NitrateVille.com

After deciding over a year ago that I wanted to work on a website for Harry Langdon, it is finally done. It feels like it's been more than 15 months since I made that promise. I hope to add some new material in the near future, but at least it's up before the holidays. In fact, I just realized it was today, 66 years ago when he passed on. Thank you Harry for all your wonderful films.

I would like to thank those who contributed to the site in one way or another. With everyone sharing an essay, photos, or their wisdom, it really pulled the site together quite nicely. I appreciate your kind generosity. Finally, Harry has a fine online presence. I'm ecstatic to announce the site, and would like to thank all of you for your support and patience. Here it is:

http://www.feetofmud.com

I'd be interested in hearing any of your thoughts, albeit positive or negative.

Consider this an early Festivus and Christmas gift to all. Wishing a happy and healthy New Year to everyone!

Tim Greer

Your site looks good, great work.
I noticed that there are quite many titles on booklist. Could you give some recommendations about good ones?

William Schelly's biography, Harry Langdon: His Life and Films is a good place to start. A new revised edition was published by McFarland in 2008 and has many interesting insights on Harry's career and persona (I've only read the original '82 edition from cover to cover).

Joyce Rheuban's book Harry Langdon: The Comedian as Metteur-en-Scène has often been criticised for its academic theorising, but it was among the first works to begin the process of reclaiming Harry as a gifted artist in his own right.

While only a few chapters deal with Harry, Joseph McBride's Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success is absolutely essential reading for any of HL's fans. McBride does buy in to the Capra/Kerr interpretation of his career somewhat, but he also thoroughly documents and exposes Capra's way of doing things and what might have motivated him to make the comments that have been largely responsible for appending the asterisk (as the OP's website indicates) to HL's comic standing. If you read this book, you will *never* again look at Capra in the same way (e.g. your affection or scepticism towards his work will be cemented)--nor will your perceptions of Harry's so-called decline remain quite the same.

Oh, and I really should thank Holmes for his brilliant work on the HL website--Harry would be proud.

-Harold

Maybe I somehow missed it on the list, but the filmography should include the oddball 1938 British Lion musical, MAD ABOUT MONEY (aka STARDUST), in which Langdon appears with Lupe Velez. It was released by Grand National in the US. It's as bizarre a movie as one could hope for.

Excellent site!

Even though Joyce Rheuban's Harry Langdon: The Comedian as Metteur-en-Scène book has more than it's share of academic theorizing, it still stands up as the best look at Harry's vaudeville days and a detailed history of the making of Long Pants. It's essential IMO.

Holmes wrote:After deciding over a year ago that I wanted to work on a website for Harry Langdon, it is finally done. It feels like it's been more than 15 months since I made that promise. I hope to add some new material in the near future, but at least it's up before the holidays. In fact, I just realized it was today, 66 years ago when he passed on. Thank you Harry for all your wonderful films.

We feel your pain.

http://www.feetofmud.com

I'd be interested in hearing any of your thoughts, albeit positive or negative.

Tim Greer

What a beautiful site, congratulations! Well worth all the hard work.

Tim

That's a really nice job! Site looks and reads great. Congrats and thanks!

I'll add a linkie-poo to my Valentino site soon.

westegg wrote:Maybe I somehow missed it on the list, but the filmography should include the oddball 1938 British Lion musical, MAD ABOUT MONEY (aka STARDUST), in which Langdon appears with Lupe Velez. It was released by Grand National in the US. It's as bizarre a movie as one could hope for.

Excellent site!

Yes, that one is on there, under the title HE LOVED AN ACTRESS.

One that is missing is Langdon's Soundie BEAUTIFUL CLOTHES (MAKE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS) (Copyright 11-24-41). IMDb gives release date as 8-4-42. And I'm sure Langdon fans can tell he's not doing the singing in that one. It's really Cliff Nazarro.
Also, the Spanish laguage versions of Langdon's Roach shorts THE SHRIMP and THE BIG KICK aren't listed.
And the 1929 Roach short known as the "Harry Langdon Announcement".

Two other little adjustments to make the excellent site and filmography even better:
THE STAGE HAND is a short, not a feature.
LOVE, HONOR AND OBEY (THE LAW!) actually is an Educational short. There's nothing in the titles or copyright info or any other source I've ever found to confirm this was an Educational. But I did find one source that proves it. So in the filmography it can be listed as Educational.

Great job on the Langdon site. Looking forward to spending more time checking out every part.

I appreciate everyone's kind words about the site.

Unfortunately, I have not read Joyce Rheuban's book Harry Langdon: The Comedian as Metteur-en-Scène yet. I've seen several of them on ebay for at least $100, but have been waiting until I find one a little cheaper.

I plan on adding some of his rarities to the filmography section soon. I wanted to nail down the date and so on before adding them. At least it's up, it may need some tweaking, but it's up. I do appreciate anyone pointing out things that are incorrect or that I missed, so don't be afraid to tell me.

Donna, I appreciate you adding a link to your Valentino site. I'll need to do the same for you. It won't happen until after January though, as I'm out of town for the holidays.

Thanks again for all the support, and long live Harry!

The site looks great and is easy to navigate. Nicely done.

Holmes, check this out.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchR ... n&x=73&y=0
Its elementry.

A wonderfully designed site with lots of great material, congratulations to you, Tim.

