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- When John Bunny died the New York Times stated, "The name John Bunny will always be linked to the movies." Little did movie fans of 1915 realize that he would be completely forgotten the next year and completely omitted from many books on silent movies 70-80 years later.
Bunny was the ninth in a line of English sea captains and would be the first not to follow in that profession. He attended St. James High School in Brooklyn and worked as a grocery clerk before running away in the late 1800s to discover the world of entertainment and appear in a small touring minstrel show. He became involved in theater and appeared in musical comedies such as "Old Dutch" with Hattie Williams and Lew Fields. He also worked as a stage manager for various stock companies. Bunny's rebellious nature took over again and he quit the theater to become involved in the "flickers". This was a very bold step. Not only was it a major step down for a "legitimate" stage actor to go into the movies at that time, but Bunny took a pay cut from $150 to $40 a week to work for Vitagraph in 1910. He made more than 250 shorts for Vitagraph over five years and become the best known face in the world.
Bunny always said that he did not aim to be a comedian, but with his short, gnome-like appearance and a weight approaching the 300-pound mark, he wound up taking advantage of these features to play comedy (he once asked rhetorically, "How could I play Romeo with a figure like mine?"). Bunny's co-star for the majority of his films was Flora Finch, who contrasted with Bunny's figure by being tall and thin. They usually appeared as Mr. & Mrs. Bunny. Their shorts were referred to as "Bunnygraphs" and "Bunnyfinches". They stayed away from physical comedy and dealt with relationships, usually the man getting away with something that his wife disagrees with.
Bunny even traveled to England to make a version of Charles Dickens' "Pickwick Papers". He decided to go back on the road with "John Bunny in Funnyland", but it was not a success. Not only did the show fail, but he was tired and ill. He talked to Vitagraph about restarting his film career, but it was too late. The man who led an adventurous life--he raced horses and flew airplanes--died at his home at 1416 Glenwood Road in Brooklyn of Bright's Disease in 1915. His funeral was held at the Elks Club House on West 43rd St. After just five years in the business, Bunny was gone and forgotten. The news of his death was heard around the world. He was so popular in Russia they created a series with an impersonator using the name "Poxon" after Bunny died. Bunny had two children, George (dec. 1958) and John (dec. 1971) Sadly, only a handful of Bunny's films survive. The one most available is the popular A Cure for Pokeritis (1912). - Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Alexander Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who invented the first colour keyboard and notation for lights and colors based on his scale of Synesthetic colors. His symphony 'Prometheus: The Poem of Fire' (1910) was the first composition in history which included notation for lights and colors. Scriabin's large-scale performances in Moscow and New York were the first live shows ever with lights and colors played on a colour keyboard and projected to the beat and harmony of his music, thus preceding modern day rock concerts.
He was born Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin on January 6, 1872, (old calendar date December 25, 1871, the Russian Orthodox Christmas), in Moscow, Russia. His father, named Nikolai Scriabin, was a wealthy aristocrat, a lawyer, and a ranking diplomat, who lived mostly in the Russian embassies abroad. His mother, named Lyubov Petrovna, was a professional pianist; she died when Scriabin was only one year old. Young Scriabin was brought up by his aunt, and played his first music on his late mother's piano.
His first piano teacher was Nikolai Zverev who was also teaching Sergei Rachmaninoff at the same time, and two composers developed a life-long friendship. From 1882-1889 he studied sciences and languages at the Moscow School of Cadets. From 1888-1892 Scriabin studied piano and composition under 'Sergei Taneyev' at Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1892, as composer and pianist, then he became a professor at the same conservatory. In 1896 Scriabin married a famous Russian pianist, Vera Isakovich, who was the winner of the Gold Medal for performances of Scriabin's piano music. Before 1900 Scriabin joined the Moscow Philosophic Society and studied various schools of thought in his pursuit of inspirational ideas.
From 1904-1910 Scriabin was living and concertizing in Western Europe and in the United States. He was a remarkable pianist and successfully performed his original compositions before international audiences. At that time Scriabin became a curious student of contemporary philosophic trends and literature. His readings ranged from Oriental philosophies and Metaphysics, to Friedrich Nietzsche, whose 'ubermensch' theory Scriabin eventually outgrew, to Astrology and Medicine, and to Sir Isaac Newton's 'Optics'. He joined the circle of the Belgian Symbolist and Occultist Jean Delwille in Brussels. Scriabin also entered the circle of late Helene Blavatsky in London, studied her Theosophy, and even visited the room where she died. Scriabin's search for inspiration was not limited to Mysticism, Astrology and other Esoteric writings of the time. From 1907-1910 Scriabin lived in Paris with his second wife, Tatiana Schletser. There he was involved in the circle of Sergei Diaghilev and provided his compositions for concerts of Russian music. He also gave piano performances with the Russian Symphony Orchestra directed by M. I. Altshuller.
