“The Silent Film Universe” and “Pokes and Jabs”

Today is the official publication date of my friend Ben Model’s much-awaited new book The Silent Film Universe. We have long admired the entrepreneurial Model, who has built an empire on his love of silent movies: starting with his work as an accompanist, and then a presenter and interpreter, and then as a preservationist and a producer of reissued films for the home market. Dare we claim that no one has done more to make the public aware of this once and future art form? Well, fights may break out if we do. And there are figures like his own mentor Walter Kerr who paved the way. But it would certainly be accurate to say that FEW — and very few, at that — have done more. And at this writing he is mighty close to being King of the Hill. And it’s also true that no one has labored on behalf of the medium from as many angles. To which he now adds the mantle of author.

The Silent Film Universe is precisely the book one knew Model had in him, and that you wished he would write. It is basically a manual of appreciation, drawn from his long decades of contemplation of the form. Books about specific films and artists are legion (even I am guilty of contributing to the glut, though I’ll say in my defense that my own effort contains a good many unique takes on the well trodden territory). Ben’s book is about what makes the form unique, and what to look for when watching it. Those who’ve studied at his feet will not be surprised to learn that the longest sections are on performance technique and film speed in the silents. There are other chapters on such things as archetype (aesthetics are simplified in the silents, which is why the word “magic” is so often used to describe the silent masterpieces), and the use of intertitles, which many young ‘uns may be unaccustomed to, though the most creative sound-era directors (Godard, e.g.) have been known to revive the concept from time to time. And, most delightfully, Model joins me in my supreme wish for a revival of the form, which truth to tell, has no reason to be dead. I’ll repeat that: there is no good or legitimate reason for the silent film form to be dead. Taste can be cultivated, and minds can be changed and people love historical examples of the form. Books like Ben’s can absolutely play a role in a rebirth. And the entry point, the place where it actually gains a foothold? Probably something like Tik-Tok.

Also in its favor: Ben’s book is basically monograph-length, scarcely more than 150 pages. We used to get assigned books like this all the time at NYU — most of them written by French post-structuralists and radical feminists. The Silent Film Universe is much more accessible than that, and it would be a very good thing to my mind if every college film student in America has it on their syllabus. Get your copy here.

We also had the opportunity over the weekend to check out Rob Stone’s new Pokes and Jabs DVD which I had mentioned here. I had previously written about comedians Bobby Burns (Pokes) and Walter Stull (Jabs) though at the time I had done so I had seen but a couple of their comedies at most, so I relished the opportunity to acquaint myself with their work, one of the chief joys of such collections.

I enjoyed these early comedies immensely and for multiple reasons. (All but one were made between 1915 and 1917; the odd one out was made in 1912, before Mack Sennett had even formed Keystone). Messers Burns and Stull are funny of course, willing to take the requisite slapstick punishment, and even fill their films with a sufficient number of inventive gags, which is by no means a given in the silent comedies of the smaller and less prestigious studios. (The ones represented here were made by Lubin, Vim, Jaxon, Komic and Wizard). Further, the comedies are all one-reelers, or even split reelers. Few, if any, overstay their welcome. I’d say their one deficiency is in the realm of character. Unlike the comedians whose popularity outlived the era, neither Poke nor Jabs really has a consistent look or personality which stays in your head. It takes a lot of discipline to do that. Though they sometimes worked with young Oliver Hardy, Burns and Stull are more like the young Stan Laurel, who was full of skill, and talent, and smarts, and gags, but remained undefined in the eyes of the audience for the first decade of his career.

What I especially loved about these films, over and above the belly laughs, were the situations and locations, which fed into my general love of the show business of that era. Two of the shorts, Behind the Footlights and The Property Man (both 1916), for example, are set in vaudeville theatres, and proved valuable windows into what backstage life was all about a century ago. A Visit to Lively Town (1912) was shot in and around the boardwalk in Atlantic City. In Jolly Tars (1917) they’re sailors of course but on shore leave they attend the real-life DuvalCounty Fair (Florida). The Vim and Jaxon films were shot around Jacksonville, a one-time film center as I reported here. My absolute favorite was Deviled Crabs (1917) shot on my home turf of Providence, Rhode Island, largely in Roger Williams Park, named after my illustrious ancestor.

Here and there you see the clear evidence of Charlie Chaplin and Keystone influence (included the repeated appearance of clumsy cops) but not slavishly so. More like keeping up with the Joneses in terms of settings.

We were also delighted to see that the DVD is dedicate to our friend Nelson Hughes, a huge fan of Vim, who often screens such films at his series That Slapstick Show at QED in Queens.

Get your copy of the Pokes and Jabs DVD here.

In related news, June 17 is also the birthday of Louise Fazenda, Flora Finch, and Vivian Duncan, all well represented in the silent film form!