Showing posts with label Little Church Around the Corner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Little Church Around the Corner. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

The Street of Forgotten Men - yet more trivia, some previously unknown

On May 10th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen its new restoration of Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men - Louise Brooks' little seen first film. More information about that special event can be found HERE

This month, and ahead of that special event, I am running excerpts from my forthcoming book, The Street of Forgotten Men, from Story to Screen and Beyond, which I expect will be published later this year. This excerpt gathers some of the noteworthy trivia I have come across during my ongoing research on the film. Among it are a few previously unknown cast and crew credits. 


Some of my recent posts have focused on some of the actors, including Louise Brooks, Lassie, Whitney Bolton, and Anita Louise, who had uncredited bit parts in The Street of Forgotten Men. Just recently, I came across the names of five other characters in the film, each of whom was given a name but played an uncredited part. Regrettably, the reportage I found did not mention who played these characters. The five characters are:

Bertram the Barber
Blind Ben
Dumb Dan
Harry the Hop
Legless Lew 

Some of them, I believe, may have appeared in the missing second real, or in some of the bar room scenes. I have yet to go through the film and associate their character name with some of the many unidentified characters in the film. 

Also, recently, some of this same pre-release reportage i came across identified some of the film crew, two individuals who played an uncredited role in the look of the film. The articles I came across identified each as having worked on the film. They are:

Harold C. Hendee (head of the research department at Paramount’s Long Island studio)

R.M.K. Smith (head of the costume department at Paramount’s Long Island studio)

Another individual who "worked" on the film was mendicant officer John D. Godfrey (1863-1950). According to a studio press release and articles from the time, this veteran of the Brooklyn Bureau of Charity served as an adviser for scenes shot inside the dingy cripple factory. The image below shows the white-haired Godrey on set, seated, next to a standing Herbert Brenon, who is wearing a white hat. Some of the unknown actors referenced above may be included in this production still.




 
A 1912 article

Another 1912 article
 

Godfrey was a well known figure in New York City. He spoke about his work to various groups, and he was mentioned in newspapers throughout the Teens, Twenties, and Thirties. I wonder if George Kibbe Turner, author of the short story which was the basis for the film, was aware of him?

One actor who did receive credit was Juliet Brenon, who played Portland Fancy. If her name seems familiar, it is because she was the niece of the film's director, Herbert Brenon.

Juliet Brenon
Despite the fact each of her four films, The Eternal Sin (1917), The Lone Wolf (1917), The Street of Forgotten Men (1925), and A Kiss for Cinderella (1925), were directed by her Uncle, Juliet Brenon (1885-1979) was a talent in her own right. By the time she was cast in The Street of Forgotten Men, she had already acted in a number of stage plays (including Nice People with Tallulah Bankhead in 1921), and garnered positive notices. 

Juliet Brenon was at the heart of an illustrious extended family. Her father was Algernon St. John-Brenon, esteemed music critic of the N.Y. Morning Telegraph. Her sister, Aileen, made a name for herself writing about the movies – while Aileen’s husband was the art noted critic Thomas Craven. Juliet was married was Cleon Throckmorton, an equally noted American painter, theatrical designer, producer, and architect considered one of the most prolific set designers of the Jazz Age. During the 1930s, their Greenwich Village apartment of Brenon & Throckmorton became a salon for actors, artists, and intellectuals such as e.e. cummings, Noël Coward, Norman Bel Geddes, and notably, Eugene O'Neill. Around  this time, their politically left salon raised funds for the Republican faction during the Spanish Civil War. Later, Juliet Brenon contributed articles recounting her early life (and friendship with O'Neill) to Yankee magazine.

In 1926, the Los Angeles Times reported Brenon was to be cast in another of her Uncle’s films, The Great Gatsby (1926), but that seems not to have come about.