Scriabin was gifted with syn-aesthetic ability, though probably different from that of the physiological gift of Wassily Kandinsky, or a cognate cross-sensational gift of Vladimir Nabokov. Scriabin was the first composer in the world who wrote the musical notation for the light and color, thus making color intertwined with sound in a cross-senses harmony. In his symphonic poem 'Prometheus: the Poem of Fire' (1909) he wrote the line with notation for 'Luxe', a specially designed multicolor light projector with colored light-bulbs which was controlled by Scriabin himself playing on a colour keyboard. The multi-colored keyboard was first built in Russia by physicist Alexander Moser in 1910 for the performances of 'Prometheus'. It's performances in Moscow and in New York were the first ever orchestral concerts with color accompaniment being projected on a special screen. Scriabin also experimented with such styles as musical impressionism and expressionism. His harmonic and melodic inventiveness became manifested in his piano works and especially in his orchestral compositions. The 'Prometheus' chord' was the beginning in Scriabin's search for the new tonal/harmonic means of expression. His theory of the 'Synthesis of arts' made profound effect on innovations in film and theatre, most notably those of Vsevolod Meyerhold at the Moscow Art Theatre.
In 1915 Scriabin worked on developing of a new form of entertainment that would unite all Mankind through music, art, light, acting and interaction between performers and public. For this project Scriabin started a draft of a new cross-genre composition, which included music, literature, dance, architecture, natural landscape and light. He contemplated a seven-day long composition titled 'Misterium', of which he wrote down a few fragments on seventy pages shortly before his death. He described the composition in his draft as "a grandiose religious synthesis of all arts which would herald the birth of a New World." Scriabin planned his work to be performed at the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. Scriabin planned to include the Sunrises and the Sunsets into the measures of his unfinished music score. Part of that unfinished composition was performed under the title of 'Prefatory Action' by Vladimir Ashkenazy in Berlin with Aleksey Lyubimov at the piano. The idea of a seven-day music piece was later realized by Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Scriabin's admirer and friend poet Valery Briusov was a regular guest at Scriabin's home, where composer performed for friends and absorbed new ideas in cross-disciplinary discussions. Those discussions initially revolved around Symbolism in Art, and then eventually led to Scriabin's idea of "Future Art" or "Synthesis of Arts" alluding to a term "Gezamtkunstwerk" which was originally coined by Richard Wagner. Music and cultural heritage of other nations was among important sources of inspiration for Scriabin, who was also known as an acclaimed piano performer of music by Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt and Ludwig van Beethoven. Scriabin's original piano pieces show progressive development of his own tonal and harmonic thinking. His ten piano sonatas, 24 preludes, poems, études and other piano pieces are staples of many contemporary concert pianists' repertoire. The piano recordings of Scriabin's music by Vladimir Sofronitsky and Vladimir Horowitz are among the finest there are.
During the 1890s and 1900s Scriabin's evolution to multi-tonal complexities superseded calculated duodecafonic compositions of the Neo-Viennese school. From his early piano compositions to his grand-scale symphonies, Scriabin's music is peppered with harmonic innovations, unusual changes and surprise tonal discoveries. Scriabin's creative thinking invites a prepared listener to an intellectual journey beyond the calculated atonality of Arnold Schönberg or even the sophisticated cosmopolitanism of Igor Stravinsky. The ascensual trajectory of Scriabin's multi-tonality development is unparalleled in freedom of musical imagination. His rich and delicate Piano Concerto in F-Sharp Minor (1896) and the passionate 'Poem of Ecstasy' (1906) has been among the most recorded and frequently performed of his orchestral works.
Alexander Scriabin was at the peak of his creativity and worked on his innovative breakthrough project of 'Mysteria', when he died of septicaemia, a complication from an inflammation on his upper lip, aged 43, on April 27, 1915, in Moscow. He was laid to rest in the Church of St. Nikolai na Peskah, near his home in Moscow, Russia. Since 1922, the Scriabin's home in Moscow has been open to public as a National museum and a Cultural Heritage Memorial. Scriabin's Bechstein grand piano has been used for regular concert performances of his music.
Since the 1910 premiere of 'Prometheus', Scriabin's large-scale symphonies has been successfully performed with light and color accompaniment at concert venues all over the world. Among the milestone performances of Scriabin's 'Prometheus' with lights were the London premiere with conductor Henry Wood (UK, 1914), the Carnegie Hall premiere (USA, 1915), the Bolshoi Theatre show (Russia, 1918), the New Haven show (USA, 1971), and the Kasan Conservatory show (Tatarstan, 1996) where Scriabin's music was intertwined with colorful compositions of Wassily Kandinsky. Scriabin's ideas are now working in such projects as "Animusic" and other 3D visualization and MIDI-based music applications.- Actor
- Director
Edwin R. Phillips was born in January 1872 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He was an actor and director, known for A Life for a Life (1910), Uncle Tom's Cabin (1910) and Wisteria Memories (1911). He died on 30 August 1915 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.- Booker T. Washington was born on 5 April 1856 in Franklin County, Virginia, USA. He was married to Margaret James Murray, Olivia Davidson and Fanny Norton Smith. He died on 14 November 1915 in New York City, New York, USA.
