Mickey Grogan (Frankie Darro), a nine-year old vagabond of the streets, assumes the responsibility for the well-being of a fellow homeless waif (Susan Dale, played by Lassie Lou Ahern), a sensitive architect named Jeffrey Shore (Carroll Nye) who is out of work for being too poor to pay for an operation necessary to save his remaining vision, and a kind-hearted office worker (Winnie, played by Jobyna Ralston) who is being stalked by a belligent Al Nevers (Billy Scott) as his overbearing attentions increasingly turn violent. On top of this, he also helps an industrialist (Crauford Kent) who is looking for a new factory design for his upcoming fleet of buildings, ones showcasing "plenty of light and air." In between the assistance he gives others, he tries to make a living from selling discarded items from the city dump and provides moments of vivacious street entertainment with fellow dancers Susan Dale and a strangely uncredited Eugene Jackson.
Thematic and Stylistic Influences
In his lengthy analysis of the film, film scholar and historian Jeffrey Crouse writes that "Little Mickey Grogan begins as if what we were watching was a kind of forerunner of Italian neorealism, like Jean Renoir's Toni or Yasujiro Ozu's An Inn at Tokyo (both 1935), or the type of Zolaesque social realist cinema exercised during the silent era in such films as La Roue (Gance, 1923) or The Salvation Hunters (von Sternberg, 1925). ... [However] [i]f the viewer conceives of Little Mickey Grogan as a work of proto-neorealism, it is a perception that the movie soon corrects. Instead, it emerges neither as a neorealist film nor as a Buñuelian-type surrealist text, but as an engagingly well-polished thematic and stylistic example of what would become, with the consolidation of the studio system around 1930, classical Hollywood cinema.[4]
Production Background
Little Mickey Grogan is based on syndicated stories of the same name written by Arthur Guy Emprey, whose war experiences fighting as an American in the British army during World War I served as the material for his 1917 book, Over the Top, a big commercial success that sold a quarter of a million copies. Although noting the differences between them, Crouse theorizes that Emprey might have conceived of the character Mickey Grogan based on his time in France where Louis Feuillade's Bout de Zan formed the basis of a popular serial that ran from 1912 to 1916.[5] FBO acquired the rights to serve as a vehicle for child actor Frankie Darro, one of the studio's top emerging stars. Fresh off the success of her role as Little Harry in Universal's epic, Uncle Tom's Cabin (Pollard, 1927), Lassie Lou Ahern was cast opposite him. To give the film extra star power, accomplished Harold Lloyd costar Jobyna Ralston was added. Made in-between her leading roles in Ted Wilde's The Kid Brother and William Wellman's Wings, 1927 turned out to be her crowning year.
The force that brought the Emprey stories to FBO was writer Gene Statton-Porter, one of the biggest bestselling authors of the early twentieth century, of which A Girl of the Limberlost (1909) is her most well-known. She formed her own production company to have control over the screen adaptations of her works, as well as those by other family-friendly authors. After her unexpected death in 1922, her daughter Jeanette Stratton-Porter took over, following her mother's original conception. She hand-picked screenwriters, directors (including husband, James Leo Meehan), camera operators, and film editors. They released their work through the American arm of the British distribution company, the Robertson-Cole Corporation, and eventually through the FBO. Among the artists who worked with Jeanette Stratton-Porter were the notable contributions of women. Chief among them were Dorothy Yost (who, along with husband Dwight Cummins, was the script writer on Little Mickey Grogan),[6] as well as fellow writers Marion Orth and Adele S. Buffington."Yost's work is marked by an ethical current that runs through [her scripts], and as such figure as tales of moral uplift. In addition, she was also known for scripts that featured characters from a range of diverse cultural backgrounds. She did not shy away from a view of humanity that took in and showed different ethnic groups."[7] All of this is reflected in Little Mickey Grogan. In this sense, a Whitmanesque strain runs through the film, syncing well with Emprey and Stratton-Porter's sensibilities.
Restoration
Restoration on Little Mickey Grogan begin in 2015 when surviving cast member Lassie Lou Ahern approached Jeffrey Crouse to ask whether her final silent film existed anymore. (Surpassed only by Diana Serra Cary's "Baby Peggy," Ahern would prove to be the last Hollywood performer who enjoyed a substantial career in 1920s film.)[8] After a worldwide search, an original 35mm nitrate copy was found at the Lobster Film Archive in Paris. Through a crowd source funding campaign, a digital copy of it was made by film preservationist Eric Grayson, and work on restoring the movie was performed by Grayson, Thad Komorowski, and Nevada State College students Aubrey Balzart and Cinnamon Stephens. A newly commissioned score was written by Dr. Philip Carli. Meanwhile, the film's intertitles were changed back to the English ones from the lone French print using an original copy of the script that Ahern still possessed. In addition, a 50-minute documentary on Ahern's career, Lassie Lou Ahern: A Voice for the Silent Age was made in 2016, and in 2018 a 7,000 word assessment of the film by Crouse appeared as well as a commentary track recorded of Ahern discussing the film and aspects of her silent film career. Among those who championed the restoration were Kevin Brownlow, Diana Serra Cary, George Toles, Leonard Maltin, Michael Feinstein, David Shepard, Guy Maddin, and Carol Cling. Owing to very complex issues of copyright, a Blu-ray release of the film, with several bonus features, was delayed until the film enters the public domain. It does so on January 1, 2023. After screenings at silent film festivals throughout 2023, the Blu-Ray release of the film will follow.
