In memoriam Stephen Salmons

I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Stephen Salmons, co-founder of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, a personal friend, and friend to the Louise Brooks Society. I am passing along the following message from the SFSFF.

STEPHEN SALMONS 1958–2023 Stephen Salmons, cofounder of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and its artistic director through 2009, died on February 10. We join his friends and loved ones in mourning this great loss. A writer, performer, and filmmaker born in Santa Cruz in 1958, he made his home in San Francisco, where he became half the team that turned SFSFF from a dream into a reality. His knowledge ranged widely and deeply across literature, music, film, theater, and he drew from it all to the benefit of our festival audiences. In 2006, he received the Marlon Riggs Award from the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle in recognition of his unique contribution to the city’s cultural landscape. Steve, of course, was much more than titles, accomplishments, or a list of works can convey. He was modest about his own artistic endeavors but was the first to encourage and applaud the artistic pursuits of others. He especially relished when he could inject a bit of ballyhoo into a festival program and the kinships that quickly form over a fresh insight or discovery made chatting between shows. Above all he valued kindness and that came through in his dealings every day. We will remember him most as a warm and witty colleague and friend who took visible delight in the playful exchange of ideas. He will be sorely missed. We send our most heartfelt condolences to his wife Melissa Chittick, with whom he cofounded SFSFF and shared a life for 24 years. Our thoughts are with her at this difficult time.

Photo by Pamela Gentile

 

Lulu by the Bay: Louise Brooks and Pandora's Box in the San Francisco Bay Area

On Saturday May 6th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will show Pandora's Box (1929) at the Paramount Theater in Oakland. This special live cinema event, featuring a restored print, will feature live musical accompaniment by the Club Foot Orchestra and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. More information about the event can be found HERE. Ticket are on sale.

In honor of this forthcoming event, I'm posting a recent snapshot of yours truly wearing a vintage Clubfoot Orchestra Pandora's Box t-shirt. I likely obtained this shirt in the late 1990s, probably around the same time I purchased a massive poster depicting the same image found on the shirt. I may not look my best, but the shirt is still cool.

 
The upcoming Oakland screening is significant for a couple of other reasons. One is that it marks the first ever showing of the film in Oakland, California - at least as far as I could tell. The May screening is also significant as it marks something of homecoming for the character of Lulu, whose creator, Frank Wedekind, was almost born in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

As film goers likely know, Pandora’s Box is loosely based on two plays, Earth Spirit (1895) and Pandora’s Box (1904), by the German writer Frank Wedekind (1864–1918). Today, he is best known as the author of Spring Awakening (1891), which was turned into a hugely popular Broadway musical few years back.

What’s little known is that Wedekind’s parents were one-time residents of San Francisco in the years following the 1849 Gold Rush. Wedekind's German father was a physician and progressive democrat whose participation in the Revolutions of 1848 (in what would become Germany) led him into exile. Wedekind’s Swiss mother was an attractive singer and Gold Rush actress / entertainer twenty-three years his junior. This unlikely and unconventional union has led some scholars to speculate that the relationship between Wedekind’s parents could have served as a model for the similar, unconventional relationship between the older and respected Dr. Schon and the much younger showgirl Lulu in Pandora’s Box. 

Of course, such things are open to interpretation. However, what we do know is that Friedrich Wedekind and Emilie Kammerer’s second child—the future writer—was conceived in San Francisco, and later born in what is now Hanover, Germany. According to the future writer's biography, early in the pregnancy the homesick couple risked a return to Europe and Friedrich Wedekind's homeland, and stayed. And that’s where Benjamin Franklin Wedekind, named for the free-thinking American writer, was born in 1864. Fast foreword....

 
Controversial, censored, cut, and critically disregarded when it first debuted, Pandora’s Box is today  considered one of the great films of the silent era, largely in part because of the stunning performance given by Louise Brooks in the role of Lulu. However, that wasn't always so. 

Pandora’s Box had its world premiere in February of 1929 at the Gloria–Palast theater in Berlin. Reviews at the time were mixed, even dismissive. Some months later, in December of 1929, when Pandora’s Box opened at a single theater in New York City, American newspaper and magazine critics were similarly ambivalent, and even hostile. In its now infamous review, the New York Times critic stated, “In an introductory title the management sets forth that it has been prevented by the censors from showing the film in its entirety, and it also apologizes for what it termed ‘an added saccharine ending’.” Adding salt to the wound, the Times critic noted, “Miss Brooks is attractive and she moves her head and eyes at the proper moment, but whether she is endeavoring to express joy, woe, anger or satisfaction it is often difficult to decide.” 

Yikes!

Despite poor reviews, the film drew crowds. The New York Sun reported that Pandora’s Box “ . . . has smashed the Fifty-fifth Street Playhouse’s box office records,” and was held over for another week. With its brief run completed, Pandora’s Box fell into an obscurity from which it barely escaped. Though the film was shown sporadically in the United States in the early and mid 1930s, it was hard to be a silent film at the beginning of the talkie era. Few film goers cared. (For a detailed account, see my earlier 2018 blog, The Lost History of Pandora's Box in the United States.)

Things have changed, and the reputation of Pandora’s Box has grown steadily. The film has been screened numerous times in the last few decades, and perhaps nowhere more often in the United States than in the San Francisco Bay Area. Chances are if you are still reading this piece, you saw an earlier print at the Castro Theater in San Francisco or the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, where between those two venues the film has been shown nearly two dozen times since the mid-1970s.

As far as I have been able to document, the first screening of Pandora’s Box in the City of San Francisco took place at the old Surf Theater in January of 1974, as part of a double bill with The Last Laugh. A couple of years earlier, in October of 1972, the Pacific Film Archive screened it in Berkeley in what was one of the film’s earliest East Bay screenings. 