- William West was born in 1856 in Wheeling, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor, known for The Rise and Fall of Weary Willie (1911), At Bear Track Gulch (1913) and Caste (1913). He died on 9 December 1915 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Jerzy Zulawski was born on 14 July 1874 in Lipowiec, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Lipowiec, Malopolskie, Poland]. He was a writer, known for On the Silver Globe (1988), Pod vlastyu luny (1911) and Teatr Polskiego Radia (2004). He died on 9 August 1915 in Debica, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Debica, Podkarpackie, Poland].
- Anna Edwards was born in India in 1834, the daughter of a cabinetmaker who died three months before her birth. Her mother then remarried to officer in the Engineers who sent Anna and her sister, Eliza, to a school in England. The girls returned to India as teenagers and Anna escaped her stepfather's plans to marry her to a man twice her age by accompanying Rev.Percy Badger on a tour of the Middle East. She married a clerk, Thomas Leon Owens, and they had two children, a daughter Avis and a son, Louis. Her husband had trouble keeping a job, and moved his family a great deal; for some unknown reason, he also changed his name to Thomas Leonowens. After her husband died of apoplexy in Penang, Malaya, Anna moved to Singapore, where she received an invitation to teach English to the children of the Siamese King. She later embellished her memoirs of this time (changing her place of birth to Wales, and taking three years off her age; making her husband a major in the British army instead of a lowly clerk; and adding the tale of a concubine's brutal death, which never happened) which became famous. Anna herself retired to Canada, where she became a suffragist before her death. Her sister, Eliza, was the grandmother of the famous actor Boris Karloff.
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
William V. Ranous was born on 12 March 1857 in New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Treasure Island (1913), Othello (1908) and Julius Caesar (1908). He was married to Doris Thompson. He died on 1 April 1915 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Additional Crew
- Producer
Many people today know the names of George M. Cohan and Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., but Charles Frohman, though lesser known, reigned supreme in the theatrical world for over a generation. From a young age Frohman's heart and soul belonged in the theatre. His lower-middle-class family moved from Sandusky, Ohio, to New York City in 1874 and he landed a job as a night clerk for the New York Graphic. In 1876 the paper sent him to Philadelphia to expand its circulation during the Centennial Exposition, and it was there he first demonstrated his entrepreneurial talents by organizing newsboys to more efficiently exploit the market. He then moved over briefly to the New York Tribune and moonlighted by selling theatre tickets at night, soaking in everything he could learn about the theatrical business. In 1880, at the age of 20 with 50 cents to his name after paying for a seat for the hit play "Shenandoah", he successfully schmoozed its producers into selling him its road-show rights. From this point onward there was no stopping Charles Frohman in his desire to conquer the entertainment business, which at the time was headquartered in New York City with the Broadway theater district its nerve center.
He began by leasing an unprofitable house named Proctor's Theatre and gradually created a stock production company. In the early 1890s he built his own theatre, the Empire. He, younger brother Gustave Frohman and older brother Daniel Frohman became the leading theatre impresarios of the Gilded Age. By the turn of the century Charles Frohman was the #1 theatrical producer in the world. He solidified his position by creating a theatrical monopoly with a handful of Broadway and regional theatre owners, known as the Theatrical Syndicate, which would come to dominate virtually every aspect of theatrical production through its proprietary booking network. His syndicate controlled not only first-run and revival Broadway shows, but dozens of road-show companies that continuously traversed the US and Canada, in addition to a number of productions that almost always illuminated London and Paris.
Despite his titular status within his company, however, Frohman was always detail-oriented. He believed that a large degree of his success was due to his actors and paid an unusual amount of attention to their development (or non-development), billing, promotion, costumes, etc., down to the tiniest booking details. In brief, he was a hands-on producer and he held a seemingly hypnotic hold over his troupes (no less a legend than Ethel Barrymore idolized him). He also worked extensively in London and formed a separate stage company to fill his five leased theatres there. By the outbreak of World War I, he could claim to have produced over 700 plays and employed a staff that exceeded 1,000 on both sides of the Atlantic.
