Montgomery and Rock

[Rob Stone]

So there is one M&R short somewhere at the BFI. UCLA has a reel that appears to be one of Earl Montgomery's solo efforts at Vitagraph after parting ways with Joe Rock. Is that it from the M&R series?

What about paper? I have a M&R lobby card and have seen a few photos in books. Anthing else?

Rob

[Richard M Roberts]

So there is one M&R short somewhere at the BFI. UCLA has a reel that appears to be one of Earl Montgomery's solo efforts at Vitagraph after parting ways with Joe Rock. Is that it from the M&R series?

What about paper? I have a M&R lobby card and have seen a few photos in books. Anthing else?

Rob

UCLA had a Earl Montgomery short from the 20's as well that he played the villain in. I recall that it was produced by Larry Darmour, but the title escapes me or it didn't have one. We watched it in one of our early Al Joy fan club meetings. But thats all as far as LOC or UCLA is concerned. I've got several stills in the files, but I've never seen anything else film wise, certainly as far as Vitagraph is concerned. Steve?

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Steve Massa]

Hi guys
Yeah like Rob says, it seems that the only surviving Montgomery & Rock short is DAMSELS AND DANDIES ('19) at the BFI.

Eastman House has FOOTPRINTS ('20), Joe Rock's first solo short for Vitagraph (a very funny film directed by the unsung Grover Jones), and while there's a number of his 1920s comedies around there's very little of Earl Montgomery. Besides getting a peek at him as part of the "Big V Riot Squad" in late 'teen Larry Semon shorts like PLAGUES AND PUPPY LOVE ('18), he turns up as the villain in the surviving Jack White produced BANG ('21) and AIR POCKETS ('24), also the Hairbreadth Harry short SIGN THEM PAPERS ('27) and Larry Semon's later THE CLOUDHOPPER ('25). There's more of his late 20s directorial efforts for "A Ton of Fun" and the "Mickey McGuires" around than his onscreen appearances.

There've been a number of M & R stills and lobby cards on ebay. In fact I won a lobby for ZIP AND ZEST ('19), which I thought was a steal for five bucks (turned out to be a color xerox - it was a steal but from me!!).

Seems odd that virtually all of their joint films have fallen into such a black hole - even a few of the Jimmy Aubrey Vitagraphs can be seen. Maybe their films are sitting somewhere with all the "Smiling Billy" Parson comedies.

Steve

[Tommie Hicks]

While it is hard to nail down what the BFI has from sources in the US, I believe the BFI has DAMSELS AND DANDIES, CAVES AND COQUETTES, RUBES AND ROBBERS, and KNIGHTS AND NIGHTIES.

DAMSELS AND DANDIES has been listed as a holding in an earlier published listing by the BFI. The others were described in a database the BFI has for film (yes, I am aware that HATS OFF is on it too) but the BFI has provided synopsis for the other M&R titles I mentioned that have not been published in any of the contemporary trades. I am planning a trip to the mother country in summer 2011 and hopefully I can find out for sure.

I remember Sam Gill telling me that he was delighted in the 60's to watch THE CLOUDHOPPER for the first time because he finally got to see Earl Montgomery "move" after only knowing of him from stills and lobbies.

I know of 5 lobbies that exist. There are about a dozen stills (I have one from RUBES AND ROBBERS that once belonged to Max Asher). I do not know of any M&R slides that exist.

Steve, doesn't MOMA have an untitled Czech reel of Smiling Billy?

[Steve Massa]

Hi Tommie
As far as I know MoMA doesn't have any "Smiling Billy" footage. Ben Model and I have been going over their silent comedy holdings with a fine tooth comb for the last four or five years, and it hasn't turned up in any of the unidentified stuff. We also have access to MoMA's archival database and there's nothing listed there, nor did any ever turn up in Cole Johnson's screenings in the 1990s. Of course I hope I'm wrong and something does turn up. The FIAF Treasures from the Film Archives database lists a couple of Parson items at LOC - one is a 1915 short THE MORNING AFTER, and the other THE VIGILANTES ('18) a historical feature about the early days of California.

The FIAF database also lists DAMSELS AND DANDIES as the only Montgomery & Rock shorts at the BFI, so I don't know about CAVES AND COQUETTES, and the other titles you mentioned. Hopefully the mystery will get straightened out with your trip over there. The database does list them as also having two 1916 American Film Manufacturing Co films that Montgomery appeared in before he went to Vitagraph - THAT SHARP NOTE and TRUNK 'AN TROUBLE (with Al Thompson). BTW, in my previous email I forgot to include Larry Semon's THE DOME DOCTOR ('25) in the list of circulating films with Montgomery.

Steve

[Brent Walker]

Here's my notes from the November 20, 1999, "Al Joy Fan Club" soiree at UCLA regarding the Earl Montgomery film Richard mentioned:

A BUSY BOMBER
Reissue title of unidentified, bizarre Earl Montgomery comedy. Studio and year could not be identified (though obviously 1920’s), though Eloisa de Godoy, Eddie Cunningham and Wm. McCall also in cast. Earl flies a plane and looks down on Madrid, where lovers are seen, as well as some hayseeds (including Jack Duffy imitator) straight out of the the middle U.S. After many farm gags, Montgomery’s plane crashes, and he is shown flattened on the ground in a strange stretched frame shot. Naturally, he then regales the locals with his past exploits as a toreador, and a flashback intersperses Earl and a cape with real bullfight stock footage. Montgomery did make a couple other Mermaid comedies prior to AIR POCKETS, including one called BANG, but the identity of this cannot be for certain.

[Brent Walker]

To follow up, Montgomery was in some of the Carnival Comedies done by the Cohns (CBC) in 1922 (different from the Darmour Karnival Comedies)--I wonder if A BUSY BOMBER might be one of these?

[Steve Massa]

Hi Brent
I've come across two titles for Montgomery's Carnival series - SHE LOVED HIM BUT.. and TELEPHONE TROUBLES - but haven't found any reviews or descriptions of their plots.

Steve