Alas! Poor Yorick

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Mark A Anderson
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Alas! Poor Yorick

Postby Mark A Anderson » Sat Oct 03, 2009 5:21 am

Hoping someone could help me out on the Roscoe Arbuckle short: Alas! Poor Yorick. A Selig half reel made in 1913.
Several questions: does it exist? Is it on DVD? But most importantly, I'm checking the reference in Robert Young Jr.'s: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle A Bio-Bibliography. It lists Frank Hayes as in the cast. I've never seen the movie, nor seen any other reference that lists him as a cast member in this short. The stills at the Herrick do not show Mr. Hayes.
Thank you!

Richard M Roberts
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Re: Alas! Poor Yorick

Postby Richard M Roberts » Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:06 am

Mark A Anderson wrote:Hoping someone could help me out on the Roscoe Arbuckle short: Alas! Poor Yorick. A Selig half reel made in 1913.
Several questions: does it exist? Is it on DVD? But most importantly, I'm checking the reference in Robert Young Jr.'s: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle A Bio-Bibliography. It lists Frank Hayes as in the cast. I've never seen the movie, nor seen any other reference that lists him as a cast member in this short. The stills at the Herrick do not show Mr. Hayes.
Thank you!



Alas, the answers I have for you are unfortunately no, no, and no. Though Frank Hayes could certainly have made films before Keystone in 1914 that are yet to be credited, I have never seen any evidence of ALAS! POOR YORICK being one of them.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Tommie Hicks
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Re: Alas! Poor Yorick

Postby Tommie Hicks » Sat Oct 03, 2009 12:19 pm

I am of the opinion that this film was made in 1909 (Wow, a hundred years ago!) and laid on the shelf until Roscoe started getting some recognition at Keystone.

Mark A Anderson
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Re: Alas! Poor Yorick

Postby Mark A Anderson » Sat Oct 03, 2009 12:51 pm

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 have only done family history in regards to Ward and his sister, Venice. I mention her because of her reference in the book "Swanson on Swanson".

Steve Massa
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Re: Alas! Poor Yorick

Postby Steve Massa » Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:25 pm

Hi guys
Here's an odd little item I found on Frank Hayes in the 5/21/1921 Moving Picture World:

"FRANK HAYES AS STAR
The Italian-American Film Company is preparing a series of two-reel comedies starring Frank Hayes, formerly famous Keystone cop and known as "rubber-faced comedian". A Van Budo, late of the French Pathe Freres, is directing the comedies."

So far have never come across any more info on this.

Steve

Mark A Anderson
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Re: Alas! Poor Yorick

Postby Mark A Anderson » Sun Oct 04, 2009 4:18 am

Thanks, Steve for more info to follow up on. No, I have not seen anything on that before either. And I have many movie magazine news clippings that Frank (or perhaps Venice after Frank's death) put into scrapbooks.
Mark

Brent Walker
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Re: Alas! Poor Yorick

Postby Brent Walker » Tue Oct 06, 2009 2:18 pm

Mark A Anderson wrote: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 have only done family history in regards to Ward and his sister, Venice. I mention her because of her reference in the book "Swanson on Swanson".


Mark, I looked at your other post first, so I posted about Ward and Venice on that thread. Are there any photos of them in the personal effects? I didn't realize Ward was a stepson--so he was from an earlier marriage of Frank's wife Lottie? Was Venice also a stepdaughter, or his blood daughter? I know there was another son (or stepson?), a doctor named Chris (who I think also died young).

Ward also directed some Hal Roach two-reelers. I wasn't aware of the Venice reference in Swanson on Swanson--what was it?

Lottie lived to 1956 and Venice to 1964, so it may have been one of them who added the scrapbook items.

Mark A Anderson
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Re: Alas! Poor Yorick

Postby Mark A Anderson » Tue Oct 06, 2009 7:15 pm

Gloria Swanson grew up with Venice in Key West, at least for the time Gloria's father was stationed there. When Gloria came to Keystone, she brought her mother with her. Since the Hayes' had been friends of Adelaide Swanson for years and was close to their age, they entertained her a great deal and kept Adelaide busy until the Hayes' introduced her to the shoe store magnate, Matthew Burns who Adelaide married. When he died that threw Gloria and the Hayes' into court over conspiring to marry Adelaide off to a rich man. His estate was worth $400,000. Cool story and more in "Swanson on Swanson" I've done a great deal of research on it also.
Getting back to the Hayes family: They were all Lottie Ward Christensen Kemp Hayes' children. None of them were Frank's. Dr. Christensen was the Founder the National Eye Dog Association as he had become blind from a small pox vacine gone wild in about 1915. He died in 1940. I have a scrap book on him also.
Venice and Ward were full brother and sister, 2 years apart. Their father was a sponge fisherman who blew his brains out Memorial Weekend, 1898. The newspaper article is quite graphic. I suspect over Lottie's interest in Frank. She was married to Frank by the 1900 Census, but I haven't found the date yet. So much on Key West hasn't survived, so the Library there says I have more on Frank's Vaudeville career in Key West than they do.
One major research obstacle was also that Lottie changed her children's names every time she changed husbands. Luckily I have so much original material, including Ward Wilson Kemp's birth certificate (later Ward Hayes)
Lottie is buried between her two children, Venice and Dr. Christensen in Forest Lawn, Glendale. Ward is in the Masonic section of the same cemetary. Frank was buried with his famous founding family in San Francisco, but of course all their graves have been moved now. I could go on.....Oh and yes I have family pictures.


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