Back in the States he owned or leased six theatres on Broadway and some 200 across the country, and had dozens of road-show companies traversing the nation by rail at any given time. Oddly, he rarely attended opening nights at any of his theatres, preferring to keep tabs on audience reactions by employing dozens of runners who kept him informed at intermissions and final curtains. Few of his business associates knew him intimately; he was shy and steadfastly avoided socializing, preferring to remain ensconced inside his suite at the Knickerbocker Hotel whenever in New York City. By modern definition, Frohman would be considered moderately neurotic and perhaps mildly obsessive-compulsive. He was occasionally practically agoraphobic, had an intense fear of darkness and rigidly held to theatrical superstitions, all rolled into a shroud of secrecy surrounding his private life (accused of being a homosexual by his detractors, he was also rumored to be secretly married to Maude Adams, a stage actress who would be termed a "superstar" today). In business Frohman was considered cold and calculating, often ruthlessly crushing competitors to the extent that lesser producers only survived on Broadway because he let them. He suffered a debilitating fall while at his home in White Plains, New York, in 1912 and the resulting arthritis proved so painful that he required use of a cane. Back in the Knickerbocker Hotel, Frohman became a virtual invalid.
In 1915 he opted to make a European trip to check on the crop of productions in London with playwright Charles Klein and his valet. Unfortunately he chose passage on the Lusitania, then the fastest ship to London. His friends and associates were aghast at his decision and tried to dissuade him from making the voyage. The German Embassy had issued a proclamation declaring the Lusitania a military target; Frohman reacted by dictating his company's entire 1916 season in advance and dismissed their fears for his safety, telling his friend Al Hayman, "If you want to write to me, just address the letter care of the German Submarine U-4." By eyewitness accounts, Frohman remained characteristically calm after the torpedoing of the ship, dismissing offers of assistance and offering his life belt to a female passenger. Among his last reported words was a line from J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan": "Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life."
Frohman's body was recovered and arrived in New York on May 24, 1915. He was given two funerals (John Barrymore was one of the pallbearers), with simultaneous memorial services across the US and in London. Maude Adams retired from acting upon his death. By the following year, Frohman's all-powerful theatrical syndicate would be broken by the Shubert Brothers.- Actor
- Director
David Miles was born on 26 October 1871 in Milford, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Everyman (1913), Twin Brothers (1909) and Local Color (1913). He was married to Anita Hendrie. He died on 28 October 1915 in New York City, New York, USA.- Indian politician and social reformer. Born in Kotluk, Bombay, in 1866, he became Professor of History at Fergusson College, Poona, resigning in 1904, when he was selected representative of the Bombay legislative council at the supreme council. He founded the Servants of India Society in 1905 to work for the relief of the underprivileged, and in the same year was elected president of the Indian National Congress. He was a leading protagonist of Indian self-government and influenced Mahatma Gandhi, advocating moderate and constitutional methods of agitation and gradual reform.
- Soundtrack
Fanny Crosby was born on 24 March 1820 in Brewster, New York, USA. She was married to Alexander van Alstyne, Jr.. She died on 12 February 1915 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA.- Marshall P. Wilder was born on 19 September 1859 in Geneva, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Widow's Might (1913), Professor Optimo (1912) and Marshall P. Wilder (1897). He was married to Mrs. Marshall P. Wilder. He died on 10 January 1915 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
- Blanche Walsh was born on 4 January 1873 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Resurrection (1912). She died on 31 October 1915 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Porfirio Diaz, known for his long and autocratic rule of Mexico and his disdain for the poorer classes, was actually born into a lower-middle-class Spanish / Mixtec Indian family in Oaxaca. His father was a blacksmith and an innkeeper and died when Porfirio was only three years old. He was educated by the Catholic church in what was to be his preparation for entering the priesthood, but by age 16 Diaz realized he had no intention of becoming a priest. Many men of Oaxaca had joined the Mexican army to fight in the Mexican-American War of 1846, and at 18 Diaz did the same, but the war ended before he saw combat. He left the army and returned to Oaxaca to study law. There he became acquainted with Benito Juarez, the state's governor. The civil war of 1854 pitted Juarez and his liberal reformers against the dictatorship of Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna--of "the Alamo" fame--and his supporters, mainly wealthy landowners and the Catholic Church. Diaz came out squarely on Juarez's side, and fled Oaxaca to join Juarez's revolutionary army. Diaz proved to be an able commander and defeated Santa Anna's forces in several key battles, earning a promotion to general. Juarez eventually triumphed and Santa Anna fled Mexico, but the victory didn't last long. Mexico was soon invaded by the French, on the pretext of collecting on loans from French bankers that Mexico couldn't pay. They overthrew Juarez and installed a member of the Hapsburg royal family as ruler, calling him Emperor Maximilian. Diaz again fought with Juarez against this French occupation, and upon Maximilian's overthrow and execution, Diaz resigned from the army and retired to Oaxaca. Juarez died and was succeeded by Sebastian Lerdo, whose administration was racked by internal squabbles, chaos and rebellions. Diaz was persuaded to lead a rebellion against Lerdo, and in 1876 Diaz's forces drove out Lerdo after defeating his army in several battles. Diaz took Mexico City and became president.
