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Vim / Jaxon Comedies

Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:25 am
by Rob Stone
Would love to hear from anyone that has stills or other stuff from Vim and/or Jaxon comedies. Pokes and Jab(bs), Plump and Runt, Finn and Haddie, Myers and Theby, Babe Hardy and Kate Price, Sparkle Comedies.

Thanks, and have a happy new year!

Rob Stone
split_reel@yahoo.com

Re: Vim / Jaxon Comedies

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:12 am
by Bob Birchard
If you want more, e-mail me.

Re: Vim / Jaxon Comedies

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 8:08 am
by Joe Moore
Great shot Bob!

Thanks for posting it.

Can anyone throw in some IDs on the people assembled in the photo?

Curious

Joe

Re: Vim / Jaxon Comedies

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:26 pm
by Steve Rydzewski
That is a super still, Bob. I love behind the scenes stuff.
I'd love to chime in and help ID some of the faces, Joe, but they're too small for me!
Any chance you can post a larger photo, Bob?
I do recognize Bobby Burns holding the suitcase. Bor Enots probably knows them all!
And Enots: I had several early scene stills that I sold to a guy named Herman in Jacksonville.
He is a collector of early Jacksonville film history and maybe you already know him.

SteveR

Re: Vim / Jaxon Comedies

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 6:33 pm
by Bob Birchard
Joe Moore wrote:Great shot Bob!

Thanks for posting it.

Can anyone throw in some IDs on the people assembled in the photo?

Curious

Joe


Walter Stull is the mustachioed guy to the right of the suitcase. The fellow to the left of the camera,looking down with a pencil and paper in his hands, is Thomas C. Regan, sometime actor and assistant director. Anyone know what film this might be? It likely dates from 1917.

Re: Vim / Jaxon Comedies

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 11:31 pm
by Richard M Roberts
Bob Birchard wrote:
Joe Moore wrote:Great shot Bob!

Thanks for posting it.

Can anyone throw in some IDs on the people assembled in the photo?

Curious

Joe


Walter Stull is the mustachioed guy to the right of the suitcase. The fellow to the left of the camera,looking down with a pencil and paper in his hands, is Thomas C. Regan, sometime actor and assistant director. Anyone know what film this might be? It likely dates from 1917.



Isn't that BEHIND THE FOOTLIGHTS (1916) ? It looks like the vaudeville one we ran at Slapsticon a few years ago.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Re: Vim / Jaxon Comedies

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 1:55 pm
by Bob Birchard
Richard M Roberts wrote: Isn't that BEHIND THE FOOTLIGHTS (1916) ? It looks like the vaudeville one we ran at Slapsticon a few years ago.

RICHARD M ROBERTS


From the plot synopsis in The Moving Picture World, it does not appear to be from BEHIND THE FOOTLIGHTS, which is set in the "Vim Theatre"--and not the "Pokes & Jabbs Theatre" (as printed on the suitcase) but the MPW synopsis may also be wrong. These things were usually prepared by studio publicists and were not always accurate. However, the plot description does not seem to match the other "gleanable" information from the photo. There are several other 1916 Pokes and Jabbs entries with a backstage setting--titles include BEFORE THE SHOW, ACTORS AND ANVILS. Need to do a little more digging to figure it out.

Re: Vim / Jaxon Comedies

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:06 am
by Rob Stone
Steve: Don't know the guy in JAX... can you e-mail me his contact information? (split_reel@yahoo.com)
Bob: You'll be getting a e-mail from me tomorrow... would love to have more.

The still posted: Pokes & Jabbs dipped into the theatrical setting for a plot many, many times, so it can be difficult to separate one from another. But BEHIND THE FOOTLIGHTS and THE PROPERTY MAN (aka BEFORE THE SHOW) did both take place at the "Vim Theatre"... so this ain't those. Both appear to be performers in this, Burns played a stage hand and Stull a performer in THE PROPERTY MAN.

Some things to consider-----

No Babe Hardy: So could be a Wizard, mid to late Vim, or a Jaxon.

No Billy Ruge: So could be a Wizard, mid Vim or Jaxon. (Ruge made some brief supporting appearances in the later days of Vim after Plump & Runt).

No Ethel Burton: ...at least from first look (unless that is her peeking around the camera). If no EB then definitely a Jaxon.

"Pokes & Jabbs" not "Pokes & Jabs"... although rules are made to be broken and there are exception.... for the most part the double-bb version of their name was only used at Vim. Although the change in the name of the theater makes me think Wizard or Jaxon.

Again just from first look and needed a higher res scan to really see... it appears there is a two or three story building adjacent to the set and I thought Riverside Drive (at least the area where Vim was located) was very low profile as in mainly single story structures but I could be wrong. If I am right then this could be either before pre-JAX Vim (at Wizard's NYC studio or Vim's Bayonne, NJ one) or after at Jaxon's JAX studio (The Garrick studios) or at Eastern Film's studio in Providence, Rhode Island.

Other Pokes & Jabbs that have theaters or actors in the plot: GOOD & PROPER (Vim, 1916), or the first Jaxon ARE ACTORS PEOPLE?(Jaxon, 1917).

Hope this is all clear as mud. I will dig deeper into my notes and hopefully come up with an i.d.

Rob

Re: Vim / Jaxon Comedies

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:34 pm
by Bob Birchard
Well, it could be either Eastern in RI or in Jacksonville. I have other stills of Thomas C. Regan in both settings. I am not at my scanner or I would post, but I have another still of Pokes and Jabbs with an overturned stagecoach and a Western setting--if this might help hone in on the time frame by suggesting a title.

Re: Vim / Jaxon Comedies

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:58 pm
by Frank Flood
Based on pictures I think I recall seeing in the past, the "Pokes and Jabbs - THEATER" on the suitcase that Burns is holding might not mean that they are at the Pokes & Jabbs Theater, but rather that the suitcase belongs to Pokes & Jabbs, and the railroad on which they have been traveling should send it on the local theater in town if performers and suitcase become separated.