One of the early Berkeley screenings was likely prompted by film critic Pauline Kael, who was then living in the Bay Area and had a hand in local film exhibition. At that time, Kael was also corresponding with Louise Brooks, who was living in Rochester, New York. On at least one occasion in their exchange of letters, Kael implored Brooks to come to the Bay Area to be present at a screening of Pandora’s Box. But Brooks, who was reclusive, wouldn’t budge. (Louise Brooks even had family in the area.... but still she wouldn't budge.)

But before that, in all likelihood, the very first screening of Pandora’s Box in the greater Bay Area took place in 1962, when the Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey screened a print of Pandora’s Box as part of its Peninsula Film Seminar. The event was organized around a visit by Brooks’ early champion and friend James Card, who brought with him a small collection of rare films, including a messy, unrestored version of the Pabst masterpiece. 

At the time, Card’s print of Pandora’s Box was probably one of the very few prints of the film in the United States. And in all likelihood, Pandora’s Box and the other films shown at the Seminar were works the attendees had only heard of but not seen. 

According to newspaper reports of the time, the Peninsula Film Seminar was a big deal in local film circles. And notably, it was attended by Bay Area cognoscenti like Pauline Kael, future San Francisco poet Laureate Jack Hirschman, a few East Bay film promoters involved with the Berkeley Film Guild, and others. And there, in Monterey, the seeds were first sown for the film’s now large reputation in the Bay Area.   

 

That's me again, with my Clubfoot orchestra shirt. To my right is a large poster for the 2006 San Francisco Silent Film Festival showing of the film, which not only took place during the Louise Brooks centenary, but which I and artist / filmmaker Bruce Conner introduced.

In honor of the May 6, 2023 screening of Pandora's Box (1929) at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, here is a list of all known theatrical showings of the film in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. If you know of others, please send an email. Or, if you attended any of the early screenings of the film, especially those marked in bold, I would love to hear your memories.

1960s - 1970s: Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey (between Aug. 2-5, 1962 as part of Peninsula Film Seminar); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 5, 1972 as part of Women's Works); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 21, 1972 special matinee); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (Nov. 21, 1972); Cento Cedar Cinema in San Francisco (February 1-7, 1973 with Threepenny Opera); Surf in San Francisco (Jan. 22-23, 1974 a “new print,” with The Last Laugh); Pacific Film Archive (Wheeler Auditorium) in Berkeley (July 24, 1974); Cento Cedar Cinema in San Francisco (Sept. 18-20, 1975 with The Blue Angel); Wheeler Auditorium in Berkeley (Nov. 9, 1975 with L’Age D’Or); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (Nov. 7, 1976); Noe Valley Cinema (James Lick Auditorium) in San Francisco with Oskar Fischinger’s Composition in Blue (May 21, 1977); Wheeler Auditorium in Berkeley (Feb. 10, 1978 with L’Age D’Or); Sonoma Film Institute in Sonoma State University (Feb. 28, 1979 with The Blue Angel); 

1980s: Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley as part of “Tapes from the Everson Video Revue” (Jan. 20, 1980); U.C. in Berkeley with The Threepenny Opera (March 10, 1980); Roxie in San Francisco with The Blue Angel (Mar. 31, 1980); Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco (April 11, 1980 with Un Chien Andalou); Castro in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (May 2-3, 1980); Rialto in Berkeley with The Threepenny Opera (May 14-20, 1980); Castro in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (Aug. 28, 1980); Strand in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (December 15, 1980); Rialto in Berkeley with The Threepenny Opera (December 17-23, 1980); Roxie in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (Feb. 17-19, 1981); Showcase Cinema in Sacramento with Foolish Wives (Mar. 3, 1981); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (March 6, 1981); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Mar. 7, 1981 as part of the series “Starring Louise Brooks” with Organ Accompaniment By Robert Vaughn); Rialto in Berkeley with Salome (June 24-27, 1981); Rialto in Berkeley with A Girl in Every Port (Feb. 12-16, 1982); Electric in San Francisco with The Blue Angel (Mar. 10-11, 1982); Avenue in San Francisco with She Goes to War (May 6, 1982); York in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (June 22, 1982); Roxie in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (Oct. 17-18, 1982); UC in Berkeley with A Girl in Every Port (Oct. 25, 1982); Darwin / Sonoma Film Institute at Sonoma State University (Jan. 20, 1983); Showcase Cinema in Sacramento with M. (Feb. 1, 1983); Castro in San Francisco with Diary of a Lost Girl (Oct. 26 – Nov. 3, 1983); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley with Kameradaschaft (Dec. 7, 1983); Santa Cruz Film Festival in Santa Cruz with A Conversation with Louise Brooks (Jan. 19, 1984); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Jan. 27-28, 1985 with M.); U.C. in Berkeley (Sept. 18, 1985); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 13, 1985 as part of the series “A Tribute to Louise Brooks (1906-1985),” accompanied on piano by Jon Mirsalis); Castro in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (Nov. 29, 1985); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 29, 1986); San Francisco Public Library (main branch) in San Francisco (Dec. 18, 1986); Castro in San Francisco (Feb. 26, 1987 as part of “Vamps” series); Castro in San Francisco (Jan. 7, 1988); U.C. in Berkeley (June 30, 1988); Castro in San Francisco (Nov. 8, 1988); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Nov. 17, 1988); 