At first his regime instituted many needed reforms, settled the national debt and embarked on an ambitious program to modernize the country, bringing railroads and telegraph services to many areas of Mexico that didn't have them. He was succeeded at the end of his term in 1880 by his former Minister of War, but ran for president in the 1884 election and won handily. However, his administration grew more repressive the longer it stayed in power, and eventually it became allied with the very forces it had once fought. Diaz wanted to bring foreign investment into the country, and to that end he instituted a controversial program of wholesale "evacuations" of the poor from the cities to the countryside, so that foreign investors and tourists wouldn't see them and would be more inclined to invest their money in Mexico. Eventually his autocratic rule and repressive policies resulted in a series of rebellions and uprisings, led by such legendary Mexican figures as Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata and Venustiano Carranza, among others. In 1913 these leaders combined their forces in a final assault on Mexico City, Diaz's seat of government, defeated his armies and forced him to flee the country. Ironically, although he came to power in Mexico largely because of his fight against the French, he wound up spending his exile in Paris, where he died in 1915. - Actor
- Writer
Lewis Waller was born on 3 November 1860 in Bilbao, Spain. He was an actor and writer, known for King John (1899), Brigadier Gerard (1915) and Fires of Fate (1923). He was married to Florence West. He died on 1 November 1915 in Nottingham, England, UK.- W.G. Grace was born on 18 July 1848 in Downend, Bristol, England, UK. He was married to Agness Nicholls Day. He died on 23 October 1915 in Mottingham, Kent, England, UK.
- Hans Pagay was born on 11 November 1845 in Vienna, Austria. He was an actor, known for Die Herrin der Welt 8. Teil - Die Rache der Maud Fergusson (1920) and Die Herrin der Welt 1. Teil - Die Freundin des gelben Mannes (1919). He died on 21 January 1915 in Berlin, Germany.
- American short story writer and novelist, was born the son of Andrew Robertson, a ship captain on the Great Lakes, and Amelia (Glassford) Robertson. Morgan went to sea as a cabin boy and was in the merchant service from 1866 to 1877, rising to first mate. Tiring of life at sea, he studied jewelry making at Cooper Union in New York City and worked for 10 years as a diamond setter. When that work began to impair his vision, he turned to writing sea stories, placing his work in such popular magazines as McClure's and the Saturday Evening Post. Robertson never made much money from his writing, a circumstance that greatly embittered him. Nevertheless, from the early 1890s until his death in 1915 he supported himself as a writer and enjoyed the company of artists and writers in a small circle of New York's bohemia. Robertson was found dead of heart disease in an Atlantic City hotel room.
- Edith Cavell was born on 4 December 1865 in Swardeston, Norfolk, England, UK. She was a writer, known for Nurse and Martyr (1915) and Les funérailles d'Edith Cavell (1915). She died on 12 October 1915 in Brussels, Belgium.
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Nolan Gane was born on 24 February 1892 in Houma, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Gratitude of Conductor 786 (1915), Heartbroken Shep (1913) and With the Assistance of 'Shep' (1913). He died on 12 February 1915.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Miguel Ramos Carrión was born in 1845 in Zamora, Castilla y León, Spain. He was a writer, known for La mujer de tu prójimo (1966), La tempestad (1945) and El rey que rabió (1929). He died on 10 August 1915 in Madrid, Spain.- Nita Allen was an actress, known for Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1917) and Daughter of Destiny (1917). She died on 3 July 1915 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Walter Kendig was an actor, known for Wildfire (1915), Collecting the Rent (1914) and How Ida Got a Husband (1915). He died on 13 October 1915 in Yonkers, New York, USA.
- Billy Harper was born on 28 October 1881 in Leadville, Colorado, USA. He was an actor, known for Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913). He died on 18 March 1915 in Bronx, New York, USA.
- Composer
- Writer
José María Usandizaga was born on 31 March 1887 in San Sebastian, Spain. He was a composer and writer, known for Las golondrinas (1968). He died on 6 October 1915.- Will E. Sheerer was born in 1871. He was an actor, known for Graft (1915), Oliver Twist (1912) and The Close of the American Revolution (1912). He died on 24 December 1915 in Yonkers, New York, USA.
- Lion Solser was born in Rotterdam as the son of Johannes Solser and the stage actress Engelina Florina Hartlooper on February 6, 1877. He had brothers and sisters (Louis, Michiel, Jeanette Johanna and Engelina Adriana). He married Adrienne Willemsens (Schaerbeek, Belgium, March 25, 1872 - Amsterdam, March 5, 1962), was a comedian and committed suicide in Rotterdam at the age of 38 on August 3, 1915. Lion was buried in Diemen.
