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Chris Scott
Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 351
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2003 - 3:33 pm: | 
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In the A-Z, the earliest film in which Jack features is listed as "Farmer Spudd". According to the Overview of Films under Dissertations, the first Ripper film was The Lodger of 1926.
I have found a cinema program from 1914 which lists a film simply called The Ripper (El Destripador). The cinema is called the Teatro Welton and I found the advert in El Imparcial, a Mexican newspaper from 16 August 1914.
I am posting the program below- it is the second film on the list and is apparently in two parts.
Any information about this early film gratefully received!
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Martin Fido
Detective Sergeant
Username: Fido
Post Number: 118
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 8:18 am: |
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An interesting discovery, Chris. This may well be the first Ripper film. We only know Farmer Spudd through a surviving still which shows the couple in the waxworks with a traditional Ripper figure (top hat, cape and gladstone bag)apparently threatening to come alive.
All the best,
Martin F |
Stephen P. Ryder
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 2794
Registered: 10-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 8:38 am: |
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Nice find, Chris!
Early Ripper films are still a fairly untapped area of study as far as I can tell, and I really wish someone would delve into it a bit... a few years back I ran some preliminary searches through the LoC print catalogues of "Early Film" and found at least 2-3 extremely interesting reels from 1900-1915... one even had in its description a 1906 walk through Whitechapel with a local policy bobby! I can just imagine the sights that would have been shown in that early reel, just 18 years after the murders...
Of course these films are all marked as "Believed lost", but who knows what might turn up in some dusty film vault?
(Currently kicking myself, because I can't find my chickenscratch notes on this subject anywhere... I had titles, years, and production houses all written down SOMEWHERE. Will make new copies next time I hit the LoC). 
Stephen P. Ryder, Editor
Casebook: Jack the Ripper
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Leanne Perry
Chief Inspector
Username: Leanne
Post Number: 572
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 9:05 am: |
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G'day,
http://www.hollywoodripper.com/filmguide/MASTER_FILMGUIDE_Chronological.htm
LEANNE |
Stephen P. Ryder
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 2798
Registered: 10-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 9:35 am: |
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Hi Leanne -
Good site, but I'm talking about Ripper films that can't be found in the A-Z and elsewhere... stuff that's listed as "lost" but may very well be in some lost archive somewhere.
The amazing thing about film archives is that only a small percentage of them are actually inventoried. Even the LoC admits that they don't have the majority of their own collection properly catalogued. There were at least three films that dealt with either the Ripper or with Whitechapel made before 1915, and probably many others if someone really sets their mind to searching.
I've always had a feeling that the next great "discovery" would be made in this arena... Can you imagine what we might learn if we were to come across a "lost" print of that 1906 tour through Whitechapel?
Stephen P. Ryder, Editor
Casebook: Jack the Ripper
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Chris Scott
Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 353
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 11:14 am: |
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Hi all
Just out of interest I found that J Leigh who directed the Farmer Spudd film, also directed the much better known silent version of H.G.Wells "First Men in the Moon" with the famous rocket hitting the moon in the eye sequence! This was made by Gaumont in 1919.
The entry I found (for those Italian speakers among us!) read as follows:
La pubblicazione di "The First Men in the Moon", nel 1901 riuscì a togliere il cattivo sapore di "When the Sleeper Wakes" dalla bocca dei lettori. Questo fu il primo dei libri di Wells ad essere adattato cinematograficamente, essendo prodotto da J. V. L. Leigh per la Gaumont Film Company nel 1919. Il film era una trasposizione dalla storia alla celluloide piuttosto priva di immaginazione, e di cattivo gusto.
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Stephen P. Ryder
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 2802
Registered: 10-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 3:58 pm: |
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Ah, I've found my notes! Here are some films which I'd like to find more information on....
Berlin Jack the Ripper
Release Date: 18 Oct 1909
Distribution Company: Empire Film Co.