1990s: Red Vic in San Francisco (Feb. 13-14, 1990); Castro in San Francisco (Aug. 7, 1990); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Dec. 4, 1990 as part of the series “Surrealism and Cinema”); Castro in San Francisco (Apr. 29, 1991); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Apr. 5, 1992 as part of the series “Silent Film Classics”);  Castro in San Francisco (May 11, 1992 with Diary of a Lost Girl); Castro in San Francisco (May 5-8, 1995 accompanied by the Club Foot Orchestra, as part of the San Francisco Film Festival); Castro in San Francisco (Dec. 16-17, 1995 accompanied by the Club Foot Orchestra); Castro in San Francisco (Apr. 2, 1996 with Wings, accompanied on organ by Robert Vaughn); Towne Theatre in San Jose (June 28, 1996 accompanied on organ by Robert Vaughn); Castro in San Francisco (May 18, 1998 as part of Femme Fatale Festival); 

2000s: Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (May 28, 2000); Stanford in Palo Alto (Sept. 5, 2001); Jezebel’s Joint in San Francisco (Feb. 10, 2003); Castro in San Francisco (July 15, 2006 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, with introductions by Thomas Gladysz and Bruce Conner); Rafael Film Center in San Rafael (Nov. 11, 2006 introduced by Peter Cowie); California in San Jose (Mar. 9, 2007 as part of Cinequest); Castro in San Francisco (July 14, 2112 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival); Niles Essanay Film Museum in Fremont (Sept. 12, 2015); Stanford in Palo Alto (Sept. 23, 2016); Niles Essanay Film Museum in Fremont (March 23, 2019).

Notably, Pandora's Box was also shown on local PBS broadcast television in Northern California. Here are some early instances, which include Christmas eve and Christmas day showings. I wonder how viewers felt watching this film over the Holidays and seeing the murderous Jack the Ripper scene at the film's end - a scene which takes place around Christmas: KTEH Channel 54 – San Jose television broadcast (Dec. 18, 1977 and Dec. 24, 1977 and Dec. 25, 1977); KQEC Channel 32 – San Francisco television broadcast (Dec. 24, 1977 and Dec. 25, 1977); KVIE Channel 6 – Sacramento television broadcast (Dec. 18 and Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, 1977). Incorrectly, the PBS promo image shown below incorrectly identifies Lulu as a London streetwalker. A Berlin showgirl is more like it.

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

San Francisco Silent Film Festival Day of Silents Announced

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has announced its annual A Day of Silents event for Saturday, December 3 at San Francisco's Castro Theatre. True to its live-cinema tradition, the SFSFF is presenting six programs all with live musical accompaniment! Tickets and Passes are on sale now. More information, including a full rundown of films, may be found HERE.

 

"Comedy wins the day starting in the morning with KEATON'S MECHANIZED MAYHEM—three brilliant shorts by Buster Keaton—accompanied by pianist Wayne Barker. Following Buster is Ernst Lubitsch's effervescent FORBIDDEN PARADISE with Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra accompanying. The centerpiece show of the evening is King Vidor's Hollywood satire SHOW PEOPLE starring Marion Davies with cameos by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and John Gilbert—also accompanied by Mont Alto. But the serious doesn't take a back seat, three riveting dramas fill out the bill. SFSFF's restoration of Musidora's POUR DON CARLOS portrays the civil war in late 19th-century Spain. The Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble will accompany. Cecil B. DeMille's incendiary THE CHEAT—the film that made Sessue Hayakawa a star—will be accompanied by Wayne Barker. And the last show of the evening, THE TOLL OF THE SEA, is a restoration of this earliest-surviving two-color Technicolor film. Anna May Wong in beautiful color! The Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble will accompany."

 

 

Report on The Street of Forgotten Men at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

 

Not only was it great to see the newly restored Louise Brooks film, The Street of Forgotten Men, on the big screen at the Castro Theater, it was also swell to see old friends and make a few new ones at this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival. This festival was the first in three years due to the Covid pandemic; it also marked my first visit to San Francisco in just as long a time. Much has changed. Much remained the same. It was great to be back. I have populated this blog with a few snapshots from the occasion.

Von and I at the Castro

As I have been blogging of late, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival has recently restored this little seen Herbert Brenon film, for which film preservationist Robert Byrne created a filmic bridge in place of the missing second reel. He did a great job - which made the missing part to the story easy to follow. That missing material includes the death of two significant characters, including a dog (Lassie) in the care of Easy Money Charley (played by Percy Marmont). What's more, when the dog is killed by Bridgeport White-Eye (played by John Harrington), I heard a few sighs in the audience - which suggests Byrne effectively "painted" the scene. Congratulations to Rob Byrne and his team, and a big thanks to Ira Resnick, who made it possible. It was great to see Ira at the Festival.

Courtesy of Donna Hill

Also doing a great job was Jennifer Miko, who worked on the film imagery. The film looked great on the big screen - crisp and clean despite its problematic history - especially the cinematography of legendary cameraman Harold Rosson. The crowd oohed and awed at Rosson's live action street scenes on 5th Avenue, and were wowed at other times, like the shot of the dancing silhouettes at the garden party. Jennifer also gave an informative and well considered introduction which acknowledged my small contribution to the restoration project. I was also pleased when Jennifer recommended everyone read my essay on the film in the hefty program. (I had two pieces in this year's program. The other was an interview profile with the members of the Anvil Orchestra - formerly the Alloy Orchestra.) It was also nice to hear my name from the stage! I was especially pleased to meet and speak with Jennifer before and after the film; I suspect she is a bit of a Louise Brooks' fan, as she asked me for one of my Louise Brooks Society pin-back buttons. I obliged.

Jennifer Miko and Thomas Gladysz

All in all, The Street of Forgotten Men was very well received. Everyone I spoke with liked it, and the large crowd (hundreds of people on a Tuesday afternoon) reacted positively throughout. There was a smattering of applause when Louise Brooks first came on the screen, and when the film completed, there was boisterous applause and even a few hoots and hollers. Here are a few (sadly fuzzy) shots from the slide show which preceded the film.

