Search found 124 matches

by William Ferry
Mon Mar 25, 2024 12:24 pm
Forum: SILENT COMEDY MAIN
Topic: Chaplin In The Eye of the Beholder
Replies: 7
Views: 409

Re: Chaplin In The Eye of the Beholder

I have no need for artificial intelligence, what I keep hoping for is Genuine Intelligence in Humanity, but I keep getting disappointed. These days, people's cell phones are smarter than they are. RICHARD M ROBERTS To paraphrase Fred Allen, "the average (fill in the blank) is well below averag...
by William Ferry
Mon Mar 25, 2024 12:22 pm
Forum: SILENT COMEDY MAIN
Topic: Chaplin In The Eye of the Beholder
Replies: 7
Views: 409

Re: Chaplin In The Eye of the Beholder

Here's my two cents: #1 looks like a guy who came in dead last in a French Chaplin lookalike contest (seriously, top hat and bow tie?), #2 is not of this world (therefore a perfect rep for AI - any bets on whether he has six fingers?), and #3 looks like LIMELIGHT-era Chaplin entering a Robert Downey...
by William Ferry
Sat Feb 24, 2024 11:25 pm
Forum: SILENT MOVIE MAIN
Topic: Nitrateville: Two complimentary Threads
Replies: 3
Views: 1005

Re: Nitrateville: Two complimentary Threads

Points well taken, Richard. At some stage in my collecting life, I realized there's a saturation level where you just say, that's it. I just turned 65, and my feeling is, I'll concentrate on purchasing stuff I don't already own. I bought the Milestone POTO after holding out for many years; I didn't ...
by William Ferry
Fri Feb 23, 2024 11:02 am
Forum: CLASSIC TELEVISION
Topic: LIVING A RAGTIME LIFE (1992) Max Morath
Replies: 2
Views: 497

Re: LIVING A RAGTIME LIFE (1992) Max Morath

You know you've made it when you get a Hirschfeld caricature! Good show, Richard.
by William Ferry
Thu Feb 22, 2024 10:11 pm
Forum: SILENT MOVIE MAIN
Topic: Nitrateville: Two complimentary Threads
Replies: 3
Views: 1005

Re: Nitrateville: Two complimentary Threads

The only saving grace is, if you run it at sound speed, it should only be around 5:25. Still not, to coin an old phrase, the most effective use of my time. I could watch a good triple feature (to say the least) during that time. But, to each his own. Not to get off on a tangent, but someone's runnin...
by William Ferry
Thu Feb 22, 2024 9:45 pm
Forum: CLASSIC TELEVISION
Topic: More Ragtime!
Replies: 1
Views: 382

Re: More Ragtime!

I have an old ragtime album by Dick Wellstood, playing Scott Joplin. In the liner notes for THE RAGTIME DANCE, he tells an anecdote about his being the copyist for THE RAGTIME YEARS. He apologized to the pianist who had to work from his illegible score (which was unreadable due to time constraints).
by William Ferry
Fri Feb 09, 2024 12:53 pm
Forum: SOUND COMEDY MAIN
Topic: POKER WIDOWS (1931) Arthur Stone, Patsy O'Leary
Replies: 4
Views: 766

Re: POKER WIDOWS (1931) Arthur Stone, Patsy O'Leary

Richard, that's one of the most concise, and certainly one of the funniest reviews I've ever read. It ranks right up there with the critic who described a 121-minute WWII epic as two hours too long.
by William Ferry
Sat Jan 27, 2024 10:16 am
Forum: SILENT COMEDY MAIN
Topic: Her Friend The Bandit
Replies: 21
Views: 3897

Re: Her Friend The Bandit

There was a French book on Chaplin that contained a frame grab of Mabel Normand at a telephone operator's console with Chaplin in mufti contorting himself. I believe Harry Booker was reacting in the shot (I'm doing this from memory). Has any identified the film this is from? _________ For what this...
by William Ferry
Wed Jan 17, 2024 6:35 pm
Forum: Research Archive
Topic: Harold Lloyd by Robert E. Sherwood
Replies: 2
Views: 2131

Re: Harold Lloyd by Robert E. Sherwood

It's interesting that Sherwood actually mentions the effects of the bomb: the loss to his right hand.
by William Ferry
Wed Jan 03, 2024 4:47 pm
Forum: SILENT COMEDY MAIN
Topic: Buster Keaton's San Francisco footsteps
Replies: 3
Views: 2228

Re: Buster Keaton's San Francisco footsteps

Thanks, John. That does clear it up!