Through watching the film, sometimes frame by frame, I have come across two instances when sheet music is included in the frame. I have been able to identify one of these sheets, more of less in the first instance, and will discuss what I have found in an upcoming podcast focusing on music related to The Street of Forgotten Men

The second instance is notable. In one scene later in the film, Mary Brian is shown playing the piano. There is sheet music on the piano before her. That sheet music is clearly shown to be from Peter Pan, which Brian had starred in the year before under the direction of Brenon!

An American arcade card


For more on The Street of Forgotten Men, see the Louise Brooks Society filmography page.

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Location shooting in The Street of Forgotten Men - the Little Church Around the Corner

On May 10th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen its new restoration of Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men - Louise Brooks' little seen first film. More information about that special event can be found HERE

This month, and ahead of that special event, I am running a few excerpts from my forthcoming book, The Street of Forgotten Men, from Story to Screen and Beyond, which I expect will be published later this year. This excerpt looks at one of film's location shoots, namely, the historic Little Church Around the Corner.

Production work on The Street of Forgotten Men began on April 6, 1925 and finished around June 6th. The film was largely shot at Paramount’s Astoria Studios on Long Island (located at 3412 36th Street in the Astoria neighborhood in Queens). Shown below is a rare production still from the film. An interior studio ceiling and lighting can be seen, as extras who crowd the street are paying attention to the man with a hat and megaphone standing in the lower center. That man  may well  be director Herbert Brenon. But who, I wonder, is the young woman standing to his right?

Location shooting was done elsewhere on Long Island as well as on the streets of Manhattan, including on Fifth Avenue, and at the landmark Little Church Around the Corner on East 29th. This post focuses on that historic place of worship. (Click here to see the Church's website or its Wikipedia page for more information and images.)

The Church of the Transfiguration, also known as the Little Church Around the Corner (built 1850), was the setting for a scene at the end of The Street of Forgotten Men, where the characters played by Mary Brian and Neil Hamilton are married. (Little Anita Louise is somewhere in the background.) In actuality, the building is an Episcopal church located at 1 East 29th Street, between Madison and Fifth Avenues on the island of Manhattan in New York City.


Notably, many prominent people from all over the country, including actors associated with both the stage and screen, have visited or been married in this picturesque parish church. Among them is novelist P. G. Wodehouse, who was married there in 1914, and subsequently set most of his fictionalized weddings at the church.

The Little Church Around the Corner got its nickname not long after the Civil War. At the time, actors and other performers were considered morally suspect in some quarters. According to the Church’s website, in 1870, Joseph Jefferson, an actor renowned for his portrayal of Rip Van Winkle, approached the rector of the nearby Church of the Atonement to request a funeral for his friend and fellow actor, George Holland. Upon learning that the deceased was an actor, the rector refused to hold services. Jefferson persisted, and asked if there was a church in the area that would hold a funeral for his friend. The rector responded, “I believe there is a little church around the corner where it might be done.” Jefferson replied, ‘If that be so, God bless the little church around the corner!”


To this day, the church has maintained ties with the theater world. In 1898, stained glass windows were placed in the building memorializing Edwin Booth, who is widely considered the greatest American actor of the 19th century. Since 1923, the Church has served as the national headquarters of the Episcopal Actors' Guild. Over the years such notables as Basil Rathbone, Tallulah Bankhead, Peggy Wood, Joan Fontaine, Rex Harrison, and Charlton Heston have served as officers or council members of the guild. In the 1970s, the Church hosted the Joseph Jefferson Theatre Company, which gave starts to actors such as Armand Assante, Tom Hulce, and Rhea Perlman. In 1986, the Church was featured in an episode of The Equalizer, the television show, as well as in a Woody Allen film, Hannah and Her Sisters. Following his death in 1990, guild member Rex Harrison was memorialized at the church.

In 1967, the Church of the Transfiguration was designated a New York City landmark, and in 1973, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


Monday, April 5, 2010

The Little Church Around the Corner

In the Spring of 1925, while still a member of the Ziegfeld Follies, Louise Brooks acted in her first film, The Street of Forgotten Men. Brooks only appears in one scene, near the end of the film, and is on screen for about five minutes. It was an auspicious debut.

