“Sherlock Holmes” starring William Gillette, courtesy of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

Conceived by Melissa Chittick and Stephen Salmons as a way to share the beauty of early cinema with the world, The San Francisco Silent Film Festival celebrates its 20th Anniversary May 28 through June 1, 2015, as the largest and most important silent film festival in the Western Hemisphere. Exhibiting gorgeous prints on the big screen as they were meant to be seen, the festival extols silent cinema from around the world, accompanied by talented performers in a wide range of styles and instruments. This year’s Festival salutes top stars, exciting new restorations, and fascinating foreign films, with some eclectic programs thrown in.

Two newly restored films highlight this year’s schedule. The long thought lost 1916 film, “Sherlock Holmes,” stars the great stage actor William Gillette in the first feature adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s renowned mystery series, a holy grail for Holmes’ fans. Gillette adapted Doyle’s books about the Baker Street detective into a world-renowned play, which he toured globe-wide for years. Chicago’s Essanay Film Company finally convinced him to star in and produce his version of the deer stalk hat wearing Holmes in 1916, allowing him to cast the film almost entirely with actors who had starred with him in the production. As reviewed at the time, the film omitted any mention of Holmes’ drug use or possible addiction and maintained a deliberate style. It looked good on screen and seemed too long, but the May 1916 issue of Motography called it “Frankly melodrama, well produced…,” with Gillette and Ernest Maupain as Moriarty giving the best performances. It remains Gillette’s only film, as he never completed “Secret Service,” the second motion picture included in his contract.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

South Bend New-Times, May 6, 1920.

The Festival also premieres the newly restored 1913 Lubin film, “When the Earth Trembled, or The Strength of Love,” a romantic melodrama with the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 as a major set piece. Many reviews noted the remarkable and realistic scenes showing the disaster, with the Bisbee Daily Review on April 11, 1914 stating that it “shows people dashing through the streets, the buildings toppling over and every particular of such a catastrophe.” They also called it “best in the line of earthquake photo plays ever made,” even though disaster films as such didn’t exist at the time. Along with the film, the Festival will screen the one reel short, “A Trip Down Market Street,” filmed by the San Francisco-based Miles brothers just a week before the actual 1906 earthquake.

Colleen Moore’s recently restored “Why Be Good?” makes its San Francisco bow at the Festival, providing an effervescent celebration of madcap flappers and the decadent Jazz Age. In the film, Moore’s vivacious Pert Kelly almost loses her rep thanks to her peppy dance moves, but is redeemed in the end by rich romantic interest Neil Hamilton. The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra will accompany the film, rather than its original jazzy Vitaphone score.

The great African-American comedian Bert Williams’ only appearance on film has been resurrected to be screened for film audiences. Combining daily rushes and multiple takes from the never completed film, the hour long assemblage makes its West Coast debut. Museum of Modern Art project leader Ron Magliozzi will also narrate a selection of production photographs from the pioneering effort to star African-Americans in film, and will present visual material explaining the history of this lost 101-year-old landmark.

“Sherlock Holmes,” East Oregonian, July 15, 1916.

A fascinating look at a motion picture industry’s depiction of an intelligent and strong woman on screen, the 1920 film “The Deadlier Sex” stars the acclaimed actress Blanche Sweet in what the April 25, 1920 Los Angeles Times called “an amazing screen story of the primitive in women.” Sweet becomes the President of her father’s railroad, but a pawn “in the hands of the money-wolves who juggle stocks in Wall Street.” She ends up turning the tables on the most powerful man on the famed financial avenue, with everything ending happily. The Bemidji Daily Pioneer in its July 28, 1920 review stated, “In spite of its title which although it might be considered misleading is really apropos – it is clean, wholesome entertainment.” The production experienced its own adventures while filming, dealing with a train derailment in Mojave from a steer standing on the railroad tracks, two days of snowfall in Truckee, and a car accident in which an automobile chasing the car Sweet was driving crashed into the back of it.

Special programs dot the schedule, including the popular “Amazing Tales of the Archives,” in which archivists detail the fascinating stories of discovering and restoring lost or neglected films. French preservationist and raconteur Serge Bromberg reveals the entertaining story behind the finding of Jacques Tourneur’s 1914 film production, “Figures De Cire.” British curator Bryony Dixon presents fascinating footage of the RMS Lusitania, narrated by actor Paul McGann of “Dr. Who” fame. San Francisco Film Festival president and film restorer Rob Byrne will describe the meticulous process of reconstructing Gillette’s “Sherlock Holmes.”

Other special events include a live simultaneous dubbing of the lost soundtrack to the 1929 dark house comedy whodunit “The Donovan Affair,” Columbia’s first all-talkie picture, helmed by legendary director Frank Capra and showered with positive reviews upon release. Bromberg returns for a special program devoted to Charley Bowers, the creator and performer of fascinating live and puppet animation films in the late 1920s. Bruce Goldstein, director of repertory programming at New York’s Film Forum, will also host a challenging silent film trivia quiz.Films shot during the San Francisco Panama Pacific Exposition in 1915 will also appear throughout the Festival.

“When the Earth Trembled,” courtesy of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

Films from around the world also appear, including the classic Chinese tale “Cave of the Spider Woman” (1927), the humorous but eccentric 1927 British film, “The Ghost Train,” the 1922 Norse movie, “Pan,” a simple story about overwhelming attraction,“Visages D’Enfants,” a moving 1925 French tale of childhood grief and humanity, “Norrtullsligan,” a 1923 Swedish film about four female office workers sharing a flat and being self-sufficient in a man’s world, the recently reconstituted 1920 French film, “The Swallow and the Titmouse,” and two Avant-Garde French shorts by Man Ray and Dimitri Kirsanoff, “Emak-Bakia” and “Menilmontant.”

American silent film classics “All Quiet On the Western Front” and “Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ” open and close festivities, with legendary British historian Kevin Brownlow interviewed on stage by Serge Bromberg preceding the screening of “Ben Hur.” Harold Lloyd’s hilarious “Speedy” and the dreamily romantic “Flesh and the Devil” starring John Gilbert and Greta Garbo also will be screened.

“Cave of the Spider Woman,” courtesy of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

Bringing the films magically to life is a diverse group of talented musicians from around the world. Students from the Berklee School of Music will accompany F. W. Murnau’s haunting film, “The Last Laugh.” British Film Institute accompanist Stephen Horne, Guenter Buchwald, and Donald Sosin provide piano accompaniment to films, assisted by such people as Frank Bockius and Diana Rowan. Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra presents scores composed of actual period music cues in their accompaniment. The Matti Bye Ensemble from Sweden gives an expressive soundtrack to films combining composed score and improvised music on both modern and traditional instruments.

One of the world’s outstanding film festivals, combining outstanding music, eclectic programming, and eloquent speakers, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival highlights the emotional and glorious world of silent cinema in this their 20th Anniversary year.

Leading up to the twentieth century, few social organizations existed, except for those of wealth or higher class, or working for a charitable organization. Most people attended a religious organization of some kind. Military veterans honored those who died in service, and fraternities were organized on college campuses to serve the needs of those both within the group and the greater community. As the United States became more urban, more clubs were organized among like-minded individuals looking for companionship outside of those they worshipped or worked with.

Los Angeles saw handfuls of clubs formed in the late 1890s-early 1900s. State groups, service groups like the Elks, Moose, Knights of Columbus, and Scottish Rite Masons, high end clubs like the Los Angeles and Hollywood Athletic Clubs, Jonathan Club, and City Club, these and more were organized as social opportunities to fill the hours when not working. Many served the community in charitable ways, while others simply served the cause of fun. The Los Angeles Breakfast Club was founded both to entertain and inform its members in 1925, and still operates as an active group 90 years later.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

The Los Angeles Breakfast Club grew out of a group of friends weekly horseback ride and breakfast in Griffith Park. The men met at Al Meyer’s Griffith Park Riding Academy on Friday mornings for a ride into the park to a picturesque spot, where Marco Hellman and his chuck wagon served them a hearty breakfast. They eventually moved the breakfast to the stables, where one morning a guest, an eastern banker, regaled them with stories, and a group of Mexican artists serenaded them with music, per Harold B. Link’s early 1950s pamphlet, “The Los Angeles Breakfast Club.”

One of the members Maurice De Mond, proposed organizing a Breakfast Club, asking everyone to contribute $100. Word of mouth spread, with others soon joining them. The small band held their first meeting March 6, 1925 at the Riding Academy, where they elected De Mond president. The group quickly purchased a former dairy at 3213 Riverside Drive from John Crosetti, and began adapting it into a clubhouse. To pay for construction, the membership fee was increased to $500 a year in 1927, allowing to also build the Pavilion of Friendship.

The Los Angeles Breakfast Club was founded on the principles of sportsmanship and friendship, with each member taking turns serving as host and paying all costs for that breakfast. Men paid $10 a month to help defray costs. The group met as an informal gathering of friends with ritual slogans, sayings, and exercises, a silly and relaxing way to start the morning every Wednesday.

As described in the introduction to Link’s booklet, “The Los Angeles Breakfast Club…Not a Church, Not a Lodge, Not a Service Club, but the Shrine of Friendship…The story of the Club of Hospitality, the Democracy of Ham and Eggs, where everybody knows everybody, and everybody is just a “Ham” or an “Egg,” hailing each other…with the Grand Salute: “Hello Ham!” and “Hello Egg!” to the accompaniment of a friendly handclasp, after which they “turn the eggs over!”

Besides calling each other “Ham” or “Egg,” some members acted as roosters, occasionally letting out a “cockadoodleoo.” They opened each meeting with the saying,

“Oh you ham!

Oh you egg!

We’ll tell the world that we all like ham.

But ham without egg isn’t worth a dam.”

They then clasped their neighbor by the neck for the second phrase, “Sea, sea, sea oh why are you angry with me?

If I once reach the the shore

I shall say an revor (sic)

To the sea, sea, sea.”

Posted on the wall was the phrase, “Shrine of Friendship where real people meet.” New members initiated into the club were asked to sit on a toy hobby horse and put their hand into a plate of eggs, all in the spirit of fun and friendship. The January 23, 1928 New York Sun called the group, a “glad hand institution.” Inspiring talks closed out the meetings.

In 1928, the Los Angeles Breakfast Club incorporated as a stock company, at 100 shares to each member, with some buying additional blocks of stock. Civic and social leaders joined the fellowship, such as Edward Doheny, Rufus Von KleinSmid, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Earl C. Anthony, and Gilbert Beesemyer. Entertainment industry professionals such as Joseph Schenck, Louis B. Mayer, Carl Laemmle, Jesse Lasky, Cecil B. DeMille, the Warner Brothers, Tom Mix, and Lewis Stone joined in the fun. The expanding membership allowed them to purchase the adjoining Charles Moult property for $40,000 and build a stable for the Breakfast Club Rangers.

The initiation of Mark Larkin into the Breakfast Club.

Distinguished speakers from the world of politics, entertainment, culture, and sports addressed the group. In June 1930, the group arranged the first reunion of “Birth of a Nation” cast members, including director D. W. Griffith, Henry Walthall, Mae Marsh, Donald Crisp, Spottiswoode Aitken, Joseph Henabery, Walter Long, and Elmer Clifton.  In the 1930s and 1940s, such people as Ben Lyons and Bebe Daniels,  Mayer, Wylie Post, Harry Chandler, Robert Sherwood, Burroughs, Dale Carnegie, Father Flanagan, Rev. Billy Graham, Babe Ruth, Bill Tilden, Red Grange, Captain Louis Zamperini, Lt. Audie Murphy, Mayor Fletcher Bowron, Governor elect Earl Warren, and California Senator William G. McAdoo spoke, and such individuals and groups as the Trojan and Bruin bands, Mitchell Boy Choir,Rudy Vallee, Guy Lombardo, Vienna Boys Choir, Leo Carrillo, Bill Robinson, Deanna Durbin, Grace Moore, Sophie Tucker, Gene Autry, James Gleason, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. performed.

Thanks to its list of distinguished speakers, KFWB began broadcasting the weekly meetings on a “sustaining basis” at 8 am, providing it free as a public service.

The radio station provided full coverage of former President Coolidge’s appearance at the Breakfast Club in early February, 1930, which was captured for the “Voice of Hollywood” newsreel. S. L. “Roxy” Rothafel of New York was inducted as a member on September 12, 1932.

As with other organizations, the Los Angeles Breakfast Club suffered financial setbacks during the Depression. They discovered after founder De Mond’s death in 1931 that his estate owned a controlling interest in the stock, and that $83,000 was outstanding on the mortgages and their part in the widening of Riverside Drive. The property was foreclosed and De Mond’s estate threatened to sue if the club took furniture or articles out of the building.

Manager Harold B. Link arranged with the Ambassador Hotel to move the meeting to the Old English Inn on the property. At the same time, the group decided it was finally wise to reestablish themselves as a nonprofit as they continued meeting. The Los Angeles Times even wrote about them in 1932, “Famed in song and story, it is internationally known because of the celebrities, entertainers, and the “stunts” through which they are hosts.”

On January 24, 1934, the California Secretary of State certified the Los Angeles Breakfast Club as a nonprofit. They made the decision to try and buy the debts of the original club out of bankruptcy from the De Mond estate. Member J. J. Sugerman paid $4,025 for the Club name, all goods, chattel, and furniture. Nine members contributed $500 each to pay him back within six months.

A meeting of the Breakfast Club, as shown in Life magazine, Nov. 22, 1943.

The reconstituted Los Angeles Breakfast Club bought a tract of land at 3201 Riverside Drive adjacent to the old clubhouse on July 27, 1936. Their contract A. D. Chisholm suggested a California ranch-style clubhouse costing $50,000 to build. A film studio sketch artist designed a four page brochure which was distributed to members June 14, 1937, and by the middle of August, five members pooled $25,000 to purchase the first mortgage, followed by contributions by the rest totaling $50,000.

Laying the cornerstone September 18, 1937, the club began a quick construction process. The May Company provided ranch style furnishings on December 26, 1937 with price tags attached that members could subscribe to purchase for the organization. By the club’s opening on December 29, all furniture was paid for. 1000 people attended the grand opening, where Dr. Von KleinSmid delivered the property to the club, assisted by public officials like California Governor Merriam, Los Angeles Mayor Frank Shaw, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and the President of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. The club could sit 600 people inside and 1500 people on the outside patio. The Breakfast Bridge Club, under the leadership of Mrs. Harold Link, paid for the pool, fountain, and retaining wall.

To help pay bills and defray costs, the club rented out their facilities for proms, dinners, studio meetings, dances, and the like for groups such as movie studios, government entities, high schools, and private clubs. Almost every night of the week, some event took place at the facility.

Sir Tommy Lipton rides the Breakfast Club’s wooden horse, Charleston Daily Mail, Jan. 13, 1928.

The Breakfast Club served charity interests, aided by celebrities. Daily Variety reported on December 18, 1942 that Jackie Cooper, dressed up as Santa Claus, passed out Christmas gifts to needy children at the club, the eleventh year in a row he had served. Dr. A. H. Giannini, founder of Bank of America, was honored August 19, 1941 for his distinguished service to the community. On November 19, 1949, Robert Young, Adolphe Menjou, and others attended an Armistice Ball for Jewish War veterans. Pat O’Brien served as emcee of the AFRA dinner and dance in the summer of 1950.

By the 1950s and 1960s however, the club began experiencing a decline in membership, as fewer people joined clubs, many from working longer hours, others concentrating more on their kids, and others finding them old fashioned.

To help their finances, the group sold the land to the Department of Recreation and Parks in 1965 and built a one story clubhouse, gaining a 50 year lease at the cost of $1 a year.

Membership continued shrinking into the 1980s, so the group dropped initiation fees, trying to entice more to join. The Los Angeles Breakfast Club now numbered 250 people with an average of 65. Women had been allowed to finally join in 1978, with the first woman elected president in 1986. They continued their charity work as well, hosting the Permanent Charities Walk-A-Thon for several years in the 1980s. By the early 2000s, the club was struggling to survive.

Thanks to young, active leadership, the Los Angeles Breakfast Club is once again on the rise, holding their weekly Wednesday breakfasts at 7 am, followed by intriguing talks at 8. Guests are welcome to come enjoy the friendship and fellowship of the group, as well as a chance to be edified by the speakers. Attendees can enjoy a hearty repast of ham and eggs, as they great each other with the clasp of friendship, one ham or egg to the other!

“When the Earth Trembled,” courtesy of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival offered a little something for everyone during their recently concluded 20th anniversary festival. From presentations by renowned historians and archivists to screenings of recently restored pictures, the Festival highlights the range and breadth of silent film through the power of live cinema. Live musical accompaniment by a diverse group of artists provided a strong emotional undercurrent to each presentation.

I missed Thursday night’s grand opening of the festival, the powerful World War I film, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Universal’s strong antiwar conclusion to the silent era, which was introduced by Library of Congress curator, Mike Mashon. Universal chairman Ron Meyer announced that Universal and a consortium of archives will restore 15 Universal silent films over the next few years. Mont Alto Picture Orchestra performed actual music cues of the period in giving the moving film voice.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

“Cave of the Spider Woman,” courtesy of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

‘Amazing Tales From the Archives,” one of the Festival’s yearly highlights, opened Friday morning’s festivities, covering the gamut of film discovery and restoration, revealing how much vintage film can tell us about history and people’s reactions to great events. Jennifer Miko of Movette Film Transfer presented beautiful, unique two strip Technicolor footage (Technicolor Process II) of William Randolph Hearst and Julia Morgan touring the grounds of El Cuesta Encantata, his fantastic Enchanted Hill, in 1925, reenacting their final inspection of what we know as Hearst Castle. SFSFF President Rob Byrne described the amazing discovery of “Sherlock Holmes” in Paris’ Cinematheque Francaise, and the process of restoring the once thought lost film. British Film Institute archivist Bryony Dixon showed rare footage from the BFI’s archives relating to the tragic sinking of the great Cunard cruise liner the Lusitania in 1915 by German torpedoes. Everything from a somber Winsor McKay animated film presenting the event, to virulent anti-German British cartoons to moving actuality footage of families dealing with the loss of their loved ones showed the wide range of emotion and thought around this tragedy. Dr. Who actor Paul McGann read excerpts of letters and sub-titles accompanying the films. Raconteur and preservationist Serge Bromberg concluded the informative event, relaying the informative tale of how Lobster Films acquired and restored the once thought lost Maurice Tourneur’s “Figures de Cin,” a beautifully shot film and one of the first Grand Guignol tales set in a wax museum.

The surreal Chinese film “Cave of the Spider Women,” opened the Festival’s strong line-up of foreign silent motion pictures that afternoon. Another long thought lost film, the motion picture turned up in the National Library of Norway, which recently restored the picture. Donald Sosin and Frank Bockius provided musical accompaniment to the otherworldly tale of a pilgrim monk and his monkey, pig, and shark spirit followers warding off the Spider Queen. Following the film, a short but powerful travelogue revealed early Twentieth Century Peking (now Beijing), with horse carts and human drawn wagons patiently traveling towards their destinations.

Friday’s third program highlighted the history of San Francisco itself, rising from the ashes of the great earthquake. The 1906 short, “A Trip Down Market Street,” preceded the feature, showing a streetcar trip down a crowded Market Street just a few days before the April 1906 earthquake, ending up at the stately Ferry Building on the bay. The film reveals bustling pedestrians, horse-drawn wagons, and speeding cars dashing across the street in front of the trolley, an early example of follow your own traffic rules. One of the Festival hits, “A Canine Sherlock Holmes,” followed, starring Spot the Urbanora dog as he helps his detective master find and arrest bank robbers. Spot, an energetic terrier, appears to have been Uggie’s acting predecessor.

The 1913 Lubin film, “When the Earth Trembled,” followed, recently restored by Eye Filmmuseum and SFSFF. Few Lubin films still survive, as many were destroyed in the late teens during a studio fire, making this find an extremely important one. This short but entertaining film packs everything but the kitchen sink into its 48 minutes, with everything from family feuds, torn apart lovers, ship wreck, earthquake, fire, disguise, to happily reunited family, with a grand mega reenactment of the 1906 earthquake. Harry Myers marries Ethel Clayton, the daughter of his father’s nemesis, causing a family rupture. He decides to travel to Samoa on business, and Clayton and children venture west to join him, before discovering he is lost at sea. They find themselves stuck in the middle of the cataclysmic 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, surviving to return to the East Coast. A destitute Clayton is reduced to turning over the children to her feuding father-in-law, and goes undercover as a governess to be with them. All’s well that ends well, with everyone happily reunited. Lubin spent five weeks creating a remarkable breakaway earthquake set for the time, which features strong performances by Myers and Clayton in early starring roles. Stephen Horne of Great Britain provided a wistful undercurrent to proceedings in his accompaniment.

“Sherlock Holmes” starring William Gillette, courtesy of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

That evening, F. W. Murnau’s devastating “The Last Laugh” starring the remarkable Emil Jannings screened, the emotional story of a proud and dignified chief porter of a luxurious hotel eventually reduced to serving as washroom attendant, before being redeemed in the end. The student filled Berklee Silent Film Orchestra gave emotional voice to proceedings, playing themes composed by several students to accompany the film.

Closing Friday night’s portion of the Festival was the entertaining 1927 British film, “The Ghost Train,” which BFI archivist Dixon described as a silent version of “Scooby Doo.” A group of travelers find themselves stranded overnight at a haunted train station, with spooky goings-on filling the evening. Creatively combining animation, superimposition, and effects to tell its shaggy dog old dark house story, the French sub-titled film featured a live translation by actor McGann, accompanied by the pleasing sounds of Horne and Frank Bockius. Film historian John Bengtson interviewed Harold Lloyd’s granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd, before the screening of Harold Lloyd’s masterful New York comedy, “Speedy,” featuring the jaunty playing and whistling of the Mont Alto Orchestra. New York Yankees legends Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig make cameos in this madcap chase film through the streets of New York. The back left of the house unfortunately had to endure the world’s loudest laugher during the film.

Serge Bromberg received the 2015 SFSFF Award preceding the screening of the emotionally moving French film, “Visages D’Enfants,” a touching and humane examination of childhood grief.

That afternoon, Bruce Goldstein and the Gower Gulch Players provided an over-the-top live performance to Frank Capra’s 1929 film, “The Donovan Affair,” missing its soundtrack. An early talkie picture combining mystery and comedy, “The Donovan Affair” featured live narration which laughed at the film rather than with it.

The lavish and romantic “Flesh and the Devil” screened that evening, accompanied by the Matti Bye Ensemble. Long renowned as the film during which stars John Gilbert and Greta Garbo fell in love, “Flesh and the Devil” features exquisite William Daniels cinematography as it reveals the unraveling friendship between Gilbert and Lars Hanson due to their mutual love of Garbo.

