“Plastigrams” – The 3-D Silent Film

Although the success of "Avatar" has, unfortunately, helped to introduce a flood of films banking on the lure of 3-D effects, 3-D films are nothing new. In fact, the earliest 3-D films were created during the silent film era. Early in the days of silent film, films were typically one to two reels long, limiting the total film length to about 10-20 minutes. Once studio heads realized that audiences would, in fact, be willing to sit through a feature-length film, they began to add more and more reels. But short films were never entirely discarded. Often a short film or two would accompany a feature-length film in a theater, or short films would be used as part of an evening's entertainment during a vaudeville show. The short film format also remained a great testing ground for the more experimental filmmakers and those interested in creating novelty films. One of these novelty films was also one of the first 3-D films, "Plastigrams."

Released in 1922 by Educational Pictures, "Plastigrams" was presented by E.W. Hammons using the Ives-Leventhal stereoscopic process. Much like the traditional "3-D" comics and postcards, the film used offset blue and red images to create its dimensional effect. Although this effect seems rather crude to us now, it was groundbreaking for audiences at the time. Upon viewing it for the first time, The Film Daily described the experience like this,

“The effect is, at first, startling and then amusing. The object of ‘Plastigrams’ is apparently to afford thrills for the audience. You look through the glasses and the objects on the screen appear to jump out at you. For instance, pictures of a crawling turtle, after being viewed for a moment, take the form of actuality and the turtle appears to be right up to your nose. Objects selected are, of course, of a nature to provide thrills such as, a hose pointed toward you, traffic jams in which you fear an impact at any moment, etc. A first rate novelty and wholly amusing.” 

When Lee DeForest began experimenting with recording sound on film, "Plastigrams" even became one of the first films to boast it during its re-release in 1924 -- three years before the debut of the talkie "The Jazz Singer." Even the marketing tactics used to advertise the film were inventive and ahead of their time. In one theater, an 11" x 14" lobby card was put on display. The card displayed images that used the same 3-D technique as the film, and a pair of 3-D glasses was suspended from the ceiling, allowing patrons to witness the effect first-hand before even purchasing a ticket.

The success and novelty of "Plastigrams" later helped usher in the 3-D film craze in the '50s and, indirectly, the present day obsession with 3-D. You can watch "Plastigrams" below. Keep in mind that the 3-D glasses of the period, however, featured blue lenses on the left and red lenses on the right - the reverse of the glasses today.

Laemmle Luck and Publicity Stunts

This post was originally published on the lonelybrand blog as part of an ongoing silent film series.

Although you may not know the name Carl Laemmle, you undoubtedly know the studio he helped create -- Universal Pictures. Laemmle came to the U.S. from Germany in 1884 and settled in Chicago where he worked as a bookkeeper for 20 years. As nickelodeons grew in popularity, he got involved in the world of film, creating International Motion Pictures (IMP) in 1909 and Universal Pictures in 1912. Universal Pictures is now the oldest movie company in the U.S., and the second oldest company still in production in the world (the first being Gaumont). Of course, Universal didn’t become successful by chance. The studio's success was due to a bit of Laemmle Luck, in the form of a combination of respected actors, great storylines and effective advertising.

Laemmle was a master of promotion. IMP was one of the first studios to credit and promote its stars by name, which helped make them household names. It also used those names, and the public’s adoration of them, to create effective publicity stunts and advertising campaigns to drum up more interest in the studios. One of the actresses most often used in these campaigns was Florence Lawrence, also known as the IMP girl.

Lawrence was one of the first true movie stars, so when a rumor surfaced that she had been involved in a horrific fatal accident with a street car, the public was distraught and heartbroken. Shortly after that, an ad began running in trade papers and newspapers that debunked the rumor, calling it a cowardly lie. It also mentioned that Lawrence would be appearing in a new IMP film very soon.

In truth, the rumor was created by Carl Laemmle himself as a publicity stunt.

Although Lawrence worked for several film companies during her career, whenever she returned to Laemmle, he made sure to take out ads for it in the trade papers. During one of her first returns, Laemmle took out a full page ad that was constructed as a letter from Lawrence to the theater owners that exhibited Universal films.

When she began to approach the end of her career, Laemmle staged Lawrence for a comeback, using a clever technique that involved purchasing multiple pages of advertising in the trade papers that alluded to a comeback, without giving away all of the information at once. The first ad ran in the January 1, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World, and acted as an effective lead-in to the ad that ran the following week.

Laemmle then adapted this technique for his next attempted comeback with fading child star Ethel Grandin. This time, he spread the advertisements out over three weeks, with the first appearing in the February 26, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World.

For more of these great vintage ads, check out my Pinterest board devoted to silent film ads.

"Safety Last!" and the Draw of the Human Fly

This post was originally published on the lonelybrand blog as part of an ongoing silent film series.

Chances are, even if you haven’t seen a single silent film, you’re still familiar with this image. It’s an iconic shot that has been recreated by the likes of Christopher Lloyd in "Back to the Future," Asa Butterfield in “Hugo” and Jackie Chan on several occasions, but the man who started it all, and is featured in the photo above, is silent film comedian Harold Lloyd.

You might remember that Lloyd went through several character transformations, including the Chaplin-esque Lonesome Luke, before settling on his ‘glasses’ persona -- the character that brought him silent film immortality. Although Lloyd was considered the everyman, unlike Chaplin and Buster Keaton, his character seemed to find his way into the most bizarre situations. The best examples of which can be found in his thrill comedies like “Safety Last!” -- the film that gave birth to the iconic image above. What’s interesting about the film is that it was born out of a marketing and publicity stunt.

