Presenting NICKELODIA #3

[Chris Snowden]

There's a new Unknown Video DVD release now, the third edition in the Nickelodia series. This one's a special all-comedy edition, spotlighting some of the leading comedy series of the American nickelodeon era.

There are a pair of Biographs here, both directed (however reluctantly) by D. W. Griffith: Mr. Jones at the Ball (1908) and Mr. Jones Has a Card Party (1909). The Jones comedies always get short shrift from film historians who'd rather dwell on Griffith's melodramas, but they're not bad at all, and John Cumpson was a pretty fair comedian. If he'd come along a decade later, he might really have gotten somewhere in film comedy. Mr. Jones at the Ball features a bit that foretells A Night at the Opera's stateroom scene, and both of these Jones films have Mack Sennett in supporting roles.

Vitagraph is represented with a John Bunny comedy (Bunny's Honeymoon, 1913) and Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew in Miss Stickie-Moufie-Kiss (1915). The former will offer rich satisfaction to all of you who've fantasized about sharing your bed with John Bunny in drag, and the latter is one of my favorites on the DVD. Sidney Drew has become a cult favorite among silent film buffs, and he really shines in this one. The man was decades ahead of his time.

Essanay is represented with a pair of rarities. Sweedie the Laundress (1914) will appeal to my fellow Cinecon attendees, not because it's been screened there, but because like so many Cinecon titles it's very rare, full of familiar performers, and really not very good. But you get Wallace Beery, as well as early appearances by Leo White, Ben Turpin and Charlotte Mineau, before Chaplin liberated them from the Sweedie series by spiriting them away to the company's studio in Niles. Versus Sledge Hammers (1915) is a Snakeville comedy, the first to make it to video as far as I know, and it's pretty good, including a post-Chaplin appearance by Ben Turpin. These Essanays were transferred from beautiful and virtually-complete 16mm prints struck in the 1920s by a small Chicago company, which Essanay founder George K. Spoor evidently had a hand in. They turned up on eBay a few years ago, and Steve Rydzewski and I grabbed 'em.

Any collection of early comedy shorts needs something from Keystone, and the DVD includes one of the best, Charlie Chaplin's Gentlemen of Nerve (1914). This is the complete film, conflated from two different prints: one descended from the Library of Congress paper print, and a better-looking print from France.

Then there are a pair of comedies from Kalem's "Ham" series, starring (you guessed it) Ham and Bud. These greasy, devious, sociopathic comedians were quite popular in their day, and they're rebuilding a loyal following now, thanks largely to their modern-day champion Richard Roberts. My personal favorites of the films I've seen are these two, The Phoney Cannibal (1915) and Star Boarders (1916), featuring the misanthropic duo at their most outrageous.

That's nine shorts all together, but as a supplemental item the disc wraps up with a lightning round of Keystone comics playing rough: clips (most of them fairly rare) of particularly bone-crushing slapstick featuring Syd Chaplin, Charlie Murray, Ford Sterling and more.

Musical scores are by David Drazin, and the DVD includes liner notes and a fridge magnet. My thanks to Sam Gill, Richard Roberts and Steve Rydzewski for making some of these films available, and to Brent Walker for identifying various victims of Keystone violence.

Nickelodia 3: available only at the address below!

[Brent Walker]

Chris, this sounds like a great set! It's good to see those John R. Cumpson comedies coming out, because he is definitely an overlooked figure in early American comedy. And it was my pleasure identifying the various victims of Keystone mayhem--though there were so many victims, only the coroner can ultimately sort it all out!

[Paul F Etcheverry]

Chris - any chance you'll bring a few copies to Niles?

[Chris Snowden]

Chris - any chance you'll bring a few copies to Niles?

Sorry, Paul... I don't get out to Niles much anymore!