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Frank D. Williams (cinematographer)
Frank D. Williams (March 21, 1893 – October 15, 1961) was a pioneering cinematographer who was active in the early days of the motion picture industry. He developed and patented the traveling matte shot. Early life Frank D. Williams was born March 21, 1893, to James and Lucinda Williams in the small community of Nashville, Missouri. Career In 1912, Williams became a cameraman at Keystone Studios. There, in 1914, he was the photographer for many of Charlie Chaplin's first-year pictures, including '' Kid Auto Races at Venice'' which was the first film released in which The Tramp appeared. Williams is credited as appearing in ''Kid Auto Races at Venice'', playing a cameraman, but his appearance is in doubt. For a time he was chief cinematographer at Keystone, and a large number of the studio's 1914 films are credited to him as photographer. He defected to work for the short-lived Sterling Motion Pictures, but returned to Keystone when Sterling closed in 1915. He also worked a ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Gilmore
Paul Gilmore (1873 – 1962) was a popular stage actor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who also appeared in no fewer than 10 silent films. Additionally, he owned and managed for many years the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City – giving work to such future stars as Robert Walker Sr., Jennifer Jones and Carl Reiner. In his declining years, he and his daughter, Virginia, operated the Gilmore Summer Stock Theatre in Duluth, Minnesota. Early career Paul Howard Gilmore was born July 14, 1873, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Blue Book of Players, by A.D. Storm, 1901, pg. 218 His parents intended him to pursue a law career, but as a teenager Gilmore developed an interest in acting when he performed in amateur plays at Milwaukee's Grand Opera House, which was owned by his successful publisher father."How Chance Made Paul Gilmore An Actor," San Antonio Sunday Light, San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 21, 1906 page 4 Theatrical producer Jacob Litt saw Gilmore perform and, in 1891, offered him a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roscoe Arbuckle
Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd as well as with his nephew, Al St. John. He also mentored Charlie Chaplin, Monty Banks and Bob Hope, and brought vaudeville star Buster Keaton into the movie business. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s and one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, signing a contract in 1920 with Paramount Pictures for $14,000 (). Arbuckle was the defendant in three widely publicized trials between November 1921 and April 1922 for the rape and manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe. Rappe had fallen ill at a party hosted by Arbuckle at San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel in September 1921, and died four days later. A friend of Rappe accused Arbuckle of raping and accidentally killing her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Her Friend The Bandit
''Her Friend the Bandit'' is a 1914 American comedy silent film made by Keystone Studios starring Charles Chaplin and Mabel Normand, both of whom co-directed the movie. It is considered lost. Synopsis Charlie plays an elegant bandit with whom Mabel has a flirtation. Mabel hosts a party. Charlie attends as a French count (Count de Beans). Charlie's uncouth behavior shocks the other party guests. The Keystone Cops eventually are summoned and remove Charlie from the party. Chaplin's lost films ''Her Friend the Bandit'' and '' A Woman of the Sea'' are Chaplin's lost films, as no copy is known to exist. As more and more supposedly "lost" silent films emerge, there is some hope that a copy of Her Friend the Bandit will surface in a private collection somewhere. As late as 1965, five of Chaplin's early comedies for Keystone were considered forever lost. Copies of four of them have surfaced in the intervening decades. ''Her Friend the Bandit'' is still considered Chaplin’s on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Busy Day
