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Ida May Park
Ida May Park (December 28, 1879 – June 13, 1954) was an American screenwriter and film director of the silent era, in the early 20th century. She wrote for more than 50 films between 1914 and 1930, and directed 14 films between 1917 and 1920. She was born and died in Los Angeles, California. She was married to film director and producer Joseph De Grasse, with whom she was regularly teamed at Universal. Early career Park got her start in the entertainment industry as a stage actress when she was 15 years old. During her time in the theatre she met her future husband, Joseph De Grasse, also an actor. When Pathé hired De Grasse in 1909, Park was hired as a writer. Together they were hired by Universal. Work at Universal The first screenplay that she wrote was titled ''A Gypsy Romance'' which was developed into a short scenario by director Wallace Reid. Reid also directed the next scenario that she wrote, ''The Man Within''. Park then started to work with De Grasse who direct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world's most populous megacities. Los Angeles is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits , Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to it's east. It covers about , and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steady Company (1915 Film)
''Steady Company'' was a 1915 short silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse and featuring Lon Chaney and Pauline Bush. It was written by Ida May Park, based on a story by Julius G. Furthman. The film is now considered to be lost. A still exists showing Lon Chaney as "Jimmy Ford", meeting Nan's parents for the first time. Historian Michael F. Blake says that the Motion Picture News stated in a review that the film was "produced by Lon Chaney", but that statement is not backed up by any other sources and is probably not true. Plot Nan Brenner comes from a dreary home...her mother is a manly brute, and her father a henpecked alcoholic. They make a living taking in other people's washing, and her mother forces her drunken husband to physically wash the clothes for ten percent of the take, which he spends on booze. Jimmy Ford is a young strapping shipping clerk in a large warehouse, and every evening on the bus ride home, he notices Nan returning from her job in a department sto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Grasp Of Greed
''The Grasp of Greed'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Ida May Park, and starring Lon Chaney and Louise Lovely. The screenplay was adapted from an 1888 H. Rider Haggard story called "Mr. Meeson's Will". The film was released in England as ''Mr. Meeson's Will''. The plot concerns a marooned man's will tattooed on the back of a woman. Chaney had a relatively small part in the film, but in one scene, he does a few dance steps, which show off his grace and agility. An incomplete print of the film exists in the George Eastman House Film Archive (approximately half the film), but it appears all of the Chaney footage is in this surviving portion. Three stills from the film still exist as well, one of which shows Chaney being arrested. Plot John Meeson is a skinflint publisher who has acquired the copyright to a book by Alice Gordon for a small sum of money, which she is forced to accept because she so desperately needs the money to care for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobbie Of The Ballet
''Bobbie of the Ballet'' is a 1916 American silent film, silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse and starring Lon Chaney, Louise Lovely, Gretchen Lederer and Jay Belasco. It was written by Ida May Park, based on a story by Grant Carpenter. Actress Louise Emmons later co-starred in several other Chaney films, including ''The Blackbird'', ''The Unknown'' and ''West of Zanzibar''. John George later appeared in five other Chaney films, including ''The Road to Mandalay'' and ''The Unknown''. Plot Bobbie Brent is a ballet dancer working as a chorus girl in a Broadway musical company, helping her old widowed mother to raise Bobbie's younger brother and sister in the tenements. Jack Stimson leaves his girlfriend Velma Vrooman to start a relationship with Bobbie, and Velma develops a hatred for her new competition. When Bobbie's mother dies, Bobbie dresses up as an old widow herself and pretends the children are hers, so that she can keep the courts from taking custody of her sibling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Gilded Spider
''The Gilded Spider'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Ida May Park and starring Lon Chaney and Louise Lovely. A print exists in the Museo del Cine Pablo C. Ducros Hicken film archive. Plot Giovanni (Lon Chaney), his wife Leonita, their daughter Elisa and his wife's mother Rosa all live in a small Italian village where Giovanni carves plaster statuettes for a living. An American millionaire named Cyrus Kirkham spots Leonita dancing and becomes obsessed with having her. During an attempt to kidnap her, Leonita jumps off the millionaire's yacht and drowns. When Kirkham goes back to America, he marries a woman named Norma Winston, who was in love with a poor man named Burton Armitage, but she marries Kirkham instead for his money. Armitage later comes into money, but he squanders it all away. Years pass and Giovanni moves his family to America. Giovanni's daughter Elisa grows up into a young lady and becomes involved with a young artist n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tangled Hearts
''Tangled Hearts'' is a 1916 silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Ida May Park, and starring Lon Chaney and Louise Lovely. A small fragment (around 2 minutes) of the film survives in a private collection. A still exists showing Chaney in the role of John Hammond, menacing his wife Enid with a pistol. Plot Montgomery Seaton is a rich social parasite who badly neglects his wife Lucille. Enid Hammond is married to John Hammond (Lon Chaney), but she is also Montgomery Seaton's sweetheart. Enid tells Seaton that many years ago, she ran away with a man named John Dalton, only to discover that he was married. She left Dalton and returned home, later marrying John Hammond but not realizing at the time that she was pregnant with Dalton's child. Fortunately, Enid was able to wait until her husband was away on a business trip before giving birth. Not wanting her husband to know she had an illegitimate child, Enid gave the baby to a nurse who raised the little girl. But n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Grip Of Jealousy