Louise Brooks (far left)

I was also pleased to make the acquaintance of the esteemed film historians Richard and Diane Koszarski (thank you Ira Resnick for the introduction). They generously signed copies of some of the books they authored which I had brought with me from Sacramento, including a couple of which I used in researching and writing my essay on The Street of Forgotten Men. (Richard Koszarski's Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff and The Astoria Studio and Its Fabulous Films were essential, as is Hollywood Directors 1914-1940 and An Evening's Entertaiment: The Age of the Silent Feature Picture, 1915-1928.) We had a very pleasant chat, talking about books, Dover Publications, Stanley Applebaum, Astoria Studios, Herbert Brenon, Erich von Stroheim (Koszarski authored an early biography, The Man You Love to Hate) and more, including Louise Brooks. Kozsarski interviewed the actress (regarding the Astoria Studios) in the late 1970s, and he told me something I don't think I had known about Brooks - that she was a big fan of Robin Williams and Mork and Mindy. Who da thunk? What a great pleasure it was to meet Richard and Diane Koszarski.

Richard and Diane Koszarski & Thomas Gladysz

Though I was only there for an afternoon, it was great to be attend this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival - my 25th time and the Festival's 25th anniversary! It was also swell to see old friends like Ira Resnick, Donna Hill, Mary Malory, Jordan Young, Karie Bible and others. I missed some others I would have liked to have said hello to, but when you are a Sacramento Cinderella (just as Mary Brian was a Bowery Cinderella), you sometimes miss out. I am so glad my wife, Christy Pascoe, attended with me. She is also acknowledged in the restoration credits on The Street of Forgotten Men - as she is on the preservation print of Now We're in the Air, another Louise Brooks film we helped on. Thank you for all of your help my love.

At dinner with friends Mary Mallory, Donna Hill, Jordan Young

Christy and one of her favorites, Von

The end

The Street of Forgotten Men Restoration Credits - Thanks Tim Moore

In just a bit, I will be heading out the door on my way to San Francisco and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (about a two hour drive), where I will attend the premiere of the new restoration of Louise Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men, on the BIG screen of the historic Castro Theatre. I am  looking forward to it. 

I have seen the film before, but never on the big screen. The first time was some twenty ago at the Library of Congress where I hand-cranked a projector inside a cubicle. I had made an appointment, and a staffer  brought me a print of the film. What a unique, intimate experience - me in my own "little theater," acting as projectionist, and sole audience member. At the time, it was thrilling to have seen something relatively few film buffs had seen. I recall I watched the film twice. Once, the first time, was for pleasure. The second time I stopped and started the film a number of times in order to take notes and study different frames & scenes - not knowing if I would ever have the chance to see the film again.

Fast forward a number of years. Back in 2017,  I helped film preservationist Robert Byrne with the preservation of the surviving fragment of the once lost Louise Brooks film, Now We're in the Air (1927). After that project wrapped-up, I mentioned to Rob what I thought was another worthwhile project, The Street of Forgotten Men. Though not lost, the film was little seen, and deserving. The film was also still under copyright. A few years had to pass before it fell into the public domain, which was in 2022. 

Sometime late last year, Rob Byrne asked if I wanted to help with the restoration of The Street of Forgotten Men. I said YES. My screen credit on the restoration print reads "Research" (see below) - but what I did was a little bit of everything which included helping acquire the scenario of the film (thanks to longtime Louise Brooks Society member Tim Moore), providing stills and bits of information, a few suggestions, and more. I also watched the film at least another six times on my desktop computer (an experience not dissimilar to my first viewing in a cubicle) during the months long restoration process.

As some may know, the Library of Congress holds the only known surviving print of the 7 reel film. But what they have are 6 of the 7 reels. What is missing is reel two. From the scenario (thank you again Tim Moore) we know what happens in the story (which includes the deaths of two significant characters). However, we don't know what it looks like. Rob was able to reconstruct the missing reel based on and utilizing descriptive passages and dialogue from the scenario which were matched up with whatever stills  could be acquired from collectors and archives all around the world. The results are impressive.

Though I have mentioned him twice already, I want to again thank Tim Moore for his assistance in helping secure scans of the film's scenario. Your help was crucial. Tim, as well as the Louise Brooks Society, are also thanked in the restoration credits. As are longtime friends Nancy Kaufman and Kay Shackleton.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival screening will be introduced by Jennifer Miko, who did the image restoration. The new print looks great on my computer, and should look just as swell on the big screen. I expect to be posting more on today's screening in the next few days.

For those interested, I wrote the essay on The Street of Forgotten Men which can be found in the program book distributed at the Festival. And here is an earlier piece, "Restored Silent Film ‘The Street of Forgotten Men’ Debuts Louise Brooks," which I penned for Pop Matters. 

And here is another piece I wrote for SF Patch on the film's 1925 reception in San Francisco. On to The Street of Forgotten Men !

San Francisco's The Street of Forgotten Men

Someone once said, "all history is local." If true, then that applies to the movies, and film history. It also follows that film criticism is more than what reviewers in New York or Los Angeles might say about a particular film. How a movie is received in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia or San Francisco also matters. 

On May 10th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen its new restoration of Herbert Brenon's  The Street of Forgotten Men. This special screening marks a return to The City for this once well regarded silent film which was first shown in San Francisco nearly 100 years ago. More information about that special screening can be found HERE.

The Street of Forgotten Men revolves around a group of pretend handicapped beggars, and stars Percy Marmont, Mary Brian, and Neil Hamilton. Also appearing in the film is Louise Brooks, who made her screen debut in an uncredited bit part in this sentimental and strange melodrama.

