''Little Mickey Grogan'' is a 1927 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

James Leo Meehan James Leo Meehan (1891 – 1943) was an American film director and screenwriter.Munden p. 411 He married the daughter of writer Gene Stratton-Porter, and adapted several of his mother-in-law's novels for the screen. He directed ''Campus Sweethea ...

and written by Dwight Cummins, Dorothy Yost and Charles Kerr. The film stars

Frankie Darro Frankie Darro (born Frank Johnson, Jr.; December 22, 1917 – December 25, 1976) was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles ...

, Lassie Lou Ahern,

Jobyna Ralston Jobyna Ralston (born Jobyna Lancaster Raulston, November 21, 1899 – January 22, 1967) was an American stage and film actress. She had a featured role in ''Wings'' in 1927, but is perhaps best remembered today for her on-screen chemistry with H ...

Carroll Nye Robert Carroll Nye (October 4, 1901 – March 17, 1974) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1925 and 1944. His most memorable role was Frank Kennedy, Scarlett's second husband, in '' Gone with the Wind''. ...

, Eugene Jackson, William Scott and

Vadim Uraneff Vadim Uraneff (6 February 1895 – 5 April 1952) was a Russian actor and librettist who helped John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn when it was hoped they would appear in '' The Song of Solomon''. He was also a mime who played Lucianus in ''Haml ...

. The film was released on December 27, 1927, by

Film Booking Offices of America Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), registered as FBO Pictures Corp., was an American film studio of the silent era, a midsize producer and distributor of mostly low-budget films. The business began in 1918 as Robertson-Cole, an Anglo-Americ ...

Plot

Mickey Grogan (

), a nine-year old vagabond of the streets, assumes the responsibility for the well-being of a fellow homeless waif (Susan Dale, played by Lassie Lou Ahern), a sensitive architect named Jeffrey Shore (

) who is out of work for being too poor to pay for an operation necessary to save his remaining vision, and a kind-hearted office worker (Winnie, played by

) who is being stalked by a belligent Al Nevers (Billy Scott) as his overbearing attentions increasingly turn violent. On top of this, he also helps an industrialist (

Crauford Kent Crauford Kent (12 October 1881 – 14 May 1953) was an English character actor based in the United States. He has also been credited as Craufurd Kent

) who is looking for a new factory design for his upcoming fleet of buildings, ones showcasing "plenty of light and air." In between the assistance he gives others, he tries to make a living from selling discarded items from the city dump and provides moments of vivacious street entertainment with fellow dancers Susan Dale and a strangely uncredited Eugene Jackson.

Thematic and Stylistic Influences

In his lengthy analysis of the film, film scholar and historian Jeffrey Crouse writes that "''Little Mickey Grogan'' begins as if what we were watching was a kind of forerunner of

Italian neorealism Italian neorealism ( it, Neorealismo), also known as the Golden Age, is a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They pri ...

, like Jean Renoir's ''

Toni Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name. In Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Finnish, it is a masculine given name used as a short form of the names derived from Antonius like Antonio, Ante or Anttoni. In Danish, English, Finnish, Norwe ...

'' or Yasujiro Ozu's '' An Inn at Tokyo'' (both 1935), or the type of Zolaesque

social realist Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

cinema exercised during the silent era in such films as ''

La Roue ''La Roue'' (, 'The Wheel') is a French silent film, directed by Abel Gance, who also directed '' Napoléon'' and '' J'accuse''. It was released in 1923. The film used then-revolutionary lighting techniques, and rapid scene changes and cuts. ...

'' ( Gance, 1923) or '' The Salvation Hunters'' ( von Sternberg, 1925). ... owever the viewer conceives of ''Little Mickey Grogan'' as a work of proto-neorealism, it is a perception that the movie soon corrects. Instead, it emerges neither as a neorealist film nor as a Buñuelian-type

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

text, but as an engagingly well-polished thematic and stylistic example of what would become, with the consolidation of the studio system around 1930,

classical Hollywood cinema Classical Hollywood cinema is a term used in film criticism to describe both a narrative and visual style of filmmaking which became characteristic of American cinema between the 1910s (rapidly after World War I) and the 1960s. It eventually b ...

Production Background

''Little Mickey Grogan'' is based on syndicated stories of the same name written by Arthur Guy Emprey, whose war experiences fighting as an American in the British army during World War I served as the material for his 1917 book, ''

Over the Top Over the top may refer to: Music * "Over the Top", a 2017 song by Hey! Say! JUMP * ''Over the Top'' (Cozy Powell album), 1979 album by British drummer Cozy Powell * ''Over the Top'' (Infinite album), 2011 album by South Korean band Infinite * ...

'', a big commercial success that sold a quarter of a million copies. Although noting the differences between them, Crouse theorizes that Emprey might have conceived of the character Mickey Grogan based on his time in France where

Louis Feuillade Louis Feuillade (; 19 February 1873 – 25 February 1925) was a French filmmaker of the silent era. Between 1906 and 1924, he directed over 630 films. He is primarily known for the crime serials '' Fantômas'', '' Les Vampires'' and '' Judex ...

's Bout de Zan formed the basis of a popular serial that ran from 1912 to 1916. FBO acquired the rights to serve as a vehicle for child actor Frankie Darro, one of the studio's top emerging stars. Fresh off the success of her role as Little Harry in

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

's epic, ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...

'' ( Pollard, 1927), Lassie Lou Ahern was cast opposite him. To give the film extra star power, accomplished

Harold Lloyd Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many silent comedy films.Obituary '' Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55. One of the most influential film c ...

costar

was added. Made in-between her leading roles in Ted Wilde's ''

The Kid Brother ''The Kid Brother'' is a 1927 American silent film, silent comedy film, comedy film starring Harold Lloyd. It was successful and popular upon release and today is considered by critics and fans to be one of Lloyd's best films, integrating el ...

