PREMIERES -- PRESERVATION -- PROJECTS
Two Vitagraph Shorts, Two Christmas Tides (1909) starring Maurice Costello and A Night In Dreamland (1907), were recently preserved through the UCLA Film Archive with monies raised by the Silent Society's Film Preservation Fund. They were presented for the first time (probably since their initial release) as a part of the Silent Society's "Silent Night" Christmas program at UCLA on December 4th.
A Night In
Dreamland featured color tints which were added to the film using a dye
process similar to the process used originally in the silent era, a process
that UCLA recently began experimenting with. These unique primitive films provided
a charming Victorian view of Christmas fantasy and are a welcome addition to
the titles that have been preserved by donations collected from members Silent
Society of Hollywood Heritage.
These rare "orphan" films have no copyright holder or studio to finance their preservation and their primitive silent nature makes the possibility of financial recoupement small. Therefore the Silent Society has created the Silent Film Preservation Fund to make sure that future generations have an opportunity to study and appreciate these important chapters of film history in their original 35mm form by gathering donations for their preservation.
Donations as small as $5.00 and as large as $1500.00 have been combined for the preservation of several films which have included the only known surviving prints of short subjects, preview trailers of lost films, and feature films. The collective works of John Ford, Dorothy Gish, Our Gang, Alice Guy Blache, Ernst Lubitsch, and others are more complete through these efforts.
New projects include Hash House Mashers with Charley Chase (1915) and A Little Cycling Before Breakfast With Al St. John (1926). To make a tax-deductible donation to the Silent Society Film Preservation Fund checks should be sent to The Silent Society of Hollywood Heritage, c/o R. Haberkamp, 978 S. Muirfield Road, Los Angeles, CA 90019.