Ana səhifə

Mabel normand


Yüklə 3.35 Mb.
səhifə22/97
tarix25.06.2016
ölçüsü3.35 Mb.
1   ...   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   ...   97

Mabel Normand Joins Ince

Mabel Normand, accompanied by Teddy Sampson, left this week for Culver City, where she will take up her work with John Ince thereby finally officially verifying the reports in Variety from time to time that she would retire from association with Keystone.


* from Photoplayers Weekly, April 22, 1916

Mabel Normand, erstwhile Keystone comedienne, but now an aspiring dramatic star, arrived in Los Angeles this week to begin her new duties as an artiste under the supervision of Thomas H. Ince. She went immediately to her home in Hollywood, and is now awaiting word from Ince to start work before the camera in her first vehicle for the Triangle. What is particularly important in connection with Miss Normand’s new venture is the fact that she will not do her work at either the Culver City or Inceville plant of the New York Motion Picture Corporation, but will have a studio of her own. This is a four-acre tract midway between Los Angeles and Hollywood, on which property a studio is now in course of erection. Here Miss Normand will preside as queen over a large company of players, who will be used as her permanent supporting cast in each of the plays in which she will appear. She will have her own director, who, although not yet named, will have immediate charge of the directorial end of her work. Each play will be made under the personal supervision of Ince and be released as a Triangle-Kay Bee subject. What story in which Miss Normand will make her first appearance as an Ince luminary has not been announced, but rumors are to the effect that the scenario is being prepared by J. G. Hawks of the Ince staff writers.

* from Photoplay, May 1916

Mabel Normand’s contract with Keystone has expired and it is said she will not sign with that company.


* from Film Fun, May 1916

They Will Not Remain In Comedy

A happy little creature, with the cunningest poke bonnet you ever saw framing her piquant face, opened her bid dark eyes to their widest extent and made the announcement she had left Keystone comedies.

The poke bonnet was decorated with a bit of blue ribbon and a rose set here and there about the crown and was a pretty creation. But not any prettier than the face it surrounded. And not half as startling as her announcement.

You’ve seen the picture on the other side of the page,129 so you know right well that we are talking about Mabel Normand. Yes, sir, Mabel has deserted the ranks of the comediennes. Walked right out on us.

It isn’t that she likes comedy less, but that she liked drama more. It does seem a shame that as soon as we have discov­ered a gay little comedienne that can turn out fun on the film just exactly to suit us, she should get the drama bee in her pretty poke bonnet and begin to study the methods of Duse and Bernhardt.

Still, Miss Normand insists that she has not deserted the comedy field. She points out that she has always wanted to do more serious work -- in comedy-drama, for instance. She wants to be a trifle more serious and dignified than they have allowed her to be in the Keystone comedies. She says comedy does not alto­gether consist of falling downstairs and throwing custard pies, and she believes that she can be just as funny in more dignified situations.

The point is that Mabel Normand is tired of slapstick. She feels that she is capable of better things. Her directors think so, too, for she has a special director now, who is selecting plays for her. Her ability in drama was spotted a long time ago, but she was so popular as a Keystone comedienne that they were anxious to keep her as long as they could.

But Miss Normand got as far as New York and milled around some with the bunch, and then kicked right over the traces. She landed right in the spotlight as a star in her own right, and if her director is to be believed, this piquant little comedienne is going to be a scream.


* from Motography, May 6, 1916

Mabel Normand, the former Keystone comedienne, is ready to start her new work as an aspiring dramatic star with Triangle. Miss Normand is to have her own studio, a four-acre tract midway between Los Angeles and Hollywood, and will have her own company of players who will be used as her permanent supporting cast in each of the plays in which she will appear. The director for Miss Normand has not yet been named. Each player will be under the personal supervision of Ince and will be released as a Triangle-Kay Bee subject.


* from Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1916

 Grace Kingsley



Thumbnail Sketches: Mabel Normand: Champagne at a wake; red roses in the lettuce patch.

* from Photoplayers Weekly, May 20, 1916



With a story just as attractive as the little star herself, Miss Mabel Normand and her own company of players began rehearsals last week. Although Miss Normand has her own studio, her relations with the Keystone Film Company, where she was featured for so many years, are very close, the rehearsals being held on the old stage where Miss Mabel once upon a time worked with hose, bomb, and pie. Mack Sennett and Hampton Del Ruth lent their aid at the first rehearsals, just as in the past.

“I am more than delighted with everything,” Miss Normand said when asked if she would say a word about her future plans. “I am sure I have the best equipped studio for its size in the country. I am more than satisfied with the first story selected. I feel sure I have regained my old good health again, and now I am anxious to hear Mr. Young say ‘camera’ and begin work again.”

