Subsequent Wickedness
The Big City-1928 Silent- lost
The Big City
(1928) American
B&W : Seven reels / 6838 feet
Directed by Tod Browning
Drama: Crime.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost; a trailer for the film does survive [16mm reduction positive].
Directed by Tod Browning
Written by Tod Browning, Waldemar Young
Starring Lon Chaney, Marceline Day
Cinematography Henry Sharp
Editing by Harry Reynolds, Irving Thalberg (uncredited)
Distributed by MGM
Release date March 24, 1928
Country United States
Language Silent
"The Big City" is a classic crime drama. .
The last known copy of the film "The Big City" perished in 1967 in the MGM vaults fire that also destroyed "London after Midnight". Silent Era lists this film as "survival status: unknown". It is not available for viewing, so we have to rely on newspaper articles from the 1920ies. If you have any information about a surviving copy of the film please let us know.
Here are just a few of the reviews for this film:
No one in the world can look so 'hard boiled' and menacing as this Lon Chaney and few can look so sympathetic in the very same role. In his latest starring vehicle, "The Big City", Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's gripping romance of New York's underworld, Chaney plays the role of a hardened detective. And no character could demand more of an actor's histrionic talents. He has to be the very embodiment of the law - and still be as human as anyone else. Few beside Lon Chaney could play this complex role adequately, and of it Chaney has made a masterpiece of motion picture acting.
"The Big City" is a delicate romance told in a setting of NIGHT CLUBS AND BRIGHT LIGHTS, holdups and police and gangster battles woven into an amazing blend of thrills and surprises. Marceline Day in the role of a little shop girl, innocently caught in the underworld, is appealing. (Mirror)
Chaney plays the role of a police sleuth, and Betty Compson is seen as a member of the underworld. Marceline Day, however, has the big female lead as a shop girl who is enmeshed in an plot engineered by a detective. A very ingenious plot and well acted by a very fine cast. (Portland Guardian)
Chaney and his associates come in conflict with a gang of jewel thieves: a sensational hold-up of a popular night club, gun battles and duels of wits between the detectives and gangsters; these are all breathlessly exciting backgrounds for a charming love idyll of a boy and a girl. Miss Day, a shop girl innocently enmeshed in the underworld, has some remarkable scenes. (Recorder)
Marceline Day in the role of a little shop girl, innocently caught in the underworld, is appealingly sweet. (Sunday Times)
"The Big City" is a delicate romance, told in a setting of night clubs and bright lights, police raids in the underworld and battles of "crooks," woven into an astonishing blend of thrills, surprises, and romance. In this colorful, swift-moving picture of New York night life, Lon Chaney plays the role of a detective, and, avoiding the use of elaborate disguises which characterized many of his previous appearances, he gives a truly marvelous performance. Briefly, the story is that Chuck Collins, a New York detective, is detailed to circumnavigate the machinations of a gang of cabaret thieves. Assuming the role of proprietor of a dance hall, he is accepted by the underworld as a fellow-gangster. Move and counter-move follow in rapid succession, and finally Chuck captures the entire gang. The leading feminine role, taken by Marceline Day, is that of a shop girl enmeshed in the underworld plot engineered by Chuck, and an admirable study she makes of it, too. (The Brisbane Courier)
A vivid story of the underworld of New York, it shows just how far the influence of a young girl of strong character and high ideals can affect the lives of people born and bred to crime. Marceline Day lives up to her name as 'Sunshine', the sweetness of her smile capturing all hearts. (The Register)
Marceline Day does splendidly with her role. (Motion Picture News)
A travesty of Justice
We are looking for the name (Melody?) and hopefully a photo of a somewhat obscure actress of the early silent film era. She apparently was the victim of a jewel robbery that occurred in her suite in New York City. Her story may have been used to inspire the cover from the Snappy Detective Stories July 1934 issue. We have not been able to find a copy and were wondering if any of the stories matched the cover illustration, and if any actual names were given.
She may have been the Lover (Wife?) of a wealthy, influential New York City Business man. One weekend, while he was out of town, she left his South Hampton mansion and went out partying to New York City for the weekend. During that time, she reported to police that she had been robbed in her penthouse suite by a masked burglar to the tune of 75,000 worth of jewelry... In what may have been a rather cruel twist of injustice, an elevator valet with a Juvenile criminal background was arrested for the crime, tried without any real evidence, convicted and put in prison. Years later He died under mysterious circumstances while still incarcerated in a New York Prison. The Ladies jewelry was never reported recovered.
The above info was, told to us by an old vaudeville magician who had performed with a young lady whose stage name of Melody was all he could remember. She eventually became a silent era ‘B’ actress under a name he could not recall. He thought she may have had a minor role as an actress appearing in the 1911 silent film version of the Poseidon Adventure.
Rumor had it that her apartment was never “burglarized” and that she made up the story to prevent the insanely jealous influential Businessman she was involved with from finding out the truth.
