John Bunny
British postcard. Photo: Vitagraph. Caption: In Memoriam John Bunny who died April 26th 1915. Regretted by millions all over the world.
American actor and comedian John Bunny (1863-1915) was considered the first true comedy star of the early American silent film era. He acted in over a hundred short comedies at Vitagraph, often with Flora Finch.
John Bunny was born in New York City, N.Y., in 1863. He grew up in Brooklyn, where he attended high school and worked as a grocery store clerk before joining a small minstrel show that toured the West Coast. He continued to combine his work as a stage manager for various companies with stage performances in vaudeville shows before being attracted to the then-nascent film industry. By 1909 he was already under contract to Vitagraph, and his character as a well-fed, carefree man quickly made him an international silent comedy star. With Vitagraph he took part in a series of more than a hundred comedies, forming a popular pair with actress Flora Finch, commonly identified as the "Bunnygraphs" or "Bunnyfinches". Other regulars in the Bunny comedies at Vitagraph were Charles Eldridge, William O'Shea, Hughie Mack, Wally Van, Lilian Walker, Julia Swayne Gordon, Edith Storey, and the future Hollywood stars Norma Talmadge and Clara Kimball Young. Laurence/Larry Trimble directed most of the comedy shorts, while also Fred. Thomson, Wilfrid North and George D. Baker directed. The London-based Saturday Review wrote about him in 1913: “When Mr. Bunny laughs, people from San Francisco to Stepney Green laugh with him. When he frowns, every kingdom of the earth is contracted in one brow of woe. His despair is incredible. His grief is unendurable. His wrath is apoplectic. His terror is the panic of a whole army.” That was a bit exaggerated, but Bunny's pantomime was greatly appreciated. In 1914 John Palmer wrote in the same magazine: "Mr. Bunny has an extensive and extremely flexible face. [...] We know at once why Mr. Bunny never speaks. He could not possibly find words to convey the extremity of his feelings."
Jack Lodge, in his study The Huge Appeal of John Bunny writes: “John Bunny was a natural for Mr. Pickwick, and in 1913 he played the part. Vitagraph had seen a chance to increase the already great popularity of Bunny in England by sending him to film there, accompanied by his usual director, Larry Trimble. The voyage across provided a film – Bunny All at Sea (1912) – in which Bunny was the only professional, other parts being taken by passengers. Vitagraph emerged with a useful comedy – Bunny posing as the Captain…Bunny being arrested and set to degrading menial work – and also saved a lot of money.” The film The Pickwick Papers, a three-reeler by Laurence Trimble based on Charles Dicken's classic tale, was released by Vitagraph in 1913 and had Arthur Ricketts as the antagonist Mr. Jingle. A sequel was also produced: The Adventure of the Shooting Party, again with Bunny and Ricketts, directed by Trimble and based on Dickens. Despite what the Italian Wikipedia writes, Bunny's comedy was not slapstick, crass and circus-inspired but polite, middle-class, situational comedy, often situated in domestic settings. Unfortunately, Bunny was disliked by most of her fellow actors at Vitagraph, including Finch herself. Interviews conducted by Anthony Slide in the 1960s and 1970s with former employees of the company revealed that they found him arrogant, short-tempered and generally difficult to work with, a picture in complete contrast to the image of him that is remembered on screen.
In 1890, John Bunny married Clara Scallan, with whom he had two sons, George and John Jr, who also later became actors. His brother George Bunny was also an actor. Bunny, whose career only took five years, died of kidney disease in 1915. He was buried at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. Thanks to the fact that silent films knew no language barriers and to his great popularity, the news of his death occupied the front pages of both American and European newspapers. After his death, the technological advances and innovations brought about by the possibility of performing acrobatic acts soon brought new stars into the world of silent comedy and Bunny was almost completely forgotten. However, for his great contribution to the development of the film industry, a star has been dedicated to him on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1715 Vine Street. Several of the Bunny and Finch comedies have been found in the Desmet Collection of the Eye Filmmuseum (Netherlands) and can be found on Eye's YouTube section, such as Stenographer's Troubles, A Stenographer Wanted, Mr. Bolter's Infatuation, Bunny's Suicide, Bunny in Disguise, Pumps, Freckles, Troublesome Stepdaughters, Those Troublesome Tresses, Doctor Bridget, The Pickpocket, and Tangled Tangoists.