* from Motography, May 20, 1916

Never again will “Keystone“ Mabel Normand go riding on a motorcycle with Charlie Chaplin, who didn’t know how to manage the thing.

Never again will she roll down a hill in a barrel; be dragged through a muddy lake containing rubbish and broken glass; walk along the skyline of a hill with a goat following her; be tied to a rock in the ocean with the surf pounding over her; ride a wild horse part way over a cliff before deciding to turn back.

Worshippers before the perpendicular stage will not again see Miss Normand leap from the roof of one house to another before a net is placed in the alley between, or fall from the window of a blazing building.

In brief, Mabel Normand, the dark-eyed, slender little comedienne who, in Keystone comedies, has been responsible for millions of laughs in theaters all over the world, is through risking her neck in the noble cause of motion picture art.

The charm of personality, the spirit of fun and mischief, the gayety of manner which won for “Keystone Mabel” so many enthusiastic friends, is to have a new setting, in a new sort of comedies which will delight her old admirers and win her many new ones.

Incidentally, the new pictures will not be so dangerous to work in. The leading lady will be fairly certain, when she begins one, that she will not be carried to a hospital before the play is completed.

“Keystone comedies are fun to watch,” said Miss Normand, who, about to begin her new work, felt in a reminiscent mood, “but, believe me, making them is a serious affair. It was no laughing matter for me. I was always thinking of my role, even in the funniest play. It was hard work, too, running at top speed in the hot sunshine, falling flat, rolling down hill in a barrel, even dragging goats around by the horns!” Mabel looked quite sorry for herself for just one minute; then she laughed. “I played with a goat once; who was temperamental, I think.

“He was supposed to follow me, but he simply refused. They whipped him, but he still balked. They shoved him with poles, but the poles showed in the picture. Then I thought of a wire, and they wired me and the goat together, tied one end around the goat’s horns, the other around my waist. And four times I dragged that stubborn animal along the skyline of a hill before the picture was just right. I felt sorry for myself, working so hard.

“Then there was the time they dragged me through a lake. It was really sort of a mud hole, which the city was to fill, but it gave the director an idea for a comedy. We went and made it and it was a funny picture,130but I was sick for several weeks after, because I swallowed some of the lake water.”

However, the life of a Keystoner is not without its compensation in fun. Miss Normand couldn’t tell which comedy she thought most humorous on the screen, but she was not for a moment in doubt about the “most fun she ever had in pictures.”

“Working with Raymond Hitchcock in ‘My Valet’ made up for all the hardships. I think I laughed straight through the ‘water stuff.’ Fred Mace was the villain. He took me out to a rock in the sea and tied me there. But he was so afraid of the water that he was in terror the whole time, I believe. And at last the current was so strong it swept him away, and we all had to turn in and rescue the frightened ‘villyan.’

Like many other adventurers, Miss Normand has a pet superstition to which she has clung through all her hazards and which she is bringing into her new work. It concerns the number thirteen.

“I always like to have the number thirteen prominent in some way when I begin new things. I signed my new contract on the thirteenth of the month, and that is a good beginning for me.”

Miss Normand is to be an “extra special” player under the Kay-Bee label. A special studio is being built for her on a four-acre tract between Hollywood and Los Angeles, and she will have her own company of stock players as regular support.

She will have her own director, but each of her pictures will be made under the close supervision of Thomas H. Ince. Her first play has been written for her by J. G. Hawks. The title of the story has not been made public as yet, but it will afford Miss Normand a light comedy. In her new plays the star will have an opportunity for acting and character drawing.

And one thing is certain: there will be plenty of fun and “pep” and in Mabel Normand’s plays.
* from Moving Picture World, May 27, 1916

Mabel Normand, the popular Triangle star, was the guest of honor at the Pals Club last Saturday. She was welcomed by a host of Los Angeles friends, and a notable program had been arranged for the evening.


* from New York Morning Telegraph, May 28, 1916

Mabel Normand with her own company of players and in her own studio began actual work on her initial production131 this week. This will be a four-reel feature released on the Triangle Program under the name of the Mabel Normand Feature Film Company. Eight such features are planned for as the average yearly output. They will all be comedy dramas, Miss Normand will be directed by James Young, formerly director of Clara Kimball Young and more recently a director at the Lasky studio, where he produced two pictures, one for Mae Murray and the other for Blanche Sweet. Lewis J. Cody, formerly of the Selig Company, will play opposite Miss Normand in her first picture. The general supervision of the work of the new studio is being looked after by the Keystone heads, who will lend their aid and advice at all necessary times. Hampton Del Ruth, the Keystone scenario editor, will act in like capacity for Miss Normand. Mack Sennett will accord to Mr. Young his assistance at all times.


