Sidney Olcott
Sidney Olcott
“Why should a man remain idle who has made such an artistic picture as “From the Manger to the Cross” at a time when other directors were still wearing rings in their noses…?”
Harrison’s Reports, 20th February 1932
Birth name:
John Sidney Alcott
Born:
20th September 1872, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died:
16th December 1949, Hollywood, California, USA
Years active:
1905 - 1927
Once feted as among the greatest silent film directors, Sidney Olcott had become little more than a footnote in motion picture history by the time of his death in 1949. He made almost 200 shorts and features in a career that spanned almost the entire silent movie era – from 1907 to 1927. Notable achievements during that time were many: he directed the first version of Ben Hur in 1907, giving rise to a lengthy court case that created a legal precedent; he managed the first overseas location shoot, taking a small company of Kalem staff to Ireland in 1910; he directed the five-reel biblical epic From the Manger to the Cross, filming on location in Egypt in 1912. During his career, he directed such major stars as Mary Pickford, Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, and Marion Davies, and was a founder member of the East Coast chapter of the Motion Picture Directors Association (MPDA), a precursor of the Directors Guild of America, later serving as its president. Despite these achievements, his death warranted only a brief paragraph or two in the publications that bothered even to report his passing.
He was born John Sidney Alcott in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 20th September 1872 (some sources give his birth year as 1873) to Irish immigrant Mary Alcott and an unknown father. His professional acting career began on the New York stage. Details from this phase of Olcott’s life are sketchy, but in 1903 he played a policeman in the play Rags to Riches with child actor Joseph Santley. The part was a comic one played, according to the Jersey Journal, ‘in a low comedy manner,’ and the show toured for at least a year. In November 1905, Olcott appeared with the comedienne Jessie Mae Hall in a musical play, The Street Singer. In August 1906, he again appeared with Santley in a stage production called Billy the Kid. Also among the cast was the future director Robert Vignola, who would become Olcott’s lifelong friend. Another cast member was Marion Leonard, who became a stock member with Biograph, working under D. W. Griffith. Olcott recalled, in a 1923 article for Photoplay magazine that his first part was in the 1905 short Wanted: A Dog, for which he made his face up to resemble that of a bulldog, bringing him to Biograph sales manager/screenwriter Frank J. Marion’s attention.
When Marion and Biograph lab superintendent Samuel Long left to form Kalem Studios with financing from distributor George Kleine, they hired Olcott as a director. One of his first films was an adaptation of Lew Wallace’s Ben Hur, from a scenario written by twenty-two-year-old actress and screenwriter Gene Gauntier. Unfortunately, Kalem’s failure to secure the rights to adapt Wallace’s tome for the screen resulted in a lengthy legal battle, which the studio lost. The court ordered Kalem to pay $25,000 for copyright infringement, and the case established that copyright law covered film adaptations.
Olcott enjoyed a fruitful creative partnership with Gauntier, and together they established Kalem as a force within the industry. In June 1910, they travelled to Ireland with a Kalem unit, where they filmed several shorts. It was to be the first of several visits to the Emerald isle which earned the travelling filmmakers the nickname of the O’Kalems. In the winter months, the company would move production to the Roseland estate on the St. John’s River in Florida to avoid the harsh New York winters.
In 1912, Olcott embarked on his most ambitious venture, a voyage to Egypt with the Kalem players to film From the Manger to the Cross, a five-reel biblical epic chronicling the life of Christ. The controversy surrounding the picture ensured it made a generous profit, but led to the departure from Kalem of both Olcott and Gauntier when the studio refused to credit them on the film or to raise their salaries.
Robert Henderson Bland in Sidney Olcott's From the Manger to the Cross (1912)
Olcott, Gauntier and her husband, the actor Jack Clark, formed the Gene Gauntier Feature Players Company in early 1913, but their collaboration was short-lived. Olcott left to form another company, SidFilms, before joining Famous Players in April 1915. While there, he directed some of silent cinema’s most iconic stars and continued to earn the respect of his peers. He also directed a young actress called Valentine Grant, who became his wife in 1915.