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian and English ), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
John Bunny
British postcard. Photo: Vitagraph. Caption: In Memoriam John Bunny who died April 26th 1915. Regretted by millions all over the world.
American actor and comedian John Bunny (1863-1915) was considered the first true comedy star of the early American silent film era. He acted in over a hundred short comedies at Vitagraph, often with Flora Finch.
John Bunny was born in New York City, N.Y., in 1863. He grew up in Brooklyn, where he attended high school and worked as a grocery store clerk before joining a small minstrel show that toured the West Coast. He continued to combine his work as a stage manager for various companies with stage performances in vaudeville shows before being attracted to the then-nascent film industry. By 1909 he was already under contract to Vitagraph, and his character as a well-fed, carefree man quickly made him an international silent comedy star. With Vitagraph he took part in a series of more than a hundred comedies, forming a popular pair with actress Flora Finch, commonly identified as the "Bunnygraphs" or "Bunnyfinches". Other regulars in the Bunny comedies at Vitagraph were Charles Eldridge, William O'Shea, Hughie Mack, Wally Van, Lilian Walker, Julia Swayne Gordon, Edith Storey, and the future Hollywood stars Norma Talmadge and Clara Kimball Young. Laurence/Larry Trimble directed most of the comedy shorts, while also Fred. Thomson, Wilfrid North and George D. Baker directed. The London-based Saturday Review wrote about him in 1913: “When Mr. Bunny laughs, people from San Francisco to Stepney Green laugh with him. When he frowns, every kingdom of the earth is contracted in one brow of woe. His despair is incredible. His grief is unendurable. His wrath is apoplectic. His terror is the panic of a whole army.” That was a bit exaggerated, but Bunny's pantomime was greatly appreciated. In 1914 John Palmer wrote in the same magazine: "Mr. Bunny has an extensive and extremely flexible face. [...] We know at once why Mr. Bunny never speaks. He could not possibly find words to convey the extremity of his feelings."
Jack Lodge, in his study The Huge Appeal of John Bunny writes: “John Bunny was a natural for Mr. Pickwick, and in 1913 he played the part. Vitagraph had seen a chance to increase the already great popularity of Bunny in England by sending him to film there, accompanied by his usual director, Larry Trimble. The voyage across provided a film – Bunny All at Sea (1912) – in which Bunny was the only professional, other parts being taken by passengers. Vitagraph emerged with a useful comedy – Bunny posing as the Captain…Bunny being arrested and set to degrading menial work – and also saved a lot of money.” The film The Pickwick Papers, a three-reeler by Laurence Trimble based on Charles Dicken's classic tale, was released by Vitagraph in 1913 and had Arthur Ricketts as the antagonist Mr. Jingle. A sequel was also produced: The Adventure of the Shooting Party, again with Bunny and Ricketts, directed by Trimble and based on Dickens. Despite what the Italian Wikipedia writes, Bunny's comedy was not slapstick, crass and circus-inspired but polite, middle-class, situational comedy, often situated in domestic settings. Unfortunately, Bunny was disliked by most of her fellow actors at Vitagraph, including Finch herself. Interviews conducted by Anthony Slide in the 1960s and 1970s with former employees of the company revealed that they found him arrogant, short-tempered and generally difficult to work with, a picture in complete contrast to the image of him that is remembered on screen.
In 1890, John Bunny married Clara Scallan, with whom he had two sons, George and John Jr, who also later became actors. His brother George Bunny was also an actor. Bunny, whose career only took five years, died of kidney disease in 1915. He was buried at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. Thanks to the fact that silent films knew no language barriers and to his great popularity, the news of his death occupied the front pages of both American and European newspapers. After his death, the technological advances and innovations brought about by the possibility of performing acrobatic acts soon brought new stars into the world of silent comedy and Bunny was almost completely forgotten. However, for his great contribution to the development of the film industry, a star has been dedicated to him on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1715 Vine Street. Several of the Bunny and Finch comedies have been found in the Desmet Collection of the Eye Filmmuseum (Netherlands) and can be found on Eye's YouTube section, such as Stenographer's Troubles, A Stenographer Wanted, Mr. Bolter's Infatuation, Bunny's Suicide, Bunny in Disguise, Pumps, Freckles, Troublesome Stepdaughters, Those Troublesome Tresses, Doctor Bridget, The Pickpocket, and Tangled Tangoists.
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian and English ), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.