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As for Venice Hayes, I believe she is at the far left (with a lot of makeup).

It looks like Marjorie Beebe, as she looked in the late 20's at Fox, in the dead center back (behind the guy with the hat). If it is Sam De Grasse (and it does look like him to me, as well), it might be THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER (1928), as Sam is listed as being in that one.

Brent

Thank you very much for the input. I'll be continuing to ask Frank Hayes questions and also to a lesser degree questions about his step-son, Ward Hayes. Ward directed quite a few Bill Franey Comedies. Anyone out there a Bill Franey fan or is knowledgable about that comedy series? At this point I ha...

Thanks Mark, great photo! I'm wondering if, in Frank Hayes' archives, there are any photos of his family--particularly his son Ward Hayes (a comedy director who died very young in 1925). Also of his daughter Venice Hayes, who was in a number of Keystone comedies (though I've never seen an official p...

Hi, I've been tied up with the final proofing and indexing for my Mack Sennett Book (Mack Sennett's Fun Factory), which should be coming out from McFarland in the next few months, and between that and some family health issues I have had much time to check in here. However, I haven't seen any prints...

Eech, I see what you mean: "....but Leo McCarey seems to be the presiding auteur of his series." The funniest thing about the "auteur theory" is how they took the French word for "author", i.e. writer, and used it to so thoroughly diminish the contributions of any write...

It's hard for me to say what's absolute greatest among sound shorts (there are so many I like), but NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS is hilarious, and some of the Arbuckle-directed shorts like BRIDGE WIVES and MOTHER'S DAY. Another in the "little seen" category is A HOLLYWOOD THEME SONG, a 1930 Sennett...

I think Valentino music was also used for a film that scarred me for life when I saw it at elementary school--so of course I spent years seeking it out until I successfully found it again (the bicycle safety film ONE GOT FAT, narrated by Edward Everett Horton). Here's an obit for Mr. Valentino. Unfo...

It's definitely Charley Chase (still Parrott at this point) in the center. Second from left: Beanie Walker, third from left: William Beaudine, standing next to Chase (with glasses): Tom McNamara, far right: Robert McGowan. The rest look like the same guys from the previous picture. Perhaps this was ...

Thomas, thanks for posting this. Sterling Comedies frequently and shamelessly remade Keystones to the letter, particularly after Ford Sterling and Henry Lehrman left the brand. In this case, this one sounds like a redo of the 1912 Biograph THE TRAGEDY OF A DRESS SUIT, which had just come out from Ke...