Posts Tagged ‘1920s’

The Rocky Twins: Norway’s Outrageous Jazz Age Beauties

July 17th, 2018

My next book is an illustrated biography about the Norwegian Rocky Twins due 3rd September 2018.

Admired for being stunningly handsome, the Norwegian Rocky Twins were dancers who had a ten- year career in Europe and America appearing on stage and in film between 1927-1937. Their beauty, their androgynous look and their outrageous antics made them legendary.

 

The cover for The Rocky Twins: Norway's Outrageous Jazz Age Beauties

The cover for The Rocky Twins: Norway’s Outrageous Jazz Age Beauties

 

The Norwegian Rocky Twins (born Leif and Paal Roschberg) were deliciously handsome, outrageous and lived life to the full. They made a name for themselves as dancers in the Paris music hall in the late 1920s at the tender age of eighteen. Their act took Paris by storm because in one of their numbers, they dressed up in drag and imitated the famous Dolly Sisters, who had just retired.  Their unique performance enabled them to star on the stage and in film across Europe and America (Paris, London, Vienna, Budapest, Berlin, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, New York and Los Angeles) and at the same time their good looks became highly sought after by connoiseurs of the body beautiful of either sex.

  • The first illustrated biography of the dancing Norwegian Rocky Twins who were stars of film and stage in the Jazz Age on both sides of the Atlantic.
  • Based on extensive research over 30 years.
  • Includes over 100 photographs in colour and black and white.
  • Insight and detail about nightlife and the entertainment world in London, Paris, New York, Vienna, Scandinavia, New York and Hollywood in the golden age of stage and screen.
  • Exposes some of the secrets of pre-code Hollywood in the early 1930s.
  • Explores the secret gay world on both side of the Atlantic and the ‘Pansy Craze’ in America in the early 1930s.
  • They were regarded as two of the best dressed and most handsome men in the world.
  • Their impersonation in drag of the Dolly Sisters became legendary.
  • A colourful life story that has made them ‘gay legends.’
  • They were once called ‘The Black Orchids of the North.’
  • Covers their career as the Rocky Twins and their later life during and after World War Two.
Full cover for The Rocky Twins: Norway's Outrageous Jazz Age Beauties

Full cover for The Rocky Twins: Norway’s Outrageous Jazz Age Beauties

 

For more information about the book click here for the book webpage

London’s Hollywood Review

November 10th, 2014

Nathalie Morris, (archive curator at the BFI) offers a positive review in Sight and Sound Magazine (December 2014)

 

‘valuable and enjoyable… a detailed and thorough study.’

‘provides valuable and enjoyable studies of a huge range of films while placing the studio within the context of issues affecting filming making across this period.’

‘a worthwhile addition to the growing body of research on British silent cinema.’

‘Chapman’s book chronicles, film by film, both the titles produced by the studio from 1920 onwards and those made by the company Gainsborough Pictures.. even when these were shot elsewhere. This approach helps build a sense of continuity across projects and careers, and gives an impression of the wider production scene in and around London.’

Chapman makes steps toward a major reassessment of the career of Graham Cutts ‘with a passionate defence of the director and his work.’

‘Another strength of the book is its highlighting of other personnel and roles such as costume designer Marcelle de Saint Martin… and continuity supervisor Renie Marrison.’

Chapman also ‘offers useful and informative pocket biographies of the host of other directors, writes, cameramen and actors who crossed the studio’s threshold during the 1920s’

LH Review S&S copy

London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years

The first ever evaluation of the history, output and achievement of the most iconic film studio in London during the 1920s ‘a microcosm of the evolution of the British film industry during the silent era’…

BOOK 3D copy 2

 

Special offer

Hardback, £27, now £22.05 p&p FREE (UK)

Special offer through The Great British Bookshop

Buy the hardback at £22.05 and save £4.95 ! Plus FREE P&P (UK)
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Paperback, £14.99, 
now £13.04 p&p FREE (UK)

Special offer through The Great British Bookshop

Buy the paperback at £13.04 and save £1.95 ! Plus FREE P&P (UK)

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London’s Hollywood – Book of the Week

November 5th, 2014

London’s Hollywood is book of the week on The Great British British Bookshop

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‘…a microcosm of the evolution of the British film industry during the silent era’.

 
BOOK 3D copy 2

Marcelle de Saint Martin and British silent film

October 13th, 2014

French born Marcelle De Saint Martin, became the first true head of a cohesive costume or wardrobe department for a British film studio beginning work at the Islington film Studio in the early 1920s.

A creative, talented and a striking beauty she had found great success designing costumes for the stage in London at the end of the First World War before joining Famous Players Lasky British Producers Ltd at their brand new American built and financed enterprise in a converted power station. And yet, her career as a designer for British silent film was sadly all too brief and short-lived.