Little Mickey Grogan is the only FBO film starring Frankie Darro known to have survived. It is also the sole Gene Stratton-Porter Production Company motion picture distributed through FBO known to exist today. Of the 449 films made by FBO, just 123 remain. Interestingly, there is an ostentatious shot in the film in which a large billboard advertises another FBO film, the now lost Judgment of the Hills released earlier in 1927, and also featuring star Darro, director Meehan, screenwriter Yost, and editor Allen G. Siegler.[10]
Jean Darling was an American child actress who was a regular in the Our Gang short subjects series from 1927–29. Prior to her death, she was one of four surviving cast members from the silent era cast of Our Gang. At the time of her death in 2015, Darling was, along with Baby Peggy, one of the last surviving actors who worked in the silent film era.
Richard Arlen was an American actor of film and television.
Frankie Darro was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles in adventure, western, dramatic, and comedy films, and later became a character actor and voice-over artist. He is perhaps best known for his role as Lampwick, the unlucky boy who turns into a donkey in Walt Disney's second animated feature, Pinocchio (1940). In early credits, his last name was spelled Darrow.
Jobyna Ralston was an American stage and film actress. She had a featured role in Wings in 1927, but is perhaps best remembered today for her on-screen chemistry with Harold Lloyd, with whom she appeared in seven films.
Girl Shy is a 1924 romantic comedy silent film starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston. The movie was written by Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan and Ted Wilde and was directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Taylor. In 2020, the film entered the public domain.
Hot Water is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor and starring Harold Lloyd. It features three episodes in the life of Hubby (Lloyd) as he struggles with domestic life with Wifey and his in-laws.
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry is a 1937 American musical comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in their first film together.
Special Delivery is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by Roscoe Arbuckle, starring Eddie Cantor, Jobyna Ralston and William Powell. It was written by Cantor, John F. Goodrich and George Marion Jr.. It was released by Paramount Pictures. The film's copyright was renewed, so it will not be in the public domain until January 1, 2023.
Dorothy Yost, later married as Dorothy Yost Cummings, was a prominent screenwriter whose career lasted from the silent era well into the sound era. Over her lifetime, she worked on more than 90 films, including her own screenplays. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and died in Monrovia, California.
Robert Carroll Nye was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1925 and 1944.
Cradle Robbers is a 1924 short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 26th Our Gang short subject released.
Jubilo, Jr. is a 1924 short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 27th Our Gang short subject released.
The Sun Down Limited is a 1924 American short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 30th Our Gang short subject released. The title is a play on the Southern Pacific Railroad's Sunset Limited train service. The Sun Down Limited was remade in 1929 during the sound era as Railroadin'.
Excuse Me is a 1925 American silent comedy film starring Norma Shearer and Conrad Nagel. It was directed by Alfred J. Goulding, and based on the 1911 play of the same name written by best-selling novelist Rupert Hughes. The comedy concerns naval officer Harry Mallory and his would-be bride Marjorie Newton who spend most of their time running up and down a train looking for a clergyman to marry them.
Peggy Lenore Ahearn Blaylock, known professionally as Peggy Ahern, was an American actress best known for her appearance in eight of the Our Gang series of films released between 1924 and 1927. The Our Gang series, which was also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of comedic, short silent films created by director and producer Hal Roach. Ahern was one of the last surviving cast members from a Hal Roach film.
Lassie Lou Ahern was an American actress. Originally discovered by Will Rogers, she was best known for her role as Little Harry in the 1927 silent film Uncle Tom's Cabin and also for her recurring appearances in the Our Gang films. Except for "Baby Peggy", Ahern was one of the last living performers who had a substantial career during Hollywood's silent era.
Freckles is a 1935 American drama film directed by Edward Killy and William Hamilton from a screenplay written by Dorothy Yost, adapted by Mary Mayes from Gene Stratton-Porter's 1904 novel of the same name. Two earlier adaptations of Stratton-Porter's novel had been produced, the first by Paramount in 1917, and the second in 1928 by FBO, both were also titled Freckles. This 1935 version was released by RKO Radio Pictures on October 4, and stars Tom Brown, Virginia Weidler, and Carol Stone.
The Forbidden Woman is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Jetta Goudal, Ivan Lebedeff and Leonid Snegoff. The film is set in French North Africa.
James Leo Meehan was an American film director and screenwriter. He married the daughter of writer Gene Stratton-Porter, and adapted several of his mother-in-law's novels for the screen.
A Girl of the Limberlost is a 1924 American silent film, produced by Gene Stratton-Porter and directed by James Leo Meehan. It stars Gloria Grey, Emily Fitzroy, and Arthur Currier, and was released on April 28, 1924. The first adaptation of Stratton-Porter's famous novel, this silent film is considered lost.
↑ Jeffrey Crouse, "Gutter Kids: Little Mickey Grogan at 90," Film International, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2018, pp. 18-19.
↑ Jeffrey Crouse, "Gutter Kids: Little Mickey Grogan at 90", Film International, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2018, p. 18
↑ Kim Tomadjolou, "Dorothy Yost," in Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal and Monica Dall'Asta (eds) Women Film Pioneers Project, New York, NY: Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, Columbia University, 2013.
↑ Jeffrey Crouse, "Gutter Kids: Little Mickey Grogan at 90," Film International, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2018, p. 20.
↑ Jeffrey Crouse, "Lassie Lou Ahern Obituary," The Guardian, February 26, 2018.
Jeffrey Crouse, "We Were All Rushing. Why? Because We Were Preparing to Go to the Movies! Actress Lassie Lou Ahern reminiscences about her gorgeous career in Hollywood silent pictures," Film International, Vol. 13, No.1, 2015, pp.20–42.
Eric Grayson, "Limberlost Found: Indiana's Literary Legacy in Hollywood," Traces, Winter, 2007, pp.42–47.
Leonard Maltin, "Lassie Lou Ahern: Silent Film Actress Stars in a Fundraising Video," Leonardmaltin.com, October 7, 2016, https://leonardmaltin.com/tag/lassie-lou-ahern/. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
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