Esmeralda (1915 film)

Last updated
Esmeralda
Esmeralda Mary Pckford newspaper ad.png
Newspaper ad
Directed by James Kirkwood
Written by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Based onEsmeralda
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Produced by Adolph Zukor
Daniel Frohman
CinematographyEmmett A. Williams
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • September 6, 1915 (1915-09-06)
Running time
4-5 reels
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent film
(English intertitles)

Esmeralda is a 1915 silent film starring Mary Pickford, [1] directed by James Kirkwood, [2] and produced by Adolph Zukor and stage impresario Daniel Frohman. [3]

Contents

As with the previous Pickford vehicles -- Caprice, Mistress Nell and The Dawn of a Tomorrow -- Esmeralda is based on a short story and stage play Esmeralda written by Frances Hodgson Burnett and William Gillette and produced in the 1880s. The play was acted by Annie Russell and later Viola Allen both teenagers at the time, who later became well known adult theater actresses. [4]

Cast

Plot

Esmeralda is a new kind of Mary Pickford picture. The story begins on the farm and swings around to the big city. From the simple and wholesome country girl "Esmeralda" becomes a veteran society leader. One of the big features of "Esmeralda" is the interrupted wedding ceremony in which Little Mary refuses to marry the count. It is a real Pickford scene and worth as much as many entire pictures." [5]

Preservation status

This film is now considered a lost film. [6] [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Pickford</span> Canadian actress and producer (1892-1979)

Gladys Marie Smith, known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian actress resident in the U.S., and also producer, screenwriter and film studio founder, who was a pioneer in the US film industry with a Hollywood career that spanned five decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Gillette</span> American manager and playwright

William Hooker Gillette was an American actor-manager, playwright, and stage-manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a 1916 silent film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maude Adams</span> American actress and stage designer (1872–1953)

Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden, known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American actress and stage designer who achieved her greatest success as the character Peter Pan, first playing the role in the 1905 Broadway production of Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. Adams' personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more than $1 million during her peak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Frohman</span> American theater manager and producer (1856–1915)

Charles Frohman was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Frohman produced over 700 shows, and among his biggest hit was Peter Pan, both in London and the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Darwell</span> American actress (1879–1967)

Jane Darwell was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her poignant portrayal of the matriarch and leader of the Joad family in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, for which she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Frohman</span> American film producer (1851–1940)

Daniel Frohman was an American theatrical producer and manager, and an early film producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Famous Players Film Company</span> Film studio founded by Adolph Zukor and the Frohman brothers

The Famous Players Film Company was a film company founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, powerful New York City theatre owners and producers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Doro</span> American actress

Marie Doro was an American stage and film actress of the early silent film era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marguerite Clark</span> American actress (1883–1940)

Helen Marguerite Clark was an American stage and silent film actress. As a movie actress, at one time, Clark was second only to Mary Pickford in popularity. With a few exceptions and some fragments, most Clark's films are all considered lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viola Allen</span> American actress

Viola Emily Allen was an American stage actress who played leading roles in Shakespeare and other plays, including many original plays. She starred in over two dozen Broadway productions from 1885 to 1916. Beginning in 1915, she appeared in three silent films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene O'Brien (actor)</span> American actor

Eugene O'Brien was an American silent film star and stage actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rita Jolivet</span> American–British actress

Marguerite Lucile Jolivet, known professionally as Rita Jolivet, was a British actress in theatre and silent films in the early 20th century. She was known in private life as the Countess Marguerita de Cippico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blanche Walsh</span> American actress

Blanche Walsh was a highly regarded American stage actress who appeared in one film, Resurrection based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy and the first three reel treatment of any Tolstoy story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Hedman</span> American dramatist

Martha Hedman was a Swedish-American stage actress popular on the Broadway stage.

<i>The Dawn of a Tomorrow</i> (1924 film) 1924 film by George Melford

The Dawn of a Tomorrow is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by George Melford, produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures, and starring Jacqueline Logan. It is based on the 1906 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett which had been filmed before in 1915 also titled as The Dawn of a Tomorrow with Mary Pickford. A play version had been produced on Broadway in 1909 which served as the final starring stage role for Eleanor Robson Belmont.

<i>Caprice</i> (1913 film) 1913 film

Caprice is a 1913 silent film produced by Daniel Frohman and Adolph Zukor released by Famous Players Film Company and starring Mary Pickford. J. Searle Dawley directed. Though Zukor helped finance the film it was distributed on a 'State's Rights' arrangement primarily since no Paramount Pictures had yet to exist. The story of this film had been acted on the stage by a young Minnie Maddern Fiske in the 1880s, one of her earliest successes as an adult actress. The same story gives Pickford the chance to arise to the height of a fine actress instead of just merely a popular performer. This film is lost.

<i>A Good Little Devil</i> 1913 American film

A Good Little Devil is a 1914 silent film starring Mary Pickford, produced by Adolph Zukor and Daniel Frohman, and distributed on a 'State's Rights' basis. It was Pickford's first feature-length film.

<i>The Dictator</i> (1915 film) 1915 film by Edwin Stanton Porter

The Dictator is a 1915 American silent comedy film directed by Oscar Eagle and reputedly Edwin S. Porter. It was based on a play The Dictator by Richard Harding Davis and produced by Adolph Zukor and the Charles Frohman Company. John Barrymore stars in a role played on the stage by William Collier, Sr. whose company Barrymore had performed in this play. The film was rereleased on April 13, 1919 as part of the Paramount "Success Series" of their early screen successes. The story was refilmed in 1922 as The Dictator starring Wallace Reid. Today both films are lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyceum Theatre (Park Avenue South)</span> Former theatre in Manhattan, New York

The Lyceum Theatre was a theatre in New York City located on Fourth Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets in Manhattan. It was built in 1885 and operated until 1902, when it was torn down to make way for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower. It was replaced by a new Lyceum Theatre on 45th Street. For all but its first two seasons, the theatre was home to Daniel Frohman's Lyceum Theatre Stock Company, which presented many important plays and actors of the day.

<i>Fanchon the Cricket</i> 1915 American film

Fanchon the Cricket is a 1915 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players Film Company and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is based on a novel, La Petite Fadette by George Sand. It was directed by James Kirkwood and stars Mary Pickford, at the time working for Adolph Zukor and Daniel Frohman. A previous film version of the story was released in 1912 by IMP and directed by Herbert Brenon.

References

  1. "Esmeralda*". Mary Pickford Foundation. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  2. Pickford, Mary (1915), Esmeralda , retrieved 2019-12-03
  3. "Daniel Frohman Esmeralda". World News. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  4. "Annie Russell and Leslie Allen in Esmerelda | Broadway Photographs". www.broadway.cas.sc.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  5. "MARY PICKFORD AT COLONIAL TOMORROW IN FILM SUCCESS". The Tacoma Times. Tacoma, Wash. October 6, 1915. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  6. The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films 1911-20 by The American Film Institute, c. 1988
  7. Esmeralda at silentera.com