Tom Barnes's Blog: Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog - Posts Tagged "d-w-griffith"
It Takes and Audience and The Legend of Ebo Landing
This Week
The Poor Little Rich Girl
The Patrick Pearse Motel
Writers Notebook: Tungee's Gold
Stand up and Laugh.
For a comedy play or film to work, it needs and audience. The best writers, producers, directors, actors and critics cannot will a comedy play or film to success – only an audience can do that.
I'll a film and a play to illustrate my point.
The Poor Little Rich Girl filmed in 1917 Directed by Maurice Tourneur and adapted for the screen by Frances Marion from a play by Eleanor Gates, starring Mary Pickford.
Mary Pickford got her start in films when D.W. Griffith cast her in several of his films shot in New York. She became very successful, and in fact became the first major film star.
Later on while working at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood Adolph Zukor chose two films that put Mary Pickford's career in jeopardy. In the first film called 'Less Than Dust' she played and East Indian girl and the second, 'The Pride of the Clan,' she played a Scottish lassie.
Both films were well made, but Mary's fans made it clear that they didn't like her in those roles. Her fans saw her as a little girl -- America's Sweetheart and wouldn't go to see her in Dust and Clan. Box office told Paramount and Zukor they'd better find something acceptable to Mary Pickford's fans.
They found a play called The Poor Little Rich Girl, and arranged to have Frances Marion, a top Hollywood writer and good friend of Mary Pickford, write the scenario.
The film was shot at the Ft. Lee studios in, New Jersey. Ms. Marion spent a lot of time on the set and between her humor and Mary Pickford's they came up with some spontaneous off the wall scenes and between the two of them managed to sell them to the director.
When the major photography was finished and the editing complete, the executives looked at a screening. And what came out of that screening room was a kind of hopeless despair.
Mary and Frances heard the bad news and were shocked by the executives reaction. Frances Marion had taken a pretty good play and developed, what she thought was a good script and couldn't account for what the executives saw on the screen.
There was talk of scrapping the project starting over with a new story. A great deal of money was involved, and press releases had already gone out. Eventually the company decided to release the film and hope the audience would overlook the flaws in the film and buy Mary's personality.
They were afraid to let the press preview the picture and opened it cold at the Strand Theater on Broadway.
Mary and Frances couldn't stand the idea of seeing the bad news in cold print so they decided to sneak into the theater and watch the first showing along with the public. Mary put on shades and a floppy hat to hide her face. They made it to the theater and up to the top row of the gallery without being recognized. They sat nervously, hardly knowing what to expect. Eventually the house lights dimmed and the credits flashed onto the screen.
At Mary's first appearance she settled low into her seat and shook her head with gloomy expectations.
It wasn't long though before Mary and Frances became aware of audience reactions. They were picking up on the story and going along with it. As the picture progressed the theater began to rock with laughter. Applause sounded like thunder at the conclusion of some of the scenes leaving the writer and star in shocked disbelief.
The audience went along and empathized with the sadness of the young girl, and gave the film a standing ovation at the end.
Mary and Frances recognized it for what it was and Mary Pickford's career had a rebirth and another hit on her hands.
Shakespeare said, 'The Play's the Thing... '
The Patrick Pearse Motel, a comedy by Hugh Leonard.
The cast of players assembled and rehearsed at the Limestone Valley Theater just outside Baltimore. Most of the actors (Including this writer.) came in by train from New York.
Josh Cockey, the theater owner, provided us with a fine theater, as well as good rehearsal and living accommodations.
The play read well and our first few days of blocking and finding our way around the furniture went off without a hitch. The early stages of getting up in our lines and out of the books was normal. It was during the second or third run through when we began to get a good grip on our individual characters and a sense of the play when it happened. Everyone in the cast felt that something was missing. We were not getting a grasp on the Irish humor, and it wasn't funny but we tried to ignore it even as a sense of gloom persisted. We had a matinee preview for several friends of the theater and got a few laughs and light applause at the end, but that didn't generate much enthusiasm within our cast.
Even so, we were blessed with a solid group of professionals and we went into opening night with high energy but low expectations.
