Garden of Girls: 1925

Jazz Age / Art Deco Era photos taken by Ziegfeld Follies photographer Edwin Bower Hesser at his Hotel des Artistes studio in New York City.

Edwin Bower Hesser (1893-1962) was a prominent photographer who worked in New York and Los Angeles during the golden age of Hollywood. Hesser belonged to the generation of photographers who saw the marriage of image and performance as the future of the art. He was drawn to the world of movies and worked as a contract photographer for numbers of silent stars based in New York. He began to make regular trips to the west coast for photographic sessions with Hollywood stars, and finally moved his base of operations to the West Coast.

A fire in 1922 destroyed all of his negatives. In starting over, Hesser realized that the real money in photography lay in periodical publication, not in the service of film publicity offices or stage PR men. He saw a particular opportunity in the subject which the 1920s stage explored with great daring, but the screen, even in pre-code days, could not pursue: female nudity.

Throughout the late 1920s, he published EDWIN BOWER HESSER'S ARTS MONTHLY, exploiting the association betweens art and nudity, and sold it to an anonymous readership of 'art students.' The magazine also featured the work of Ziegfeld Follies photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston, along with John De Mirjian, George DeBarron and Strand Studios.

Interestingly, the famous beauties of the day eagerly flocked to his studios to be artistically photographed in various stages of undress, and these included a number of famous actresses: Marion Davies, Anna Wong, Louise Brooks, Corrine Griffith, Bessie Love, and Alice Calhoun, were among the many who willingly posed for ‘artistic’ photos by Hesser.

Hesser also developed his own color photography system known as Hessercolor, that intrigued magazine publishers, but did not prevail in the marketplace . But his experiments with color photographic processes and his experience with mass reproduction of imagery made him attractive in the eyes of the New York Times, who hired him as a technician.



(c) Susann Disbro Gilbert

References:
Dr. David S. Shields, McClintock Professor at the University of South Carolina;
UCLA Special Collections;
Trouble in Paradise: Edwin Bower Hesser precodecinemablogspot.com

Who in the World are the EGOTs? !

EGOT [ee-goht] –noun, plural: EGOTs.
1. (noun)(Alternatively: Igot) is Filipino slang term derived from the word igorot. Igorot refers to the mountainous peoples of the Philippines. It seems a derogatory term.
2. (noun) Philip Michael Thomas invented the phrase "EGOT", meaning "Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony", in reference to his plans for winning all four. (Note: Philip Michael Thomas played "Ricardo Tubbs" in the 1980s TV series Miami Vice. Thomas achieved a People's Choice Award and a Golden Globe nomination but lacked even a nomination for any of the aforementioned awards.
3. (noun/plot device) Bling worn by comedian Tracy Morgan on the NBC television show 30 Rock, playing the character "Tracy Jordan", a caricature of himself.
4. (noun), the Eosinophil Granule Ontogeny Transcript non-protein coding gene which encodes a long noncoding RNA molecule.

Genes and Filipinos aside, the question of the day is: "Who are the real EGOTs (recipients of an Emmy/Grammy/Oscar/Tony awards) ?

Of course, the answer isn't simple, but for the sake of space, there are 10 EGOTs - technically 12 - if the rule of competitive awards awarded isn't a prerequisite, and "special" or "honorary" Emmy, Grammy, Oscar or Tony awards are included.

The TEN EGOTs recipients are (drum roll, please):

Richard Rogers / Helen Hayes / Rita Moreno / John Gielgud / Mike Nichols /
/ Audrey Hepburn / Marvin Hamlisch / Jonathan Tunick / Mel Brooks / Whoopi Goldberg

( - APPLAUSE - )

In addition, Rogers and Hamlisch have both won the Pulitzer Prize, as well.

( - STANDING OVATION - )

If special or honorary awards are allowed in the EGOTs list (and why not?!), then we may include Liza Minnelli and Barbra Streisand.

Also, many of the above have won more than one award in each of the categories; Barbara Streisand then places first with 19 overall Emmy/Grammy/Oscar/Tony awards, with Mike Nichols and Richard Rogers coming in second and third, respectively. Composer Jonathan Tunick comes in last with a mere total of 4 - one each of the highest awards given to entertainment persons.

The other superlatives of the EGOT are as follows:

* First Artist to Win — Richard Rodgers in 1962
* Most Recent Artist to Win — Whoopi Goldberg in 2002
* Youngest Artist to Win — Rita Moreno at 46
* Oldest Artist to Win — John Gielgud at age 87
* Artist with Shortest Amount of Time to Win — Rita Moreno at 16 years
* Artist with Longest Amount of Time to Win — Helen Hayes at 44 years

So there is everything you wanted to know about the EGOTs, but were afraid to ask. I think I might be an EGOT...for Halloween!

