SilentComedyMafia.com

Hey Folks,

I have recovered a beautiful 1917 Klever Komedy titled FAINT HEART AND FAIR LADY (1917) starring Victor Moore.
Anyone know the survival status of the film beyond this print?

Thanks in advance!

PG

Hi Paul
I've never heard of that one being around. The two that really circulate are THE WRONG MR. FOX and FLIVVERING. MoMA had an unidentified one that turned out to be ROUGH AND READY REGGIE, and last summer I took a look at HE MEANT WELL at LOC. You may have another one-of-a-kind print there - tomorrow when I get to work I'll check the FIAF database to see if anything comes up on it, but I doubt it.

BTW, at the Library for the Performing Arts we have Victor Moore's own still collection - his famous films such as SWING TIME, MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW, etc. - plus about 80 or so from his Klever Komedies. None of them are i.d.ed so we don't know what's what, but some of them have people like Arthur Housman and Agnes Neilson (from Arbuckle's Comique films) in them. Somehow mysterious xerox copies were made and ended up at my house.

Thanks for the info, Steve! Richard weighed in with similar thoughts, I suspect that the print is a one-off.
Please let us know what you find in the database!

-- PG

Paul
There's no listing for FAINT HEART AND FAIR LADY in the FIAF database.

Mr. Gierucki does it again!

Jim K

I think Paul has a time machine. How about finding a Montgomery and Rock?

There's a comprehensive article specifically about the Klever Comedies released in 1917, "Klever Komedies in the Great War: One Studio's Contribution to the War Effort", by Stephen R. Webb (Film History, Vol.3, No.2, 1989, Indiana University Press). It includes a studio filmography, the source of which is the American Film-Index compiled in Sweden by Einer Lauritzen and Gunnar Lundquist in 1984. The article is available online through Jstor.

Paul: Fantastic news. I've been researching Klever Komedies over the past year and am happy to know there's another one. From my research, it looks like yours was filmed in New York. From January through summer of 1917, Klever Komedies were filmed in Jacksonville, Florida. Starting sometime in Aug/Sep 1917, it was reported Moore left Florida to start filming in New York.

Steve: Thanks for the info on "He Meant Well." I didn't know it existed. I've never heard of "Rough and Ready Reggie."

Andrew: Thanks for the information about the article. It's another valued resource for my research.

Lisa Bradberry

Lisa, in case you don't have this, here's a list of the Klever Komedies. This is from Karel Caslavsky's invaluable AMERICAN COMEDY SERIES: FILMOGRAPHIES 1914 - 1930 which appeared in Griffithiana #51 / 52.

KLEVER KOMEDIES (1rl). Prod: Klever Pictures, Inc. Dist: Paramount.

THE BEST MAN (12/4/1916)
IN SOCIETY AND OUT (12/18/1916)
HE MEANT WELL (1/1/1917)
DID IT EVER HAPPEN TO YOU? (1/15/1917)
THE HONEYLESS HONEYMOON (1/29/1917)
THE SLEEP WALKER (2/5/1917)
HE GOT THERE AFTER ALL (2/12/1917)
SOME DOCTOR (2/26/1917)
FLIVVERING (3/12/1917)
ROUGH AND READY REGGIE (3/26/1917)
HIS MILITARY FIGURE (4/9/1917)
BALLADS AND BOLOGNA (4/23/1917)
INVITED OUT (5/7/1917)
MOVING (5/21/1917)
BUNGALOWING (6/4/1917)
COMMUTING (6/18/1917)
OH, POP! (7/2/1917)
THE WRONG MR. FOX (7/16/1917)
MOTOR BOATING (7/30/1917)
SUMMER BOARDING (8/13/1917)
EGGED ON (8/20/1917)
THE CINDERELLA HUSBAND (8/27/1917)
SEEING THINGS (9/3/1917)
CAMPING (9/10/1917)
IN BED - IN BAD (9/24/1917)
THE COW JUMPED OVER THE MOON (10/14/1917)
HOME DEFENCE (10/21/1917)
FAINT HEART AND FAIR LADY (11/5/1917)
KNUTTY KNITTERS (11/19/1917)
TOOTHACHES AND HEARTACHES (12/3/1917)
THE INSTALLMENT PLAN (12/17/1917)
OH! U-BOAT (12/31/1917)
MEATLESS DAYS AND STEPLESS NIGHTS (1/14/1918)
HE GOT HIS (1/28/1918)
ADAM AND SOME EVES (2/11/1918)
SOME PROFESSOR (2/25/1918)

Steve,

Many thanks for the filmography! I didn't know about this resource.