''A Busy Day'' is a 1914 short film starring Charlie Chaplin and Mack Swain. Plot In ''A Busy Day'', a wife (played by an energetic Charlie Chaplin) becomes jealous of her husband's interest in another woman during a military parade. On her way to attack the couple, the wife interrupts the set of a film, knocking over a film director and a police officer. Finally, the husband pushes the wife off a pier and she falls into the harbor. Notes According to the 1965 book ''The Films of Charlie Chaplin'', ''A Busy Day'' is the first of three films in which Chaplin plays a woman. The other two were ''The Masquerader (1914 film), The Masquerader'' (1914) and ''A Woman (1915 film), A Woman'' (1915). Chaplin used the wardrobe of fellow Keystone player Alice Davenport. It was typical for Mack Sennett to shoot Keystone comedies using real events—such as a parade—as the background for comic mayhem. This short film (about half a reel) was shot near San Pedro Harbor in less than two hours. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caught In The Rain
''Caught in the Rain'' is a 1914 American comedy silent film starring Charlie Chaplin. This film was the first of many movies in which Chaplin both directed and played the lead. The short film was produced by Mack Sennett for Keystone Studios with a running time of 16 minutes. Plot The action starts in a park, where a man is trying to romance a matronly woman, wearing a fur stole. The man leaves to go to a concession stall, Cornucopias, and Charlie comes along in his infamous tramp costume and tries to give her a rose. He makes the woman laugh by almost soaking himself at the drinking fountain. He then sits next to her on the bench. The original man returns and is angry. He grabs Charlie by the face. He argues with the woman, waving his arms around and hitting Charlie with each movement. His last swing knocks Charlie clean over the bench. They leave and return to a hotel. Charlie is despondent. He leaves the park and goes to a bar. He meets a policeman outside. He staggers, n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twenty Minutes Of Love
''Twenty Minutes of Love'' is a 1914 American comedy silent film made by Keystone Studios. The film is widely reported as Charlie Chaplin's directorial debut; some sources name Joseph Maddern as the director, but generally credit Chaplin as the creative force. Reviews The reviewer for ''Bioscope'' wrote, "Here Chaplin plays the role of the undesired but persistent suitor. The comic element is given special prominence and is quite safe in the hands of this well known comedian." A reviewer from ''Kinematograph Weekly'' wrote, "Plenty of the comic element is introduced and the person who does not laugh at the peculiar antics of Chas. Chaplin--well, must be hard to please." Cast *Charles Chaplin – Pickpocket *Minta Durfee – Woman *Edgar Kennedy – Lover *Gordon Griffith – Boy *Chester Conklin – Pickpocket *Josef Swickard – Victim *Hank Mann – Sleeper * Eva Nelson See also *Charlie Chaplin filmography Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) was an English actor, comedian, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Film Johnnie
''A Film Johnnie'' is a 1914 American-made motion picture starring Charles Chaplin, Roscoe Arbuckle, and Mabel Normand. Cast * Charles Chaplin - The Film Johnnie * Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle - Himself * Virginia Kirtley - The Keystone Girl * Peggy Pearce - The Keystone Girl * Mabel Normand - Mabel * Ford Sterling - Himself Plot Charlie goes to the movies and falls in love with a pretty girl he sees on the screen. He goes to Keystone Studios to find the actress. While there, he disrupts the shooting of a film. A fire breaks out. Charlie is blamed, gets squirted with a firehose, and is shoved by the female star. The title of the film is a variation on the term "stage door johnnie". It was once commonly used to describe someone who regularly loitered near the actors' entrances of theaters hoping to meet the players or perhaps land a job onstage or backstage. Reviews A reviewer for ''Bioscope'' wrote of Chaplin and ''A Film Johnnie'', "Another triumph for the old Karno comedian. Kno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wild Honey (1922 Film)
''Wild Honey'' is a 1922 American silent romantic adventure film directed by Wesley Ruggles. Produced and distributed by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, the film is based on a book of the same title by Cynthia Stockley and stars Priscilla Dean, and features Noah Beery, Sr. and Wallace Beery in supporting roles. It is notable for the first use of a traveling matte special effect. It is not known whether the film currently survives. Synopsis Despite her father's debt to him, Lady Vivienne (Priscilla Dean) refuses to marry the wealthy but villainous Henry Porthen (Noah Beery). Porthen devises a plot to lure Vivienne to his country home using her weak-willed friend, Freddy (Lloyd Whitlock). In the course of events, Vivienne faints, Porthen is killed by his secretary Joan (Helen Raymond), and Freddy runs away for fear that he will be blamed. Three years later, Vivienne travels to Transvaal to investigate some problem property she owns. She is rescued from bandits by homes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Williams Process
