An Essay on Vitagraph Comedies

[Steve Massa]

Over the past few years I've grown very fond of Vitagraph's comedies, so here's an essay about a couple of intriguing series.

Vitagraph Comedies: Two Forgotten Series
By Steve Massa

In the early ‘teens the Vitagraph studio was the bastion for clever and polite situational comedies. Today the best remembered and most viewed of these films are the shorts of John Bunny (with and without Flora Finch) and Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew. Less remembered, although very popular in their day, are the “Cutey” series starring and directed by Wally Van, the “Dimples” shorts with Lillian Walker, and the “Mr. Jack,” “Captain Jinks,” and ”Kernel Nutt” comedies of Broadway transplant Frank Daniels. The general run of Vitagraph comedies are just as entertaining and benefit greatly from a stock company that includes Kate Price, Hughie Mack, Florence Turner, Charles Eldridge, Eddie Dunn, Donald McBride, plus behind-the-camera talents such as George D. Baker, Larry Trimble and C. Jay Williams.

Two other series – the “Josie” and “Jarr Family” comedies – have completely dropped off the film history radar, due to the unavailability of the films. As with most of the studio’s series both were built around well-known and long experienced stage performers. With the exception of Biograph, of all the New York studios Vitagraph seems to have taken the best advantage of the handy theatrical talent pool, and at the same time grasped that film acting entailed a more realistic and intimate style. That’s why much of the humor in the surviving Vitagraph comedies comes from the play of emotions across John Bunny’s broad face, or from the little realistic details and accumulation of everyday frustrations in the Sidney Drew comedies.

The “Josie” comedies
Josie Sadler, along with Marie Dressler, Rose Melville and Elfie Fay, was one of the best-loved stage comediennes at the beginning of the 20th Century. Small and rotund, she began her career at age nine after being discovered by impresario Tony Pastor, and became famous for playing naïve immigrant girls in shows like PRINCE PRO TEM (1899), THE SILVER SLIPPER (’02), and her biggest success PEGGY FROM PARIS (’03). Running the gamut from Dutch, Cockney, French, Swedish to German, Sadler wrote many of her own musical specialty numbers, a few of which she recorded for Victor. During her years onstage she worked with Weber & Fields, Eddie Foy, Fay Templeton, Sam Bernard, Fred Mace, Henry Bergman, not to mention her future Vitagraph cohorts Sidney Drew and Harry Davenport, plus even appeared in the 1912 Ziegfeld Follies with Leon Errol, Bert Williams, and Harry Watson Jr.

Sadler joined the Vitagraph ensemble in 1913 and her first appearance was supporting Norma Talmadge in OMENS AND ORACLES (5/5/1913). She also turned up with Bunny, Drew, and Hughie Mack, and before long the studio began tailoring films to her stage fame. THE COMING OF GRETCHEN (6/17/1913) and THE MAID FROM SWEDEN (6/5/1914) were about the misadventures of immigrant women, and a month after the latter film the “Josie” series was launched. THE ARRIVAL OF JOSIE (7/15/1914) told the story of an orphaned German household drudge who chucks it all to come to America. The rest of the film details her seasickness on the boat over, confusions concerning the big city and American customs, and a budding romance with a grocery boy named Hank. Over the next three months Josie would work as a domestic for a variety of employers, become obsessed with romance novels, have a raucous time with Hank at Coney Island, and in the last installment get saddled with two kids from a deceased aunt.

A total of five episodes were made, and besides Sadler the other regulars involved were writer Kenneth S. Webb, director Lee Beggs, and actor Billy Quirk. Kenneth Webb had a varied career – writing numerous films and nine Broadway shows, directing feature films from 1918 to 1929 – but his greatest claim to fame is the book for the Fred Astaire/Cole Porter show GAY DIVORCE and it’s adaptation into the movie THE GAY DIVORCEE (’34). Director Lee Beggs was a stock and vaudeville veteran who after the “Josie” shorts directed and co-starred in Billy Quirk’s starring Vitagraph shorts such as THE EGYPTIAN MUMMY (‘14) and BILLY THE BEAR TAMER (‘15), and continued as a supporting actor in films and on stage until his death in 1943.

