Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Tuesday, March 05, 2013


The Art Shop Watch For 3/5/13

SHERLOCK HOLMES JOINS THE SECRET SERVICE --- How good was William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes? He might have been the all-time definitive one. Sir Arthur C. Doyle thought so, but then, of course, he didn't live to see Robert Downey Jr. enact the role (only half-kidding here, as I think Downey is a terrific modern Holmes). Author and actor buddied up and stayed close for a rest of lifetimes. We who watched Basil Rathbone on loop-served syndication think him the best, but 30/40's folk remembering Gillette on stage may well have thought Rathbone a travesty upon a great thesp who'd done the part 1300 times over a thirty year period and in a 1916 silent film since gone missing (don't use the word "lost" anymore: too hopeless). The ad here illustrates three of those 1300 Gillette occasions, a "farewell" to the stage (were there multiple such occasions?) and wow, look at the boost from Booth Tarkington, a stout man of letters not given to hyperboling: I Would Rather See You Play "Sherlock Holmes" Than Be A Child Again On Christmas Morning. Are there Holmes devotees among us today who would say the same?


Dashing Stage Idol William Gillette ---
Born Too Soon To Conquer Movies
Gillette was for me not much beyond a legendary Holmes, but it turns out he was widely acclaimed for many a play written in addition to being performed by him. WG became something of a matinee idol as well, plus inventor and patent-holder for much stagecraft. We forget these titans of the stage on whose shoulders many a future movie star stood. How many of the latter looked at William Gillette for purpose to copy him later? My further education got prompted by a TCM screening of Secret Service, a 1931 Radio Pictures adaptation of a Civil War romance writ by ... William Gillette, whose credits mention put me to search on how far back Secret Service went insofar as stage playing. Turns out curtains rose first in 1895, with Maurice Barrymore, father of Lionel, John, and Ethel, in the lead taken by Richard Dix for the later movie. The thing was a smash and oft-revived right up to Radio buying rights. Gillette made the vehicle truly his own by assuming lead man role, the author/actor a draw near-equal to Barrymore.

The Famous "Telegraph Scene" --- A Deathless Moment Of Suspense Theatre-Goers
Would Long Remember

Secret Service dates woeful as a film, turgidity more RKO's fault than Gillette's. I'd love to see the play modern-enacted, but that'll happen when pigs fly. The set-up thus: Yankee Dix poses as Confederate officer to grease wheels for Richmond siege, falls for insipid crinoline-clad Shirley Grey, his mission compromised by love v. duty so often a stumble point for spies on either side, the Civil War being unique occasion where neighbors, brothers, and lovers wound up combating. What with the latter a rich resource of drama and doomed romance, was it a wonder Civil War themes resonated so in 19th and early 20th Century stage melodrama? And yet it tended to flop in movies past oodles of early pix by D.W. Griffith, Tom Ince, and like others. Did we need the passing of first-hand war witnesses to get Blue/Gray tints out of our blood? Anyway, Secret Service lost money. A negative cost of $250K saw $295K from domestic rentals, with only $56K foreign (what did they care about our Civil War?). Red ink amounted to $25,000. As to William Gillette essaying Secret Service, I'd be glad to venture back, but only after exhaust of revisited Christmas morns.

TOO MUCH OF GOOD THINGS? --- I'm all for "Giant" Saturday shows, having sat through a few approaching that in the 60's, but none so exhausting as Steubenville, Ohio's five hour and forty minute rump-buster from 1958. Question is, what if any could you cull from all of these? Contemplate the bill: It! The Terror From Beyond Space was then-new and a good one, Curse Of The Faceless Man much less so. A 1:00 start time with King Kong and Mighty Joe Young in the lead would have set entertainment precedent hard to match, even by newest model sci-fi. Might a walkout part-way through Faceless Man have been in order? It comes down to one's own endurance for shows served continuous. My own limit is four, with lengthy meal break somewhere amongst the deluge. After a second and certainly by a third feature, the mind starts numbing. Would anyone today sit for a double-feature in a theatre, let alone four? (Remember what happened to Grindhouse) Parents once dumped young 'uns early on a Saturday with pick-up near dark, admission being more or less a warehouse fee. Again I'm drawn to late Kong/Joe Young bookings, so many of which occurred well after sale to TV and into the 60's, at least around my parts (they tended to play either kiddie shows or as "bonus" to a newer monster show, as here with Steubenville). Prints must have stayed in Charlotte exchanges right up to Janus Films leasing Kong in 3/66 for its own revival.


LOUIS B. MAYER PRESENTS CINERAMA --- The above took place November 19, 1952. Lately deposed chief of MGM Louis Mayer was feted at a Screen Producers Guild dinner attended by seven hundred industry folk (producer Sol C. Siegel holding the plaque). Mayer's was called a "Milestone Award" for "major contributions" to Hollywood and its output. The Motion Picture Herald reported his look-back on old days and enthusiasm for Cinerama, for which company he'd serve as Chairman Of The Board. Entertainment was provided by M.C. George Jessel, who introduced Jack Benny, Bob Hope, George Burns, Lena Horne, and Ethel Merman. Longtime Mayer loyalist Arthur Freed, still at Metro but happier when L.B. ran it, produced the 11/19/52 tribute. The honored guest said movies were under siege by not just television, but night baseball, automobiles, and of all things, canasta. That last put me to wondering: Was canasta a serious rival to theatre attendance then? Must have been, or a seasoned observer like Mayer wouldn't have mentioned it. Do people still play canasta in such numbers? Norma Shearer was a decade out of pictures upon this occasion, but not reclusive. She'd turn out for events where other old-timers got recognized, and would remain a large Loew's stockholder.