Production Company: Comerio
________________________________________
The Life of a London Bobby
Director: George A. Smith (Dir)
Release Date: 18 Jul 1903
Cast: Tom Green
Distribution Company: S. Lubin
Production Company: G. A. S. Films
Director: George A. Smith (Dir)
Summary: Lubin summary: This is a mixture of fun and pathos. When the picture first bursts into view, the exterior of an English Police Station is seen, from which the squad emerges. A change and then one of the "finest" is seen posing before a great building as though proud of his uniform. Again a change and we see a table on which was placed a dark lantern. Bobby's hand reaches forth and grasps the lantern and we follow him through the famous "White Chapel" district of which we have heard so much. All that is seen are the rays of light from the lantern and the object at which they are pointed. We see a high board fence on which a number of advertisements appear and the rays move along until "Bobby's" best girl is seen on the top of the steps leading into the basement of the house where she is employed. In her hand she holds dainty viands, which she knows Bobby delights in, and she beckons to him to follow. In this case you can draw your own conclusions. We follow the light through all the dark passages of the district until it enters a bank building and surprises a burglar at work on a safe. Suddenly Bobby appears behind the lantern, a scuffle ensues and the burglar is captured. This is undoubtedly one of the most novel moving pictures ever made.
___________________________________
Spring Heeled Jack
Release Date: 25 Dec 1909
Distribution Company: G. W. Bradenburgh
Production Company: Les Lions
____________________________________
Anyone interested in researching the above titles? Particularly the London Bobby one I think would be of interest.
Stephen P. Ryder, Editor
Casebook: Jack the Ripper
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Stephen P. Ryder
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 2803
Registered: 10-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 4:09 pm: |
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One more.....
Mysterious Lodger
Release Date: 17 Jul 1909
Distribution Company: Empire Film Co.
Production Company: Robert W. Paul
Stephen P. Ryder, Editor
Casebook: Jack the Ripper
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Chris Scott
Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 358
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 4:19 pm: |
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Hi Stephen
Many thanks for the notes
Re. the London Bobby film, there is an article on S.Lubin, the distribution company at
http://www.silentsaregolden.com/articles/lubinfilmarticle.html
Chris |
David O'Flaherty
Detective Sergeant
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 114
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 4:23 pm: |
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A short page on the director of the London Bobby, George A. Smith: here |
Stephen P. Ryder
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 2804
Registered: 10-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 4:29 pm: |
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Great links, Chris and David, thank you!
Since G.A. Smith was based in England, that makes it more likely that the "White Chapel" scene was filmed on location (as opposed to it being some sound-stage mock-up... which I was worried it might be).
Stephen P. Ryder, Editor
Casebook: Jack the Ripper
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Chris Scott
Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 359
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 4:40 pm: |
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Stephen
Here is a pic of George A Smith who directed the film
There is an illustrated article about his life and work at
http://www.brighton.ac.uk/sefva/hist_4.htm
The GAS film company mentioned was his own company named after his own initials
He was obviously a pretty important figure in early cinema - here are some miscellaneous comments I have found:
Brighton School
The most notable of all the British filmmakers during the first few years of cinema. Based in and around the seaside town the group's principle members were George A. Smith and James Williamson.
Such was the success of the short film, that imitations inevitably followed including "Phantom Rides" which mounted both the camera and cameraman on the front of a locomotive and recorded the passing scenery. Hales Tours sat audiences in a mocked up railway carriage on springs surrounded by a giant screen displaying the scenery from a train in America.
Narratives soon followed with George A. Smith's A KISS IN THE TUNNEL (1900),
E n 1909, en el teatro Palace-Varieté de Londres, se proyectaron por primera vez películas en color, gracias al empleo del sistema "cinemacolor", inventado por George A. Smith. Este sistema empleaba sólo dos colores (verde-rojo) que se mezclaban de forma aditiva
In 1909 in the Palace Variety Theatre in London were projected for the first time films in colour, thanks to the use of the "cinemacolor" system invented by heorge A. Smith. This system used only two colours (green and red) which were mixed in an additive way.
Cinderella, dir. George A. Smith. Released August 1898. G.A.S. Films, England. With Laura Bayley (Cinderella).
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Chris Scott
Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 360
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 4:49 pm: |
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From the article I quoted I saw this paragraph:
Smith married Laura Eugenia Bayley in Ramsgate in 1888. She would ‘star’ in many of his important films - Hanging Out the Clothes; or, Master, Mistress and Maid (1897), Santa Claus, Cinderella (1898), As Seen Through a Telescope, Dorothy’s Dream (1903), and Mary Jane’s Mishap; or, Don’t Play with the Paraffin (1903). They would appear together in The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899). No other actress appears as frequently in the British films of this period. Her sister, Eva, also featured in The Old Maid’s Valentine (1900). Smith’s regular male actor from 1897 to 1900 was the local Brighton comedian, Tom Green.
