Upcoming Stuff!

Lots of great events are coming up this spring in the Southeast Pennsylvania area. Here is a quick look at some, and also additional thoughts for the day.

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2012 is the 70th anniversary of the release of Casablanca (1942), one of the greatest films ever made, and THE greatest romance film. Turner Classic Films has put together a screening of Casablanca at theaters around the country to celebrate the event. There will be one (sometimes two) showings on March 21, 2012 at a theater near you, but only on that date.

Robert Osborne will present a behind the scenes look at the film, which promises to be well worth seeing. This is your chance to see Casablanca on the big screen. More info can be found here and you can also pre-order tickets at that link. I already have mine! I hope Victor Laszlo and his wife Ilsa make it to Lisbon this time.

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The Two Tars Tent of the Sons of the Desert will hold their next banquet on Friday, April 20, 2012. We will have as our guest Pretty, Perky Peggy King, which is what George Gobel used to call her.  Peggy was a singing star on Gobel's TV show, and also appeared in such great films as Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) and Zero Hour (1957).

George Gobel and Peggy King

Two Tars banquets are held at The Cannstatter Club in Northeast Philadelphia, and event details can be found at the Two Tars Oasis 14 web site. The food is great, the entertainment is fun, and the bar is close by.

Peggy will talk about her career and maybe sing a few songs for us. She has some stories about her friends, Liberace, George Gobel, and Abbott and Costello to share.

We will also be showing Blotto (1930), one of the funniest Laurel and Hardy shorts ever made. Blotto also features Anita Garvin as Stan's wife. This event is an intimate gathering of movie buffs, not fans, and a great opportunity to learn about the movies, while having a good time.

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Then, on May 12, 2012, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Betzwood Studio and ranch of silent movie mogul Siegmund Lubin. Come to Montgomery County Community College in Bluebell, PA for the Betzwood Silent Film Festival. The Betzwood Ranch was the largest movie studio in the country in 1912. Lubin created some great westerns and other movies here, and the story of his rise and decline is interesting to any film buff.

Betzwood Glass Studio c. 1915

A few years ago, Betzwood was featured on the PBS program, "History Detectives," to find info about some photos of the studio. The show is available on the PBS web site, and offers some great background on Lubin and Betzwood if you want to attend the festival. Click this link to go to that show.

Professor Joseph Eckhardt is the driving force behind the festival and will introduce the films. Talented organist Don Kinnier is amazing as he accompanies the films. And once again, the theater at the college allows an intimate experience where you can approach Prof. Eckhardt and Mr. Kinnier for a chat.

The Betzwood Studio was sold by Lubin in 1917 and later produced the Toonerville Trolley series before closing forever in 1923.

The Toonerville Trolley

The Philadelphia area was not only the starting point for the USA, but also one of the starting points for the movie industry. If you are interested in this kind of history, I suggest you look for Prof. Eckhardt's book, King of the Movies: Film Pioneer Siegmund Lubin. And bring it to the festival for an autograph!

I'll be at all three events. Look for me at a table near Sam, the pianist. I'll be drinking a Cointreau.

Some Women of the Silent Era, not Bit Players!

I just feel that I must mention a few wonderful actors and actresses of the silent era.  Perhaps some of my readers are young and lack the exposure to silent films.  Then again, I have never seen a Theda Bara (1885 - 1955) film, but her name is known to me.  Some of these made a few talkies near the end of their career, but I will keep it mainly silent.

Theda Bara was one of the biggest stars in the early days of motion pictures.  Her screen name was an anagram of "Arab Death."  (Kewl!)  She made 44 films from 1914 to 1926, when she married and retired from the screen. 

Bara played a vampire in the 1915 movie A Fool There Was, and she became known as "The Vamp" which created the term.  In 1917 she had her biggest role in Cleopatra, which became a megahit movie.  Sadly, only about four of her films exist today.  If you get the chance to see one, it would be worth it.

Mae Murray (1889 - 1965) was "The girl with the bee stung lips."  She made 41 movies from 1916 to 1931.  She began her career dancing with Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918), and became a star Ziegfeld Girl before making movies.  Her big movie was The Merry Widow (1925) co-starring with John Gilbert (1899 - 1936).  Mae was a victim of her own poor voice when talkies became popular.

Mary Philbin (1902 - 1993) made 31 movies in just eight short years starting in 1921.  Philbin has what appears to be a complete biography written on IMDb with loads of info about a forgotten star.  And she was a star.  She co-starred in the original Phantom of the Opera in 1925 with Lon Chaney, sending thousands of fans screaming from the theaters as she unmasked the Phantom.

Philbin became a recluse after she retired.  She did come back into the spotlight a few times.  She came to a memorial service for Rudolph Valentino (1895 - 1926) in 1988, and attended the opening of The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway by Andrew Lloyd Webber (b. 1948), and once more to promote a book on The Phantom by Philip J. Riley. 

Pola Negri (1897 - 1987) would make about a dozen talkies, even one in 1964 (The Moon-Spinners) with Haley Mills (b. 1946).  She is known for more than 50 silent films starting in 1914, but her heavy Polish accent really ended her career.

Negri has some interesting tidbits in her history.  She was engaged to Charlie Chaplin before she met Rudolph Valentino, and apparently she was Adolph Hitler's favorite acrtress.  Who knows for sure?

Last, for today, Edna Purviance (1895 - 1958).  She was one of Chaplin's favorite actresses and if you have seen much Chaplin, you surely have seen Edna.  She was in about 40 of his films including The Kid (1921).  The Kid was the movie Chaplin made when he met one of his future wives, Lita Gray (1908 - 1995). 

Purviance was kept on Chaplin's payroll all of her life, and I am sure many have wondered if she was more than just an actress for him.

There are just a few names above, but they are important names.  People like that were the foundation of what movies have become.  Their work has inspired many, and even their looks have created styles that lasted.  And they were easy on the eye!