The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here
Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot
Article by Tom Stockman
They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had made a stop near the Twentieth Street entrance ten days earlier, but the crowd this day was much larger. Thousands, mostly excited women wearing ankle-length dresses and waving felt pennants lined up hoping for a glimpse, or perhaps...
Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot
Article by Tom Stockman
They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had made a stop near the Twentieth Street entrance ten days earlier, but the crowd this day was much larger. Thousands, mostly excited women wearing ankle-length dresses and waving felt pennants lined up hoping for a glimpse, or perhaps...
- 9/28/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here
Hollywood Cinematographer Stephen King Baggot, also known as King Baggot III, is a retired cinematographer and news cameraman born in 1943. Like his father and grandfather before him, he was always billed onscreen as simply ‘King Baggot’. The first King Baggot (1879-1948) was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known in his heyday as ‘King of the Movies’ ,’The Most Photographed Man in the World’ and “More Famous Than the Man in...
Hollywood Cinematographer Stephen King Baggot, also known as King Baggot III, is a retired cinematographer and news cameraman born in 1943. Like his father and grandfather before him, he was always billed onscreen as simply ‘King Baggot’. The first King Baggot (1879-1948) was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known in his heyday as ‘King of the Movies’ ,’The Most Photographed Man in the World’ and “More Famous Than the Man in...
- 9/22/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here
Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity.
Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity.
- 9/20/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here
Okay, technically I didn’t ‘discover’ it. I actually bought it off eBay and I guess it wasn’t really lost…but I thought it was so that counts for something!
King Baggot was a silent film star from St. Louis. He was a major player in the early days of silent film, known as the first ‘King of the Movies’ He was the first actor to have his name above a movie...
Okay, technically I didn’t ‘discover’ it. I actually bought it off eBay and I guess it wasn’t really lost…but I thought it was so that counts for something!
King Baggot was a silent film star from St. Louis. He was a major player in the early days of silent film, known as the first ‘King of the Movies’ He was the first actor to have his name above a movie...
- 9/15/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman.
While cleaning out an old barn in New Hampshire recently, a man named Peter Massie discovered an old silent film projector and seven reels of nitrate films hidden in the shadows of a corner of the structure. Among these old reels was a 30-minute 1913 film titled When Lincoln Paid starring Francis Ford (older brother of director John Ford). It was one of six silent films, all presumed lost, in which Ford played Abraham Lincoln. It is stories like this that give hope to silent film fans.
While cleaning out an old barn in New Hampshire recently, a man named Peter Massie discovered an old silent film projector and seven reels of nitrate films hidden in the shadows of a corner of the structure. Among these old reels was a 30-minute 1913 film titled When Lincoln Paid starring Francis Ford (older brother of director John Ford). It was one of six silent films, all presumed lost, in which Ford played Abraham Lincoln. It is stories like this that give hope to silent film fans.
- 9/13/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman.
By 1913, the American film industry had been around for over twenty years. In 1909 Carl Laemmle, a renegade and maverick movie mogul and film distributor, founded his own company in New York — the Yankee Film Company. Laemmle also started producing movies in Fort Lee, New Jersey that same year. His first company was called the Independent Motion Pictures (Imp) Company, aka Imp Studios. Soon however, Laemmle would be making plans to journey West where he would expand his film production and in 1912 co-founded the Universal Film Manufacturing Co.
By 1913, the American film industry had been around for over twenty years. In 1909 Carl Laemmle, a renegade and maverick movie mogul and film distributor, founded his own company in New York — the Yankee Film Company. Laemmle also started producing movies in Fort Lee, New Jersey that same year. His first company was called the Independent Motion Pictures (Imp) Company, aka Imp Studios. Soon however, Laemmle would be making plans to journey West where he would expand his film production and in 1912 co-founded the Universal Film Manufacturing Co.
- 8/4/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This week’s episode of our podcast We Are Movie Geeks The Show is up! Hear Wamg’s Jim Batts and Tom Stockman and their special guest Stephen Tronicek from Film Analyst. We’ll discuss the weekend box office and review Warcraft, Now You See Me 2, Conjuring 2, and Dheepan. Also, we’ll preview Central Intelligence and Finding Dory. We’ll then discuss some local film events here in St. Louis including the exciting news that the King Baggot Tribute will be returning. Then we’ll list our top five favorite movies of 2016 so far.
