Uptown Celeb Sightings

Uptown’s Online History Museum, HistoryTV, has uploaded a new exhibit to YouTube.

“Movie Capital of the World” (from the talented Magnolia Malden Neighbors Block Club)

Part 1 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwsqs6UZWtc

Part 2 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U8s_PWJ2sQ

Part 3 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6-ztpUcWPs

· Movie Stars
· Motion Picture Industry Pioneers
· Cartoons
· Two Movie Studios
· Oscar-Winners
· …and much, much more!

Of course, you can still view this exhibit on the HistoryTV link of http://mmneighbors.com/, where this animation segment also features an extensive Filmography of over 425 Essanay Studios movies, produced right here in Uptown, Chicago.

A Few Interesting Titles:

· Where Is My Hair (1907)
· The Football Craze (1908)
· The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1908)
· Who is Smoking That Rope? (1908)
· An Obstinate Tooth (1908)
· Mr. Flip (1909) – which featured “the first cinematic pie-in-the-face”
· My Wife’s Gone to the Country (Hooray! Hooray!) (1909)
· Scenes from the World’s Largest Pigeon Farm (1909)
· The Curse of Cocaine (1909)
· C-H-I-C-K-E-N Spells Chicken (1910)
· Flower Parade at Pasadena, California (1910)
· The Dumb Half Breed’s Defense (1910)
· Gay, Gay, Let Us Be Married (1911)
· The Clown’s Baby (1911)
· His New Job (1915) – This was Charlie Chaplin’s first Essanay Film, produced at the Uptown Chicago Studio. Gloria Swanson, in this fascinating article, also claims she was an “uncredited” extra, in addition to describing her role at Chicago’s Essanay Studios. Here is a link to scenes from the actual movie
· Sherlock Holmes (1916) – This was the “earliest American film adaptation” of Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes.” It starred William Gillette, a stage actor whose famous (and rather odd) castle can be found in East Haddam, Connecticut.