Depending on how you look at things, Cousin Jim might be the first “indie” movie ever filmed in Chicago. There were plenty of Chicago filmmakers doing experiments in the early days, but by 1916, films were big business, and nearly all were made by studios. Cousin Jim stands out in film history because it was not by…
Tag: movies
Behind the Book Video 1: HH Holmes
In August, Simon and Schuster will be publishing my new novel, Just Kill Me, which is all about a ghost tour guide who makes places more haunted by killing people at them. I’ve put together a series of short videos on the research that went into learning about the different tour stops that appear in the…
Mary Holland: “Chicago’s Woman Sherlock Holmes”
Mary E. Holland is a largely forgotten figure today, but she was well known around town in her time, and deserves to re-take her place as a famous part of Chicago history. One of the first female detectives in America, she presented forensic analysis at the first modern trial in which a man was convicted on…
Chicago-made 1916 Sherlock Holmes Film Recovered!
As some of you know, this spring I’ll have new book out on silent film production in Chicago. Co-written with Michael Glover Smith, Flickering Empire will be published by Wallflower, the film studies imprint of Columbia University Press. In the draft, we talk a bit about the Sherlock Holmes film that Chicago’s Essanay studios made in…
The Missing EASTLAND movie?
In 1915, when the Eastland capsized in the Chicago river, one enterprising camera man ran to a fire escape on the Reid Murdoch building, just across the river from the disaster, and began to film. Eventually he got footage not just of the boat on its side, with firemen racing across it, stretchers (with the bodies…
Selig Polyscope Week: Selig’s Brave New World (Los Angeles)
New Episode!Colonel Selig’sMoving Picture Plant Download mp3from archive.org More Podcasts Pictures and info on Selig Polyscope We occasionally catch some flack around here for saying that Chicago invented Hollywood. It’s true that it’ll take us a whole book to back up that contention, but it’s true. In fact, the first guy to film commercially in…
Selig Polyscope Week: Col. Selig’s Movie Acting Tips from 1910
New Episode!Colonel Selig’sMoving Picture Plant Download mp3from archive.org More Podcasts Pictures and info on Selig Polyscope In the process of researching Selig, we found a wonderful article Col. Selig wrote of “tips for motion picture acting.” It was so entertaining that both Chicago Unbelievable and White City Cinema are posting it today. Anyone appearing…
Selig Polyscope Week: Hunting Lions at Irving and Western
New Episode!Colonel Selig’sMoving Picture Plant Download mp3from archive.org More Podcasts Selig Polyscope info and pictures Selig Polyscope Week continues both at Chicago Unbelievable and White City Cinema! In 1908, Teddy Roosevelt decided not to run for a third term as President. Instead, after his second term, he left to go on safari in Africa. Colonel…