1) This identifies the actor in the London Bobby film, Tom Green
2) I was intrigued by the film entitled "Mary Janes's mishap"!
3) He married in Ramsgate which is where I live!! I will be visiting the local library asap!!! |
David O'Flaherty
Detective Sergeant
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 115
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 4:50 pm: |
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I guess it's probable that all prints of the London Bobby are lost or very badly deteriorated. I know there's a movement to restore a lot of these old films and that lot of restoration is going on now around the country. I sent an email to one such lab asking for advice on how to proceed finding out if a print or stills might be out there somewhere, if it's even possible. You never know. If they don't respond, I'll try another.
I noticed George Smith made several movies with Tom Green (I keep thinking of the MTV guy).
Cheers,
Dave |
Chris Scott
Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 361
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 4:54 pm: |
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Found details from another Tom Green film from 1915 with a familiar theme!!
DESTINY'S SKIN (1915/Lubin) 3 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: George Terwilliger.
Cast: Tom Green, Ormi Hawley.
A man with a split personality commits a series of crimes during his periods of mental aberration.
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Stephen P. Ryder
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 2805
Registered: 10-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 5:58 pm: |
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Mary Jane’s Mishap; or, Don’t Play with the Paraffin does bring to mind our own Mary Jane, not to mention Polly Nichols, whose brother died in 1886 in a paraffin lamp explosion. 
There seems to have been a long series of "Mary Jane ______" films... here's two summaries of this film from AFI:
Biograph summary: Mary Jane rises early, enters kitchen yawning. Notices time of morning--hurriedly builds fire, blacks the boots--smudges her face--admires herself in a hand mirror--Grimaces (large)--discovers the fire's out--Happy idea!--Paraffin applied, strikes a light, applies same--Explosion--Mary Jane blown up the chimney. Scene--House tops--Mary Jane blown through chimney-tops amidst volumes of smoke--Mary Jane descends in pieces--Scene--Cemetery. Appropriate epitaph on tombstone--Visitors seeking M. J.'s resting place--Overcome with emotion--fright through appearance of M.J.'s ghost arising. Ghost seeks something. Found at last?--the Paraffin Can. M. J.'s ghost re-enters tomb contented. Finale--M. J.'s cat the only mourner.--Curtain and Moral. Extremely funny.
Lubin summary: Mary Jane is a typical 'Hinglish girl. She is seen in her kitchen, having overslept herself, skurrying about, trying to do a number of things at one time. She blackens the Master's boots, puts the kettle on, builds the fire, etc., etc. While engaged in shoe-blacking, she scratches her nose with the blacking brush and leaves a large black mark on her face which makes it appear that Mary Jane has a mustache. However, she goes on with her work, but the fire will not come up. Mary runs for the paraffin can, and proceeds to pour about a quart of the fluid on the apparently extinguished fire, after which she kneels on the floor to blow some life into the old kitchen range. She evidently succeeds for, suddenly an awful explosion occurs and Mary is seen traveling heavenward. The picture changes to an exterior view. The housetops appear to view. Suddenly Mary is seen to emerge from the chimney and continue her flight toward angel land. Shortly after, she descends piecemeal and when the last piece has fallen the picture dissolves into a scene laid in a graveyard where poor Mary was interred. The inscription on the tombstone is to effect that Mary had gone to heaven by the aid of paraffin. An old lady accompanied by three younger ones visits the grave but are frightened off by the ghost of the departed kitchen maid who is seen in ghostly form tightly hugging the paraffin can. Exceedingly fine.
All these leads, both Chris and David, are excellent - and another reason why I feel this area of research has a great deal to offer. Let's hope there is something to be found on at least one of these films.
I have done some preliminary research on early Mexican cinema (re: 1914 El Destripador), and most of what I've found is condensed in this paragraph:
"On the other side of the world, beginning around the same time in 1897, the Mexican Silent Film tradition entered its golden age. Producing passionate documentaries of the Mexican Revolution, as well as series and dramas, the Mexican silent film industry prospered until its decay in 1925 due to Hollywood's control of the market. During this short period, Mexico produced around ninety silent films". The vast majority, most sources agree, are lost to history. :-/
BTW: These summaries are coming from the excellent (and free) AFI Silent Film database at: http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AdvancedSearch.aspx?s=1
Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, you can't search by keyword in the Summary... so there could very well be other films in the database which involve the Ripper, but do not have "obvious" Ripper-ish titles.
