Expert: DM - 12/26/2009

Question
I recently came across an old 16mm film for an Our Gang called "Quiet Please". It was fuzzy on our equipment and hard to make out but it seemed to involve a nurse and a sequence where they pushed a bed around several corners. According to the opening titles, it was produced (or presented) by the Dover Film Corporation. I have been unable to find any reference to this particular film or company online and was wondering if you had information. Is this some sort of lost episode or simply an alternate title?  

Answer
Dear Jeff,
Thank you for asking this question. In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the Our Gang / Little Rascals comedies were recirculated for the home movie market. The films were often edited, exerpted, and renamed. What you have most definately sounds like a reissue with a different title. For more information about Our Gang films, I highly recommend reading The Little Rascals by Leonard Malton and Richard Bann. All of their comedies were carefully explored in that book, and there are plot synopses for them. Perhaps you can pinpoint exactly which one contained the scene or scenes that you have in that reissue and learn what the original title was.

You can also go to www.imdb.com and click on the SEARCH field. Type in a name of the actor, Buckwheat or Billy Thomas, and go through his list of credits. Clicking on any one of them may also bring you a synopsis that will help you identify the title.

If you wish to personally speak to Richard Bann, the author of that book, you can telephone him at (310) 858.4987.

Sincerely,
David Menefee
PO BOX 181662
Dallas, TX. 75218
USA

Web: www.thegreatstars.com

Author
Sarah Bernhardt in the Theater of Films and Sound Recordings
The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era
The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era
Richard Barthelmess: A Life in Pictures
George O'Brien: A Man's Man in Hollywood
Texting Harry (with Connie Podesta)
A Craving for Travel II (with Jim Strong)
The Unflappable Irving Link (with Ferdinand Hauslein, Jr.)
"Otay!" The Billy "Buckwheat " Thomas Story (with William Thomas, Jr.)
Brothers of the Storm
The Remarkable Mr. Messing

David's book, Richard Barthelmess: A Life in Pictures, was named in the "Top Ten Books of 2009" by the San Francisco Examiner.


No one will ever forget the scene in D. W. Griffith’s Way Down East where Richard Barthelmess as David rescued Anna Moore from certain death on an ice floe as it was about to plummet over a waterfall. The actor risked his life for that stunt, and the exciting sequence still thrills audiences to this day. His effort to fight back and live on became more than the stuff of Hollywood legend. Richard went on to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor for The Noose and The Patent Leather Kid. His signature roles are in many of D. W. Griffith’s silent films including Broken Blossoms, Scarlet Days, The Love Flower, and The Idol Dancer. Few people are aware that he was nearly felled by the chaos of Hollywood’s transition from silent to talking pictures when he used a voice double to sing for him in Weary River. Despite the setback, his transition to talking pictures and work in The Dawn Patrol, Cabin in the Cotton, and Only Angel’s Have Wings proved that his talent was enduring.  


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The second edition of this exciting, new book is now available:

Sarah Bernhardt in the Theatre of Films and Sound Recordings
Foreword by Kevin Brownlow
Exhaustive research in every major archive of the world has created this compilation of information and images focusing on Bernhardt’s films and twenty early wax-cylinder and disc recordings. Detailed analyses of the motion pictures include plot synopses, casts, production notes, and contemporary reviews. Complete records of Bernhardt’s work on stage, in films, and recordings are annotated and indexed.

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Available by mail from the publisher at:
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Box 611
Jefferson, NC 28640
USA

Telephone (336) 246-4460
Fax (336) 246-5018
or toll free Telephone Order (800-253-2187)

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3 Henrietta St.
Convent Garden
London
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People who enjoyed the Sarah Bernhardt book also enjoy this unusual new book:

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Actresses include Theda Bara, Beverly Bayne, Sarah Bernhardt, Pauline Frederick, Carol Dempster, Gene Gauntier, Janet Gaynor,
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The first edition of this richly researched and handsomely illustrated new book is now available:

The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era,
Discover the captivating lives and groundbreaking accomplishments of fourteen men who dared to gamble their reputations by appearing in the first motion pictures, at a time when other actors in the “legitimate theater” scorned the industry. These amazing men not only defied the odds of success, but also received a place at the heights of a fascinating business that was a new form of art. Each made an enduring and important contribution to early cinema, although some are forgotten today. Exhaustive research in every major archive of the world has created this compilation of information and images. In this engaging and educational volume, David W. Menefee reaches into the vaults of history to withdraw countless, unusual details that tell how these men, their roles, and their influence were received in their time, and how their powerful impact still lingers today. The book includes 114 rare scene photos, portraits, reproductions of full-page film advertisements, and lobby cards.

Actors include: John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Richard Barthelmess, John Bunny, Francis X. Bushman, Lon Chaney, Jackie Coogan, William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Antonio Moreno, Jack  Pickford, Wallace Reid, Rudolph Valentino, and Crane Wilbur.

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Coming in 2010:
George O'Brien: A Man's Man in Hollywood
Publishing January 2010

"Otay!" The Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas Story
Publishing  2010