His Picture in the Papers

Pete Prindle (Douglas Fairbanks) is the son of the owner of a health food company. Pete is a layabout. He has a job in name only with the company, and when dad is not looking he drinks alcohol and eats steaks. Cassius Cadwalader, a railroad magnate, picks out a completely unappealing vegetarian as a fiance for his daughter Christine. But Christine, like Pete, likes steak. Christine and Pete meet over a plate of beef in a restaurant and fall in love. But Cadawalader will not agree to his daughter's marriage to Pete unless Pete obtains a half interest in his dad's business. Dad says no way he will give half interest to his ne'er-do-well son unless he manages to get "his picture in the papers", because this publicity would be good for the business.

But it seems that Pete can't even get arrested in New York in 1916. Actually, he does get arrested several times for his exploits which are attempts to get publicity and thus headlines, but the newspapers either just print one line about it and no picture or write a big article and say his name is being withheld because the family is prominent.

In parallel developments, Cadawalader is being extorted by a gang called "The Weazels" but refuses to pay up - Initially his absent-mindedness just caused him to forget about their demands - and it becomes all out war between the magnate and The Weazels.

Seeing Douglas Fairbanks in a modern dress role in a comedy seems odd today, but 1916 was just his second year in film. He does get to show off his athleticism quite a bit here - It's what got him noticed by the film industry in the first place. The film is very quirky and funny and seems to be poking fun at advertising and at society itself. Also notice that one of the scariest looking of The Weazels is Eric Von Stroheim in just his second year in film in an uncredited role. What did I learn? - That the health food industry existed over a century ago and probably had a hand in getting prohibition passed, as one of Prindle's products is Prindle's Prohibition Punch. Also, apparently there was no such thing as a county jail uniform at the time - The police did give you a suit of clothes and even a bowler hat, and when released they let you take it with you. Or at least Fairbanks' character walked out of jail with one.

Considering that this movie was made 90 years ago it's remarkably modern in several respects. The character Doug plays is the son of a highly successful businessman, a processed food magnate (possibly based on John Harvey Kellogg of breakfast cereal fame) whose products are widely advertised and touted for their healthy ingredients. The opening scenes poke fun at the advertising campaign and at the father, Proteus Prindle -- what a name! -- plainly suggesting that he's more than a little pompous, and takes himself and his business too seriously. Son Pete, meanwhile, is something of a slacker. He works for Dad but shows up late at the office, and yet it's clear that he's no lazy slob, either: this is a young man who performs his morning exercise by leaping OVER his bed. He's played by Doug Fairbanks, after all. Pete rolls in late because he isn't as dedicated to the business as his old man, and perhaps because he was out sowing some wild oats the night before, but he's not a bad sort, he just needs to find a project he truly cares about.

Pete becomes interested in a young woman named Christine (played by Loretta Blake) whose father is also a wealthy businessman. This gentleman admires Proteus Prindle, follows Prindle's healthy diet regimen, and obviously feels that Pete doesn't measure up to his old man's stature. Christine's father refuses to allow her to marry Prindle Jr. unless the young man demonstrates his worthiness in business. Therefore, Prindle Sr. sets a goal: Pete must generate positive publicity for the company by getting his picture in the papers. And so our hero launches a series of outlandish schemes designed solely to attract attention. At first he thinks the task will be easy, but he comes to find it surprisingly difficult: he stages a fake accident, but is ignored; he takes part in a boxing match, but it's broken up by the authorities; and finally he runs up against a gang of extortionist crooks who have been after Christine's father. I don't think it's telling too much to report that Pete ultimately saves the day, gets the publicity and wins the girl—again, this is Doug Fairbanks we're talking about. How can he lose?

It may seem strange to speak of a silent comedy of this vintage as "modern," but the satirical elements in this film, i.e. the jabs at advertising and publicity-seeking, were certainly fresh in 1916 and give the film an engagingly sassy quality today. The filmmakers' attitude towards Prindle's health food philosophy is also notable: clearly, they regard the old man's vegetarianism as wimpy, while son Pete's irrepressible appetite for red meat and strong drink is presented as robustly virile. Christine, meanwhile, rejects a pallid young suitor who follows the Prindle regimen. And we learn that Pete and Christine are kindred spirits when it's revealed they both pretend to enjoy health food to please their parents, but sneak out for REAL food (i.e. steak) afterward.

