June Caprice

In 1915, the movie world was all about Mary Pickford and every studio wanted someone like her. Which is probably why she wanted none of them and built her own studio, United Artists, with her husband Douglas Fairbanks and Charles Chaplin.

So they all looked for their own sugary child impersonator with golden locks and many Mary Pickford look-a-like contests were launched at the time. One winner was blue-eyed fair-haired 20 year old Helen Elizabeth Lawson, who had a little stage experience. In 1916, she moved from Boston to New York and tried to get into films. At the time, a good deal of the production was made at Fort Lee, New Jersey. The first studio she tried offered her no chance to work even though she reported daily to find out about job offers, so she tried a second one and got lucky with a $25 a week contract at Thanhouser Film Corporation.

Only a few months later, she signed with Fox Film for her first starring role Caprice of the Mountain
with Harry Hilliard, her co-star for several films to come. Her stage name was chosen in honor of this film: June Caprice.

With the same director (John G. Adolfi), she appeared in 7 more films over two years, all in roles that could have been tailor-made for Pickford: Little Miss Happiness, The Ragged Princess (with child stars sisters Jane and Katherine Lee) and The Mischief Maker in 1916 and A Modern Cinderella (with Wizard of Oz Frank Morgan), A Child of the Wild, The Small Town Girl, and Patsy in 1917.

The Fox publicity department dubbed her "The Sunshine Maid" (possibly from the working title of

The Ragged Princess

one of her films) which stuck in the public mind so much that nowadays, her filmography still often lists a film by that title when there very likely never has been.

That same year, she met her new director Harry F. Millarde, who not only married her, but also made some of her biggest successes: Every Girl's Dream, Miss U.S.A., Unknown 274, The Heart of Romance, The Camouflage Kiss, Blue-eyed Mary, and Miss Innocence.

At the peek of her success, the reviews were quite good: "Miss Caprice never appears to better advantage than she does in "Miss U.S.A." (The Reading Times; November 5, 1917).
Her fame got her a deal with the Coca Cola company to appear in their ads.

After two years with Fox, she ended her contract and signed with Pathé representative Albert Capellani (at Alice Guy Blaché's Solax studios) who directed her in Oh Boy!.
It starred Creighton Hale, who, at the time, was famous for his work opposite the famous Pearl White in many of her trademark films (The Exploits of Elaine, The Iron Claw, etc.). He also was the Prince of Snow White with another Mary Pickford clone: Marguerite Clark.

Yet, these films had moderate success. On June 13, 1919, Variety's critic of "Oh Boy!" was: "six reels of farce is a bit too much. This story is neither farce nor comedy, neither a convincing picture nor a roar of laughter. It is moderately interesting and clean - that’s all".

She then kept teaming up with Creighton Hale, but the following films she made with this studio were directed by George Archainbaud (The Love Cheat, A Damsel in Distress, In Walked Mary).

The August 9, 1919 critic for "The love Cheat" in Harrison’s Reports was: "This is a sweet little offering suitable mostly for young folks who are contented even if the hero does nothing else throughout the picture but kiss the heroine. The picture is good for Sunday crowds." The October 18 critic of "A Damsel in Distress" in Harrison’s Reports that same year was even worse: "This is a very badly padded comedy-drama. At times it is so padded, that it becomes tiresome. There are some good comedy spots in it, it is true, but they are about a mile apart, they do not hold the interest."

June without the wig

In a 1919 interview, June Caprice stated that she had liked only one role among all of her films and that one she did without her trademark golden curls. Maybe she referred to The Ragged Princess, where June swam in the nude in one scene.
Anyway, the public did not like it and when she received a thousand letters begging her to remain an ingénue, she decided to remain typecast for her own good. However,she did try different things at the end of her career. In "In Walked Mary", she becomes a vamp for a time, even though it's just to reveal the real nature of her friend's bride-to-be.
 Also, after the Spanish-themed Rogues and Romance, directed, written and played by George B. Seitz, she tried her hand at a serial, a popular genre at the time, with that same director. The 15 episode film was called The Sky Ranger and was released in 1921. This was to be her final film.

