Flo's Discipline

Florence Lawrence comes home, to find the small school for boys her father runs is a madhouse. The students are rambunctious because teacher Owen Moore does nothing to curb them. Florence takes it upon herself to do so, and to set Moore aright too, in this mild comedy, carried on the charms of its leads.

Miss Lawrence was the first movie star (as opposed to a famous theater star, slumming it in the flickers for a large paycheck), and so her name got attached to her movies. True, she was playing a role, but the audience wanted to see Florence Lawrence, and her name in the title guaranteed that.

Okay, so it is a 14 minute little silent movie, but it featured the first movie star - Florence lawrence. It's a cinematic crime that i, a cinema buff, had never heard of her until just yesterday, while listening to the audiobook TCM'S Forgotten Stars.

While watching this, I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that back in those days, people not only got a movie show, but they got a concert too. Two treats in one! Because remember, either it would be a piano player or it would be a full orchestra sometime, right below the screen - playing music, to punctuate the scenes.

Yes, we have talking pictures now. But at what cost? Now, if we want to see a concert, we have to go and see a concert. Back then, we could just see one without making any extra effort. They didn't know how good they had it!

But you know, now that I think about it, we can still do that, because remember that 2011 movie - the artist - that was a silent movie? It had music. It was done up as a tribute to silent film. Well, if we want the full silent film experience, people watching that movie should have been treated to not the music fused to the film, but to a live orchestra playing the music while they're watching the film. If we want to bring back something, let's bring back that every once in awhile! How cool would that be?!