It’s hard to describe the emotion of that moment when something new pops up, in a long and slow search for information from 100+ years ago; but, use your imagination.
The initial thrill is always slightly tempered by the knowledge (or at least suspicion) that many of these articles were written by someone in the press office promoting an upcoming film, and may have had little input from the man himself; still, when an interview with Rupert turns up, including a bit of background on his career up to that point (also hard to verify), I do get a little excited…
I came across a quote from this article when someone updated Elsie Jane Wilson’s Wikipedia page recently, and set out to find a copy of it if I could.
To be honest, I’ve focussed more on Rupert’s work on this site because he was the one I first heard about, who piqued my interest initially because I was living in New Zealand at the time (and we seemed to share a birthday, give or take 90 years or so, too).
But over time I’ve learned more about Elsie and her career, and with some new research & work around early women filmmakers from the silent era in recent years there’s been more and more info out there about her and her contemporaries. Plus, I live in Sydney now, where she was born and grew up—I believe—so I’ve often wondered if I might find out more about her here than I had been able to previously…
So this is an interesting one - another find on Ebay, this time from Rupert's very last film in 1930 (and perhaps his only talkie), The Cat Creeps. I'd heard of the film, but what I'd never heard (until now) is that there were two casts, and two directors!
There's a trailer for it online - which seems to be most of what survives of the film, unfortunately - but what I hadn't heard about was the Spanish language version, made at the same time on the same sets, directed by someone else entirely…
Over on Rupert's Facebook page, I got a note from another silent-era-obsessed researcher named JL Barnett, who sent me this - MAGNIFICENT - image of Rupert with actor Charlie Gemora, about whom I knew very little...
During the more sedately spiritual Krotona occupation, the front building housed a kitchen, dining room, vegetarian cafeteria and lecture rooms until Krotona relocated to Ojai in 1924. The building, then called the Krotona Court, was designed by San Diego-based architecture firm of Mead & Requa. Every era at Krotona seems to bring a fresh interpretation of the Theosophical Society’s mission: to explore the inexplicable...
I got a little excited about this one - it's not every day a new image of Rupert crosses my desk! Just at a guess, I'd say this one is probably from around 1914-15, when he was an up & coming actor in Hollywood, but not the moustached director he would become later...
How wonderful - I'd read about one of Von Sternberg's masterclasses years ago in Kevin Brownlow's (AMAZING) book on the silent era, The Parade's Gone By, but I never expected to be able to watch one!
"The main objection I have to the picture work is the amount of idle time which one has to put in during the filming of a picture. The 'waits' are appallingly burdensome. On one occasion I was told to be ready, in full evening dress, for a scene at 9 o'clock on a Monday morning. I waited all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. The scene was 'shot' finally at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The delay was apparently unavoidable, but, to me, exceedingly irksome. This was an unusual case, but it illustrates to a large degree what picture actors have to put up with in the way of idle time..."
Just wanted to call attention to another addition to the (marvellous!) NZ On Screen site, where my good friend Barbara from the (marvellous!) Turnbull Library in New Zealand has written a biography of Kiwi actor Winter Hall...
While we're on the topic of things that should be saved, it's been announced recently that Melbourne's Astor Theatre is going to close next year when their lease expires, after negotiations with their landlord broke down...
