''The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford'' is a 1915–1916 American
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
serial produced by the
Wharton Studio Wharton may refer to:
Academic institutions
* Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
* Wharton County Junior College
* Paul R. Wharton High School
* Wharton Center for Performing Arts, at Michigan State University
Places
* Wharton, C ...
in
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
, and starring
Burr McIntosh
William Burr McIntosh (August 21, 1862 – April 28, 1942) was an American lecturer, photographer, film studio owner, silent film actor, author, publisher of ''The'' ''Burr McIntosh Monthly'',Max Figman.
Cast
Principal cast (all episodes)
*
Burr McIntosh
William Burr McIntosh (August 21, 1862 – April 28, 1942) was an American lecturer, photographer, film studio owner, silent film actor, author, publisher of ''The'' ''Burr McIntosh Monthly'',Max Figman as Horace "Blackie" Daw
* Lolita Robertson as Violet Warden
* Frances White as Fanny Warden
Supporting cast (various episodes)
* Dick Bennard
* Harry Carr
* Joseph Colburn
*
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his c ...
(credited as O. N. Hardy)
* Malcolm Head
* Harry Mainhall as Benzy Falls Jr.
* Dana T. Morley as Edward Robinson
* Allan Murnane as Andre Perigourd
* Edward O'Connor as Onion Jones
* Violet Palmer
* Edward Redway as Edward Bang
* Harry Robinson
* F. W. Stewart
* Lawrence Wood
Although
Frederic de Belleville
Frederic De Belleville (February 17, 1855 in Liège – February 25, 1923 in New York City) was a Belgian-born American stage actor.
He began his career in 1873 in London and arrived in the United States in 1880. An early newspaper account recor ...
was originally announced for the part of Wallingford,"'Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford' Is at Last in Films" ''Motion Picture News'', vol. 12, no. 2 (17 July 1915), p. 64. he was replaced before filming began by journalist, photographer, and stage actor
Burr McIntosh
William Burr McIntosh (August 21, 1862 – April 28, 1942) was an American lecturer, photographer, film studio owner, silent film actor, author, publisher of ''The'' ''Burr McIntosh Monthly'',Max Figman and Lolita Robertson.
Among the supporting cast was young
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his c ...
, then 23 years old but already an experienced actor who had appeared in more than 60 silent comedies produced by the
Lubin Manufacturing Company
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark.
History
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was formed in 1 ...
in 1914 and 1915. Hardy was cast in at least four of the first five episodes of ''Wallingford'', and perhaps more, although in most cases his appearance in publicity stills is the only evidence for his participation, since the films themselves do not survive. An exception is episode 5 (''The Lilac Splash''), in which he plays a burglar caught by Wallingford and Daw and outwitted in a crooked game of poker. He is not known to have appeared in any subsequent episodes, and by the fall of 1915 he had moved on to other work.
File:Burr McIntosh as Wallingford (1915).jpg, Burr McIntosh as Wallngford
File:Wallingford.001.jpg, Lolita Robertson, Frances White, Oliver Hardy, and Harry Mainhall, Jr.
Stage actor Max Figman (SAYRE 686).jpg, Max Figman as Horace "Blackie" Daw
Plot
Wallingford and his friend and accomplice Horace "Blackie" Daw are amiable con men who travel the country promoting fraudulent financial schemes. In the Wharton serial, they are approached by two orphans, Violet and Fanny Warden, who have been cheated out of their inheritance by a clique of corrupt businessmen. Wallingford and Daw agree to help them, using their talents as swindlers to trick the unscrupulous financiers and recover the money. Although the stories are connected, each film is self-contained and focuses on a different member of the clique.
Background
''Wallingford'' was the first comedy silent film serial. It followed on the success of the Wharton studio's dramatic serial ''
The Exploits of Elaine
''The Exploits of Elaine'' is a 1914 American film serial in the damsel in distress genre of '' The Perils of Pauline'' (1914).
''The Exploits of Elaine'' tells the story of a young woman named Elaine who, with the help of a detective, tries to f ...
