Laughs and local filmmaking at Niles in September

September 1, 8:55 AMSF Silent Movie ExaminerThomas Gladysz

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"Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1917) is one of the locally made
films being shown at Niles in September.

By Thomas Gladysz
San Francisco Silent Film Examiner

Laughs and local filmmaking dominate the September schedule of films at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont. It is a busy month which includes some of the biggest laugh makers of the silent era – among them Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and Mabel Normand – as well as two silent films made in Pleasanton! Yes, that’s right. Pleasanton. Here’s the schedule for September.

“Saturday Night at the Movies,” with Judy Rosenberg on the piano
Saturday September 5 at 7:30 pm (Suggested Donation $5.00)

The September calendar kicks off with a bit of drama – Western style. In The Return of Draw Egan (1916, Triangle), silent film great William S. Hart plays a reformed outlaw turned sheriff drawn back into a life of crime by a gang member knowledgeable of his sordid past. This Western potboiler also features Louise Glaum. The evening’s entertainment includes two shorts, The Bangville Police (1913) staring Mabel Normand, Fred Mace and the “Bangville Police” (an early incarnation of the Keystone Cops), and Call of the Cuckoo (1927, Roach), staring Max Davidson, Stan Laurel, and Oliver Hardy. Call of the Cuckoo was directed by Clyde Bruckman.

“A Talkie Afternoon with The Boys”
Sunday September 13 at 4:00 pm (Suggested Donation $5.00)

The comedy team of Laurel & Hardy are favorites of the programmers at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum – and for that matter, a lot of others as well. This special afternoon program features A Chump at Oxford (Hal Roach, 1940), in which Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy accidently foil a bank robbery and are rewarded with scholarships to Oxford University. Horror film legend Peter Cushing, in only his second screen credit, makes an appearance as a student.

Rounding out this afternoon program of back to school themed films are three shorts. A Day at the Studio (1937, Hal Roach) stars Laurel & Hardy. It will be followed by two Our Gang comedies, Teachers Pet (1930, Hal Roach), in which Jackie Cooper and the rest of the Our Gang crew meet their new teacher, Miss Crabtree, on the first day of the new school year, and Bored of Education (1936, Hal Roach), in which Our Gang goes back to school, though Alfalfa tries to skip classes by faking a toothache.

“Filmed in Pleasanton,” with Frederick Hodges at the piano
Saturday September 19 at 7:30 pm (Suggested Donation $5.00)

Mary Pickford first discovered the possibilities of Pleasanton as a movie location, and encouraged other Hollywood producers to follow suit. Perhaps as many as twenty silent films were made, at least in part, in this small community. The Niles Museum presents five of these features in September and October in conjunction with an exhibit at the Museum on Main in Pleasanton. (Hollywood-produced shorts complete each program.)

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917, Artcraft) stars the always entertaining Mary Pickford as a young girl raised in a small town by her two maiden aunts. It’s a swell film. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was scripted by Frances Marion and directed by Marshall Neilan. Also on the program are Mabel, Fatty and the Law (1915, Keystone), starring none other than Mabel Normand and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, and The Perils of Pauline: The Deadly Turning (1914, Pathe), one installment of the serial starring with Pearl White.

“Filmed in Pleasanton,” with Frederick Hodges at the piano
Saturday September 26 at 7:30 pm (Suggested Donation $5.00)

The “Filmed in Pleasanton,” series continues with Pecks Bad Boy (1921, Lesser), in which Jackie Coogan stars in a comedy about a mischievous boy in a small town who constantly gets into trouble. Imagine that? Pecks Bad Boy also features Raymond Hatton. Two Hollywood –made shorts round out the program, I’m On My Way (1919, Rolin), with Harold Lloyd, Snub Pollard and Bebe Daniels, and 45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926), with Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel and a bunch of Hollywood players (among them the one and only Theda Bara).

The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum continues to draw visitors from all-over as word spreads about the history of local film making in the East Bay. Recently, the well-known film historian and television commentator Leonard Maltin paid a visit. His engaging account of his travels around Niles can be found at http://www.nilesfilmmuseum.org/into_the_past.htm

If you visit, be sure and check out the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum’s recently expanded and revamped gift shop. It carries a rather nice array of books, DVDs, postcards, posters, CDs and gift items associated with both Niles and silent film.

The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is located at 37417 Niles Blvd in Fremont, California. For more information, call (510) 494-1411 or visit their website at www.nilesfilmmuseum.org/.