Franklyn Gale (1915) 🇺🇸

The lure of the photoplay screen has attracted another player of distinction from the ranks of the so-called legitimate in the person of Franklyn Gale, known from Coast to Coast and an idol in many of the important cities of the United States.

Miss Gale’s early experience on the stage was in stock and within recent years she has appeared as leading woman with Mortimer Snow in Troy, New York, where she played for thirty weeks; as leading woman with the exceptionally strong company which played all the big Broadway successes at the West End theater in New York City and as leading woman with the stock company at the Grand Opera House in San Francisco where productions of unusual magnitude were the rule.

Two seasons ago, Miss Gale toured to Pacific Coast in The Third Degree, winning new honors in the role originally played by Helen Ware. This trip, by the way, was the fifth which Miss Gale had made across the country with important traveling organizations. After the Third Degree engagement Miss Gale played the Orpheum Circuit and other important vaudeville time with a dramatic sketch which she herself had written.

In her brief career in the picture business, Miss Gale has written a number of scenarios for the Biograph company, Gaumont, and others — and in some of the screen plays which she created, has played important roles. Her permanent association with one of the big picture producing companies is likely to result from offers which she is at present considering.

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Kalem’s Ham Comedies

Series of laugh-provoking pictures featuring Lloyd Hamilton and Bud Duncan.

Reviewed by Lynde Denig.

In Lloyd V. Hamilton and Bud Duncan the Kalem Company has a slapstick team of which more will be heard in coming weeks. On the strength of a number of productions already approved by exhibitors, they have been awarded a regular position on the program and a brand name — simple, direct and suitable, so that when one sees a Ham Comedy announced he may know about what to expect. Beginning with Ham at the Garbage Gentleman’s Ball, to be released on March 16, there will be a Ham Comedy every Tuesday for some time to come. Hamilton, who is six feet tall and large in proportion and Duncan, who must stand on tiptoes to look over his partner’s shoulder, will be weekly visitors.

Physically they are a sort of Mutt and Jeff combination; in method and make-up they are careful not to copy any slapstick favorites of the moment. Ham is the leader; Bud plays up to him, looks up to him and receives rather more than his shares of the kicks. Ham is fluent in the use of the flapping toes of his long boots, Bud turns somersets, dives through a window, or rolls down a flight of stairs with ludicrous nonchalance. When he recovers, Ham glares at him and the fierceness of his expression is accentuated by a black and abundant mustache. The clothes of both are grotesque misfits.

Judging from three productions, Ham at the Garbage Gentleman’s Ball, A Melodious Mixup, released February 19, and Ham in the Harem, to be released March 30, the two comedians, under the direction of Chance E. Ward, have a good understanding of low comedy values and an effective method of scoring laughs. Of the three films, Ham in the Harem, from a scenario by Hamilton Smith, is the best. The elaborate settings for the Sultan’s palace would attract attention even in a serious picture, and they add appreciably to the illusion of the predicament in which Ham and Bud find themselves. Capping a long series of fantastic happenings, the intruders are brought before the Sultan and allowed ten minutes in which to make him laugh, otherwise they will be beheaded. Various means failing, Ham introduces a mock poker game (capitally played) and the Sultan is interested, entertained and finally drawn into a real game. He loses everything, even his beloved Fatima; but in the end his guests lose her, too, and inconsolably grieved they drown themselves in a tank.

Very different, but unquestionably well done, after the manner of knockabout farce, is Ham at the Garbage Gentleman’s Ball. Here, as in the film just mentioned, there is more of a consecutive plot than one generally finds in pictures of the kind and the situations profit in consequence. When a man is dropped off a roof — as is Ham in this instance — one is more concerned about the fall if it is the outcome of some sin of omission or commission. The author did well in preparing for the incidents in this picture and the director put a lot of snap into the playing of scenes, such as those showing the dancers at the ball where Ham and Bud are unwelcome and only temporary guests.

A Melodious Mixup has less of a story and depends more upon the antics of Hamilton in the role of a wild-eyed, free-armed orchestra leader. Supplementing the work of the comedians are the attractions of a pretty prima donna and a graceful chorus dancing to the discords of the musicians. Ham and Bud are in love with the singer, but so are many other men, including (worse luck) her husband. For every broken heart there is a broken head to correspond. These comedies are not designed for over delicate sensibilities, which, of course, is an argument for, rather than against their popularity.

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Scene from Ham in the Harem (Kalem)

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Burn Oil Wells for Bosworth Picture

In staging the forthcoming Bosworth release, Sunshine Molly, the producers have spared no time or expense to give the picture the desired realism. The subject is a drama concerning the history of the discovery of oil in California, the kernel of some of the greatest tragedies and comedies of real life ever enacted.

Some of the scenes were taken at Taft, the heart of the oil country, where for hundreds of miles against the landscape rise the grim skeletons of the oil derricks. Other scenes were laid at the La Brea oil fields, near Hollywood, and many interiors, showing the home life of the prospectors before and after the strike. The plot calls for an explosion followed by a big fire. After considerable trouble and persuasion the producers secured the permission of the oil people to set fire to three of the great oil wells and several big scenes of unusual spectacular qualities were successfully filmed.

Sunshine Molly, outside of its spectacular value is a thrilling dramatic subject that will hold an audience on edge to the very end. This is not only due to the fact that the story itself is of unusual merit, but because of the splendid cast that has been selected to portray the various characters, most important of which are Lois Weber, Phillips Smalley, Herbert Standing, Vera Lewis, Roberta Hickman, Frank Elliott and Adele Farrington.

Collection: Moving Picture World, March 1915