7 Comments:

Blogger Dave K said...

William Gillette is one of those folks who live on in popular culture thanks to a legacy that has nothing to do with the actual entertainment career - the fabulous Gillette Castle State Park in Connecticut has been a major tourist attraction for decades. (How many people viewing Colleen Moore's amazing fairy castle/doll house in Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry realize the odd little voice on the pre-recorded narration belonged to a silent movie star?) Hey, didn't Gillette get screen credit on ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES?

East coast drive-ins used to regularly screen four and even five(!) feature all-night horror fests. Maybe more! The trick was to wrap things up with obscure European imports... and leave out multiple reels! (I sat through at least one of these extravaganzas in the late sixties. Got home a lot earlier than I thought!)

9:46 AM  
Blogger Scott MacGillivray said...

I was the projectionist for a quadruple-feature of THE FLY, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, THE BLOB, and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. They wanted a program title, so I gave them "Scream Gems."

2:05 PM  
Blogger rnigma said...

A nearby TV station ran Charlie Chan films on Sunday mornings in the '70s. They were scheduled to run "Charlie Chan in the Secret Service" one week; instead, they ran - you guessed it, the 1931 "Secret Service."

PBS broadcast a new production of that Gillette play sometime in the late '70s. In-between acts, the cast sang Civil War-era songs.

11:13 PM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Donald Benson shares some thoughts about the William Gillette Sherlock Holmes stage play and a John Barrymore film made from it:


The John Barrymore silent was based on Gillette's play. It was lavish but not really fun, keeping some of the play's most awkward expedients and making Holmes a generic romantic lead.


Saw a community stage version, which may or may not have been updated (there had been a big successful revival, and there usually is some tinkering on old shows expensively remounted). It was a bit talky and improbable, as Gillette had to maneuver a lot of characters, exposition and action into a series of single-scene acts. But it worked on an elevated melodrama level.


The Fox film connection is interesting. Did they buy the play with the intention of doing it, or to simply block anyone else from buying it and producing a competing Holmes movie?

4:49 AM  
Blogger Kevin K. said...

Gillette was a method actor before Brando, shooting up cocaine on-stage when the play called for it. I tried watching Barrymore's "Sherlock Holmes" movie, but literally kept falling asleep.

I sat through a quadruple bill of Marx Brothers MGM movies as a teenager. I couldn't do it again. Thanks to B-movies on TCM, my attention span has dropped to 70 minutes.

I considered DVRing "Secret Service," then thought better of it, Civil War movies doing nothing for me. Looks like I made the right choice. I prefer Richard Dix in the Whistler movies, anyway.

3:22 PM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Craig Reardon had some observations about this week's Art Shop Watch (Part One):


Just wanted to say thanks for the cute picture of Honor Blackman, one of the loveliest English actresses ever. I recently watched a clip from some comedy show she'd done in the U.K.---matter of fact, if might've been one the U.S. later ripped off---and notwithstanding I'm almost sure she's had a little 'work done' at some point, she looked fantastic in her 80s. In her 80s, mind you! Eegad. The woman's just an indestructible beauty.


I simply wanted to say that with regard to your interesting facts about William Gillette, I think---I hope I'm not putting my foot in it---but I think I found at one time a website about Mark Twain which included a link to a recording Gillette made in which you hear him reminiscing about having been Twain's neighbor as a boy. He then states that he will attempt to 'do' Twain's voice to leave some record to posterity of how the great man sounded, and it is a very broad 'Suthen' accent that follows, indeed---and fascinating, of course, since I believe the blog or webpage states elsewhere that no other recording exists of Twain's actual voice nor anyone attempting to mimic it, as Gillette does here. My worry is that I'm substituting Gillette for some other famous stage actor, say, Richard Mansfield. These are only names for me, and this convinces me that even the movie notables of the past fifty years will one day soon join their ranks in obscurity! You've made similar observations about the silent stars, and they're quite sound, I think. You'd like to believe that like great painting, music, and literature, surely SOME movie names will endure 'forever', and some may. But...which ones?


6:07 AM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Part Two from Craig Reardon:


There's a street right across the freeway (U.S. 101) from where I sit typing this right now, a short residential street. I know its name will amuse you, because you---unlike probably well over 95% of current Americans (at least!)---will recognize the name of the person it commemorates. It's called Laura LaPlante Drive! And yes, it is named after 'that' Laura LaPlante. Heaven knows how, or why. I don't know if she lived out here at one time, or if an admirer just named it after her.


I also loved the marathon showing of "King Kong", "Mighty Joe Young", and those $1.98 shockers! Hilarious. I can tell you when I'D have walked out!


Finally, it was nice to see a later picture of Norma Shearer, still a striking and classy-looking lady at the time. I recently saw a darned good online biography of the late Janet Leigh via which I found out that it was Shearer who saw Leigh's framed picture on the desk of a ski resort where Leigh's father worked (whose name was not Leigh, and I can't remember her actual last name---I'm going to let myself off from jumping to the IMDB to remind myself.) This was in or around 1947. Anyway, Shearer was apparently so taken by the youngster's beauty that she, acting on her own impulse, arranged to have the girl brought to MGM for a screen test! I thought that was very generous, especially for a woman who'd been a big star herself. And Leigh went from obscurity to a starring role in an MGM film, "The Romance of Ruby Ridge" I think it was called.

6:08 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024