Arvid E. Gillstrom Movies
Disproving the old bromide that Scandinavians were somber and brooding, silent-screen director Arvid E. Gillstrom, from Gothenburg, Sweden, specialized in comedies. One of the first moviemakers to settle in geographical Hollywood, Gillstrom directed comedies for that community's first motion picture company, Nestor. Briefly working for Mack Sennett's Keystone company in nearby Eddendale, Gillstrom later made a name for himself directing King Bee comedies starring Chaplin imitator Billy West, one of whose leading ladies, Ethel Burton, he married. In the 1920s, Gillstrom directed (and sometimes wrote) comedies starring toddler Baby Peggy, and branched into feature films, helming such popular farces as Clancy's Kosher wedding (1927), featuring rotund George Sidney, and Legionnaires in Paris (1927), starring the team of Al Cooke and Kit Guard. In his later years, Gillstrom directed Harry Langdon two-reelers for Educational. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1927
Comedians Al Cooke and Kit Guard would never be mistaken for Laurel and Hardy (or even Olsen and Johnson, for that matter), but they managed to supply plenty of laughs in the low-budget Legionnaires in Paris. Not "Foreign" Legionnaires, however, but American Legionnaires, at large in the City of Light. Suckered into believing they've killed a man, WWI doughboys Al and Kit are divested of their bankroll by a clever con artist. Convinced that they're fugitives from justice, our heroes flee Paris, landing jobs at an upstate New York beanery. Years later, the American Legion elects two delegates to attend a convention in Paris -- and guess which two are chosen? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kit Guard, Louise Lorraine, (more)
- 1927
This entertaining knockoff of Abie's Irish Rose and The Cohens and the Kellys stars George Sidney and Will Armstrong as rival clothing-store owners Hyman Cohen and Timothy Clancy. Right on schedule, Cohen's daughter Leah (Sharon Lynn) and Clancy's son Tom (Rex Lease) fall in love. To break up the romance, Cohen forces Leah to date the suitor of his choice, Jewish boxer Izzy Murphy (Ed Brady). Determined to win back his sweetheart, Tom challenges Izzy to a fight, while both fathers place bets on the outcome, putting up their businesses as collateral. Tom wins, whereupon the young lovers force Cohen and Clancy to merge their stores, allowing the two bickering neighbors to live scrappily ever after. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sidney
- 1924
Starring silent screen comedienne Billie Rhodes, this long-lost comedy-drama was a parody of the barnstorming stage melodramas of yore. Separated from her mother (Claire McDowell), tomboy Geraldine Brent (Rhodes) is brought east by relatives. Meanwhile, back out west poor ma is dispossessed by evil mortgage holders Masters (Kate Price) and Colonel Pettijohn (Joseph W. Girard) and sent to the poorhouse. Learning about her mother's dreadful fate, "Gerry" rushes back home and gets the goods on the villains with the able assistance of rich kid Dan Forbes (William Collier, Jr.). Leave It to Gerry was a rare comedy effort from Benjamin F. Wilson, a producer of low-budget action melodramas and westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1919
WWI had just ended a couple of months earlier, but little Jane Lee and her sister, Katherine Lee, were still doing their part in this picture (apparently the film had been made before the Armistice, and released after). The two little tykes are sent, parcel post, to their young, pretty aunt, Lucille Forrest (Ethel Fleming). The children's antics distract Lucille from her heartache -- she has just jilted her fiancé, Tom Hayes (Val Paul), because he quit his commission in the army and she is convinced he is a slacker. Lucille is maddened by the girls' pranks for only so long -- then their shenanigans result in the capture of a Prussian spy. Even better, they uncover the truth about Tom: He is really a secret service man who retired from the Army because he had more important work to accomplish. Lucille and Tom are reconciled and everyone is happy. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
During the Great War, even the little Lee sisters got involved in the patriotic efforts. Here, Jane and Katherine Lee play the daughters of chemist Andrew Sheldon (Charles Slattery). He has an explosive which he intends to give to the government, but at the moment he's so focused on the imminent arrival of a new baby that he hasn't noticed that his butler (P.C. Hartigan) and cook (Florence Ashbrooke) are German spies. Jane and Katherine, however, are doing all they can to make life hell for the servants. Then, when their baby brother is born, they decide to run away to New York and enlist. They find out that's impossible, so instead they procure recruits for the Navy and get subscriptions for the Fourth Liberty Loan. The butler has run off with Andrew's explosives but is caught by agents. The plans, meanwhile, have always been in the little girls' hands. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Youngsters Jane and Katherine Lee are up to their old pranks once again, but this time around there's no real plot on which to hang their antics. The two child stars play Jane and Katherine Williams, and the pair are shown in their nursery, engaging in war play with firecrackers and creating general mayhem. Then they go see a picture show and cause more trouble there. Finally, after a long day of these shenanigans, they go to bed, where Jane has a dream that World War I is being fought by two mechanical dolls, Trik and Trak, who are leading armies of dolls against each other. Bombings and Zeppelins are re-created in toy form. This last part of the film contained some special effects that were impressive for their day. This section was shot separately by another filmmaker and released earlier in the year as Outwitting the Huns. Then it was sold to the Fox studios, which apparently fashioned a Lee children feature around it. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