But then we came across another story gathered from article that appears to have been derived from some surviving pages (with no cover) out of an old pulp detective magazine of the prohibition era, Real Detective Tales. The ladies name was given as Melinda Victoria Scott se Hamot, but it may not have been her real name. If anyone knows what issue and year the below story derived from that article may have been published we would greatly appreciate it.
According to this article, Melinda was a silent film actress who had married a well to do gentleman and was known for the lavish jewelry she would show off. This lady had had been wearing some of her expensive jewelry while out on the town in N.Y.C. On this particular evening (sometime during the 1920’s) Melinda was being chaperoned for the evening by a male with a rather dubious background. This man was said to be a well-known City “raker”, a handsomely roguish man with a well-known reputation for escorting wealthy married ladies, as well as a reputation with the police as having connections with the underworld orchestrating burglaries. His given name was not mentioned. After attending a show and a couple of nightclubs, he insisted that Ms. Hamot go with him to a local underground gambling joint for a few (then illegal) drinks.
Late that evening (or early morning), a group of masked hoodlums held up the speakeasys’ patrons. It was believed that they were mainly after the money being gambled. But not only did they take all the money, but they also made the richly attired ladies present hand over all their jewels. Including those being worn by, we believe, our mystery women who supposedly was being robbed in her apartment at the same time.
Two weeks later the Actress’s male escort, throat slit, was found floating in the Hudson River.
Since some of the male patrons in attendance were in the governments’ employ, Tammany Hall took over the investigation and apparently hushed up the whole incident. The full story never made it to the local newspapers, although supposedly the New Yorker Magazine had some questions (could not find any reference) No crime was reported, no one was arrested, nor any of the property ever “reportedly” recovered. This was the gist of the article that we were able to read in the surviving pages of the old magazine.
We have been searching in the New York Times, but have failed to turn up any related story to the speakeasy hold up. Although we did find a few similar stories about women being bound and robbed of their jewels, but no exact matches to the penthouse robbery so far.
We strongly believe, based on the vaudevillian’s description of the lady and her mannerisms, that the Penthouse robbery victim, and the speakeasy robbery victim was one and the same Lady. We also think that there never was a penthouse robbery, and the jewels that the elevator valet was accused of stealing were actually relinquished to one of the thugs that held up the gambling joint. The main clue we don’t have is a name for the Lady. This would at least give us a starting point to investigate our theory.
If anyone out could shed some lights on this little mystery, especially the pulp detective magazines listed above, we would greatly appreciate it.
The Big City-1928 Silent- lost
The Big City
(1928) American
B&W : Seven reels / 6838 feet
Directed by Tod Browning
Drama: Crime.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost; a trailer for the film does survive [16mm reduction positive].
Directed by Tod Browning
Written by Tod Browning, Waldemar Young
Starring Lon Chaney, Marceline Day
Cinematography Henry Sharp
Editing by Harry Reynolds, Irving Thalberg (uncredited)
Distributed by MGM
Release date March 24, 1928
Country United States
Language Silent
"The Big City" is a classic crime drama. .
The last known copy of the film "The Big City" perished in 1967 in the MGM vaults fire that also destroyed "London after Midnight". Silent Era lists this film as "survival status: unknown". It is not available for viewing, so we have to rely on newspaper articles from the 1920ies. If you have any information about a surviving copy of the film please let us know.
Here are just a few of the reviews for this film:
No one in the world can look so 'hard boiled' and menacing as this Lon Chaney and few can look so sympathetic in the very same role. In his latest starring vehicle, "The Big City", Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's gripping romance of New York's underworld, Chaney plays the role of a hardened detective. And no character could demand more of an actor's histrionic talents. He has to be the very embodiment of the law - and still be as human as anyone else. Few beside Lon Chaney could play this complex role adequately, and of it Chaney has made a masterpiece of motion picture acting.