Stephen P. Ryder, Editor
Casebook: Jack the Ripper
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Stephen P. Ryder
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 2806
Registered: 10-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 6:22 pm: |
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Some more bits....
An interesting headline (to give us hope...)
Lost G.A. Smith film discovered
A previously-lost film from 1897 by trick film specialist G.A. Smith, a close associate of Urban's for several years, and the inventor of Kinemacolor, has been identified at the BFI's National Film and Television Archive. The X-Rays features a courting couple (played by Tom Green and Laura Bayley, who was Smith's wife) who are secretly filmed by a man carrying a camera prominently marked 'X RAYS'. They are instantly turned into skeletons. The film was originally distributed by Urban's Warwick Trading Company. (October 1999)
A filmography of Tom Green (not the first time he played a policeman):
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Green,+Tom+(I)
Includes a lengthy biography of George Albert Smith:
http://thisiseastbourne.co.uk/eastbourne/homes/area_guides/stanns.html
Stephen P. Ryder, Editor
Casebook: Jack the Ripper
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Andrew Spallek
Detective Sergeant
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 65
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 6:44 pm: |
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"Mary Jane's mishap, or Don't fool with paraffin (1903) / G. A. Smith"
can be seen on The movies begin, a treasury of early cinema, 1894-1913, v. 2, The European pioneers [videorecording] / Kino International ; produced by Film Preservation Associates and The British Film Institute ; produced for video by Heather Stewart. New York, NY : Kino on Video, c2002.
Summary: The genesis of the motion picture medium is recreated in this 5-part collection of the cinema's formative works which reveal the foundation from which the styles and plots of contemporary cinema would later evolve. This second program includes forty formative works by Louis Lumiere, Walter Haggar, R. W. Paul, George Albert Smith, James A. Williamson, James Bamforth, and other early filmmakers.
It is quite funny.
Andy
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David O'Flaherty
Detective Sergeant
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 116
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 6:45 pm: |
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British Film Institute seems like a great potential source for Whitechapel footage: here. Their website says:
Research - Those interested in moving image archive material may be looking to investigate film on a particular theme or subject, from a certain locality, or by a particular film-maker. Researchers may also be searching for shots and sequences for use either in particular projects or to support teaching. When considering investigating moving image resources, researchers can learn more about the individual archives collections through this web site, and through the archives' own web sites. All of the archives provide information on their collections through catalogues of their material available either on their premises or online. Users should then contact the regional or national archive in order to discuss their project.
Dave
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Chris Scott
Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 362
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 6:47 pm: |
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Thanks for that last link Spry:-)
Found quite a recent Jack related film Id never heard of
Plot Summary for Champagnegalopp 1975
A Victorian aristocrat buys a former madhouse and converts it into a "love nest". Unknown to him, Jack the Ripper lives in secret passages lining the building.
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Stephen P. Ryder
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 2807
Registered: 10-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 7:08 pm: |
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Hi Chris -
You may have heard of that one by its English title "What the Swedish Butler Saw". Its little more than soft-core porn, really.
Stephen P. Ryder, Editor
Casebook: Jack the Ripper
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Leanne Perry
Chief Inspector
Username: Leanne
Post Number: 577
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 10:11 pm: |
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G'day,
This book: 'Jack the Ripper, The Murders and the Movies' says of 'Farmer Spudd and His Missus Take a Trip to Town': 'Made by the Gaumont company and partly filmed inside Madame Tussaud's itself, the short was directed by J.V. Leigh, who also played the farmer of the title. The Spudds visit Tussaud's, only to fall asleep in the Chamber of Horrors where they dream that the waxworks come to life.'
LEA! |
Cindy Collins Smith
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Thursday, August 07, 2003 - 6:15 pm: |
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Very interesting thread.
Stephen, I am very interested in researching the early Ripper films. The earliest film I have listed on Hollywood Ripper is "Lulu" (1917), which (based on the description I got from the archive it's housed in) seems to have bailed on the JtR connection to the original source material. Next time I'm in Amsterdam, though, I'll check it out! ;-)
Anyway, do you have info that could help me get started on the very early films?
