Live Again Dorothy Janis

Oh...no...just the worst possible news that could come today!

Dorothy Janis, who only made a handful of silents (and one talkie), passed away on March 10th, likely aged 100. Dealing with the 1920s one must accept their beloved stars are almost 95% gone (a few weeks ago I had a dream Charlie Chaplin was in a screening of Monsieur Verdoux, I was excited to meet him until I realized, while still dreaming, he was long gone) but when its fresh like this its hard to swallow that beloved reincarnation pill I hold quite dear.

I've been very quiet about this, but I'm going to talk about it now. Through a series of events, I was asked to help find a 1930 talkie called "Lummox". Rudolph Valentino's Godson Bob Ullman (son of George Ullman, Rudy's manager and friend) had a major role in it. He never appeared in another film and passed away in 2005.

The film was believed to be lost, Herbert Brenon (director of Peter Pan and some wonderful Lon Chaney films) and Dorothy Janis (most notable for The Pagan with Ramon Novarro) fans all cited it as such. It was Bob Ullman's first and only film, Herbert Brenon's first talkie, and Dorothy's only talkie. William S. Hart's ex wife (Winifred Westover) was also featured in it. True its not major like 'Mabel Normand talkie found' major (for the record, no nothing of her voice exists), but it was a 'silent trivia major' film.

Out of habit the first place I search for a film is inevitably UCLA. And that's just what I did for Lummox. There it appeared...or so it seemed. UCLA only had the sound discs. But BFI might have the actual film. Indeed they did, but on nitrate. And unless someone shells out the money to restore it, Lummox just may rot away. This is the only known copy in the ENTIRE WORLD!

Most of this happened in very early February 2010. A Dorothy Janis fan tipped me off that she was still living and much to my surprise she indeed was. I had scanned the Lummox cast list but never quite figured out why I knew her name. 2 fans helped me acquire her address. I wrote Miss Janis as well as several film places, hoping to save Lummox.

So far the places with money have been a bit stingy, saying it was nice Miss Janis was still alive but it really wasn't a top priority for them. Yesterday, the 10th, I recieved an email with some wonderful news. At least two major places were considering restoring Lummox, all we had to do was figure out what type of print BFI had. I sent them an email and went about my day.

Then tonight, enjoying my Mimosas (haven't drank since New Years!), I read that dear Dorothy passed on that very day. She was about 100 years old (in fact, her birthday was in February.) It was too late to ever show her Lummox or gather her thoughts on the matter. As adult silent film stars go she was literally one of the last, I think (American wise) its safe to declare dear Doris Eaton and Barbara Kent the final survivors. If only they could all be Frederica Sagor Maas. Hell there's some people still alive from 1895 (of course they are the oldest living people in the world!) We could have Mary Pickford or Rudolph Valentino still with us if fate had gone differently!

So live again Dorothy! Its such a shame she's gone now. But come hell or high water I will save Lummox...and hopefully someday her fans will be able to see it...