MARIE WALCAMP (1894-1936) – Like her fellow silent film icons Douglas Fairbanks and Buster Keaton, Marie Walcamp did most of her own stunts. This earned her the nickname “the daredevil of the movies” as she dazzled audiences in serials, westerns and other action films.
Walcamp also appeared in other types of productions, of course. Among her earliest roles she played the younger version of the female lycanthrope in the 1913 horror film The Werewolf, reviewed previously here at Balladeer’s Blog.
Marie’s final appearance came in a supporting role in the movie In a Moment of Temptation (1927). The talented figure became prone to depression over the years and when her husband was out of town one day in 1936, she committed suicide by turning on the gas in their residence. Her ashes were scattered on the Universal Studios back lot per her request.
Below are some of Marie Walcamp’s milestone films and serials.
TEMPEST CODY – Marie was already getting above the title billing by the time her two-reel Tempest Cody western shorts came along in 1919. Tempest was a hard-riding, two-fisted, straight-shooting woman of the old west who was always on the side of right.
TEMPEST CODY HITS THE TRAIL (September 1st, 1919) – One of the many, many silent films which has not survived, this kicked off Universal’s Spur and Saddle package of westerns.
TEMPEST CODY FLIRTS WITH DEATH (September 8th, 1919) Continue reading
FIRE DRILL aka Simulacro de Incendio (1897) – On January 24th of this year, Gabriel Veyre (at left) held the very first exhibition of silent film shorts in Cuban history at a theater in Havana. 
FILM COMMERCIAL FOR LA TROPICAL BEER aka the Missing Sorcerer (1898) – This was the very first film directed by a native Cuban – Jose Esteban Casasús, a noted pioneer of Cuban Cinema. Lasting just under a minute, this short advertised the brewery & product of La Tropical beer and was produced by Cinemataca de Cuba.
CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY (1901) – A film capturing the 1901 assembly, the equivalent of our Constitutional Convention. Following the defeat of Spain in the Spanish-American War, Cuba produced its first constitution a few years later. That document was openly based on the United States Constitution but had 115 articles instead of America’s 7. 
THE MYSTERY OF DR. FU MANCHU (1923) – One of the earliest, if not THE earliest, big screen adaptations of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels, which launched in 1913. The tales depicted the brilliant Chinese figure Dr. Fu Manchu at most plotting global domination but most often uniting many Far Eastern races against White Colonial nations to drive them out of Asia. 
BESS THE DETECTRESS – Bess Meredyth was a silent film starlet, writer and director. This particular blog post will focus on her Bess the Detectress character at Universal Studios but in the future Balladeer’s Blog will cover other aspects of her life and career. 
BESS THE DETECTRESS IN THE OLD MILL AT MIDNIGHT (Jun 1914) – The first short in the Bess the Detectress series. When the stage show she was performing in closes as a flop, Bess is left scrambling for her next meal. She spots a Wanted poster offering a reward of $200.00 (equal to $6,300 in 2025) for the capture of the male outlaw Honey Hall. 
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. 
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 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. 
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. 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1914) – This British production was directed by Harold M. Shaw and runs a bit over 22 minutes. Charles Rock starred as Ebenezer Scrooge and he delivered a very good performance, diminished only by the brief running time. 
THE SHEIK (1921) – Edith Maude Hull’s 1919 novel came to the big screen to cement Rudolph Valentino’s rising star. He shone as Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan with Agnes Ayers as Lady Diane Mayo.
A lot of Gothic Romance Novel antics follow in this film that has not aged well. Valentino’s wide eyes and flaring nostrils were masterfully parodied by Peter Sellers in a comedy bit decades later. 
As their battle of wills goes on, Diane is seized by caravan robbers and taken to their leader’s lair. Sheik Ahmed leads his men to the rescue, and, with Stockholm Syndrome well and truly in charge, Lady Diane “realizes” how much she has fallen in love with her abductor.
Since this is Easter Week the Silent Film geek in me figured I’d post this 44-minute work about Jesus from the cradle to the crucifixion. 
HOLLYWOOD (1980) – A week ago Balladeer’s Blog took a look at the classic documentaries 
THE PIONEERS – A look at the era when movie production was predominantly in New York and New Jersey, until expenses and encroachments by organized crime forced the industry to migrate to Hollywood, CA, a place then known mostly for its lemon groves. Featuring footage from The Great Train Robbery (1903) on up through films from the mid-teens and the 1920s like Ben-Hur (1925), The Black Pirate (1926), The Fire Brigade (1927) and The Wind (1928). 
SINGLE BEDS AND DOUBLE STANDARDS – Stories from the raucous, hard-partying years of Hollywood’s silent movie era. As 
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