CHICAGO, IL: His Nibs (1921) April 13th, Sat. 11:30am

[Eric Cohen]

Saturday, April 13th, 2019
11:30am
Music Box Theatre
3733 N. Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613
Live accompaniment by Music Box house organist Dennis Scott
HIS NIBS
Directed by Gregory La Cava • 1921
Vaudeville star Charles (Chic) Sale was already well-known as America’s foremost interpreter of rustic tomfoolery when he transitioned to the silent screen with "His Nibs." Originally begun as a straight adaptation of Irvin S. Cobb’s short story “The Smart Aleck,” "His Nibs" eventually became something else entirely—a comedy about the Slippery Elm Picture Palace that serves as a sloppy, starstruck valentine to rural cinema exhibition. Sale plays no less than seven different characters, including Slippery Elm proprietor and projectionist Theo “His Nibs” Bender, theater organist Miss Dessie Teed, and The Boy, star of this week’s attraction, "He Fooled ’Em All." Colleen Moore plays Sale’s costar in this film-within-the-film, but the "His Nibs" marketing campaign focused exclusively on Sale and touted his versalite ability to play so many distinct characters, “probably for the first time in the history of the industry.” (Buster Keaton had over twenty parts in his two-reeler "The Playhouse," released three weeks prior to His Nibs, but who’s counting?) Sale is capably guided by director Gregory La Cava, himself transitioning to live action after several years of making animated cartoons under the Hearst banner. Together they concocted a surprisingly rigorous hick comedy that, per film scholar Richard Koszarski, “suggests Pirandello more than Sennett or Roach.” (Kyle Westphal)
56 min • Exceptional Pictures • 35mm from UCLA Film & Television Archive
Cartoon: Happy Hooligan in “He Tries the Movies Again” (Gregory LaCava, 1916) – 2 min – 35mm from George Eastman Museum
Preservation of “Happy Hooligan” funded by the Save America’s Treasures Grant, generously supported by the National Park Service in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities
Co-presented by Chicago Film Society and the Music Box Theatre

The Cubs play their first Saturday home game nearby at 1:20pm, in which they'll be giving away blankets with a Star Wars tie-in. Blankets will feature a big, red C and inside the C, a depiction of a white stormtrooper helmet. The Ricketts' family crest?

[Eric Cohen]

So a 4-day Star Wars convention in Chicago has begun, with an attendence expectation of 70,000. A convergence of Cubs, Star Wars and “Chic” Sale fans! We’re going to need more Porta-potties.

[missdupont]

Hope the Chic Sale fans don't push the STAR WARS federation out of Chicago!