I would like to recommend a brand new musical which is closing in L.A. next weekend. It’s about the early, early history of the movies, and it’s titled “Laura Comstock’s Bag-Punching Dog” (after an early Edison film).
According to this play’s take on history, the motion picture camera was invented by a Frenchman named Auguste LePrince, who mysteriously disappeared just before Edison patented his kinetoscope. LePrince’s son was murdered in New York ten years later while fighting for his patent rights.
In France, the Lumière brothers were the first to show projected movies, beating Edison at his own game (a victory they celebrate gleefully and obscenely in one of the play’s funnier musical numbers). Alice Guy, a secretary for a camera manufacturer, becomes the first person to direct a narrative story on film, “The Cabbage Patch Fairies.” Unfortunately, that film has been lost.
Alice Guy and all other Edison competitors were put out of business by Edison’s patent victory. Guy spent the rest of her life trying to find her early photoplays, and when she died there was no obituary in any newspaper. This play is an attempt to set the record straight and restore Alice Guy’s name to the annals of film. Guy is played by Alice Dodd, one of the two authors of the play. (The other is Jillian Armanente.)
This play is a delightful way to spend a hot September afternoon – very good AC in that little theater, but not intrusive. The songs are whimsical and at timers tragic, and the performance is spiced up by vaudeville routines, including magic tricks performed by the spirit of Robert-Houdin. Best of all, we actually see these early films. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
For L.A. people: the theater is at 24th and Hoover, north of USC. Next weekend (Sept. 28-29) is the last weekend of the play, and the Sunday matinee is always “pay what you can.” Call (323) 461-6069.
This is a world premiere play. I hope it makes it to other cities – all the reviews have been good so far.