Herbert Brenon — Directors I Have Met (1923) 🇬🇧
I met him way back in 1913 when he put on “Neptune’s Daughter” which starred Annette Kellerman, and was greatly impressed then by his cleverness and sincerity.
by Elizabeth Lonergan
This picture was the third feature shown in the States on the same status as a big theatrical production. First had come “Cabiria,” that wonder spectacle from Italy, and then Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation.” Naturally the presentation of the third picture was of utmost importance because it did not deal, as in the case of the two others, with a national theme, but was rather to entertain. It really laid the corner-stone of future film features — now alas! — a bit overdone.
I asked Mr. Brenon to tell me all about himself, his early trials (if he had any) and any other items that might be of interest to his friends in England. How I wish I might tell you about the little bits I saw from his new production at Paramount, but this is strictly taboo. Until the proper time comes, you must possess your souls in patience and content yourselves with the fact that it is a wonderful picture, with a wonderful cast, directed by a wonderful director — but to continue —
“I was born in Ireland,” said Mr. Brenon. “This much you doubtless know, but perhaps you never heard that I led a double life at one time. I was working for a vaudeville agent for the enormous sum of some fifteen or sixteen shillings a week when I chanced to get a job as super in a Broadway production. It was in the great melodrama “Sporting Life,” equally popular on both sides of the water. For this I received a couple of shillings a night and had a brief line to say. How to get away for the midweek matinee tested my ingenuity, but I managed it somehow. One Wednesday, after a sudden “death in the family,” I was in the middle of my lines when I saw my employer, Joe Vian, in the front row. Well, I never had courage to face him, so gave up my job for good and all. I never saw or heard of him again until the other day he came to Hollywood and paid me a surprise visit. We had a good laugh over those early times.”
Mr. Brenon’s determination to become an actor made him keep at it in spite of starvation wages. Step by step he rose from little bits to long roles and was stage manager for Augustin Daly when this well-known manager was at the height of his glory.
Later, Herbert Brenon became stock director in a number of American cities and while in this capacity in New Orleans, met Helen Oberg and married her. He remarked whimsically that he is still married to her.
Brenon’s first picture for Carl Laemmle (Universal) was “Leah the Forsaken;” his next was “Neptune’s Daughter” with Annette Kellerman. He took a company over to England for “Ivanhoe,” one of the first American pictures made abroad. “The Daughter of the Gods,” and “War Brides” followed, he was then invited to England to produce a Government film. Bad luck pursued this; first the negative was destroyed by fire, then Peace made its showing unnecessary.
At the close of the War, Herbert Brenon returned to the States and directed Norma Talmadge in The Passion Flower, “The Sign on the Door,” and several other films. Jesse Lasky then engaged him to direct Pola Negri, and he is still at it. He is distinctly a realist, though he has produced several fantasies. He has many, many friends and admirers, and is the sole Directors I Have Met who has a Chinese photographer.
Herbert Brenon now directing “The Spanish Dancer.”
Brenon discussing a scene in “The Wonderful Thing” with Norma Talmadge.
Left to right: Charles A. Stevenson, Wallace Beery, Adolphe Menjou, Kathlyn Williams, Herbert Brenon (with script), Pola Negri, and Antonio Moreno between scenes of The Spanish Dancer
Collection: Picturegoer Magazine, November 1923
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see also other entries of the Directors I Have Met series:
- 1923-02: Frank Lloyd
- 1923-03: Allan Dwan
- 1923-04: Rex Ingram
- 1923-05: Frederic Sullivan-Londoner
- 1923-06: James Cruze
- 1923-07: John Robertson
- 1923-08: J. Gordon Edwards
- 1923-09: Elmer Clifton
- 1923-11: Herbert Brenon
- 1924-01: Harold Shaw
- 1924-06: Al Christie
- 1924-11: Millard Webb
- 1925-11: John Francis Dillon