Silents are Golden (2)

 by Gerry Dunne

Welcome once again to our little 'over the shoulder' glance at the boys' silent past. Watch out for that lamppost, Stanley! Too late! You'll have to put a cold compress on that. I hope that you have all been voraciously watching the silents since my last column? You have? Excellent. In this edition of the digest let us board old Kitty Hawk - offloading Amy Johnston first of course - and fly off to 1920s Hollywood to find out about a pair of brothers who did voraciously watch the silent classics. They not only collected and restored old movies - they built their own theatre in which to enjoy them! Don't forget your leathers and goggles - and by the way, Stanley, hold on to your hat!

611 North Fairfax, Hollywood, is the location of America's only fully operating Silent Movie Theatre. It was purpose built in 1942 by John Hampton and despite several closures due to illness- and a murder - the 'Movie' has been running pretty constantly up to the present day.

It all began in 1919 when John and Gilbert Hampton, aged nine and seven from Oklahoma City were let down by Santa - ah! They wanted a movie projector but instead received a postcard projector. Undaunted they went into the movie business, showing strip cartoons for the price of admission. They continually pestered local projectionists until at last they were offered an old Powers No 5 projector for $8.00 to shut them up. It was 1923.

The boys went into business proper showing movies in their living room between 1923 and 1926 - by which stage 75 to 100 children were turning up every Friday night. Mum and dad called a halt and the boys went through a series of venues until John decided that they should build their own theatre. In 1942 their dream was realised and the 'Movie' first opened its doors to customers. Through the 40s, 50s and 60s John restored thousands of old movies and in many ways his work has enabled us to enjoy these early classics, which would otherwise have been lost. In the 1970s John was diagnosed with cancer due to his overexposure to the chemicals necessary to preserve the films he loved so much. He died in 1990 at the age of 80.

The theatre closed several times during its turbulent history. The most recent closure was in 1997 after its owner Lawrence Austin was shot dead in the lobby by a 19-year-old hired by Austin's live in partner and theatre projectionist. The theatre reopened on 7 November1999 with the last silent movie ever made - Chaplin's Modern Times.

And now for our feature presentation:-

The Soilers

In 1923, when John and Gilbert Hampton started showing silent films in the living room of their parents house, Stan was making one of his parodies of the silent classics. Glenn Mitchell calls it one of his "funniest films". High praise indeed for a film that is practically plotless, lasts barely nine minute - at least my print does - and consists of a protracted fight between Stan and Fin. In my view it rates a 6 out of 10.

The film was based on the western saga 'The Spoilers', which had been filmed initially in 1914, and remade in 1922 with Noah Beery and Milton Sills. Fin plays 'Smacknamara' a no-account ornery claim-jumping villain if ever there was one. Stan, as Bob Canister, vows to rid the town of the evil 'Smack', and thus the fight begins.

During a titanic struggle Stan and Fin fight their way around Smack's office out into the street and into the saloon, where their fisticuffs go completely unnoticed by the patrons. Everything is trashed as they grapple with each other, using every means fair or foul to bash each other senseless.

By contrast, an effeminate cowbow flits in and out of the fight scene while the combatants grapple manfully with each other. The cowboy gazes whistfully at his reflection, adjusts his holster to the front of his belt, preens himself, and picks up the gun that Stan and Fin are fighting for before skipping back to his room.

Eventually Stan gets the upper hand and Fin is defeated. Outside the saloon, Stan announces the end of Smacknamara. Our camp cowboy is on a balcony above Stan and shouts down, "My hero!" Stan is not impressed whereupon the slighted cowboy drops a flowerpot on Stan's head. Our "hero" collapses to the ground and is lifted and deposited in a garbage truck.

While undoubtedly funny the lack of sufficient sub-plot makes this film just a prolonged fight-sequence. As a parody, it is sharp and does take off the films that were being made at that time by Tom Mix, et al. The camp cowboy is an excellent vehicle for breaking up the action sequences but he just doesn't provide that variety of 'interruptions' necessary to make this a classic. Sorry Glenn!

Drop me a line and let me know what you think. My address is 1 Collinward Gardens, Glengormley, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, BT36 6DS - and keep watching those silents.

Thanks go to 'The Silent Movie Theatre' website and 'The Laurel and Hardy Encyclopaedia'.