Friday, August 14

DEALERS ROOM OPEN 9 AM

Session #1 Silent movie accompaniment by David Peckham (organ)

9:30 am The Majesty of the Law (Paramount, 1915)

Directed by Julia Crawford Ivers; with George Fawcett, Jane Wolf, William Desmond, Myrtle Stedman, John Oaker, Charlie Ruggles (10 min.) SILENT. A judge (George Fawcett) is forced to proceed over his own son’s (William Desmond) embezzlement trial. The first confirmed appearance of Charlie Ruggles. The single surviving reel showcases the young actor in a memorable scene.

9:45 silent feature t.b.a.

10:35 Intermission

11:00 Skeets Gallagher documentary

Brief bio on tribute star Richard “Skeets” Gallagher, produced especially for Capitolfest. (5 min.)

11:08 French Fried (Educational, 1930)

Directed by Paul Terry. (7 minutes). A Terrytoones animated short debuting the character of Farmer Al Falfa, following his exploits as he tours Paris in the company of a flapper. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by ASIFA-Hollywood.

11:15 Close Harmony (Paramount, 1929)

Directed by John Cromwell and A. Edward Sutherland; Nancy Carroll, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Jack Oakie, Skeets Gallagher (74 min.) A back-stage musical (songs by Leo Robin and Richard Whiting) in which Nancy Carroll tries to help struggling band leader Buddy Rogers by breaking up the song and dance team (Jack Oakie and Skeets Gallagher) that has replaced his act in a vaudeville theater. “…a gem of lively, up-to-date entertainment which under no circumstances should be let pass unseen—and unheard.” –Picture Play.

Session #2 Silent movie accompaniment by Ben Model

1:50 pm Rob’s Rarities show #1 of 2 (60 min.)

Movie historian and author Rob Stone will present silent comedy re-discoveries from his own collection, accompanied by Ben Model at the Capitol organ.

2:55 Intermission (10 minutes)

3:05 Anything Goes preview reel (Paramount, 1936)

Directed by Lewis Milestone; with Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Ida Lupino. (20 minutes). A reel apparently prepared for exhibitors, containing musical numbers from the feature. Included is a complete rendition of the title song by Ethel Merman and female chorus, which is heard only briefly over the opening credits over the released version of the feature.

3:30 talkie feature t.b.a.

4:30 Intermission (15 minutes)

4:45 The Girl Habit (Paramount, 1931)

Directed by Edward F. Cline; with Charlie Ruggles, Tamara Geva, Sue Conroy, Margaret Dumont, Allen Jenkins, Donald Meek. (77 min.) Charlie Ruggles in a newly engaged former ladies’ man who can’t help running into old flames while out in public with his fiancé (Sue Conroy). “An uproarious farce that not only boosts Charlie Ruggles to stardom, but lets him squeeze every bit out of a hilarious part cut to his measure.” –Photoplay.

Session #3 Silent movie accompaniment by David Peckham (organ)

7:55 pm short subject t.b.a.

8:05 The Home-Maker (Universal, 1925)

Directed by King Baggot; Alice Joyce, Clive Brook, Billy Kent Schaefer, George Fawcett. (80 min.) Based on the novel by women’s rights activist Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Clive Brooks plays a family man who, failing in business, is injured in attempting suicide. With the “breadwinner” temporarily incapacitated, his wife (Alice Joyce) takes a job and climbs the corporate ladder, while the husband warms to his new role as a “home maker.” But this non- traditional arrangement causes considerable controversary in the community. “The Home Maker,” with Alice Joyce and Clive Brook, will be an outstanding picture of the coming season. Exhibitors will throw their hats in the air and cheer when they see its effect upon their audiences, for in addition to its unquestionable box-office value, it is the sort of clean, wholesome, gripping domestic drama which will do the reputation of the whole industry a world of good.” –Moving Picture World. Digitally restored version courtesy of the Packard Humanities Institute Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

9:25 Intermission

9:40 Trouble in Paradise (Paramount, 1932)

