Helen Gardner Dorothy Davenport Mary Pickford Nell Shipman HELEN GARDNER THURSDAY, AUGUST 10 8 pm (ET)/5 pm (PT) CLEOPATRA (1921 ) -world television premiere of the film. - restored by George Eastman House with funding from TCM - original score by Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida Cleopatra, released on November 13, 1912, the first 6000-foot, six-reel feature film made in the United States, starred and was produced by Helen Gardner. It was her first independent production and was produced by her company, Helen Gardner Picture Players. It was made at a time when multi-reel feature films were still a radical new idea. Audiences were excited by Gardner's daring, sensuous performance as Cleopatra and thrilled by the opulence of her costumes and sets. The action of Cleopatra takes place in the first century, before the Common Era. The film tells the story of the drama that ensues when Cleopatra, the sovereign of Egypt, is issued an order to meet Marc Antony at Tarsus to answer charges of conspiracy. Written by: Dorin Schumacher (Gardner's granddaughter) References: The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1911-1920 back to top DOROTHY DAVENPORT THURSDAY, AUGUST 10 10 pm (ET)/57pm (PT) THE RED KIMONA (1925) - U.S. television premiere of the film - restored by Kino in association with the Library of Congress Dorothy Davenport produced and co-directed The Red Kimona, the third of her social- consciousness films (and the only one that survives) made in the wake of her husband Wallace Reid's death from drug addiction. The Red Kimona, about prostitution, was scripted by Dorothy Arzner from a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns. The direction was credited to Walter Lang, but Davenport was always on the set during production, and she approved every take. Priscilla Bonner plays Gabrielle Darley, so desperate to escape her tyrannical father that she runs off with a con man, who, rather than marry her, installs her in a New Orleans brothel. Years later, she trails him to Los Angeles where she impulsively shoots and kills him. She is acquitted, exploited as a "notoriety seeking old biddy" and drifts back toward prostitution until fate intervenes. The film was not well-reviewed, although Bonner's performance was. Davenport's zeal for accuracy erred in using real-life events and then neglecting to change Gabrielle Darley's name. The real-life Darley sued Davenport for $50,000 for invasion of privacy, since her current circle of acquaintances knew nothing about her past. The court ruled in Darley's favor in one of the first such privacy cases, finding Reid had violated the California Constitution by making Darley's pursuit of happiness impossible. Written by: Laura Drazin Boyes, Film Curator, North Carolina Museum of Art References: The Golden Era of Silents "Silent Stars Speak" by Anthony Slide in March, 1980 Films in Review The Silent Feminists by Anthony Slide back to top MARY PICKFORD THURSDAY, AUGUST 10 12:00 am (ET)/59pm (PT) MY BEST GIRL (1927) - U.S. television premiere of the restoration - restored by Timeline Films and the Mary Pickford Foundation - original score by David Michael Frank (10-piece symphony orchestra) Mary Pickford produced and stars in this romantic comedy about a shop girl who gets more than she bargained for when she falls in love with a handsome new employee. Comedic chaos ensues when Maggie (Pickford) learns that the five and dime's charming hired hand is also the store owner's son. With a plot that includes Maggie's dysfunctional family and her beau's snobbish parents, the film provides audiences with a lot of laughter. This was Pickford's last silent film. It also stars Charles "Buddy" Rogers, who later became her husband; was directed by Sam Taylor and adapted by Hope Loring, Allen McNeil and Tim Whelan from a story by Kathleen Norris. Written by: Christel Schmidt, Independent scholar THURSDAY, AUGUST 10 1:30 am (ET)/10:30 pm (PT) DADDY LONG LEGS (1919) - U.S. television premiere of the restoration - restored by Timeline Films and the Mary Pickford Foundation - original score by Maria Newman Mary Pickford produced and starred in this film, which was directed by Marshall Neilan and adapted by Agnes Christine Johnston from Jean Webster's story and play. In what is considered one of the most heartwarming versions of the Cinderella story ever told, Pickford portrays an orphan who leads the food revolt and mothers the younger children in the orphanage. An anonymous donor whom she calls "Daddy Long Legs" agrees to send her to college, asking only that she write to him. Written by: Jane M Gaines, Assoc. Professor of Literature and English, Director, Film & Video Program back to top NELL SHIPMAN THURSDAY, AUGUST 10 3:30 am (ET)/12:30 am (PT) BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY (1919) - U.S. television premiere of the film - restored by National Archives of Canada This action-thriller starring Nell Shipman and adapted by Shipman and James Oliver Curwood from Curwood's Wapi, The Walrus, was directed by David Hartford and produced by Shipman's company. In the film, Dolores (Shipman) fights to save the life of her ailing husband while being pursued by a group of scheming men. Her only ally is a vicious dog named Wapi. In an unusual opening sequence which illustrates the seriousness with which animal protagonists are taken in Shipman's films, Wapi is given his own genealogy, which tells how his canine forebearers arrived in the North. Shot in part in freezing conditions at Lesser Slave Lake in Alberta, Canada, the film features stunning shots of the wilderness; a dramatic dog-sled chase finale; an evocative montage dream sequence of forest animals, created by Joe Walker; a cast of ineffectual or evil male characters; and a nude dive by Shipman. This infamous scene came about, as Shipman writes, "only because the pink leotard supplied by Western Costume looked so bunchy." Written by: Radha Vatsal, Coordinator of The Women Film Pioneers Project THURSDAY, AUGUST 10 5:00 am (ET)/2:00 am (PT) SOMETHING NEW (1920) - U.S. television premiere of the film - restored by National Archives of Canada In Something New, produced by Nell Shipman, a lady writer (Shipman) goes to Mexico in search of atmosphere and ends up careening across the desert in a 1920 Maxwell, pursued by Mexican bandits. The car was driven by former race-car driver Van Tuyle. Shipman, her collie, Brownie, and Tuyle did all the film's dangerous stunts in this daredevil chase film. It was shot in 120 degree heat in the Mojave Desert. The film's ironic touches are evident from Shipman's oddly self-referential inter-titles. Written by: Kate Torgovnick, Duke Program in Film and Video back to top