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.