Josie’s goofy boyfriend Hank was played by Billy Quirk, who sadly was as forgotten during his own lifetime as he is today. One of the pioneer American screen comics, after years on stage Quirk began appearing in Biograph films in 1909 after being taken to the studio by his friend John Cumpson. He was soon teamed in light romances with Mary Pickford, and got his own “Muggsy” comedies. From there he moved on to series for Solax, Pathe Freres, and Gem, where he always played the young college man or hubby, and was regarded as the best of the “boy comedians.” He arrived at Vitagraph in 1914, and following the “Josie” shorts he and director Lee Beggs moved on to Billy’s own series where he was supported by Constance Talmadge.

This early period -1910 to 1915 – was the peak of his career. After finishing at Vitagraph Billy had to go far afield to find work – directing and starring in some Black Diamond Comedies that were shot in Wilkes-Barre, PA, supporting Minta Durfee for a Truart series made in Providence, R.I., and a Florida-based group of Sun-Lite Comedies for Reelcraft. All of these were small, states rights units, and the Reelcraft films were his last as the star.

What happened to Quirk’s career? Surviving films show that he was funny – not hilarious or innovative in any way – but charming and breezy in the light leading man mode. It may be that as a “boy comedian” his age was catching up with him and he was being replaced by people like Bobby Vernon, Harry Depp, and other Al Christie leading men. Minta Durfee remembered that he was an alcoholic, which may have made him unreliable and hastened his slide. He had tried to kill himself in 1920 by jumping out of a third floor window, and after the Reelcraft series his only roles were a few bit parts in some independent features. After 1924 he never worked again, and died at the Virginia Rest Home in Hollywood on April 20, 1926. He was forty-four years old.

After her “Josie” comedies Josie Sadler did one final film for Vitagraph, the surviving BUNNY BACKSLIDES (10/30/1914), a very funny short where John Bunny agrees to go to a fat farm to please his fiancée Flora Finch. While there Bunny is continually frustrated by his inability to lose weight, and meets a flirtatious fat woman (Sadler). Finally fed up with Flora and her demands, Bunny and Josie decide to be fat together and elope. Leaving Vitagraph Sadler slowed down the pace of her working to make occasional stage appearances and only two more films – one of which was the William A. Brady feature WHAT HAPPENED TO JONES? (’15) which teamed her with Fred Mace. In 1920 she retired to run the electrical business of her late husband, and she died in 1927. Today she’s part of the huge list of neglected silent comediennes, and although her film career was short her immigrant servant girl persona was a forerunner for ladies like Louise Fazenda, Jane Bernoudy and Alice Howell who would soon follow.

The “Jarr Family”
Unlike the “Josie” series, the “Jarr Family” comedies were based on pre-existing material. Author Roy McCardell was a popular humorist in the George Ade style, who wrote the first collection of “Jarr Family” stories in 1907 and continued to serialize their misadventures in daily newspapers for more than twelve years. According to McCardell he grew tired of the stories, but they turned out to be his most reliable meal ticket and in 1915 made the jump to the screen. The direction of the series, as well as the leading role of the father of the Jarr clan, was given to recent stage to film convert Harry Davenport.

Davenport, better remembered today for his later character roles as Dr. Meade in GONE WITH THE WIND (’39) and Grandpa in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (’44), was a member of an illustrious theatrical family. His father E.L. Davenport and sister Fanny Davenport were huge dramatic stage stars, but young Harry specialized in comedy. Making his debut at age five with his parents, Davenport spent most of his life on stage, and some of his major successes include THE NAKED TRUTH (’08), THE COMMUTERS (’11), and THREE WISE FOOLS (’18). Married three times, his second wife was Alice Shepard, who’s familiar to film comedy buffs as Alice Davenport of Keystone and Fox Sunshine comedies. It appears that their union was short-lived but produced a daughter Dorothy (the future Mrs. Wallace Reid), and during the early days of the 20th Century Alice had him continually in court for back alimony payments. His third marriage to Phyllis Rankin made him the brother-in-law of Lionel Barrymore and Sidney Drew (who were married to Rankin’s sisters), and Harry made his first Vitagraph appearances in Sidney Drew comedies such as TOO MANY HUSBANDS and THE PROFESSIONAL SCAPEGOAT (both ’14).