Here’s this week’s show. Have a listen:
http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/wp-content/uploads/Wamg-6-13-54.mp3
The post This Week’s Wamg Podcast – Conjuring 2, Warcraft, and More! appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
Here’s this week’s show. Have a listen:
http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/wp-content/uploads/Wamg-6-13-54.mp3
The post This Week’s Wamg Podcast – Conjuring 2, Warcraft, and More! appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
- 6/13/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by Tom Stockman of We Are Movie Geeks.com. This event is Free!
The most popular film actor in the world 100 years ago was a St. Louis native. Literally the first “movie star”, King Baggot was the first actor to have his name above the title and his stardom marked the first time that audiences went to see a movie because a certain actor was in that film. Born in St. Louis in 1879 and raised in a house on Union Boulevard, King Baggot attended CBC High School and at one time worked for the St. Louis Browns in ticket sales. Baggot was tall and handsome, a blue-eyed Irish boy with a distinctive white streak through his dark hair and the subject of much adoring fan mail. It’s hard to overestimate just how popular King Baggot was in his prime. He was heralded as “King of the Movies,” “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon.” After his acting career faded, King Baggot became a successful director for Universal Studios. Most of his films are long lost and despite his one-time fame, he is now somewhat forgotten, even here in his home town.
The Missouri History Museum will shine a spotlight on the star with The King Baggot Tribute, a celebration of his career. The event will be held on Wednesday, September 28th beginning at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). This is a Free event!
The program will consist a rare screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe, which runs 49 minutes. We screened Ivanhoe at the King Baggot Tribute that was part of The St. Louis International Film Festival in November of 2014. That time, we rented a 35mm print of the film from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It had Dutch intertitles, so I had to translate them, from the podium, while the rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra accompanied the film. This time, we have transferred the film to digital format and have burned English intertitles over the Dutch ones.
Based Sir Walter Scott’s 1820 novel of romance and medievalism. Ivanhoe was filmed at Chepstow Castle in Wales, on top of cliffs overlooking the River Wye and was the first example of an American studio sending a cast and crew to Europe to film at a remote location. St. Louis native King Baggot plays Ivanhoe, the Saxon Knight who returns from the Holy Lands to England. There he teams up with Robin Hood to rescue his father Sir Cedric, who has been captured by the evil Prince John. Leah Baird plays Rebecca, the Jewish maiden who loves Ivanhoe and the film’s director Herbert Brenon co-stars as Isaac of York. The rest of the large cast was made up of local Welsh actors. The lively and ambitious Ivanhoe, filled with pageantry, lavish sets, costumed horses, epic battle scenes and swordfights was a box-office smash in 1913 and made King Baggot an international star.
Don’t miss the The King Baggot Tribute September 28th!
A Facebook Invite for the event can be found Here
https://www.facebook.com/events/1764545990458351/
The post The King Baggot Tribute Returns to St. Louis – The Missouri History Museum Sept. 28th appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
The most popular film actor in the world 100 years ago was a St. Louis native. Literally the first “movie star”, King Baggot was the first actor to have his name above the title and his stardom marked the first time that audiences went to see a movie because a certain actor was in that film. Born in St. Louis in 1879 and raised in a house on Union Boulevard, King Baggot attended CBC High School and at one time worked for the St. Louis Browns in ticket sales. Baggot was tall and handsome, a blue-eyed Irish boy with a distinctive white streak through his dark hair and the subject of much adoring fan mail. It’s hard to overestimate just how popular King Baggot was in his prime. He was heralded as “King of the Movies,” “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon.” After his acting career faded, King Baggot became a successful director for Universal Studios. Most of his films are long lost and despite his one-time fame, he is now somewhat forgotten, even here in his home town.
The Missouri History Museum will shine a spotlight on the star with The King Baggot Tribute, a celebration of his career. The event will be held on Wednesday, September 28th beginning at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). This is a Free event!
The program will consist a rare screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe, which runs 49 minutes. We screened Ivanhoe at the King Baggot Tribute that was part of The St. Louis International Film Festival in November of 2014. That time, we rented a 35mm print of the film from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It had Dutch intertitles, so I had to translate them, from the podium, while the rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra accompanied the film. This time, we have transferred the film to digital format and have burned English intertitles over the Dutch ones.
