It's likely that even hardcore classic movie buffs will draw a blank when the name Harry Leon Wilson (1867-1939) is mentioned, but they certainly the many screen adaptions of his works, and some written with his sometime partner Booth Tarkington. They include Ruggles of Red Gap, Merton of the Movies, Cameo Kirby, and several others. A humorist, novelist and playwright, Wilson had over two dozen motion picture adaptions of his works made between 1914 and 1957.
The son of an Oregon, Illinois newspaper publisher, Wilson had worked all over the west as a stenographer and a private secretary before getting his first short story published in Puck magazine in 1886. By 1892 he was assistant editor at that magazine, becoming full editor four years later. The success of Wilson's 1902 novel The Spenders permitted him to become a full-time writer. The book was illustrated by his second wife Rose Cecil O'Neill, whom he'd met at Puck, and who illustrated several other of his works over the next few years. Another of his illustrators was John R. Neill, who was associated with L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Wilson wrote upwards of 30 works, retiring only after his debilitating car accident in 1932.
The 1903 stage adaptation of The Spenders starring William H. Crane, was the first of Wilson's many works on Broadway. The Man from Home (1908), written with Tarkington, was his second Broadway hit, and the first of several in collaboration with that author. In 1910 he moved to the arts community at Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, whose residents included Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, and Alice McGowan, whose niece Helen MacGowan Cooke he married in 1912. His Hollywood career began with the screen version of The Man From Home in 1914. Wilson's daughter, Charis Wilson (1914-2009) was a photographic model, writer and the wife of Edward Weston.
Below, a little summation of Wilson's adapted literary works, in rough order of their fame:
Ruggles of Red Gap (1915)
This classic comedy western about an English butler in the employ a newly enriched miner in the old west was adapted for Broadway as soon as it was published. There were two silent versions, a 1918 one with Taylor Holmes and a 1923 one with Edward Everett Horton, prior to the classic and definitive 1935 one by Leo McCarey, starring Charles Laughton. In 1950 it was remade once again by George Marshall as Fancy Pants starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball. A 1957 television adaptation with Michael Redgrave is Wilson's final screen credit.
Merton of the Movies (1922)
Inspired by his years in Hollywood, in 1922 Wilson turned out another fish-out-of-water story that got a huge positive response from the public. The small town rube who winds up an accidental movie star was hardly a new concept when he wrote it -- there were shorts on that theme since the early days of Mack Sennett. But, as with Ruggles, Wilson had a knack for humanizing his bumpkin and making us sympathetic. There's a lot in his writing that presages Frank Capra. It was adapted for Broadway the year it was published by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, and starred Glenn Hunter, who also starred in the original 1924 film (now lost). Stuart Erwin played Merton in the first talkie version Make Me a Star (1932). The version most folks know nowadays is undoubtedly the 1947 one with Red Skelton. There were also a couple of radio versions in the 1940s starring Mickey Rooney.
Cameo Kirby (1908)
This melodrama, co-written with Tarkington, with its slave-owning hero and ethic of dueling for honor, hasn't aged well to say the least. Dustin Farnum starred in the 1909 Broadway production and the original 1914 film. John Gilbert played the titular character in the 1923 version. J. Harold Murray played him in the1930 talkie.
Bunker Bean (1913)
What? You don't know Bunker Bean? Don't fret, I love to tease, there's no reason you should already know about Bunker Bean. It has a great plot though. Young Bunker is an ordinary Joe who "discovers" through a psychic medium that he is the reincarnation of all sorts of brave and noble characters from history. The false courage and confidence he derives from this idea allows him to accomplish all sorts of great things. Taylor Holmes played the lead in the 1915 Broadway play. It was Jack Pickford in the 1918 film, Matt Moore in 1925, and Owen Davis Jr in 1936.
The Man from Home (1908)
Wilson's first Broadway hit, co-written with Tarkington, was also his first film in 1914, directed by Cecil B. De Mille. two films, The Man from Home (1914). A British version starring George Fitzmaurice was made in 1922, with titles by a young Alfred Hitchcock.
Oh, Doctor! (1923)
Reginald Denny starred in the 1925 screen version of this novel, which would have been just right for Harold Lloyd or the younger Douglas Fairbanks, as well. (Denny even wears Harold Lloyd glasses in the film) It concerns a young hypochondriac who fears he is going to die before he inherits his wealth. He borrows from loan sharks who encourage him to go on living so they can pay him back. Mary Astor is the comely encouragement. It was remade in 1937 starring Edward Everett Horton.
The Spenders: A Tale of the Third Generation (1902)
As we mentioned, William H. Crane starred in the 1903 Broadway version. I'd lay dollars to donuts its a satire that references that famous John Adams quote: "I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain." It was made into a film in 1921.
Springtime (1909)
Co-written with Booth Tarkington for Broadway; it was adapted for the screen in 1914 starring Florence Nash. It's a dreary Creole melodrama set in Louisiana.
The Head Man (1928)
It also seems worth mentioning that Wilson contributed to the story of this late silent comedy directed by Eddie Cline and starring Charlie Murray, Lucien Littlefield, Dot Farley, and a very young Loretta Young.
For still more on silent comedy films please read Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.
No comments:
Post a Comment