The public's insatiable demand for Charlie Chaplin comedies could not (and would not) be met by Chaplin himself, who by 1917 was more interested in quality than quantity, and had slowed his working methods down to a walk. It is therefore hardly surprising that several Charlie Chaplin imitators appeared on the horizon to pacify those moviegoers who couldn't get enough of Charlie. The best of these ersatz Chaplins was Russian-born Billy West, whose impersonation of the Little Tramp was so uncannily accurate that many latter-day viewers have mistaken West's imitation for the genuine article. In the spring of 1917, West donned his Chaplin makeup and signed with King Bee productions to star in a series of two-reel comedies, many of which hold up quite well when seen today. The first of the Billy West comedies was Back Stage, released on May 15, 1917. Reminiscent of such earlier Chaplin films as The Property Man and Behind the Screen, Back Stage strove to avoid repeating any specific gags, and despite the parasitic nature of West's characterization was able to stand on its own merits as a very good little comedy. Supporting Billy West in all 33 of his King Bee releases was a brawny young character actor named Oliver Hardy (then billed under his nickname "Babe" Hardy), who played the same sort of comic villain for West that Mack Swain and Eric Campbell had played for Chaplin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Produced by King Bee at Bayonne, NJ, this two-reel farce starred Chaplin imitator Billy West as the star boarder in a theatrical boarding house. The film's working title was "The Star Boarder," but, as a King Bee press release pointed out, that title had already been used by another company. The "other company" was Chaplin's, of course, and the film, like most of West's comedies, remains a pale imitation of that star's early work, up to and including Oliver Hardy dressed up to resemble Chaplin menace Eric Campbell. The Chief Cook's main claim to fame was a scene in which West spies on lovely Ellen Burford taking a bath. At one point, the starlet stands up to towel off, offering the audience more than a glimpse of her ample accoutrements. King Bee produced seven West comedies at the old Centaur studios in Bayonne before relocating to Hollywood. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Released June 1, 1917, The Hero was the second of Billy West's two-reel comedies for King-Bee Productions. West was the screen's foremost Charlie Chaplin imitator, and his performance as Charlie was so astonishingly good that many mistook him for the "real" Charlie. Partially inspired by Chaplin's The Rink, The Hero casts West as a resourceful waiter, who rescues heroine Ethel Burton from the advances of phony nobleman Leo White (himself a former Chaplin supporting player). The film's principal heavy, decked out with a phony mustache and beard and a perpetual scowl, was 25-year-old Babe Hardy, who later went on to worldwide fame as Oliver Hardy. The Hero was breezily directed by Arvid E. Gillstrom, who went on to turn out first-rate short comedies for such studios as Educational and Paramount. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Doughnuts was the third of Billy West's two-reel comedies for King-Bee Productions. A fine comedian in his own right, West chose to "bury" his own personality, offering instead a staggeringly accurate imitation of Charlie Chaplin. While the public as a whole was resentful toward Chaplin imitators, West's interpretation of the Little Tramp was so good that he was able to retain his popularity through a staggering 33 films (even Chaplin himself acknowledged West's uncanny skill, telling him personally that he was "a damned good imitator"). Released June 15, 1917, Doughnuts was structurally similar to Dough and Dynamite, one of Chaplin's final Keystone comedies. Despite its kinship to the earlier Chaplin opus, this little comedy served up a number of original and ingenious gags, all of them stemming from West's efforts to satisfy his customers at a ramshackle bakery. Oliver Hardy, a decade removed from his teaming with Stan Laurel, costarred as an all-purpose villain, while former Chaplin supporting player Leo White went through his usual paces as a gesticulating "foreigner." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Although it starts off with a typical Keystone premise, the second half of this comedy borders on the truly surreal. Henpecked husband Fritz Schade doesn't realize that his wife (Marie Manley) is having a flirtation with their neighbor, Ford Sterling. When he finally figures it out, such mayhem ensues that the landlady (Alice Davenport) tosses them all out. Fritz and Marie escape to a snowy winter resort, not knowing that Ford has come there, too. Sterling thinks he has gone crazy and puts himself under the care of a quack, whose cure involves dressing him in a bathing suit and setting a hungry bear after him. Ford escapes from the bear by diving through the window of a cabin -- Fritz and Marie's cabin. When Fritz finds Ford with his wife once again, he starts shooting the place up. But the so-called doctor arrives and explains everything to his satisfaction. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
