More on the Cinecon schedule

Yesterday's post sketched this year's schedule for the Cinecon Classic Film Festival. The annual event, which takes place in Hollywood, has moved online due to the ongoing pandemic. All films will be streamed live via the internet on the Cinecon main page Friday September 3rd through Monday September 6th. The show will start at 3:00 PM PT / 6:00 PM ET on Friday and run about 4 1/2 hours.

I am looking forward to a handful of programs, including a Colleen Moore film, a Clara Bow / Baby Peggy film, a Thomas Meighan film (Brooks' co-star in The City Gone Wild), and the Francis X Bushman documentary (Bushman was my grandmother's favorite actor), among others. Here is a little more detail on this year's event, which is coming up in just a few weeks over Labor Day weekend. Don't miss this special online event. 

This following information comes from THIS PAGE:

ELLA CINDERS (1926, First National Pictures)
A special screening of ELLA CINDERS staring the great Colleen Moore. This showing will feature a brand new score by Scott Lasky of the Famous Players Orchestra. There will also have bonus footage from other Moore films featuring fragments from FLAMING YOUTH and clips from the set of PAINTED PEOPLE. and if that wasn't exciting enough this special program will be introduced by Colleen Moore's niece Melinda Morrison-Cox.

The film was based on the comic strip of the same name, created by William Conselman and Charles Plumb, which was running in newspapers across the country at the time the film was made. In the story poor hard working Ella wins a contest to travel to Hollywood and make a movie. Unfortuatly when she gets there she finds out the contest was a scam and she needs to find a job. Colleen is Ella and Lloyd Hughes plays her love interest. Others in the cast include Vera Lewis, Doris Baker, Emily Gerdes and Mike Donlin.

HELEN'S BABIES (1924, Sol Lesser Prod.)
Cinecon decided to encore this film at Cineconline for two reasons, one, it's a nice little film that deserves to be screened again, and two, we wanted to give our online audience a feel for our in person show. This was our opening night film for Cinecon 54 in 2018. We had selected this film to pay tribute to our long time Cinecon friend, "Baby Peggy" herself, Diana Serra Cary in honor of her 100th birthday. It was also the premier of a new restoration of the film by the Library of Congress. It featured newly discovered footage unseen since the film was originally released. In addition it was accompanied live by the Famous Players Orchestra with a new original score compiled and lead by maestro Scott Lasky.

In this silent comedy Edward Everett Horton is a young bachelor, Uncle Harry, who suddenly finds himself saddled with raising two precocious little girls: Jeanne Carpenter and our star, Baby Peggy, who at the time this film was released was the second most popular child star (after Jackie Coogan of Chaplin’s THE KID) in all of moviedom. The girls' antics drive him crazy at first, but then he begins to warm to them. 19-year-old Clara Bow is the local girl who enters into Uncle Harry’s life.

THIS IS FRANCIS X. BUSHMAN
from the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum and Flicker Alley this documentary film by Lon and Debra Davis is a natural follow up to their extensive and well researched book on Bushman, King of the Movies: Francis X. Bushman (published 2014 by BearManor Media).

This documentary covers Bushman's life from his early film success in silent films as a romantic idol at Essanay and Metro studios through his later life. Though he made the transition to talkies his career never regained the prominence of those early days. He eventually spent some time working outside of the film industry, only to return later to play smaller parts both in films and on television until his death in 1966 at the age of 83.

THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN (1921, Paramount Pictures)
Another rarity courtesy of The Library of Congress Staring Thomas Meighan. The cast also includes Doris Kenyon, Diana Allen and Louis Hendricks. From the novel by Booth Tarkington with a scenario by Frank Tuttle and directed by R. William Neill.

The town of Canaan, Indiana is the backdrop for of this tale of political corruption. Meighan plays Joe Louden who is the hero of the misfortunate, but spurned by the “respectable” members of the town led by the corrupt Judge Pike (Hendricks). Joe leaves town to go to law school and comes back to town to defend the less fortunate against the judge and gain the respect of everyone.