''The Grip of Jealousy'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Ida May Park and starring Lon Chaney and Louise Lovely. It was based upon Ida May Park's story "Love Thine Enemy". The film is today considered lost. Two stills exist showing Lon Chaney in two somewhat different make-ups, one as the character Silas Lacey, and the other as Silas Lacey as an older man. Plot The Grant and Morey families have been bitter enemies for generations. Beth Grant and Jack Morey marry secretly, and they leave home when Beth discovers she is pregnant. Her sister Virginia overhears their plans to leave and, unaware that the two are legally married, assumes that Jack has dishonored her sister, whereupon she tells Harry Grant who swears vengeance. Silas Lacey (Lon Chaney), a rich farmer, asks Harry for his permission to marry Virginia, but being from a lower social class, Harry rejects him and literally throws Silas out of the house. Lacey kills Harry Grant, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolly's Scoop
''Dolly's Scoop'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse and featuring Lon Chaney. It was written by Ida May Park, based on a story by Hugh Weir. This was one of the few silent films that subtitled the actors' dialogue at the bottom of the screen, instead of using title cards. Also, this was one of the only Lon Chaney films in which Chaney wound up getting the girl at the end of the picture. A still exists showing Lon Chaney in the role of the reporter, Dan Fisher. A print of the film survives at the British Film and Television Institute in London. It is missing the main title but is otherwise essentially complete. Plot James Fairfax is the editor of the Morning Argus, a scandal sheet that will publish any juicy story, no matter who it hurts. His employees resent his underhanded methods, especially Dolly Clare, one of his reporters. Editor Fairfax is very jealous of his wife Alice's former relations with a man named Philip Ainsworth. Philip's sister come ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Father And The Boys
''Father and the Boys'' is a 1915 American silent comedy film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Ida May Park, and co-starring Lon Chaney and Digby Bell. It is based on a popular 1908 Broadway play produced by Charles Frohman, called ''Father and the Boys'' by George Ade. This was Louise Lovely's American film debut after emigrating from Australia. She made a total of 8 films with Chaney during this time period. Digby Bell reprised his Broadway role as Lemuel Morewood in the film (this was his first film role). Louise Lovely's role of Bessie Brayton was played by Margaret Dale in the play. The makeup-savvy Bell befriended Chaney on the set of this film and the two were seen trading makeup tips behind the scenes. After ''Richelieu'' (1914), this was Lon Chaney's 2nd appearance in a full-length feature film, running approximately 50 minutes, much longer than the shorts he had been appearing in for Universal. A still exists which shows Chaney in the role of Tuck Bartholomew. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Millionaire Paupers
''The Millionaire Paupers'' is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Ida May Park and featuring Lon Chaney and Grace Thompson. The film's working title was ''Fate's a Fiddler''. Actress Olive Carey was advertised in an early promo piece, but apparently did not appear in the finished film. Only a fragment of the film survives in a private collection, having been discovered in the early 1990s. Plot Mabel Burne-Smith hopes to marry her daughter Enid to wealthy Allen Winthrop as a way to extricate herself from her debts. She and Allen's mother agree to the marriage, even though Allen and Enid have never met. Enid wants nothing to do with it and escapes to a tenement house where she rents a room. Meanwhile, Allen has received an anonymous letter stating that Albert Martin (Lon Chaney), the landlord he hired to run one of his tenements, is a crook. Allen disguises himself and rents a room in his own tenement, which coincidentally is the same house whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lon Of Lone Mountain
''Lon of Lone Mountain'' is a 1915 American short silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse, witten by Ida May Park, and featuring Lon Chaney and Arthur Shirley. The film is now presumed lost. A still exists showing Lon Chaney in the role of "Lon", the mountain man. Plot Melissa lives in a backward mountain community with her stern stepfather, Dan Hadley. Her sweetheart, Lon Moore, is horrified by the beatings Melissa receives from her stepdad. Meanwhile, a handsome new schoolmaster has arrived in the community, and all of the women fawn over him. The schoolteacher takes an interest in Melissa, protects her from abuse and finally induces her to enroll as a student at the school. Lon becomes wildly jealous, and convinces the other men that the schoolteacher is out to steal all of their women. Lon soon realizes however that the teacher actually has good intentions, and when the townspeople make an attempt to kill him, Lon shields the man and is injured himself. Melissa realizes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Mother's Atonement
''A Mother's Atonement'' is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Ida May Park, and featuring Lon Chaney and Cleo Madison. Chaney played a dual role as Ben Morrison (both as an old man and his younger self). Two stills exist showing Lon Chaney in both of the roles he plays in the film. A partially complete copy (reels one and two of three) are stored in the Library of Congress and are currently circulating on dvd. Roughly the last ten minutes of the film are lost however. Plot Ben Morrison (Lon Chaney) and his daughter Jen (Cleo Madison) live on an island not far from the mainland. Jasper Crane, a crude middle-aged man, wants to marry Jen, and bargains with Ben to buy her. Ben relates the story of how his wife Alice deserted him many years ago, leaving him for a city slicker, John Newton. (In the flashback sequence, Chaney plays his younger self.) Jen overhears her father bargaining to sell her to Mr. Crane, and she is horrified. Unwilling to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