* from Photoplay, June 1916

No more slapstick, flour-barrel, custard-pie, aeroplane, water stuff comedy for Mabel Normand, who has been frolicking in Keystone laugh provokers ever since there was a Keystone. Miss Normand deserted her old screen pal, “Fatty” Arbuckle, in New York, and left for Los Angeles with a new Triangle contract which recognizes her desire to play light dramatic roles. It has not been determined at the time of her departure for the Coast whether Miss Normand was to make her debut into the new field under the auspices of Thomas H. Ince, or her former director, Mack Sennett.


* from Motography, June 3, 1916

Mabel Normand and her own company of players have begun rehearsals on the first production to be released by the Mabel Normand Feature Film Company. This will be in four reels and the plan is to make eight releases of this length during the year. Miss Normand has not cut away entirely from the Keystone studios, as James Young, who will direct the star, and [Hampton] Del Ruth are lending their aid as in the past. The only real difference is in the play, which is a straight comedy-drama. In it the dramatic situations are strong, while the opportunities for comedy are unlimited.


* from New York Morning Telegraph, June 18, 1916

 Edward Vincent

James Young is no longer the director of Mabel Normand. Mr. Young directed a few scenes for the former Keystoner and it seemed impossible for the two to get along, so Mr. Young, like the courteous gentleman he is, withdrew. He has been succeeded by J. Farrell McDonald, late of the American Woman Film Company, and for a long time with the Biograph Company. He will be assisted by A. Gillstrom [Arvid Gillstrom] of the Keystone forces, and Mr. Sennett will continue as the general supervising director. Miss Normand’s initial comedy-dramatic picture under her own name will be released about the first of August.
* from New York Morning Telegraph, June 25, 1916

Mabel Normand’s second dramatic feature for the Triangle will be a motion picture version of J. M. Barrie’s “The Little Minister.” The Mabel Normand Company has purchased the rights to all of the Barrie stories.


* from New York Clipper, July 1, 1916

MAE MARSH, the Triangle star, gave a large party last week at her palatial California home in honor of the announced mar­riage of Rose Richter to James Smith, the latter being in charge of the Fine Arts assembling department. All of the guests, which included about sixty members of the Fine Arts studio, presented the young couple with elaborate and useful gifts. In charge of the shower was D. W. Griffith. Dance music was supplied by a six piece orchestra, and between dances refreshments were served by the hostess, her sister, Margaret and her mother. Among those present at the Marsh party were: The Gish Sisters, Robert Harron, Fay Tincher, Wilfred Lucas, Seena Owen, Eugene Pallette, Con­stance Talmadge, Chester Withey, Mary O’Connor, W. C. Cabanne, Hetty Gray Baker, Lloyd Ingraham, Kate Bruce, Tod Browning, Mabel Normand, Edward Dillon, Loyola O’Connor and Milliard Webb, and, of course, Rose Richter and James Smith, in whose honor the party was given by Miss Marsh.


* from New York Morning Telegraph, July 2, 1916

If the Mabel Normand Company has bought the rights of Barrie’s novels, as published last week, Alf Hayman, of the Charles Frohman Company knows nothing of it. The Charles Frohman Company controls the stage rights of Barrie’s works.


* from New York Morning Telegraph, July 16, 1916

 E. V. Durling

After many difficulties, Mabel Normand is now making rapid progress on the production of her new picture and will soon begin another here instead of going to New York as she had planned. Dick Jones, formerly of the Keystone forces, is directing, and seems to have produced the desired harmony. The scenario for the initial feature was written by Anita Loos, which fact is enough to insure its being a worth-while story.
* from Moving Picture World, August 5, 1916

Tod Browning, director for the Triangle-Fine Arts Company, on July 12 was tendered a surprise party by his friends at the Reiter Arms Apartments, Hollywood. The affair was given in honor of Browning’s twenty-third birthday.

Miss Alice Wilson had charge of the arrangements. Browning was taken to the downtown district for dinner. One of the members of the party soon after the dinner pleaded a severe headache and they all adjourned to the Reiter Arms, where Browning was met by the three hundred guests who were invited to the affair, including notable film people from the various studios in the motion picture colony. Charles Murray, the Keystone comedian, acted as master of ceremonies, and welcomed Browning home with a traditional Keystone bit of comedy.

A buffet luncheon was served in the Reiter Arms ballroom, and the evening was spent in dancing.

