     Silent Reels, by Rodney Schroeter
     Column #2:  Douglas Fairbanks--the Pre-Swashbucklers

     There was a time when I heard the name Douglas Fairbanks, and
thought vaguely of some swashbuckler, swinging from a rope or a
chandelier, leaping into the midst of his enemies with a sword.
     No more!
     While Fairbanks is generally remembered for his
swashbucklers--"The Mark of Zorro" (1920), or "The Thief of
Bagdad" (1924), or "The Black Pirate" (1926)--I found out that
most of his films were quite different when I read Joe Franklin's
great book, _Classics of the Silent Screen_ (which I will describe
further in my next column).  Franklin had this to say about
Fairbanks' "When the Clouds Roll By" (1919) (he consistently
referred to it as "_Till_ the Clouds Roll By"):  "Bursting with
energy and good humor, it zipped along at a fantastic pace, with
Doug hardly still for a minute, hanging by his feet as he proposes
to his girl, clinging to the side of a door and swinging himself
back and forth gleefully as she accepts, bounding out of windows,
and clambering over an entire building to avoid having a black cat
cross his path."
     Well, that really sounded appealing, but I couldn't find it
on video at first.  In the course of searching, I did find several
other top-notch early Fairbanks films, with the help of Video
Yesteryear's excellently detailed catalog.  I came to enjoy his
style so much, that I purchased a Fairbanks autograph.  I bought
several books about Fairbanks and learned, among many other
things, that he started in films at the same company as D. W.
Griffith; that Griffith didn't care for Fairbanks' style and said,
"He's got a face like a cantaloupe and he can't act."  I found two
books published under Fairbanks' name--actually ghosted by Kenneth
Davenport, according to Gary Carey (related to Harry?) in his
book, _Doug & Mary_ (1977).  The books "by" Fairbanks are _Laugh
and Live_ (1917), and _Making Life Worthwhile_ (1918).  Davenport
was a close friend of Fairbanks and, according to Carey, "in style
and philosophy [the books] were pure Fairbanks."  These common-
sense, cracker-box philosophy books didn't provide me with any new
insights.  But his optimism and belief that each individual's
personality is self-made, messages I also found in his films,
increased my admiration for him.
     Some of those movies I've enjoyed:
     "His Picture in the Papers" (1916).  Fairbanks plays Pete
Prindle, son of a vegetarian-foods merchant.  Pete doesn't endear
himself to his father, because he prefers a meal of a nice, big
steak.  To help his father's business, he brags that he can get
some kind of publicity to give Dad's business a boost.  But he
just can't seem to do it, though he crashes a car, wins a prize-
fight, and gets into a fight with a cop.  Scenario by Anita Loos.
     "The Matrimaniac" (1916).  Doug (Jimmy Conroy) is eloping
with sweetheart Constance Talmadge.  (Talmadge was a highly
popular actress, and appeared in a great number of films.)  Her
father sends a carload of detectives after the couple as they
board a train.  Conroy learns that in the next town, there is a
minister who could marry them.  As the train makes its stop, he
runs to the minister's home, smiling all the way.  The Rev. Tubbs
is in the bath.  He comes to the door in his robe.  No time to get
dressed, says Conroy.  He grabs "Tubby" and drags him running to
the train.  Which they are thrown off, by the girl's detestable
other admirer.  The rest of the movie is a series of fun chases. 
Fairbanks seems to celebrate life with every leap, climb, and
sprint.  And the ending--aw, I just have to describe it.  I don't
think it'll spoil anything, but if you've already decided to get
it, skip to the next paragraph.  Fairbanks escapes the detectives
by climbing on some telephone wires.  He reaches a lineman, and
asks him to call Talmadge at the hotel where she's being held
captive.  The lineman then patches in Tubby, who is in jail, and
the marriage is performed over the phone.  One of my all-time
favorite scenes!  (Griffith was wrong--Fairbanks can elope.)
     "Wild and Wooly" (1917).  Another scenario by Anita Loos. 
Fairbanks plays Jeff Hillington, a Manhattanite who dreams of the
good life out west.  He's thrilled by the chance to make a
business trip to Arizona.  The people of the modernized town,
learning of his misconceptions, make every comical effort to
create the idealized type of wild-west environment (with
shootouts, robberies, etc.) that he expects.  Would it surprise
you that some of the real thing then pops up? 
     I purchased the above three from Video Yesteryear.  I was
very pleased with the quality.  VY includes a nice card with each
tape, full of details about the film.  The descriptions on these
cards are the same as in their catalog.  VY does not give out free
catalogs on request, but the $3.50 they ask for this highly
informative, profusely illustrated catalog of close to 300 pages
is very much worth it to the serious film fan.  Write to:  Video
Yesteryear  /  Box C  /  Sandy Hook CT 06482.