Based Sir Walter Scott’s 1820 novel of romance and medievalism. Ivanhoe was filmed at Chepstow Castle in Wales, on top of cliffs overlooking the River Wye and was the first example of an American studio sending a cast and crew to Europe to film at a remote location. St. Louis native King Baggot plays Ivanhoe, the Saxon Knight who returns from the Holy Lands to England. There he teams up with Robin Hood to rescue his father Sir Cedric, who has been captured by the evil Prince John. Leah Baird plays Rebecca, the Jewish maiden who loves Ivanhoe and the film’s director Herbert Brenon co-stars as Isaac of York. The rest of the large cast was made up of local Welsh actors. The lively and ambitious Ivanhoe, filled with pageantry, lavish sets, costumed horses, epic battle scenes and swordfights was a box-office smash in 1913 and made King Baggot an international star.
Don’t miss the The King Baggot Tribute September 28th!
A Facebook Invite for the event can be found Here
https://www.facebook.com/events/1764545990458351/
The post The King Baggot Tribute Returns to St. Louis – The Missouri History Museum Sept. 28th appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
- 6/13/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Norma Shearer films Note: This article is being revised and expanded. Please check back later. Turner Classic Movies' Norma Shearer month comes to a close this evening, Nov. 24, '15, with the presentation of the last six films of Shearer's two-decade-plus career. Two of these are remarkably good; one is schizophrenic, a confused mix of high comedy and low drama; while the other three aren't the greatest. Yet all six are worth a look even if only because of Norma Shearer herself – though, really, they all have more to offer than just their top star. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the no-expense-spared Marie Antoinette (1938) – $2.9 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time – stars the Canadian-born Queen of MGM as the Austrian-born Queen of France. This was Shearer's first film in two years (following Romeo and Juliet) and her first release following husband Irving G.
- 11/25/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Norma Shearer films Note: This article is being revised and expanded. Please check back later. Turner Classic Movies' Norma Shearer month comes to a close this evening, Nov. 24, '15, with the presentation of the last six films of Shearer's two-decade-plus career. Two of these are remarkably good; one is schizophrenic, a confused mix of high comedy and low drama; while the other three aren't the greatest. Yet all six are worth a look even if only because of Norma Shearer herself – though, really, they all have more to offer than just their top star. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the no-expense-spared Marie Antoinette (1938) – $2.9 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time – stars the Canadian-born Queen of MGM as the Austrian-born Queen of France. This was Shearer's first film in two years (following Romeo and Juliet) and her first release following husband Irving G.
- 11/25/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Sorrell and Son' with H.B. Warner and Alice Joyce. 'Sorrell and Son' 1927 movie: Long thought lost, surprisingly effective father-love melodrama stars a superlative H.B. Warner Partially shot on location in England and produced independently by director Herbert Brenon at Joseph M. Schenck's United Artists, the 1927 Sorrell and Son is a skillful melodrama about paternal devotion in the face of both personal and social adversity. This long-thought-lost version of Warwick Deeping's 1925 bestseller benefits greatly from the veteran Brenon's assured direction, deservedly shortlisted in the first year of the Academy Awards.* Crucial to the film's effectiveness, however, is the portrayal of its central character, a war-scarred Englishman who sacrifices it all for the happiness of his son. Luckily, the London-born H.B. Warner, best remembered for playing Jesus Christ in another 1927 release, Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings, is the embodiment of honesty, selflessness, and devotion. Less is...
- 10/9/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Virginia Bruce: MGM actress ca. 1935. Virginia Bruce movies on TCM: Actress was the cherry on 'The Great Ziegfeld' wedding cake Unfortunately, Turner Classic Movies has chosen not to feature any non-Hollywood stars – or any out-and-out silent film stars – in its 2015 “Summer Under the Stars” series.* On the other hand, TCM has come up with several unusual inclusions, e.g., Lee J. Cobb, Warren Oates, Mae Clarke, and today, Aug. 25, Virginia Bruce. A second-rank MGM leading lady in the 1930s, the Minneapolis-born Virginia Bruce is little remembered today despite her more than 70 feature films in a career that spanned two decades, from the dawn of the talkie era to the dawn of the TV era, in addition to a handful of comebacks going all the way to 1981 – the dawn of the personal computer era. Career highlights were few and not all that bright. Examples range from playing the...