I missed the concluding film of the night, “Pan,” a Norse film about an overwhelming attraction which many found underwhelming.

On Sunday morning, an entertaining Serge Bromberg presented surreal short films by the relatively unknown comedian Charley Bowers, which combine stop motion, drawn, and live animation with Rube Goldbergesque devices in tales of a man before his time. Providing a humorous undertone to the films himself, Bromberg revealed the discovery of “Many a Slip,” “A Wild Roomer,” “Now You Tell One,” a Baron Munchausen tale, and ‘There it Is,” which concluded with shots of Hollywood and Vine, and the Christie Hotel on Hollywood Blvd.

I missed the French avant-garde short films “Emak-Bakia” by the renowned surreal photographer Man Ray and “Menilmontant” by Dimitri Kirsanoff.

A lobby card for “Why Be Good?” courtesy of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

Mont Alto provided some zippy Jazz Age dance tunes to vivacious Colleen Moore’s “Why Be Good?,” in which her perky Pert Kelly’s charming personality almost destroys her reputation. Historian and author Cari Beauchamp introduced the jazzy, entertaining film, which also featured small cameos by such performers as Jean Harlow, Mischa Auer, Grady Sutton, and Andy Devine at the beginning of their careers. Audiences roared their approval following the film.

Nils Asther makes an early appearance in the 1923 Swedish film, “Nortullsligan,” the story of four working girls providing for themselves as they work, love, and play in the big city. Featuring some gorgeous cinematography, the film features a shot of busy typists in a large office space years before “The Crowd” or “The Apartment.” Matti Bye Ensemble’s gentle Swedish folk score provided nice understated accompaniment for the lovely images.

Sunday’s centerpiece was the screening of the newly restored 1916 film, “Sherlock Holmes,” the only screen appearance of stage legend William Gillette. Discovered in the archives of the Cinematheque Francaise, the motion picture had been edited into a serial in 1919 France, telling the story of Holmes trying to obtain the Prince’s letters to a former lover from the dead woman’s grieving sister as he battles the evil Moriarty and other villains. The film featured gorgeous orange and blue tints and a nice score by The Donald Sosin Ensemble, but I found it a typical 1916 feature, slow and stately. Though cut into a serial, it featured no action, combining several of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous stories into a stage bound plot for the theatre actor Gillette. He had little detecting to do, standing around and pondering things, while his valet Billy got most of the comedy and action. Gillette cut a striking figure in his stiff way, though the story was blah and uneven, with dangling plot points. Edward Arnold played a small role as a part of the criminal gang. For those Sherlock Holmes’ fanatics, this would be interesting,
but it’s slow going otherwise.

“The Swallow and the Titmouse,” courtesy of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

I missed the concluding film, “The Swallow and the Titmouse,” compiled by editor Henri Colpi in 1983 from six hours of director Andre Antoine’s footage shot 63 years before. Many spoke of how beautiful it was.

Monday’s proceedings kicked off with a free silent film trivia quiz offering prizes to winners, a hit with festival goers.

A strong Blanche Sweet battles romance and Wall Street shenanigans in the 1920 “The Deadlier Sex,” filmed mostly in Truckee, California. Inheriting her father’s railroad, Sweet grows tired of the cutthroat business practices of stockbroker Harvey Judson and has him kidnapped to the forest to learn the simple pleasures of life. A handsome and young Boris Karloff plays a trapper who spars with Mahlon Hamilton over Sweet and money, and the film concludes with the U. S. government taking over the two railroads. A fun entertaining little film, with a quirky Western score featuring piano and fiddle by Guenter Buchwald.

Museum of Modern Art’s Ron Magliozzi gave a PowerPoint presentation on the history of unfinished Bert Williams’ film, “Lime Kiln Field Day,” followed by compiled rushes and dailies. This would have been an intriguing feature starring the famed Williams and other African-American performers, but it was abandoned by producers before completion.

I missed Bromberg’s interview with the legendary Kevin Brownlow before the action-packed thriller, “Ben Hur,” one of the great silent films, featuring the great Carl Davis’ lavish scores.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival concluded its recent 20th Anniversary Festival with screenings of classic motion pictures and long-thought-lost restorations, offering a smorgasbord of entertainment and music for silent film fans.

The Lobero Theatre.

Santa Barbara’s beautiful Lobero Theatre has long operated as Hollywood’s go-to location for theatrical tryouts and performances since its opening in 1924. California’s oldest continuous operating theatre, the Lobero was founded in 1873 by Jose Lobero, before being completely renovated and remodeled in 1924 following George Washington Smith’s grand design. The elegant showcase has functioned as Hollywood’s theatrical home away from home, close enough for family and friends to attend, celebrities to appear, and for society scions to visit. It offered a safe haven for those trying their wings on the stage or those coming back after a long break.

From its reopening as a Spanish Revival jewel, the theatre has offered high class entertainment in an intimate setting. A few years after opening, management hired actor/producer Irving Pichel away from his own Pichel Playhouse in Oakland to serve as artistic director and star. Under his influence, the theatre hosted such actors as Tallulah Bankhead, Lionel Barrymore, and a young Bela Lugosi on its stage.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

The Lobero continued serving as a tryout town throughout the 1930s, with such performers as Mary Astor, Walter Huston, Pauline Frederick, Anna Q. Nielsen, Francis Lederer, Alan Dinehart, Regis Toomey, Reginald Denny, Richard Cromwell, Helen Hayes, Herbert Marshall, Vincent Price, Mischa Auer, Joan Blondell, and Lee Tracy all starred in productions on the Lobero stage.

In early spring 1941, famed film producer David O. Selznick was seeking out new challenges after the great success of his films “Gone With the Wind” and “Rebecca.” He thought about creating a West Coast version of East Coast summer repertory in which to groom new stars, introduce them to the public, and strengthen their acting chops. At the same time, it would allow veteran stars an opportunity to work close to home without traveling all the way to New York.

Only the best would suffice for Selznick and his new David O. Selznick Productions. He hired John Houseman, Orson Welles’ producing partner in the Mercury Theatre, as his production assistant in March, to carry out his wishes of creating new and important works for both film and theatre.

On June 16, 1941, Selznick announced that Houseman would serve as artistic director for a season of summer stock at Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre, in which Selznick Company players, supplemented by recognized stage/film actors, would perform onstage. Broadway’s Alfred de Liagre Jr. was hired as co-director. The Selznick Company’s aim was “…making the Lobero the birthplace of important contributions to the American theatre.” They hoped to encourage and support theatre and create “a renaissance of the drama in Southern California.”

Ingrid Bergman starred in the first of the plays staged by Selznick.

Houseman and de Liagre revealed to Art and Architecture magazine in the summer of 1941 that their aim was to create productions making important contributions to the American stage, either through the presentation of new plays that would garner the public’s interest, or revivals of important works with strong stories and messages.

From the beginning, quality was job one for the Selznick Company. Several Selznick staff members contributed ideas developing the season. Stars such as Ingrid Bergman, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Dame May Whitty, Janet Gaynor, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke would star in the productions. Young Mary Barthelmess, the daughter of veteran silent star Richard Barthelmess, served as assistant to the production staff herself.

For its first production that summer, the Selznick Company presented Ingrid Bergman in Eugene O’Neill’s “Anna Christie.” This was an attempt to broaden Bergman’s range as well as to widen her popularity, before taking the show further on the road. Young actor Damian O’Flynn was hired, with hopes that the play would springboard his career. Production designer William Cameron Menzies provided sketch ideas from which production designer Kate Drain Lawson worked. These sketches were exhibited in the lobby during the show’s run from July 30 through August 2, 1941. John Houseman himself directed the production, with tickets costing fifty cents to three dollars.

As the July 31 Los Angeles Times reported after the premiere of “Anna Christie,” “The opening was typically Hollywood, down to the late curtain, roped-off gawkers, half a dozen photographers, and foyer interviews with celebrities over Tom Storke’s radio station.”

Both Bergman and the production received fine notices. Variety stated that it was class turnout for a classy production; “in all staging over the years, it remained for Selznick, with the expert aid of John Houseman, who directed, and Alfred de Liagre, Jr. to outdo all previous efforts in pro ducting this robust drama of the waterfront…Miss Bergman gives a finely etched performance.” Edwin Shallert’s Los Angeles Times review noted, “The third act climax in which Miss Bergman limned the past of Anna had notable inspiration…It took its place as one of the most memorable scenes ever done on the stage of Southern California. Florence Lawrence wrote in the Los Angeles Examiner that it was “…Miss Bergman’s volatile art which holds outstanding place in the performance.” Bergman would go on to perform the show in San Francisco and New Jersey.

Selznick’s attention to detail spread beyond fine actors and beautifully designed sets. The New York Times stated that the production and season fulfilled Selznick’s dream of providing Southern California its own summer theatre with his same quality and attention to detail. August 6 Variety noted that the Selznick Company program was “…the most elaborate program ever passed out for a legit attraction.” The high class program featured twelve pages describing the Selznick Company’s intent and listing cast and crew background.

For its second show, the Selznick Company mounted the world premiere of Enid Bagnold’s “Lottie Dundass,” the story of a troubled and neurotic heroine starring Geraldine Fitzgerald, supported by Dame May Whitty. The production was delayed until August 21-24 due to problems in constructing the set. Fitzgerald received outstanding reviews for the play, with Variety stating that she dominated a strong cast, and the Los Angeles Times noting she “took the audience by storm” with her tour de force performance. Several months later, Fitzgerald opened on Broadway with the production.

For its grand finale in September, the Selznick Company presented two productions for the price of one: a one-act curtain raiser by William Saroyan called “Hello Out There,” and George Bernard Shaw’s “The Devil’s Disciple” to play August 9-13. Saroyan’s playlet had been written in early August, with Houseman snatching it up after meeting Saroyan. A bittersweet story set in a Texas jail, the one act starred young Henry Bratsburg (soon to become Harry Morgan) and beautiful Phyllis Walker, soon to become famous as Jennifer Jones, after they read it for Selznick in his office on August 28.

Richard Barthelmess congratulates daughter Mary after working as an assistant on the production of “Anna Christie.”

The nervous Jones stood in the wings wearing her wedding ring the night of the play’s opening. As Houseman recounted to David Thomson in “Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick,” he told her to give him her wedding ring, which she forgot once the play concluded and took days to recover. She also refused to attend the opening night party when she realized that press would be there to take photographs. Jones had failed to mention to Selznick that she had performed in some shorts and Republic serials, and feared she would be found out at the party, though the studio knew the information all along. The September 12 Los Angeles Times called it powerful, stating, “Henry Bratsburg and Phyllis Walker enacted it with rare feeling at once realistic and ‘out of this world.’” Bratsburg was soon signed by Twentieth Century Fox, with his name changed to Henry Morgan.

Sir Cedric Hardwicke both starred in and directed George Bernard Shaw’s “The Devil’s Disciple,” which he had pitched to Selznick that summer. Set in Colonial America during the Revolutionary War, the play told the story of local outcast and gadfly Richard Dudgeon, who decides to sacrifice himself to help others. Janet Gaynor came out of retirement to make her stage debut in the challenging role, drawing huge advance sales for the production. The play received excellent reviews, though several reviewers preferred the melodramatic “Hello Out There” over “The Devil’s Disciple.”

Phillip Scheuer in the September 12 Los Angeles Times called Janet Gaynor “a Dresden doll” in Adrian-designed costumes, prim but proper in the role. He found June Lockhart “flawless” and Alan Marshal a real swashbuckler, but felt that Hardwicke’s performance let the piece down. “The Devil’s Disciple” did well enough to go on for a week’s presentation at San Francisco’s Geary Theatre following its Santa Barbara run.

Though Selznick’s Lobero Theatre season was successful, with Scheuer calling it a great and successful test for performing summer plays in Southern California and serving as a training ground for talented young performers, he ended his attempts at theatrical production, perhaps due to costs. The three productions cost $25,000, losing $10,000-$15,000 between them.

The theatre continued serving as an encouraging home for theatrical tryouts and short revivals by film stars over the next several decades, as well as continuing as Santa Barbara’s elite theatrical space. The Lobero Theatre still successfully operates as a world class production facility in Santa Barbara, showcasing actors, musicians, and dancers in its intimate setting.

The Tower of Jewels, in an image from the Los Angeles Public Library.

One hundred years ago, San Francisco hosted the most elaborate and and fantastic World’s Exposition until that time in celebration of the opening of the Panama Canal and the opening of the grand Pacific Coast to the world. The metropolis intended the event to help reinvigorate San Francisco by showing off its beauty, spirit, and cosmopolitan atmosphere, helping to speed up reconstruction by adding new streetcar lines and creating new residential districts. Over 18,000,000 people visited the fair during its long run that year, bringing much needed revenue to the city, still struggling to rebuild after the 1906 great earthquake. As the book, “Empress of San Francisco: The Pacific Rim, the Great West, and California at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition” relates from local news reports, “We are discovered now. With the close of the exposition has come the awakening to the fact that tourist travel means dollars raining down on every line of business.”

Motion pictures played a major part in the 1915 Exposition, employed as both educational tool and entertainment medium for fair guests, as well as providing much needed advertising to people around the world. The use of film at this fair demonstrated how important the medium had become to American society, inaugurating how media would come to dominate the telling and shaping of public events and stories.

San Francisco intended for this fair to outshine any that had come before to announce its place on the world’s stage and bring in much needed cash to continue the great rebuilding effort. There was much discussion throughout the city about where to locate the exposition, ranging from Golden Gate Park to near the wharf to what was marsh land out near the Presidio. Monied interests as well as cultural mandarins debated locations as well as financing, especially during a time when many were still hard up on cash. Remarkably, the entire fair was financed by local money, no funds were accepted from the federal government.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

The Exposition was intended to dazzle, leading to the design and creation of an elaborate 43-story Tower of Jewels building, on which 125,000 nova gems, or hand-cut jewels, were hung to make it pulse at night when highlighted by spotlights and to flash and sparkle during the day when hit by sunlight. Not only was the building aflame in color, but so was the entire festival, the first one in which a color scheme was created to represent California’s Mediterrean look. Buildings were decorated with such colors as terra-cotta, Persian blue, pink and ultra marine, which positively glowed when illuminated by strong klieg lights. W. D. A. Ryan, the Chief Illuminating Engineer, declared they intended “to make an illumination as bright as day without the accompanying glare.” The organizers also outlined shapes with small lamps and a new invention called flood lights, which threw soft light on buildings. Autochrome photographs highlighted these glorious colors and the striking architecture of the exposition, another strong selling tool.

Fifty miles of exhibits in the oversize exhibition halls and various zones filled the 635 acre fairground, in what author Gary Brechin called a “temporary Byzantium…,” a fantastic vision of what San Francisco hoped to be. Glamorous palaces, buildings, pavilions, and grounds overwhelmed the humongous crowds, requiring multiple visits. The Ford Motor Company produced 18 new Model T cars a day on the assembly line constructed in the Transportation building. 11,000 paintings filled the buildings and 1,500 statues decorated buildings and the landscape. A fun Zone contained such attractions as miniature versions of the Panama Canal and Grand Canyon which could be visited, a cowboy and Indian show, a film studio with motion picture laboratory and theatre, Japanese tea garden, and Chinese entertainment. John Phillip Sousa and his band performed during the fair, and such celebrities as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Luther Burbank, Harvey Firestone, Buffalo Bill Cody, Teddy Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Barney Oldfield, and William Jennings Bryan attended the festivities.

A postcard of the ferry building, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

The 1893 Chicago Exposition provided demonstrations of Thomas Edison’s novel Cinematograph to visitors, an early preview of things to come. In 1904, filmmakers shot some actuality footage of the St. Louis Exposition, helping inform the outside world of the pleasures it provided. Without bidding from the organizers, virtually every vendor at the 1915 Exposition employed motion pictures as visual representations promoting and selling their wares. Films were used to demonstrate products, to document the beauty of various locations, provide information, or to educate on a wide variety of topics. They provided a strong visceral attraction that no two-dimensional photograph or paper could ever hope to offer. Moving pictures were now considered typical entertainment, a normal part of life.

The Edison Company shot short films for the New York State Commission on such subjects as the New York City Fire Department, Police Department, and Montessori School methods. Kansas created films showing how to grow crops, while Pennsylvania’s films captured scenic and historic sites throughout the state, like Amish country, Philadelphia, and such. California created a unique short on each of its counties that ran in the elaborate California building. The YWCA’s film showed the many ways the organization served and helped those in need. British Columbia produced beautiful travelogues displaying their country. The United States Navy created films showing servicemen hard at work on land and sea serving their country, demonstrating preparedness for possible war.

The Palace of Fine Arts, in an image from the Los Angeles Public Library.

Newsreels eagerly shot both outside and inside the fairgrounds, shooting events that would intrigue filmgoers throughout the world. Hearst-Selig News Pictorial of June 21, 1915 revealed flying balloons and huge crowds of guests visiting the fair. The Universal Weekly focused on the film theatre on the grounds playing Universal films. The Mutual newsreel provided shots of the unique night lights and magnificent spectacle. These helped function as a novel and beautiful memento of something unique, providing a glamorous travelogue to hopefully lure more guests or just enthrall those financially unable to visit.

A postcard of the Tower of Jewels, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Motion picture companies sought ways to employ the Panama Pacific International Exposition into their productions as well, as a new and inventive subject with which to draw viewers and document history. These films would also freely publicize the fair as well. After D. W. Griffith vacationed in San Francisco in order to attend the Exposition, he considered making on a film that would feature Lillian Gish at the Exposition. He told the Los Angeles Times July 1, 1915, “So beautiful are the buildings and many of the exhibits, that it seems a crime not to preserve them in film form.” Nothing came of his idea however.

One film company did employ the Exposition as background for their films. The Times reported April 1 that Mabel Normand was in San Francisco to film scenes for a Keystone feature. Variety reported on May 28 that the Keystone troupe led by Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle had departed San Francisco after four weeks filming on the Exposition grounds. Their short, “Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World’s Fair at San Francisco,” directed by Arbuckle, was released April 22, displaying the couple in antics as they toured the grounds of the Exposition and featured Arbuckle attempting to impress opera singer Madame Schumann-Heink with his own singing.

The Palace of Horticulture in an image from the Los Angeles Public Library.

Variety reported in June that a company was being organized to shoot a feature displaying each major attraction and area of the fair, but it appears that said film was never completed. The picture, “The Exposition’s First Romance” was the first feature to be shot at the fair however.

The magnificent Panama Pacific International Exposition concluded December 4, 1915 with 459,000 people in attendance, visiting the glamorous buildings and lavish grounds once last time. On December 5, however, everything inside the buildings were removed before every building except for the Palace of Fine Arts was demolished and removed for the land to shaped into what is now known as the Marina District, an upscale housing district with views of the ocean. The motion pictures shot at the popular Exposition, along with striking photographs created at the time, remain the only visible reminder of this fabulous and entertaining fair.

Festival Hall, in an image from the Los Angeles Public Library.

For those who’d like to see more of this glorious fair, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum has created a limited edition DVD compiling many of the films shot at the 1915 Exposition, including “Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World’s Fair at San Francisco,” along with newsreel and actuality footage compiled by Ray Hubbard into a 1962 documentary called, “The Innocent Fair,” narrated by Walter S. Johnson, the San Francisco business largely responsible for ensuring the preservation and restoration of Bernard Maybeck’s magnificent Palace of Fine Arts.

The DVD also contains Chaplin’s “A Jitney Elopement,” filmed at Golden Gate Park the same year as the Exposition, along with bonus films, “Twin Peaks Tunnel” (1918), showing the construction of the city’s railroad tunnel, “City of the Golden Gate” (1934), a Fox Film travelogue presenting the beautiful city, and “San Francisco’s World Fair,” a souvenir of the 1939-40 Exposition held at the man-made Treasure Island. There are also two slide shows displaying extraordinary images of the 1915 Exposition. Pianist extraordinary Frederick Hodges accompanies all films, which are part of the Niles Essanay Museum’s collection. The DVD costs $15.95 and is available at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum.

Max Ree , in an undated photo.

Mostly forgotten today thanks to his short film career, Danish architect turned costume and set designer Max Ree fashioned elegant artistry in the motion picture field from the mid-1920s through the mid-1930s. He served as a respected consultant, teacher, mentor, and commentator for his erudite comments on design as well as serving the industry on various councils. Neither flashy nor forward, Ree followed the dictum that form followed function, allowing easy access, mobility, and cost.

Born October 7, 1889 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Ree studied law and philosophy before earning his degree in architecture from the Royal Academy of Copenhagen. He worked as an architect for several years, designing fine homes around the country before discovering theatre and the great German theatre producer, Max Reinhardt. The two men began a long collaboration producing such influential stage works as “The Miracle,” “Orpheus,” and “The Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Berlin and Vienna during the late 1910s-early 1920s, with Ree serving as costume and set designer. Ree was renowned around Europe for his elegant lines and subdued but striking design obtained through deep research and study.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

In 1922, Reinhardt and Ree decided to visit the United States to study theatre design and production before staging “Orpheus” in America. Ree traveled to the United States October 15, 1922 expecting Reinhardt to follow him shortly, but instead found himself alone in a foreign country. Putting his skills and good English to work, Ree began designing costumes for Earl Carroll’s Vanities, the Greenwich Village Follies, Hass and Shoot’s Ritz Review, and other stage shows. The September 9, 1923 Brooklyn Eagle reports on the diverse and colorful costumes and sets he devised for the Greenwich Village Follies musical revue, which included a barnyard set, an interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” an East Indian sketch, among others. His designs enhanced the concepts of the production without overwhelming it. He served as art director for Earl Carroll, providing a luxurious sheen to his upscale burlesque shows. The Brooklyn Eagle stated that the February 2, 1925 edition of the Vanities included 108 girls adorning Ree’s massive sets. The designer created sets and stage settings for several productions large and small, with sketches also appearing in print in such publications as Vanity Fair.

On June 25, 1925, Ree applied for United States Naturalization in Los Angeles, finally approved on April 7, 1931, with Jean Hersholt and his wife serving as witnesses and sponsors.

Signed to his first motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in fall 1925, Max Ree traveled west to California to work as an art director on the studio’s films. Almost immediately, producer Joseph Schenck signed him to a one picture crafting design for the Constance Talmadge film, “East of the Setting Sun.”

After working on this film, Ree joined MGM, where he crafted lovely but simple costumes for Lillian Gish in “The Scarlet Letter,” and the film, “The Girl From Montmartre.” He was then assigned to design elegant costumes for Greta Garbo in “The Torrent” and “The Temptress,” designing a lace collar that enhanced her long neck and started a fashion craze.

