Helen Jerome Eddy Movies
Born in New York and raised in California, Helen Jerome Eddy went into films while a student at Berkeley. Her patrician demeanor enabled Helen to play young women of untold wealth throughout the silent era, first at Vitagraph and later at virtually every other major studio. A character actress in the talkie era, Eddy essayed such roles as the beneficent society matron in Our Gang's first talking short Small Talk (1929) and the kindly, terminally ill missionary whom Mae West impersonates in Klondike Annie (1936). Helen Jerome Eddy retired in 1940, ever afterward remaining available for interviews concerning Hollywood's "Golden" era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1917
Actor George Beban took his lighthearted Italian characters in and out of many different situations; here he brings Guido Bartelli from rags to riches and back to rags again. Guido and his wife Antoinetta (Helen Jerome Eddy) wind up with the estate of Leo Marcellini (Pietro Sosso), a wealthy oil and wine merchant who has died intestate. They move into the mansion but are at a loss when it comes to dealing with servants and other trappings of the rich. Mrs. Murray (Adele Farrington) tries to teach Antoinetta the ins and outs of her new station in life, but when some unwelcome "guests" come to the mansion and make themselves at home, Guido leaves in a huff. Then it is discovered that the real heir is one Wade Crosby (Harry Woodward) and Antoinetta gladly takes her baby and returns to her humble home, and to Guido. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was the first film version of the Kate Douglas Wiggin novel and play. Mary Pickford, 23 years old but looking at least ten years younger, stars as the spunky little girl who is left with her tight-lipped aunt Helen Jerome Eddy by her impoverished mother. It's an uphill battle, but Rebecca manages to spread a little sunshine around the staid New England community where her aunt resides. Her reward comes when she is "all grow'd up," at which time she falls in love with handsome Eugene O'Brien. Yes, we know that none of this happens in the 1938 Shirley Temple version. Remember, though, that Mary Pickford could play a little girl who grows up in the course of a single film, while Shirley was stuck at age 9, whether she liked it or not. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Pickford, Eugene O'Brien, (more)
- 1916
Still in the leading-lady phase of her career, veteran stage actress and drama coach Constance Collier was top-billed in the Oliver Morosco production The Tongues of Men. Collier plays Jane Bartlett, a singer of such a notorious reputation (mostly undeserved) that she is openly condemned from the pulpit by the unrelenting Reverend Sturgis (Forrest Stanley). Seeking vengeance against the oh-so-pious preacher, Jane turns on the old charm and all but forces Sturgis to fall in love with her. By film's end, however, the essentially decent heroine lets Sturgis off the hook so that he may wed his virtuous sweetheart Georgine (Elizabeth Burbidge -- and, incidentally, so that she may return to her true love, Dr. Fanshawe (Lamar Johnston). Tongues of Men was based on a play by Edward Childs Carpenter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
This gripping crime drama is based on the true story of the events surrounding the destruction of New York City's Knickerbocker bank, the results of which caused a major panic in 1907. The trouble began when the institution's banker president is arrested for embezzling and manipulating the money, thereby causing the bank to fold. His good wife tries to find bail, but suddenly all of her friends snub her. She becomes so desperate that she hocks her jewels and then goes to a lawyer who posts bond. The attorney, who has loved the wife for years, then uses all of his own money to get her jewelry back. Planning to escape to South America with his wife, the husband returns home, but when he sees that the lawyer is there he goes berserk with rage and forces his wife to choose between himself and the lawyer. The wife rips up one of the tickets and the banker jumps bail. Though he knows that the banker will ruin him financially by fleeing, the lawyer refuses to rat on the banker because he doesn't want his beloved to suffer further ostracism and embarrassment. Later, the banker gets his at the hands of a bankrupted depositor. Learning that she is a widow, the lawyer is free to marry the good wife and romantic bliss ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Stage and screen favorite George Beban served up another of his famous ethnic characterizations in the Paramount five-reeler Pasquale. Arriving in America, middle-aged Italian peasant Pasquale (Beban) opens up a store in the tenement district. He scrimps and saves against the day that his much-younger ward Margarita (Helen Jerome Eddy) will consent to be his wife. Alas, Margarita chooses Charlie Larkin (Jack Nelson) as her husband, leaving Pasquale to shrug philosophically about the whims of fate. When Italy enters WWI, Pasquale is called back to his homeland to serve in the Army. He leaves his store in the hands of Margarita and Charlie, confident that they will keep the business humming. But during Pasquale's absence, Charlie develops into a drunken wife-beater; even worse, he mistreats Pasquale's beloved horse Colombo. Wounded in battle, Pasquale returns to New York in the company of his best friend and comrade-in-arms Martinelli (Nigel De Brulier), whereupon they discover that Mrs. Martinelli (Myrtle Steadman) has been unfaithful, and no-good Charlie has been blackmailing her. Upon the sudden and violent deaths of Charlie and Mrs. Martinelli's lover, all is set aright: The Martinellis are reunited, and the widowed Margarita finally accepts Pasquale's proposal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
