Where can I find a complete list of surviving DeForest Phonofilms from the 1920’s? The only list I’ve found doesn’t specify surviving Phonofilms from lost or incomplete ones.
Good heavens, I’ve stumped them all!
Omigod, I dunno. Have you tried Googling it?
Was that great clip of the guy singing “Ma! He’s Makin’ Eyes at Me!” with a duck a DeForest film? Cracks me up every time.
As I stated in my OP, the only thing I found through Google (part of the www.silentera.com website) was a list of every DeForest Photofilm made, without stating if the films in question survive or not.
(BTW, the short subject you’re thinking about was made with the Case-Sponable sound system, not the DeForest system).
I just love that guy, cracks me up . . .
You might want to try the Vitaphone Project; they might have a message board or someone there who’d know. They are really into preservation, so they’d be the folks to know.
Strange that I didn’t try there earlier, as I go to that site often.
My personal interest: seeing Chauncey Depew and FIghting Bob LaFollette, both of whom were noted speakers of the era, perform.
Well, the Vitaphone Project doesn’t have a message board, but I e-mailed a staffer.
Now, we wait.
One of the all-time great names. Right up there with Judge Learned Hand and Percy Marmont.
Well, it appears that there are around 40 or so DeForest Phonofilms that survive, and that they are all at the Library of Congress.
originally posted by Eve
and King Baggot.
I tried to search the catalog of the Library of Congress, but there seems to be some problems, as I only found 4 DeForest Phonofilms there:
Casey At The Bat (1922)- De Wolf (Mr. Hedda) Hopper, reading you-know-what
George Bernard Shaw, Speech in Garden (1927)- self explanatory
Night In Dixie (1926)- I haven’t a clue what this is
President Coolidge, taken on the White House grounds (1925)- again, self explanatory
I’ll go back in now, and see what else I can find.
Well, the Library of Congress needs some help with its’ catalog system, so I’m giving up for tonight.
In addition to what I found through the Library of Congress, I recall that 3 Sissle and Blake shorts, an Eddie Cantor short, a Weber and Fields short, and several Max Fleischer cartoons also survive.
Well, I’d love to hear De Wolf Hopper’s Casey at the Bat!
I can swear that I’ve seen part of it as part of a couple of baseball documentaries.
. . . still, nobody beats that guy with the duck. Kills me every time.
An extremely late update-
I have e-mailed the librarian of the Film Desk at the Library of Congress for the answer. I should get a response by Thursday.
Damn it, Quinn…!
Well, I got a response from the librarian. There are 41 identified DeForest Phonofilms in the Library of Congress, and a dozen or so that haven’t been identified, all donated by Maurice Zouary during the late 1960’s. For the most part, the performers appear to be vaudvillian in nature, but it appears that DeForest also filmed Presidential candidates and the 1924 Democratic Convention. Some names are of note now (Eddie Cantor, Eubie Blake, President Coolidge, Al Smith), others of note to hobbyists (Weber and Fields, Ben Bernie, Phil Baker), and others now forgotten by more or less everyone (Norah Blaney, Gelal Telath).
(BTW, Eve, Chauncey Depew’s Phonofilm was not on the list, and, presumably, is now lost.)
Bryan, what did I do that offended you so much?
Well, nothing, until you missed the Star Trek joke indirectly suggested by the title of the thread.
Dammit, Bryan, he’s a Governor, not a Trekkie!