Actors in uncredited bit parts in The Street of Forgotten Men, part 2 Lassie

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 is the second of four focusing on some of the actors who had uncredited bit parts in The Street of Forgotten Men. Here, I profile Lassie, the canine held in the arms of actor John Harrington.

 

 

 

In The Street of Forgotten Men, Harrington plays Bridgeport White-Eye, the unsavory criminal vamped by Louise Brooks. He is the film's principal antagonist, and a rival to Easy Money Charlie, played by Percy Marmont. Easy Money Charlie was a desent sort, and he cared for the dog. The still shown above is from the missing second reel, when Bridgeport White-Eye (spoiler alert) mortally injures the animal. It is a significant scene in the film, and it shocked viewers at the time.

After Lassie was (not) killed in The Street of Forgotten Men, Easy Money Charlie mourned her loss; he even kept a picture of her, adorned with a memorial ribbon, as shown in this screen grab from the film.

Canine actor Lassie (c. 1917-19??) was a long-haired cross between a bull-terrier and a cocker spaniel  which was guided by Emery B. Bronte. Though little known today, Lassie was a popular animal actor during the silent film era. A 1920 profile in National Humane Review even went so far as to state, “In filmdom, Lassie is something more than a dog. She is a personage.” By all accounts, Lassie was a charming animal, and a fine actor. She had screen presence.

Reportedly, Lassie made her screen debut at the age of eight months in Rosie O'Grady, also known as Her Brother’s Champion (1917), a John H. Collins-directed Edison film starring Viola Dana. Lassie's big break occurred by chance when a dog was needed for a scene, and Emery Bronte, who was also cast in the film, suggested his puppy.

Lassie was featured in two Dell Henderson films with George Walsh, The Shark (1920) and The Dead Line (1920), three films starring Richard Barthlemess, Tol'able David (1921), Sonny (1922), and The Beautiful City (1925), D.W. Griffith's Sorrows of Satan (1926), as well as Knockout Reilly (1927), a Malcolm St. Clair film starring Richard Dix and Mary Brian. The dog was also in Broadway Broke (1923), which featured Street star Percy Marmont. Her last known appearances in film include D.W. Griffith's Sorrows of Satan (1926), and Malcolm St. Clair's Knockout Reilly (1927). According to various articles from the time, among the other stars in whose films she appeared were Marion Davies, Mabel Normand, Irene Castle, Olive Thomas, Alma Rubens, Elsie Ferguson, June Caprice, Glenn Hunter, and Tom Moore. 

More often than not, Lassie received no screen credit, but when she did - typically in a review, she was credited as "Lassie" or "Lassie Bronte." Her greatest successes came in Tol'able David (1921), and The Street of Forgotten Men (1925). Her death scene in the latter was so impressive that some were convinced that she must have been killed, or cruelly beaten. Animal lovers and Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals complained, and newspapers printed a signed affidavit from Bronte stating the dog had not been harmed in any way.

Lassie was also starred in her own film, the Bronte-directed “scenic” Fish for Two (1925), a three minute short which featured the dog, a boy, and a fish. Exhibitor's Trade Review called it an "interesting little picture featuring a very intelligent dog and his boy pal." Film Daily also found it "interesting and pretty." Moving Picture World stated the film received more than 4000 bookings after it debuted at New York's Capitol theater. (It can be seen below or on YouTube.) 

 

In 1926, it was announced that Max Fleischer’s Red Seal Pictures would distribute 13 Bronte shorts featuring Lassie and Jean, Emery Bronte’s other dog. (See the picture below.) In reporting on the deal, Moving Picture World described the two canines as "internationally famous dog actors." Among the 13 shorts are When Do We Eat? (1926), Another Kick Coming (1926), and Good Riddance (1926). 

During her career, Jean Bronte appeared in two Elsie Ferguson films, as well as Cappy Ricks (1921), Herbert Brenon's Moonshine Valley (1922), Mighty Lak' a Rose (1923), Ramona (1928) and other. The only feature film both dogs were known to have appeared in was Sonny (1922), directed by Henry King.

 

 

 

But back to Lassie. According to a 1927 New York Times article – which described Lassie as a “Clever screen actress,” the then 10 year old animal was earning a remarkable $15,000 a year. That was a considerable sum. After 1927, Lassie seems to have left film.

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An addendum: After this foray into film, Emory Bronte (1902–1982) became well-known as a pioneering aviation navigator. In 1927, he and pilot Ernest Smith made news when they became the first civilians to fly non-stop from the American mainland to Hawaii. (The duo flew from the San Francisco Bay Area in a plane named "The City of Oakland" and crash-landed on the island of Molokai, near a leper colony.) Later, Bronte was a commander in the US Navy during World War II.

 NEXT IN THE SERIES: WHITNEY BOLTON