The ''Williams process'' or ''Williams double'' ''matting process'' is a matte creation technique patented by the American cinematographer Frank D. Williams in 1918. Unlike prior matte techniques, it allowed for the integration of the actors' movements with previously shot backgrounds. Due to this invention, Williams was able to found his own film lab, the Frank Williams Studio or Frank Williams Laboratories, devoted to the creation of all sorts of special effects (not just the Williams process) and where key figures of the special effects industry such as John P. Fulton worked. Origin In 1912 Frank Williams began working on his future invention under precarious conditions: he alternated periods of time working as a cameraman and saving money with others dedicated to working on his project, usually in the bathroom of wherever he was living in at the moment. His first attempt to use the William process was that same year, while he worked as a cameraman for the director Mack Sen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haworth Pictures Corporation
Haworth Pictures Corporation was a film studio established by Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa in March 1918. Haworth Pictures Corporation was Hollywood’s first Asian-owned production company. Filmography * ''His Birthright'' (1918) * ''The Temple of Dusk'' (1918) * '' Banzai'' (1918, short) * ''Bonds of Honor'' (1919) * ''A Heart in Pawn'' (1919) * ''The Courageous Coward'' (1919) * '' His Debt'' (1919) * ''The Man Beneath'' (1919) * ''The Gray Horizon'' (1919) * '' The House of Intrigue'' (1919) * ''The Dragon Painter'' (1919) * ''Bonds of Honor'' (1919) * ''The Illustrious Prince'' (1919) * ''The Tong Man'' (1919) * ''The Beggar Prince'' (1920) * ''The Brand of Lopez'' (1920) * ''The Devil's Claim'' (1920) * ''Li Ting Lang'' (1920) * ''An Arabian Knight ''An Arabian Knight'' is a 1920 American drama film directed by Charles Swickard and produced by Sessue Hayakawa's Haworth Pictures Corporation. Its survival status is classified as unknown, which suggests that it is a lost ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sessue Hayakawa
, known professionally as , was a Japanese actor and a matinée idol. He was a popular star in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and early 1920s. Hayakawa was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve stardom as a leading man in the United States and Europe. His "broodingly handsome" good looks and typecasting as a sexually dominant villain made him a heartthrob among American women during a time of racial discrimination, and he became one of the first male sex symbols of Hollywood. After withdrawing from the Japanese naval academy and attempting suicide at 18, Hayakawa attended the University of Chicago, where he studied political economics in accordance with his wealthy parents' wish that he become a banker. Upon graduating, he traveled to Los Angeles in order to board a scheduled ship back to Japan, but decided to try out acting in Little Tokyo. There, Hayakawa impressed Hollywood figures and was signed on to star in ''The Typhoon'' (1914). He made his break ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rough House
''The Rough House'' is a 1917 American two-reel silent comedy film written by, directed by, and starring both Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. ''The Rough House'' was Keaton's first film as a director. Plot Mr Rough (Arbuckle) falls asleep while smoking and wakes up to find his bed on fire. He calmly walks out of his bedroom, through the dining room, and into the kitchen. He gets a single cup of water, returns to the bedroom, and throws it on the fire. He repeats this several times; meanwhile, he drinks some of the water, flirts with the maid in the kitchen, and stops to eat an apple in the dining room. Mrs Rough and her mother discover the fire and insist on more effective methods, so Rough obtains a garden hose from a gardener (Keaton). After initially squirting everything but the fire, Rough finally succeeds in putting it out. A delivery boy (also Keaton) arrives. He and the cook (St John) get into a fight over the affections of the maid and chase each other al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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