{"id":9552,"date":"2015-11-04T00:23:50","date_gmt":"2015-11-04T05:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/?p=9552"},"modified":"2015-11-04T19:11:11","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T00:11:11","slug":"the-silent-film-era-was-anything-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/2015\/11\/the-silent-film-era-was-anything-but\/","title":{"rendered":"The Silent Film Era Was Anything But"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bellevue<\/a>
Bellevue Theatre – Home of the Wonderful Echo Organ, 2210 North Front Street, March 14, 1916. (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1913, \u201cseventy vaudeville and motion picture theatres were under construction\u201d wrote Irvin Glazer. And \u201cvirtually all of them were open by the fall,\u201d providing Philadelphia with about 350 venues theatres that excluded downtown \u201clegitimate theatres.\u201d Each and every one screened silent films.<\/p>\n

Viewing options were everywhere. In addition to the Victoria at 913 Market (open since in 1909) was the Ruby Theatre at 618 Market, the Arcadia, at 1529 Chestnut, and the Palace Theatre at 1214 Market. The massive, new, 1400-seat Stanton had opened at 16<\/span>th<\/sup> and Market, not far from the Regent, a block to the west. But movie goers didn\u2019t have to come to town; they could stay in their own neighborhoods and enjoy films at The Tioga, near 17<\/span>th<\/sup> Venango or The Apollo at 52<\/span>nd<\/sup> and Girard, or many, many others theatres\u2014and more were on the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

By 1915, as one film trade publication put it, \u201cin the district known as Kensington, the home of varied industries and a large, live population\u201d film fans could visit the newly-opened, 830-seat Bellevue Theatre. Front and Susquehanna<\/a>\u00a0had become a happening place.<\/p>\n

Beyond the Bellevue\u2019s ticket booth \u201cof marble and mahogany\u201d and lobby lined with stone tiles, potted palms, and hung with wall-to-wall movie posters, the Bellevue accommodated nickel-and-dime-paying patrons from after noon to an hour before midnight. They filed past brass railings and opal fixtures, down crimson carpeted aisles to upholstered seats to hear the tones of the echo organ and a five-piece orchestra. They\u2019d take in the latest films\u2014advertised in circulars, the daily papers, on billboards and posters mounted on a wagon that paraded the streets.<\/p>\n

With a boom in venues and production burgeoning, the screen was now the place to be and be seen. The \u201ccelebrated and pulchritudinous\u201d Kitty Gordon held back as long as she could, but as 1915 came to a close, Gordon gave in to \u201cthe green glare of the lights of a motion picture studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt positively tremulous as I made my first scene,\u201d confessed Gordon. \u201cBut that feeling soon wore off and by the time the camera man was ready to \u2018grind\u2019 I was perfectly cool again. I am quite in love with this wonderful new art that furnishes one with surprises no matter which way one turns.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the role of the beautiful, charming, conniving Lena Despard, in an updated version of F. C. Philips\u2019 As in a Looking Glass<\/i><\/a>, Gordon did manage to make \u201can especially striking and attention-compelling photo drama.\u201d The bar had been set high by stars in the stage versions of the role. Sarah Bernhardt had owned it for a time in Paris, admitting to a reporter that the \u201cfrank and easy style\u201d of the story \u201ctouched” her “dramatic fibre.\u201d Philadelphia ticket holders had packed The Walnut<\/a> to witness Lily Langtry<\/a> as the \u201csoulless adventuress\u201d Despard displayed in one after another glamorous gown, just as Lillian Cleves<\/a> would at the Girard Avenue Theatre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gordon delivered in her debut. \u201cQuite frequently,\u201d observed critic Lynde Denig, she turned \u201cher back to the camera and it generally happened that her gown was pronouncedly\u2014need it be added\u2014becomingly d\u00e9collet\u00e9.\u201d The director \u201csurely bore in mind the probable spirit of the public, how eagerly it would await a convincing display of Miss Gordon\u2019s much advertised back,\u201d and, Denig noted, \u201chow little the story mattered by comparison.\u201d If the script \u201clacked inspirational qualities\u201d the production \u201cwas fortunate in having a star capable of carrying so much responsibility on undraped shoulders.\u201d Denig gave a thumbs up: \u201cnobody is going to be disappointed in Miss Gordon\u2019s beauty from whatever angle it is viewed\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Motography\u2019s<\/i> writer agreed, adding a bit of pre-Hollywood snark on Gordon\u2019s gowns, which \u201cbegan late and ended early.\u201d As it turned out, the anticipated \u201cbrilliance\u201d of the her \u201c\u2018polished shoulders\u2019\u2026 had caused widespread halation. . .on the film.\u201d Makeup had to \u201cdull the gleam of that famous back and those celebrated shoulders with whole shaker-fulls of powder\u201d before the camera could refocus \u201cits undazzled eye on the dulled surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

But audiences were<\/i> dazzled by all they saw, which culminated in an updated suicide scene, \u201ca final thrill\u201d of the Thelma and Louise variety, as Gordon and her vehicle are \u201churled over a precipice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Projectors at the Bellevue clicked on into the 1930s, when the place was brought back to a life, of sorts, as a car parts shop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, the much-compromised building<\/a> on Front Street barely survives.<\/p>\n

[Sources: Irvin R. Glazer, Philadelphia Theatres, A-Z: A Comprehensive, Descriptive Record of 813 Theatres Constructed Since 1724. (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986); Lynde Denig, \u201cAs in a Looking Glass\u201d Kitty Gordon Is Introduced to World Film Audience in Melodrama of Intrigue and Love,\u201d The Moving Picture World<\/i>, Vol. 27 (World Photographic Publishing Company, 1916); \u201cNotes from all Over,\u201d Motography<\/i>, Volume 15, No. 1, p. 48, 1916; \u201cBellevue Theatre Opens in Philadelphia,\u201d Accessory News<\/i>, Vol. 10, No. 25, (October 1914-Jan 1915), p. 112; and from The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/i>: \u201cMrs. Langtry at the Walnut,\u201d January 23, 1888; \u201cMrs. Langtry\u2019s Second Week,\u201d January 24, 1888; \u201cAt the Theatres Last Night \u2013 The Girard Avenue,\u201d October 27, 1891; \u201cKitty Gordon is Filmed,\u201d\u00a0 December 26, 1915.]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1913, \u201cseventy vaudeville and motion picture theatres were under construction\u201d wrote Irvin Glazer. And \u201cvirtually all of them were open by the fall,\u201d providing Philadelphia with about 350 venues theatres that excluded downtown \u201clegitimate theatres.\u201d Each and every one screened silent films. Viewing options were everywhere. In addition to the Victoria at 913 Market […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}