It is a story of Northern Stoneman family and the Cameron family from Piedmont, South Carolina. Through their eyes we see how their friendship is affected by the Civil War. The consequences of the War in their lives are shown in connection to major historical events, like the development of the Civil War itself, Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.

The movie was based on Thomas Dixon Jr’s ‘The Clansman’. Dixon had committed his entire writing career arguing in favor of the superiority of whites and the Ku Klux Klan’s use of violence. After being angered by a staging ‘Uncle Brown’s Cabin’ in 1901 he decided to produce a play that offered his own interpretation of race relations. He said: “My object is to teach the North, the young North, what it has never known—the awful suffering of the white man during the dreadful Reconstruction period. I believe that Almighty God anointed the white men of the South by their suffering during that time . . . to demonstrate to the world that the white man must and shall be supreme.”

After the release of the film in 1915, the NAACP and other groups protested the film. The NAACP published a pamphlet titled ‘Fighting a Vicious Film: Protest Against The Birth of a Nation’. W. E. B. Du Bois published scathing reviews in ‘The Crisis’, which helped spur a debate among the National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures to whether the film should be shown in New York. In the years after Griffith released ‘The Birth of a Nation’ there were massive race riots throughout the country, peaking in 1919.

President and former history professor Woodrow Wilson after viewing the film at the White House proclaimed it not only historically accurate, but like “history writ with lightning.” Many whites feeling it to be a truthful and accurate portrayal of racial politics flocked to join the rejuvenated Ku Klux Klan.

‘The Birth of a Nation’ went on to become one of the most admired and profitable films produced by Hollywood during its silent phase. Many Film scholars agree that it is the most important and a key film in American movie history. It contains many new cinematic innovations and refinements, technical effects and artistic advancements with a formative influence on future films.

Mabel Normand, a popular silent film comedy actress, was at the Taylor home on February 1, leaving the house at 7:45. It is thought that she was the last person, other than the murderer who saw him alive. She left the house in a happy mood.

Taylor was born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner on April 26, 1872 in Ireland. He came to America in 1890. He married in 1901 to Ethel May Harrison whose father was a wall street broker. He vanished in 1908 deserting his wife and daughter.

While there were many suspects including Mabel Normand, Edward Sands – a former Taylor’s Valet, and Henry Peavy – Taylor’s Valet, no one was ever charged with the murder. Even to this day the identity of the actual murderer is unknown.

It has been discovered that Taylor had a relationship with teen screen actress Mary Miles Minter. At his death Taylor was 49 and she was 19. There is cause to believe that they may have had an intimate relationship prior to her turning 18. Minter’s mother Charlotte Shelby has also been linked as a possible suspect in the murder. Shelby, too, may have had an intimate relationship with Taylor.

From 1993 to 2000, Bruce Long collected and compiled information about Taylor and the murder. He called his effort Taylorology. It can be found at http://www.angelfire.com/az/Taylorology/

Oliver Hardy was born on January 18, 1892 in Harlem, Georgia and moved to Florida when he was a child. His birth name was Norvell, but unofficially to his father’s name Oliver when he came of age. To those close to him he was known as Babe, a nickname given to him in those early years.

While his mother wanted him to become a lawyer, Hardy fell in love with the new genre. His show business career began working and then running a movie theatre.

During the early days of film, sunny places were used. Florida became one of those early film locations. Oliver Hardy was hired to appear in those early films due to his large girth and expressive facial features.

He appeared in his first film in 1913. The film was called Outwitting Dad. After that he appeared in a number of series including the Pokes and Jabbs series of comedy shorts, the Plump and Runt series of two reelers, the Jimmy Aubrey series, and as an actor and co-director of comedy shorts for Larry Semon.

When Hal Roach brought Oliver and Hardy together the pair had appeared in the same film. He had a minor part in the 1917 film Lucky Dog that stared Stan Laurel. Although appearing in the same film the two didn’t have any scenes together.

