Beau Brummel (1913 film)

Beau Brummel
Beau Brummel
Directed by	James Young
Written by	Eugene Mullin
Based on	Play by Clyde Fitch, c. 1890
Produced by	Vitagraph Company of America
Starring	James Young; Clara Kimball Young; Julia Swayne Gordon
Distributed by	General Film Company
Release date	February 19, 1913;
Running time	1000 feet (approximately 10-15 minutes)
Country	USA

Beau Brummel is a 1913 silent short film directed by and starring James Young in the title role. Presumed now to be lost, it was produced in Brooklyn, New York, by Vitagraph Studios and also featured in its cast Clara Kimball Young, Rex Ingram, Julia Swayne Gordon, and Etienne Girardot. The photoplay's scenario was adapted from the Clyde Fitch novel and play, and upon the film's release Vitagraph listed it as a 1000-foot "one-reeler", which at the time would have had a maximum running time of 15 minutes.^[2]

On stage, in 1890, Richard Mansfield originally starred in Beau Brummell on Broadway.^[b] Other film adaptations were produced in both the silent and sound eras, including the 1924 remake starring John Barrymore and Mary Astor and the 1954 version with Stewart Granger, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Ustinov.

Plot

^ Some sources erroneously credit Booth Tarkington as the creator of this story in a novel. Beau Brummel is an historical play by Clyde Fitch written for stage star Richard Mansfield. Booth Tarkington wrote a novel Monsieur Beaucaire.
^ The spelling of "Brummell" (or "Brummel") varies in source citations as well as in titles of film productions portraying the character. Although the title of this film and of the 1924 remake are consistently given as Brummel, the correct spelling of the surname is generally accepted to be Brummell, which is the spelling used in the title of the 1954 film.

^ Kawin, Bruce F. How Movies Work. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987, pp. 46-47. According to this reference, a full 1000-foot reel of film in the silent era had a maximum running time of 15 minutes. Silent films were generally projected at a "standard" speed of 16 frames per second, much slower than the 24 frames of later sound films. Most reels, however, especially the final reels in multiple-reel releases, were not filled to their maximum capacities.
^ "Complete Record of Current Films", Motography (Chicago), March 1, 1913, p. 181. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved July 20, 2020.

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