 Read her full story here

The French designer, Marcelle De Saint Martin with some of her costume designs for productions filmed at the Islington film Studio in the early 1920s for Famous Players Lasky British Producers Ltd

The French designer, Marcelle De Saint Martin with some of her costume designs for productions filmed at the Islington film Studio in the early 1920s for Famous Players Lasky British Producers Ltd

 

London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years 

Published 15th July 2014

A detailed look at the British Silent Film industry with this first ever evaluation of the history, output and achievement of the most iconic film studio in England during the silent era. 

Available in the following formats:

Hardback, £27, ISBN 9781909230132

Paperback, £14.99, 
ISBN 9781909230101

From Amazon.co.uk

From Amazon.com

Amazon Kindle ebook, £8.99, 

ISBN 9781909230125

Apple ebook, £8.99, 
ISBN 9781909230118 (Through Apple / iTunes – search for title on iTunes bookstore)

Interview about London’s Hollywood in the Camden Review

September 25th, 2014

Interview about London’s Hollywood in the Camden Review

Click here to read

 

Screen Shot 2015-06-12 at 12.41.57

Screen Shot 2015-06-12 at 12.41.57

Video for London’s Hollywood

September 22nd, 2014

A visual tour of the history of the Gainsborough (or Islington) studio in the silent years

‘a microcosm of the evolution of the British film industry during the silent era’.

Youtube video link

 

 

A Review of London’s Hollywood on the Silent London blog

September 22nd, 2014
Henry K. Miller’s review of London’s Hollywood on the Silent London blog

 

‘Gary Chapman is right to describe his subject as “a microcosm of the evolution of the British film industry during the silent era” ‘.

‘Chapman’s book is comprehensive… an invaluable resource for students of the period.’

 

The jockey Stephen Donoghue – an unlikely British silent film star

August 20th, 2014

Come on Steve – a jockey as a British Silent Film Star!

 

Stephen Donaghue on the front cover of Picturegoer

Stephen Donaghue on the front cover of Picturegoer

In late 1925, C.M. Woolf persuaded Michael Balcon to produce a series of six two-reel racing pictures starring Stephen Donoghue, the most celebrated champion jockey of his day. Walter West, who had made his name at Broadwest in the early 1920s creating numerous racing dramas was engaged as director.

Stephen Donoghue, Carlyle Blackwell and Frank Bullock winning the studio stakes - during filming of Riding For a King (1926) at the Islington studio

Stephen Donoghue, Carlyle Blackwell and Frank Bullock winning the studio stakes – during filming of Riding For a King (1926) at the Islington studio

Despite being an unlikely British silent film star, Donoghue took to the medium of film like a duck to water and was not in the least bit camera conscious or awkward. Asked how he liked making his film debut he said ‘Great… everything’s so new and absorbingly interesting and I’m, enjoying every minute of it. I almost feel I should like to give up everything else and make screen acting my profession – although of course, I don’t know very much about it yet. I just do what Mr West tells me and hope for the best.’ He claimed he wasn’t too nervous before the camera because he had been interviewed and photographed so many times before.

Frank Bullock (Australian jockey champion- seen left) visited the Islington studio one day to see how his colleague Stephen Donoghue (far right) was enjoying his film experience. With Carlyle Blackwell and June.

Frank Bullock (Australian jockey champion- seen left) visited the Islington studio one day to see how his colleague Stephen Donoghue (far right) was enjoying his film experience. With Carlyle Blackwell and June.

The first film to be produced was Riding for a King, which featured Donaghue and Carlyle Blackwell, Miles Mander and the pretty actress June Tripp (simply called June). Filmed by Bert Cann, one of America’s foremost cameramen, the story was about a jockey hero whose unhappy fate was to love Lady Betty Raleigh (June). Blackwell and Mander were already well established silent film stars but June was a relative newcomer. June said that she had been engaged for the picture without any sort of test and wanted to feel ‘that I’m justifying the choice.’

Stephen Donoghue and June in a scene from Riding For a King (1926) filmed at the Islington studio

Stephen Donoghue and June in a scene from Riding For a King (1926) filmed at the Islington studio

The picture’s chief purpose was ‘providing a full-length study of Donoghue’s personality in private life and on the racecourse’ and he was seen as a slight, youthful looking, charming little man, with an evident sense of humour. No-one would ever suspect that he had a grown-up son, also a jockey.

Needless to say, the race climax was the best part of the film. Another five pictures were filmed in the first few months of 1926 and released thereafter: Dark Horses, A Knight of the Saddle (with Carlyle Blackwell and Madge Stuart), Beating the Book (with Carlyle Blackwell and Violet Hopson), The Stolen Favourite and The Golden Spurs (with Irene Russell).

 

London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years 

Published 15th July 2014

A detailed look at the British Silent Film industry with this first ever evaluation of the history, output and achievement of the most iconic film studio in England during the silent era. 

Available in the following formats:

Hardback, £27, ISBN 9781909230132

Paperback, £14.99, 
ISBN 9781909230101

From Amazon.co.uk

From Amazon.com

Amazon Kindle ebook, £8.99, 

ISBN 9781909230125

Apple ebook, £8.99, 
ISBN 9781909230118 (Through Apple / iTunes – search for title on iTunes bookstore)

Alfred Hitchcock directs Nita Naldi in The Mountain Eagle (1926)

July 31st, 2014

Alfred Hitchcock arrived in Munich in late September 1926 to start work on The Mountain Eagle, his follow-up to The Pleasure Garden (1926) as arranged by Michael Balcon for Gainsborough Pictures.

