MABEL NORMAND – Born Amabel Ethelreid Normand on November 9th, 1893 in New York, this silent film comedienne blazed trails for countless subsequent actresses as well as female directors and screenwriters. Like so many silent film stars Normand is largely neglected today except for my fellow silent movie geeks and I.
Though known as a comic genius, Mabel’s big break came from a role in an 18-minute dramatic short titled Her Awakening (1911). Her performance caught the eye of up-and-coming film giant Mack Sennett, who hired her for his comedies. The two started a romantic relationship embellished decades later in the Broadway musical Mack & Mabel (1974).
A SELECTION OF MABEL NORMAND FILMS (1910-1915) – During her career, Normand starred in over 220 films, so I’m dividing her movies into time periods.
INDISCRETION OF BETTY (1910) – Mabel had her first starring role in this short drama but had appeared in an unknown number of previous films in smaller roles. Mabel played Betty, the wife in the marriage of a social-climbing couple.
Her husband’s income does not yet support the airs they try to put on, leading to some bitter lessons for the pair about life and marital finances.
HER AWAKENING (1911) – The above-mentioned short in which Mabel caught the eye of Mack Sennett, who then signed her for comedy collaborations. In this short drama, Normand played a young lady trying to snare a successful husband.
She is ashamed of her poor home and her elderly, handicapped mother and prevents her beaus from meeting the mother. The situation results in the tragic death of her mother.
THROUGH HIS WIFE’S PICTURE (1911) – Mabel Normand’s first film short with Mack Sennett. He directed and had a supporting role in this 9-minute comedy about a misunderstanding that threatens a marriage.
Mabel as the wife attends a costume party where she thinks she will catch her loyal husband trying to start an affair with another woman. The costumed pirate she mistakenly thinks is her husband is actually an unmarried friend of the husband. The “pirate’s” flirtatious conduct toward a young lady makes Normand furious. Continue reading
THE MAN IN THE BLACK CLOAK (1886) by P.T. Raymond (Francis W Doughty). Before Batman there was the Shadow. Before the Shadow there was Judex. And before Judex there was the Man in the Black Cloak, or simply the Black Cloak as I’ll call him for short. And ironically, four years before The Man in the Black Cloak was published there was simply The Man in Black, a story I will examine another time. 
It’s time for another current events roundup, courtesy of
To counter that here’s a letter written to Heaven by the child of a law enforcement officer killed by an illegal immigrant. It’s just as sad, Democrats. Do you immature drama queens STILL think that heart-breaking letters written by children should form the basis of a country’s immigration policy? Or have you decided to finally grow up?
Balladeer’s Blog’s love of quality horror ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) has been well established. In the past I’ve examined productions like Local 58, Claridryl and Jack Torrance (NOT the character from The Shining.) 
The eerie storyline revolves around the disappearance of a beautiful young Polish woman named Ania Slowinska and the dark, seemingly supernatural forces behind it. As the tale unfolds it becomes apparent other women have fallen victim to the same forces, with one having had all her teeth removed after being murdered. 
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1916) – The famous first cinematic adaptation of the Jules Verne classic. Having loved the version of this pioneering 1916 film that was available during the 1990s and earlier I had put off watching the restored and upgraded version released in 2010. 
Personally, I would have preferred that Universal had just produced a shorter 20,000 Leagues film that was all Leagues and nothing but Leagues, then release The Mysterious Island later as a sequel. In 1916 audience expectations were not yet such that movies had to run the 86 to 105 minutes boasted by surviving copies of 20,000 Leagues. 
Have I mentioned lately that anti-Trumpers are the most ignorant, uninformed and emotionally unstable people I have ever seen? They still haven’t learned to curb their brain-dead enthusiasm for reading “nazi salutes” and the like into waves from people associated with him. 
At any rate, this blog post shows just a few of the photos online which featured Democrats Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren and many, many more of their ilk making that same arm gesture when waving to crowds. 
Democrats, you are in no way fit to compare yourselves to heroic people who were often killed or tortured by REAL nazis, often being herded to their deaths with the laughter of their killers being the last thing they ever heard. NO Democrat today would have the courage to take any actual risk by opposing the world’s REAL forces of oppression in 2025.
Not even having the career criminal installed in his place in 2020 unleashing his attack dogs in the DOJ on him stopped him. Not even the heinous heads of the CIA stopped him. Not even multiple assassination attempts stopped him. (Though let’s face it, America’s cesspool of a political establishment may yet try more impeachments and assassination attempts against him.) 
But most importantly, the man himself prevailed. By refusing to give in to forces that would have stopped lesser figures, Trump inspired America’s voters to remember the many successes from his first term and take note of the failures, graft and lies of the white-collar criminals who opposed him. From BOTH parties. 
Balladeer's Blog 