Chronicling the comic trials and tribulations of a middle-class family the series began with THE JARR FAMILY DISCOVERS HARLEM (3/8/1915), where the tribe leaves Brooklyn for new digs in upper Manhattan. Along with Davenport as head of the clan the rest of the ensemble included Rose Tapley as the Mrs., Audrey Berry as daughter Emma, and Paul Kelly as son Willie. The Brooklyn-born Kelly had worked on stage and began at Vitagraph in 1911 when he was twelve years old, staying with the company until 1916. Despite serving twenty-five months for manslaughter in the late 1920s, Kelly spent the next forty years in films and on Broadway as a dependable character actor, best remembered for his tough-guy roles in film-noirs such as CROSSFIRE (’47) and THE FILE ON THELMA JORDAN (’50). Rose Tapley was a stage veteran and dramatic actress who had her only real sojourn in comedy with this series. After her days at Vitagraph she became a reformer, stumping for “clean pictures” and protecting young women from the lure of the movies.

Other regular series characters included Mr. Jarr’s boss, Gertrude their servant girl, assorted neighbors, and even Gus, the local bartender. Occasional guest appearances were made by Vitagraph favorites like Flora Finch, Jay Dwiggins, Julia Swayne Gordon, William Shea and Billy Bletcher. For six months in eighteen episodes the Jarrs moved to a new home, experienced mother-in-law trouble, went on a disastrous vacation, suffered a bout with poison ivy, had a mix-up in pets, plus even got involved with a fat lady and other circus freaks. The plots and situations were already familiar at the time, and continue to be used in sitcoms to this day.

After the series finished with MRS. JARR AND THE SOCIETY CIRCUS (9/6/1915) Harry Davenport branched out as an actor working for Kalem and Rolfe Photoplays. As a director he moved into features, the most famous of which is TILLIE WAKES UP (’17), where Marie Dressler and Johnny Hines go on a Coney Island spree. Around 1920 he left films to concentrate on his stage work, but returned in the 1930s and played important character roles up until his death in 1949. Author Roy McCardell continued publishing books , and besides Vitagraph he wrote scenarios for Selig, Equitable, and Reelcraft, but his most famous screen work was adapting the play A FOOL THERE WAS into the 1915 feature for Theda Bara. He also is credited with the dubious distinction of being the first person to use the derogatory term “kike” in print (THE SHOWGIRL AND HER FRIENDS, 1904), and is thought to have died in the 1940s.

In 1916 the comedy style at Vitagraph began to change. John Bunny had died in 1915, and the other regulars – the Drews, Wally Van, Flora Finch, etc. – all exited to greener pastures. A young newspaper cartoonist named Lawrence Semon came in as director and writer of comedies for Hughie Mack and Jimmy Aubrey. Semon brought the surreal gags and anarchistic spirit of comic strips to the studio and sophisticated comedy went out the window. By 1918 their comedy stars were Semon, Earl Montgomery & Joe Rock (class valedictorians from the Big V Riot Squad), and Jimmy Aubrey. Although now in the business of extreme slapstick, Vitagraph’s earlier situational style would still be seen in the films of Mr. & Mrs. Carter De Haven, Charley Chase, Reginald Denny, and Douglas MacLean, plus the elegant features of directors such as Mal St Clair, Monta Bell, and Harry d’Arrast.

My thanks to Ron Magliozzi, Madeline Matz, Ben Model, Richard M. Roberts, Charles Silver, Zoran Sinobad, and my colleagues at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

Sources:
Motion Picture News
Motography
Moving Picture World
The Robinson Locke Collection of Theatrical Scrapbooks and Clippings
Vitagraph Life Portrayals

Filmographies:

The “Josie” series
THE ARRIVAL OF JOSIE (7/15/1914) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Lee Beggs. Writ: Kenneth S. Webb. 1 reel. Cast: Josie Sadler, Bernice Berner, Billy Quirk, Audrey Berry, Helen Connelly, Edna Holland, Phyllis Grey, Frank Holland.