Among the guests were Mr. and Mrs. Edward Dillon, Chet Withey, Mabel Normand, Fay Tincher, Dorothy Gish, Robert Harron, Wallace Reid, Dorothy, Davenport, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Ingraham, J. C. Epping, Ruth Stonehouse, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Cabanne, Bessie Love, Mae and Marguerite Marsh, Mrs. Marsh, Mary H. O’Connor, Hettie Gray Baker, Constance Talmadge, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Clifton, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Long, Bernard McConville, Roy Somerville, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Wilson and others. Hettie Gray Baker, of the scenario department of the Fine Arts Company, celebrated her birthday at the

same time.

Eddie Dillon presented Browning with a sponge cake containing twenty-three red peppermint candies, arranged so as to form Browning’s initials.
* from New York Clipper, August 5, 1916

Mabel Normand, on Saturday last, contributed as exclusive release of one of her comedy pictures to the boys at the border. The picture was made hurriedly, just as soon as actual camp was begun. Miss Normand puzzled her brain in an effort to decide upon what to send them. Keystone sent cigars and chewing gum and candy and magazines, but the boys all miss “the movies,” and Mabel posed and worked at odd moments during all the time that she was not actually busy on her first feature release, which is to be a seven reeler -- the biggest one that Mabel has ever done.

The scenario of the one reel picture that has been sent to the soldier boys132 is a broad comedy, and in it Mabel is recruiting. She has a chance to masquerade as a soldier, and later as an officer -- a little fellow -- and then as her own self she finds recruiting easier. This is not for sale, and will not be released in any way except free, with Mabel’s compliments. Also with her compliments went projecting machines. Others will follow -- also other scenarios, when odd moments, enough have occurred at the Mabel Normand studio, sufficient to allow the time of making.
* from Arcata Union (Arcata, CA), August 12, 1916

...While on a trip to Los Angeles some five years ago, Miss (Helen) Holmes met Mabel Normand, who was at that time working with the Keystone Company and who later was with Charley [sic] Chaplin. Having known her previously in Chicago, Miss Normand prevailed upon her to join the Keystone Company, with whom she remained a couple of months. She then went with the Kalem Company, in which Mr. McGowan was the director and while working in this company, she won fame in her “Hazards of Helen” pictures...


* from Racine Journal-News, August 14, 1916

New Notes from Movieland

by Daisy Dean

Mabel Normand bumb [sic] of originality has prompted a unique joy giver for the soldiers at the front. The conventional cigarets [sic] and chewing gum and magazines didn’t appeal to her as discomfort alleviators, so she cast about for something different. She discovered it. “It” is a one-real comedy limited edition, made by Mabel herself in the spare time between scenes on her feature picture. Mabel is recruiting, masquerading first as a soldier and then as an officer, and ending up by being just Mabel herself. This picture is not for sale. No one gets it, unless he gets it for nothing with Miss Normand’s compliments. With the picture to the border she sent the projecting machines and promises of more pictures.
* from Los Angeles Examiner, August 25, 1916

DR. RAYMOND A. SWETT ARRESTED

MABEL NORMAND HIS ACCUSER

Mabel Normand, the noted film actress caused the arrest last night of Raymond A. Swett of 228 North Wilton Place on a charge of attempted blackmail. Swett was trapped in her apartments by two city detectives who had been gathering evidence against him for several weeks following a complaint made to Chief of Police Snively by Miss Normand. The detectives charge Dr. Swett with attempting to extort $610 from Miss Normand as “hush” money and that he threatened if she did not pay him he would circulate stories that would operate to her discredit.133

For three weeks Miss Normand had kept officers on Swett‘s trail in an effort to “catch him with the goods.” Last night was the first opportunity the detectives had of springing traps that had been repeatedly set for him. Swett says he was employed by a private detective agency in New York to “get dope on Miss Nor­mand” but he refused to give the name of his employer

Swett went to Miss Normand’s suite in the Baltic Apartments 1127 Orange street, early last evening, following an appointment. He didn’t even know that dictagraphs had been set in the room to record every word spoken, neither did he know that Police Detective Frank Edmondson and an assistant were hiding in a clothes closet with their ears to a crack under the door.

According to the detective Swett at once launched into an argument with Miss Normand about her giving him $610. He exhibited a deputy sheriff’s badge, the officer said, and declared he would circulate certain stories unless Miss Normand paid him the money.

Miss Normand. however, declared she could not afford to pay him that sum and asked him to accept $300. This was practically agreed upon, according to the officer, and the film actress handed Swett a marked $20 bill as first payment. At that juncture the detective and another man who had been assigned to help stepped into the room and seized Swett. Although the officers say Swett was armed with a pistol, he made no attempt to use it and went with them peaceably after he had been handcuffed.