The opening sequence with a posh living room setting and a few stereo sound tricks went well. We set a fast pace of banter and it suddenly became obvious that the audience was coming along. The full house audience picked up on the theme along with some of the eccentric characters and before we got through the first act they had shown us a few things about The Patrick Pearse Motel. That audience had pulled us out of the average dinner theater fare into a season hit. And that one night was no fluke, the show maintained that level for the entire run of the play. Go figure.
Writers Notebook:
Tungee's Gold: The Legend of Ebo Landing.
Tungee Cahill is shanghaied at San Francisco into a world where conspiracies, distortions and lies are the rule. Tungee joins the skipper in a battle of bigots and bullets just to stay alive. It took a mutiny, the icy hell of Cape Horn and a brush with the African slave trade to make him take a hard look at himself.
The idea for this historical novel came from an old slave tale, ‘The Legend of Ebo Landing.’ I first heard the story in Savannah, Georgia while doing research and writing a series of documentaries for PBS Television.
The human tragedy got my attention and I followed up by going to the source of the story, Saint Simons Island. After talking to the natives and tromping around the place I began taking notes and asking myself the obvious question, why? The answer came in the form of a novel I call ‘Tungee’s Gold.’
Tungee Cahill deposits a quarter of a million dollars in gold into a San Francisco bank account in the morning and is shanghaied that night.
He wakes up on board a Clipper Ship bound for Liverpool. The ship is rife with plots from mutiny and piracy to insurance fraud.
Tungee’s Gold Is built on the strong character and resolve of Tungee Cahill as he struggles to save the Ebo people and at the same time fights the battle of his life for his own survival. The sub plot shows the strong willed Ebo people and the horror and tragedy as they debark the slave ship and use the only resource they have in order to remain free.
Tungee returns to San Francisco and begins his quest to reclaim his fortune. And it’s during his search that Tungee meets the lovely Laura Du Beck who becomes the love of his life.
Tom's Books and Blogs
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels Tungee's Gold, The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
Facebook and Twitter
http://thehurricanehunter.blogspot.com
www.tombarnes39.com
The Poor Little Rich Girl
The Patrick Pearse Motel
Writers Notebook: Tungee's Gold
Stand up and Laugh.
For a comedy play or film to work, it needs and audience. The best writers, producers, directors, actors and critics cannot will a comedy play or film to success – only an audience can do that.
I'll a film and a play to illustrate my point.
The Poor Little Rich Girl filmed in 1917 Directed by Maurice Tourneur and adapted for the screen by Frances Marion from a play by Eleanor Gates, starring Mary Pickford.
Mary Pickford got her start in films when D.W. Griffith cast her in several of his films shot in New York. She became very successful, and in fact became the first major film star.
Later on while working at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood Adolph Zukor chose two films that put Mary Pickford's career in jeopardy. In the first film called 'Less Than Dust' she played and East Indian girl and the second, 'The Pride of the Clan,' she played a Scottish lassie.
Both films were well made, but Mary's fans made it clear that they didn't like her in those roles. Her fans saw her as a little girl -- America's Sweetheart and wouldn't go to see her in Dust and Clan. Box office told Paramount and Zukor they'd better find something acceptable to Mary Pickford's fans.
They found a play called The Poor Little Rich Girl, and arranged to have Frances Marion, a top Hollywood writer and good friend of Mary Pickford, write the scenario.
The film was shot at the Ft. Lee studios in, New Jersey. Ms. Marion spent a lot of time on the set and between her humor and Mary Pickford's they came up with some spontaneous off the wall scenes and between the two of them managed to sell them to the director.
When the major photography was finished and the editing complete, the executives looked at a screening. And what came out of that screening room was a kind of hopeless despair.
Mary and Frances heard the bad news and were shocked by the executives reaction. Frances Marion had taken a pretty good play and developed, what she thought was a good script and couldn't account for what the executives saw on the screen.
There was talk of scrapping the project starting over with a new story. A great deal of money was involved, and press releases had already gone out. Eventually the company decided to release the film and hope the audience would overlook the flaws in the film and buy Mary's personality.
They were afraid to let the press preview the picture and opened it cold at the Strand Theater on Broadway.