Max Ree described his way for working to “Picture Play,” stating that, “Before I am assigned to a star I must see the star, I must understand her personally…,” in order to craft clothes for the way she walked, stood, and carried herself while at the same time revealing the character she was portraying.

First National Studios in Burbank lured him away from MGM in 1927 to serve as head of the Costume Design and direct “designing of all productions,” per the Motion Picture News, which also called him “forceful and original.” His job was to bring out character in a way that also enhanced the beauty of the company’s gorgeous female talent. Ree’s work remained rich and beautiful without exaggeration or redundancy.

Ree designed twelve beautiful gowns for Billie Dove in a manner fitting for European royalty in the film “The Stolen Hours,” with long lines and form fitting curves accentuating her assets, while at the same time revealing her character’s wealth and success. For the feature, “The Divine Lady,” Ree created 28 different period costumes, each more detailed than the next, for star Corinne Griffith, in the retelling of the Lady Hamilton/Lord Nelson romance. He also designed 300 striking 19th century costumes at a cost of $150 each, spending $45,000 alone on these clothes. His extensive library of books dating as far back as the 1600s enabled him to create period correct costumes, though he worked to fashion them to each person’s body, enabling them to move with ease and grace. The talented Ree also crafted exquisite beaded and fitted flapper dresses for the charismatic Colleen Moore in “Synthetic Sin” and “Why Be Good?”

Magazines searched him out for his fashion sense and his articulate way of describing the current style for the average woman. As he told New Movie magazine in 1929, “Beauty is in the entire balance, not in any one definite line. We must accept new ideas and adopt them. This takes time and thought. There as rules for harmony in line, width, and length that have a certain balance that must be kept…I believe then, that clothes should be designed to suit the use to which they are to be put…” Ree also felt the mermaid silhouette looked more sophisticated and alluring as well as allowing for more concealing, and therefore could be more easily adapted for anyone.

Max Ree in Talking Screen.

Ree also freelanced for certain films, designing costumes for Erich von Stroheim’s “The Wedding March” and “Queen Kelly” among others.

Radio Pictures lured him away from First National in February 1929, signing him on to serve as what the March 2 Exhibitors Herald called the head of the costume, property, drapery, and art departments, working to achieve one consistent vision for a production. They stated his job “will consist of establishing harmony between color, line, and costuming and what may be called relation of surroundings to character.” This would allow more harmony, balance, and cohesion between all design elements and hopefully reduce costs.

To help achieve this, Ree built elaborate miniature sets that he, cameramen, directors, and others could study to examine all camera angles and determine exactly what was needed before constructing sets, therefore saving time and money. This process also allowed him to coordinate the mise-en-scene and costumes to complement each other. Ree was employing his architectural skills to help in the creation of films, “applying principles of design, pattern, and color” as the June 8, 1930 Los Angeles Times called it. This visceral process would lead the way to what is a now a 3D process created in computers.

Ree worked to ensure that production work did not overwhelm the film’s story, believing that the setting served as a large outer circle, costumes as a smaller circle, all leading toward the center circle, the actor’s face and character.

The Los Angeles Times often employed the designer to comment on current fashions in special pages of the women’s section featuring Peggy Hamilton, having him describe what was going on with fashion juxtaposed against photos of starlets in high fashion. Ree even designed a elegant dress for Hamilton’s position as Her Majesty Queen Olympics at the Coronation Ball February 21, 1931, with her court gown rich in velvets and embroidered in pearls and rhinestones featuring a red velvet train 15 yards long.

Ree studied new technical innovations going on in the motion picture industry with the switch to both sound and increasing use of Technicolor. He described in an article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle how fabric values appear different on screen from real life, with greens photographing dark gray and deep reds photographing black. He attended research council meetings and presented papers on the changing industry.

The designer stayed busy crafting costumes and sets for such Radio blockbusters as “Rio Rita,” “Dixiana,” and “Cimarron,” earning an Oscar for art direction from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1931. Columns reported that while Ree could design Louis IVth salon, ballrooms, art deco stateroom, or a lavish board room, he maintained graceful and refined lines without overwhelming the story. His work was luxurious without being louche.

Radio also employed his architectural skills to supervise construction of a Spanish patio adjoining the main administration building, as well as upgrading and redecorating the Los Angeles’ Mason Theatre. The company would stage plays they hoped could be filmed for later release.

Ree was elected to AMPAS’ Board of Governors in 1931 as a member of the Technical Branch, serving on panels, writing articles for Bulletins, and other duties.

After a political shakeup at RKO enhanced by financial troubles brought on by the Depression, Ree resigned from the studio and began sketching set designs for various companies in Los Angeles, including the Experimental Theatre and Henry Duffy’s Little Theatre. He designed shows such as “The Three-Cornered Moon,” “Personal Appearance,” “Michael and Mary,” “Tonight at 8:30,” “Liliom,” and “Is Life Worth Living?,” creating gorgeous designs on a shoestring budget. He also taught at Woodbury College’s new costume design class in the mid-1930s.

His old friend and colleague Max Reinhardt hired him in 1933 to design costumes and sets for a gigantic production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Hollywood Bowl in fall 1934. Set construction involved working after midnight for several nights after September 1 taking down streetcar lines in front of the Bowl on Highland Avenue in order that huge trees from Calabasas could be delivered and set up on stage. The Bowl shell itself was dismantled and moved into storage so that a huge hill with lawn could be installed.

Ree would visit the Bowl many nights after midnight after realizing a new color technique would be required for the production. He placed dummies on stage draped in vivid colors, inspecting them from a distance to ensure how they looked to the human eye before constructing costumes. He then created paper dolls wearing costumes in the perfect color combinations which milliners copied for the 400 person cast.

Reinhardt’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” received huge plaudits for its wonderful acting, imaginative staging and lighting, and classy but colorful costumes. Allan Hersholt in the September 20, 1934 Hollywood Filmograph called the production “utterly exquisite”, applauding Ree’s costumes, the striking staging, and the fine acting, especially by Mickey Rooney.

Warner Bros. quickly signed the duo to produce the stage show on film, with many of the actors repeating their roles. One of Ree’s costumes for Verree Teasdale was a 145 pound gown covered in pearls, diamonds, and other jewels, with 35 years of white cambric petticoat and 65 yards of crinoline. Once again, the film received outstanding reviews for everyone involved.

Max Ree in Motion Picture Herald.

Ree virtually retired at this point, spending time traveling, studying, and reading. He married the former Mrs. Burrows Parrot of New York on June 16, 1940, but divorced after a few months.

He served as both costume and art designer for Edgar Ulmer’s film “Carnegie Hall” in 1947. The film starred Marsha Hunt , Frank McHugh, and Martha O’Driscoll, with appearance by such individuals and groups as Jascha Heifetz, Leopold Stokowski, Lily Pons, Bruno Walter, Walter Damrosch, Rise Stevens, Artur Rubenstein, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ree retired for good upon completing the film, enjoying his life in Beverly Hills. Unfortunately, he died of cancer at Cedars of Lebanon March 7, 1953, only 63. While his career failed to stretch as long as those of such people as Adrian, Travis Banton, and Edith Head, Max Ree also left his own mark on the world of costume and art design, bringing a refined and graceful elegance both to women’s fashions and the screen.

Fannie Ward in “The Cheat.”

For the 18th year in a row, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is holding their Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival in Niles’ historic 1913 Edison Theatre this weekend from Friday, June 26 to Sunday, June 28. They will be running silent rarities seldom seen on the big screen, including G. M. “Broncho Billy” Anderson Essanay shorts, a Baby Peggy feature, and Universal silents, all with wonderful live accompaniment by such pianists as Frederick Hodges, Jon Mirsalis, David Drazin, Greg Pane, and Bruce Loeb.

Festivities kick off Friday with an opening reception, followed at 8 pm by the tinted1924 Dorothy Devore romantic comedy, “The Tomboy.” Devore runs a boarding house for her eccentric father when a new handsome boarder, Herbert Rawlinson arrives. Two 1915 Essanay shorts precede the film, “Broncho Billy and The Claim Jumpers,” and the Snakeville Comedy, “When Slippery Slim Went For the Eggs,” featuring the comic antics of Victor Potel, Harry Todd, and Margaret Joslin.

Saturday morning kicks off with an informative walking tour of the little town of Niles, now part of Fremont, strolling down Niles Boulevard past former Essanay Film Company locations, and visiting quaint little bungalows. A $5 donation covers the walking tour, which begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Museum.

At 1 p.m. that afternoon, Cecil B. DeMille’s sensational 1915 feature, “The Cheat,” screens, starring the intense Sessue Hayakawa and the lovely Fannie Ward. Vain, selfish stockbroker wife Ward finds herself in debt to Hayakawa, with desperate results.

The 3pm show features Essanay film shorts shot in and around the little town of Niles, featuring Broncho Billy, Ben Turpin, Harry Todd, Margaret Joslin, and Victor Potel. The comic, cross-eyed Turpin appears in two films: “Broncho Billy Steps In” (1915), and “Snakeville’s Champion” (1915), in which he plays a boxer squaring off against Lloyd Bacon. During the short, the Niles’ Edison Theatre can actually be glimpsed in the distance.

That evening at 7:30, the Ray Hubbard Award will be presented to a special honoree, followed by a salute to Universal Pictures Centennial with the screening of “Skinner’s Dress Suit” (1926) and two shorts, “Behind the Screen” (1915) and “City of Stars” (1925), which present tours of the Universal City lot. “Skinner’s Dress Suit” stars Reginald Denny and Laura La Plante.

Sunday morning, guests are invited to ride the train through historic Niles Canyon before afternoon screenings. Kicking off Sunday afternoon screenings at 1 p.m. is a showing of the Library of Congress’ recently restored Baby Peggy feature, “The Family Secret” (1924). Baby Peggy (Diana Serra Cary) stars as a child of a secretly married couple who are separated by her rich grandfather. Schedule permitting, Cary herself will appear at the screening.

The Festival closes at 4 p.m. with a presentation of Helen Holmes and Helen Gibson action-packed adventures. Holmes, one of the great serial queens, stars in the short, “In Danger’s Path” (1915), directed by her husband, J. P. McGowan, and the feature, “Mistaken Orders” (1925), also directed by McGowan. Gibson appears in the short 1920 short, “The Ghosts of the Canyon.”

Festival passes cost only $65 for nonmembers, with different ticket prices for individual screenings. Passes and tickets can be bought online through the Museum’s website, or at the door.

Come enjoy the little town of Niles, the main western headquarters of the Essanay Film Company, and a pleasing small town atmosphere!

The Hollywood Athletic Club, Photoplay, 1924.

In the 1910s and 1920s, social clubs were all the rage in Los Angeles and surrounding communities. Many people immigrated to Southern California’s sunny shores pursuing new adventures. Most arrived friendless and eager to make new connections. Some joined clubs organized around the cities or states from which they had come, or single sex groups like women’s clubs or men only clubs. Others searched out social organizations, cultural opportunities, or sports leagues with more open policies.

The little farming community of Hollywood, founded around solid virtues and churchgoing, organized groups creating strong minds as well as strong bodies. Many offered educational, cultural, and social opportunities while providing community service. As the city grew and more artistic types arrived, cultural groups grew more diverse, like the Masquers or Lambs’ Clubs.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Marion Nixon, Alyce Mills and Ena Gregory play pool at the Hollywood Athletic Club at the Hollywood Athletic Club.

By 1921, many men were eager to form an institution devoted to shaping and developing the physical body, as well as offering opportunities for fellowship and camaraderie. The Los Angeles Times noted on September 16, 1921 that the charter members of the Hollywood Athletic Club met in the Hollywood Library to discuss the building of a fully equipped gymnasium and clubhouse which could accommodate 1,000 members. The group announced that they were searching for a central Hollywood location between Cahuenga Boulevard and Highland Avenue, possibly on Sunset Boulevard, on which they would spend around $200,000 for construction. Hoped for amenities included handball courts, billiard and card rooms, swimming pool lined with tile, and private rooms, all managed by a physical director. They elected their first Board of Directors, which included such men as C. E. Toberman, Fred Smith, George Eastman, Frank Galloway, Joseph McLellan, Robert Dexter, and others.

By February 1, 1922, they released the completed plans in the Los Angeles Times, showing a two story clubhouse designed by Meyer and Holler, architects of the Ince Studio, Chaplin Studio, Goldwyn Studio, and the Egyptian Theatre, on land purchased at 6525 Sunset Blvd. for $35,000. Not only would the clubhouse contain gymnasium, athletic facilities, and club rooms, it would also possess a nine-story tower in which bachelor members could reside.

The Journal of Electricity reported on October 15, 1922 that the Milwaukee Building Company would construct a ten-story concrete and hollow tile building for the Hollywood Athletic Club, which would contain Turkish baths, showers, dressing rooms for both men and women, storage rooms, barber shop and haberdashery, lockers, and a power plant in the basement. The first floor would include a lobby, lounge, lockers, a gymnasium with spectators’ balcony, natatorium with tank, and balcony, men and women’s check and restrooms, and main and ladies’ dining rooms. The club’s second story would feature private dining rooms, game rooms, fencing, and four handball courts, while the upper floors in the tower would feature 54 sleeping rooms with their own bathrooms. For special needs, the second floor would also contain a store selling cigars, cigarettes, and various sundries. The building’s features would include stucco, art stone trim, tile, and composite rook, along with hardwood floors in the interior.

Buddy Rogers at the Hollywood Athletic Club.

The Hollywood Athletic Club announced completion of the building in the December 15, 1923 newspaper, noting they would hold an informal opening for members on January 1, 1924. The Los Angeles Times called it the most modern athletic facility on the West Coast, and the tallest building in Hollywood at the time. Initiation fees cost $150, with $10 monthly dues.

Besides designing the structure, Meyer and Holler decorated and furnished the building’s interior in the Italianate style, all influenced by Florentine palaces. Draperies, carpets, light fixtures, and furnishings were all especially designed and crafted to create a “homelike atmosphere” for the members. The large dining room sat 300, and the game rooms reflected the Pompeiian style. Several sphinxes decorated the halls of the club, all male.

Meyer and Holler’s striking architecture was recognized on February 22, 1925, when the Southern California chapter of the American Institute of Architects recognized the Hollywood Athletic Club as one of the outstanding buildings of 1924.

Official opening festivities occurred January 12, 1924, with an informal reception for members, family, and friends followed by an inspection of the building. Entertainment included a specially staged athletic assembly by physical director Donald McCary in the gymnasium, followed by aquatic events staged by Clyde Swendsen, swimming coach.

Members enjoyed the fully-equipped and professional gymnasium and variety of exercise classes led and organized by athletic director McCary, along with the Turkish bath, massage, and club rooms. The tiled swimming pool and diving area also attracted much use from members. The club also included a sun bath on the roof, handball courts, billiard and games rooms. Besides exercise rooms, the Hollywood Athletic Club organized their own sports teams to compete against local and regional teams in baseball, basketball, wrestling, boxing, water polo, track, hockey, and soccer.

The modern, up-to-date facilities immediately attracted state and nationwide competitive athletic events. The American Athletic Union held many regional and national swimming and diving events at the Hollywood Athletic Club, with male competitors often called “mermen” in newspaper stories. Other sports such as handball, squash, boxing, and wrestling often held important meets here as well.

In April 1925, the club held the Los Angeles Squash Championships, with many members of the club advancing to the final rounds. Actor David Butler advanced to one semifinals, with film director Frank Borzage advancing to the other against William “Bill” Tilden, tennis extraordinaire. Big Bill Tilden won the tournament, before he began dominating the tennis world. In October of that year, the AAU held their national championship at the club, with member and actor Tom Gallery defeating Borzage and then Tilden for the title.

Jobyna Ralston at the Hollywood Athletic Club.

The Los Angeles Times reported on April 30, 1925 that world champion swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, “the Chicago River Tuna,” would square off in two events against Sam Kahanamoku in an attempt to lower his two world records in the 50 and 100-yard dashes, bringing huge crowds to observe the competition. Weissmuller dominated both events, setting his world record in the 100-yard dash. This would be just the first of many competitions Weissmuller attended at the Hollywood Athletic Club, before becoming a member himself. In fact, Screenland magazine claimed in 1934 that Weissmuller supposedly discovered that MGM planned on filming Edgar Rice Burrough’s “Tarzan” books from the Hollywood Athletic Club’s wrestling instructor.

In 1929, the Hollywood Athletic Club and several other area local clubs such as the Los Angeles Athletic Club, the Surf and Sand Club, the Santa Monica Athletic Club, the California Yacht Club, Riviera Country Club and others consolidated their activities, allowing their members access to each of the facilities, thereby helping to defray costs.

From the beginning, many Hollywood celebrities joined the Hollywood Athletic Club’s membership rolls, enjoying its fine athletic, dining, and hotel facilities. Early members included Charlie Chaplin, Jack Pickford, Ronald Colman, Dell Henderson, Ralph Ince, Gilbert Roland, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Rudolph Valentino, Cecil B. DeMille, Edmund Lowe, Kenneth Harlan, Jack Mulhall, Monte Blue, Richard Arlen, Charles Farrell, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, George O’Brien, William Bakewell, Johnny Mack Brown, Joel McCrea, William Bakewell, and Cesar Romero. Later members also included Kirk Douglas, Sabu, Walter Abel, Ward Bond, John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, Cornel Wilde, and Humphrey Bogart.

Lowe often played squash and swam at the club before heading to the studio, and often returned at the end of the day. Director Charles Vidor and Wilde fenced at the Club in the 1940s, and Ryan and Frank Sinatra often sparred between jobs in the 1940s as well. Desi Arnaz often stayed at the Club after fights with Lucy.

Several women as well enjoyed training in the facility, spending time with the athletic director, taking classes, or getting massages. Actress Jobyna Ralston enjoyed working out on the parallel bars, and Lilyan Tashman worked to slim her figure. Harry Pierson trained many stars, both male and female, per Movie Classic, and all seemed to enjoy visiting the Turkish baths, massage rooms, and manicurist.

In its March 1930 issue, Talking Screen reported on the “dedicated men” of the Hollywood Athletic Club who enjoyed sunbathing in “roofless canvas cubicles…baking, naked and unabashed….” These sun warriors included Edmund Lowe, George O’Brien, Charles Farrell, Victor McLaglen, William Powell, Edward Everett Horton, Buddy Rogers, Richard Arlen, and Johnny Mack Brown.

Not all was sweetness and light however. Tyrone Power Sr. died of a heart attack in his son’s arms at the club on December 23, 1931.

Local organizations rented out space in the facility for meetings and other special occasions as well. Kiwanis, Optimists, the Salvation Army, the Greater San Fernando Valley Association, and women’s clubs all held meetings and special events here. In the mid-1920s, the Los Angeles Traffic Commission help open meetings describing street plans and traffic relief to already crowded Hollywood streets. Many pre-1932 Olympic dinners and teas also occurred at the Club. Temple Israel of Hollywood even held their Passover Service here in 1950.

Though many showbiz veterans passed through the doors, the Club saw little use as a filming location. The 1951 television series, “Man of Tomorrow,” showed youth working out for a series of 26 15 minute episodes. The film noir “Kiss Me Deadly” featured private eye Mike Hammer searching out clues at the Club.

Entertainment industry businesses and professionals often booked private rooms here to stay away from public eyes and enjoy some people and quiet. Marie Prevost, Kenneth Harlan, and Neil Hamilton employed the Hollywood Athletic Club for personal interviews. Magazines reported on such stars as Constance Bennett, Paul Bern, and Ronald Colman lunching here in the late 1920s-early 1930s. First National threw a dinner honoring John McCormick and Al Rockett on July 19, 1925, with such guests as M. C. Levee, Frank Lloyd, James Quirk, Lewis Stone, Victor McLaglen, and Lloyd Hughes. The Producers Distributing Corporation, under the leadership of Joseph P. Kennedy, threw their convention at the Club. United Artists even held small premieres with dinner at $3 a head in 1930, for more swanky and private surroundings.

In the 1930s, many entertainment organizations and later unions enjoyed the privacy of the club for retirement dinners, promotion announcements, celebrations, and organizing. The Author’s League and Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association met here occasionally, while ERPI and the Society of Motion Picture Engineers congregated here for special gatherings. Art director Wilfred Buckland was honored with a retirement dinner at the Club. Boots and Saddle Pictures, a production company, operated out of the Club in 1939.

The Screen Writers Guild and the Screen Directors Guild met here in the mid-1930s to discuss studio contracts before writing and passing their by-laws here in April and May 1936. They formed to fight strict control by the studios and some power over how their work was employed.

On January 25, 1949, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences held the first Emmy Awards at the Hollywood Athletic Club, handing out only five awards, including one to television station KTLA. 550 people attended the awards dinner, a loose affair where people spent more time dining and celebrating than handing out awards. ATAS later rented space here for their first office.

By the 1940s, attendance began declining as gyms sprang up in other locations, people worked longer hours, or began spending more time with family. Major sports events moved to other locations. To help increase revenue, the club opened the doors to non-members in 1953.

In 1957, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America purchased the club and renamed it the University of Judaism, making remodels that added a library and snack bar. They sold the building to Gary Berwin for $11 million in early May 1979. Berwin planned to rename it the Berwin Entertainment Complex and add fine dining around the Olympic-size pool, a legitimate theatre to seat 300, a motion picture screening room, three fully equipped recording studios, as well as a members-only disco. He would reduce the number of rooms in the tower to make room for more luxury suites, and add twenty four security. He intended the building to serve only the rich, with suites costing $1,000 a night, a $100 dinner tab for two, and admittance to the disco costing $3,000 a year.

Many entertainment celebrities partied and recorded at the facility, including the Beach Boys, Madonna, Alice Cooper, Stevie Wonder, and others, before the building was acquired by the Nourmand Family in 1986. New operators became running the facility in the 1990s, and in the 200s, space was reimagined into destination nightclub.

The lovely Hollywood Athletic Club still proudly stands on Sunset Boulevard, a potent example that fine architecture can inspire those who enter to accomplish great things. While perhaps not a glamorous athletic club any more, the Hollywood Athletic Club shows that buildings can still operate with reimagined spaces.

Teddy the dog with a Mack Sennett bathing beauty, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Guide, guard, and constant companion, the friendly dog is man’s best friend. Unswervingly loyal and supportive, canines give much needed love and help when times are tough. Their sloppy kisses and wiggly tails bring oodles of smiles and a kick in the step to their human pals.