- 8/26/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Loretta Young films as TCM celebrates her 102nd birthday (photo: Loretta Young ca. 1935) Loretta Young would have turned 102 years old today. Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the birthday of the Salt Lake City-born, Academy Award-winning actress today, January 6, 2015, with no less than ten Loretta Young films, most of them released by Warner Bros. in the early '30s. Young, who began her film career in a bit part in the 1927 Colleen Moore star vehicle Her Wild Oat, remained a Warners contract player from the late '20s up until 1933. (See also: "Loretta Young Movies.") Now, ten Loretta Young films on one day may sound like a lot, but one should remember that most Warner Bros. -- in fact, most Hollywood -- releases of the late '20s and early '30s were either B Movies or programmers. The latter were relatively short (usually 60 to 75 minutes) feature films starring A (or B+) performers,...
- 1/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
King The Detective And The Smugglers will screen at Super-8 Mummy Movie Madness Tuesday January 6th at The Way Out Club
Okay, technically I didn’t ‘discover’ it. I actually bought it off eBay and I guess it wasn’t really lost…but I thought it was! So that counts for something!
Just when I thought I’d put this King Baggot project to bed… they pull me back in! King Baggot was a silent film star from St. Louis. He was a major player in the early days of silent film, known as the first ‘King of the Movies’ He was the first actor to have his name above a movie’s title and the first actor that people went to see a movie because a certain actor was in it. Between 1909 and 1916, he was known as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “The Man Whose Face...
Okay, technically I didn’t ‘discover’ it. I actually bought it off eBay and I guess it wasn’t really lost…but I thought it was! So that counts for something!
Just when I thought I’d put this King Baggot project to bed… they pull me back in! King Baggot was a silent film star from St. Louis. He was a major player in the early days of silent film, known as the first ‘King of the Movies’ He was the first actor to have his name above a movie’s title and the first actor that people went to see a movie because a certain actor was in it. Between 1909 and 1916, he was known as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “The Man Whose Face...
- 12/31/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The slowest-moving movie monster in the Universal canon gets his day in St. Louis when we celebrate Super-8 Mummy Movie Madness, taking place on Tuesday, January 6th beginning at 8pm at The Way Out Club. Condensed versions (average length: 15 minutes) of theseMummy films will be screened on a big screen on Super-8 sound film: Boris Karloff in The Mummy (1932), a Lon Chaney Mummy double feature of The Mummy’S Ghost and The Mummy’S Tomb, the Hammer Horror The Mummy’S Shroud, the 1943 Superman cartoon The Mummy Strikes, the Three Stooges in I Want My Mummy, and Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy
The Mummy-free movies we’re showing on January 6th are: The Incredible Melting Man, a Burt Reynolds double feature of Smokey And The Bandit and The Longest Yard, Tarantula, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, and King Baggot in the 1912 silent short...
The Mummy-free movies we’re showing on January 6th are: The Incredible Melting Man, a Burt Reynolds double feature of Smokey And The Bandit and The Longest Yard, Tarantula, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, and King Baggot in the 1912 silent short...
- 12/30/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Screen Syndicate, a side project of Southern Illinois-based Americana band Stace England and the Salt Kings, explores the fascinating history of Roger Corman’s New World Pictures and the exploitation films made by the company in the 1970s. The life of actress Roberta Collins — a Hollywood story of sadly unfulfilled promise — is the vehicle used to navigate the period. Collins lit up the screen in films like The Big Doll House, Women In Cages and Death Race 2000. But Collins was unable to break out of the B-movie grind, playing minor roles in increasingly poor productions before finally exiting the business. She died in obscurity in 2008. Screen Syndicate combines original songs, film clips, trailers, and other material into a unique live-music experience that pays tribute to Collins. The band has performed at numerous film festivals in the U.S. and Europe — appearing twice at Sliff — with shows about pioneering African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux and Cairo,...