     All right.  Now for "When the Clouds Roll By."  Fairbanks
plays Daniel Boone Brown, who has a mania for superstitions.  His
safe is stocked with all the pins he's picked up, and a load of
horseshoes.  One of the movie's posters featured a painting of
Fairbanks at this safe.
     Brown is the unsuspecting target of Dr. Metz (Herbert
Grimwood), a madman who wants to drive Brown insane--to the point
of suicide!!  Brown's superstitious frame of mind makes him a
vulnerable target, because he's already unstable.  (Remember when
"The Exorcist" first played?  And all the loonies who believed the
devil was possessing them, the first time some stray naughty
thought popped into their minds?)
     The first part of this evil plan is executed by Brown's
butler (one of Metz's cohorts), who urges Brown to eat strong
foods at midnight.  Brown downs onions, lobster, Welsh rarebit
(shades of Winsor McCay!), and mince pie.  We see each item, once
it reaches his stomach, dancing fiendishly, like the old Alka
Seltzer cartoon commercials.  As he falls into an agonized sleep,
he dreams.  And the viewer is treated to some great--no kidding! -
-special effects!  An eerily-distorted man (Bull Montana) stands
at the foot of his bed, reaching for him.  Brown pushes him away;
the creep bounces right back up.  Ghostly white images of hands
then reach for him, from all sides of the room.  In terror, he
runs--wraithlike, through the wall!
     Brown finds himself surrounded by lovely women, and he can't
keep his pajama bottoms from falling down.  (A common fear, and
the subject of many nightmares among men.)  Escaping that horrible
situation, he is chased by the food he's eaten.  He can only run
and leap over hedges in slow motion; the demonic foods move
unnaturally fast.
     Once Brown awakens, he faces real problems.  The building's
janitor is in on the conspiracy, and Dr. Metz himself lives across
the hall from Brown.  Leaving for work (two hours late), Brown is
greeted by the doctor.  Metz advises Brown, "You must not smile. 
That is the mark and expression of the idiotic."  That's a hard
swipe at Brown's self-esteem right there.  At work, he tries to
misdirect his employer's wrath by pulling a stunt which is so
neat, I'm surprised I haven't seen it elsewhere:  Fairbanks holds
a coat draped over his head with one hand, a hat with the other. 
He crouches at a window, as if looking out.  As he gradually
stands up, he pushes the hat & coat higher, giving the illusion of
a man growing freakishly tall.  Words don't do this (and other
incredible visuals in this film) justice.  One more endearing
feature to this classic.
     Brown meets Lucette (Kathleen Clifford), who is also
superstitious.  She is an artist, and lives in a Greenwich Village
studio.  He's quite taken by her, but how does she feel about him? 
He exits through the wrong door.  Lucette, thinking he's left,
blows some double-handed kisses after him (you have to see it;
it's hard to describe).  Brown actually went through a hallway and
doubles back, in time to see her blowing the kisses.  Startled,
she tries to pretend she was exercising her arms.  But Brown isn't
fooled.
     Through his network of spies, Dr. Metz discovers Brown's new
romance and plots to sabotage it.  Lucette is tricked into
believing that Brown is planning to swindle her father in
Oklahoma.  She calls off her marriage to Brown, and leaves on the
west-bound train.
     At this point, Fairbanks' character is almost insane. 
Totally despondent, he finds the pistol that Metz had slipped into
his pocket.  I'd consider this the climax of the film--Brown's
choice of whether to live or die.  Of course, he decides to "Laugh
and Live," in the process abandoning his superstitions (running
purposely under a ladder).  Getting rid of a set of false beliefs
is never this easy in real life, but the message that it can be
done, that a person has control over his own mind, is a refreshing
one.  He starts chasing after Lucette, swinging at the end of a
rope to land on a boat, leaping onto and running along the top of
the moving train that is carrying her away.
     (Meanwhile, what of Dr. Metz?  I've given away enough of the
story; I'll only say that his fate is _horrifyingly believable_
and _very much deserved_.)
     The train is caught in a flood.  There are some great
rescues, and... another marriage in the most unlikely of places.
     What a masterpiece.  After searching for months, I discovered
that Foothill Video carried it.  The quality is fairly good, but I
would really like to see this one on a crisp laser disk.  Foothill
also carries many other Fairbanks films.  Foothill Video  /  PO
Box 547  /  Tujunga CA 91043.
     (I know of two other services that carry it, and I might just
gamble and buy a copy from one or both, to see if the quality is
better.  They are:  Sinister Cinema  /  PO Box 4369  /  Medford OR
97501-0168; and Grapevine Video  /  PO Box 46161  /  Phoenix AZ
85063.  Though I've never ordered from Grapevine, their catalog
has an excellent selection of silents.  Catalogs from either
company are worth writing for.)

