Looking for Mabel Normand

Madcap Mabel Normand

New Years 1915 in New York

by

Marilyn Slater

 


 

Thursday, December 30, 1915, Mabel arrived in New York, with Roscoe after finishing Fatty and Mabel Adrift[1] for Triangle on Thursday, December 30, 1915.  There was a party of 12 that had traveled by train leaving LA on Sunday, just a day after Christmas; they were in Chicago for only a few hours for lunch at the College Inn[2] with William N. Selig[3], of the Selig Polyscope Company, Julian Johnson and James R. Quirk of Photoplay Magazine[4] and Kitty Kelly of the Chicago Times.  On the train were Mabel Normand, Minta Durfee, Al St. John, Roscoe Arbuckle, Joe Bordeaux and others.

 

They arrived in New York, Thursday afternoon, December 30, escorted by Traveling Passenger Agent Pike of the San Pedro Road. They were met at Grand Central station by Frank Myers of the New York Central and a number of the New York Motion Picture and Triangle executives also Mrs. Ford Sterling (Teddy Sampson) and Syd Chaplin were among the friends who greeted the newcomers at the station.

   

 

Even with the reports of Mabel’s injury a few weeks before they left the West Coast, the newspapers wrote that Mabel was looking fresh as a daisy; the party came directly to New York since she was still recovering from the serious accident. The Triangle group were starting to work at the Willat Studio in Fort Lee NJ[5] after the first of the year. Roscoe would be directing the company. 

 

On New Year’s night, Mabel and the other Keystoners were at the Lexington Opera House[6] to see “Peter Rabbit in Dreamland[7],” as the guests of the New York Globe.  After her injury and her grueling schedule in California, Mabel was able to enjoy the applauds of over 2,000 fans for the New Year’s festivities. She was home and ready to start work.


                 photo from 'Fort Lee: The Film Town' by Richard Koszaraki

Ferris Hartman was on the train to New York with the Triangle Company in December 1915. Information on Harman is on other page (link)

 

[1] FATTY AND MABEL ADRIFT

Triangle-Keystone 2674 ft., Jan. 8, 1916           

dir. Roscoe Arbuckle  cast:  Roscoe Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Al St. John, Frank Hayes, May Wells, Glen Cavender, Wayland Trask, James Bryant, Joe Bordeaux, Luke (dog)

Location: Santa Monica, CA copyright:  Jan. 10, 1916

 

 

[2] The College Inn was the famed restaurant at the Hotel Sherman at Randolph Street between Clark and LaSalle, a hotel was on that spot from 1837.  The College Inn during the 1910s and 1920s was the premier jazz venue and introduced the jazz of Isham Jones. 

 

[3] William Nicholas Selig was Chicago based although by 1909, he had three studios in operation, one each in New Orleans, California, and Chicago.  In December 1915, when Mabel had lunch with him at the College Inn, he closed the Chicago studio and had moved his entire operations into the Mission Avenue Zoo/Studio Edendale (this was probably done in July 1915 during the Selig Exposition Special Train Tour).

 

[4] In 1915 Julian Johnson and James R. Quirk became the editors (the James R. Quirk Film and Performing Arts Awards was named for him), and together Johnson and Quirk created a format which would set a precedent for almost all celebrity magazines that followed. At one point, Photoplay published the writings of Hedda Hopper, Walter Winchell, Adela Rogers St. John, Sheilah Graham, and Louella Parsons, and among others.

 

[5] Carl A Willatowski (Doc Willat) had the property on the northwest corner of Main Street and Linwood Avenue in Fort Lee.  After 1915, William Fox used the studio.  In 1916, Mabel and Roscoe moved into the greenhouse style studio to make films for Triangle.

 

[6] Known as the Lexington Avenue Theatre in New York

 

[7] The ‘Peter Rabbit in Dreamland’ is based on the series of stories for children about animals, and the adventures of Peter and his large family of cottontails, Reddy Fox, and the rest the denizens of the forest. NY Times April 18, 1916

 

 

PETER RABBIT AGAIN.

Extravaganza Revived at the Century

in Aid of Two Hospitals.

“Peter Rabbit in Dreamland,” an extravaganza, presented at the Lexington Avenue Theatre during the Christmas holidays, was given again yesterday afternoon at the Century as the first of a series of matinee performances for the benefit of the Flower and Sydenham Hospitals.  The play is based on the series of stories for children about animals, and the adventures of Peter and his large family of cottontails, Reddy Fox, and the rest the denizens of the forest compose a play well adapted for the entertainment of children.

There are 350 persons in the various scenes, many of them children.  These range in size from youngsters just big enough to toddle across the stage to debutantes and prep schoolboys.  The principal roles are taken by professional players.  The extravaganza will be given every afternoon this week except Good Friday.

The New York Times,

April 18, 1916