Harry Lorraine
This document sets out to cover the life of Harry Lorraine from son of a plumber to actor, director, producer and writer of movies both in England and America. It will also cover Harry’s connections with Felbridge, the Heard family, his life before the movies, and the most comprehensive filmography as possible based on surviving international film records. It should be remembered that this document is only as complete as surviving records of the film industry and family memories allow, as much of his personal documents were destroyed in a fire some years ago.
Connections with Felbridge
This document came about through a casual comment made many years ago by the late Ken Housman, respected Felbridge resident and member of the Felbridge Parish Council (see Handouts, Civil Parish of Felbridge, SJC 03/03 and Felcot Farm, JIC/SJC 04/08). Ken’s comment was, “Bet’s mother’s cousin was something to do with the movies”. Bet was Ken’s wife and both she and her older sister Barbara confirmed that their ‘uncle’, Harry Heard, who went by the name Harry Lorraine, had been in the movies. Barbara, then in her late 80’s, also remembered being taken to the see of one of his films as a child. She recalled that the film was about a disaster in an old mine, although she couldn’t remember what it was called, but it was so realistic that the pit disaster storyline scared her enough to make her cry. She also revealed that the film had been made on location in Felbridge, at the site of the old Warren furnace in Furnace Wood (see Handouts, Warren Furnace, SJC 01/00 and Wiremill SJC 03/06).
Barbara recalled that the film set for the interior of the mine had been built using pit props and tarpaulin, which was located below the pond bay or dam at Furnace Lake. The reference to the use of pit props may answer another long standing puzzle from a former resident who asked why a large number of pit props had been made in Cuttinglye Wood when they were younger. Perhaps the requirement of pit props for the film set answers the resident’s memory of them being cut in Cuttinglye Wood, a short distance from Furnace Lake.
The disaster portrayed in the film centred on the mine being flooded and for realism the sluice was opened to allow just enough water onto the film set to collapse some of the pit props and give the illusion of a disaster in a mine. However, Barbara recalls that they had failed to correctly calculate how much water would be needed and enough was allowed through the dam to result in the film set being washed away!
Unfortunately it has not been possible to identify the name of this film that was made on location in Felbridge, although it would have to have been made in or after the mid 1920’s to enable Barbara, who was born in 1915, to have remembered it, as any earlier than that date she would have been too young to attend or remember.
Whilst referring to filming in Felbridge, Ken remembered that another Harry Lorraine film had been made in the area. Again the name escaped him but he remembered going to the old ‘Flea Pit’ in East Grinstead to watch it as a boy. In this film the character played by Harry Lorraine was tied to the waterwheel at Hedgecourt Mill (see Handout, Hedgecourt Mills and Mill Cottage, SJC 12/99 and Hedgecourt Mill Cottages, SJC 07/04), which was then set revolving into and out of the water, a stunt that Ken said had been performed by Harry Lorraine himself. Fortunately there is a film synopsis that corresponds to this action being performed in The Counterfeiters, one of a series of Sexton Blake films made in 1915 (full details to follow below). Ken also remembered that he had seen another of Harry Lorraine’s films at the ‘Flea Pit’, and in this film he was standing on the wings of a by-plane, again all the stunt work was performed by Harry Lorraine. A possible candidate for this film is Lieutenant Daring, Aerial Scout, made in 1914 (full details to follow below).
Although some of Harry Lorraine’s films were made on location in Felbridge he did not live here, however, several members of his extended Heard family made there home in Felbridge and it is known that the Lorraine family did visit them. As a point of interest, some of the extended Heard family still live in the Felbridge area to this day and, although several generations down the Heard family tree, they are still keen to preserve the memory of and connections between Harry Lorraine and Felbridge.
The Heard family
Harry Loraine descends from Thomas Heard, the fourth son of William and Elizabeth Heard.
William Heard
William Heard was born about 1816 in Romford, Essex, and married Elizabeth Frances Leaver in 1846 in Shoreditch. William and Elizabeth Heard had at least nine children including; Isabella born in Shoreditch in 1847, William H born in 1849, Richard John born in 1850, Mary Jane born in 1851 (all three born in Hackney), Abraham born in 1852, Sophia A born in 1858, James Henry born in 1860, Thomas born in 1862 and Albert Edward born in 1864 (the last five born in West Ham).
In 1851 William was a coachman working for John Lake, an attorney and solicitor, and was living with his family at Lake Cottage, West Hackney. Unfortunately as several William Heards appear in the 1841 census, with occupations ranging from agricultural labourer to being in the navy, it has been impossible to determine where William was or what he was doing before 1851. However, by 1861 William and his family were living at 3, Pleasant Place, Forest Street in West Ham, and by 1871 the family had moved to 43, Odessa Road, Forest Gate in West Ham, where they lived until at least 1881. Between 1861 and 1881 William was employed as a gardener and Elizabeth as a dressmaker.