Based on a story called Fear O’God, it starred the American actress Nita Naldi and British actor Malcom Keen and was filmed in the Emelka studios in Munich and on location in Obergurgl in the Urz valley, the highest village in the Austrian Tyrol.

When Naldi arrived she was dark, Latin, slinky and glamorous, with four-foot heels and long nails. Dressed in black with a black dog to match, she called the elderly Barclay ‘papa’. She was also ‘cynical, irreverent, bawdy, often undisciplined, and far more intelligent than she let on and she never took herself too seriously’.

Playing against type as a straight, unsophisticated heroine. Naldi had been typecast in the past as a femme fatale vamp and had made her name with John Barrymore in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1920) and then with Rudolph Valentino in Blood and Sand (1922) and DeMille’s Ten Commandments (1923). At the time she was taking an extended vacation in Paris with her companion, the wealthy James Searle Barclay, Jr, who was twenty-four years her senior and whom she would later marry.

 

Alfred Hitchcock directs Nita Naldi in The Mountain Eagle (1926)

Alfred Hitchcock directs Nita Naldi in The Mountain Eagle (1926)

 

Hitchcock found her to be an amusing woman, bizarrely at odds with her statuesque screen presence and despite her protests transformed her to match the demure and plain character she was to play. They remained friends and when Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville married in December 1926, they spent some time in Paris with Nita Naldi before spending the rest of their honeymoon in the Palace Hotel in St Moritz.

 

London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years 

Published 15th July 2014

A detailed look at the British Silent Film industry with this first ever evaluation of the history, output and achievement of the most iconic film studio in England during the silent era. 

Available in the following formats:

Hardback, £27, ISBN 9781909230132

Paperback, £14.99, 
ISBN 9781909230101

From Amazon.co.uk

From Amazon.com

Amazon Kindle ebook, £8.99, 

ISBN 9781909230125

Apple ebook, £8.99, 
ISBN 9781909230118 (Through Apple / iTunes – search for title on iTunes bookstore)

The Rat (1925) and the Cutts-Hitchcock Divide

July 23rd, 2014

The Rat (1925), directed by Graham Cutts and filmed at the Islington studio was the first in, what was to become, a fabulous trilogy following the adventures of a low-life Parisian Apache played brilliantly by Ivor Novello. One of the early Gainsborough Pictures it was hailed as ‘a triumph for British film industry’ and was seen as ‘a British picture that will do much to encourage the future of British effort.’

 

Mae Marsh and Ivor Novello in the Gainsborough Picture The Rat (1925) directed by Graham Cutts and filmed at the Islington studio

Mae Marsh and Ivor Novello in the Gainsborough Picture The Rat (1925) directed by Graham Cutts and filmed at the Islington stud

 

Cutts was delighted to be able to use the American actress Mae Marsh once again as he had directed her previously in Flames of Passion (1922) and Paddy the Next best Thing (1923) both filmed at the Islington studio for Graham-Wilcox productions but he also secured the added beauty of Isabel Jeans playing the vamp responsible for most of the thrills and all the trouble.

The film was also significant as it was the first film in which Cutts did not use Alfred Hitchcock, after having him as assistant director on several previous projects. Due to the clear antagonism that had surfaced between the two, Michael Balcon and separated them and was to send Hitchcock with Alma Reville to Berlin to film The Pleasure Garden (1926).

The Rat scored a big reaction in America and the review from Harrison’s Report, a New York based film trade journal, was exceptional: ‘If the majority of the pictures that are made in Great Britain are as well directed and acted and the plot is as well constructed as in that of The Rat, the American exhibitors need not worry about shortage of good pictures. All that will be necessary for the British producers to do then will be to create a demand for their product among the American public and they will find the American exhibitor a ready buyer. From the point of view of production The Rat is distinctive. The scenarist has shown unusual intelligence in the development of his plot: he has taken so good a care to do the characterising that when the heroine offers to sacrifice her life to shield the man she loves, one takes such a sacrifice as natural. The plot unfolds smoothly: the direction is skilful, the acting particularly of the principal characters is extremely artistic. Miss Marsh appears winsome and Mr Novello a he-man. It is a picture that no first rate theatre need be ashamed to show.’

 

 

London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years 

Published 15th July 2014

A detailed look at the British Silent Film industry with this first ever evaluation of the history, output and achievement of the most iconic film studio in England during the silent era. 

Available in the following formats:

Hardback, £27, ISBN 9781909230132

Paperback, £14.99, 
ISBN 9781909230101

From Amazon.co.uk

From Amazon.com

Amazon Kindle ebook, £8.99, 

ISBN 9781909230125

Apple ebook, £8.99, 
ISBN 9781909230118 (Through Apple / iTunes – search for title on iTunes bookstore)