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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Francis X. Bushman

The life of silent star Francis X. Bushman has finally been written!

Author Lon Davis, who recently published Silent Lives (a series of short biographies of silent stars), has finally completed a project that took almost 30 years.

Bushman (1883-1966) is best remembered for his role as Messala in the 1925 version of Ben-Hur. Unlike many stars of the silent era, he didn't have a problem adjusting to talkies... but the talkies may have had some problems adjusting to him. According to Bushman himself, he made an enemy of Louis B. Mayer, that same mogul who is rumored to have ruined the career of superstar John Gilbert. Evidently, Mayer hated Bushman's attitude; Bushman attempted to get more money during the shooting of Ben-Hur, and afterwards, found so much difficulty finding work that he placed the blame at Mayer's door.

At the age of 13, Davis met Beverly Bayne, Bushman's second wife. She had little, if anything, good to say about Bushman, but Davis was fascinated; this is when he began to research Bushman. Lon and his then-fiancee, Debra, began to co-author the manuscript in the early 1980s; they met Bushman's last wife, Iva, who kindly allowed them to view and even handle some of Bushman's silent-film paraphernalia (much of which they shipped to the Smithsonian later). The book was finished in 1983, but remained unsold until it was published by Bear Manor Media.

What happened to Bushman's career?

To hear Bushman tell it, it was because he made a powerful enemy out of Louis B. Mayer. In 1917, Bushman starred in Mayer’s first production, "The Great Secret," a serial that was something of a flop. When he was making "Ben-Hur" in the mid-twenties for the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer company, Bushman alienated Mayer by holding him up for more money when the production was stalled. After a few major movies at the end of the twenties, he turned to radio for the next two decades.
He did state that he loved the 1959 remake of Ben-Hur, and even helped to promote the film.

Will we see more of Bushman's films now?

I hope so!

Monday, September 7, 2009

For Charley Chase fans

The most common reaction is "Who?" The second most common reaction is, "Oh, you mean Charlie Chaplin, don't you?"

Nope, Charley Chase. He was another silent comedians, not one of the Big Three, but very popular. A recent article states that his collected works are now available on DVD.

Write Jordan Young states:

"To my mind there are two kinds of people—those who love Charley Chase, and those who never heard of him. All Day Entertainment's Becoming Charley Chase, recently released by VCI Entertainment, is a 4-DVD box set affectionately put together by people who are clearly in the first category; it’s not the work of a soulless corporation trying to make a fast buck, like so many video releases these days.

"This collection should do much to bolster the reputation of this most unjustly underrated comedian of the 1920s and ‘30s, perhaps best remembered now for an uproarious cameo in Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert. One disc is devoted to Chase’s embryonic 1915 work for Mack Sennett; two discs are comprised of 1924-1925 shorts made at Hal Roach Studios; and a fourth samples his efforts directing other comics, including his brother James Parrott (who himself directed many of Charley’s comedies, as well of some of Laurel and Hardy’s best), Will Rogers and Snub Pollard. Our Gang, whose earliest comedies Chase supervised as Director General at Roach, are seen as guest stars in The Fraidy Cat.

"Even the Chase aficionado who has all or most of these 40-odd comedy shorts in 8mm, 16mm, Laserdisc or VHS will find the box hard to resist. There are new scores for all titles, with some highly entertaining and imaginative work by the Snark Ensemble, Ben Model, the Redwine Jazz Band, and the West End Jazz Band. There are also optional audio commentaries on all films by a gaggle of Chase historians and film scholars; a 45-minute documentary, The Parrott Chase; and an archival interview with Chase's daughter June.

"The quality of the films is erratic but not for lack of effort; producer David Kalat notes how he acquired six prints of one especially poor-looking title, and choose the best of the lot. We’re fortunate so many of Chase’s silent shorts exist, as the tantalizing fragments of some lost ones remind us... A DVD set of his ‘30s Columbia shorts is in the works; meanwhile, for more on Charley visit the definitive website."

As always, I'm DELIGHTED to see more silent films coming out on DVD. We just don't have enough; DVD hasn't yet caught up to VHS in terms of the number of films available, especially those from the silent era. I always love sharing the news of another silent release.