D: Ernst Lubitsch; Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charles Ruggles, Edward Everett Horton, C. Aubrey Smith. Two crooks (Miriam Hopkins, Herbert Marshall) fall in love, but trouble is on the horizon when their newest victim is a beautiful millionairess (Kay Francis). This year’s Friday night “war horse” is one of the great comedies of the Depression years. “Ol Cigar-Chewer Lubitsch has cracked out a pippin of a movie, here. You'll howl at the opening shot of the Venetian garbageman; you'll chortle and chuckle at that amazing dinner Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall start the action with—and from then on, you'll giggle and blush and howl and thrill…” Movie Mirror.

Saturday, August 15

DEALERS ROOM OPEN 9 AM

Session #4 Silent movie accompaniment by Philip Carli (organ)

9:30 am Breakfast at Sunrise (First National, 1927)

Directed by Malcolm St. Clair; with Constance Talmadge, Don Alvarado, Bryant Washburrn, Alice White, Marie Dressler (65 min.) SILENT. Constance Talmadge and Don Alvarado concoct an elaborate scheme to make their respective lovers jealous, which involves engaging “guests” to create the illusion that the failing hotel in which they reside is solvent. “A snappy little French farce admirably played by Connie Talmadge and Don Alvarado and deftly directed by Mal St. Clair. –Photoplay.

10:40 Intermission

11:00 Charles Ruggles documentary (5 min.)

Brief bio on tribute star Charlie Ruggles, produced especially for Capitolfest.

11:05 Mama Loves Papa (Paramount, 1933)

Directed by Norman Z. McLeod; with Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland, Lilyan Tashman, George Barbier, Walter Catlett (68 min.). After attending a lecture on how to make marriage a success, Mary Boland insists that husband Charlie Ruggles dress for dinner and wear formal attire to the office, leading to extreme complications. “A first-class blues chaser that’ll have you chuckling for days.” –Photoplay.

Session #5

1:45 pm Raise the Roof (British International Pictures, 1930)

Directed by Walter Summers; with Betty Balfour, Maurice Evans, Jack Raine, Sam Livesey, Ellis Jeffreys (77 min.) A wealthy young man (Maurice Evans) invests in a second-rate theatrical troop, making an agreement with his father that he will give up the enterprise if he doesn’t make a success of it in a month. The father then hires an actor (Jack Raine) to sabotage the show. Meanwhile, the young backer falls in love with the leading lady (Betty Balfour). The first talkie of England’s most popular film star, Betty Balfour, the film did well in England but was never released in the U.S.

3:05 Intermission

3:20 pm silent feature t.b.a. (10 min.)

3:35 Mr. Satan (WB/FN [UK], 1938)

Directed by Arthur Woods; with James Stephenson, Skeets Gallagher, Chili Bouchier, Franklin Dyall, Betty Lynne (79 min.). While working in a country on the verge of a revolution, a reporter (James Stephenson) and a photographer (Skeets Gallagher) accidentally snap a photo of a notorious arms dealer (Franklin Dyall) thought to be dead. They begin to investigate their scoop, and a report of their activities gets back to the arms dealer, who intends to have the two men “eliminated.” One of Great Britain’s “quota quickies” directed by Arthur B. Woods, whose famed They Drive By Night (not to be confused with the American production of the same name) was released later that same year. (As in the case of Raise the Roof, this movie does not appear to have ever been publicly screened in the U.S.)