'', and its sequel ''
The New Exploits of Elaine
''The New Exploits of Elaine'' is a 1915 American action film serial directed by Louis J. Gasnier, Leopold Wharton and Theodore Wharton. It is presumed to be lost.
Cast
* Pearl White as Elaine Dodge
* Creighton Hale as Walter Jameson
* Arnold D ...
'', both of which had been inspired by the enormous popularity of '' The Perils of Pauline'', produced by
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
in 1914. The new comedy serial was based on the character of J. Rufus Wallingford, the subject of a series of stories by
George Randolph Chester
George Randolph Chester (January 27, 1869 – February 26, 1924) was an American writer and screenwriter, film editor, and director.
Biography
Chester was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 27, 1869. He was the author of such popular works su ...
, which first appeared in ''The Cosmopolitan'' magazine and were subsequently collected in the book ''Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford: A Cheerful Account of the Rise and Fall of an American Business Buccaneer,'' published in 1908. The stories had already inspired a stage play by
George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer.
Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...
in 1910, and there were other film adaptations in 1914, 1916, 1921, and 1931.
Production
The serial was produced by the brothers
Theodore
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...
and
Leopold Wharton
Leopold Wharton (September 1, 1870 – September 27, 1927) was an American film director, producer and writer. He directed 37 films between 1911 and 1922, including the 1915 film ''The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford'', which featur ...
and filmed chiefly at the
Wharton Studio Wharton may refer to:
Academic institutions
* Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
* Wharton County Junior College
* Paul R. Wharton High School
* Wharton Center for Performing Arts, at Michigan State University
Places
* Wharton, C ...
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
. Filming began in July 1915, and the finished films were released between October 1915 and February 1916. Fourteen episodes were produced, each two reels long (running time approximately 20 minutes). Most of them are now lost or are preserved only in fragments. The titles of the individual films are:
# The Bungalow Bungle
# Three Rings and a Goat
# A Rheumatic Joint
# The Master Stroke
# The Lilac Splash
# A Trap for Trapp
# The Bang Sun Engine
# A Transaction in Summer Boarders
# Detective Blackie
# Apples and Eggbeaters
# A Stony Deal
# Buying a Bank with Bunk
# The Missing Heir
# Lord Southpaugh
Reception
The film adaptation of Chester's popular Wallingford stories was eagerly anticipated. In July 1915, when production began, ''Motion Picture News'' wrote that "The big promoter of shady financial schemes is so peculiarly American, his character is so well drawn, and his adventures so startingly original and humorous that the series should make wonderfully attractive pictures." The films were heavily promoted in the trade papers and each episode was reviewed as if it were an independent feature .
Critical reception was generally good: in response to the first episode, ''The Dramatic Mirror'' wrote that "Max Figman makes a thoroughly delightful Blackie Daw, and Burr McIntosh displays the suave smooth unctuousness of George Randolph Chester's mythical character in a manner so convincing that one almost imagines that he has just stepped from the pages of the book." A few reviewers dissented, however, with ''Variety'' noting that the emphasis on financial chicanery would have little appeal to women or children, since "women as a rule who go to the pictures have no head nor inclination for 'business'."
Preservation and home video release
In 2020 a newly restored version of ''The Lilac Splash'', the fifth episode of the serial, was released on Blu-Ray disc by Flicker Alley as part of a collection of solo films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The restoration, by Lobster Films in association with the U.S. Library of Congress, was based on the only surviving nitrate print of the film, now in the Library of Congress. It is a shortened version of the original two-reeler, consisting chiefly of the first reel, which includes Oliver Hardy's performance as the burglar. The first reel of ''The Bang Sun Engine'', the seventh episode, is also known to survive,Stone, p. 100 together with shorter fragments from other films in the series.
See also
*
List of American films of 1915
This List of American films of 1915 is a compilation of American films released in the year 1915.
A–Z
Serials
Short films
See also
* 1915 in the United States
References
External links
1915 filmsat the Internet Movie Dat ...
*
Oliver Hardy filmography
__NOTOC__
These are the films of Oliver Hardy as an actor. For the filmography of Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of Am ...