The following year, she gave birth to her only daughter and she
called her June in honor of her stage name. Her husband kept on directing films until 1927. He died of a heart attack in 1931. Unfortunately, June Caprice also died of cancer in 1936, leaving orphan girl June Millard to be raised by June Caprice's parent. When she grew up, she also appeared in a few films in the early 1940s, but her main career was modeling under the name Toni Seven.

June Caprice's misfortune is that her most successful films were made at Fox and most of that studio's silent film catalog is lost due to a fire in 1937. However, none of her films are currently available in any format.

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Dutch Snow White program

The first Dutch release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs called "Sneeuwwitje en de zeven dwergen" hit the screens November 11, 1938. Snow flakes were added to the Gustaf Tenggren design on the poster so that it would look more like a Christmas movie.
That first Dutch version was directed by Max Tak and Kurt Gerron and featured the voices of Cecilia Bach as Snow White, Tilly Perin-Bouwmeester as the Queen, Lex Karsemeyer as the Prince, Paul Huf as the Magic Mirror, Johan Kart as Doc, Wam Heskes as Happy, Louis de Bree as Grumpy, Lucas Wensing as Sleepy, Frits van Dijk as Sneezy and Cohen Hissink as Bashful.

This first dub was replaced in 1984 and then again in 1990. A common practice for Disney. Here is the original Dutch program in its entirety. Click on the pictures for a bigger version.

 On this page Anne Shirley is wearing a hat modeled after the Huntsman's.

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Prayer to the Stars

Marcel Pagnol is a famous French poet, writer and filmmaker. His stories usually revolve around the south of France, in Provence. These stories are sometimes told through several generations, hence the many episodes like his three films Marius,Fanny and César (the first one being directed by Alexander Korda because it was the birth of sound films and he needed someone to master the technique).

Josette "dwarfing" her screen partners

His films sometimes star his wives and girlfriends. The above-mentioned trilogy features Orane Demazis. His girlfriend Josette Day starred in The Well-digger's Daughter, and finally, he married Jacqueline Pagnol, who is the famous Manon of the Springson-screen. These favors sometimes eclipsed the film stars hired in Pagnol films. When Fernandel and Raimu found out that Josette Day’s head was much bigger than theirs on the poster, they went: “Look! Snow White and the Two Dwarfs.”

Josette Day (Florence) & Pierre Blanchar (Pierre)

During the war, it was Pagnol’s decision to work free from the censorship of the authority of Vichy in occupied France. Luckily, his studios in the south of France, were in the free zone.

During the shoot of The Well-digger's Daughter, the filming had to be interrupted because of the loss of the war in 1940, the script modified to take into account the profound changes in the political aspects of France. Nonetheless, the film was finished and released. It was recently remade by Daniel Auteuil.

The next project was a film called La prière aux étoiles (Prayer To The Stars). Again his then wife, Josette Day, was to star. The script soon developed into a very long film, so long that he decided to make it another trilogy, each episode named each protagonist: Dominique, Pierre and Florence, much like his first.

Florence meets Pierre at the fair in Paris. The two fall in love and leave for the south of France. Florence's past with Dominique threatens her relationship with her very jealous new boyfriend.

This film was a drastic change for Pagnol since many scenes were to take place in Paris (and in the amusement park of Pagnol’s friend Léon Volterra), far away from his cherished Provence (which at the time, meant filming in occupied France). Also, the story was somewhat autobiographical.

Josette Day as Florence

Filming began in 1941. Unfortunately, film was a difficult material to get at this time, and what Pagnol managed to get was of a lesser quality. Also, the Germans tried to get him to get him to make a film for them. Thinking it unwise to refuse flatly, he pretended that he is going blind and sold his Paris and Marseille studios to Gaumont, along with his film laboratories in 1942.

Carette & Josette Day

Editor Jeannette Ginestet-Rongier believed, along with many others that the actual reason behind the end of the film was the departure of Josette Day who had left Pagnol, who, in his rage, destroyed most of his material.

