Campbell Gollan (1915) 🇺🇸
Campbell Gollan, who plays that most romantic of blacklegs, the exquisite Comte Jean Du Barry, in George Kleine’s beautiful six-part feature, DuBarry, had his first experience before the motion picture camera in his old familiar role, in the Kleine studios at Grugliasco, Italy, last summer.
With Mrs. Leslie Carter, Hamilton Revelle, Richard Thornton and other members of the original cast that made the stage play so celebrated, Gollan went through the various scenes, using the oft-repeated lines of the play wherever possible. In the Petit Lever scene, where Mrs. Carter hides the wounded Cosse in her bed, only to be discovered by Du Barry, the language of the play was used by the three characters with all the ease of long familiarity.
But a motion picture built from a play contains many scenes, the action of which is made plain on the stage by words. Hence there were moments when it was difficult to find the proper words and Campbell Gollan tells of one such experience which occurred in Naples, Italy, recently.
“I was notified one morning to get dressed and make up in my revolutionary garb for a ‘hurry-up’ scene. I jumped into an automobile and was speedily whisked to a remote part of Naples where I was unceremoniously hustled to the top of a rock pile in the midst of a great crowd of wild-looking Neapolitans dressed as French Revolutionaries. One of our Italian directors assisted me to mount the stones and in his very limited English indicated that I was to incite these people to violence. I looked around helplessly at that mob. Such a mob! Quite the wildest looking aggregation I have ever seen. They were shouting and clamoring and waving their swords, sticks, scythes and guns in a most disconcerting manner. My mind became a perfect blank until above that din I heard the director’s first whistle, which meant for me to get ready. I could think of absolutely nothing to say. Then the second whistle sounded shrill and clear and, to my utter amazement, I found myself vehemently addressing that crowd with — Marc Antony’s oration from Julius Caesar. It was an inspiration. The strange English language suddenly struck the crowd dumb and the hitherto unruly multitude stood agape. I heard the camera grinding away and casting a hurried look in its direction, saw Mr. Kleine with Mrs. Carter and Hamilton Revelle convulsed with laughter. I continued to borrow from Shakespeare [William Shakespeare] until near the end of the scene and then, in my choicest Italian, yelled, ‘Now, boys, rip the tar out of it’ — at which they tore loose again. And this, they tell me, is one of the best scenes in the picture.”
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Fatty’s and Mabel’s Married Life
A Keystone Farce With Bright Moments of High Comedy.
Reviewed by Louis Reeves Harrison
Principals:
Fatty — Roscoe Arbuckle
Mabel — Mabel Normand
If asked what form of story is most difficult to adequately review, the average critic would reply “farce comedy.” In letting go earnestness, the average critic finds himself wandering about like a man who has lost his bearings. It has even been said that farce does not come within the sphere of art it is so largely a question of types. Then the very uncertainty about what produces laughter makes the labor of sifting out that element so arduous as to be almost unsurmountable. The audience will laugh at Fatty’s and Mabel’s Married Life and I can give at least one reason why.
The newly-weds are in a park when visited by a monkey that has escaped from his organ-grinding master. Fatty becomes enraged over the intrusion and repels the intruder. The Italian organ grinder is furious, but he is defeated in a clash with athletic Fatty and monkey and organ thrown at his head. He swears vengeance and enlists the services of a murderous-looking comrade to assist him in carrying out a scheme of murderous intent. Mabel becomes nervous, but she makes no protest when left at home by her natural protector.
She glances out of an upper window — that of her sitting room — and notes the presence of the suspicious characters in the garden. In an effort to calm herself, she sits down and tries to fasten her attention upon her sewing. Even as she does so, she notices a peculiar movement of a heavy curtain, but she realizes, just as we do when we hear peculiar noises at night in the empty house or flat, that her nervousness is to blame — there can really be no one intruding under the circumstances. Our common sense tells us that all is well, but our sense of fear and caution keeps us on edge.
Mabel Normand’s mental revelations while in this situation rise to a degree of fine acting rarely seen on the screen. She does not strain for effect, but, by an infinitude of tiny movements and shifting changes of facial expression, she lays bare the state of mind of a woman struggling between primitive emotion and acquired self-control. The scene is not long but it is an exquisite piece of work. The curtain moves in a peculiar manner. She is startled, then she affects a smile. “There can be no one there — if there was a man, he would come in — then there is not room for a man — it is all a mistake — the effect of nervousness.” She looks again. Again a peculiar movement of the curtain. She gasps, but she gradually recovers. She dares not investigate — “The vengeful Italian might be there — impossible.” Again she attempts self-government, every variety of feeling showing in her manner. At last she is startled by a decided movement. She rises and runs shrieking out of the room. The rest is roaring farce. What is behind the curtain, where no human being could hide?
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Phoenix Purchases Site for Studio
The big Crystal palace which had been used as a dance pavilion at Rocky Glen, Pa., has been purchased by the Phoenix Films Corporation for use as a motion picture studio. The structure has a floor space of 35,000 square feet. Thomas Kimwood Peters, who had been connected with Pathe Freres in the production end, is vice-president and general manager of the company which has been chartered in Delaware. The corporation is reported by the Wall Street Journal as having a capital stock of $1,500,000. Rocky Glen has many beautiful spots for the making of artistic outdoor scenes.
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Campbell Gollan
Scene from Fatty’s and Mabel’s Married Life (Keystone)
Collection: Moving Picture World, February 1915