     It's one thing to admire an actor for his acting ability
alone.  But it's even better when I find someone whom, from the
evidence available, I would actually enjoy meeting, and visiting
with for hours.  For me, Douglas Fairbanks was just such a person.
     Fairbanks deserves to be remembered, and not just vaguely as
some swashbuckler, swinging from a rope or a chandelier, leaping
into the midst of his enemies, ready for a swordfight.

     Movies of Douglas Fairbanks
     The following list was compiled from various sources, but
mainly from _His Majesty the American_, by John C. Tibbetts &
James M. Welsh, 1977; and _The Fairbanks Album_, introduction &
narrative by Richard Schickel, 1975.  The inclusion of
"Intolerance" is from Franklin's _Classics of the Silent Screen_,
where he lists Fairbanks as an extra.  Unfortunately, when I
developed my database system for cataloging movies, I did not
think it important to include more than the year for the release
date; consequently, movies for any one year might not be listed in
the order of release within that year.
1915 - Lamb, The
1915 - Double Trouble 
1916 - His Picture in the Papers
1916 - Manhattan Madness
1916 - American Aristocracy
1916 - Matrimaniac, The
1916 - Reggie Mixes In 
1916 - Intolerance
1916 - Good Bad Man, The 
1916 - Flirting with Fate 
1916 - Mystery of the Leaping Fish, The 
1916 - Half Breed, The 
1916 - Habit of Happiness, The
1917 - Man from Painted Post, The
1917 - Americano, The
1917 - Down to Earth 
1917 - In Again, Out Again
1917 - Wild and Wooly
1917 - Reaching for the Moon
1918 - Say! Young Fellow 
1918 - Headin' South
1918 - Modern Musketeer, A
1918 - He Comes Up Smiling
1918 - Arizona
1918 - Bound in Morocco
1918 - Mr. Fix-It
1919 - When the Clouds Roll By
1919 - His Majesty, the American
1919 - Knickerbocker Buckaroo, The
1920 - Mark of Zorro, The
1920 - Mollycoddle, The
1921 - Nut, The
1921 - Three Musketeers, The
1922 - Robin Hood
1924 - Thief of Bagdad
1925 - Don Q, Son of Zorro
1926 - Black Pirate, The
1927 - Gaucho, The
1929 - Iron Mask, The
1929 - Taming of the Shrew, The
1931 - Reaching for the Moon
1931 - Around the World in 80 Minutes
1932 - Mr. Robinson Crusoe
1934 - Private Life of Don Juan, The
     
     
     If you enjoy movie posters, several catalogs have been
published for Christie's (New York) Hollywood Posters auctions. 
Many beautiful posters for silent films are included.  These full-
color catalogs are available from:  Bruce Hershenson  /  PO Box
874  /  1 Court Square Deck  /  West Plains, MO 65775.

     Trivia question!
     Do you like trivia questions?  If so, I'm going to throw one
in every now & then.  Only thing is, I'll only do so if I find a
real doozey--the kind that'll hit even the most hard-core silent-
film fanatic with the force of a sack of flour smacking one's
face.  So here goes:
     In the Tibbetts & Welsh Fairbanks filmography mentioned
above, there is listed, playing The Soothsayer in "Thief of
Bagdad," an actor named Tote Du Crow.  Listed as playing Bernardo
in "Don Q" is Tote du Crow (notice the inconsistency).
     Anita Loos, in her memoir _Kiss Hollywood Goodbye_ (1974),
lists someone named Lote du Crote, starring in "The Americano"
(1917).  (Tibbetts & Welsh list no such person for "The
Americano.")
     And--Carey lists Tote DuCrow (no space in last name) under
"The Americano" and "Thief of Bagdad."
     The question is, what was the real name of this--er, person? 
And you might think, "Well, now, all we have to do is go to the
source itself!  The credits for the movies!"  Maybe--not.  My copy
of "Thief of Bagdad" has no credits; I don't have "Don Q"; and the
opening credits for "The Americano" list, playing Alberto de
Castille...now get this spelling...Tote du Crot.
     Oh, yes.  Another feature of my trivia questions is, that I
won't always know the answer myself.  Such is the case with this
one.

     Interesting title I recently came across:  "Believe Me,
Xantippe" (1918) starring Wallace Reid.
     Interesting actor name:  Harry Ham.

Rodney Schroeter  /  Box 37766  /  Milwaukee WI 53237-0766
579-1716@mcimail.com

1-13-95

Entire contents of this column copyright 1995 by Rodney Schroeter. 
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