Josette went on to create the role of Belle in Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast.

A little over 10 minutes of footage survive and are available on the bonus disc of the French DVD of The Well-digger's Daughter. You can also buy the script of the film (provided you read French) on amazon.
A snippet of footage is also available on the official Marcel Pagnol website for free.
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Fantasia Program in France

I already wrote an article about Walt Disney's Fantasia and its various versions. Today, I'd like to share the original 1946 French RKO program with its beautiful original artwork. Click on the pictures for full quality.

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Ulysses 31

Before they produced The Mysterious Cities Of Gold, DIC had teamed up with the Japanese for the first time for their series Ulysses 31. The series was distributed almost worldwide and was a major success in the UK and France.

Pilot promotional leaflet

Since it was the first collaboration between several countries, a pilot was made. Animation was to be made in Japan, the French would write the stories and the music would be composed and recorded in the USA.

That pilot was directed by René Borg who planned it so it could be used as the first episode in the series in case of approval. TMS, the Japanese animation company, wanted a Japanese co-director with him but Borg would not share his directorial duties. He eventually left the project over a disagreement with what he considered poor quality in the animation of a couple of shots. Young Bernard Deyriès took over.

Cast (final design)

Ulysses and Nono in the pilot episode

In the meantime, the pilot episode remained unreleased. Characters and settings were completely redesigned for more complex and more European looks. It is interesting to see how characters were originally supposed to look like many characters of others anime of the time despite René Borg's influence. The design of the spaceship was made in an effort to use computer animation for the first time in a TV show. However, the results were largely unimpressive (basically a moving ring) and the final design of a ship (traditionally painted on a cel) with an iris looks much better.

The Odyssey in the pilot episode

Here is a peek at this unaired pilot episode:

Once the first episode was finalized, the main title was designed with a song composed and sung by composer Denny Crockett. Although that theme was in English, it was only used when the show first aired in Japan. The ending theme was an instrumental piece.

Odyssey's final design

In that country, the show was only broadcast through the then-new satellite technology so its success was moderate at best. There was a 1991 rerun for which a new soundtrack was recorded. The main and end titles were new Japanese songs (Ginga Densetsu Odyssey & Ai Toki no Kanata ni by Tomoaki Taka). Interestingly, the ending song features a new montage unseen in any other version. The score was also replaced by one composed by Kei Wakakusa (with snippets of the original) and the dialogs recorded by a new cast. The same thing happened to Mysterious Cities of Gold in Japan, so it is possible that it was done for the same reason: destruction of previous masters.

Shyrka

The international version is a different story. Just like Cities of Gold, the master version for all foreign countries except Japan would be the French version. And for that one, two new themes were composed by Shuki Levy and the opening one was translated in all languages. Shuki also composed a few additional tracks in the score so that his theme would find its way in the core of the episode, along with Denny Crockett and Ike Egan's iconic music. Here is the theme in English:

As if there weren't enough versions, for the 1983 French rerun, he composed yet a new theme called "Ulysse revient" (Ulysses comes back) which replaced both the original opening and ending themes.

The English version of the theme was shortened for the DVD release. Here is the new version:

Recently, a renewed interest in the series saw the release of several projects related to the show and its music. First of all, you can buy the series on DVD. Even after thirty years, it's perfect for your kids. The complete series is available in the UK, but you can get sample episodes from Cookie jar.

About the soundtrack, in Japan, the rerecorded tracks have been available on LP and CD for a long time.
In the rest of the world, at the time the show aired, tie-in records contained the themes and the tracks composed by Shuki Levy.
In 2001, a CD was released from the music and effects tracks with

Crockett and Egan's tracks. The quality was not exactly perfect but it was a first attempt to get the full score on disc.
Last year, Télé 80 released a CD with the tracks from the original LP.
Eventually, a fan called David Colin not only rerecorded the entire score (soon to be released on CD) but he also found the original tapes in the hands of the composer and the CD has just come out. You can order it here. I highly recommend it.

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