjusted to war. I assume that Saul Bass designed the poster.

Pam Grier 75 -- May 26, 2024

listal.com

Beautiful and formidable actress Pam Grier was born 75 years ago today, on 26-May-1949. I wasn't old enough to go see most of her movies in the theaters. 

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listal.com

Cat and Dogs -- May 25, 2024

Exhibitors Herald, 10-May-1924

Photos of stars and their pets have always been popular. Actress Margaret Livingstone appeared in many movies, most famously in FW Murnau's Sunrise. This item does not mention the name of her "imported English angora." The cat required high tea every after, "according to the Hodkinson Press Agent." 

Photoplay, May, 1924

Neal Burns appeared in Christie Comedies. His dog Blitz von Matershof won "the Photoplay Magazine silver cup, offered at the second show of the Shepherd Dog Club of the West, at Hollywood." 

Exhibitors Herald, 03-May-1924

Meanwhile, Strongheart the movie star was touring to promote his movie The Love Master. While in Massachusetts, he met the late President Harding's dog Laddie Boy. 

Exhibitors Herald, 03-May-1924

Clara Bow Will Play an Important Part -- May 24, 2024

Photoplay, May 1924

Clara Bow's career was skyrocketing 100 years ago today, in May 1924. Photoplay showed Clara Bow, sitting on the bed in her pajamas, reading Black Oxen, California writer Gertrude Atherton's controversial novel about a woman who recovers her youth through gland therapy. Clara had an important supporting role was in the 1923 Frank Lloyd film adapted from the book. The female star was Corinne Griffith, but Clara as "the flapperish Janet" made a big impression. "Frank Lloyd failed to find his ideal society flapper until he made more than fifty screen tests of well known flapper types." The quotes are from last month's post: Big V Riot Squad: Clara Bow -- The Ideal Society Flapper -- April 26, 2024.

Exhibitors Herald, 03-May-1924

Clara played Orchid McGonigle in Grit, a crime drama which is considered to be lost. 

Film Daily, 04-May-1924

Absolutely New -- the Marvel of the Age! -- May 23, 2024

Montreal Daily Star, 31-May-1924

Lee De Forest, a pioneer in vacuum tubes and radio, introduced his Phonofilm sound-on-film picture process in 1923. By 1924, his movies were showing in major theaters. "Extra Special Added Attraction."

Film Daily, 11-May-1924

Plastigrams were 3-D movies that used a process invented by Frederic Eugene Ives and Jacob Leventhal. The movies were viewed with red- and blue-lensed glasses. I wonder what these psychologists found interesting. I need to see if there is a copy of that book available.

Film Daily, 05-May-1924

The World in Color was a magazine-format series of short films "Issued monthly by Kelley Color Laboratory." William Van Doren Kelley, inventor of the Prizma natural color process, opened a laboratory in New Jersey which would be dedicated to making natural color prints.

Film Daily, 11-May-1924

Film Daily, 11-May-1924

I don't know anything about Reel-Colors, Inc, but I will keep my eyes open.

Film Daily, 05-May-1924

Claude Friese-Greene was the son of William Friese-Greene, who claimed that he had invented motion pictures in the 1880s. William went on to try to develop color motion pictures and Claude carried on his father's work. 

Film Daily, 14-May-1924

Film Daily, 28-May-1924

Last month, we saw that the Brock Company, which I still know nothing about, applied hand coloring to sequences in feature films.

Film Daily, 21-May-1924

Experts from ATT announced that transmitting motion pictures (television) would never be practical. Always good to ask the experts. 

Exhibitors Herald, 24-May-1924

Another piece of technology which is not directly related to movies made a huge change in the movie industry. Before air conditioning, many theaters in hot areas had to close during the summer. 

Announcing a New Series of 13 Alice Comedies -- May 22, 2024

Film Daily, 19-May-1924

This ad announces "13 One-Reel 'Alice Kid Comedies. A Combination  Cartoon and Live Character Series -- A Distinct Novelty." The Alice Comedies featured a live action little girl interacting with animated animals. They were produced by Walt Disney.

Film Daily, 11-May-1924

Margaret Winkler was a woman who distributed films. This was a rare thing. The movies she handled were most shorts and many were animated. She distributed Pat Sullivan's Felix the Cat cartoons, which were very popular. This ad announces that she will also distribute "a New Series of 13 Alice Comedies. Kid Comedies with Cartoons Co-Ordinated Into the Action. A Distinct Novelty."

Film Daily, 11-May-1924

This item describes how Felix had become a fad in Britain, but it seems to have been cut off at the end. We will never learn the conclusion to "Englishmen have no..."