Set and shot in New York City, The Street of Forgotten Men premiered at New York's Rivoli Theater on July 20, 1925. A few weeks later, the film made its Bay Area debut at the Granada Theatre (1066 Market Street, at Jones) in San Francisco, where it opened on August 8 and played for a week. It was a successful, and much ballywho'd run.

The Street of Forgotten Men kicked-off the what was known locally as the "Greater Movie Season," an annual event reportedly unique to San Francisco which encouraged the public to attend and enjoy the movies. This city-wide promotional campaign was supported by not only the movie studios - but also city officials, the press, and various civic organizations. Along with screenings of the season's best new films, there was also a parade and other activities. The “Greater Movie Season meant something in this town,” Variety noted later a few weeks later. “Twenty stars came up from Hollywood,” and there was a “big parade with floats from the various studios, corps of usherettes, bands, police escorts, and civic and public officials.” Notably, the horses, chariots and characters from Ben Hur also took part in the parade.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “The Tens of Thousands of San Franciscans who lined Market Street yesterday morning and who crowded into the Civic center to welcome the visiting Motion Picture Stars who came from Los Angeles to help inaugurate Greater Movie Week, also paid tribute to Fay Lanphier, 'Miss California,' who left yesterday to compete at Atlantic City for the title of 'Miss America.' The movie stars gave Miss Lanphier a rousing send-off and wished her 'Luck'." The crowd was estimated at more than 30,000. Among the Hollywood celebrities in attendance were Renee Adore, Lew Cody, Corinne Griffith, Claire Windsor, Marie Prevost, Ben Turpin, Syd Chaplin, Paulette Duval, Ernest Torrence, Jean Hersholt, Ronald Colman, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. A portable broadcast station was also set up - suggesting the parade was broadcast on the radio.

Despite it's sometimes dour theme, and despite the competition, The Street of Forgotten Men did well at the box office. According to Variety, the film “came in hitting on all six.” The trade journal added that a good promotional campaign provided for a strong opening, and business held up during its week-long run in San Francisco. Variety reported the film took in $21,800 during its seven days at the Granada, ranking it second in The City. Supporting the film was an Al. St. John comedy short, Red Pepper, and on the stage were Ralph Pollock and the Granada Synco-Symphonists, Ukulele Lew, and other entertainers.

The Street of Forgotten Men beat out Douglas Fairbanks in Don Q, Son of Zorro at the Imperial, and D.W. Griffith's Sally of the Sawdust at the St. Francis (among other offerings), but fell just a bit short of Fine Clothes, a First National film also featuring Percy Marmont at the Warfield. Fine Clothes topped The Street of Forgotten Men – but only by $700.00. The latter’s success, Variety suggested, was due largely to the opening act at the Warfield, Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians. That stellar musical group, one of the most popular acts of the day, “dragged ‘em to the box office.”

The Street of Forgotten Men was widely praised in the local press. Writing in the San Francisco Bulletin, A. F. Gillaspey noted, “For fine dramatic detail, for unusualness, for giving us a glimpse into a world we never see and into the other sides of characters we simply pass in pity on the streets, The Street of Forgotten Men is a photoplay revelation.” That review was echoed by other local critics. Dudley Burrows, writing in the San Francisco Call and Post, thought “The Street of Forgotten Men is more legitimately dramatic, and less frankly melodramatic than The Unholy Three,” a similarly themed film. Curran D. Swint of the San Francisco News stated, “Here we have an underworld drama, stark and naked in its picturing of the beggars and fakers who prey on the public in the name of charity.” 

George C. Warren of the San Francisco Chronicle praised the film's director. “The Street of Forgotten Men, to which Herbert Brenon has lent the magic of his skill at direction, [and] his ability to poeticize even the most sordid theme.” Idwal Jones of the San Francisco Examiner praised the film's star. “Marmont can make any picture pleasing, and does well in this unaccustomed role. The extreme of realism abounds in scenes wherein the fakers transform themselves into cripples and go out and impose upon the charitable.”

The Street of Forgotten Men returned to San Francisco for a handful second-run showings over the next twelve months. Other showings in The City include screenings at the New Fillmore (Oct. 12-14, 1925) and New Mission (Oct. 12-14, 1925), Coliseum (Nov. 2-4, 1925), New State (Mar. 7, 1926), and Majestic (Aug. 31, 1926).

Two other Bay Area screenings are also of note. One took place in neighboring Oakland, when the film played at the American theater September 5 through the 11th. On opening day, two of the stars of The Street of Forgotten Men came to town and made a special in-person appearance to promote the film and participate in Oakland's celebration of its Diamond Jubilee.

The Oakland Tribune thought the film "a vivid document of life along the Bowery." The Oakland Post-Enquirer thought the film had an unusual plot, while the Oakland Morning Record noted the picture had been acclaimed by Eastern critics and was said to be even greater than Lon Chaney's The Miracle Man -  a comment echoed in other reviews and articles from around the region and the nation.

A few weeks later, the film opened in San Jose at the Liberty theater for a short, three day run (Sept. 23-26). The local newspaper, San Jose Mercury Herald, thought the film had " . . . a series of smashing scenes that reveal the genius of Herbert Brenon." It also took note of a local screening with special purpose. On September 25, the San Jose Mercury Herald wrote, “Because the film drives home a lesson that every man should take to heart, the management of the Liberty invited members of the Pastor’s union, heads of clubs and civic organizations and others prominent in community life to attend a pre-view of the picture Wednesday morning at 10’oclock. These men and women were in an excellent position to thoroughly appreciate the value of such a screen story. And without exception they endorsed the picture not only as pointing a moral, but also as a superb piece of art.”