Regarding Champagnegalopp, I was wondering why I'd gotten so many hits on that page since yesterday! Apparently, people saw the discussion here, checked Google or Yahoo, and my page came up. As you say, Stephen, the film is basically softcore porn... or Swedish sexploitation comedy. I found my copy under the title "Man with a Maid." I don't provide links to porn or ultraviolence on my website, so I didn't give that title over there. But I feel fairly certain that any Ripperologist watching the film will be watching it to see how they used JtR in it... correct? :-)
As for DESTRIPADOR... that is indeed an interesting find, and one that I'd like to look more into.
A word of caution, though... Not everything with "Ripper" in the title is about JtR. In fact, the film "Jack, el destripador de londres" (listed on Hollywood Ripper at http://www.hollywoodripper.com/Filmguide/films/jackthemangler.html) is not about JtR at all (even though it has JtR in the title!). It's about a modern-day killer in London whose m.o. is about dismemberment rather than disemboweling.
Since this film has "Ripper" in its Spanish title, it's what I call a "Faux Ripper." Most Faux Ripper films use "Ripper" in one of the English titles to entice English-speaking audiences into seeing the film. Some examples:
BLADE OF THE RIPPER
JACK THE RIPPER GOES WEST (Silent Sentence/Knife for the Ladies)
RIPPER OF NOTRE DAME
NEW YORK RIPPER; RIPPER (Fear City)
NIGHT RIPPER
JILL THE RIPPER
RIPPER (a recent teen slasher film)
and, one I just discovered last weekend--
ASSAULT! JACK THE RIPPER (Japanese violent softcore porn). (This movie is the subject of today's "Ripper Lady Blog." It doesn't have its own page on Hollywood Ripper yet).
Not a single one of these Faux Ripper films has Jack the Ripper in it. The teen slasher film, though, gives JtR more than a passing nod, which is considerably more than most Faux Rippers do.
If you're interested in looking into Faux Rippers and other non-JtR films vaguely or overtly associated with JtR, you might want to check out http://www.hollywoodripper.com/Filmguide/MASTER_FILMGUIDE_FauxRippers.htm
Of course, any film with "Ripper" (or "Destripador" or "Squartatore" or "Kirisaki" or any other variation of "Ripper") in the title is worth looking into. But having "Ripper" in the title doesn't mean the film will necessarily be about the Whitechapel Fiend.
--Cindy |
Stephen P. Ryder
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 2810
Registered: 10-1997
| | Posted on Friday, August 08, 2003 - 12:30 am: |
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Hi Cindy -
Great site, by the way.
And very glad that you've got an interest in tracking down these old films... I don't know a thing about film research or archives, so I'm a bit dead in the water on this one. Perhaps you'll have more luck.
All I've found to date on these films can be found on this thread. My info came mostly from the AFI Silent Film catalogues.
Good luck - let me know if you find any promising leads!!!
Stephen P. Ryder, Editor
Casebook: Jack the Ripper
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Peter R. A. Birchwood
Sergeant
Username: Pbirchwood
Post Number: 21
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 08, 2003 - 5:38 am: |
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George A. Smith:
Before he became a film pioneer, Smith was involved as part of a team with Douglas Blackburn, a Brighton Journalist in a series of very successfull mind reading experiments conducted by Frederick Myers and Edmond Gurney of the Society for Psychical Research. In later years, Blackburn, who had moved to South Africa, confessed that the success had been due to the use of a code which had fooled all of the members of the SPR. It has been suggested that knowledge of this "hoax" led to the apparent suicide of Gurney on the 22nd June 1888. |
Tom Ruffles
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 02, 2005 - 12:38 pm: |
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Hello
I have come to this thread two years after it petered out, and in any case my interest is not in Jack the Ripper but in George Albert Smith, whose career in its various manifestations I am researching. I was particularly interested to note that Chris Scott lives in Ramsgate, where Smith married Laura Bayley on 13 June 1888 at the Ebenezer Chapel (which I think was demolished in the early 1970s). They lived in the Ramsgate area for several years before moving briefly to London and then to Hove, where they settled permanently. Chris said that he was going to look into the Ramsgate connection some more and I wondered if he had done so. As I am not a member of this site I cannot contact him directly, but if he, or anyone else with new information on Smith, sees this, I would be interested to communicate with him. Thanks. |
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