This same boundless energy and enthusiasm has also entranced decades of film fans at local movie palaces, where they have been entertained by portrayals of dogs’ friendly personalities and mischievous quirks. Natural hams, dogs easily upstage their fellow two-legged actors through their unpredictability and high spirits.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Teddy with Gloria Swanson, Photoplay, 1918.

Motion picture producers recognized early on that dogs sold films, adding cute subplots full of humor to attract audiences. Early films starring dogs included “Rescued by Rover (1905),” “Jean the Matchmaker (1910),” “A Canine Sherlock Holmes (1912),” “The Champion (1915),” and “Fatty’s Faithful Fido (1915).”

In early primitive films, stray dogs excited by the action sometimes unexpectedly joined the scene. Later on, heroes and likable characters were given friendly dogs as companions while villains often sported vicious curs.

Many studios also began making films starring their own dog star, thus helping promote the brand as well as entertain. Vitagraph was perhaps the first to make a series of films starring a dog, making a series of films starring Jean, a border collie. Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s pup, Luke, became an important part of his Keystone films, making his debut onscreen in 1915.

In 1916, however, Mack Sennett introduced an easygoing, 42” tall, 145-pound Great Dane named Teddy to moviegoing audiences, who soon took him to their hearts. Shy and talented, the oversized lug dwarfed many of his cinematic co-stars as he performed astounding tricks on the silver screen. Teddy, “the dog with the human brain,” soon stood as one of the most famous dogs in America, besides leading the pack as the most popular dog star.

Teddy in Photoplay, 1918.

Teddy perhaps gained his start in vaudeville, as the trades note a “Teddy the athletic dog” as appearing on the Keith circuit in 1914, and the American Film Manufacturing Company featured a Teddy the dog in a 1916 short. However he came to the attention of comedy king Mack Sennett, Teddy the gentle giant appeared in his first Keystone short, “The Nick of Time Baby,” a 1916 one-reeler starring the romantic comedy duo Bobby Vernon and Gloria Swanson. A star was born.

So popular was the dog that his name was incorporated into the second short in which he appeared with Swanson and Vernon, “Teddy at the Throttle (1917),” an honor previously reserved for such human Sennett stars as Mabel Normand, Arbuckle, and a few others. Sennett biographer Brent Walker reports that over $17,000 was spent on the melodrama spoof, in which Teddy saves the day. With Swanson tied to railroad tracks, hero Teddy chases and jumps aboard the moving train, where he catches the brake lever between his jaws, yanking the engine to a stop as engineers look on. The train continues forward, rolling over Swanson, who in the nick of time finds a hole in the tracks and pulls herself to safety.

Teddy once again stole the show in “A Dog Catcher’s Love,” with the Variety critic calling Teddy’s work “wonderfully interesting…,” noting that “this canine performer does many things better than some human beings.”

In 1918, Teddy posed for photographs for a Photoplay photo essay starring Charles Murray and a baby, showing him pulling a baby carriage and guarding a baby. Another feature by Grace Kingsley mentioned that Teddy earned $50 a week and paid $25 in taxes that year, with his master Joe Simkins also providing him six soup bones a week ager a weekly flea dip and examination. The article stated that besides performing stunts, Teddy could sing along as Joe played his accordion.
By that November, Photo Play Journal claimed that dogs were some of the best actors in movies, led by the amazing Teddy. His success onscreen led to Great Danes’ popularity with animal lovers in 1918, as magazines mention the public’s growing interest in the breed. By 1920, Teddy becomes one of the most popular pet names in the country.

Teddy strikes a mournful pose.

Besides appearing with Vernon and Swanson, Teddy began co-starring with such knockabout comedians as Louise Fazenda, Charlie Murray, Wayland Trask, Polly Moran, Slim Summerville, and Ben Turpin, chasing the Sennett cat Pepper and adding to the comic shenanigans. In the 1917 film, “Are Waitresses Safe?”, Teddy steals a chain of link sausages and scampers around the diner chased by all involved.

The Keystone dog also starred with Sennett bathing beauties in several shorts, offering filmgoers both a chance to ogle and laugh at goings-on. “Those Athletic Girls” in 1918 featured janitress Fazenda attempting to keep her husband Frank Cooper away from the skimpily clad girls. “His Smothered Love” showcased streetcar conductor Chester Conklin attempting to poison Marie Prevost at her beachside honeymoon after she married someone else.

During the filming of the latter movie, Motion Picture Magazine reported that Teddy proved a hero when Prevost found herself swept off a rock by a giant wave. After seeing her head bob up, Teddy fought his way through the pounding surf and caught her bathing dress in his mouth, pulling her to shore.

Besides serving as a hero, the lovable pooch also promoted the war effort, appearing with Sennett stars at war bond sales where he greeted crowds.

In 1920, Teddy played a large role in the Keystone feature, “Down on the Farm,” starring Sennett regulars Fazenda, Turpin, Prevost, James Finlayson, Bert Roach, and Harry Gribbon in a rural tale of conflicted love and finance. Productive Teddy is shown hard at work among a menagerie of animals, before eventually saving tiny John Henry Jr. (Don Davis) from a raging river.

Louise Fazenda and Teddy, with Mack Sennett, Picture-Play Magazine.

Recognizing a potent comic duo, Sennett paired the little boy and dog in a series of filmic adventures in which they caused all manner of mischief and amazement. The two side by side made a perfect sight gag, with the tiny tot dwarfed by the humongous dog. In their film, “It’s a Boy,” Teddy builds a step of boxes for wee John Henry to get off a high shelf, draws him in a small chariot, and once again rescues him from water, per the September 12, 1920 Wid’s Daily.

The Los Angeles downtown Bullock’s recognized Teddy’s popularity, bringing him in for a special stunt appearance in their children’s department/toy store in 1920. The Dry Goods Economist reported that “one Saturday brought “Teddy the Dog,” a prominent star in moving picture life…the big dog that does all the rescue work in hair-raising films… This dog is an immense creature, and one of the Mack Sennett attractions. The fact that the dog would be there that Saturday was advertised extensively and literally hundreds of children came to see him. He was trained in so many stunts and he showed off to good advantage during the entire afternoon. Each child was given a photo of the dog.”

Teddy also appeared in person at the Los Angeles’ Pantages Theatre the week of January 19, 1921, putting on an outstanding show. The Los Angeles Times reported that he was awakened by an alarm clock before getting his own breakfast, mopping the kitchen floor, and tending to the baby.

Teddy’s popularity extended to other companies who hired him for occasional appearances. He emoted with Mary Pickford in the Artcraft film “Stella Maris” in 1918. The pooch acted in Century Comedies 1921 short “A Family Affair,” and starred with child star Baby Peggy in “Get Rich Quick Peggy” and “Teddy’s Goat” that year as well. The “Sennett Wonder Dog” appeared in director Marshall Neilan’s first Goldwyn film, “The Stranger’s Banquet” in 1922 with Ford Sterling and Hobart Bosworth, and co-starred with young Jackie Coogan in “A Boy in Flanders” in 1924, while also continuing to appear in Sennett films. He also supposedly romped in one of Fazenda’s first films, “Love Eggs,” at First National, also starring John Henry Jr. and Chester Conklin.

Public letters to Sennett begged for more Teddy filmic appearances. To satisfy cravings, the company created the one reel “Behind the Scenes at the Mack Sennett Studio,” in which Teddy, Pepper the cat, a goat, bear, and various other animals appeared along with bathing beauties like Prevost and Haver, as they clowned around in the studio’s still department. Of course, more comic shorts containing the lovable antics of the cute canine also were produced.

By 1923, however, Teddy began slowing down. He sired a son, Teddy Jr., that year, as he began slowly ending his career. At the ripe old dog’s age of 14, the sweet boy passed away at owner Simkins’ Hollywood home in 1925.

Many of his Sennett films remained comic hits over the decades and were saved in various compilations, available for viewing by today’s audiences. Teddy’s hi-jinks led the way for later major canine stars such as Rin Tin Tin, Asta, Lassie, Benji, and Uggie, proving that dogs remain a hit whenever they appear in moving pictures.

Motion Picture Magazine, 1925.

In the early days of the motion picture industry, no rules and regulations held down the field’s growth and development as companies basically made it up as they went along. There were no labor rules, no production blueprints, no permits required for much of anything. This free form independence allowed filmmakers the opportunity to let their imaginations go wild on story ideas, sets, even film locations. With small crews, a film company could easily sneak shots at virtually any public location without notifying police or gaining anyone’s permission.

This guerrilla style of filmmaking is obvious in primitive cinema, where dogs standing on the sidewalk run into the scene, or crowds can be glimpsed watching the filming or even joining right in. Moviemakers basically shot wherever they wanted, as many owners of possible locations just wanted to see stars or a film being made, and required no payment. Others were given cameos, and some possibly earned a fee for allowing filming, there is no historic paperwork to explain.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Shooting at a lavish estate, on the other hand, required either making connections to an owner, or actually knowing them, meaning that few mansions were employed as locations in the first couple of decades. By the early 1920s, however, the Assistance League of Los Angeles created their own Film Location Bureau that licensed filming at exclusive sites while raising money for charity. The first of its kind, this organization allowed wealthy and important homeowners to rent out their property for filming while sometimes remaining anonymous and gaining money for their favorite charities.

Multiple stories over the years about the Assistance League’s Film Location Bureau claimed that Cecil B. DeMille was instrumental in the creation of the league through his enthusiasm at filming on the Hancock Banning estate down near Wilmington, but the dates and mathematics for his supposed involvement didn’t add up and lacked important details. The actual founding of the bureau appears to have taken place in 1921, as the August 23, 1921, Exhibitors Herald stated that Robert E. Wells, manager of the Bureau, reported that over $10,000 had been donated by the motion picture industry to charity in the last six months for the use of exclusive estates. The July 21, 1921, Los Angeles Times stated that Wells had formerly served as the manager of the Victory and later the Mission Theatres. The May 2, 1933 New York Times itself claimed the organization began in 1917.

The July 23, 1922 Evening Star stated that Rupert Hughes’ Goldwyn picture, “Gimme,” paid money to the Assistance League for the use of Mrs. C. Templeton Crocker’s San Mateo mansion for shooting purposes.

Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, July 3, 1943.

As Motion Picture magazine reported in a May 1925 issue, “A group of society women and social workers in California have an organization called ‘The Assistance League.’ For its charities, it raises funds by renting its houses to the movies. When they want a rich-looking house, the movies have only to telephone the League and explain whether they are looking for an imitation Fifth Avenue, a Long Island estate, an English country house, or a hacienda of California of the days before the Gringos came.” Fees of $150 a day were charged, with half going to the Assistance League and half to a charity of the owner’s choosing.

As an example, Motion Picture News stated in the July 2, 1923 issue that shooting of scenes for the Warner Bros. film, “Little Johnny Jones” occurred in and around the home of Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler, arranged with Warner Bros. donated money to the Assistance League of Los Angeles to benefit charities.

The June 11, 1926, Los Angeles Times reported that the group raised almost $14,000 in 1925, with other charities receiving over $5,500 and the Assistance League themselves netting more than $8,200. The Assistance League’s own newsletter, California Southland, revealed in 1926 that the organization grossed $21,340, netting $13,425 for themselves and from the work of their Location Bureau. Some of the homes employed belonged to members of the group, while others came from friends and neighbors of these society women.

It was not until September 1927 that the motion picture industry itself formed a Location Managers Association per the September 22, 1927, Hollywood Vagabond, in order to share information on locations between member studio and production companies. The group also acted as a conduit between property owners and studio production teams.

The Assistance League’s Film Location Bureau suffered when sound came in, losing a large part of their revenue stream and studios began filming on stages where they could control the heavy cameras and equipment needed to record sound. As the December 1, 1929 Los Angeles Times stated, the boycott and restriction of actual location shooting ceased with the timing of “In Old Arizona,” and studios once again began visiting mansions for regular filming. Sound did force tough restrictions on shooting near airplanes, railroad tracks, tension wires, and major traffic locations, and the like, with production more difficult as crews expanded to more than four times the size of early film crews. As the leader said, “When sound came in, we had to revise our lest. We couldn’t use homes near trolley lines, airports, or streets.” Within a few months, the Assistance League began booking their exclusive list of properties once again, with new locations being added every year.

In 1923, a new leader for the group took charge, Mrs. Lee Wray Turner, a graduate of Harvard Law School with a master’s degree from Columbia. The mother of three children, she met with studio executives to discuss needed locations, discovered and selected them, took directors and crew members to visit these possible sets, created an iron tight contract, and then supervised filming. She called herself “the happiest woman in the world” for handling these location duties for the charity.

Mrs. Turner described her work for the Assistance League to newspapers, as reported in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph May 5, 1935, “We always prepare a contract which absolutely protects the owner against any damages and permits him to specify any charity as recipient of the fee paid by the studio. In this way we have obtained many locations which otherwise would be barred from motion pictures.” She also stated, “I would have a much wider variety of places to choose from if it weren’t for the palm trees. We can’t have palms in a setting that is supposed to be New York, Virginia, England, or France.”

As she also told the February 17, 1951, Toledo Blade, “I can draw a contract even movie lawyers can’t find a loophole in.” This contract protected the homeowner from possible destruction, set ground rules, and established payment. In effect, Turner worked as a buffer between owners and the motion picture industry, working to ensure that filming proceeded smoothly for all involved.

As the September 27,1936, Buffalo Courier Express wrote about Mrs. Turner, “She has to have the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job and the iron hand of Ivan the Terrible.” Her steely demeanor ensured that crews towed the line on film sets, as she arrived before anyone else each day, and was the last to leave after establishing that everything had been returned to proper order and nothing was damaged or destroyed. Studio personnel described how no one would even throw down a cigarette butt whenever she was around.

Thanks to her hard work, properties and mansions owned by such individuals as Edwin Janss, Harry Chandler, Harvey Mudd, Daniel Murphy, Edward Doheny, Frank Meline, Burton Green, Edwin Palmer, Alphonzo Bell, Lucky Baldwin, and the O’Melveny, Guastii, Camarillo, Jewett, and Bernheimer Estates allowed filmmaking. Every year the amount of properties available for filming increased, jumping from 1,500 to 2,000 between 1936 and 1937. The properties stretched from Burlingame to San Diego, Montecito and Santa Barbara included. Besides estates, the list included the Los Angeles Tennis Club, the Los Angeles Country Club, the Bel Air Country Club, the Flintridge Country Club, the Annandale Country Club, Busch Gardens, theatres, polo fields, parks, churches, beach clubs, race tracks, and pools. Fees also increased as well, ranging from $50-$500 a day for houses, with average fees around $150-$200 a day.

The Edwin Janns estate, The Times, April 5, 1936.

Edwin Janss’ mansion stood in for the home of Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in “A Star is Born” in 1936, Pasadena’s Jewett Estate hosted everything from Buster Keaton’s “Cops” (1922) to “Check and Double Check” (1930) to “Born to Kill” (1947). Busch Gardens, a favorite shooting site, saw such films as “Beau Geste” (1939), “David Copperfield” (1935), “Peter Ibbetson” (1935), “Disraeli” (1929), “Raffles” (1930), and “Get Your Man” (1927). In fact, studios could erect exterior sets in Busch Gardens, if they demolished them upon completion of filming.

As she told papers, “It has proved a good way to share Southern California’s wonders with the rest of the world.” Mrs. Turner also revealed that her hardest job was convincing an owner of a San Marino estate to allow a helicopter to land on the front lawn for the filming of “It Happened One Night.”

Mrs. Lee Wray Turner created her own photo library of locations, growing from around 3,000 to almost 10,000 images by the late 1930s, which she allowed studio location scouts to examine to choose possible filming sites. She then talked with owners, showed directors and crew members around the property, wrote contracts, provided insurance policies, served as go-between, kept extras out of homes, and saw that immediate repairs took place to any damage.

Revenues began dropping in the late 1940s for several reasons. Many property owners began subdividing large estates in order to pay taxes, while others were destroyed to make room for freeways or other developments. Studios began filming overseas to take advantage of monies raised from foreign exhibition which was forbidden from leaving those countries and helped alleviate tax issues for film conglomerates. Mrs. Turner told the Salt Lake City Tribune on January 2, 1949, “We don’t see why they go overseas. I can duplicate any foreign spot right here.” Around this time, her daughter, Marcia Smith, began assisting her mother in finding and arranging locations for the Bureau.

The Daniel Murphy home, The Times, April 5, 1936.

In 1955, Mrs. Turner left the Assistance League to become Executive Director of the California Arboretum Foundation, which she led until 1960. She arranged filming here just as she had for the Assistance League. On November 27, 1970, Mrs. Lee Wray Turner passed away, and she was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Glendale.

In 1970, Mrs. Smith began operating her own film location bureau out of her own home, per an ad in the Pasadena Star-News February 24, 1970, following in her mother’s footsteps.

By the time Mrs. Turner moved on to the Arboretum, Los Angeles and other cities had established their own departments for booking shooting at various public sites around the city, as well as establishing the use of permits to film on public streets and other locations. The motion picture industry’s use of location managers escalated, and organizations like Film LA would be formed to assist with location shooting as well.

The Assistance League of Los Angeles innovated the practice of obtaining luxurious estates and ranches for motion picture filming, which now is virtually a necessity for many of these sites to pay bills and maintain the property. Much research still awaits on the history of location filming, and how and when the use of permits was actually established.

Bessie Eyton by Junius Estep, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

In the early days of silent film production, moving picture companies promoted their brand names to consumers, selling films around the quality and type of pictures produced by their individual companies. By the early 1910s, these companies quickly discovered that stars drew fans’ interest more than brands, quickly creating publicity building up the stars to the general public.

Beautifully produced images created by portrait photographers crafted the iconography and importance of stars, inaugurating a mass form of publicity practiced to this day. Fans clamored to buy new issues of magazines, postcards, pennants, or any type of product featuring the likeness of their favorite celebrities. These powerful photographs sold the glamour and importance of the film industry, helping to expand profits and audience reach. The images also lured ambitious young people to growing film center Hollywood, exponentially growing the city.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

In a photograph by Junius Estep, director Frank Borzage talks to Margaret Sullivan during filming of the Universal picture “Little Man What Now?” At left, leading man Douglas Montgomery. Behind the camera, Norbert Brodine with assistant William Dodds. At right, Sergei Petschnikoff.  From the cover of International Photographer, August 1934, and converted from hideous magenta and white.

Many early film photographers gained their start in the commercial side of the business, while others produced society portraits for a living. Their reputations for crafting elegant images in a timely manner helped ease their way into the moving picture business, a field that would garner them increasing recognition and pay for their work.

(At right, Junius Estep in a photo from The International Photographer, June 1930)

Such cameramen as Albert Witzel, Fred Hartsook, Frank Hoover, Nelson Evans, Melbourne Spurr, Jack Freulich, Donald Biddle Keyes, and Eugene Robert Richee dominated the field in the 1910s-1920s, but other names crafted lovely work whose names remained somewhat buried in history. Junius Estep and Alfred Lindstedt worked for years in the early film industry, shooting important players and creating dynamic work, but whose names remained mostly unknown to the general silent film fan.

Born March 22, 1877 in Ohio, Junius (June) D. Estep moved to Chicago, where he worked as a merchant and married in 1900. Some time thereafter, wanderlust drove him westward towards Los Angeles. By 1907, he was running his own commercial photography business with F. H. Taber under the name, Estep and Taber, at 206 1/2 S. Broadway. Estep joined with C. C. Pierce in 1908 at 127 W. Sixth St. in a commercial photography business taking photographs as well as selling photographic supplies. Estep established his own studio in 1910 per the July 27, 1910 Los Angeles Herald, taking out a business permit to establish a photography studio at 617 S. Broadway in a building owned by the Morton estate. Needing help financially, he joined with M. D. Kirkpatrick in forming Kirkpatrick Estep in 1912, located on the second floor of 535 S. Broadway.

While maintaining the studio, Estep began shooting freelance work for film companies, starting with the Selig Polyscope Film Company in 1912. His portraits of the West Coast players display one of the earliest credits and copyright notices for a Hollywood stills photographer. David Shields notes in his book, “Still: American Silent Motion Picture Photography,” that Estep quickly gained a reputation for being both versatile and proficient at shooting posed studio portraits as exterior scenes.

Estep established an independent studio again in 1915 on the fourth floor at 219 W. 6th Street, while continuing to shoot stills for the Hollywood film industry. He shot sessions at LKO Comedies in 1918, especially cheesecake portraits of their starlets posing in pajamas or bathing costumes, as well as fashion studies of such stars as Julanne Johnston in 1923-1924. Estep also worked for the Elco Company, a defense company, in 1918. In order to be closer to his work in Hollywood, Estep and his family moved to 6667 Selma Avenue in the early 1920s.

Bartine Burkett, photographed by Junius Estep, Moving Picture World, November 1918.

Western star William S. Hart admired Estep’s versatility, hiring him as a stills man for his productions at Triangle Films. “June” Estep devised elegant and sometimes breathtaking visuals of the dramatic Western landscape, revealing the grandeur and vastness of the open American prairie in his scene stills. Shields states that Estep “mastered making a visual field dynamic symbolically,” especially through the use of binary tensions between light/dark and interior/exterior. The October 5, 1925 Los Angeles Times revealed that experts were calling his stills for Hart’s 1925 film, “Tumbleweeds,” perfect because of their high quality.

Upon Hart’s retirement that year, Estep joined up with the ambitious young director Josef von Sternberg, shooting stills for his inaugural artistic film, “The Salvation Hunters.” Over the next several years, he aided the artistic von Sternberg in understanding the nuances and importance of stills photography. Estep freelanced between First National and von Sternberg’s films in this period, concluding his work with the director on “Shanghai Express” in 1932.

The stills man worked for Paramount in the late 1920s and early 1930s, before moving to Fox Film Corporation, where he shot stills for Frank Borzage’s dramatic film, “Little Man, What Now?”

In the late 1930s, Estep moved full circle, returning to commercial photography. After several years, he and his wife moved north to Tulare, where he died March 6, 1953. Though virtually forgotten today, Junius “June” Estep created dynamic still images for a range of important filmmakers as well as crafting elegant portraits for others. He also stands as one of the first photographers to be credited for motion picture publicity images. Thanks to the striking work of Estep and other stills photographers, stars became glamorous gods and goddesses, bathed in an iconic glow.

Peggy Hamilton photographed by Junius Estep, Picture-Play Magazine, September 1923-February 1924.

Mostly forgotten as well in early Los Angeles/Hollywood still photography history is Alfred Robert Lindstedt, one of the early society photographers in the city. Born July 28, 1877 in Ludvigborg, Sweden, the young man arrived in New York May 22, 1898 before making his way to Kansas City, Missouri. Trained as a photographer in his home country, Lindstedt opened a studio in the city, a juncture where three vaudeville circuits and several rail lines converged. On November 13, 1901, the photographer applied to become a citizen of the United States.

