SilentComedians.com

abaldu8246 · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 38

I understand that Lehrman tried to make the L-KO comedies look like Keystone comedies. He used Billie Ritchie as his Charlie Chaplin, Frank Voss as his Fatty Arbuckle, and Hank Mann as his. . . Hank Mann. Did these impersonations go any further? Were any of the leading ladies, including Gertrude Selby, Louise Orth and Viola Barry, modeled after Mabel Normand?

Anthony

Phil · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 301

Reelcomedy1 · Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Posts: 281

I think Lehrman took Emma Clifton along when he and Ford Sterling went to Sterling Comedies.

Steve M.

Pathe Lehrman · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:03 pm Post subject:

One could argue that Lehrman made the Keystone Comedies look like Keystone Comedies.

Ritchie as a Chaplin knock-off? Ritchie argued otherwise, claiming the guise and drunk character as his own, with Chaplin doing the copying. Either way, Ritchie had his own destinctive personality in these comedies.

As for the ladies, Lehrman and Ford Sterling took Emma Clifton with them to their Sterling Comedies, and there she stayed 'til the end while Lehrman left within a couple of months to his newly-formed L-KO Komedies. Clifton did not join him at L-KO. Peggy Pearce - aka Viola Barry - was with all three: Keystone, Sterling, and L-KO. Given that both Clifton and Pearce were at Keystone at the same time as Normand, and Normand reportedly couldn't be wooed away from Sennett's employ, the employment of these other two would seem more to be a case of "settling for second best" rather than an attempt to create Normand clones.

As for Selby and Orth, I suppose there was a slight physical resemblance for the former to Normand, although Selby was a bit more roly-poly. Orth was "a 'real-for-sure blonde' with blonde hair and a complexion as pure as cream with the faint blush of the peach to it," or so gushed "Universal Weekly" in an 11/21/1914 article.

Pathe

Reelcomedy1 · Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Posts: 281

Orth appeared in Biograph comedies like A BARBER CURE ('13) before she joined L-KO.

Steve M.

Pathe Lehrman · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:40 pm Post subject:

Orth appeared in musical comedies in NYC before that, including "Tillie's Nightmare" in '10-'11 and "The Fascinating Widow" in '11. The former musical starred Marie Dressler, and was the basis for Keystone's "Tillie's Punctured Romance" in '14.

Pathe

abaldu8246 · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 38

I thank you. This information is helpful. I get the impression that, of all these actresses, Lehrman liked Selby the most. He showcased her at L-KO and later initiated some fanfare when he brought her over to Fox. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to see these films and get to personally examine the performances of Ritchie, Selby and others.

Pathe Lehrman · Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:55 pm Post subject:

There was a blurb in the 08/29/1914 issue of Moving Picture World that indicated that Lehrman and Selby were enganged, but nothing ever came of it, and the report may have been erroneous in the first place.

Pathe

Turpinutz · Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 751 Location: Philadelphia

Hello L-KO fans...
Here's some additional notes I had shelved away, 2 reels each unless noted.
BTW, this is not the continuitious (?) release schedual, just bits and pieces from here and there to add to Tom Reeder's list...

Released - Title - Cast

02/27/16 - Dad's Dollars & Dirty Doings - Alice Howell
03/01/16 - Blue Blood But Black Skin - Louise Orth
03/08/16 - False Friends & False Alarms - Billie Ritchie, Peggy Pearce
03/19/16 - Love Wires & Live Sparks - Billie Ritchie, Gene Rogers 3rls
03/22/16 - Scars & Stripes Forever - Billie Ritchie
04/02/16 - Caught on a Skyscraper - Gertrude Selby, Harry Gribbon, May Emory, Vin Moore
04/05/16 - For the Love of Mike & Rosie - Pathe Lehrman, Louise Orth, Billy Armstrong, (Gus Leonard?) 3 rls
04/16/16 - The Double's Trouble - Alice Howell, Harry Coleman

11/07/16 - Alice in Society - 3 rls - Alice Howell
12/01/16 - Tattle Tale Alice - Alice Howell
12/06/16 - The High Diver's Curse - Dan Russell
12/13/16 - Murdered by Mistake - Dan Russell
12/29/16 - Phil's Busy Day - Phil Dunham
01/03/17 - On the Trail of the Lonesome Pill - Phil Dunham
01/12/17 - A Limburger Cyclone - Phil Dunham
01/17/17 - Heartsick at Sea - Dan Russell, Katherine Griffith, Wm Irving, Vin Moore, E. Liserani
01/21/17 - Up the Flue - Billy Armstrong
01/24/17 - The Battle of 'Let's Go' - Dan Russell - Dir: J.G. Blystone
01/31/17 - Faking Fakirs - Phil Dunham
02/07/17 - That Dawgone Dog - Sammy Burns
02/21/17 - After the Balled Up Ball - Phil Dunham, Lucille Hutton, Merta Sterling, Chas Inslee - Dir: J.R. Howe
02/28/17 - Spike's Bizzy Bike - Dan Russell
03/07/17 - Fatty's Feature Fillum - Fatty Voss

05/30/17 - Roped Into Scandal - Harry Lorraine, Bert Roach, Eva Novak
06/06/17 - Dry Goods and Damp Deeds - Phil Dunham, Lucille Hutton
06/13/17 - Chicken Chased & Henpecked - Phil Dunham, Lucille Hutton
06/20/17 - Where is My Che-ild? - Dan Russell, Gladys Varden
07/02/17 - Bombs & Bandits - Sammy Burns, Vin Moore, Billy Bevan, Chas Inslee, (Vera Reynolds?)
07/09/17 - Hearts & Flour - Bob MacKenzie, Eva Novak, Charles Ryckman
07/15/17 - A Surf Scandal - Dan Russell, Gladys Varden
07/25/17 - The Sign of the Cucumber - Bob MacKenzie, Eva Novak, Charles Ryckman
08/01/17 - Blackboard & Blackmail - Phil Dunham, Lucille Hutton, Merta Sterling - Dir: Vin Moore
08/08/17 - The Little Fat Rascal - Phil Dunham, Merta Sterling
08/15/17 - Rough Stuff - Dan Russell, Gladys Varden
08/27/17 - Props, Drops & Flops - Gladys Varden, Walter Stephens, Bert Roach, Harry Griffith - Dir: Noel Smith
09/03/17 - Wayward Sons & Forward Daughters - Lucille Hutton, Billy Bevan - Dir: J.G. Blystone

PHEW! More to come as I find 'em my friends, and please feel free to add to the list.

SteveR