The Street of Forgotten Men showed all around the San Francisco Bay Area - in Berkeley, Sausalito, Mill Valley, Palo Alto, and elsewhere throughout the next twelve months. Other showings took place at the Ramona in Walnut Creek (Aug. 15-16, 1925); New Stanford in Palo Alto (Aug. 23-24, 1925); Sequoia in Redwood City (Aug. 26-27, 1925); Strand in Los Gatos (Aug. 27-28, 1925); Princess in Sausalito (Aug. 27-28, 1925); Hub in Mill Valley (Aug. 30-31, 1925); Orpheus in San Rafael (Sept. 12, 1925); Tamalpais in San Anselmo (Sept. 12, 1925); Virginia in Vallejo (Sept. 14-15, 1925);  California in Berkeley (Sept. 23-26, 1925); Novelty in Martinez (Sept. 24, 1925); Garden in Burlingame (Sept. 27, 1925); California in Pittsburg (Sept. 27-28, 1925); Casino in Antioch (Sept. 29, 1925); Regent in San Mateo (Oct. 10, 1925); Majestic in Benicia (Oct. 20, 1925); Chimes in Oakland (Oct. 23-24, 1925); Glen in Mountain View (Nov. 3-4, 1925); Fremont in Oakland (Nov. 5-6, 1925); Strand in Berkeley (Nov. 9-10, 1925); Lorin in Berkeley (Nov. 19-20, 1925); Oaks in Berkeley (Nov. 21, 1925); Royal in South San Francisco (Nov. 30 – Dec. 1, 1925); Lincoln in Oakland (Nov. 30 - Dec. 1, 1925); Casino in Oakland (Dec. 10-11, 1925); Strand in Oakland (Dec. 14, 1925); Rialto in Oakland (Dec. 21-22, 1925); New Piedmont in Oakland (Dec. 22-25, 1925); Liberty in Oakland (Jan. 10, 1926); Palace in San Leandro (Jan. 11-12 and Jan. 19, 1926); Hayward Theatre in Hayward (Jan. 25-26, 1926); Granada in Oakland (Feb. 1-2, 1926); Palace in Alameda (Feb. 1-2, 1926); Richmond in Richmond (Mar. 8-9, 1926); Berkeley Theatre in Berkeley (Apr. 7-9, 1926); and Peoples in Oakland (July 11, 1926). 

Louise Brooks’ part in The Street of Forgotten Men is small. She is on screen less than five minutes. Brooks is not listed in the credits, and that may explain why few noticed her one short scene. In reviews of the film, no San Francisco or Bay Area critic – let alone any national critic – noted Brooks’ debut performance. The lone exception was the Los Angeles Times. Its anonymous reviewer commented, “And there was a little rowdy, obviously attached to the 'blind' man, who did some vital work during her few short scenes. She was not listed.” Those two sentences mark the actress’ first film review.

Films at the 2022 San Francisco Silent Film Festival

This year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival features a stellar line-up of films. Along with the debut of the restoration of Louise Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men (1925), there are a number of other new restorations, some old classics, and a selection of films from around. There are films from Japan, India and the Soviet Union, as well as promising examples of Brazilian experimentalism, French melodrama, Danish science-fiction, and German horror. 

The SFSFF is the largest festival devoted to silent film in the Americas. This year’s event includes 19 recent film restorations. Notably, nine of those restorations will make their North American premiere at the May event. More information about the San Francisco Silent Film Festival as well as this year's event can be found HERE.

Most notably, the festival will screen Arrest Warrant (1926), an Ukrainian film directed by Heorhii Tasin. This briskly paced gem tells the story of Nadia (played by Vira Vareckaja), who’s revolutionary husband flees the city in the midst of civil war, leaving her behind with a cache of secret documents. Expressionist effects, at times riveting and then distressing, highlight Nadia’s psychological torture at the hands of the authorities. It is a must-see film, poignant, and timely. 

Along with other fans of Louise Brooks, I have long been a fan of Clara Bow - the original "IT girl." This year's Festival includes the SFSFF restoration of The Primrose Path, one of 14 features Clara Bow made in 1925. Who doesn't want to see another Clara Bow film? She lights up the screen.

I have also been a long time fan of director / actor Erich von Stroheim, "the man you love to hate." I adore his classic silents The Merry Widow (1925) and The Wedding March (1928), both of which have been shown at the festival in the past. In fact, they are two of my favorite silent films. This year, Erich von Stroheim’s study of decadence, Foolish Wives (1922), opens the festival. It has been newly restored by the SFSFF and New York’s MoMA, and will be accompanied by Timothy Brock’s SFSFF  commissioned score. The following day, the festival will show the Austrian Film Museum’s restoration of von Stroheim’s Blind Husbands (1919), a film the celebrated director also stars in and wrote.

What follows is the SFSFF's complete line-up of films.

San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2022

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival held its first event in July, 1996 - a one-day, three-program celebration of silent cinema with live musical accompaniment put on by founders Steven Salmons and Melissa Chittick. The festival was a success from the beginning, and since then it has grown into a multi-day event with satellite programs throughout the year.

I have been attending the SFSFF since before it began. Way back in 1994, I attended a screening of I Don't Want to be a Man (1918), delightful German silent starring "Germany's Mary Pickford," Ossi Oswalda. 

The Ernst Lubitsch film was shown at the Castro Theater as part of the SF International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. It was also kind of a tryout event by Salmons and Chittick to see if they could sponsor a silent screening and have someone show up! It worked, and the rest is, as they say, silent film festival history. I wrote an article about that tryout event, and another about the festival's 1996 debut, for Classic Images. And I have been writing about the festival for various publications ever since.

