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When Silents Were Golden

t was a comedy film. The A Memory of Yesteryear’s Stars made a house-maid out of
audiences were in stitches of the Pre-sound Era me. I haven’t liked them
Iat the antics of the house- since. Skirts, I mean. Not
maid. To be sure, she wasn’t house-maids. I’ve nothing
overly attractive, although against housemaids.”
one could say there was a “The House-Maid” From this somewhat in-
certain piquancy about her auspicious “drag queen”
broad features, and when she By Denzil Howson debut, Wallace Beery’s movie
smiled her teeth were a career extended from 1916 to
dentist’s delight. 1949.
She moved with a bizarre He made at least twenty
undulation of her prominent hips and overall her screen silent films and forty-eight sound features.
persona projected an aura of comic enticement. One of his early sound films made in 1930 was Min And
But those members of the audience who bothered to read Bill in which he co-starred with the great Marie Dressler.
the credits at the end of the film were mystified. Min And Bill, a film which became a well loved classic,
“That can’t be right! The housemaid was played by led to another winner at the box-office with the same team,
somebody called “Wallace” something. Wallace is a man’s Tugboat Annie.
name!!” Speaking of his co-starring with Marie,
But the credits were correct. Beery is reported as saying, “Like my old
The actor playing the housemaid was friend Marie Dressler, my ugly mug has been
Wallace Beery — the same Wallace Beery my fortune”.
who later became the screen’s best loved And Beery’s enormous talent as a versatile
tough, ugly, slow-thinking, easy-going character actor, shone through in his comically
robustious villain or social misfit. villainous Long John Silver in the 1934
In an auto-biographical note penned nearly production of Treasure Island, with Jackie
seventy years ago, Wallace Beery explained Cooper.
how he broke into the motion-picture Wallace Beery, a screen legend, whose
business: memorable career began in 1916 in the days
“From working in a circus for 3 dollars per When Silents Were Golden! ★
week guarding the elephants, I migrated to
New York and joined Henry Savage’s musical
Wallace Beery
comedy company. Believe it or not in those † ESSANAY— a Film Production Company
days I could sing passably well — a talent that went founded in 1907 by Mr G P Spoor and Mr G M Anderson, hence
completely un-noticed in the Silent Films I made in the ‘S’ and ‘A’ — the initials of their surnames, which became
twenties!! conveniently transmogrified into “ESSANAY”. Essanay ceased
Then Henry Webster, Director General of the Essanay Film production and folded in 1918, but in it’s eleven years, produced a
†
Company , chanced to see me, and asked me to join Essanay. spate of Westerns. The company is best remembered for the fact
I thought I was going to become a handsome leading man! that in that time, Chaplin spent a year with them (1915-1916) and
But what did Webster do? Decked me out in skirts and during that period made 14 comedies.

The Cinema And Theatre Historical Society Victoria is proud to have
The Sun Theatre Yarraville as our major sponsor. Many thanks to member
Mr Michael Smith, the owner of the Sun Theatre, for providing the venue
for CATHS meetings and events.

The Sun Theatre is the home of The Sun Film Society and MGS Infa Set.This unique cinema
offers comforts for all to enjoy in delightful art deco surroundings and is available for hire.
In conjunction with the Sun Film Society, the Sun Theatre offers you a wide selection of films.
For program and venue hire inquiries, contact Theatre Manager Ms PinaVirtuoso
on Tel: 9362 0999 ◆ Fax: 9362 0338 Website: www.suntheatre.com.au
◆
Email: sun@mgsgroup.commm

8 Ballarat Street, Yarraville 3013

30 Spring 2001 CINEMARECORD