- 11/19/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium beginning at 7pm as part of this year’s St. Louis Intenational FIlm Festival. The program will consist a rare 35mm screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe starring King Baggot with live music accompaniment by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. Ivanhoe will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and films of King Baggot presented by Tom Stockman, editor here at We Are Movie Geeks. After that will screen the influential silent western Tumbleweeds (1925), considered to be one of King Baggot’s finest achievements as a director. Tumbleweeds will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.
Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot
Article by Tom Stockman
They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had...
Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot
Article by Tom Stockman
They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had...
- 11/14/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute is this Friday, November 14th at 7pm at Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium. A 35mm print of Ivanhoe (1913) starring King Baggot will screen with live music by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. The screening will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot, which will be followed by the screening of Tumbleweeds (digital source 1925), directed by King Baggot with piano accompaniment by Matt Pace. Ticket information for the event can be found Here.
http://tributetokingbaggot.bpt.me/
Hollywood Cinematographer Stephen King Baggot, also known as King Baggot III, is a retired cinematographer and news cameraman born in 1943. Like his father and grandfather before him, he was always billed onscreen as simply ‘King Baggot’. The first King Baggot (1879-1948) was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known in his heyday as ‘King of the Movies’ ,’The...
http://tributetokingbaggot.bpt.me/
Hollywood Cinematographer Stephen King Baggot, also known as King Baggot III, is a retired cinematographer and news cameraman born in 1943. Like his father and grandfather before him, he was always billed onscreen as simply ‘King Baggot’. The first King Baggot (1879-1948) was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known in his heyday as ‘King of the Movies’ ,’The...
- 11/13/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Tumbleweeds will screen Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium as part of The King Baggot Tribute at the St. Louis International Film Festival. It will be preceded by a 35mm showing of the 1913 version of Ivanhoe featuring live music by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and an illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman. Tumbleweeds will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace
William S. Hart (1864-1946) was the first great star of the movie western. Fascinated by tales of the Old West, Hart actually acquired Billy the Kid’s six-shooter and was a friend with legendary lawmen Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. He entered films in 1914 where, after playing supporting roles in shorts, achieved stardom as the lead in the western The Bargain. Hart was particularly interested in making his westerns realistic and...
William S. Hart (1864-1946) was the first great star of the movie western. Fascinated by tales of the Old West, Hart actually acquired Billy the Kid’s six-shooter and was a friend with legendary lawmen Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. He entered films in 1914 where, after playing supporting roles in shorts, achieved stardom as the lead in the western The Bargain. Hart was particularly interested in making his westerns realistic and...
- 11/11/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“Gurth the Swineherd , do you not recognize me?”
“Ivanhoe ! My young master”
It’s been said that 75% of all silent films are lost – scrapped for their silver nitrate content, destroyed by fire, left to decompose, or simply abandoned by an industry so lacking in foresight that it neither knew nor cared about their own products value to the future. In the case of the silent films that St. Louis native King Baggot starred in, that number is closer to 99%. Baggot likely appeared in over 300 films during his most active period 1909 to 1916, mostly one-reelers (1000 feet of film running around 16 minutes). When Cinema St. Louis and I teamed up to plan the King Baggot Tribute night coming up November 14th, we knew we wanted to show one film featuring one of his performances and another that he directed. We chose to represent his directing career with the 1925 western Tumbleweeds starring William S. Hart.
“Ivanhoe ! My young master”
It’s been said that 75% of all silent films are lost – scrapped for their silver nitrate content, destroyed by fire, left to decompose, or simply abandoned by an industry so lacking in foresight that it neither knew nor cared about their own products value to the future. In the case of the silent films that St. Louis native King Baggot starred in, that number is closer to 99%. Baggot likely appeared in over 300 films during his most active period 1909 to 1916, mostly one-reelers (1000 feet of film running around 16 minutes). When Cinema St. Louis and I teamed up to plan the King Baggot Tribute night coming up November 14th, we knew we wanted to show one film featuring one of his performances and another that he directed. We chose to represent his directing career with the 1925 western Tumbleweeds starring William S. Hart.
- 11/10/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium beginning at 7pm as part of this year’s St. Louis Intenational FIlm Festival. The program will consist a rare 35mm screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe starring King Baggot with live music accompaniment by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. Ivanhoe will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and films of King Baggot presented by Tom Stockman, editor here at We Are Movie Geeks. After that will screen the influential silent western Tumbleweeds (1925), considered to be one of King Baggot’s finest achievements as a director. Tumbleweeds will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.
Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot...
Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot...
- 11/6/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Oscar bait performances by Reese Witherspoon, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Timothy Spall, a Tenacious Eats “Movies for Foodies” event, and a tribute to the St. Louis-born silent film star King Baggot are some of the many highlights of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Cinema St. Louis announced the 2014 line-up today and it’s the usual hi-quality mix of independent films, foreign films, locally-made films, end-of-year studio awards product, and retro programming.
The 23rd Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) will be held Nov. 13-23. Sliff will screen 389 films: 89 narrative features, 76 documentary features, and 224 shorts. This year’s festival has 239 screenings/programs, with 69 countries represented. The fest will host more than 125 filmmakers and related guests, including honorees Doug Pray (Contemporary Cinema Award), Katie Mustard (Women in Film Award), and Timothy J. Sexton (Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award).
The festival will open on Thursday, Nov. 13, with the...
The 23rd Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) will be held Nov. 13-23. Sliff will screen 389 films: 89 narrative features, 76 documentary features, and 224 shorts. This year’s festival has 239 screenings/programs, with 69 countries represented. The fest will host more than 125 filmmakers and related guests, including honorees Doug Pray (Contemporary Cinema Award), Katie Mustard (Women in Film Award), and Timothy J. Sexton (Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award).
The festival will open on Thursday, Nov. 13, with the...
- 10/22/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
” Is this your wife? What a lovely throat!”
There’s nothing better than silent films accompanied by live music and I’d go as far as saying there’s nothing better than silent films accompanied by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. And I’ll go even farther by saying that there’s nothing better than the 1922 silent spooker Nosferatu accompanied by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra which is an event that will be taking place Friday night, October 24th at The St. Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Dr, St Louis, Mo 63110 – Forest Park) beginning at 8pm.
Admission Is Free !!!
I’ve seen Nosferatu with live music before and have even shown a 25-minute cut of the film at my monthly Super-8 Movie Madness show with live keyboard accompaniment (by the talented Linda Gurney), but seeing the full-length version one week before Halloween on the big screen...
There’s nothing better than silent films accompanied by live music and I’d go as far as saying there’s nothing better than silent films accompanied by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. And I’ll go even farther by saying that there’s nothing better than the 1922 silent spooker Nosferatu accompanied by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra which is an event that will be taking place Friday night, October 24th at The St. Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Dr, St Louis, Mo 63110 – Forest Park) beginning at 8pm.
Admission Is Free !!!
I’ve seen Nosferatu with live music before and have even shown a 25-minute cut of the film at my monthly Super-8 Movie Madness show with live keyboard accompaniment (by the talented Linda Gurney), but seeing the full-length version one week before Halloween on the big screen...
- 10/13/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The most popular film actor in the world 100 years ago was a St. Louis native. Literally the first “movie star”, King Baggot was the first actor to have his name above the title and his stardom marked the first time that audiences went to see a movie because a certain actor was in that film. Born in St. Louis in 1879 and raised in a house on Union Boulevard, King Baggot attended CBC High School and at one time worked for the St. Louis Browns in ticket sales. Baggot was tall and handsome, a blue-eyed Irish boy with a distinctive white streak through his dark hair and the subject of much adoring fan mail. It’s hard to overestimate just how popular King Baggot was in his prime. He was heralded as “King of the Movies,” “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar...
- 10/9/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Claudette Colbert movies on Turner Classic Movies: From ‘The Smiling Lieutenant’ to TCM premiere ‘Skylark’ (photo: Claudette Colbert and Maurice Chevalier in ‘The Smiling Lieutenant’) Claudette Colbert, the studio era’s perky, independent-minded — and French-born — "all-American" girlfriend (and later all-American wife and mother), is Turner Classic Movies’ star of the day today, August 18, 2014, as TCM continues with its "Summer Under the Stars" film series. Colbert, a surprise Best Actress Academy Award winner for Frank Capra’s 1934 comedy It Happened One Night, was one Paramount’s biggest box office draws for more than decade and Hollywood’s top-paid female star of 1938, with reported earnings of $426,944 — or about $7.21 million in 2014 dollars. (See also: TCM’s Claudette Colbert day in 2011.) Right now, TCM is showing Ernst Lubitsch’s light (but ultimately bittersweet) romantic comedy-musical The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), a Best Picture Academy Award nominee starring Maurice Chevalier as a French-accented Central European lieutenant in...