I realize this is a work in progress, but I think it's worth mentioning, re the filmography, that Langdon is credited as writer on several of his starring sound films, SUE MY LAWYER, GOODNESS, A GHOST, BLONDE AND GROOM among others. HOTTER THAN HOT is said to be based on a sketch he wrote and performed called "The Messenger". And THE STAGE HAND as it survives is a short, but according to one report it was to be expanded to feature length.

Lovely website - well done!

Fred, thanks so much for the link and posting that wonderful piece on your site. I discovered your site within the past few months and am glad I did, as there is a lot of great info and photos on it. I'm curious as to why you mentioned "Job done" as opposed to job well done? I found it an interesting twist on the expression. Regardless, I'm honored to have a place there and look forward to your future posts. Thanks again!

Actually, the Bioscope is Luke McKernan's blog, and he is a member of Nitrateville.

My apologies Luke. Somehow I thought the person who posted the link was the publisher of the blog.

Fred- Thank you for drawing my attention to the new post on Bioscope as I hadn't seen it yet.

Luke- Again, I'm sorry for the mix-up, and appreciate the kind words and acknowledgement of my site on your blog.

Happy to oblige - it's a great-looking site, and it is making me (something of a Langdon-sceptic) think again. That's what I meant by "job done" - the task was to attract sympathetic attention to Harry Langdon, and the site achieves this.

Luke

Luke, I know Langdon is an acquired taste, but I'm thrilled to hear that you are starting to second guess your opinion about the comedian. It's my hope and goal not only to introduce people to his work that are unfamiliar with him, but also to have the doubters rethink and see him in a new light. I know not everyone is going to become an instant fan or change their mind about him, but if I get people talking about him more, my work here is done. Thanks again for the exposure on your site. A happy and healthy New Year to you!

Luke it's a shame you don't have a chance to see Langdon in a theater. My first exposure to him was The Strong Man at the Silent Movies in Los Angeles, and you have never heard such laughter from an audience! My friends and I were practically in tears several times from laughing. I do really believe that you get the most out of him if you're very very familiar with silent comedy in general, because part of what's funny about him is how he's different.

Wish there was more Langdon merchandise available. I see passersby puzzling over the guy on my Langdon t-shirt all the time, trying to figure out who he is. I'd go for a Langdon mug (marked with with a large "POISON XXX", of course) or even a Langdon action figure. I mean, how hard could it be to make an action figure that stands there and blinks slowly and does nothing else?

Jim

Very nice site indeed. If you're looking for Harry Langdon movie posters, you'll find a couple of high quality scans here: http://movieposters.ha.com/common/searc ... tt=langdon

Thanks so much for taking a look at the site, and for the link. I'm trying to find some posters to include on the site, and it's been slow going. I tried contacting emovieposter.com asking them if I could use theirs without the copyright (they have a wealth of posters and stills), but they weren't up for it. I guess the search continues.

Thanks again!

Wikipedia is using scans of movie posters from various sources and provides the following rationale for inclusion on the site:

1.No free equivalent exists that would effectively identify the article's subject.
2.The image does not in any way limit the ability of the copyright owners to market or sell their product.
3.The image is only used once and is rendered in low resolution to avoid piracy.
4.The image has been published outside Wikipedia; see source above.
5.The image meets general Wikipedia content requirements and is encyclopedic.
6.The image meets Wikipedia's media-specific policy.
7.The image is used in the article wiki-linked in the section title.
8.The image is significant in identifying the subject of the article, which is the film or film character itself.
9.The image is used in the article namespace.
10.The image has a brief description that identifies the image, notes the source, and provides attribution to the copyright holder.

If you do the same, there should be no problem.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tramp ... ampDVD.jpg for an example.

I thanked and credited contributors of material to the site, as I greatly appreciated their efforts and it's only right and fare to do. emovieposter.com has smaller images without the copyright on their site, but they are so small they're unusable. The larger files have the copyright over them, but I'm looking for a nice, clean copy.

Thanks for posting that on wikipedia though, I guess they figure if they have that on their site they can't get in trouble. I didn't want to tick anyone off by using photos and such on the site. I in no way claim copyright over anything on the site. I just built it out of my pure passion for silent comedy and Harry Langdon.

I don't think they copyrighted posters back then. They should be PD. I'm sure it's frowned upon to grab stuff from someone's webstie without permission, but as far as illegal or actionable, I don't think it is either.

I just got a Langdon postcard in today.



Besides this photo from The Hansom Cabman, I also have a still from Tramp, Tramp, Tramp. You are welcome to use both on your website.

Holmes, Langdon never once made me laugh.
But that's not the point of this thread, is it? Nice effort on the website.

silent-partner wrote:Holmes, Langdon never once made me laugh.
But that's not the point of this thread, is it? Nice effort on the website.

silent-partner, that's a pretty bold statement. I'm not a fan of Harold Lloyd, but I've at least laughed at some of his shorts here and there. To each his own. Regardless, you're right, this post was to announce the new website I have created for the comedian. It isn't a poll asking if you think Harry Langdon is funny or not.

I appreciate you taking the time to look at the site, though, and perhaps one day you'll at least let out a little chuckle when watching Harry "in action".

silentfilm, thanks for offering the postcard and photo. If you'd like to send me a scan of the still you have from Tramp, Tramp, Tramp I'd greatly appreciate it. I believe I have one from that feature already on the site, but the more the merrier. You can send it to: [email protected]

Thanks again for your generosity.