In 1923, William Randolph Hearst selected Olcott to direct Marion Davies in Little Old New York for his Cosmopolitan studio. Despite a devastating fire that destroyed the sets in the studio’s Harlem River studios, Olcott completed the film within three months.
He directed his last film, The Claw, in 1927, although the trade press of the time did not indicate he had any intention of retiring. In 1929, he signed a contract with British Lion, but found the script for The Ringer so inferior to the material the studio had promised him he sued them for breach of contract. The following year, Columbia hired him to direct the comedy Ladies Must Play (1930), but the assignment went to Raymond Cannon. In May 1932, Variety reported that Olcott had been approached to direct the first of a planned series of religious pictures – another project that failed to materialise. In April 1933, The Hollywood Reporter announced that independent producer Harry Sherman of First Choice Pictures was concluding a deal with Olcott under which he would direct four films. The first was slated to start shooting on 1st June, but again, the deal was never completed.
After the death from cancer of his wife Valentine on 12th March 1949, Olcott, who had never owned a house, moved in with his good friend Robert Vignola at his home in Whitley Terrace, Los Angeles. “We spent many a nostalgic hour recalling our early days on the start together before we launched into one reel motion pictures,” Vignola recalled in a letter to friends.
Sidney Olcott died on 16th December 1949, after dining out and complaining of feeling unwell the night before. A funeral service was held in Hollywood on 19th December 1949, after which his body was transported to Canada. In his will, he had stipulated that he was to be buried, not alongside his wife of thirty-four years, but next to his mother in Humbervale Cemetery, Toronto, Canada.
Sources: Aspects of American Film History Prior to 1920, Anthony Slide; Directors and their Films: A Comprehensive Reference, 1895-1990; Brooks Bushnell; Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood, Karen Ward Mahar; When the Movies Were Young, Linda A. Griffith; Marion Davies; A Biography, Fred Lawrence Guiles; Sidneyolcott.com; Photoplay magazine; Various trade newspapers and magazines, 1905-1949.
Sidney Olcott Filmography:
A Runaway Sleighbelle (1907), The Dog Snatcher (1907), Bowser's House Cleaning (1907), The Gentleman Farmer (1907), A Hobo Hero (1907) The Pony Express (1907), The New Hired Girl (1907), The Tenderfoot (1907), Off for the Day (1907), The Sea Wolf (1907), The Parson's Picnic (1907), The Book Agent (1907), A One Night Stand (1907), Who'll Do The Washing (1907), Peggy's Camping Party (1907), The Wooing of Miles Standish (1907), Nature Fakirs (1907), The Amateur Detective (1907), The Red Man's Way (1907), Chinese Slave Smuggling (1907), The Spring Gun (1907), Nathan Hale (1907), The Goldbrick (1907), It Was Mother-in-Law (1907), The Rival Motorists (1907), Bill Butt-in and the Burglar (1907), Troubles of a Tramp (1907), The Lost Mine (1907), Woman Cruel Woman (1907), A Dramatic Rehearsal (1907), School Days (1907), Ben Hur (1907), Days of '61 (1908), Back to Farm (1908), Mountainers (1908), Dogs of Fashion (1908), Quack Doctors (1908), Under the Star Spangled Banner (1908), Evangeline (1908), The Stowaway (1908), College Days (1908), The Banan'Man (1908), Henry Hudson (1908), Way Down East (1908), Washington at Valley Forge (1908), The Scarlet Letter (1908), Captain Kid (1908), The Moonshiner's Daughter (1908), Night Riders (1908), The Under Dog (1908), Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1908), Kidnapped for Hate (1908), Dolly the Circus Queen (1908), The White Squaw Man (1908), The Man Hunt (1908), Enoch Arden (1908), Lady Audley's Secret (1908), Held by Bandits (1908), The Little Madcap (1908), Mrs Gunness, the Female Bluebeard (1908), Dynamite Man (1908), The Renegade (1908), The New Hired Girl (1908), A Gipsy Girl's Love (1908), The Walls of Sing Sing (1908), The Girl Nihilist (1908), Robin Hood (1908), The Frontiersman's Bride (1908), As You Like It (1908), The Great Yellowstone Park Hold Up (1908), The Old Sleuth Detective (1908), The Padrone (1908), The Mystery of the Bride in White (1908), The Girl I Left Behind Me (1908), Caught in the Web (1908), The Half Breed (1908), Jerusalem in the Time of Christ (1908), David and Goliath (1908), Fire at Sea (1908), Humpty Dumpty Circus (1908), The Railroad Detective (1908), Hannah Dustin (1908), A Ragged Hero (1908), Maggie, the Dock Rat (1908), For Love of Country (1908), The Molly Maguires (1908), Red Cloud (1908), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1908), The Trail of the White Man (1909), A Florida Feud (1909), The Girl at the Old Mill (1909), The Octoroon (1909), The Detectives of the Italian Bureau (1909), The High Diver (1909), Sporting Days in the South (1909), The Making of a Champion Pugilist (1909), The New Minister (1909), The Old Soldier's Story (1909), The Seminole's Vengeance (1909), The Crackers Bride (1909), Hungry Hank's Hallucination (1909), The Mysterious Double (1909), The Fish Pirates (1909), The Orange Grower's Daughter (1909), The Northern Schoolmaster (1909), The Artist and the Girl (1909), Love's Triumph (1909), Good for Evil (1909), The Girl Spy: An Incident of the Civil War (1909), A Poor Wife's Devotion (1909), A Pig in a Poke (1909), A Child of the Sea (1909), The Omnibus Taxiclub (1909), $5000 Reward (1909), The Little Angel of Roaring Springs (1909), The Mystic Swing (1909), A Priest of the Wilderness (1909), Mardi Gras in Havana (1909), The Japanese Invasion (1909), Famine in the Forest (1909), A Soldier of US Army (1909), The Escape from Andersonville (1909), The Tom-Boy (1909), Tickle Mary (1909), Factory Girl (1909), Traced by Kodak (1909), Out of Work (1909), The Queen of the Quarry (1909), The Conspirators - An Incident of a South American Revolution (1909), The Pay Car (1909), Hiram's Bride (1909), The Story of a Rose (1909), Winning a Diner (1909), The Winning Boat (1909), The Mystery of Sleeper Trunk (1909), The Hand Organ Man (1909), The Man and the Girl (1909), A Brother's Wrong (1909), The Girl Scout (1909), The Cattle Thieves (1909), Dora (1909), Pale Face's Wooing (1909), The Governor's Daughter (1909), Judgement (1909), The Geisha Who Saved Japan (1909), Rally 'Round the Flag (1909), The Law of the Mountains (1909), The Card Board Baby (1909), A Slave to Drink (1909), The Deacon's Daughter (1910), The Romance of a Trained Nurse (1910), The Man Who Lost (1910), The Step-Mother (1910), The Confederate Spy (1910), The Feud (1910), The Fisherman's Granddaughter (1910), The Miser's Child (1910), The Girl Thief (1910), Her Soldier Sweetheart (1910), The Seminole's Trust (1910), The Girl and the Bandit (1910), The Further Adventures of the Girl Spy (1910), The Old Fiddler (1910), The Forager (1910), The Bravest Girl of the South (1910), The Sacred Turquoise of the Zuni (1910), The Love Romance of the Girl Spy (1910), The Egret Hunter (1910), Between Love and Duty (1910), The Aztec Sacrifice (1910), The Seminole Halfbreeds (1910), The Cliff Dwellers (1910), Friends (1910), The Castaways (1910), The Wanderers (1910), The Navajo's Bride (1910), The Miner's Sacrifice (1910), Grandmother (1910), A Daughter of Dixie (1910), A Colonial Belle (1910), The Perversity of Fate (1910), The Cow Puncher's Sweetheart (1910), Leap for Life (1910), The Conspiracy of Pontiac (1910), The Heart of Edna Leslie (1910), The Way of Life (1910), The Lad