Lion Solser came from a lineage of part variety performers and part stage actors. His mother was also an actress, but went across the country with his father to earn more money singing verse. Solser attended drama school from 1889 to 1892. His brother Michiel died at a young age and Lion took his place in the operetta, and he worked with Piet Hesse from 1896 until his death. He formed an ensemble with Hesse, which also included Adrienne Willemsens, his wife. Lion Solser was a director and comedian, often taking on female roles. For years he played the lead role in "Do you know about Schellevis-Mie?" and with Hesse as the cross-dressing duo Wip and Snip, probably the source of inspiration for the later duo Snip and Snap by Willy Walden and Piet Muijselaar. He also performs with Hesse in the silent film "Solser en Hesse" by director M H Laddé from 1900, a film that has unfortunately been lost and in the first Dutch film, "the deranged hengelaar". Abraham's sister was the variety artist and humorist Adrienne Solser.
When Lion died, Het Nieuws van de dag voor Nederlandsch-Indies read:
"Lion Solser" Our collaborator Vosmaer writes to us on 5 August: For a very large number of Indies people it will probably not be necessary to describe the person of the best transvesti, and one of the best duetists and genre comedians our country has known, who has a nervous disorder of took us away: Lion Solser. Most of my readers, I think, must have heard and seen at least once in their lives that little, elegant couple singer, so classy in the black skirt, and yet who in an instant transformed himself into the most slender Jordanian shark bay or maddened peasant girl. And in doing so have admired his expressive, expressive, powerful and the largest halls filling voice and crisp diction into the smallest corners.
Lion was a brother of Michel Solser, creator of the, so to speak, immortal figure of 'Flipje' from Reyding's 'Revue Artistique'. And he resembled that brother in many ways, who was again the son of an excellent comedian. That may not mean much to non-Amsterdammers, but those few lines say it all for us.
Lion Solser turned 38 years old. He began very early in the career that had been prescribed for him, if only out of respect for his ancestors. At the age of about 19 - - I could say it exactly if I went to ask his long-term friend and associate Hesse, who lives in the same house as me, but I dare not disturb him on this funeral day, because he is miserable, devastated -he set foot on the variety stage as a chansonnier, humorist, character comedian.
But only for a short time did he act alone. He was very fortunate to meet Piet Hesse, a few years older than him, who was also an excellent and cultured couple singer, and from that moment on their fortunes-if one can speak of that in our country with its narrow borders-was made. For Lion Solser could be an excellent humorist - he knew absolutely nothing about saving money, managing money, and in this precisely Piet Hesse was a matador, a genius - a born businessman.
"Eighteen years ago, I saw them both perform for the first time during a Groningen fair. They were a "number" of a specialty program, but what a! Usually they first sang a genre couplet, Hesse as an old gentleman, Solser as an old lady, and as a bis number one or two couplets 'with their own head', in the skirt. Even then it was striking how spry, 'mundane' and elegant those two duets presented themselves in the skirts, how funny their old man and wife couples were - and how the two were literally perfect for each other.
Hesse soon realized that his couplets were going in. Solser made many of them himself. And so they started to print and sell those things to amateurs, who wanted to recite them in a "closed circle", but also to professional comedians. But Piet Hesse conceived bigger plans. After some years of singing together at all the fairs in the country, and here in the capital with Frits van Haarlem or in "Flora" (I believe also with Mulder in the Kalverstraat, now long gone), the two partners formed a small troupe that would perform specific Amsterdam happy games, true genre pieces. But before that, Solser would first win laurels with his one-act play "Half an hour at the office of the Moderne Tooneel", in which, following Henri de Vries, he was the first Dutchman to "introduce" the genre here. alone performed six different roles in a truly exquisite manner. With this, Solser and Hesse - and with the greatest success - traveled all over our country about 1910.
That same year they formed their troop. And with that little group they performed Amsterdam sketches, mostly written by Tony Schmitz on the instructions of Lion Solser, in a way that I do not hesitate to call unsurpassable of its kind. One would perhaps not call their actors "first-class powers" everywhere. But preceded by Solser they all, down to the very least, managed to fit themselves so perfectly into the typical Amsterdam milieu that Schmitz portrayed us, that the spectators in many a scene had to admit that reality could not be more real.
Successively, from 1911 onwards, Solser and Hesse regaled us with: "Have you seen the child yet?" (Grandthéatre), "Are you also coming to the Wedding of Mietje T' (ditto), "The legacy of uncle Janus" (Hollandsche Schouwburg), "Have you heard of Schellevis Mie ?" (Panoptic).