As a longtime attendee and observer of the festival, I want to make a simple observation - that this year's covid-delayed 25th anniversary event is the most promising ever. What an impressive line-up of films - classics, popular fair, new restorations, and discoveries from all around the world. All together, the 7-day 2022 event features 29 programs featuring film from 14 countries.

The official announcement reads thus: "San Francisco Silent Film Festival announces the complete lineup for its 2022 Festival, May 5–11 at the Castro Theatre, San Francisco. In fact, it's been 27 years since SFSFF began but we're celebrating our 25th anniversary festival this year (after being waylaid by the pandemic) with a full week of live cinema, pairing beautiful images on screen with superb live music. Twenty-nine programs, all with live musical accompaniment, including nineteen recent film restorations, nine of which will make their North American premieres at the festival.

The festival begins on Thursday, May 5, with the long-awaited world premiere of the full-scale restoration of Erich von Stroheim’s FOOLISH WIVES. This presentation also marks the world premiere of Timothy Brock’s SFSFF-commissioned score! Brock will conduct the SF Conservatory of Music Orchestra.

Many countries will be represented at the festival with films from Austria, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Sweden, USA, and the USSR, including Soviet Georgia and Soviet Ukraine, with more than 50 extraordinary musical accompanists from around the world. Our screening of the Ukrainian film ARREST WARRANT on May 8 will be a benefit with proceeds going to the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre in Kyiv (Ukraine's film archive) and to World Central Kitchen, serving nourishing meals to refugees in the region.
 
Two San Francisco Silent Film Festival Awards for commitment to the preservation and presentation of silent cinema will be given at SFSFF 2022. The first will be presented to New York’s MoMA at the premiere of SFSFF and MoMA's restoration of FOOLISH WIVES on opening night Thursday, May 5, 7:00 pm. The second will be presented to the Deutsche Kinemathek at the North American premiere of their restoration of SYLVESTER on Sunday, May 8, 7:00 pm.

Visit silentfilm.org for complete schedule information, tickets, and passes." 

Or click here to download a handy guide in a pdf format.

 

I have an article previewing the Festival on Film International -- see "Ukrainian Film and Restorations at Silent Film Festival".

Oh, and incidentally... This year the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will premiere its new restoration of The Street of Forgotten Men (1925), Louise Brooks' first film. For fans of the actress, it is an event not to be missed. More information about the film can found HERE. And more information about the event can be found HERE.

Newly restored Louise Brooks film to screen in May !!!

BIG NEWS FOR FANS OF LOUISE BROOKS. The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has announced it will screen its newly restored print of The Street of Forgotten Men, the film which marks the actress' first appearance in a movie. The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is scheduled to take place May 5 through 11 at the historic Castro theater in San Francisco. The Street of Forgotten Men will be shown on Tuesday, May 10 with live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin. More info HERE.

Though a popular and critical success at the time of its release in 1925, The Street of Forgotten Men has been little seen today. Its undeserved obscurity is largely explained by the fact that the 7 reel film survives incomplete, and the film has long been out of circulation; the second reel of the film was lost to nitrate deterioration decades ago, though fortunately, Brooks' brief unaccredited appearance as a gangster's moll comes in the sixth reel, in a pivotal scene near the end of the film. 

Robert Byrne of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, along with the participation for the Library of Congress, led the team which restored the surviving footage and reconstructed the missing second reel. (I was small part of the team, and can state that the restored version looks great and Byrne has done a very fine job in bridging the missing material.) Byrne was assisted by Jennifer Miko, who did work on image restoration. Funding was provided by the noted film poster collector Ira Resnick. Notably, Byrne's earlier restoration efforts includes the "once lost" Louise Brooks film, Now We're in the Air (1927).

Though her role was small and she was not named in the credits, Brooks received her very first review for her work in The Street of Forgotten Men. In August of 1925, an anonymous critic for the Los Angeles Times wrote, “And there was a little rowdy, obviously attached to the ‘blind’ man, who did some vital work during her few short scenes. She was not listed.”  

For more on The Street of Forgotten Men, check out its filmography page on the Louise Brooks Society website. I am currently rushing to complete a new book on the film. Due out this Spring, though likely not in time for the SF Silent Film Festival, is The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen.

Also worth noting is that the fragmentary footage floating around YouTube which is called a "trailer" is NOT the trailer for the film, just a fragment lifted from other sources and inaccurately labeled.

Once Lost Louise Brooks Film Now Online - Watch it NOW

In what is certainly the biggest news since it was found in 2016 (see Huffington Post article), the 23 minute surviving fragment of a once lost Louise Brooks' film, Now We're in the Air, is now online and available for viewing courtesy of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. 

The film located in Prague by Rob Byrne, president of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. It was restored by the SFSFF and Národní filmový archiv (the Czech National Film Archive). The restored fragment premiered at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in 2017, and has been shown only a few times around the world since then. It's most recent screening takes place TODAY as part of a major Louise Brooks retrospective at FilmPodium in Zurich, Switzerland. Prior to that, it was shown at the Melbourne Cinémathèque in Melbourne, Australia in 2019.

Now We're in the Air can be seen on the San Francisco Silent Film Festival website  (which features additional information and a program essay) or on the SFSFF's Vimeo page. For this online premiere, the fragment features a musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. The film is also embedded below.

Now We're in the Air from SF Silent Film Festival on Vimeo.

Now We're in the Air is a farce. And though not a masterpiece, it is still as significant film, not only because of Brooks’ widespread popularity, but because it helps fill a gap in the legendary actress’ body of work. Until now, each of the four films Brooks made in 1927—at the peak of her American career—have been considered lost.