(c) Susann Disbro Gilbert

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_persons_who_have_won_Academy,_Emmy,_Grammy,_and_Tony_Awards

So, just what are "Reels"?

It is traditional to discuss the length of theatrical motion pictures in terms of "reels." The standard length of a 35 mm motion picture reel is 1,000 feet (300 m). This length runs approximately 11 minutes at sound speed (24 frames per second) and slightly longer at silent movie speed (which may vary from approximately 16 to 18 frames per second). Most films have visible cues which mark the end of the reel. This allows projectionists running reel-to-reel to change-over to the next reel on the other projector.

A so-called "two-reeler" would have run about 20–24 minutes since the actual short film shipped to a movie theater for exhibition may have had slightly less (but rarely more) than 1000ft (about 305m) on it. Most projectionists today use the term "reel" when referring to a 2,000-foot (610 m) "two-reeler," as modern films are rarely shipped by single 1,000-foot (300 m) reels. A standard Hollywood movie averages about five 2,000-foot (610 m) reels in length.

The "reel" was established as a standard measurement because of considerations in printing motion picture film at a film laboratory, for shipping (especially the film case sizes) and for the size of the physical film magazine attached to the motion picture projector. Had it not been standardized (at 1,000 feet (300 m) of 35 mm film) there would have been many difficulties in the manufacture of the related equipment.

(c) Susann Disbro Gilbert

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reel

Pampered Youth (1925)

Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning novel The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Takington, the screenplay for Pampered Youth was written by Jay Pilcher and also co-starred Cullen Landis, Allan Forrest, Wallace MacDonald, young Ben Alexander (who grew up to be Jack Webb’s sidekick in television’s Dragnet), and the lovely Charlotte Merriam, who had also been featured prominently in the prior Code of the Wilderness with Alice.

The Los Angeles Times described Alice as:

…A girl who has played a dope fiend with true realism – who has both murdered and been murdered, called by Sir James Barrie “the ideal Babbie of the screen” in The Little Minister …

Thus, it served as no surprise to anyone that she could convincingly age almost an entire lifetime in her role as Isabel Minafer in Pampered Youth.
Released on February 1, 1925, Pampered Youth is the earliest known example of Alice’s work that exists today, and copies are still available for public resale from various sources, although the film is markedly inferior to the original shown in theatres. A condensed version was released in 1927 and re-titled Two to One, and both are in the archives of the Library of Congress Moving Images Collection. A nitrate version is also preserved at the University of California in Los Angeles library archives.

Two major alterations of Pampered Youth from the novel on which it is based are the title itself; and the family name, from the “Ambersons” of the book to the “Minafers” in the film. While the reviews from the time Pampered Youth was released were kind, comparison to other films made at the same period cannot be avoided, especially concerning the camera work, which was credited to David Smith and Stephen Smith, Jr. The photography of Pampered Youth is primitive, featuring fixed, distant camera views which don’t allow for any nuances or subtleties by the actors. Considering some of the cutting-edge film technique that was already in regular use by 1925, this deficiency of skill was undoubtedly due to either lack of imagination or laziness on the part of the director. The result is a glaring flaw in the interpretation of the sweeping saga of Tarkington’s original novel, for which he was awarded the 1919 Pulitzer prize for literature. The core theme of the story is the rejection of modernity by the protagonist, George Minafer (portrayed by Cullen Landis), a spoiled, selfish scion who must eventually lose his family’s fortune, suffer poverty and social shame, and then be redeemed by the story’s end.

But the surviving, snipped versions of Pampered Youth that are commercially available are missing almost one hour of the original film, having been reduced to only 24 minutes, as compared to the original 7 reels of film that was released in 1925. Almost ten full minutes of the surviving, chopped film is taken up by the climatic fire scene, thus eliminating much of the prior plot explanation and making little sense. This makes comparisons to the acclaimed re-make in 1942 by Orson Welles (titled as the novel The Magnificent Ambersons) very difficult to justly contrast or compare. But from the perspective of film preservation and the performances of Alice Calhoun, Cullen Landis, Charlotte Merriam, Wallace McDonald and a very young Ben Alexander, the surviving copies of Pampered Youth are precious, indeed.

