SilentComedyMafia.com

Our friend Leonard Maltin has written about CineMuseum's Sennett project and the month long TCM festival which starts this Thursday:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/leonardmalti ... -of-comedy

I have not been posting much lately, the project has kept us busy beyond description, but I want to take a moment to thank all of the Mafiosos who have been so instrumental in pulling off what would otherwise have been an impossible task. For everyone here who donated materials, information, time and support, we thank you. Richard, Brent, Steve Massa, David Pearson, Joe Adamson, Ed Watz and Robert Arkus in particular have dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and effort to help us get everything right. From 4am phone calls, an avalanche of emails, and repeated trips to FedEx to get materials into the proper hands -- these fine scholars are at the very core of breathing new life into these long neglected comedies. We are all in your debt.

I will try to post more as things here as production moves forward.

-- Paul E. Gierucki

Okay, I know some of you Mafians watched this stuff last night....start typin'!


RICHARD M ROBERTS

My DVR was smokin' last night, Richard! This morning I quickly scanned the films to make sure they recorded okay and take a peek at what I'll be sitting back to enjoy in the days to come. There are a lot of rarities among these Sennett films and the scores are great. Can't wait for the DVD set to come out. But I'm sure Paul needs to catch his breath after delivering all this material to TCM, so I'll patiently wait to put in my pre-order when the opportunity presents itself. Just curious why the original version of "Tillie's Punctured Romance" shown at Slapsticon several years ago wasn't part of the package. Were there licensing issues? My thanks to Paul, Brittany and all involved!

Jim K

I was surprised by the sly irony found throughout THE MANICURE LADY (11). Mack's gentle barber yearning for the gold-digging manicurist plays out with subtle touches of wit that I didn't know the old boy had in him at the time. There is nothing worse than a distracted barber with a 12 inch blade in his hand. At one point he is so preoccupied with the manicurist's coquettish behavior with her customer, that Mack's ignored customer grabs the razor and proceeds to shave himself. And is this the first time we see the old gag of an engagement ring being declined because of it's size? Class boundaries plays into this short film also - which didn't surprise me - but juxtaposing the two luncheon scenes and watching our flirt become uncomfortable with her high-toned surroundings helps humanize her for the ending clinch.

A charming, little film for 1911.

Recently watched THE GREAT TOE MYSTERY (1914). Great to see a younger Charley Chase (as Charlie Parrott, I presume) in one of his first leading roles; with Alice Howell, Dixie Chene?, Rube Miller?
This brings up an interesting question, perhaps. Was Charley ever billed on-screen other than as Chase? I'm not sure how many leads he actually had before Roach. I've seen MARRIED TO ORDER (1918), but I don't recall his billing. I know his director credits are mostly as Parrott.

David Denton wrote:Recently watched THE GREAT TOE MYSTERY (1914). Great to see a younger Charley Chase (as Charlie Parrott, I presume) in one of his first leading roles; with Alice Howell, Dixie Chene?, Rube Miller?
This brings up an interesting question, perhaps. Was Charley ever billed on-screen other than as Chase? I'm not sure how many leads he actually had before Roach. I've seen MARRIED TO ORDER (1918), but I don't recall his billing. I know his director credits are mostly as Parrott.

Well, Keystones pre-Triangle don't credit their stars, and I don't think MARRIED TO ORDER survives with original opening titles intact, so the question of Chase/Parrott billing is a good one (and who knows what work he did for Christie/Universal before going to Keystone?).

I believe THE GREAT TOE MYSTERY is indeed Parrott's first leading role, and it's an odd, almost fey character he's playing. But isn't it nice to see how pretty Alice Howell was out of her usual zany hairdo and garb? And you can remove the question marks from both Dixie Chene and Rube MIller, they are indeed there.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

I just watched "Down on the Farm" on my DVR and got a kick seeing a member of the production crew inadverently walk through the background of a scene with Harry Gribbon and Bert Roach in the general store set ... and then seeing the kid hiding in a wooden box on the back of Louise Fazenda's racing truck with "Eastman Kodak Co." poorly scratched out on it's side.

DOWN ON THE FARM ... I was so happy to see this in it's complete form from such beautiful material ... and that open was stunning!! Same goes for so many other titles that I've never seen or knew existed until they aired on TCM!! It's also great to finally have definitive versions of those films that have always circulated, but in various forms and quality; I had TEN DOLLARS OR TEN DAYS on 8 mm, but seeing it from what looked like a 35 mm print ... and at the correct speed, was an absolute joy!! Thank you Paul and Brittany, for your incredible work and everyone else involved in making this project a reality.

Okay, so now that all these Sennetts have run on TCM, the question has to be: How many weeks until Jim Neibaur's book on Mack Sennett comes out?


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Richard - How many years before your Roach book comes out? A man can only live so long ;-)