Finding the field dominated by a few select photographers, Lindstedt immigrated west, arriving in California November 8, 1905. In 1906, he began working for the great photographer George Steckel, etching photographs. Lindstedt established his own studio in suites 203, 204, and 205 at the 3212 W. Second St. Columbia Building in 1910.

As David Shields writes in his book, “Still,” the photographer applied the dreamy, poetic, Pictorialist style to photographs of children, and a somewhat more straight-forward style to adults. That year, the Los Angeles Times published a photograph of his daughter, helping build his career as a society portrait photographer. Over the next several years, many of his portraits of Los Angeles’ movers and shakers and their families appeared in newspapers. On January 23, 1912, Lindstedt received his naturalization papers in Los Angeles, becoming a United States citizen.

From an Artura Iris Print by A.R. Lindstedt, Studio Light, September 1914.

An early practitioner of the Pictorialist style of photography, Lindstedt often exhibited in salons around the West Coast, one of the early members of the Camera Pictorialists, with such members as Edward Weston, Karl Struss, and Fred Archer. The February 13, 1916 Times praised his work of a child’s portrait in profile, noting that his work “has the quality of a chalk drawing.” Much of Lindstedt’s earliest images stand out for their striking use of etching and engraving, resembling hand drawings rather than photographs. Several of his striking works appeared in Salon Books in the-teens, revealing his sharp, dynamic eye.

By the mid-teens, after Matzene arrived on the Los Angeles’ photographic scene, Lindstedt focused his work on a highly illuminated and straighter style, often with a simple or minimal background. He also moved his studio to 617 S. Hill Street in 1915, and moved at least two more times in the next few years. In 1923, Lindstedt served as President of Hoover Art Studios, one of the first important portrait studios to focus on motion picture work. Founder Frank S. Hoover had also shot his photographs in a style reminiscent of Rembrandt, and as he eased out of the business, Lindstedt took over. Actress Nell O’Day’s mother served as one of the etches for backgrounds of Hoover-Lindstedt portraits.

From an Artura Iris Print by A.R. Lindstedt, Studio Light, September 1914.

By the mid-1920s, Lindstedt formed the Lindstedt-Phelan Studio in Beverly Hills with his brother-in-law. They functioned as one of Beverly Hills’ top photography salons, shooting glamorous images of bon tons for the next several decades.

At the same time Lindstedt operated the photography studio in the late 1930s, he invested in a British color system that incorporated under the name Omnicolor Pictures Corporation. The officers of the Corporation included President Charles Soderstrom, former photographer Henrik Sartov as Vice-President, and Lindstedt serving as Secretary-Treasurer. They operated out of the Granada shops at 672 S. La Fayette Park Place, buying ads that stated, “We have prints to prove the new Devin Precision Color Camera in perfect. We sell them.” In the mid-teens, Sartov served as Hoover Art Studios’ top photographer, whose work lured legendary director D. W. Griffith to employ the studio as portraitist for his company.

Lindstedt left Omnicolor in 1943 to continue focusing on the photography studio. He passed away January 19, 1958, with most of his great work long forgotten.

Alfred R. Lindstedt’s poetic, dreamy style of portrait photography influenced many early Hollywood stills photographers, helping shape the glamorous style of early Hollywood stills photography that many love today. Photographers such as Estep and Lindstedt helped shape the lavish, illustrious look of early Hollywood and its beautiful stars, creating the romantic, gorgeous images remembered and treasured today.

Club Indigo matchbook courtesy of Mary Mallory.

While some proprietorships remain in business for decades at one address, most often, occupancy at the site frequently changes due to economic and cultural cycles. Following owners usually continue in the same vein or type of business, but occasionally something totally different fills the site. Over the decades, most businesses occupying 4269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, have continued along the same lines, providing food and entertainment to thousands of San Fernando Valley residents.

Little can be found regarding this address prior to 1938, when it shows up in newspaper advertisements as the Cafe Indigo. The matchbook reveals the establishment served American and Chinese food, as well as selling liquor and wine. Per the inside of the matchbook, intimate entertainment was also offered nightly.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Century West BWM in the 4200 block of Lankershim Boulevard, via Google Street View.

Proprietors Sid and Clodie Brown opened the business sometime in 1938, as that is the first time it appears as their choice of work in the Los Angeles Phone Directory. At the same time, the couple lived at 10802 Bluffside Drive. They had lived in Los Angeles since at least 1920, and on January 15, 1928, Clodie was found guilty of practicing some type of medicine without a license. In 1936 and 1937, her place of business is listed as Bridge Cancer Remedy in the phone book.

The Browns’ affiliation with Cafe Indigo appears to conclude around 1941, as the couple is not listed in the 1942 phone book. The restaurant continued operating until at least 1953, a magnet for violence, destruction, and labor problems. The October 25, 1950 reported that 24-year-old police officer Paul Albert Parrish Jr. was followed by a gang of six from the club after having words with one man inside. Parrish and his father-in-law were approached by three men inside, and they took off running. The two men were attacked, with Parrish hit by a board, leaving his face badly bruised and cut. The gang stole his pistol and kicked him in the head before leaving.

In 1951, a vandal destroyed the interior of the club. The January 29, 1951 Los Angeles Times stated that a vandal broke into the club sometime between 2 and 4 am, passed by the cash register, and “broke all the plate glass mirrors, kicked in the orchestra drums, broke the juke box and cigarette machine, upset tables and chairs, and then left with a case of whiskey.” To gain entry to the closed club, the vandal kicked in the glass on the front door.

On March 3, 1952, cowboy actor Fred Carson went berserk inside the club. He tried to crawl over the bar, dived into a plate glass window, beat up on people, stumbled out of the club and fainted in the bushes, woke up, tried to get away from police, and attacked an ambulance worker. Four officers and several bystanders were finally able to subdue him.

The December 3, 1953 Van Nuys News states that the Ringside Lounge was celebrating its opening with wrestler Don “Ivan the Terrible” Lee and Gordon “Mr. Combo” Clark hosting. Television and sports stars would attend the 7 pm press party at which Lee would entertain, followed at 9 pm with the opening to the general public. Starting on December 4, the club would remain open from 5 pm to 2 am daily, with Clark providing his “romantic one-man combo” music. Newspaper ads noted the club had been redecorated and stated, “Dinners will include thick steaks and giant-sized baked potatoes at popular prices.” The club also featured late night snacks and cocktails.

The Ringside Lounge, Van Nuys Valley News, Dec. 3, 1953.

By 1954, Club Sirocco opened at the same location, the “Valley’s Favorite Dancing Spot,” per the November 19, 1954 Van Nuys Valley News. Patrons could enjoy dining and entertainment by making reservations. The club featured up and coming performers as well as known names to entertain guests. Once again, problems plagued the location, this time from owner Charles Boyd unfairly paying guests and attitude toward performers. Step-in Fetchit presented a claim to the California State Labor Commission in March 1956 for $152.86 he was owned for five days’ work, but owner Boyd testified that he had paid him for two days’ work March 14, 1956. The newspaper does not indicate how the issue was resolved.

Performer Roy Porter states in his biography “There and Back,” which records his days working in bands, “Chuck Boyd was such a racist that he had the audacity to tell Joe (Liggins) that the band had to come in through the kitchen in the back.” Liggins told him what he could do with such a request, and then his band set the house on fire, bringing in such revenue that Boyd cancelled the order.

Donte’s, Van Nuys Valley News, May 26, 1967.

For a time in the 1960s, the location operated under the name Buddha Club, but I could find no information in the papers or phone book concerning this business. By 1965, this building hosted Direct Line No. 2, modeled after a similar club in Hollywood which featured telephones on every table connected to all the tables in the club. Owned by Hal Glicksman, the club featured Etta James January 25, 1965 during its first month of operation.

The February 25, 1965 Los Angeles Times reported that John Tony Cagle, 21, and Rex Richard Shryrock, 24, were arrested and cited for five violations of operating a night club without permits, opening and running the club since mid-January when the permit was filed, though they had not officially received one. The police described entertainment at Direct Line as “woman doing burlesque-type Watusi dances which end with her in “a costume that leaves little to the imagination.” John M. Frazis and Leonard Glickman were also issued citations. By July 27, charges against Shryrock were dismissed due insufficient evidence, but were ongoing against Cagle. No followup ran in the paper however.

On June 22, 1966, a jazz piano bar named Donte’s opened in the same location, with Hampton Hawes performing on piano and Red Mitchell on bass. A luncheon and supper club open from 11 am to 2 am daily, the establishment originally featured up and coming performers before it hit with both entertainers and audiences. Early performers included musicians like Dave Grusin. Owner Carey Leverette, a former dancer and choreographer at MGM, recalled in an April 1988 interview how he and partner John Riccella renovated the empty building into a piano bar. Sunny and Bill McKay bought out Ricella in October, with Bill managing the kitchen, Sunny the staff, and Leverette booking acts, handling publicity, and managing the bar. On Persian holidays, Sunny served Iranian dishes to patrons.

The club featured all types of jazz, from scat singing to Bossa Nova to instrumentals. Donte’s booked Chet Baker for a late Sunday matinee on May 7, 1967. Benny Carter and band played a stand in December 1967. Comedian Mort Sahl entertained on November 11-12, 1969, drawing in big crowds and becoming a semi-regular performer at the club. Phil Wright in his November 28, 1969 Van Nuys Valley News review stated that performer Stan Kenton believed that “the jazz club is Sahl’s church.” Wright found his humor dark, though pulled from daily headlines, topical and right on the money.

Ursula Prince at the Direct Line No. 2, Feb. 22, 1965, Van Nuys Valley News.

Other performers over the next several years included Stan Kenton, Anita O’Day, Chuck Mangione, Buddy Rich, Count Basie and his band, Woody Herman, and others. Stars like Clint Eastwood, Frank Sinatra, and Herb Alpert hung out to hear great music. Musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, James Galway, Doc Severinsen, and others often sat in with the band. Magazines and books as diverse as Westways, Frommers, Fodor’s, and California called it one of the best jazz clubs in the Los Angeles area.

The club began slowly going down hill after the McKays left, leaving too much on Leverette’s plate. Other similar clubs began competing against it. IRS problems took a hit as well. In the mid-to-late 1980s, the club fought to stay in business. On December 18, 1987, tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh suffered a heart attack on stage, dropped from his stool, and died in the middle of a performance.

In a April 2, 1988, Los Angeles Times story, Leverette, who was in ill health, stated that he was selling and that Donte’s would be redecorated and reopened. His son-in-law found him slumped over his bed, dead, in his office at the club on April 6, a day after escrow closed and three days after the club closed.

Foichi Akemoto, Japanese businessman, purchased the club for $300,000 in July 1988, planning on remodeling and opening. He was approached by David Robert Silvert, a so-called talent manager and real estate developer, who claimed he wanted to open a Donte’s record label and re-open the club. Akemoto financed Silvert’s loan,, which ended up a disaster. On April 21, 1989, Silvert was jailed in Arizona on five real estate fraud charges, for defrauding an elderly woman out of her property and money. Akemoto was left in financial straits over the deal, hoping to sell the building to recoup his own money.

In 1999, a developer began buying businesses on the block, and eventually Century West BMW built a giant showroom/garage on the site of these clubs and other businesses. Now just a memory, these operations entertained generations of music lovers before fading into the sunset.

The “It” Cafe in the Hollywood Plaza Hotel, courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library.

Restaurants go in and out of style in Hollywood just as quickly as go-go boots and bell bottoms, thanks to those following the hip crowd and looking for the next big thing. Insecure and superficial patrons ape trends rather than march to their own values and beliefs. They make bars, nightclubs, and restaurants hot and popular for short periods of time, in their insatiable quest for the new, different, and unique.

A movie star’s career often follows the same trend, as audiences tire of the same old thing and search out new, compelling talent. Some stars’ magnetic personalities and expressive eyes, however, draw others into their spells. To help maintain their celebrity status and financial rank, they open businesses taking advantage of their “brand” names and personalities.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

A napkin from the “It” Cafe, listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $125.

Hollywood’s 1920s “It” girl, Clara Bow, sexy, sultry, and vulnerably real, opened her own lavish eatery in the late 1930s, appropriately named the “It Cafe.” Hoping to use it as a chance to reinvigorate her career, rejoin society, and make a little money, the retired film star and her rock solid, supportive husband Rex Bell financed and opened their own lavish nitery in the former cocktail lounge of the Hollywood Plaza Hotel at 1633 N. Vine St.

The Hollywood Plaza, constructed by land owner Jacob Stern in front of his own residence in 1925, occupied prime real estate at the southwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, the epicenter of the entertainment industry. Within a few blocks of this famous intersection, early moving picture studios exploded on the scene and the nascent broadcast radio industry took the country by storm.

By 1931, the hotel turned their luxurious former ball room and lounge over to the proprietors of the Russian Eagle Cafe when their popular and elegant restaurant burned down on Sunset Boulevard. Per Jim Heiman’s “Out With the Stars,” General Theodor Lodijensky owned and operated the dramatic club, enhanced by a “gypsy trio and flickering candlelight,” with service provided by waiters attired in elegant red smocks and fezzes. Hollywood’s foreign contingent, especially stars like Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and Charles Boyer, adored the rich and expensive menu, particularly caviar and vodka.

When the glamorous restaurant moved on to another location in late 1935, Hull Hotels, operator of the Plaza and Roosevelt Hotels among others, spared no expense to totally renovate and upgrade the location into something appealing “to the discriminating,” as their December 17, 1936 advertisement in the Los Angeles Times proclaimed. Proudly trumpeting the figure of $125,000 to turn the regal Russian Eagle into the gloriously exotic Cinnabar, the ad thanked the many artisans who streamlined the club, including famed architect G. Albert Lansburgh, creator of the El Capitan, Warner Bros. Hollywood, and Orpheum Theatres, and Gladding McBean Co., which provided terra cotta tile. Renowned muralist Anthony Heinsbergen of Wiltern Theatre and Pantages Theatre fame, decorated the walls with attractive murals depicting contemporary film life, composed of cinnabar, cloissone´ and scarfito depicting contemporary film life.

Dec. 17, 1936, the Cinnabar.

The ad breathlessly announced Cinnabar’s huge premiere December 17, 1936 at 8 pm, “so breathtaking in its beauty…so different in its conception…it will live forever in the romantic pages of Hollywood history!” For $10, guests would enjoy a champagne dinner and see famous directors and writers christen the writers’ and directors’ corners before the climax of the evening, the unveiling of Heinsbergen’s murals. Song stylist Anne Crosby provided musical entertainment along with the Four Avalon Boys, courtesy of Hal Roach Studio, introduced by Charles Irwin. Albert Ziegert, “Hollywood’s Favorite Maitre d’Hotel” greeted guests, who enjoyed classic cuisine by “Internationally Famous Chef,” Charles Rouille. Tom Hull, President of Hull Hotels, believed that “film folk would appreciate a restaurant such as the Cinnabar that would meet their sophisticated whims. I have absolute faith in the patronage of this discriminating group.”

Though also popular with motion picture stars like Mary Brian, Victor McLaglen, and Gene Raymond, huge renovation costs doomed the nightclub. By late spring 1937, Cinnabar closed its doors.

That summer, a reinvigorated Clara Bow looked forward to returning to society and the town that made her famous. Rested and refreshed after years on Bell’s ranch, Clara was eager to hook up with old friends and perhaps seek out film roles, with several film magazines at the time reporting she was negotiating for film roles. Daily Variety reported on August 31, 1937 that Bow and Bell had purchased the former Cinnabar space for a sexy nightclub, debuting September 1.

The Bakersfield Californian ran a long story that night, describing how Clara would be bringing sizzling sex appeal to the nightclub business, where she would be eating two to three times a week and greeting guests as an active owner and hostess.

Charming Clara described redecorating the club by removing the “tacky” murals and replacing them with mirrors. Wine red carpet accentuated the gold circle decorated with the signs of the zodiac in pale blue on the ceiling. A cream colored piano featured ebony keys, complimenting the regular black piano with ivory keys. Red striped chairs and private booths added to the sleek look. Six bartenders served thirty five cent “It” cocktails from the ebony bar. She added that, “…over the bar I am going to have a great silver statue of a girl whose dress is falling from her shoulders and whose hair is solid gold. It will be a symbol of “It.”” While soft music played, Bow stated, “All this place needs is a little life and a little sex appeal, to make it a great success – and I am going to see it gets what it needs.”

Clara’s former studio, Paramount Pictures covered the club’s opening, featuring it in their newsreel running in theaters September 25, 1937. Hull Hotels purchased many ads in the Los Angeles Times describing the “It” Cafe as “Hollywood’s Swankiest Night Spot.”

Multiple sources at the time list the eatery as serving dinner from 5 pm -10 pm, supper from 10 pm – 2 am, as well as providing dancing and bar, all at no cover, with some calling Bow a “red-haired whirlwind of hospitality.” Former Cinnabar singer Anne Crosby returned to the space as lead performer, leaving behind her gig at the Hollywood Roosevelt Cinegrill. Billy Rowe’s column later that year in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Courier revealed that Art Tatum was jazzing up the piano at the “It” Cafe.

Rex Bell and Clara Bow in a booth at the “It” Cafe.

A special table nicknamed “the Water Trough” was reserved at the front for Rex Bell’s cowboy friends, who often dropped by in their jeans, boots, and hats after leaving the fields. Table lights were replicas of an “It” statue that producer B. P. Schulberg presented to Bow after her big success in the film. To ensure that tourists walked away empty handed when they attempted to steal the lights, each was chained to the tables.

Picture Play magazine claimed that after opening night, paying guests saw little of Clara, overcome by emotion at many of the comments she read in the press. Hollywood magazine reported in January 1938 that many in the celebrity enclave accused her of overdoing the role of Hollywood hostess, claiming she was “cheapening herself.” Hurt to the quick by the cruel comments, Clara rarely appeared at the club, making only brief appearances at dinner.

Celebrities flocked to the club, appearing both for press attention and their own private events. Comedienne/actress Martha Raye attended often after separating from her husband, makeup specialist Bud Westmore, sometimes with Bow herself. Such stars as Mary Brian and Guinn “Big Boy” Williams, Ronald Colman and Benita Hume, and Cary Grant and Simone Simon visited the club while on dates. Richard Arlen and Jobyna Ralston enjoyed dinner with Boris Karloff and Tom Mix one night. Bette Davis brought Eleanor Roosevelt to sample the club’s delights, accompanied by Sylvia Sidney, Olivia De Havilland, and Melvyn Douglas on March 18, 1838. Sidney employed the club as a fundraiser for hungry children in China and Spain around the same time. Many of course hoped to meet Clara herself.

Silver Screen even reported on some of the stars’ favorite dishes on the menu. Bette Davis preferred the pineapple salad, Anita Louise loved curried turkey, Gene Raymond ordered steaks, while Jeanette MacDonald loved asparagus omelets.

To beef up general visits, the club inaugurated amateur nights and other live entertainment on December 12, 1937. Beginning December 29, KFWB broadcast the Aiwe Boys from the “It” Cafe at 11:15 pm nightly.

Fawcett publications even added the “It” Cafe as one of the luncheon stops for its 1938 Movieland tour, in which tourists visited the film city and toured studios, theatres, Olvera Street, Max Factor business, and the Hollywood Bowl, along with meeting stars at various locations. Makeup artist Bud Westmore even applied makeup to leading participants during their visit to the “It” Cafe. Bow gave birth a second time June 14, 1938, cutting back further on her appearances at the “It” Cafe.

Because of Clara’s infrequent appearances and physical issues, she and husband Bell sold the “It” Cafe to Phil Selznick in late March 1939, who moved on himself to greener pastures on August 1, 1939, per Variety. The club continued operating under that name with new leadership through 1941, when it was once again sold.

While the Plaza continues to operate as a senior housing facility, the once luxurious location of the hotel’s ballroom, Russian Eagle Cafe, Cinnabar, and “It” Cafe remains empty, a forlorn reminder of the days when glamorous, larger than life stars brought sophistication and style to Hollywood.

“Since Ma Is Playing Mah Jongg,” sung by Eddie Cantor, sheet music courtesy of Mary Mallory.

In the 1920s, life changed fast and furiously as people celebrated the Jazz Age. Dance mad, adventure-seeking flappers and flaneurs jumped from craze to craze enjoying the whirlwind of life. Games, foods, clothing, everything changed in a flash, tied to the experience hungry, new sensation-seeking younger Americans looking for excitement. Bridge, crossword puzzles, the Charleston, dance marathons, flagpole sitting, and the game of mah jongg enticed people of all ages insecure in their position and beliefs to jump onto the next big thing in order not to be left behind.

“Since Ma Is Playing Mah Jongg” by the Memphis Five.

For a few years in the 1920s, “mah jongg” became a household name and game, more popular than chess, checkers, or even certain card games. The game attracted many because of its exotic, mysterious game pieces and name, while also requiring some skill in remembering key rules and tiles.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

“The Mah Jongg Blues.”

While the game ruled as one of Americans’ favorite pastimes in the mid-1920s, it existed as a potent slap in the face to ethnic Chinese Americans, who were barred from marrying whites, owning property, or even working certain jobs. Mah jongg’s popularity ironically represents the subtle or superior patronization and entitlement many whites felt toward immigrants throughout the United States, a superiority demonstrated through words and actions.

On May 6, 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Anti-Exclusion Act, barring Chinese immigrants and laborers from entering the country, intended as a 10-year temporary measure. Both in 1892 and 1902, the United States’ Congress extended the act, even toughening it. This act was the first to specifically bar one ethnic group in the country, leading to illegal immigration and smuggling of migrants.

Upset over Chinese immigration in the 1840s and 1850s which saw many Chinese work in Gold Rush country or on crews building railroads, unions and Governor John Bigler sought ways to prevent “coolies” from filling low paying jobs, thus possibly reducing wages and potential job opportunities for whites. In 1858, California originally passed a law making it illegal for anyone “…of Chinese or Mongolian race” to enter the the state, struck down by the California Supreme Court in 1862.

The state of California adopted a new Constitution in 1878, which included provisions detailing which ethnic groups could live in the state, making it difficult to obtain permission to leave the country, or finding it difficult to return, thus separating men from wives and families, banned them from becoming citizens or purchasing property, and barring Chinese from working in factory or local, state, or federal jobs. These statutes remained on the books until 1943, when the United States and California ceremoniously eliminated the statutes in order to obtain Chinese support and help during World War II.