The Street of Forgotten Men was set in New York's rough-and-tumble Bowery, though it was largely shot at Paramount's Astoria Studio. A few scenes were also shot on location on the streets of New York. One of those location shots took place at the "Little Church Around the Corner," an actual building in the heart of New York City. It still stands today, and has an historical connection to the city's theatrical community.

I call your attention to the Church because a couple of vintage images of this historic locale are currently for sale on eBay. Each image gives a sense of the "old-timey" atmosphere the film tried to affect. The first was taken around the turn-of-the-last century (circa 1900?). This image is close to what I remember of the building when I saw the film a few years back. Notice that there are no other buildings behind the Church - only sky!


The second image is from an obviously later date, through probably closer to the time the film was made. Notice that in this image there are buildings behind the Church. (Certainly, a NYC historian could fix a more accurate date based on the structures in the background.) When I saw The Street of Forgotten Men, I remember another shot looking across the street from the Church - I noticed a row of businesses including tellingly a vegetarian restaurant.


The scenes in The Street of Forgotten Men which featured the "Little Church Around the Corner" did not include Louise Brooks. Rather, the Church was featured in the scene where the characters played by Mary Brian and Neil Hamilton get married. Hamilton, who went on to play Commissioner Gordon in the Batman TV series, would go on to play an even more important role in Gotham City in later years.

Monday, January 11, 2010

The Street of Forgotten Men, a local perspective


Along with collecting material for my project about Louise Brooks and the San Francisco Bay Area (see previous blog), I have also been collecting material about The Street of Forgotten Men (1925) and the places where it was filmed in New York City.

The Street of Forgotten Men was Brooks' first movie. It is is an underworld romance set among professional beggars in the city's Bowery. Brooks has a brief, uncredited role as a moll (the girlfriend of a gangster, or criminal). She is on screen in one scene which lasts less then five minutes. I had a rare opportunity to see the film a few years back while visiting Washington D.C., where I screened a 16mm print for myself in a small cubicle at the Library of Congress.

The film was adapted from a Liberty magazine story by George Kibbe Turner and directed by Herbert Brenon. I've also had the opportunity to examine a copy of the original script, which resides at Lincoln Center in New York City.

The film was in production during May, 1925. A few reporters from the various New York City newspapers of the time visited the set, or wrote articles on its production. The film was officially released on August 24th of 1925 - though it premiered in at the Rivoli Theater in New York City more than a month earlier. Over the last few years, I have managed to collected a number of articles both on the making of the film as well as reviews from when it was shown. These articles were collected through inter-library loan of microfilm and by visiting various libraries in NYC.

At the time of it's release, The Street of Forgotten Men received excellent notices. One newspaper critic, Mildred Spain of the New York Daily News, even commented, "The Street of Forgotten Men dips into the dark pools of life. It shows you the beggars of life - apologies to Jim Tully - and in showing them it shows them up."

The film was shot in the Astoria studios on Long Island, as well as on location in New York City. One memorable scene – when characters Charles and Fancy (played by Percy Marmont and Mary Brian) come across the colorfully named Bridgeport White-Eye (played by John Harrinton) – was shot on Fifth Avenue. Another, when Fancy marries Philip (played by Neil Hamilton, the future Commissioner Gordon on Batman), took place at one of the city's local landmarks, the Little Church Around the Corner on East 29th.


It is this still standing local landmark that caught my eye. I've managed to collected a handful of pictures, postcards, booklets and books detailing the church's color history. A couple of them are included here. Anyone also interested in collecting material on this one-time Louise Brooks film locale would do well to start here.

The Bowery, and the catch-phrase used to describe it as "The Street of Forgotten Men," seemingly came into circulation because of Turner's story and Brenon's film. (Though I may be wrong about this.) The film in which Brooks appeared was a look back at the Bowery of old. Here is a short 1930's film titled Street of Forgotten Men which gives a sense of the place during the Depression. Things hadn't changed all that much.


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