(c) Susann Disbro Gilbert

Alice Calhoun: Cover Girl of '22

Clean, pure, and as pretty as a picture, Alice was one of the first celebrity cover girls, providing friendly advice and promoting beauty products on a beauty treatment step-system. “Alice Calhoun Tells How to Care for the Complexion” was the promising headline that ran in a series of ads in national newspapers beginning in June of 1922. As a spokeperson for the line of Hinds, Derwillo Oatmeal Soap, Liska Cold Cream and Beautiful Lavender cologne, her soft smile graced magazines and newspapers, advising young ladies how they, too could obtain a perfect complexion like hers. “The care of the skin and complexion has become a regular hobby with me,” she testified. The skin care beauty products she was touting were “absolutely harmless and contain no bismuth, plaster of Paris or other ingredients that clog the pores.” Alice went on to describe how shocking it was to her that “many girls and women should know better” than to overlook regular beauty cleansing treatments. “To look well is the birthright of every woman” and “a neglected complexion is a drawback to every undertaking.” Her recommended evening and morning ritual included these instructions: “First thing to do is to cleanse your face, hands and arms every night just before retiring with a cleansing cream: for this, I use Liska Cold Cream. In the morning bathe with warm water and Derwillo Oatmeal Soap, then rinse [with] cold water, dry, and before going out, apply Beautiful Lavender, the popular beautifier”. She went on to counsel that “Those who follow my advice are indeed grateful for the wonderful improvement. Just make up your mind to try my system for a few weeks, and if you do, you will agree with me that it is time well spent.”

(c) Susann Disbro Gilbert

Turner Classic Movies
July 4 Sunday 6:00 AM
Short Film: "The Flag: A Story Inspired By the Tradition of Betsy Ross" (1927). A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Picture.
In this silent film, George Washington appeals to Betsy Ross to help create a flag for the new United States. Cast: Alice Calhoun, Francis X. Bushman, Doris Kenyon, Enid Bennett. Director: Arthur Maude. Filmed in 2-strip Technicolor. Film score by Vivek Maddala. C-20 mins, TV-G.

Tales of the Flu

It’s late winter, two weeks until spring, and prime time for the flu. I almost squeaked through the season but caught a bug just recently myself. While there has been a lot of worry about swine (or H1N1) flu, in addition to the “seasonal” flu, the one I seem to have contracted is known as a norovirus and/or other “unknown enteric” version. My eldest daughter was suffering with this at the same time I was, although I doubt we contaminated each other because we live four hours apart these days. However, an interesting factor about both of our illnesses was that when we compared symptoms, we also realized that each of us had a pet who was ailing from cold-like symptoms; in my case, my cat; in hers, her dog. We joked about having “feline flu” vs. “canine flu”, but it was easy to laugh about it today because we have both recovered.

It is a fact, however, that the flu can be very serious. I was hospitalized about 20 years ago when I became so ill I was dehydrated and needed serious medical attention. And even if a case of the flu doesn’t require a trip to the emergency room or an appointment with your family physician, we all know that it certainly does require rest, lots of water, and time - enough time that work and daily life are interrupted for a few days to a week in order to recover.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in addition to those suffering from seasonal flu, there were also 64,355 cases of H1N1 nationally over this past flu season (which begins Week 40 each year). On average, 36,000 Americans die annually from the seasonal flu. This past year, there were an additional 3,900 who died from the H1N1 virus, and 450 of those were children. This is very serious, and scary. The H1N1 virus has claimed enough lives recently to get our attention, and thank goodness a preventive vaccine exists for those most at risk, for both types of flu. What mainly differentiates H1N1 from seasonal flu is that those most at risk from serious complications are the youngest generation, as opposed to the weak, infirm and elderly who are the normal victims of seasonal flu. But this is not the first time in recent history that an influenza virus has attacked the healthiest and most hearty among us.

The worst flu epidemic the nation has ever known occurred in 1917. The Spanish Flu was first reported in March at a Kansas army hospital. It seemed innocuous at first, with complaints of sore throats, chills, fever and general malaise. But within one week, over 500 men in the same camp had been quarantined. The virus then took off like wildfire, spreading throughout other army barracks and onto naval ships. The degree of severity of the virus became much more serious as young men began suddenly dying by the hundreds. The civilian population became alarmed that it would spread off of military bases and into the general public. Their fears were legitimate. Reports of influenza cases came from Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C. In one single day, 851 persons died in New York City alone. As the strength of the virus spread, victims were succumbing within hours of first exhibiting symptoms. Even more alarming, while the morbidity of flu usually affects children and the elderly, this illness took its toll mainly on young adults, aged 20 to 40. Rumors spread that the Germans had unleashed germs in crowded public places, as a biological warfare tactic of World War I. The crime rate in Chicago dropped significantly – even the hoodlums were too ill to work. Those on the West Coast began to fear for their lives. That fear came true, when San Franciscans began to succumb. Even when the end of World War I came on November 11th, many of those who had danced for joy in the city streets wore face masks for fear of contracting germs. But the preventions did not inhibit the spread of illness as the massive gatherings during parades and celebrations brought on still another wave of the flu.

The statistics were staggering. Millions continued to become infected over the winter, and thousands died. Everyone knew someone who had lost their life to the illness. Overall, more people had perished, worldwide, of the Spanish Flu in one year, than in the four years that the Bubonic Plague had raged through Europe centuries before. More people died world wide than had been killed in the world war. By the time it had run its course, 275,000 Americans had succumbed, or 28% of the entire population of the country. Never before and not since has the world suffered a comparable medical disaster on such a massive scale.