Because of the common societal belief in white superiority and paternal view of other races, many of what current society considers racist and derogatory terms were routinely employed throughout everyday conversation, magazines, films, newspaper stories, and song. Words such as coolie, chink, and Chinaman often appeared in print whenever discussion of the Chinese appeared. Ironic then, that in the mid-1920s, mah jongg stood as one of the most popular games in the United States, popular with celebrities and regular citizens, at a time when the Chinese were routinely excluded from every day life.

South Bend News-Times, Oct. 8, 1922, South Bend News-Times, Oct. 8, 1922.

Mah jongg exploded into American consciousness in 1922. The Los Angeles Times first mentions the game on February 22, 1922, stating, “The California Club and all the country clubs have adopted the game which is played with cunning little tiles of ivory and bamboo-shaped like dominoes…” Weekly or sometimes daily listings show women’s clubs and society parties featuring the game. The paper describes women who called the game poetic, mysterious, and of the old world. Society matrons flocked to the game everywhere, including Mrs. Herbert Hoover and Mrs. William Gibbs McAdoo, who became honorary members of the Mah Jongg Association of America.

The Bisbee Daily Review on October 4, 1922 notes that mah jongg, or what they call “Chow Pung,” is “China’s latest come-on game,” obtaining its name from the click clack of the tiles on the table as they are turned to and fro and from players yelling the phrase when they match up tiles. They note the game is also called “sparrows,” or the “game of a 1000 intelligences.” The November 5 Los Angeles Times reported that the game originated in China centuries ago, “in the days of Confucius,” originating around Ninguo or Canton.

The article went on to explain the game, noting that the Chinese version of dominoes builds a wall like the Great Wall of China among the four players whose “dizzy and delicious” conversation consisted of a series of code or slang. The game consisted of 136 tiles, with 34 kinds of pieces and four of a kind in a set, consisting of three suits – dots, characters, and bamboo – 27 kinds, four winds, and special pieces called “Red Dragon,” “Green Dragon,” and “White Dragon.” Four people playing individually made up a table, racking up points, in a game similar to rummy and concentration.

Mah jongg in “Pictured Life for Home, School and Community.”

Sets were popular gift and novelty items for Christmas, ranging in price from $10-$400 in Los Angeles, made of either celluloid or ivory and stored in lovely carved Oriental wooden boxes, something that would make the “almond-eyed” inventor proud. “The salesmen whom we talk with, assured us that mah jongg is here to stay, because it furnishes real amusement whether a fellow has his last two-bits wagered on the game, or not. That is an item worthy of consideration in this day of persistent landlords, high-priced hootch – buy why elaborate? – you all know where the shekels go.”

Gimbels’ ads in New York City papers list sets ranging from $16 to $75, still expensive for middle class tastes.

High society matrons often adorned themselves in Chinese robes and dresses while they played the game, and at some of their charity events, hired actual Chinese young women attired in native dress to instruct players, many of which found the game more exciting, more exotic than stodgy bridge. The New York Evening World called it “society’s latest fad” as early as December 18, 1922. “Are these cryptic conjurations, these syllables, strange enough to be the password to some Oriental variant of the KKK, echoing through your apartment or suburban bungalow, these long winter evenings?”

Young J. P. Babcock, the man considered the father of American mah jongg, spoke to the Los Angeles Times on October 25, 1923, explaining how he had spent 10 years in China in merchandising, where he learned to speak several dialects and played Chinese games. In 1919 he decided to introduce the adapted game to the United States, though he considered it “no more Chinese than chop suey.” He adapted the game called ma chiao in Mandarin into mah jongg, and simplified it for Americans, considering it too complicated to explain. Babcock described how he pulled the terms out of the air like a Chinese breeze because of their mystical sound. Mostly children in Shanghai carved the beautiful ivory and bamboo sets.

“I had an idea to commercialize the game for sale as a novelty in the United States, but heavens, I had no idea of the accessories that Americans would think up.” He had copyrighted the phrase, so shared in profits for sets sold, candy, clothes, and the like. His book explaining the rules quickly became the bible to simplifying the game. The paper reported that almost $850,000 worth of sets had been sold in just the first nine months of 1923.

Chinese students at USC quickly responded, upset that Babcock claimed the game did not originate in China. They retorted in the November 2, 1923 Times that their families had played the game for centuries.

Popular culture soon took the word to heart. The song “Mah Jongg Blues,” which Variety called “an indigo fox-trot flavored with Oriental paprika” soared to the top of the charts. A musical named “Miss Mah Jongg” premiered in May 1924. Radio stations offered shows giving mah jongg lessons, even an opera called “Mah Jongg” debuted. Department stores created living window displays with shapely young women playing the game, from Seattle to Los Angeles to Philadelphia.

Billy Rose and Con Conrad arrived a little late at the party, writing “Since Ma is Playing Mah Jong” for Eddie Cantor to sing in Florenz Ziegfeld’s extravaganza, “Kid Boots,” printed as sheet music in 1924. Oblivious to how insulting some of the language was, the refrain began, “Since Ma Is playing Mah Jong, Pa wants all the “Chinks” hung.” Another line stated, “Ma left dishes in the sink Pa went out and killed a “chink.”

Celebrities joined in on the game craze, with many articles in entertainment magazines reporting that stars like Bessie Love, Anna Q. Nilsson, Conrad Nagel, Monte Blue, Cullen Landis, Douglas McLean, and Raymond Hatton played, or that a woman’s club consisting of stars like Mildred Davis, Bebe Daniels, Anita Stewart, and the like played the game when they all met together. Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty Thelma Hill was pictured wearing a mah jongg bathing suit in one fashion session, while Helene Chadwick more mah jongg hosiery in another. Some stories claimed that Anna May Wong was an excellent mah jongg player, giving lessons and winning often in games.

The motion picture industry began featuring the game in shorts and features as well. The film “The Masquerader” arranged an advertising tie-in with a San Francisco department store, with ushers wearing Chinese robes provided by the store and the window display prominently featuring the movie and game. The Elliott Dexter and Mildred Harris 1923 feature, “Why Men Love,” featured a scene with mah jongg played at a society event while the orchestra dressed in Chinese costume provided musical accompaniment. A December 1, 1923 Kinogram short showed a Chinese expert demonstrating the game.

Priscilla Dean plays mah jongg in “Drifting, according to “Picture Play Magazine.”

Universal created a two-reel comedy in March 1924 called “Mah Jongg,” featuring Pal the Dog and Harry Sweet playing the game, dressed in colorful Chinese robes and hats. Fox Sunshine Comedies produced a short showing chimpanzees playing the game, with a photo featured in Photoplay magazine.

In May 1924, Arrow Distribution Company released “The Mysteries of Mah Jongg,” a two-reel comedy explaining how to play the game in a humorous way, showing a couple throwing a party where the game was played. Exhibitors Trade Review called it a “new and pleasant form of the yellow peril” in their praiseworthy review.

Selznick Distribution Corporation produced a two reel short in mid-August 1924, featuring photo enlargements and diagrams explaining how to play the game, which was also distributed for private instruction and lessons. Variety thought it a “rather novel two-reel subject.” It came as the fad was dying, with a trade remarking that it was “clapped off the screen by annoyed audiences… .”

Harry Sweet and Pal the Dog play mah jongg, “Exhibitors Herald,” March 15, 1924.

Optometrists reported “Mah Jongg Eye” in early January 1924, with Dr. D. Holzberg of San Francisco stating that obsessive staring at the tiles were causing eye problems, and calling the game “a polite sort of craps.” Some members of the California State Association of Optometrists created special eyeglasses to solve the problem, while others suggested turning the tiles over and discarding.

By late 1924-early 1925 the fad plummeted, replaced by other exciting new games and dances. The game was revived in the 1930s, becoming popular with Jewish women, who organized American mah jongg with slightly different rules, later creating the National Mah Jongg League in 1937 to govern it. The movies “Cocoon” and “Driving Miss Daisy” featured old characters playing the game, which has revived in recent years, with tournaments and even cruises springing up for fans of the game.

It took decades, however, for American attitudes to alter and adapt toward Chinese Americans, allowing them to become citizens, intermarry, and own property. Only in the last twenty years or so has California recognized the important contribution of Chinese Americans to the growth and development of the state. As attitudes change, perhaps Americans can look back at how far attitudes and beliefs have evolved, and continue to make progress in viewing all races in the same vein.

Feb. 27, 1926: The proposed building for the 233 Club in the Los Angeles Times.

The jazz-mad, high-flying 1920s celebrated adventure, life, and excitement after all the dreariness and death of World War I. New-fangled fads skyrocketed in popularity one day, sliding to the basement the next as something shiny and new caught the eye. People rushed to join social clubs, with new private, social, and charitable organizations opening every day. While lodges like the Elks and Moose, and veterans and patriotic groups like the American Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution had existed for decades, new organizations like the Rotary, Kiwanis, and Optimists exploded in growth. Not to be outdone, Hollywood formed its own social groups like the 400 Club, the Mayfair Club, and the Masquers Club.

At the same time, a group of 50 New York City Masons now in Hollywood decided to form their own Masonic Temple. Calling themselves the 233 Club, after the name of New York’s Pacific Lodge F & AM No. 233 which contained only theatrical and entertainment members, the group elected Edward Davis, former president of the National Vaudeville Association as President and Don Meany as Vice President, per the July 8, 1924 Los Angeles Times.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Nov. 23, 1926, an ad in the Los Angeles Times.

Over the next month, they visited other Masonic groups before deciding to set down roots, writing their own charter, and following other legalities. The main directive in their August 16, 1924 charter stated that a member must be “a Master Mason in good standing in any lodge in the world and a motion picture worker in any capacity.” The group quickly exploded in number, with visions of a fantastic future not always backed up by realistic budgets.

To celebrate the Shriners National Convention in Los Angeles in May 1925, the group organized a 7 pm parade on May 5 from the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street up Highland Avenue to the Hollywood Bowl for the large celebration, led by Buck Jones on horseback, an elephant from the Universal City Zoo, camels, Boy Scouts, and veterans of foreign wars. Hundreds of 233 Club members marched behind, including Jean Hersholt, Milton Sills, George Fawcett, Wallace Beery, Raymond McKee, and Henry Walthall, with electrical displays by film industry lights and trucks. Electrified floats carrying the likes of Mary Philbin, William Desmond, Phyllis Haver, Pauline Starke, Marion Nixon, Clara Bow, and Betty Bronson followed behind, along with bands.

In the November 25, 1925 issue of Motion Picture News, the club announced plans to construct a twelve-story clubhouse, providing auditorium, meeting, and social space, as well as apartments for “visiting Masons.” While the group lacked money for the project, they dreamed big, led by President Davis and Vice Presidents Frank Lloyd and Milton Sills. The article revealed that the group had expanded to a restricted membership of 1,233 as it celebrated its first anniversary with a fourteen-act vaudeville show by members.

The January 23, 1926 Motion Picture News stated that the financially sound club gave President Davis a Chrysler coupe at Christmas and appropriated $1,000 to bring holiday cheer to disadvantaged children and inmates. The article reveals a price tag of $1.5 million for the proposed clubhouse. Recently elected officers included a reelected President Davis; Vice Presidents Frank Lloyd, Wallace Beery, and John McCormick; Corresponding Secretary Bryant Washburn; and Recording Secretary Raymond McKee, among others. New inductees included Douglas Fairbanks, Edwin Carewe, Monte Blue, Del Lord, and Walter Long.

Film Director Frank Lloyd suggested a large patriotic event to celebrate the nation’s Sesquicentennial in July, which the group pitched to the American Legion and Sons of the American Revolution, who wholeheartedly supported it. Gaining the approval of the city of Los Angeles, the group announced in the February 9, 1926 Variety that Lloyd would stage an enormous patriotic pageant at the Coliseum on July 5 at 2 pm, sponsored by the 233 Club, which would “promote good citizenship and advance the cause of Americanization.” The Scottish Lloyd himself was inspired to dream up the grand event when he became a United States citizen in 1925.

Over 112 groups and 100 stars took part in the massive patriotic pageant, including 7500 people in costume and 1000 singers, which cost only 25 cents to attend, with advance tickets available for purchase at all drugstores and West Coast Theatres. A field staff of 300 organized participants, aided by 70 men handing wardrobe and 50 serving lunch. Such patriotic groups as veteran organizations, the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, the Grand Army of the Republic, YMCA, Salvation Army, and Boy Scouts all participated. Performers included Maurice “Lefty” Flynn as Marquis de Lafayette, Wallace MacDonald as Junipero Sera, James Welch as Teddy Roosevelt, Tom Mix as Paul Revere, Lionel Belmore as Benjamin Franklin, Herbert Rawlinson as John Hancock, Viola Dana as Betsy Ross, George Bancroft as George Ross, Hoot Gibson as a Pony Express Rider, Russell Simpson as General Fremont, Monte Blue as an American Cavalryman, and Signers of the Declaration of Independence included Jean Hersholt, George Fawcett and Sidney Bracey.

The pageant included the midnight ride of Paul Revere, the battles of Lexington and Concord, the surrender of General Cornwallis, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the signing of Peace at Appomattox, Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, California and the establishment of the missions, and World War I, along with floats and bands. According to the July 6, 1926 Los Angeles Times, “50,000 men, women, and children alternately wept and cheered, applauded and sang,” gripped by the spectacle in front of them. One of the most moving segments occurred at the beginning as Boy Scouts ushered in 300-400 men and women who had recently become United States citizens, with the paper stating, “It brought home to the thousands looking on the realization that they have been enjoying these many years inalienable rights that others must acquire by formal procedure.”

Los Angeles Mayor Cryer and past President of the American Legion gave speeches before events concluded with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.

To celebrate their third anniversary, the 233 Club organized a massive parade up Hollywood Boulevard on August 18, 1926, with more than a 1000 members walking the street. They made an impressive sight as always, splashing their name across newspapers and entertainment trades. While they did some charity work, like giving out Christmas gifts to children in December, it appeared they enjoyed more social events like picnics at Sherwood Forest, giant Thanksgiving dinners, and evenings at the theatre celebrating each other.

While they planned this event, the group followed their grand dream of building their skyscraper clubhouse, organizing a real estate committee to search for locations, including members like real estate and banking man Gilbert Beesemyer, Davis, Hersholt, C. E. Toberman, and Harry Warner. Celebrities and entertainment workers continued joining the thriving club, like directors and executives Irving Thalberg, Harry Rapf, J. Stuart Blackton, Carl Laemmle, Jack Warner, Frank Borzage, William Beaudine, and Fred Niblo.

The October 9, 1926 Los Angeles Times reported the 233 Club intended to build a $1.5 million height-limit building at the northeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, an elaborately designed building by architects Walker and Eisen. The building would feature a swimming pool in the basement, barbershop, gym, and Turkish baths on the first floor, theatre and assembly rooms on the second and third floors, library grill, billiards, and club rooms on the fourth floor, rooms for men on the fifth floor, and the floors above to contain apartments for visiting Masons and their families. A leased roof-top garden would provide views of Hollywood. The building was intended as “a monument to Masonry and the 233 Club,” as well as a social gathering for the entertainment industry. Construction would begin in early 1927 for an opening by early January 1928.

Unfortunately, financial problems seemed to weight down the group. The pageant left debts of over $6,500, causing the 233 Club to organize a massive show and dance at the Shrine Auditorium on November 24, 1926 to cover costs, as well as to help build the construction fund for the new building. Stars, bands, and vaudeville performers would entertain in the show directed by Fanchon and Marco, along with the 50 piece 233 Club Band, 233 Club Symphony Orchestra, and 233 Club Sax-o-Seven. Actor Herbert Rawlinson served as Master of Ceremonies for the show, for which the paper announced Mary Pickford, Corinne Griffith, Mary Astor, and others had already purchased tickets. Many stars appeared at the show to draw the public, and then everyone danced until the wee hours of the morning.

On February 27, 1927, the group announced they had received authorization to sell stock regarding construction of their new clubhouse, property of which they had leased for 99 years. Construction would start in approximately sixty days, following removal of some one-story buildings.

While the group continued holding public events, providing charity, and participating in social activities, no work began on the proposed new clubhouse. Variety finally announced in November 28, 1928 that the group had leased the original Masquers Clubhouse at 6735 Yucca Street for 99 years as their own clubhouse, which they would occupy on January 14, 1929. The 233 club intended to build a $100,000 1000 seat auditorium behind the building shortly after moving in. The group hired architect H. Roy Kelley to draw up plans, announcing on April 18, 1929 that they hoped to being construction in thirty days. The planned auditorium would be shaped in an oval, with “rows of swivel chairs rising from the main floor on six inch elevations,” allowing for meal service either on trays or tables, with a platform at one end for speakers and officers. Not until March 8, 1930 did the Hollywood Filmograph announce that Meyer and Holler would build the $75,000 Auditorium, never to be mentioned again.

Club 233, Hollywood Filmograph, Oct. 8, 1932.

Current members like Harold Lloyd, Mix, Fairbanks, Walthall, Fawcett, Raymond Hatton, Charles Ray, Kenneth Harlan, and George Bancroft enjoyed festivities held by the club like a Midnight Revel and other social activities. Regular meetings were held semi-monthly on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. The group also organized a major three day benefit performance at the Shrine Auditorium in May 1930, raising money for the milk fund, Mt. Sinaaai House, and the Sheriff’s Fund. Unfortunately, major stars began leaving the organization as more minor entertainment workers and business people joined, causing financial problems and image issues.

Matters weren’t helped when 115 men, most 233 Club members, were arrested at the Montmartre and Embassy Clubs for illegal gambling on October 1, 1931. Such members as Gene Morgan, Robert Vignola, and Harry Carey were involved in the incident, which looked poorly on the club.

Finances dropped precipitously, with the club virtually moving to the Hollywood Masonic Temple for meetings in 1932. The 233 Club sued the federal government on October 25, 1932, asking for the return of $12,905 paid in taxes since 1924, arguing they were a fraternal, and not social club. The club won their suit, receiving all monies requested.

In 1933, the group leased 6735 Yucca Street to the Hollywood Chess and Bridge Club, which lasted only a few months. Max Amsterdam’s Casino with Gypsy Clarke moved in by August 11, 1933, per newspaper ads, later raiding in early 1938 on gambling charges.

When C. W. Hawkins, President of the Hollywood Masonic Club sued 233 Club and the Hollywood Masonic Temple for $100,000 on August 25, 1936 after the group was forced to move to the basement for meetings against their agreement, the writing was on the wall. On July 28, 1937 at 7:30 pm, items inside the 233 Club at 6735 Yucca St. were auctioned off, including “Many famous mementoes.” Everything was sold off, including furniture, appliances, billiard tables, radio, books, pictures, and typewriter. The Club ceased to exist.

Over the next sixty years, several groups operated out of the building, including the Vassa Memorial Spiritualist Church in 1942, the Villa Capri nightclub for decades, and KPAC classic music radio station in the 1980s and early 1990s. Now a fancy apartment building occupies the site.

Though serving the community and charity, pretentiousness and self-centeredness eventually brought down the 233 Club, Hollywood’s auxiliary Masonic group. While a short-lived organization, the group organized major events entertaining and inspiring thousands in the city of Los Angeles.

Theatre has enlightened and entertained audiences for centuries as it weaves the tales of life and love through both the comedic and dramatic talents of myriad actors. While most stage acting involves the danger and electricity of live performance, sometimes it employs only the voice to bring characters to life, such as in puppetry.

Puppetry and marionette work come alive solely through the magic of performers’ skills in voice acting. Both have entertained people young and old for eons, either through the slapstick anger of Punch and Judy shows, or the technical skill of real theatrical performance. Los Angeles possessed its own unique form of puppetry work in the early 1930s with Ellsworth Martin’s Theatre Mechanique, a sophisticated blend of old and new technologies for stage enthusiasts in what some newspapers at the time called “the world’s smallest theatre.”

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

While little is known of Martin, he was born in San Francisco on December 8, 1896, living with his family in Sausalito, according to the 1900 U. S. Federal Census. It appears he was drawn to theatre at a young age, telling one interviewer that he loved constructing miniature sets as a child. The April 5, 1931 Los Angeles Times describes Martin’s “childhood pleasure in building sets and planning plays,” akin to Robert Louis Stevenson.

Martin dreamed of producing giant productions on a miniature scale – that is, constructing a workable Lilliputian set in which dolls or puppets would serve as actors. He had long considered how to make this viable through technology and old fashioned know-how. Thanks to advances in electronic and recording technology in the 1920s, his dream could finally come true, after 15 years of research and tinkering while working as a press agent and technician at a film studio.

The Theatre Mechanique consisted of a wooden theatre with either four or six foot wide proscenium arch, which, through the careful use of sets, lighting, and perspective, could take on the aspects of real theatre. Figures approximately six to eight inches tall operated through a system of tracks and wires to move around the stage, and records onto which dialogue and music had been recorded provided the soundtrack and dialogue. Carefully synchronized radio and phonograph connections allowed the marionettes to “speak,” and the marionettes were fastened to ribbons, which allowed Martin to move them easily around the stage.

A Scotsman by the name of Dominic McBride cued classical musical pieces to scenes from the plays to provide musical accompaniment. Like Martin, he also possessed theatre experience and training, and per the paper, gained his musical experience managing the record department of a large music store as well as at MGM Studios, “where he selected ‘atmosphere’ for sound films.” McBride employed classical music cues in the score, opening with organ preludes by the like of Guilmant and Saint-Saens, before moving on to Brahms, Beethoven, Cesar Franck, Claude Debussy, Holst’s “The Planets,” Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman,” and Hector Berlioz’ “Symphonie Fantastique.”

Beginning in late March, Martin presented “The King’s Romance” Tuesday through Saturday nights at 9 pm to an audience of 50, with matinees at 4 for children. The play featured four main parts, King Arthur, King Leodogran, the Queen, and a knight, with Sheldon Lewis voicing King Leodogran, James Bush King Arthur, and Virginia Pearson the Queen.

Katherine T. von Blon in the March 21, 1931 Los Angeles Times called the Theatre Mechanique an “infinitesimal playhouse” located in a store front at 112 Larchmont Blvd., which offered a luminous aura around the medium of theatre. Her review of Martin’s “musical drama” production of “The King’s Romance,” based on Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Coming of Arthur,” described how the intimate setting magically drew the audience into the mythical story. Her review goes on to state, “The tiny figurines which represented the persons of the story assumed the proportion of evanescent memories, and seemed to suggest that they themselves were not of so great importance of the flaming ideals of which they bore witness.”

Newspapers around the country featured wire stories showing photos of Martin with his theatre, including the Sheboygan Press, Anniston Star, Portsmouth Times, and Charleston Gazette. Arts and Architecture magazine even featured a story on the tiny theatre in 1932.