- 8/19/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
While cleaning out an old barn in New Hampshire recently, a man named Peter Massie discovered an old silent film projector and seven reels of nitrate films hidden in the shadows of a corner of the structure. Among these old reels was a 30-minute 1913 film titled When Lincoln Paid starring Francis Ford (older brother of director John Ford). It was one of six silent films, all presumed lost, in which Ford played Abraham Lincoln. It is stories like this that give hope to silent film fans. 75 per cent of movies from the silent era have been lost to decay or neglect, but when it comes to the over 200 movies that St. Louis native King Baggot acted in between 1909 and 1921, that number is closer to 100%. Here’s a look at Absinthe, a lost film from 100 years ago that I wish someone would find.
Absinthe is a distilled, highly alcoholic (90-148 proof...
Absinthe is a distilled, highly alcoholic (90-148 proof...
- 6/2/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
By 1913, the American film industry had been around for over twenty years. In 1909 Carl Laemmle, a renegade and maverick movie mogul and film distributor, founded his own company in New York — the Yankee Film Company. Laemmle also started producing movies in Fort Lee, New Jersey that same year. His first company was called the Independent Motion Pictures (Imp) Company, aka Imp Studios. Soon however, Laemmle would be making plans to journey West where he would expand his film production and in 1912 co-founded the Universal Film Manufacturing Co., or Universal Film Company - the precursor to Universal Pictures in Hollywood. The studio had its sights set on bigger and better things than the one and two-reel shorts that Hollywood had been grinding out. European studios were producing big, ambitious feature productions and Universal felt the need to compete.
Sir Walter Scott’s classic novel Ivanhoe was first published in 1820. The story...
Sir Walter Scott’s classic novel Ivanhoe was first published in 1820. The story...
- 1/23/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Mickey Rooney movie schedule (Pt): TCM on August 13 See previous post: “Mickey Rooney Movies: Music and Murder.” Photo: Mickey Rooney ca. 1940. 3:00 Am Death On The Diamond (1934). Director: Edward Sedgwick. Cast: Robert Young, Madge Evans, Nat Pendleton, Mickey Rooney. Bw-71 mins. 4:15 Am A Midsummer Night’S Dream (1935). Director: Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle. Cast: James Cagney, Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland, Ross Alexander, Anita Louise, Mickey Rooney, Joe E. Brown, Victor Jory, Ian Hunter, Verree Teasdale, Jean Muir, Frank McHugh, Grant Mitchell, Hobart Cavanaugh, Dewey Robinson, Hugh Herbert, Arthur Treacher, Otis Harlan, Helen Westcott, Fred Sale, Billy Barty, Rags Ragland. Bw-143 mins. 6:45 Am A Family Affair (1936). Director: George B. Seitz. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Lionel Barrymore, Cecilia Parker, Eric Linden. Bw-69 mins. 8:00 Am Boys Town (1938). Director: Norman Taurog. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, Gene Reynolds, Edward Norris, Addison Richards, Minor Watson, Jonathan Hale,...
- 8/13/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
In the book Hollywood Unknowns, author Anthony Slide tackles a little-known side of Hollywood moviemaking: the aspirations and travails of the movie extras and bit players (in addition to "side" chapters on actors' stand-ins and stunt doubles). [Image: Book cover featuring -- possibly -- short filmmaker Pete Smith.] Slide's Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins covers the history of the movie extras from the very dawn of cinema -- when, say, someone like future "star" Florence Lawrence could be the focus of one film and mere "atmosphere" in another -- to the current crop of movie extras. Among the sujects discussed in Anthony Slide's highly entertaining tome are the history of Central Casting; union battles involving the Screen Actors Guild, the Screen Extras Guild, and splinter groups; and a look at former silent-era performers, including Clara Kimball Young, King Baggott, and William Farnum, who finished their days as Hollywood extras. So, next time you watch Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist,...
- 2/16/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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