'' and

William Wellman William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and military pilot. He was known for his work in crime, adventure, and action genre films, often focusing on a ...

's ''

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

'', 1927 turned out to be her crowning year. The force that brought the Emprey stories to FBO was writer Gene Statton-Porter, one of the biggest bestselling authors of the early twentieth century, of which '' A Girl of the Limberlost'' (1909) is her most well-known. She formed her own production company to have control over the screen adaptations of her works, as well as those by other family-friendly authors. After her unexpected death in 1922, her daughter Jeanette Stratton-Porter took over, following her mother's original conception. She hand-picked screenwriters, directors (including husband,

), camera operators, and film editors. They released their work through the American arm of the British distribution company, the Robertson-Cole Corporation, and eventually through the FBO. Among the artists who worked with Jeanette Stratton-Porter were the notable contributions of women. Chief among them were Dorothy Yost (who, along with husband Dwight Cummins, was the script writer on ''Little Mickey Grogan''), as well as fellow writers

Marion Orth Marion Orth (December 5, 1900 – December 1, 1984) was an American screenwriter of the silent and sound eras of Hollywood. She was a frequent collaborator of director Lois Weber. Biography Orth began her career as a playwright and magazin ...

and Adele S. Buffington."Yost's work is marked by an ethical current that runs through er scripts and as such figure as tales of moral ''uplift''. In addition, she was also known for scripts that featured characters from a range of diverse cultural backgrounds. She did not shy away from a view of humanity that took in and showed different ethnic groups." All of this is reflected in ''Little Mickey Grogan''. In this sense, a Whitmanesque strain runs through the film, syncing well with Emprey and Stratton-Porter's sensibilities.

Restoration

Restoration on ''Little Mickey Grogan'' begin in 2015 when surviving cast member Lassie Lou Ahern approached Jeffrey Crouse to ask whether her final silent film existed anymore. (Surpassed only by

Diana Serra Cary Diana Serra Cary (born Peggy-Jean Montgomery; October 29, 1918 – February 24, 2020), known as Baby Peggy, was an American child film actress, vaudevillian, author and silent film historian. She was the last living person with a substantial car ...

's "Baby Peggy," Ahern would prove to be the last Hollywood performer who enjoyed a substantial career in 1920s film.) After a worldwide search, an original 35mm nitrate copy was found at the Lobster Film Archive in Paris. Through a crowd source funding campaign, a digital copy of it was made by film preservationist Eric Grayson, and work on restoring the movie was performed by Grayson, Thad Komorowski, and Nevada State College students Aubrey Balzart and Cinnamon Stephens. A newly commissioned score was written by Dr. Philip Carli. Meanwhile, the film's intertitles were changed back to the English ones from the lone French print using an original copy of the script that Ahern still possessed. In addition, a 50-minute documentary on Ahern's career, ''Lassie Lou Ahern: A Voice for the Silent Age'' was made in 2016, and in 2018 a 7,000 word assessment of the film by Crouse appeared as well as a commentary track recorded of Ahern discussing the film and aspects of her silent film career. Among those who championed the restoration were

Kevin Brownlow Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...

, George Toles,

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

Michael Feinstein Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for cele ...

, David Shepard,

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film i ...

, and Carol Cling. Owing to very complex issues of copyright, a Blu-ray release of the film, with several bonus features, was delayed until the film enters the public domain. It does so on January 1, 2023. After screenings at silent film festivals throughout 2023, the Blu-Ray release of the film will follow. In 2020, filmmaker Yves Jeuland directed a 145 minute documentary on Charlie Chaplin titled '' Charlie Chaplin, Le Génie de la Liberté'' which features a 30 second extract from ''Little Mickey Grogan''. The film played at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, and was later aired on French television. The producer was Serge Bromberg.

Historical value

''Little Mickey Grogan'' is the only FBO film starring Frankie Darro known to have survived. It is also the sole Gene Stratton-Porter Production Company motion picture distributed through FBO known to exist today. Of the 449 films made by FBO, just 123 remain. Interestingly, there is an ostentatious shot in the film in which a large billboard advertises another FBO film, the now lost ''

Judgment of the Hills ''Judgment of the Hills'' is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by James Leo Meehan and starring Virginia Valli, Frankie Darro and Orville Caldwell.Munden p.397 The film is set in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky during World War I. ...

'' released earlier in 1927, and also featuring star Darro, director Meehan, screenwriter Yost, and editor Allen G. Siegler.''Judgment of the Hills'' in "List of 7200 Lost US Silent Feature Films 1912-29," The Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/Lost. Retrieved March 10, 2020

Cast

as Mickey Grogan * Lassie Lou Ahern as Susan Dale *

as Winifred Davidson *

as Jeffrey Shore * William Scott as Al Nevers *

as Crooked *Don Bailey as Truant Officer *

Crauford Kent Crauford Kent (12 October 1881 – 14 May 1953) was an English character actor based in the United States. He has also been credited as Craufurd Kent

as Mr. Cabel * Eugene Jackson as Dancing Boy (Uncredited) * Mary Gordon as Landlady (Uncredited) *

Bert Roach Egbert "Bert" Roach (August 21, 1891 – February 16, 1971) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 320 films between 1914 and 1951. He was born in Washington, D.C., and died in Los Angeles, California, age 79. Selected filmogr ...

as Intimidated Man (Uncredited)

References

External links

* {{James Leo Meehan 1927 films 1920s English-language films 1927 comedy films Film Booking Offices of America films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Films directed by James Leo Meehan 1920s American films Silent American comedy films