Audiences seemed to flock to the magical little show. Martin kept extending his run, indefinitely, per the June 27, 1931 Los Angeles Times. On that date at 3, Martin presented a special matinee benefiting the “Parent-Teachers’ Federation for children’s luncheons, with kids only gaining admission by presenting canned or nonperishable foods upon entering.

Celebrities even attended, with actress Pauline Frederick, Ian Keith, and the cast of “Elizabeth the Queen” attending a special midnight show on April 19, 1931.

The May 10 Times went on to describe how Martin employed a revolving set on which five to six sets could be changed for each scene, on which up to 40-50 marionettes could perform. All of the pieces could be easily packed and ready to transport in two hours. This article states that “the story is told by the sets, and the moods created by the music and the lighting; the figures are of a stylized in animation, employed merely to create the picture and illustrate the idea.” The reviewer found the action in the diminutive stage more poignant than that from a life-size theatre. Martin envisioned using the small stage to present opera in the future.

Soon after, Martin took the show on the road, intending to travel up the West Coast. No other stories appear in 1931, but during the week of February 16, 1932, the Ventura Community Players offered performances by the Theatre Mechanique, which featured ten speaking voices and forty musical selections in “The King’s Romance.” Silent actor Harrison Ford led the cast from the Pasadena Playhouse in new recordings of the dialogue.

In March, Martin and his Theatre Mechanique arrived in his old home town of San Francisco to perform at the Travers Theatre in the Fairmont Hotel for four shows beginning March 7 with “The King’s Romance.” Once again Harrison Ford would voice the role of the court jester in the expanded production. A March 7, 1932 story in the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the actor less drama required five months to prepare the show, and weighed more than a ton when carted around in its five crates.

A March 9 story called it “a spectacle in miniature,” with “invisible machinery” operating the puppets, which moved to synchronized sound. The report found the production design marvelous, describing how the first act ends on a glorious sunset “palpitating on rosy hues” behind a tiny “tracery” of foliage and clouds. The show was so popular, the run extended until th end of March

Actress Olga Baclanova, starring in a production of “Grand Hotel” in the city, even visited a production on March 23, taking in the diminutive set and admiring what the paper called “the little stage people.”

Perhaps Martin really hoped to discover an “angel” to help continue his production by traveling to San Francisco. One of the early stories in the Chronicle states that “this small theater may be operated to advantage in a drawing room or in the lounge of a hotel.”

After the last story on March 30, 1932, no further mentions of the Theatre Mechanique can be found in newspapers, suggesting that possibly Martin retired the theatre and moved on to other professions, but remaining in the Bay Area. Martin signed up for World War II service in 1942 though he was over 45. He indicated he worked as secretary for the Lyceum Players in San Francisco.

An unique idea for bringing theatre to life, Ellsworth Martin’s Theatre Mechanique entranced both young and old who attended his production of “The King’s Romance,” offering them a mystical and poetic portrait of earlier times. Perhaps one day his mighty little theatre will resurface to entertain new audiences in the glories of dainty theatre.

“The Sins of Hollywood,” via Archive.org.

From its very beginnings, the motion picture industry has endured protests and censorship attacks from conservative members of the American public, those scandalized at seeing women given the right to be heroines, use of spirits or drugs depicted on screen, accurate depictions of romantic or sexual relationships, and dramatic depictions of violence. At the same time, many of the same people complaining about these visceral images on screen were eagerly partaking of scandal sheets and tabloid newspapers filled with muck, sensationalism, and gossip. These hypocritical individuals failed to realize that one form of entertainment was just as bad as the other, but they allowed journalism to partake of First Amendment rights, but not the entertainment industry.

As early as 1905 to 1907, many persons began calling for censorship of moving pictures, and by 1909, many cities and states possessed censor boards which approved or disapproved films for public exhibition. Though they would censor film product for its licentiousness, these same public officials felt no need to alter or disapprove of scandalous printed forms of entertainment. Conservative voices increasingly voiced their opposition to film depictions whenever scandal erupted in the motion picture industry.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

After film exploded on the scene in the early 1900s, many newspapers set up entertainment sections to review productions, interview stars, and give tidbits of information regarding upcoming productions. While entertainment and motion picture trade journals like Variety and Moving Picture World existed as early as 1905, fan magazines were not introduced until 1911, when J. Stuart Blackton and Eugene V. Brewster introduce Motion Picture Story Magazine, per Tony Slide in his book, “Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine.” Fan magazines exploded in popularity in the mid-teens, and gossip soon became an integral part of the show, filling the voracious appetite for news and rumors regarding public entertainers.

The scandalous tragedies and deaths of Olive Thomas, Virginia Rappe, and William Desmond Taylor in the early 1920s drew public condemnation on the moving picture industry, forcing it to act in order to protect its very existence. Industry leaders organized the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) in 1922 to speak as one voice for the collective members, helping ensure strong public relations and to establish and maintain a moral code for the production of films.

Ironic then, that one of the motion picture industry’s own supporters in fighting censorship and denigration of the film industry, Edward or Ed Roberts, supposed publisher of “It” magazine and the “It Publishing Company,” would pen the first tawdry hatchet job of stars and the film industry in his self-published 1922 book, “The Sins of Hollywood.” Preceding the trashy fiction of Kenneth Anger by more than thirty years, “The Sins of Hollywood” presented a thinly-veiled depiction of scandalous goings-on by popular current movie stars, easily deciphered by movie-going audiences.

The Des Moines Capital, Dec. 10, 1922.

What little that can be found about Roberts suggests that he loved a good yarn and playing loose with the facts, though he was supposedly a press agent and publisher. In the 1920 United States Federal Census, Roberts lists himself as the son of a Russian father and German mother, though he was born in Tennessee. The 1930 census claims his father was born in Wales and his mother as born in New York, and that he fought in the Spanish War. Per the 1940 census, his parents are living in Tennessee when he is born but of no foreign nationality, and he had completed a fifth year of college.

Roberts’ profession changes over the years as well, evolving from the publisher of “It” magazine and It Publishing Co. in 1920 to a wage or salary worker in 1930, and finally retired in 1940, but “with other sources of income.” In 1920, he listed himself as publisher and editor of “It” Magazine and It Publishing Company, with offices at 411 W. Fifth Street and residence at 4422 Sunset Boulevard, though I can find no listings for this magazine. He does appear to have been active as a publicist or press agent around 1920, as articles around this time list him as journalist and publisher.

In fact, Roberts took active part in an organization called Affiliated Picture Interests, organized in 1919 by motion picture workers, exchange managers, and theatre owners and managers to ”combat unfavorable legislation and be active in political matters,” per Film Daily. By April 1921, it focused its attentions against government censorship of the film industry, even campaigning for or against politicians in regards to Anti-Censorship and Anti-Blue Laws in particular.

Affiliated Picture Interests elected new officers in 1921 that included organization founder Frank Garbutt as chairman, men such as J. Stuart Blackton, Frank Woods, Sol Wurtzel, William Desmond Taylor, and Roberts as Vice Chairmen. The group endorsed candidates for public office in Los Angeles, particularly those who opposed setting up a censorship board for the city of Los Angeles, endorsing or supporting six candidates for the Los Angeles City Council, all of whom were elected.

That fall, Roberts, Glen Harper, and Ted Taylor organized a series of dinners at the Los Angeles Athletic Club between organization members, politicians, prominent businessmen, and clergy leaders in order to promote “mutual understanding’ of each other, per the September 10, 1921 Exhibitors’ Herald. These actions appeared to work in Los Angeles, with the film industry policing themselves on content, unfettered by government regulation as in other cities.

Something occurred in the next few months which must have pushed Edwards over the edge, causing him to write the poison pen “The Sins of Hollywood” in the spring of 1922. Possibly Roberts intended the tome to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the motion picture industry, screaming about the evils of censorship while overlooking the multitude of sins and destruction going on around them in Hollywood, causing all types of mental and physical health issues. Perhaps he also meant the book as a test of censorship and freedom of the press to discuss slimy subjects. The book instead comes off as a tawdry walk through the personal addictions and problems of stars, meant only to titillate rather than inform, with an ironic note that the author’s introduction is dated April 1, 1922.

The 88-page book featured chapters with such titles as “the Reasons for the Sins of Hollywood,” “Dope,” “Strip Poker and Paddle Parties,” “The ‘Gold Digger’ and the Wife,” “Whiskey Fumes and Orange Blossoms,” and “Sodom Outdone.” In it, he presented very close depictions of real people, changing their names slightly, such as Jack for Mack Sennett, Molly for Mabel Normand, Walter for Wallace Reid, Letty for Betty Compson, Adolfo for Rudolph Valentino, and Rostrand was Roscoe Arbuckle. Some stories seem pure fabrication, while others loosely tell of real incidents. It also features conversations obviously dreamed up by the author, as there were no witnesses to such events.

Roberts opened the book with an introduction entitled “The Reasons for “The Sins of Hollywood,” noting that the lives of debauchery that many lead will end with further scandal to shatter the faith and dreams of American youth. He goes on to state,

“It is for these reasons that the SINS OF HOLLYWOOD are given to the public –

That a great medium of national expression may be purified – taken from the hands of those who have misused it – that the childish faith of our boys and girls may again be made sacred!

Fully eighty percent of those engaged in motion pictures are high grade citizens – self respecting and respected.

In foolish fear of injuring the industry, Hollywood has permitted less than one percent of its population to stain its name.

The facts reported in these stories have long been an open book to the organized producers – No need to tell them – they knew!

They knew of the horde of creatures of easy morals who hovered about the industry and set the standard of price – decided what good, clean women would have to pay – have to give – in order to succeed –

They knew of the macqueraux – of the scum that constituted the camp followers of their great stars. They knew of the wantonness of their leading women –

They knew about the yachting parties – the wild orgies at road houses and private homes-

They knew about Vernon and its wild life – Tia Juana and its mad, drunken revels –

They knew about the “kept” women – and the “kept” men –

They knew about the prominent people among them who were living in illicit relationship-…

They frowned on all attempts to speak the truth –

Any publication that attempted to reveal the real conditions – to cleanse the festering sores – was quickly pounced upon as an ‘enemy of the industry’ – A subsidized trade press helped in this work!

Any attempt to bring about reform was called “hurting the industry.”

It was the lapses and laxities of the producer that precipitated the censorship agitation – that led a nauseated nation, determined to clean the Augean stables of the screen, into the dangerous notion of censorship – almost fatally imperiling two sacred principles of democracy – freedom of speech and freedom of the press!”

The only way to clean up the industry was to surgically remove the corruption – though it would be painful in the short time, much good was ensure for the long term.

Copyright records note the book was copyrighted May 1 and May 9, 1922 by the Hollywood Publishing Company, out of business by May 23. Newspapers and trade papers quickly reported that Mark Herron, deputy United States District Attorney in Los Angeles considered it “too scurrilous” to be sent through the mail, with Postal Inspector Clark E. Webster investigating the author and publisher. The Daily Ardmoreite, in its May 24, 1922 edition under the headline, “Hollywood Sins Can’t Be Mailed Attorney Claims,” called the book “an expose on the lives of certain motion picture actors and directors… . The Evening Star employed the headline, “Naughty! Naughty!” for its printing of the wire story.

The Lincoln Star wrote on May 23 that 10,000 copies of the book telling stars’ misdeeds were printed and distributed, and stating that “the writer dares to call them by their first names and endeavors to expose their shortcomings, domestic and moral.” The Rock Island Argus facetiously but accurately wrote on May 27 that with the book being banned from the mails, it would probably become a bestseller.

An editorial in the June 3, 1922 New York Call thought it prurient literature for the feeble-minded, stating, “…obviously a book that parades under the title “The Sins of Hollywood” or the “sins” of anything else is a vile script written for the deliberate purpose of cashing in on the curious minds of adolescent boys and girls. Moreover, actresses and actors, taking them as a professional class, live as decently as the average convert of Billy Sunday, even if they don’t pester everybody to death by continuously telling them how pure they are.”

A play by Hatton Powell and Norman Manley using the same title came out that fall, to defend Hollywood and its’ stars, with the Detroit Free Press calling it on August 1, 1922, a slap at Roberts and his lurid book, coming to the defense of Hollywood.

Trade papers and the industry turned on their former colleague, with Motion Picture magazine calling Roberts’ work “a putrid collection” and “slander.” On December 5, Holly Leaves reported that the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce had revealed to them on December 1 its role in submitting information to help arrest Roberts, led by the efforts of George H. Coffin. The paper went on to write, “The Chamber has done one more great work for the community” with this action.

On December 13, Roberts surrendered to United States Marshal Sittel in answer to the secret federal grand jury indictment accusing him of illegally sending “improper matter” through the United States mail. According to press reports, the postal inspector read the work to the jury, who then indicted Roberts. The December 13, 1922 Los Angeles Times reports that Roberts was out of town on Friday, December 9 when the indictment was announced and given until Saturday to make the $5,000 bond. After missing this date, he was given until Monday at noon to pay, with his third attorney in three days, Richard Kittrelle, stating he would appear. At 10 am on Monday, two neighbors or friends, Mrs. Hazel Barnes and Mrs. Katie Stieler, put up bonds stating that they could cover the costs and Roberts signed the affidavit, and was released from custody.

The Des Moines Capital reported on December 10 that Roberts worked against censorship and was backed by “four prominent Hollywood men” in his efforts to publish the book, printing it to shed light on how studios overlooked vice. He only wrote the book after leaving his role with Affiliated Picture Interests and trying to establish “It” magazine. The article goes on to say that it appeared that the motion picture industry played a large role in seeing to his indictment and possible prosecution. At the same time, Will Hays stated that Hollywood would be turned into a model city, cleaning up its social messes.

Roberts explained in a story printed in the December 10, 1922 New York Evening Telegraph, “I can prove that these stories are true, and may call as witnesses several members of the film colony. I am going to go to bat on this matter. There is nothing obscene in the book. It is a true expose of conditions as they exist and are tolerated by the film industry. Naturally the stories aren’t of puritan type. If this case does nothing else it will at least bring the situation to the attention of the nation.” He stated that he hoped to thoroughly expose Hollywood’s immorality at his trial to show his book only mildly covered the town’s debauchery and therefore was not obscene. US Attorney Mark Herron stated that the book wasn’t obscene because of its content, but because of the thoughts it engendered in the minds of those reading it.

The East Oregonian stated on December 29 that United States Attorney Joe Burke was conferring with Roberts regarding information implicating “higher ups in the Hollywood dope ring and promises arrests shortly which will startle the country.” Roberts’ attorney, Richard Kittrelle, a well-respected and important attorney in California, entered a plea of not guilty for Roberts on January 10, 1923, stating they wanted the trial to move ahead without delay.

After this date, all stories on the upcoming trial disappear from newspapers and magazines. Was it dismissed for lack of evidence? Did Roberts possess information that the industry willingly paid for to keep from court? Did the courts realize that the author was practicing his First Amendment rights, and drop the case?

Whatever the reason, Roberts and his wife Jean remained in Los Angeles, where he appeared to work steadily, at least according to the Census. In the 1940 Census, in which he states his age as 62, he lists his income as other sources. A few months later, Roberts passed away.

Edward Roberts attempts at making Hollywood clean up its act with his spicy stories did the trick for a short time, before more scandal sprang up years later. At the same time, a more sordid, gossipy press sprung up with the likes of Confidential magazine and its ilk, printing fabricated or very loosely based stories on celebrities, ruining careers or just destroying reputations. Kenneth Anger followed suit in 1959, when, in need of cash, he concocted stories in his “book” “Hollywood Babylon” to those gullible or prurient enough to read trash.

Today, tabloids and sites like National Enquirer and TMZ look for filth to publish in the race to make money, instead of printing real news or stories that might make a difference in bettering society. Sordid, spicy stories sold in 1922, and unfortunately seem to thrive even more in today’s increasingly grimy world.

Douglas Fairbanks in “Wild and Woolly,” Photoplay, 1917.

Another Cinecon has come and go, but left behind memories of rare film, good friends, and fun times. This year’s festival featured a mix of silent drama and rollicking movie musicals, and offering a little something for everyone. The weekend featured “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue,” just like in the old wedding saying.

The film lineup kicked off Thursday, September 3 in Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre at 7 pm with a showing of “The Great Showman,” a ten minute newsreel highlighting an anniversary salute to Sid Grauman. Featuring blah wraparounds with Ralph Staub and actor Gene Nelson, the documentary contained clips of people like Jack Benny, Ginger Rogers, Darryl Zanuck, and Joseph Schenck saying a few words about the legendary showman, followed by a song from Sophie Tucker. This reel offered a fascinating glimpse of producer Joseph Schenck speaking, a rare treat. Schenck helped run the early production companies of Constance and Norma Talmadge and brother-in-law Buster Keaton, before heading United Artists and Fox.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

The Champion movie studio, via FortLeeFilm.org.

Fast talking, funny comedy “Two Fisted” featured wheeler dealer Lee Tracy and put-upon Roscoe Karns offering boxing lessons to a soused young tycoon while falling for his beautiful sister Gail Patrick and her sweet son, Billy Lee. Akim Tamiroff and Samuel S. Hinds appear in small roles, which beady-eyed Gordon Westcott as the slimy husband of Patrick chews the scenery. Though funny, it leaves one wondering how scene-stealing writers James Gleason and Robert Armstrong would have been starring in the roles they created.

An energetic, hyperactive Douglas Fairbanks visits a rural Arizona town bent on reliving western days, and ends up saving the town and heroine in the process in his entertaining 1917 film, “Wild and Woolly.” Beginning in the cramped confines of New York City, action moves to the wild west of the imagination, mostly Saugus, California and its train station. Dastardly Monte Blue and scuzzy Charles Stevens cause mischief, with Boxer Bull Montana appearing in a small role.

I missed “Go West, Young Lady” (1941) in order to pace myself for the festival, and also missed most of Friday morning and afternoon’s programs. “It’s Your Move” opened Friday morning, a 1945 short starring Edgar Kennedy trying to carry a washing machine up some steep steps in Silver Lake, near the “Music Box Steps. The 1929 “Studio Murder Mystery” featured real-life couple Florence Eldredge and Fredric March as a movie couple experiencing marital problems, when two-timing March is killed Neil Hamilton attempts to solve the mystery, which was shot all over the Paramount lot. The 1923 “The Call of the Wild” starred Jack Mulhall in the classic Jack London story, with the leading dog Buck stealing the show. Lou Sabini gave a short presentation before the screening of “They Were Expendable” {1945). Erich von Stroheim once again played the man you love to hate in his 1919 film, “Blind Husbands,” in which louche Erich von Steuben seduces married women under the watchful nose of Sam de Grasse, usually a villain but here a cuckold.

A lobby card from “I Love That Man,” listed on EBay at $12.99.

The evening program started off with the deadly dull “Daredevil Jack,” (1920) ,all that remains of a long-lost Jack Dempsey serial, thankfully mostly lost now. It shows the champ exhibiting little chemistry or on-air talent. Tiny John George appears as a deck hand. Universal City possibly stands in for the first scene where the potential lovers meet.

Perky Colleen Moore’s 1929 film “Synthetic Sin” offered a few chuckles, but it seemed much more forced and slight than “Why Be Good?” Moore’s blackface number feels icky now, and Antonio Moreno is bland with little to do. Montague Love, Gertrude Astor, and Kathryn McGuire have a few nice moments. I missed “Song and Dance Man” (1936) which concluded the evening.

Laurel and Hardy really hit the mark in their 1932 Academy Award-winning short, “The Music Box,” which shows the boy’s determined attempts to deliver a piano, all at the world famous “Music Box” steps on Vendome Street in Silver Lake. A true classic, the boys steal the show here, while offering little but disappointment in their 1943 Fox film, “Jitterburgs.” I heard that Jerry Beck did a fine job presenting the animation program on behalf of the absent producer, Steve Stanchfield.

Following lunch, a spunky Anna Q. Nilsson played a high-spirited Southern spy infiltrating Union troops in a 50th anniversary salute to the Civil War in the 1912 Kalem film, “The Darling of the CSA.”

Paramount’s 1940 “Dancing on a Dime” combined fun Frank Loesser songs with romance and musical numbers to provide frothy but fun entertainment. Who knew Frank Jenks could sing and dance? Jenks, Eddie Quillan, Peter Lind Hayes, Robert Paige, Virginia Dale, and Grace McDonald star as musical comedy performers looking to perform a “Producers” moment in order to produce their show. Le Roy Prinz choreographed the eclectic routines, with William Frawley stealing the show with his Irish brogue amid talk of overcoming Depression woes, the closing of the WPA Theatre Project, and union work.

Fox’s 1920 “Blind Wives” erroneously played on the von Stroheim “Blind Husbands” title, instead a though provoking film on morals and values. A tad slow, the film featured strong acting from Marc McDermott and a fiery though bland Estelle Taylor in a blended story of a woman dreaming about the shallow and superficial love of a dress and costume pieces at the expense of everyone in her way.

Following dinner, the laugh out loud 1941 Three Stooges short “An Ache in Every Stake showcased the Stooges in one of their most famous locations and plots. Our intrepid heroes attempt to get blocks of ice up a very steep set of stairs in the Silver Lake area just east of the 2 Freeway, followed by their mishaps in preparing a fancy meal and serving it too employer guests.

The sheet music from “Myrt and Marge,” listed on EBay at $15.98.

Based on the early 1930s radio show, “Myrt and Marge” starred the radio headliners in a story of putting on a show to employ their many radio employees. Ted Healy leads his stooges in a free-wheeling performance, including singing in three-part harmony. Thomas Jackson, J. Farrell McDonald, Eddie Foy Jr, and Jimmy Conlin co-star in the film, a low budget Universal musical, and boy, did it show! It did offer a view of how movie musical choreography a la Busby Berkeley came about. Stealing the show is a very few Ray Hedges as Clarence the costume designer, zinging with pointed one-liners while side-stepping the hyperactive antics of the Stooges.

The 1919 “M’Liss” starred a beautiful and feisty Mary Pickford. Though a gorgeous print, it suffered from several major continuity issues, causing unintended laughter at some points. An earnest Thomas Meighan, a shady Tully Marshall, a perpetually addicted Theodore Roberts, and a slimy Monte Blue round out the cast.

I missed “Laughing at Trouble,” “So This is Harris,” and “I Love That Man.” My favorite silent of the weekend was the 1927 Milton Sills vehicle, “Valley of the Giants,”” a thriller-romance-drama about Sills fighting to keep his father’s lumber business around Eureka in operation. Beautiful cinematography displayed the majesty of the giant redwoods, and also showed some marvelously composed night shots lit by lanterns.The film employed locations around Eureka, including an historic Victorian that still stands atop a huge hill there. Sills battles in more ways than one to save the business, engaging in fisticuffs and surviving a very real and incredibly visceral train derailing. The film depicts workers fighting for millionaire bosses, and shows the process of turning redwoods into lumber, a sad sight as the mighty marvels are decimated and cleared.