With all those Amsterdam Sketches, in which Solser invariably played a female role, usually a splendor of a Jordanian, the partners have earned a lot of money, and no one begrudges them that, because they worked very hard to get the interplay as Solser did. especially absolutely wanted.
In this respect -and also as a 'piece' -- 'Mietje's wedding' suited me best personally. The 'pertij', the wedding guests, the furniture in the Jordanian house, the puppet show, where more benevolent amateurs than talented amateurs among the guests played their lectures - everything was so beautiful, 'real', so cut and copied from life, and so lifelike portrayed by all the actors, even if they had the smallest part to play, as I have seen it, frankly speaking, but very seldom on other, even the best, scenes.
And of the preparation of these performances the greatest credit goes to Lion Solser, who, in addition to being an excellent transvestite, was a sensitive and strict director, who personally took care of the smallest, apparently insignificant details.
Or that astonishing need for labor that being overwhelmingly busy has wrecked him?
Lately the already hot-blooded Solser has been very "troublesome." His friends had to keep a close eye on him after he once, for some futile reason, suddenly, in the middle of his part, began to lash out at the audience, something a man like Solser would never have done under normal circumstances. That was during a performance by Schellevis Mie, now about six months ago. Then things quickly, anxiously, quickly diminished with him. He started to rant for no reason, became quarrelsome, which also did not fit with his nature, took a month off to 'rest completely', seemed completely healed, suddenly collapsed again, until his inexorable nervous illness struck him down with one last blow.
Today Lion Solser is buried, under an interest that is hard to imagine. He leaves behind a wife and daughter - and an audience that will remember his idiosyncratic art for a long time to come. - Director
- Writer
- Actor
Vasili Goncharov was born in 1861. He was a director and writer, known for Votsareniye doma Romanovykh (1913), Pyotr Velikiy (1910) and Vanka-klyuchnik (1909). He died on 23 August 1915.- Ede Ujházi was born on 28 January 1841 in Debrecen, Hungary. He was an actor, known for Gazdag ember kabátja (1912). He died on 14 November 1915 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Julia Walcott was born in 1845. She was an actress, known for Gretna Green (1915), The Little Gray Lady (1914) and The House of Bondage (1914). She died on 25 May 1915 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- Sergei Vitte was born on 29 June 1849 in Tiflis [now Tbilisi, Georgia]. He died on 13 March 1915 in St Petersburg, Russia.
- Actor
- Writer
Elmer Booth was born on 9 December 1882 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for His Auto's Maiden Trip (1912), Why He Gave Up (1911) and Abe Gets Even with Father (1911). He was married to Irene Outtrim. He died on 16 June 1915 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Frank James was born on 10 January 1843 in Kearney, Clay County, Missouri, USA. He was married to Annie Ralston. He died on 18 February 1915 in Kearney, Missouri, USA.
- Sergey Taneyev was born on 25 November 1856 in Vladimir, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was a composer, known for Rasskazy o Lenine (1958) and Medeya (1967). He died on 19 June 1915 in Dyutkovo, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire [now Zvenigorod, Moscow Oblast, Russia].
- Actress
Viola Miles was born on 13 September 1873 in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for Deceit (1923). She was married to Frank Monroe. She died on 5 November 1915 in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA.- Mary Elizabeth Braddon was born on 4 October 1835 in London, England, UK. She was a writer, known for Lady Audley's Secret (1915), East Lynne (1916) and Lady Audley's Secret (1920). She was married to John Maxwell. She died on 4 February 1915 in Richmond, England, UK.
- William H. West was born on 26 July 1860 in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. He was an actor, known for The Fatal Opal (1914), On the Warpath (1911) and Mysteries of the Grand Hotel (1915). He was married to Roumelia G. Morris. He died on 20 August 1915 in Glendale, California, USA.
- John C. Rice was born on 7 April 1857 in Beaverkill, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Kiss (1896) and The Kleptomaniacs (1900). He was married to Sally Cohen. He died on 5 June 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
- Music Department
Leo Frank was a New York-born Jew who moved to Marietta, Georgia. In 1913 he was the superintendent of the National Pencil Co., which was partly owned by his uncle, when he was arrested for the rape and murder of a local girl employed at the factory, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. She had been raped and strangled and her body found in the factory's cellar on August 26. Frank was the last person known to have seen her alive. When authorities were told about rumors that he had been seen flirting with the young Phagan, he was regarded as the chief suspect and shortly thereafter arrested. Prosecutors, along with local and state politicians, cast him as a rich, arrogant Yankee Jew who had come to the South to prey on young Christian women. A former member of the US House of Representatives used the specter of Jewish predators "ravaging our little girls" to help revive the Ku Klux Klan. Frank, to no one's surprise, was found guilty of rape and murder and sentenced to death, even though there was little actual evidence to connect him to the crime.