Doug's performance as a slacker-turned-action hero is still satisfying for modern viewers, although the film's battered condition (or that of the print I saw, anyway) makes it a challenge to follow everything that's happening. Silent cinema buffs will get a kick out of Erich Von Stroheim's brief turn as a thug who sports an eye-patch and attacks Christine's father. Loretta Blake is rather more mature and sophisticated-looking than Doug's usual heroines; in subsequent films his leading ladies sometimes appear to be teenagers (and they sometimes were), but on this occasion he's dealing with a mature woman. Miss Blake is fine in the role, but one can see why Fairbanks would choose a different type of leading lady later on, for those wide-eyed girls seem better suited to play opposite an over-grown boy like Doug.

His Picture in the Papers was one of Fairbanks' first star vehicles, and it marked his first collaboration with director John Emerson and his wife, screenwriter Anita Loos. The trio would work together with great success on comedies during the 1910s, before Doug switched to swashbucklers. This film is somewhat restrained compared to later entries, at least where action is concerned, but the satirical element keeps it surprisingly fresh and enjoyable.

Douglas Fairbanks is the workshy son of a successful businessman who must get his picture in the newspaper if he is to marry the daughter of one of his father's biggest customers. A silly storyline, but Fairbanks was always an engaging leading man, and gets to show off his athletic dexterity in all manner of improbable ways. Erich von Stroheim plays a cutthroat rogue.

This film is often cited for developing Douglas Fairbanks's movie stardom. He starred in two previous films, "The Lamb" and "Double Trouble" (both 1915), but "His Picture in the Papers" is credited with fleshing out Fairbanks's persona for the first part of his career in modern comedies—before he turned to swashbucklers—and for introducing some of the fundamentals and wit characteristic of the formulas for these pictures. It was his first collaboration with John Emerson and Anita Loos, both of whom would support Fairbanks in several of his best early comedies, including "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish" (1916) and "Wild and Woolly" (1917). Even in the Fairbanks comedies where those two are not credited, it may be said that their influence is demonstrated by the adoption of similar vehicles for the star.

Alistair Cooke ("Douglas Fairbanks: the making of a screen character") praised Emerson and Loos for "a willingness to let Fairbanks's own restlessness set the pace of the shooting and his gymnastics be the true improvisations on a simple scenario." Indeed, there is plenty of fast-paced editing here—sometimes the shot successions are too quick, I think. The train gag seemed especially choppy. Yet, I generally prefer a bit too quick to some of the lethargic early features. There's an especially good match cut where Doug gets out of bed cut to his purchasing an automobile. Additionally, the scenario provides Doug with the usual romance and a goal (this time, an ironic effort by him struggling to attract publicity), which prominently feature his athleticism, seemingly effortless acrobatics, boyish masculinity, and smile. As in some of his later vehicles (e.g. "Wild and Woolly", "Reaching for the Moon"), he's trapped in a dull office job and effeminizing modern society; in this one, he secretly indulges in carnivorism while trying to sell his father's vegetarian product, and when he kisses a girl, he does so on the mouth, instead of the "sanitary kiss" the Melville character gives by tapping a face with his fingers. "His Picture in the Papers", however, doesn't have as cohesive a scenario as some of Fairbanks's later pictures. The subplot of the girl's father's problems with the weasel gang, for example, should've been dropped.

In ranking Loos the 25th most influential person in film history, Scott Smith ("The Film 100") cites her work on "His Picture in the Papers" and her earlier work at Biograph under Griffith for introducing the role of dialogue cards (or intertitles) and her witty phrases for introducing satire to cinema. "She was the unspoken 'voice' of Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks," Smith said. In one title card, when Melville kisses the girl, it says, "Note the kiss": an example of Loos making a wisecrack directly to the audience. Another card calls attention to the movie being a movie: "Ain't he the REEL hero?" Loos wrote similarly revealing, self-referential winks in Fairbanks's other films. Title cards are especially plentiful in the film's introduction, which slow down the otherwise fast pace of shot successions.

"His Picture in the Papers" isn't the best of Fairbanks's modern comedies, but it's a good introduction to these films and, as somewhat the beginning of them, is historically interesting in tracing the evolution of Fairbanks's screen persona and the characteristics of his vehicles.

A sprightly early Fairbanks film. Although too much of the story is told through intertitles, Douglas usual physical gags, including much building climbing and witty situations make for a good time. Look for Erich von Stroheim (who was also an assistant director) as a member of the Weazels Gang.