Salomy Jane (film)

Salomy Jane
House Peters lifts Beatriz Michelena onto his horse
Directed by	William Nigh Lucius Henderson
Produced by	Alexander E. Beyfuss
Written by	Paul Armstrong (play & screenplay) Bret Harte (original story)
Cinematography	Arthur A. Cadwell Arthur Powelson
Distributed by	Alco Film Corporation
Release dates	November 2, 1914
Running time	approximately one hour (six reels)
Country	United States
Language	Silent English intertitles

Salomy Jane (1914) is a Western feature film based on Bret Harte's 1898 novella of the same name.^[1] It is the only known surviving complete work of silent film era actress Beatriz Michelena and the California Motion Picture Corporation.

Plot

Rough-and-tumble Gold Rush-era California: a woman (Salomy Jane) is saved from a ruffian (Red Pete) by a heroic stranger (Jack Dart), the latter saved from a lynching when falsely accused of a crime.

Cast

• Beatriz Michelena – Salomy Jane
• House Peters – Jack Dart, The Man
• William Pike – Red Pete
• Clara Beyers – Mrs. Heath (as Clara Byers)
• Lorraine Levy – Anna May
• Loretta Ephran – Mary Ann
• Walter Williams – Willie Smith
• Demetrios Mitsoras – Gallagher
• Andrew Robson – Yuba Bill
• Matt Snyder – Madison Clay
• Harold B. Meade – Baldwin
• Clarence Arper – Colonel Starbottle
• Harold Entwistle – Larabee
• Fred Snook – Seth Low
• Ernest Joy – Marbury
• William Nigh – Rufe Waters
• Jack Holt – Cowboy in saloon playing solitaire, stuntman (uncredited)

Distinctions

Salomy Jane was the debut California Motion Picture Corporation^[2] feature as well as screen appearance by stage actress and singer Beatriz Michelena. George E. Middleton saw in his Latina wife a competitor to Mary Pickford as a premier screen star, each production intended to be Michelena's vehicle to success. Despite being well received by the public it did not return a profit for the national distributor, Alco Film. The subsequent productions being commercial failures, did not preclude Michelena wanting demanding star-treatment perquisites that proved to much to the studio. The duo left California Motion Picture forming Beatriz Michelena Features,^[3] producing Just Squaw (1919) and The Flame of Hellgate (1920).^[4][5] Middleton and Michelena divorced in the 1920s.^[6]

Salomy Jane (1914), long cited as the debut appearance of Jack Holt seems to be in error as he had been taking bit parts during the preceding year.^[7] It is the scene in which he rides a horse to the edge of a steep embankment then jumps off tumbling more than a hundred feet down into the Russian River. The stunt netted him a bit part as a saloon patron.

Restoration

All California Motion Picture Corporation and Beatrice Michelena Studio films were believed lost due to a 1931 studio fire in San Rafael, California caused by a child's firecracker prank that destroyed the vault in which the films were stored. However, a Salomy Jane (1914) print was found in Australia in 1996, has been preserved by the Library of Congress. New 35mm prints began limited circulation in 2008.^[8] The restoration was a DVD released (2011) by the National Film Preservation Foundation in the anthology Treasures 5: The West 1898–1938.

Remakes

Remade as Salomy Jane (1923) by Famous Players-Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures,^[9]

Remade as Wild Girl (1932) by Fox Film Corporation.^[10]

References

See also

• List of rediscovered films

External links

• Salomy Jane at the Internet Movie Database
• Salomy Jane (1923 film)
• Santa Cruz Public Libraries, California. On Location. Still photograph from Salomy Jane