After lunch, Michael Schlesinger’s 2014 homage to 1930s two-reelers played to a warm reception. “Imitation of Wife” follows the plot of many Charley Chase shorts, in which a man hoping for a promotion brings his boss home for dinner, before all manner of complications ensue. Nick Santa Maria dons drag to play the wife, and Will Ryan portrays the hapless Shooster. Spot-on hilarious title cards add to the fun.

“The Champion” is a very moving and well-made documentary, capturing the history of the oldest silent film stage in Fort Lee, New Jersey, showing the rise and fall of silent filmmaking as the stage is threatened with demolition. It employs techniques similar to silent films and features some nice sound bites from scholar Richard Koszarski and local city officials.

Colleen Moore in “Synthetic Sin,” Photoplay magazine, 1929.

Part-Asian George Raft skirts the law and romantic problems in East London’s threatening Limehouse district in an interesting if so-so “Limehouse Blues.” Raft plays his narrow range dressed up in yellow face, and a fierce Anna May Wong steals the limelight and attention as his partner. Billy Bevan, Montague Love, and Eric Blore turn in nice cameos. The film also featured a scene shot either in Griffith Park or the Paramount Ranch as well.

Beautiful new restorations by Paul Gierucki of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s “The Bellboy,” “The Garage,” and “The Round Up” played late that afternoon. While the shorts were funny, all I could think about in one was the waste of water as comedians battled themselves and their co-stars. “The Bellboy” had some marvelous stunts by Buster Keaton and Al St. John as they and Arbuckle deal with the grind of operating an hotel. In “The Garage,” filmed in Culver City with a scene showing downtown’s Main Street, the boys cause all manner of problems working on cars. The 1920 feature “The Round Up” showed majestic shots of Lone Pine as the first film to be shot in that wonderful location, but seemed to put Arbuckle into a secondary slot in a film in which he was the star. There were few moments of comedy, and he played second fiddle to proceedings, with little to do but stand there and smile. Irving Cummings, usually a villain, played the extremely put upon prospector who lost everything to a slimy, lying, betraying Tom Forman. A young, handsome Eddie Sutherland repents of ever supporting the grimy Wallace Beery playing a half breed.

A pretty flat episode of the 1921 serial “The Adventures of Tarzan” played after dinner, featuring an overly-endowed but under talented Elmo Lincoln. While Lincoln rolled around in the desert tied up, Louise Lorraine earned what little action time there was, while a human in a monkey suit stole the show.

Historian Richard Simonton presented a PowerPoint of unreleased stills and cut scenes from “The Kid Brother” and other Harold Lloyd silents, showing the evolution of the films’ plots as well as great locations and gags. A beautiful print of “The Kid Brother” (1927) followed, a romantic and sweet Lloyd story in which a young kid brother proves his mettle and saves the day. Real locations like the current day Forest Lawn and Catalina Island show up.

Monday’s showings started off with a somewhat racist and 1919 cartoon short called “Smash Up in China,” where a strange man cures the Emperor’s gout in a strange way. There were a couple of funny lines in the titles.

Betty Hutton and Eddie Foy Jr. in a still from “And the Angels Sing,” listed on EBay at $10.

Following this was my sound hit of the weekend, “Paramount’s 1944 film, “And the Angels Sing,” a toe-tapping, energetic, fast-paced musical which shot at the Paramount Ranch, among other places. Fred MacMurray somewhat played himself as a band leader who also played sax as he wined and dined the sisters for money to support his band. Firecracker Betty Hutton has some whiz bang novelty numbers, smart Dorothy Lamour gets her own romantic ballads, and there are some really well put together musical scenes and interludes. Good chemistry and timing between MacMurray, Eddie Foy Jr., Hutton, and Lamour really sell a nightclub scene as MacMurray bounces between the two. Capping it off is a funny scene with doorman Matt McHugh, who hails three cabs for what he considers MacMurray’s romantic conquests.

Douglas Fairbanks in “Wild and Woolly” in a still listed on EBay with bids starting at $29.99.

Author John Bengtson offered another great scholarly discourse of filming locations around Los Angeles, dissecting locations for “The Bellboy”, “The Garage,” “The Kid Brother,” and “Wild and Woolly,” among others. “The Kid Brother” displayed parts of Lloyd’s sets in what is now Forest Lawn Hollywood, along with locations used in “Birth of a Nation,” “Blood and Sand,” and a Three Stooges short. It also displayed streets in Burbank and the location where the Disney Studios would be constructed. “Wild and Woolly” shot in what is now beautiful downtown Burbank, with more bucolic shots filmed in Saugus and Newhall at the train station and church there. Bengtson led the happy group on a walking tour of Hollywood Boulevard and Cahuenga Boulevard to see sites employed by Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Pickford, and Fairbanks in many of their fine silent films.

I missed “Her First Kiss,” but the 1920 “The Deadlier Sex” featured a strong Blanche Sweet plotting against Mahlon Hamilton and an attractive but slimy French trapper played by Boris Karloff, with the aid of her uncle Russell Simpson. Featuring the beautiful Truckee, California area as background, the film mixed comedy and drama in a nice blend , thanks to the work of director Marshall Neilan, Sweet’s then husband.

“Ladies in Love” (1936) was good melodrama, if somewhat poorly plotted. Loretta Young, Constance Bennett, and Janet Gaynor look for love and success in Budapest, dealing with the romantic attentions of Tyrone Power, Paul Lukas, and Don Ameche. The charming and likable Ameche and Gaynor gain their sweet desserts, and an overbearing and over preening magician played by Alan Mowbray almost steals the show. Young and Bennett’s stories go nowhere, and Simone Simon pops up for a strange plot point.

A still of Anne Baxter in “You’re My Everything,” listed on EBay at $14.99.

Cinecon concluded with a funny and entertaining “You’re My Everything” by Fox from 1949, a poor man’s “Singin’ in the Rain.” It shows hoofer Dan Dailey and his actress wife Anne Baxter moving from vaudeville into silent film and then sound, though it also concludes with Dailey in blackface in a revamped take on “The Good Ship Lollipop.” There are some nice depictions of silent filmmaking, though as usual the films at this time employ hair and costumes of the 1940s rather than actual 1920s attire. Buster Keaton makes a small but pleasing cameo as a put upon butler, and Jack Mulhall gets his small moment to shine in a dancing scene with Baxter, and Charlie Lane, Mowbray, composer Mack Gordon, and Stanley Ridges offer fine performers.

While no big finds, Cinecon featured a wide range of entertaining and thought provoking films unlikely to ever air on television or find their way to DVD, providing a great look at the evolution of American film.

Hollywood Cemetery, the Los Angeles Herald, May 21, 1905.

For over 115 years, Hollywood Cemetery, or what is now Hollywood Forever Cemetery, has offered a bucolic place of eternal rest for those finding their everlasting reward. The first constructed within the boundaries of what is now Hollywood, California, the cemetery was organized to serve the citizens of Cahuenga Valley in finding a place of rest for themselves and their loved ones. Instead of slow, peaceful days of running their business, the owners from the very beginning concept of the memorial have battled to even stay open, opposed by real estate and land interests.

The Hollywood Cemetery Association was first organized February 18, 1897 when F. W. Samuelson of Humboldt, Nebraska, Mrs. M. W. Gardner of Santa Monica, Joseph D. Rodford, Gilbert Smith, and Thomas R. Wallace announced they had filed incorporation papers with $100,000 planned capitol to build a cemetery near Hollywood and Colegrove, per the February 19, 1897 Los Angeles Times, on land purchased from Samuelson. They intended the land to serve as a resting place for rich and poor alike living in the surrounding area, and the city of Los Angeles, just two and a half miles away.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Hollywood Cemetery, Hollywood Vagabond, May 19, 1927.

On July 27, however, the County of Los Angeles filed suit trying to obtain an injunction and restraining order against the Association and its employees from laying out the cemetery without first applying to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for permission to do so. Under a new law recently adopted, construction of a cemetery, crematory, or burial ground in the county required approval before doing so.

Judge Allen sustained the injunction in favor of the County on October 11, 1897, though the Association argued it had begun plans and signed contracts before the County enacted their rule. They also pointed out the proposed cemetery was two and a half miles from Los Angeles and three miles from a very large population.

The California Supreme Court ended up ruling in favor of the Hollywood Cemetery Association on May 15, 1899 and approving their plans to construct the cemetery, after it appealed the earlier ruling. The Los Angeles District Attorney asked the Supreme Court to rehear the case because he felt the Cemetery could eventually become a nuisance in a district which could eventually be “largely used for residential purposes. “

On August 2, 1899, Judge Allen vacated his earlier judgment, allowing construction of the ‘Hollywood Cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard on 160 acres purchased from Samuelson for $40,000 in 1897. Two weeks later, a newly reconstituted Hollywood Cemetery Association announced on August 14, 1899 that they had incorporated with a capital stock fixed at $200,000. Directors included Samuelson, W. F. Botsford, Homer Laughlin, I. N. Van Nuys, N. M. Entier, John Freeman, and H. C. Brown.

Though everything looked like smooth sailing, nearby residents began complaining that the cemetery was too close to homes and calling for its demise, even though most cemeteries were located within city boundaries. William J. Fay used on October 3, 1899 to prevent the establishment of the cemetery, which his attorney stated would bring “Irreparable injury” to adjacent homeowners. The Los Angeles Times states that they felt the location was entirely suitable: the ground was too level in the cemetery and therefore wouldn’t drain; when dry, cracks and crevices in the ground would allow dead bodies buried there to become exposed to the air and noxious exhalations from them would corrupt the atmosphere. They argued that during the rainy season the grounds would flood, causing damages to caskets and bodies which would cause drainage issues and corrupt local wells. Just a day later, plaintiff Fay disavowed the injunction, allowing construction to move forward. Once again, the Hollywood Cemetery Association dodged a bullet threatening to end its livelihood.

Hollywood Cemetery, New Movie Magazine, 1930.

Newspapers announced on December 31, 1904 the grand opening of the Hollywood Cemetery Association ahead of schedule, with an ad in the Los Angeles Times claiming “easy driving distance of Los Angeles,” one of its many selling points. An ad in the January 1, 1905 Los Angeles Herald stated. “A hundred acres was purchased in that portion of the Cahuenga Valley that affords an unobstructed view of both mountain and sea, under the experienced supervision of Joseph Ernshaw, the distinguished landscape engineer of Cincinnati, Ohio. The management have (sic) cooperated with in establishing one of the most modern cemeteries in the world… .

The stories noted that only granite and standard bronze could be employed as headstones and markers, and that no fences would surround individual plots, and only trees and shrubs would demarcate corners. Even the lay out of the roads would accentuate the park feel of the property. In that vein, no footpaths would be laid out. They promised perpetual care of the lots by a perpetual care fund and that no lot would be sold unless buyers could provide perpetual care.

What advertisements did not point out at the time, but was common everywhere across the country, was that even in the cemetery, land purchased was restricted, only Anglos could purchase plots. While it was close to both Hollywood and Los Angeles, it was unavailable for any person of color.

Cemetery grounds included a gateway, office building, superintendent’s residence, and chapel constructed of granite all designed by Hunt and Eager, with the chapel free to those who needed to hold services.

The Hollywood Cemetery Association fought to remain outside of the Hollywood land annexed to the city of Los Angeles in 1910, fearing that taxes on their property would become too high in trying to maintain the business. Frank W. Hovey, attorney for those supporting Hollywood’s annexation remarked that the cemetery was located in the heart of land to be annexed to the city, something that would bring not only progress, but also water to the area. He believed the dead buried there no longer feared the future, and noted, “the living want progress.” The cemetery bowed to bigger forces and acknowledged they could not win, joining the annexation wagon.

Hollywood Cemetery, Hollywood Filmograph, 1930.

In late March 1910, however, surrounding residents once again protested the cemetery, asking for all operations to cease and the Association to abandon the land, claiming it was unfit for burial and allowed no drainage. The Hollywood Cemetery Association provided evidence of drainage for the rolling grounds, noting that 950 people had already been buried on the hallowed ground since its inception with no problems, and continued operation.

On April 7, 1910 the Los Angeles Herald reported that Couverly and Cotter Company had been awarded a contract to grade the land for further landscaping as well as to construct and build a second artificial lake to be encased in hole of cement with an artificial island containing fountains and rustic bridge in its middle, a moment of repose from all the controversy often surrounding its existence. The group announced that a Monterey Cypress hedge would be constructed around the whole property, and that architect B. Cooper Corbett was designing a more appropriate second entrance at Melrose and Gower, where train cars carrying the deceased unloaded their precious cargo.

In December 1921, real estate men circulated a petition to prevent the Cemetery Association from following through on certain improvements on the grounds, which would be financed by selling property along both Gower and Santa Monica Boulevard for business interests, a proposition they had been fighting for ten years. The Santa Monica-Vine Business Club hoped to obtain enough signatures on a petition to force the City Council from approving the rezoning of and selling of the land. They also requested that city streets be cut through the property.

The Association realized that they needed extra money for their perpetual care endowment, as selling of new plots would eventually not cover maintenance and upkeep. By selling the land as well, the organization could construct a new permanent chapel, receiving vault, office abiding, and superintendent’s lodge. They released publicity noting the costs of maintaining and operating a cemetery.

By the mid-1920s, the Hollywood Cemetery became like Mecca and Medina for death-obsessed tourists, who came to worship at the graves of the cinema idols they had admired from afar. Rudolph Valentino’s untimely death in 1926 added to those flocking to the burial sites of their obsessions, who soiled the ground but left no donations to help with its upkeep. This overflow of visitors increased costs for maintaining the security and look of the grounds, adding to financial burdens.

Hollywood Cemetery, the Los Angeles Herald, Sept. 3, 1905.

The Los Angeles City Council turned down protesters often irate or depressing tirades at a January 18, 1922 meeting, where certain businessmen railed against the project, joined by 99-year-old former Senator Cornelius Cole, who ended up with tears in his eyes.

The Association put their plans on hold for a few years instead of moving forward, reintroducing the planned sale in 1926, asking the City Council to waive a statute of their contract which forbid the selling of any land for commercial purposes in perpetuity. The attorney for William Andrews Clark Jr., who had constructed a grand memorial for his son on the island in the newly created lake in 1921, and the Arthur Letts estate joined those protesting any selling of land for commercial interests, or the addition of a crematory.

Film stars joined the protesters fighting to keep the cemetery intact, including Douglas Fairbanks, Cecil B. DeMille, Norma Talmadge, Sam Goldwyn, Henry B. Walthall, Alec Francis, Marshall Neilan, Ernest Torrence, and Carrie Jacobs Bond. The Oakland Tribune on November 18, 1926 joined the throngs providing misleading information by stating that Virginia Rappe’s tomb was threatened with destruction, though it was well outside of the boundaries proposed for commercial construction. Friends of Valentino stated that if the city approved the selling of the land for commercial development, they would not construct a planned memorial to the handsome actor on the cemetery grounds.

The Hollywood Cemetery Association once again shelved plans to proceed, but the financial darkness caused by the Great Depression forced them to reintroduce the selling of the land in 1930, as they owed $60,000 in back taxes. This time, William Andrews Clark Jr. joined the cemetery in their fight, per the June 12, 1930 Los Angeles Times. The former group of protesters found little support this time, perhaps due to monetary pressures others were suffering. The City Council approved selling of 600 feet of frontage along Santa Monica Boulevard, as long as 200 feet adjoining the main entrance was adapted into an ornamental and landscaped entrance.

While the Cemetery Association had suffered financially for years fighting the protests both in print and in the courts, they now enjoyed a period of peace in which to regroup and reorganize. Within a few decades, however, new owners of the Cemetery would bring notoriety and financial problems to the Valhalla on their own, reinvigorating public protests.

Jesse Lasky on the cover of “We’ve Had a Lovely Time, So Long, Good Bye,” Courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Best known as one of Hollywood’s early motion picture moguls, native Californian Jesse L. Lasky also excelled at radio and theatrical production during his long career. A natural born performer and optimist, Lasky developed much of the material for the shows he produced, performed on stage by talented actors he discovered, thanks to his wide experience working in entertainment himself.

Lasky himself began performing at a young age, playing the cornet and dreaming of playing in the great John Phillip Sousa band. He points out in his biography, “I Blow My Own Horn,” that he served as solo cornetist in the San Jose Juvenile Band, later playing in tent shows. After his father’s death, he played in tent shows, the Bella Union Hotel, and music halls before landing a job playing in the orchestra at Keith’s Union Square Theatre, per Filmplay Journal in April 1922. The adventurous young man took off on tour to far away places like Hawaii playing his cornet, eventually returning to California to work as a newspaper reporter. Wanderlust captured him again, and he set off to Alaska to prospect for gold.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Pianophiends in the Los Angeles Herald, Oct. 18, 1908.

When Lasky struck out there, he returned to California and formed the Musical Laskys with his sister Blanche. The young pair found themselves playing musical interludes for the magician Hermann, who later began Hermann the Great. Young Jesse soon found himself manager of the act, putting together performances, hiring workers, and organizing productions. His long road as a producer lay ahead.

Ready to take the next step, ambitious Lasky joined with B. A. Rolfe to form Lasky, Rolfe & Co. in 1906 to put together acts and shows for vaudeville. Not only did the sharp-eyed young man discover impressive new talent, he composed songs and wrote sketches around their talents. In fact, Lasky employed whatever skills were necessary to grow his skills and reputation as a producer of vaudeville acts, including composing. Some time in 1907, though, Lasky and Rolfe parted ways, with Jesse forming the Jesse L. Lasky Company.

Besides parting with Rolfe, he also left his job managing the William Morris office in Chicago, striking out on his own as a vaudeville producer. Lasky quickly put together the show, “The Pianophiends,” a clever and imaginative act. Impresario Lasky hired four attractive young women and four attractive young men to star in a musical novelty show set in a piano store.

In his autobiography, “I Blow My Own Horn,” Lasky called it “a musical novelty featuring a concert pianist at a grand piano, flanked by two uprights to each side, on which four boys and four girls played duets and ensembles,” basically little mini musical comedy sketches combining singing, dancing, and piano playing, all set to a lively beat. To cap off the show, the lovely young women stood atop the pianos and sang and danced a number.

“Dear Old Broadway,” Courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Audiences loved the show, finding it incredibly high energy and entertaining, and one easily updated with either new songs or entertainers, allowing Lasky to tour it through at least 1912. He even stated to Variety on January 30, 1909 that he hoped to make it a “perpetual act.” In a May 25, 1907 review, Variety described it as “18 hands tearing off ragtime on five pianos is the latest contribution to the musical novelty act.” The reviewer found a few of the young women as attractive as those in the Floradora sextet, with all the performers exceedingly well piano players.

By August 3, 1907, Variety stated that “Pianophiends” had developed into “an exceedingly smooth running musical act, with a dash of “girl” and spectacular interest.” Only 27 minutes, it sped right along to a rousing conclusion. Many newspapers called it original and cover. The Bridgeport Evening Farmed called it “novel and original, spectacular and winning” in its April 6, 1909 review. “Pianophiends” hit Los Angeles in September 1911, with the Los Angeles Times on September 9 calling the performers clever and exceedingly talented.

A few of the show’s performers went on to great things after taking part in the production, including future composer Con Conrad and silent film director, Nell Shipman.

Lasky’s “Pianophiends” impressed several rising young composers, who satirized it for a Friars Frolic in 1911, creating an act called “Piano Bugs.” They also rounded up several pianos and composed parody songs that they then performed solo, in duets, or larger groups, commenting on songs and news of the day. Some of these witty young performers included composers Jean Schwartz, Ernest R. Ball, Ed Barron, and Irving Berlin.

In the spring of 1908, Lasky wrote the lyrics to which composer and public Fred Fischer set to music entitled “My Brudda Sylvest.” This followed in the tradition of what is now called “dialect” songs, in which the lyrics were written in what was supposed the idiom or folk language of an usually ethnic group of people, such as what is called African-American or “coon” songs, Italian, Dutch (actually German), and Jewish. Now somewhat dated and racist, these songs often featured stereotypes to help consumers at the time quickly understand them and mixed in humor.

“My Brudda Sylvest,” an Italian dialect song, about a man’s strong brother Sylvest, who worked a variety of jobs that required power, strength, and know how, a muscular man with a heart of compassion. The song seemed to strike a nerve with the public, as many performers added it to their repertoire, receiving good notices whenever performing the song. Variety noted in its August 19, 1908 issue that sales were high due to its funny lyric and good chorus. Billboard called it “that terrific Italian song hit” on August 1, 1908.

Edison Phonograph Monthly stated in its October 1908 issue: “My Brudda Sylvest” is “one of the best of the Italian dialect songs that vaudeville singers are featuring of present. The irrepressible Collins and Harlan sing it to a rag-Italian tune – something new and decidedly fetching.”

Pianophiends, Salt Lake Herald, Nov.  8, 1908.

Featuring multiple choruses, the lyrics focused on people and events of the day, mentioning boxers John Sullivan and Jim Jeffries, and baseball player Mike Donlin, along with such subjects as the Brooklyn Bridge, B & O Railroad, the Spanish War, the circus, and coal mines. The first verse goes,

“Oh you heard about the great a strong a man,

Oh the great a bag a John a Sullivan,

Oh you heard about the Jeffries a fight,

He’s a strong all right he whip a fifty

Men in one a night,

But I got a brudda got the bunch a beat,

Got a chest a measure forty sev’n a feet,

Got a peanut stand on Mulberry street,

he’s a tough a man to beat.”

Then as now, something popular led to copycats. Other composers wrote their own versions of Italian dialect songs or brudda titles, but none at the time that appeared to top “My Brudda Sylvest.” The song remained a hit through at least 1910, helping keep Lasky’s name in front of the public as well as demonstrating that he could create product that successfully sold shows.

By 1913, Lasky’s career stalled in vaudeville, flat on its back. Looking for new challenges and opportunities, his brother-in-law Samuel Goldfish, later Samuel Goldwyn, suggested they follow several of their friends and colleagues into the growing motion picture field. The two soon joined with actor Cecil B. De Mille to form the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Film Company, deciding to produce the former book and play, “The Squaw Man” as their first moving picture.

While Lasky’s composing and vaudeville career soon ended, little did he know that the adventure facing the three men would bring them enormous fame and fortune, and help launch a major film company that still operates today.