Swett, the police say, told them that he had been employed by a New York detective agency to get information about Miss Normand, and that certain persons were paying the detective agency large sums for this work. He said he was to receive $610 for his work, which was $10 a day.

Miss Normand complained to the police three weeks ago that she was being annoyed by Dr. Swett. Chief of Police Snively detailed Detective Edmondson on the case and he had been on it ever since. The officer planned with Miss Normand to trap Swett into making a formal demand for money in the hearing of witnesses. A dictagraph was placed in her room, with the wire leading into an adjoining apartment.

According to the officers, Swett would call Miss Normand up by telephone and make appointments to call on her at her own apartments, but time after time he failed to appear. He had been to her place while she was present only once before, officers say, and that was when the first alleged demand was made for “hush” money...
* from Los Angeles Evening Herald, August 25, 1916

Charge To Fleece Actresses

Asserting that she was “not afraid” to prosecute, but that the decision rested with police, Mabel Normand, famous movie comedienne, today revealed the details of the alleged attempt of Dr. Raymond A. Swett to blackmail her.

Swett, the police say, has confessed to having attempted to extort money from Miss Normand by threatening to circulate stories to her discredit.

“He’s a bad man,” said Miss Normand. “I would like to see him punished. I am not afraid of his threats, but I will let the police decide what to do.”

New charges were brought against the prisoner by Kaplan Brothers, manufacturing jewelers of 401 Title Guarantee building. The jewelers accused Dr. Swett of stealing $100 in gold from the company.

With the arrest of Dr. Swett the police began an investigation of an alleged blackmail clique which, it is claimed, has victimized beautiful Los Angeles motion picture actresses.

Miss Normand told her story to a reporter for The Evening Herald as she was “making up” in her dressing room at her studio.

“The whole affair was terribly exciting,” she said. I was frightened once or twice. It all seems so mysterious and strange to me.

“I first met this Dr. Swett several weeks ago. He telephoned and asked for an appointment. He came to my apartment and when we were alone he told me this story:

“He said he was employed by someone in New York to watch me. He said he shadowed me for sixty-one days and that he was paid $10 a day. He said he had ‘a lot of stuff on me.’

“‘You know,’” he said to me, “‘little presents are sometimes made in cases like this. If you pay me what is coming to me I will forget everything I know.’

“I thought he was insane. If he had asked me for the money I would have loaned it to him. I didn’t know what to think so I told him to get out of my apartment.

“Then he began telephoning me. Each time he would tell me I had better look out. He told me he would tell things about me that would not sound nice. I asked him what this information was.

“Never once did he hint to me what he ‘had on me.’ I know he was bluffing. I am not afraid to have people know what I do. He told me that if I paid him $610 he would tear up the reports he had made. I asked to see these reports but he refused.

“He told me what a bad man he was. Once he showed me a revolver and told me how he shot from the hip. I was frightened then, but I wouldn’t let him know it.

“Finally I went to Mr. Claybaugh, who is secretary to Chief Snively. Frank Edmondson was detailed to work the case and he followed Swett for a while. Then we laid a trap for him and he was arrested.

“I really can’t imagine what he thought he knew about me that would hurt me. I know no on in New York who is so interested in me as to hire someone to follow me.

“It all seems like I was playing in a picture only it was too real. I will do what the officers think best. If they want to prosecute Swett I will help them. If not, I won’t.”

Dr. Swett according to Detective Edmondson, is a dentist and lives at 328 North Wilton place. The police say he has confessed to attempting to blackmail Miss Normand.

Swett, at the city jail, said.

“Miss Normand has a sweetheart back in New York. I was employed to watch her and report to New York what she did. I did not try to blackmail Miss Normand. I only tried to do her a favor.”

Swett was arrested in Miss Normand’s suite at the Baltic apartments. The officers used a dictagraph to record the conver­sation between Miss Normand and the man. When the film actress handed Swett a marked $20 bill officers stepped form their hiding place and arrested him.

To lure Swett into the trap, Miss Normand consented to pay him $300 for his silence. The $20 bill was the first payment on the $300 “hush” money.

Mrs. George R. Jones proprietor of the Baltic apartments, said:

“Miss Normand has been a guest here for two years. Her conduct has been beyond reproach.”
* from Los Angeles Evening Express, August 25, 1916

1   ...   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   ...   97


Verilənlər bazası müəlliflik hüququ ilə müdafiə olunur ©atelim.com 2016
rəhbərliyinə müraciət