ROMANTIC JOSIE (7/25/1914) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Lee Beggs. Writ: Kenneth S. Webb. 1 reel. Cast: Josie Sadler, Eulalie Jensen, Billy Quirk.

JOSIE’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (8/26/1914) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Lee Beggs. Writ: Kenneth S. Webb. 1 reel. Cast: Josie Sadler, Billy Quirk.

JOSIE’S CONEY ISLAND NIGHTMARE (8/29/1914) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Lee Beggs. Writ: Kenneth S. Webb. 1 reel. Cast: Josie Sadler, Billy Quirk, Denton Vane, Edna Holland, Mr. Sneeze.

JOSIE’S LEGACY (10/9/1914) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Lee Beggs. Writ: Kenneth S. Webb. 1 reel. Cast: Josie Sadler, Billy Quirk, Miss Allen, Mandy Wilson.


The “Jarr Family”
THE JARR FAMILY DISCOVERS HARLEM (3/8/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Audrey Berry, Paul Kelly, George Stevens, Edwina Robbins, Eulalie Jensen, Charles Eldridge, Florence Natol, Arthur Cozine, Harry Fisher.

MR. JARR BRINGS HOME A TURKEY (3/15/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Florence Natol, Ethel Lloyd, Harry Fisher, Edward Elkas, George Stevens.

MR. JARR AND THE LADY REFORMER (3/22/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Charles Eldridge, Frank Bunny, Julia Swayne Gordon, Sabel Johnson, Jack Brawn, Roy Wilson.

MR. JARR TAKES A NIGHT OFF (4/5/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Audrey Berry, Paul Kelly, Sabel Johnson, Harry Fisher, Nicholas Dunaew.

MR. JARR’S MAGNETIC FRIEND (4/12/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Audrey Berry, Paul Kelly, Florence Natol, Frank Bunny, Sabel Johnson, William Bletcher, Nicholas Dunaew, Flora Finch, Harry Fisher.

THE JARRS VISIT ARCADIA (5/10/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Florence Natol, Jack Brawn, Ethel Ferguson, Frank Bunny, Charles Eldridge.

MR. JARR AND THE DACHSHUND (5/17/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Florence Natol, Harry Fisher, Joseph Halpin, Nicholas Dunaew, Bobby Huggins.

MR. JARR VISITS HIS HOME TOWN (5/24/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Florence Natol, Charles Edwards.

MRS. JARR’S AUCTION BRIDGE (5/31/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, William Shea, Helen Relyea, Eulalie Jensen, Florence Natol.

MRS. JARR AND THE BEAUTY TREATMENT (6/7/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Eulalie Jensen, Charles Eldridge, Josephine Earle.

MR. JARR AND THE LADIES CUP (6/14/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Eulalie Jensen, Charles Eldridge, Florence Natol, Harry Fisher, Billy Billings, Belle Bruce.

MR. JARR AND LOVE’S YOUNG DREAM (6/21/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Eulalie Jensen, Charles Eldridge, Florence Natol, Billy Billings, Belle Bruce, Harry Fisher, Arthur Cozine.

MR. JARR AND THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN (6/28/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Eulalie Jensen, Charles Eldridge, Billy Billings, Belle Bruce, Florence Natol, Harry Fisher, Arthur Cozine.

MR. JARR AND GERTRUDE’S BEAUX (7/12/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Florence Natol, Harry Fisher, Edward Favor, Logan Paul, Jay Dwiggins.

MR. JARR’S BIG VACATION (7/26/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Arthur Cozine, William Shea, Francis Connelly, Harry Fisher.

MR. JARR AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE (8/16/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Charles Eldridge.

MR. JARR AND THE VISITING FIREMEN (8/30/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry.

MRS. JARR AND THE SOCIETY CIRCUS (9/6/1915) Prod: Vitagraph. Dir: Harry Davenport. Writ: Roy L. McCardell. 1 reel. Cast: Harry Davenport, Rose Tapley, Paul Kelly, Audrey Berry, Eulalie Jensen, Florence Natol, Charles Eldridge.

Copyright 2009 by Steve Massa All Rights Reserved

[Chris Snowden]

Great work, Steve!

