The Alice Howell Collection Fills A Silent Comedy Gap
Alice Howell was until now a name in slapstick histories, one you’d see
in archival photos but not on film. It was said she pioneered physical comedy
as practiced by women, an art we figured only for Mabel Normand and a few far
lesser known. Trouble with film history is so much of it being gone. An Alice
Howell may as well have worked on the stage for so little evidence we had of
her work. That is all fixed thanks to search effort by Steve Massa and Ben
Model. They have canvassed sources worldwide to find a dozen Alice Howell
shorts unseen by anyone outside privileged access. This comedienne did
roughhouse to make even Al St. John flinch (they are together in the first
subject offered here, 1914’s Shot In The Excitement). Howell had been in
vaudeville, knew ropes pulled taut, survival her keenest instinct, but all
humor crafters were like that, culling fun from struggle at life they knew
too well. Alice Howell wasn’t long getting leads, and so had series here/there
for what was left of the teens and into the 20’s. A public’s appetite for
comedy (insatiable it seemed) kept Howell at the millstone till graceful
retirement saw her out. No sad finish here. Real estate kept the ex-performer in chips,
and her daughter, briefly in films, married the director George Stevens. There
is an Alice Howell career and bio chapter in Steve Massa’s fine collection of
slapstick profiles, Lame Brains and Lunatics. Massa and Model deserve much
credit for bringing thought-lost film back to viewing surface.
Quality is fine, mostly from 35mm, scored by
maestro Model. The Alice Howell Collection, on the Undercrank label with input
from the Library Of Congress, is availablehere.
Ben and Steve still manage to make silent comedy a renewable resource once or twice a year. I cannot say enough good things about these guys.
Alice was engaging, delightful, funny, and did pratfalls as good as her male counterparts. There is a scene in the Billie Ritchie film SILK HOSE AND HIGH PRESSURE (a film where you can see Billie Ritchie being hung from piano wire and being hit in the crotch with high pressure water streams) where a woman falls backward in Alice's arms and both fall backwards flat on Alice's back.
I recently had to discard my 16mm print of Chaplin's LAUGHING GAS due to vinegar. It was a double loss because it was the only Alice I had on 16mm. Any comedian who could distract you from Chaplin was indeed talented.
I find it amazing that someone as talented as Alice gave it all up. I know her roles were getting fewer by the mid-twenties but she could have found work at Roach because she worked with many there. Could you imagine Alice as part of the Roach stock company? When Alice's rents outgrossed her box office, she gave it all up. George Stevens, Jr. is her grandson and he remarked that when he was a kid, he had no clue his beloved red headed granny had been a star comedian.
Like Ben said, maybe this set will scare out some previously unknown Alice films out of the archives. We are lucky to have any silent movie to look at. Films in the silent era were installation art. These films were only made to lure the public into the theater for a few days and then cosigned into oblivion. People like Steve and Ben overcome that reality for our pure enjoyment.
2 Comments:
Ben and Steve still manage to make silent comedy a renewable resource once or twice a year. I cannot say enough good things about these guys.
Alice was engaging, delightful, funny, and did pratfalls as good as her male counterparts. There is a scene in the Billie Ritchie film SILK HOSE AND HIGH PRESSURE (a film where you can see Billie Ritchie being hung from piano wire and being hit in the crotch with high pressure water streams) where a woman falls backward in Alice's arms and both fall backwards flat on Alice's back.
I recently had to discard my 16mm print of Chaplin's LAUGHING GAS due to vinegar. It was a double loss because it was the only Alice I had on 16mm. Any comedian who could distract you from Chaplin was indeed talented.
I find it amazing that someone as talented as Alice gave it all up. I know her roles were getting fewer by the mid-twenties but she could have found work at Roach because she worked with many there. Could you imagine Alice as part of the Roach stock company? When Alice's rents outgrossed her box office, she gave it all up. George Stevens, Jr. is her grandson and he remarked that when he was a kid, he had no clue his beloved red headed granny had been a star comedian.
Like Ben said, maybe this set will scare out some previously unknown Alice films out of the archives. We are lucky to have any silent movie to look at. Films in the silent era were installation art. These films were only made to lure the public into the theater for a few days and then cosigned into oblivion. People like Steve and Ben overcome that reality for our pure enjoyment.
Got my order in. It's shockingly cheap.
Mr. Model is also responsible for the worthwhile "Accidentally Preserved" DVDs, dedicated to silents that survived in various hime formats.
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