Session #6 Silent movie accompaniment by Brett Miller

7:15 pm The Finishing Touch (Universal, 1932)

Directed by George Stevens; with Skeets Gallagher, June Clyde, Bert Roach, Yola d’Avril, Eddie Dunn, Fred Kelsey, Tiny Sandford, Virginia Howell (20 minutes). Skeets Galllagher forgets his first wedding anniversary, causing marital strife, fanned by his domineering mother-in-law. “One of the best and funniest comedies in a long time.” –manager of State Theatre, Portland, Oregon. 10/19/32

7:40 pm Captain Blood (Vitagraph, 1924)

Directed by David Smith; with J. Warren Kerrrigan, Jean Paige, Charlotte Merriam, James Morrison, Allan Forrest (110 min.). A physician (J. Warren Kerrigan) is captured and taken to Barbados as a slave. He and his fellow slaves steal a Spanish ship and become pirates, and the doctor becomes known as the notoriously blood-thirsty “Captain Blood.” Seen in the new 35mm restoration by the Library of Congress. “The picture is spectacular. And yet it is not a spectacle in the sense of a hippodrome or three-ring circus. The hearts interest gets an even break and is seldom entirely lost in the blaze of buccaneer cannon or the clash of pirate steel.” –Exhibitor’s Trade Review.

9:30 Intermission (15 min.)

9:45 The Crosby Case (Universal, 1934)

Directed by Edwin L. Marin; with Wynne Gibson, Onslow Stevens, Skeets Gallagher, Alan Dinehart, William Collier, Sr., Warren Hymer, John Ray, Edward Van Sloan, J. Farrell MacDonald, Barbara Weeks. (60 min.) A prominent doctor is run over by a taxicab in what appears to be an accident, until it is discovered the cause of death was a bullet wound. “For murder mystery fans The Crosby Case will be pleasing. Warren Hymer, Wynne Gibson, Skeets Gallagher and J. Farrell MacDonald do well in a story that will have every spectator guessing.” –Screen Book.

Sunday, August 16

DEALERS ROOM OPEN 9 AM

Session #7 Silent movie accompaniment by Ben Model

9:30 am Mind Your Own Business (Paramount, 1936)

Directed by Norman Z. McLeod; with Charlie Ruggles, Alice Brady, Lyle Talbot, Benny Baker, Gene Lockhart, Jack LaRue, William Demarest, Jon Hall, Frankie Darro. (75 min.) A timid newspaper columnist (Charlie Ruggles) runs into trouble with gangsters after his wife (Mary Boland) takes over his column during his illness. “Well acted and thoroughly entertaining.” –National Board of Review Magazine.

10:55 Intermission

11:15 am Rob’s Rarities

Program #2 of 2

11:45 Paris Green (Ince, 1920)

Directed by Jerome Storm; with Charles Ray, Ann May, Bert Woodruff, Gertrude Claire (55
min.) SILENT. A French girl (Ann May) runs into trouble when she visits her uncle in America and seeks help from the soldier
(Charles Ray) she had met in Paris during the war. “…a corking comedy drama with a lot of pep and action in it from the start.
One of these pictures that the Ray fans will be crazy to see and one that will please even those who are not crazy about Ray.”
–Variety.

Session #8 Silent movie accompaniment by Dr. Philip C. Carli

2:00 pm The Road to Reno (Paramount, 1931)

Directed by Richard Wallace; Lilyan Tashman, Buddy Rogers, Peggy Shannon, William “Stage” Boyd, Skeets Gallagher, Irving Pichel, Wynne Gibson. (74 min.) An oft-married “modern woman” (Lilyan Tashman) creates havoc in her family when she decides to head to Reno to rid herself of her latest husband. “A modern theme, a deft bit of satire: properly cast and smartly done.” –Broadway and Hollywood Movies.

3:15 intermission

3:30 Night Work (Paramount, 1939)

Directed by George Archinbaud; with Charles Ruggles, Mary Boland, Billy Lee, Donald O’Connor, William Frawley, Clem Bevans (60 min.) A timid man (Charlie Ruggles) and his wife (Mary Boland) wish to adopt a teen-aged boy (Donald O’Connor), but the youngster’s crusty steeplejack grandfather (Clem Bevans) will only give him up to a man of courage. “A neat combination of hokum, comedy, tears and thrills…” –Variety.

4:35 Intermission

4:50 silent feature t.b.a.

FILMS AND/OR PLACEMENT OF FILMS IN PROGRAM SUBJECT TO CHANGE