from Old Ireland (1910), Seth's Temptation (1910), The Little Spreewald Maiden (1910), When Lovers Part (1910), The Girl Spy Before Vicksburg (1910), The Stranger (1910), The Education of Elizabeth (1910), For the Love of an Enemy (1911), The Secret of the Still (1911), Her Chum's Brother (1911), The Little Sister (1911), Grandmother's War Story (1911), The Open Road (1911), Sailor Jack's Reformation (1911), The Irish Honeymoon (1911), The Diver (1911), A War Time Escape (1911), A Sawmill Hero (1911), The Lass Who Couldn't Forget (1911), By a Woman's Wit (1911), In Old Florida (1911), The Fiddle's Requiem (1911), When the Dead Return (1911), The Carnival (1911), In Blossom Time (1911), Tangled Lives (1911), The Railroad Raiders of '62 (1911), The Little Soldier of '64 (1911), To the Aid of Stonewall Jackson (1911), Hubby's Day at Home (1911), The Colonel's Son (1911), The Romance of a Dixie Belle (1911), Special Messenger (1911), Rory O'More (1911), Losing to Win (1911), The Colleen Bawn (1911), The Fishermaid of Ballydavid (1911), Among the Irish Fisher Folk (1911), The Franciscan Friars of Killarney (1911), Arrah-na-Pogue (1911), Driving Home the Cows (1912), A Southern Boy of '61 (1912), The O'Neill (1912), His Mother (1912), The O'Kalems Visit Killarney (1912), The Vagabonds (1912), Far From Erin's Isle (1912), You Remember Ellen (1912), A Visit to Madeira (1912), The Kalemites Visit Gibraltar (1912), Along the Mediterranean (1912), The Potters of the Nile (1912), American Tourists Abroad (1912), Egypt the Mysterious (1912), Egypt as it Was in the Time of Moses (1912), The Fighting Dervishes of the Desert (1912), Luxor Egypt (1912), Missionaries in Darkest Africa (1912), Making Photoplays in Egypt (1912), A Pet of the Cairo Zoo (1912), An Arabian Tragedy (1912), Captured by Bedouins (1912), Tragedy of the Desert (1912), Winning a Widow (1912), Egyptian Sports (1912), A Prisoner of the Harem (1912), Easter Celebration at Jerusalem (1912), Palestine (1912), From Jerusalem to the Dead Sea (1912), Down Through the Ages (1912), The Ancient Port of Jaffa (1912), Along the River Nile (1912), Ancient Temples of Egypt (1912), The Poacher's Pardon (1912), From the Manger to the Cross (1912), The Kerry Gow (1912), The Mayor From Ireland (1912), Conway, the Kerry Dancer (1912), Ireland, the Oppressed (1912), The Shaughraun (1912), The Wives of Jamestown (1913), The Lady Peggy's Escape (1913), A Daughter of the Confederacy (1913), The Mystery of Pine Creek Camp (1913), When Men Hate (1913), In the Power of the Hypnotist (1913), In the Clutches of the Ku Klux Klan (1913), For Ireland's Sake (1914), Come Back To Erin (1914), When Men Would Kill (1914), In the Hands of a Brute (1914), The Eye of the Government (1914), A Mother of Men (1914), The Idle Rich (1914), Tricking the Government (1914), The Little Rebel (1914), The Moth and the Flame (1915), All For Old Ireland (1915), Bold Emmett Ireland's Martyr (1915), Seven Sisters (1915), The Irish in America (1915), Nan O' the Backwoods (1915), Madame Butterfly (1915), The Ghost of Twisted Oaks (1915), The Taint (1915), Poor Little Peppina (1916), My Lady Incog (1916), Diplomacy (1916), The Innocent Lie (1916), The Smugglers (1916), The Daughter of MacGregor (1916), The Belgian (1918), Marriage for Convenience (1919), Scratch My Back (1920), The Right Way (1921), God's Country and the Law (1921), Pardon My French (1921), Timothy's Quest (1922), The Green Goddess (1923), Little Old New York (1923), The Humming Bird (1924), Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), The Only Woman (1924), Salome of the Tenements (1925), The Charmer (1925), Not So Long Ago (1925), The Best People (1925), Ranson's Folly (1926), The Amateur Gentleman (1926), The White Black Sheep (1926), The Claw (1927).