In 1915 Georgia Gov. John Slaton, after investigating the case himself, came to the conclusion that Frank had been unjustly convicted and that the trial had been rigged against him from the beginning. He commuted Frank's sentence from death to life imprisonment. Local citizenry, however, were outraged. A large mob of at least 1000 people surrounded Slaton's home, shouting and protesting his action, some of them urging the crowd to break into the house and lynch the governor. In August of 1915 a group of approximately 30 armed men calling itself "The Knights of Mary Phagan" broke into the prison where Frank was being held, tied up the warden and guards and kidnapped Frank. They drove him 150 miles to a place called Frey's Gin, near Mary Phagan's home, and before a shouting, angry crowed, hanged him from a tree. After his dead body was cut down, members of the crowd stomped on and otherwise mutilated it, while others took pictures and some even took bits of the rope that was used to hang him and sold them as souvenirs. Many of the members of the lynch mob were known to people in the area, including authorities, but local newspapers never used their names in stories about the lynching and none were prosecuted for or even charged with the crime. Among the lynch mob were a former Georgia governor, several local police officers and sheriff's deputies, a Superior Court judge, the Sheriff of Cobb County, several prominent businessmen, a future District Attorney and a future mayor of Marietta.
Frank's mutilated body was driven to Atlanta and turned over to an undertaker. A crowd of several thousand showed up at the establishment, demanding to see his body to ensure that he had indeed been hanged. When the undertaker refused, the crowed threatened to break into the business and see for itself, and began throwing bricks and rocks through the windows. The undertaker relented and let the crowd file past the body, many of them spitting on it.
In the early 1980s a re-investigation of the case determined that Mary Phagan had in fact been raped and murdered by the company's janitor, a black ex-convict named Jim Conley, who police at the time had initially suspected but let go when they turned their attention to Frank. In 1986 the Georgia State Board of Paroles and Pardons granted Frank a posthumous pardon.- Louis Pergaud was born on 22 January 1882 in Belmont, Doubs, France. He was a writer, known for La guerre des gosses (1936), War of the Buttons (1994) and War of the Buttons (1962). He died on 7 April 1915 in Marchéville en Woëvre, Meuse, France.
- Lewis F. Muir was born on 30 May 1883 in the USA. He died on 3 December 1915 in the USA.
- Konstantin Varlamov was born on 11 May 1848. He was an actor, known for Gde Matilda (1913) and Roman Russkoy baleriny (1913). He died on 2 August 1915.
- Adèle Hugo was born on 24 August 1830 in Paris, France. She was a writer, known for The Story of Adele H (1975). She died on 21 April 1915 in Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine, France.
- Rupert Brooke was born on 3 August 1887 in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, UK. Rupert was a writer, known for The Burying Party (2018). Rupert died on 23 April 1915 in Aegean Sea, near Skyros, Greece.
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Isidor Bajic was born on 16 August 1878 in Kula, Serbia, Austria-Hungary [now Serbia]. Isidor was a composer, known for Hipertenzija (2017) and Cucuk Stana (1972). Isidor died on 15 September 1915 in Novi Sad, Serbia, Austria-Hungary [now Serbia].- Byron Ongley was born in March 1876 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for He Comes Up Smiling (1918), Brewster's Millions (1935) and Brewster's Millions (1945). He was married to Amy Summers. He died on 23 October 1915 in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.
- Soundtrack
Anna B. Warner was born on 31 August 1827 in Long Island, New York, USA. She died on 22 January 1915 in Highland Falls, New York, USA.- Y.L. Peretz was born on 18 May 1851 in Zamosc, Poland, Russian Empire [now Zamosc, Lubelskie, Poland]. He was a writer, known for Shabbat Hamalka (1965), Play of the Week (1959) and The World of Sholom Aleichem (1959). He was married to Helena Ringelheim and Sarah Lichtenfeld. He died on 3 April 1915 in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland].
- Additional Crew
French poet and novelist Remy de Gourmont was born in the Normandy town of Bazoches-en-Houlme in 1858. His father came from a long line of printers and engravers, and his mother was descended from the 16th-century French poet François de Malherbe. He received his education at the University of Caen, and in 1883 got a job in Paris at the National Library.
He became a follower of the "Symbolist" movement in French poetry, and was strongly influenced by Stephane Mallarme. He began to move in literary circles, and eventually he and J.K. Huymans met, and they co-founded and became co-editors of "Mercure de France". Unfortunately, an article he wrote for the magazine in 1891 caught the attention of French nationalists who considered it "pro-German", and the resulting furor caused the publication to fire him. A further series of personal and professional setbacks resulted in his becoming almost a "hermit", venturing out into the "outside world" only occasionally, and then just briefly.
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 turned him from a moderate leftist into a firebrand--and at times violent--anti-German nationalist. Shortly after the war started he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, and died in 1915.