15th Annual Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival Begins Today

The annual Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival, which runs June 29 through July 1, is a three day celebration of early film. Wide-ranging, it includes everything from locally made Westerns to an international tragedy, a historical epic, a documentary, an actuality, some comedies, and a comedy of manners.

This year, the Niles Essanany Silent Film Museum in Fremont is marking the Festival's 15th anniversary with a veritable smorgasbord of cinema — including a not to be missed event with the last surviving silent film star, Diana Serra Cary (aka Baby Peggy). A new documentary about this 1920s pint-size child star, as well as a feature and two shorts featuring the will, also be screened.

Here is the line-up for the three day 15th annual Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival. More info at www.nilesfilmmuseum.org/2012-bbsff.htm

Atlantis, with Frederick Hodges at the piano
Friday June 29 at 8:00 pm

There is little about Atlantis (1913, Great Northern Film Company) that isn't larger than life. This grand Danish film was directed by August Blom, then the head of production at that country's Nordisk Film company. (Still operating, it is now the world's oldest film studio.)

Atlantis is the first Danish multi-reeled feature film. It starred an international cast headlined by Danish matinee idol Olaf Fønss and Austrian opera diva Ida Orloff. And notably, serving as second assistant director and also among its cast members in a small role is the Hungarian Mihály Kertész, who later came to the United States where he changed his name and achieved fame as director Michael Curtiz.

Atlantis was based on a 1912 novel of the same name by the 1912 Nobel Prize winning German novelist and playwright Gerhart Hauptmann. The story, which closely adheres to its literary source and hinges on the tragic sinking of an ocean liner, tells the tale of a doctor who travels to the United States in search of a cure for his ailing wife. Released only one year after the sinking of the Titanic, the movie drew considerable attention as well as criticism for its not-dissimilar depiction of an actual tragedy. (In Norway, the film was banned because authorities felt it in poor taste to turn tragedy into entertainment.) Blom, in fact,  filmed two endings for the movie — one happy and one tragic. The alternate tragic ending was made for the Russian market, as it was believed the Russians had a preference for sad endings

Impressive in its day, Atlantis has been hailed by film historians as an early  masterpiece. It will be preceded by three classic and one contemporary short, The New York Hat (1912, Biograph) with Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore, The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912, Biograph) with Elmer Booth and Lillian Gish, The Tourists (1912, Biograph) with Mabel Normand, and Arrival of Essanay in Niles (2012, NESFM), which features 35mm footage shot on April 1st at the Niles Canyon Railway depot. This latter film, a reenactment, celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of Niles as a film colony.

Silk Husbands and Calico Wives, with Jon Mirsalis at the piano
Saturday June 30 at 12:30 pm

Based on a story by Monte M. Katterjohn, the now rarely screened Silk Husbands and Calico Wives (1920, Garson Studios) stars House Peters as a lawyer who has some old-fashioned ideas about a woman's place in home and society. Mary Alden and Eva Novak are also featured in the movie, which was made and released in the same year that women's suffrage was passed in the United States.

Afterwards, Murray Glass, founder of the Em Gee Film Library (now part of the Niles Museum film collection), will talk about his long career collecting, preserving and making films available for viewing; Glass will be in conversation with world renowned film preservationist David Shepard.  

Essanay Niles Films, with Judy Rosenberg at the piano
Saturday June 30 at 3:30 pm

Rare 35mm prints of five films made at the Essanay studio in Niles, California will be screened. Four feature G. M. Anderson, aka Broncho Billy, the first Western film star and one of the founders of the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company.

The five films are Broncho Billy’s Narrow Escape (1912, Essanay) with G. M. Anderson, Vedah Bertram, Arthur Mackley, and Brinsley Shaw; A Wife of the Hills (1912, Essanay) with G. M. Anderson, Arthur Mackley, Brinsley Shaw, and Vedah Bertram; An Indian Sunbeam (1912, Essanay) with G. M. Anderson, Edna Sharpe, and True Boardman; The Tomboy on Bar Z (1912, Essanay) with Virginia Eames, Jay Hanna, Rollie Totheroh, and Texas George Briggs; and Broncho Billy’s Heart (1912, Essanay) with G. M. Anderson, Fred Church, Arthur Mackley and Julia Mackley. Each of the 35mm prints are on loan from archives around the world.

Helen’s Babies, with David Drazin at the piano
Saturday June 30 at 7:30 pm

Based on the popular 1876 novel of the same name by John Habberton, Helen’s Babies (1924, Sol Lesser Productions) tells the story of a young man who has vowed never to marry and doesn't particularly like children who is left in charge of his two young nieces. At first they drive him to distraction, but then he begins to warm to them and also to a beautiful local girl , played by "It girl" Clara Bow. Directed by William A. Seiter, Helen’s Babies was a huge hit in its day. The film stars Bow, Baby Peggy and Edward Everett Horton.

The feature will be preceded by three short films, two of which, The Shotgun Ranchman (1912, Essanay) and The Prospector (1912, Essanay) were shot in Niles. The Niles Silent Film Museum will also present its newest restoration, Twin Peaks Tunnel (1917), which documents the digging of the transit tunnel from Market Street to West Portal in San Francisco. It was restored by Rob Byrne and David Kiehn.

A Baby Peggy celebration
Sunday July 1 at 1:00 pm

Diana Serra Cary — who in the 1920s was known as Baby Peggy, is considered the last surviving silent film star. This remarkable and still active 93 year old is celebrated with the screening of a new documentary, Baby Peggy, the Elephant in the Room (2011, Vera Iwerebor). The documentary will be followed by an in person interview with Cary by Larry Telles.

Also shown, and not to be missed, are Brownie’s Little Venus (1921, Century Film Company) with Baby Peggy, Bud Jamison and Brownie the Dog, and Little Red Riding Hood (1922, Century Film Company) with Baby Peggy, Louise Lorraine, Alfred J. Goulding and a canine actor named Peter the Great.

Cleopatra, with Bruce Loeb at the piano
Sunday July 1 at 4:00 pm

Pioneering film star Helen Gardner formed her own company to produce feature films, the first of which was Cleopatra (1912, Helen Gardner Picture Players). The film, in which Gardner stars in the title role, features a series of elaborately staged tableaux depicting Cleopatra and her lovers, including the handsome fisherman-slave Pharon and Marc Antony.

Released five years before Theda Bara starred in the now better known silent version made for Fox, Gardner's Cleopatra was a sensation. Although this earlier telling may seem somewhat old fashioned by modern standards, it broke new ground on the road to feature films. A special tinted & toned version will be screened.

For more info: The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is located at 37417 Niles Blvd. in Fremont, California. For further information, call (510) 494-1411 or visit the Museum's website at www.nilesfilmmuseum.org/.

Thomas Gladysz is an arts journalist and the Director of the Louise Brooks Society, an internet-based archive and international fan club devoted to the silent film star. Gladysz has contributed to books on the actress, organized exhibits, appeared on television and radio, and introduced Brooks’ films around the world.