In the 1910s and 1920s, department stores would often employ ‘human flies’ to bring publicity and attention to their businesses. Lloyd witnessed one of these stunts firsthand when he saw Bill Strother climbing the Brockman Building in Los Angeles as a stunt. Lloyd was fascinated and terrified, and hid behind a corner, occasionally peeking to check on Strother's progress. When Strother reached the roof, Lloyd went up and introduced himself. After seeing the event unfold before him, Lloyd got the idea to translate that stunt into a film and gave Strother a role as his best friend.

The climax of the film involves Lloyd hilariously and clumsily recreating the human fly stunt that he saw Strother perform. Of course, a number of obstacles get in his way, including a flock of pigeons and a relatively flimsy clockface. The climbing sequence itself represents a high point in silent film stunts and was such a hit with audiences that Laurel & Hardy, Buster Keaton and even Lloyd himself would recreate versions of it in later films. The fact that Lloyd wasn't working in front of a matte painting or a rear projection, and really was as far up the building as he appeared to be, thrilled and terrified audiences, and continues to do so today. The fact that Lloyd did this stunt after losing his right index finger and thumb during an accident on the set of an earlier film is even more astounding. You can watch the climbing sequence below.

Cashing in on Chaplin

This post was originally published on the lonelybrand blog as part of an ongoing silent film series.

A favorite practice in silent film was for studios to find their version of the hottest star of the moment. Even studios who were fortunate enough to have signed the original star were constantly looking for replacements. Theda Bara called Fox Studios home for years, but when she left, the studio began to promote Betty Blythe as their new vamp. They even cast her in roles that were incredibly similar to those portrayed by Bara.

Imitators, replacements and second-stringers meant that the studios stood a chance to indirectly profit off of the most popular stars, even if they were signed elsewhere or unavailable. At a point in his career, Charlie Chaplin was the most recognizable figure in the world. He was one of the first silent film stars to become recognized internationally as a movie star, and was a guaranteed sure-thing for any studio or any theater that acquired him or his films. It should come as no surprise, then, that studios and aspiring actors and comedians would look to Chaplin for inspiration. Soon, many were cashing in on imitating Chaplin, and one imitator in particular made no effort to hide it.

Billy West was the best known of the Chaplin imitators. When the public was demanding more and more Chaplin films, a producer saw an opportunity and signed West to profit from that demand. His appearance (in costume) was identical to Chaplin and his films also borrowed heavily from Chaplin, so much so that the casual observer could mistake him for the real deal. West was signed to King-Bee and his heyday lasted from 1917-1918 -- when Chaplin was signed to Mutual. His studio even went so far as to call West “The Funniest Man on Earth.” Although West was the star of the pictures, his on-screen success was shortlived and certainly outshined by his on-screen foe Oliver "Babe" Hardy (later of Laurel and Hardy) and on-screen love Leatrice Joy. By 1920, West had given up his ‘tramp’ persona. To get a sense of West’s early films, check out ‘The Candy Kid’ below.

Silent film favorite Harold Lloyd found early success with his ‘Lonesome Luke’ character, which was also a nod to Chaplin. Unlike West, Lloyd was almost a parody of Chaplin. His costume was almost a reversal of Chaplin’s -- the clothes were ridiculously small instead of too big, he replaced the hat and divided the mustache down the middle. Although Lloyd found success with the “Luke” series, he, like West, eventually felt restricted by the persona. When Lloyd abandoned the ‘Luke’ persona and adopted his ‘glasses’ persona, he found a character that was truly his own and that proved to be a true box office threat to Chaplin.

Curious about Harold Lloyd's career post-Lonesome Luke? Check out my review for his feature film "The Kid Brother."

Chaplin in Chicago

This post was originally published on the lonelybrand blog as part of an ongoing silent film series.

Last week, I mentioned that Chicago played host to many large, well-known studios from the silent film era, including Essanay Studios which claimed Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson and Ben Turpin as their own for a period of time. In the brief time that Chaplin lived in Chicago, he starred in a short film that featured Turpin *and* Swanson. That film was “His New Job.”

When Chaplin joined Essanay in 1915 it was huge news in the world of film. Chaplin had grown tired of Mack Sennett’s knockabout, slapstick Keystone comedies and longed for more subtle and clever gags than Sennett wanted. By joining Essanay, he was beginning to gain the freedom he would need to create his later masterpieces, and Essanay was reaping the benefits of having an internationally known comedian as part of their stock. And Essanay didn’t hold back when it came to announcing their acquisition.

But while he was in Chicago, Chaplin remained somewhat restricted. He wasn’t yet the director of his films, and he was still expected to churn out product on a regular basis to satisfy the public’s demand for him. To make matters worse for Chaplin, Ben Turpin was pushed to be his second banana, even though the pair shared very different ideas of what was comedy and didn’t get along very well. The partnership didn’t last long, though. Upon completion, Chaplin headed for the California branch of Essanay and remained there until his contract ended and he joined Mutual the following year.

“His New Job” is the only film that Chaplin filmed while in Chicago. The film doesn’t make use of its Midwest metropolitan setting, but it’s still entertaining to view as Chaplin takes a funny backstage look at the movie business, a subject that would continue to appear in comedies of the period. At the time of its release, critics were calling it the funniest comedy ever filmed. By this time, Chaplin had firmly cemented his Little Tramp character as his primary persona and was beginning to hone his characteristics and mannerisms.

You can watch the full short, featuring Chaplin, Turpin and Gloria Swanson, in an uncredited role, below.

For more silent film ads from Essanay and Chaplin, check out my Pinterest boards.