Mary and Frances couldn't stand the idea of seeing the bad news in cold print so they decided to sneak into the theater and watch the first showing along with the public. Mary put on shades and a floppy hat to hide her face. They made it to the theater and up to the top row of the gallery without being recognized. They sat nervously, hardly knowing what to expect. Eventually the house lights dimmed and the credits flashed onto the screen.
At Mary's first appearance she settled low into her seat and shook her head with gloomy expectations.
It wasn't long though before Mary and Frances became aware of audience reactions. They were picking up on the story and going along with it. As the picture progressed the theater began to rock with laughter. Applause sounded like thunder at the conclusion of some of the scenes leaving the writer and star in shocked disbelief.
The audience went along and empathized with the sadness of the young girl, and gave the film a standing ovation at the end.
Mary and Frances recognized it for what it was and Mary Pickford's career had a rebirth and another hit on her hands.
Shakespeare said, 'The Play's the Thing... '
The Patrick Pearse Motel, a comedy by Hugh Leonard.
The cast of players assembled and rehearsed at the Limestone Valley Theater just outside Baltimore. Most of the actors (Including this writer.) came in by train from New York.
Josh Cockey, the theater owner, provided us with a fine theater, as well as good rehearsal and living accommodations.
The play read well and our first few days of blocking and finding our way around the furniture went off without a hitch. The early stages of getting up in our lines and out of the books was normal. It was during the second or third run through when we began to get a good grip on our individual characters and a sense of the play when it happened. Everyone in the cast felt that something was missing. We were not getting a grasp on the Irish humor, and it wasn't funny but we tried to ignore it even as a sense of gloom persisted. We had a matinee preview for several friends of the theater and got a few laughs and light applause at the end, but that didn't generate much enthusiasm within our cast.
Even so, we were blessed with a solid group of professionals and we went into opening night with high energy but low expectations.
The opening sequence with a posh living room setting and a few stereo sound tricks went well. We set a fast pace of banter and it suddenly became obvious that the audience was coming along. The full house audience picked up on the theme along with some of the eccentric characters and before we got through the first act they had shown us a few things about The Patrick Pearse Motel. That audience had pulled us out of the average dinner theater fare into a season hit. And that one night was no fluke, the show maintained that level for the entire run of the play. Go figure.
Writers Notebook:
Tungee's Gold: The Legend of Ebo Landing.
Tungee Cahill is shanghaied at San Francisco into a world where conspiracies, distortions and lies are the rule. Tungee joins the skipper in a battle of bigots and bullets just to stay alive. It took a mutiny, the icy hell of Cape Horn and a brush with the African slave trade to make him take a hard look at himself.
The idea for this historical novel came from an old slave tale, ‘The Legend of Ebo Landing.’ I first heard the story in Savannah, Georgia while doing research and writing a series of documentaries for PBS Television.
The human tragedy got my attention and I followed up by going to the source of the story, Saint Simons Island. After talking to the natives and tromping around the place I began taking notes and asking myself the obvious question, why? The answer came in the form of a novel I call ‘Tungee’s Gold.’
Tungee Cahill deposits a quarter of a million dollars in gold into a San Francisco bank account in the morning and is shanghaied that night.
He wakes up on board a Clipper Ship bound for Liverpool. The ship is rife with plots from mutiny and piracy to insurance fraud.
Tungee’s Gold Is built on the strong character and resolve of Tungee Cahill as he struggles to save the Ebo people and at the same time fights the battle of his life for his own survival. The sub plot shows the strong willed Ebo people and the horror and tragedy as they debark the slave ship and use the only resource they have in order to remain free.
Tungee returns to San Francisco and begins his quest to reclaim his fortune. And it’s during his search that Tungee meets the lovely Laura Du Beck who becomes the love of his life.
Tom's Books and Blogs
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels Tungee's Gold, The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
Facebook and Twitter
http://thehurricanehunter.blogspot.com
www.tombarnes39.com
Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog
I do a variety blog and post every Wednesday. I am an actor, writer and hurricane hunter and my subjects are generally written about those fields. During Hurricane Season I do at least one story every
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