"The Big City" is a delicate romance told in a setting of NIGHT CLUBS AND BRIGHT LIGHTS, holdups and police and gangster battles woven into an amazing blend of thrills and surprises. Marceline Day in the role of a little shop girl, innocently caught in the underworld, is appealing. (Mirror)
Chaney plays the role of a police sleuth, and Betty Compson is seen as a member of the underworld. Marceline Day, however, has the big female lead as a shop girl who is enmeshed in an plot engineered by a detective. A very ingenious plot and well acted by a very fine cast. (Portland Guardian)
Chaney and his associates come in conflict with a gang of jewel thieves: a sensational hold-up of a popular night club, gun battles and duels of wits between the detectives and gangsters; these are all breathlessly exciting backgrounds for a charming love idyll of a boy and a girl. Miss Day, a shop girl innocently enmeshed in the underworld, has some remarkable scenes. (Recorder)
Marceline Day in the role of a little shop girl, innocently caught in the underworld, is appealingly sweet. (Sunday Times)
"The Big City" is a delicate romance, told in a setting of night clubs and bright lights, police raids in the underworld and battles of "crooks," woven into an astonishing blend of thrills, surprises, and romance. In this colorful, swift-moving picture of New York night life, Lon Chaney plays the role of a detective, and, avoiding the use of elaborate disguises which characterized many of his previous appearances, he gives a truly marvelous performance. Briefly, the story is that Chuck Collins, a New York detective, is detailed to circumnavigate the machinations of a gang of cabaret thieves. Assuming the role of proprietor of a dance hall, he is accepted by the underworld as a fellow-gangster. Move and counter-move follow in rapid succession, and finally Chuck captures the entire gang. The leading feminine role, taken by Marceline Day, is that of a shop girl enmeshed in the underworld plot engineered by Chuck, and an admirable study she makes of it, too. (The Brisbane Courier)
A vivid story of the underworld of New York, it shows just how far the influence of a young girl of strong character and high ideals can affect the lives of people born and bred to crime. Marceline Day lives up to her name as 'Sunshine', the sweetness of her smile capturing all hearts. (The Register)
Marceline Day does splendidly with her role. (Motion Picture News)
A travesty of Justice
We are looking for the name (Melody?) and hopefully a photo of a somewhat obscure actress of the early silent film era. She apparently was the victim of a jewel robbery that occurred in her suite in New York City. Her story may have been used to inspire the cover from the Snappy Detective Stories July 1934 issue. We have not been able to find a copy and were wondering if any of the stories matched the cover illustration, and if any actual names were given.
She may have been the Lover (Wife?) of a wealthy, influential New York City Business man. One weekend, while he was out of town, she left his South Hampton mansion and went out partying to New York City for the weekend. During that time, she reported to police that she had been robbed in her penthouse suite by a masked burglar to the tune of 75,000 worth of jewelry... In what may have been a rather cruel twist of injustice, an elevator valet with a Juvenile criminal background was arrested for the crime, tried without any real evidence, convicted and put in prison. Years later He died under mysterious circumstances while still incarcerated in a New York Prison. The Ladies jewelry was never reported recovered.
The above info was, told to us by an old vaudeville magician who had performed with a young lady whose stage name of Melody was all he could remember. She eventually became a silent era ‘B’ actress under a name he could not recall. He thought she may have had a minor role as an actress appearing in the 1911 silent film version of the Poseidon Adventure.
Rumor had it that her apartment was never “burglarized” and that she made up the story to prevent the insanely jealous influential Businessman she was involved with from finding out the truth.
But then we came across another story gathered from article that appears to have been derived from some surviving pages (with no cover) out of an old pulp detective magazine of the prohibition era, Real Detective Tales. The ladies name was given as Melinda Victoria Scott se Hamot, but it may not have been her real name. If anyone knows what issue and year the below story derived from that article may have been published we would greatly appreciate it.
According to this article, Melinda was a silent film actress who had married a well to do gentleman and was known for the lavish jewelry she would show off. This lady had had been wearing some of her expensive jewelry while out on the town in N.Y.C. On this particular evening (sometime during the 1920’s) Melinda was being chaperoned for the evening by a male with a rather dubious background. This man was said to be a well-known City “raker”, a handsomely roguish man with a well-known reputation for escorting wealthy married ladies, as well as a reputation with the police as having connections with the underworld orchestrating burglaries. His given name was not mentioned. After attending a show and a couple of nightclubs, he insisted that Ms. Hamot go with him to a local underground gambling joint for a few (then illegal) drinks.
Late that evening (or early morning), a group of masked hoodlums held up the speakeasys’ patrons. It was believed that they were mainly after the money being gambled. But not only did they take all the money, but they also made the richly attired ladies present hand over all their jewels. Including those being worn by, we believe, our mystery women who supposedly was being robbed in her apartment at the same time.
Two weeks later the Actress’s male escort, throat slit, was found floating in the Hudson River.
Since some of the male patrons in attendance were in the governments’ employ, Tammany Hall took over the investigation and apparently hushed up the whole incident. The full story never made it to the local newspapers, although supposedly the New Yorker Magazine had some questions (could not find any reference) No crime was reported, no one was arrested, nor any of the property ever “reportedly” recovered. This was the gist of the article that we were able to read in the surviving pages of the old magazine.
We have been searching in the New York Times, but have failed to turn up any related story to the speakeasy hold up. Although we did find a few similar stories about women being bound and robbed of their jewels, but no exact matches to the penthouse robbery so far.
We strongly believe, based on the vaudevillian’s description of the lady and her mannerisms, that the Penthouse robbery victim, and the speakeasy robbery victim was one and the same Lady. We also think that there never was a penthouse robbery, and the jewels that the elevator valet was accused of stealing were actually relinquished to one of the thugs that held up the gambling joint. The main clue we don’t have is a name for the Lady. This would at least give us a starting point to investigate our theory.
If anyone out could shed some lights on this little mystery, especially the pulp detective magazines listed above, we would greatly appreciate it.