I'm guessing that occasionally one series would overlap with another, as Bunny's Honeymoon is simultaneously a Bunny comedy and a Wallie/Wally Van "Cutey" comedy.

[Steve Massa]

Hi Chris
Yeah, there was definitely an overlap. MoMA has WHICH WAY DID HE GO? ('13) which has Bunny and Flora Finch as the father and mother of Lillian Walker. She's in love with Wally Van, but Flora won't hear of it and insists she marries Hughie Mack. Bunny wants Wally so he helps the couple elope.
They're all playing their trademark characters, so it's a Bunny-Finch/Cutey/Dimples short. The studio was into mixing and matching, and didn't seem to care about putting three of four of their stars into one picture.
Steve

[Richard M Roberts]

As always, excellently researched and written. Bravo Steve!

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Andrew Sholl]

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sunday, 27 June 1915:
PART ONE

PART TWO

[Andrew Sholl]

BILLY TELLS THE STORY OF HIS LIFE

New York Clipper
12 December 1914

William (Billy) Quirk, the boy comic of the Vitagraph Players, was born in Jersey City, N.J., March 28 1873. His father, John Quirk, and his mother, whose maiden name was Delia Irene Egan, were both born in Ireland, and so Billy says, kissed the Blarney Stone for good luck, just before they left for America.

Billy received his education in the public schools of Jersey City, and as assistant or helper to the butcher, the baker, and even the undertaker. When school was over, for he was ambitious even as a youngster, and when other children were at play, Billy was earning money and learning the first rudiments of a business education. He never let an opportunity get by, and he counts the greatest achievement of his early days the earning of $187 as a drummer in a fife and drum corps that was prominent in parades during the campaign for the first Cleveland Administration: the uniform pants being his first long ones.

His mother had her heart set on his becoming a lawyer, but when it came time for him to choose a profession he became imbued with the idea he could become the great American Actor, and joined the Minnie Lester Dramatic Company. His promised salary was ten dollars a week and "cakes", of which he received the "cakes" most of the time. His next engagement was with the Corse Payton Stock Co. touring the Middle West. He spent two years with this organization, and the experience of playing numberless different characters in every conceivable environment fitted him for future engagements with "The Rose of the Rancho", under David Belasco's management; "The Top o' the World", under Conners and Billingham's management, and engagements in every kind of legitimate entertainment from stock to grand opera, even including a personal venture in the field of comic opera.

Billy Quirk looks young, acts young and appears young on the screen, and it is this characteristic, together with his inimitable power of mimicry that attracted the attentions of an influential moving picture director and first induced him to pose for the camera. This happened some six years ago, and since then Billy has been on the pay roll of six different motion picture companies, joining the Vitagraph Company in April 1914. While having appeared in over five hundred comedies during his screen acting days, he still sticks to comedy roles, and with all his forty odd years continues to play sixteen year old boy parts. The most important of his pictures since he became a member of the Vitagraph Company include: "Too Much Uncle", "Father's Timepiece", "Uncle Bill", "The Evolution of Percival", "The Green Cat", "Convict Costumes and Confusion" and many others.


VITAGRAPH DROPS STARS
Billy Quirk and Others Get Notice of Dismissal

Oswego Daily Times
8 June 1915

Something approximating the combined effectiveness of a Zeppelin bomb, asphyxiating gas, a well-directed torpedo orr a health department mandate to the transit corporation fell in the environs of the Vitagraph studios Saturday, when it was announced that several of the most prominent members of the Vitagraph forces, who have been before the screen public for years, were to be dropped from the companies.

Billy Quirk, Anna Laughlin, Darwin Karr and Cissie Fitzgerald are among the more prominent players who are to leave the Vitagraph, according to the statement of an official of the company. This has been supplemented by a much longer list, furnished by rumor, which has it that the shake-up is to be of even greater magnitude. No reason was given except that the action of the company is merely a customary change, apt to take place any time in a business where players are constantly changing from one company to another.

[Andrew Sholl]

A pity the final title listed at the bottom of the article never made it to screen!

New York Clipper, 16 January 1915:

[Joe Moore]

Great piece Steve! I learned a good deal from this!

Thanks also to Andrew for the additional vintage clippings!

Keep 'em coming guys.

Joe Moore