Directed by Frank Strayer, Now We’re in the Air is a World War One comedy starring future Oscar winner Wallace Beery and the once popular character actor Raymond Hatton. The film, released by Paramount, also features Brooks in two supporting roles. The actress plays twins, one raised French, one raised German, who are the love interest of two goofy fliers. The surviving footage of Brooks only includes her in the role of the French twin, a carnival worker dressed in a short, dark tutu. 

My wife and I had a small hand in the preservation of the film, having uncovered the film's continuity as well as other related documents which helped piece the surviving fragments back together in the right order with correct tinting and correct English-language subtitles. Our efforts, along with those of Robert Byrne and others are detailed in my 2017 book, Now We're in the Air: A companion to the once "lost" film. This 130 page, illustrated book tells the story of the film’s making, its reception, and its discovery by film preservationist Robert Byrne. Also considered is the surprising impact this otherwise little known film has had on Brooks’ life and career. With two rare fictionalizations of the movie story, more than 75 little seen images, detailed credits, trivia, and a foreword by Byrne. It is, in my opinion, essential reading for any fan of Louise Brooks. And at a mere $15.00, a bargain as well.

  

 

Louise Brooks and Redskin part one

On Saturday, December 7, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen the 1929 Paramount film, Redskin. This blog explores the little known connection Louise Brooks had with the film. More about the 2019 SFSFF "Day of Silents" may be found HERE.

Redskin tells the story of a Navajo man named Wing Foot who was taken as a child to a US government boarding school and forced to assimilate. The film explores the damage done by prejudice as it explores issues of racial identity and cultural insensitivity in telling Wing Foot’s story, the story of  a Native American navigating between his western education and the traditions passed down by the tribal elders. Today, the film’s title is considered a racial slur; in the 1920s when Redskin was made, it was used against the film's protagonist to illustrate intolerance, not endorse it.

The film, directed by Victor Schertzinger, was produced and released by Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. The story and screenplay is by Elizabeth Pickett. Julian Johnson, who penned the titles for Redskin, had also written the titles for a couple of Louise Brooks' films, including Beggars of Life (1928). Shot in two-color Technicolor at locations in New Mexico and Arizona (including Acoma Pueblo and Canyon de Chelly) — the film changes from color to black-and-white (sepia-toned in the original projection prints) when it leaves Navajo and Pueblo lands. And like Beggars of Life (1928), the film was originally released with a synchronized score and sound effects.

Louise Brooks' connection to Redskin goes beyond these few coincidences. After completing work on Beggars of Life, Brooks was next assigned to The Canary Murder Case. However, according to numerous press reports, before work would begin on the celebrated detective story, Brooks was suddenly reassigned to Redskin, another important Paramount film also set to go into production. Eventually, Brooks was withdrawn from Redskin and reassigned once again to The Canary Murder Case.

Harkening back to the studio’s earlier big-budget films set in the West, Redskin was an ambitious film focusing on Native Americans. The film was directed by Victor Schertzinger, a noted film-score composer who later helmed the Oscar-winning Grace Moore vehicle, One Night of Love (1934). Shot on location and largely in Technicolor, Redskin has been described by critics as one of the most visually beautiful films of the late 1920’s.

Typical for the time, the leads in Redskin are played by non-Native Americans, with Navajo and Pueblo acting only as bit players and extras. In what would have been one of the more unusual roles of her career, Brooks was set to play a Pueblo named Corn Blossom, a Native American character described in the Los Angeles Times as an “Indian flapper.” One Hollywood columnist thought the role Brooks’ “greatest opportunity to date.” Another reported Brooks’ screen test revealed a “striking resemblance to our conception of Romantic Indian heroines.”

This spectacularly photographed film — shot in the American southwest on historic tribal lands — centers on Wing Foot, Corn Blossom’s love interest and a Navajo caught between two tribes and two cultures. Wing Foot is played by Richard Dix, a major star of the time. Pueblo Jim, the rival suitor for Corn Blossom, is played by Noble Johnson, the pioneering African American film producer and longtime character actor.

Brooks’ role went beyond merely being cast. Paramount records show the actress was paid for three weeks' work on Redskin. She was photographed in costume, though without the make-up used on her successor (Gladys Belmont) to affect a Native American appearance. According to press reports from the time, Brooks reported to Gallup, New Mexico at the end of August, 1928, where the cast and crew gathered before heading out to camps near the location shoot.

Gladys Belmont (left, in the arms of Richard Dix) replaced Louise Brooks
in Redskin. The film was Belmont’s first and only starring role.

In early September of 1928, Brooks was called back to Hollywood, where she replaced Ruth Taylor in The Canary Murder Case. The reason given for the switch was that Taylor was ill. Reportage of the time stated, "No one knows why Louise Brooks, a perfect Indian type, was taken out of the picture after working for two weeks, but the rumor is it was another case of temperament — a dangerous experiment for stars these days when so many potential rivals are hanging around in the extra ranks! All the studio gave 'gave out' was that Miss Brooks' thorough knowledge of Broadway and its life suited her so perfectly for the role of Canary in The Canary Murder Case, that she had been selected. Ruth Taylor, formerly cast, fell ill."

However, despite rumors of temperament, studio executives may well have felt Brooks was miscast in the Native American drama. Brooks had been a well known NYC showgirl, and her “thorough knowledge of Broadway and its life” indeed “suited her perfectly to the role” of the feathered showgirl in The Canary Murder Case.

The original score for Redskin was composed by J.S. Zamecnik. The December 7th presentation of the film at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will feature live musical accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra (longtime interpreters and champions of Zamecnik's scores).

More on Louise Brooks and Redskin follows in the next post.