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Also published at the newly designed SilentFilmEra.com

His birth name was Thomas Hezekiah Mix, but when he enlisted in the army during the Spanish-American War he entered as Thomas E. Mix. The E is Edwin, his father’s name. Was his name ever legally changed. It was in his mind since he appeared to have never liked the name Hezekiah and always used Thomas Edwin Mix.

Mix was a real Cowboy. After army he worked his way west until finally working at Will A. Dickey’s Circle D Ranch. The ranch was hired by Selig Pictures to supply cowboys and Indians along with horses for the movies. Mix was originally hired by Selig to provide and handle horses.

The real Tom Mix and the Legend of Tom Mix are at times different. As a showman he tended to claim to have done things before his stardom that are either totally false or can’t be confirmed. While he was in the army during the Spanish-American War, he was not one of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.

Of the reported 336 films he appeared in between 1910 and 1935, all but nine were silent. As the first Western star he defined the cowboy genre. All that followed has Tom Mix to thank. In the 1920′s he was among the highest paid film stars and one of the decade’s top box stars.

During a trip through the Arizona deserts on October 12, 1940, when he took a turn a bit too fast a suitcase stuck him in the head. He lost control of his 1937 Cord Sportsman car and plunged into a ravine. The ravine where Mix died has been named “The Tom Mix Wash” in his honor.

The 1934 Hal Roach film BABES IN TOYLAND (1934), starring Laurel and Hardy had the boys working for Santa Claus. Also in the 30′s these short subjects or cartoons
SANTA’S WORKSHOP (1932)
THE SHANTY WHERE SANTY CLAUS LIVES (1933)
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1933)
CHRISTMAS COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR (1938)

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947) with a young Natalie Wood who instructs the unfaithful on the true joy of believing. Edmund Gwemm will be the picture of Kris Kringle in many minds. Even though it’s an obvious Christmas Movie, the film makers originally released it in May, because more people went to the movies in the summer than at Christmas time.

Also in the 40′s was the first film appearance of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in Dave Fleischer cartoon version of the classic children’s story.

In the 1960′s Santa Claus appeared in many movies one of the most memorable one was SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS made in 1964.

SANTA CLAUS: THE MOVIE (1985) was an attempt to make a big-movie Blockbuster. Made by the same production company that produced the Superman movies this film was a bust. The first part of the movie showing the origins of the Legend is good, but the rest is simply light-hearted camp.

The Santa Clause (1994), II (2002) and III(2006). Tim Allen’s comedy about an ordinary man who find the real Santa dead, puts on the coat and becomes Santa is fun. Although the story may not have needed two sequels.

Buster Keaton was born on October 4, 1895. His father was Joseph Hallie “Joe” Keaton a vaudeville showman and traveling show owner. Joe Keaton was the fifth man in his linage to be named Joseph and his son was the sixth. Joseph Frank Keaton probably earned his nick-name because of his talent of being able to fall without injury. The word buster often referred to a spill or a fall that had the potential to produce injury.

Buster learned early how to fall without injury and before he had turned five he was part of an act created by his father that had him tossed around the stage, against the scenery, into the orchestra pit, or even into the audience. It was also during this period that he created his deadpan, stone face expression that would become his trademark. After being thrown and brushing himself off he would look to the audience with the expression that brought laughs.

While still working in the Vaudeville Theatre in February of 1917 he meet the comic film clown Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. Even though he had had some doubts about the medium, after studying the inter workings of a movie camera he decided to join Arbuckle. The two became close friends with the two working together for a number of years.

From their friendship and work for Joseph M. Schenck, Buster Keaton was given his own production unit. It was from this unit that he worked throughout most of the 1920s. But at the end of the decade he made what he considered the worst decision he made during his life and his career. He signed a contract with MGM. The company restricted his creativity to a point where he simply did as told.

The 1930s saw problems in his personal life as well. His first wife and he divorced and he began a bout with alcoholism. By the 1940s he became more stable, but his fame was behind him. He did work continuously until his death from Lung Cancer on February 1, 1966. He worked in television during its early days creating a film series Life with Buster. He also appeared in numerous Television commercials and in a couple of the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello Beach movies in the mid-1960s.