In 1881 William and Elizabeth’s sons James and Albert were still living at home with them, both single, James working as a plumber and Albert as a gardener’s assistant. Living as the next household on from William and Elizabeth, was their son Abraham, who was working as a steam sawyer. Abraham’s household included his wife Louisa, whom he had married in 1880, and Olivia and Eden Cora Bennett, daughters of Louisa from her first marriage.
Abraham and Louisa went on to have three children, Elinor Amy born in 1882, George Harry born in 1886 and Bertie born in 1887, all born in West Ham. By 1901 Abraham and his family had moved to 48, Odessa Road, West Ham, where Abraham died in 1916.
Thomas Heard
In 1881 William and Elizabeth’s son Thomas had moved from the family home and, like his father, was also working as a gardener, lodging with the Perry family in Albert Road, Chingford in Essex. In the spring of 1885, Thomas Heard married Harriett Ashdown in Brighton, and settled at 55, Ivory Place, Brighton; Thomas recorded as a journeyman glazier. Harriet had been born in Brighton in 1858, the daughter of William Ashdown and his wife Harriett née Allen, and her siblings included, William born in 1864, Frances Hope born in 1867, Edith born in 1869, John born in 1871 and Nellie born in 1877.
Thomas and Harriett Heard had three children, Harry Albert (who became known as Harry Lorraine) born in 1885, Daisy born in 1891, and one other child, either Herbert born in the September quarter of 1886 but whose death is recorded in the December quarter of 1886 or Nellie who was born in the December quarter of 1888 and who also died as an infant, all the children were born in Brighton. By 1891 Thomas and his family had moved to 11, Ivory Place, Brighton, Thomas was working as a paper hanger, and they were still there in 1901, although Thomas had had a change in occupation and was by then a house painter. By 1901 Thomas had been joined in Brighton by his brother Albert who was also working as a house painter and was living with his family at 80, Washington Terrace.
Albert Heard
Albert Heard had married Annie Styles in the September quarter of 1894 in the registration district of Steyning,Sussex. Annie had been born in the winter of 1869 inShipley,Sussex. Albert and Annie had at least five children including, Margaret Rose born in the September quarter of 1894, William Alfred born in the December quarter 1895, Herbert Frederick born in the December quarter 1897, Christina Humbhard born in the March quarter 1899, Lily Elizabeth born in the March quarter 1901 and Winifred Heard born in the June quarter 1908. As all the children were born in Brighton it would suggest that Albert and his wife started their married life there in 1894, although just three years earlier he had been living with his brother James in East Grinstead, working as a house painter.
James Heard
Whilst Thomas and then Albert Heard established their homes in Brighton, their older brother James had moved to East Grinstead, in 1891 he was living at 56, West Street, before moving to Durkins Road by 1901, and at 10, Queen’s Road, by 1911; James’ occupation from at least 1881 being recorded as a plumber. James Heard married Frances Hope Ashdown (sister of Thomas’ wife Harriett) in the spring of 1887 in Brighton and they had one child born in Brighton in 1887 called Winifred Hope and four children born in East Grinstead including, Alice born in 1891, Henry Thomas (known as Harry) born in 1896, Florence Elizabeth (known as Bessie) born in 1899 and Ida born in 1909.
It is through the line of family descending from Thomas’ brother James that Harry Lorraine is connected with the Felbridge area as James and his family moved to Ashdown Hope (later Ashdown Lea) on Copthorne Road in Felbridge in the early 20th century. Further ties with the Felbridge area come through James’ daughter Winifred (Harry Lorraine’s cousin) who married Jack Arthur Thomas in 1911, and who, after initially setting up home in East Grinstead, moved to Brook Nook in Furnace Wood, Felbridge, in the 1930’s.
Harry Lorraine – Life before the Movies
As established above, Harry Lorraine was born Harry Albert Heard in Brighton on 26th March 1885, the son of Thomas and Harriett. From information supplied by his son, Harry was a very great swimmer having learned this skill as a boy retrieving tools dropped by the men building the Palace Pier off Brighton beach. Work had commenced on the new pier in 1891, continuing slowly, due to financial problems, for the next ten years. The Palace Pier, one of the last piers to be constructed in England, was built solely for amusement and pleasure with a 1,500-seater theatre at the seaward end complimented by smaller pavilions containing dining rooms, grill rooms, smoking rooms and reading rooms. The pier was opened in 1899, when Harry would have been fourteen, but it would take a further two years to complete the seaward theatre end. In its early years the Palace Pier Theatre was a venue for variety and music hall presenting such acts as Albert Chevalier, the ‘Coster’s Laureate’ whose widow (the inspiration for the song My Old Dutch) would eventually live in Felbridge [for further information see Handouts, Albert Chevalier & My Old Dutch, SJC 05/01 and Ann’s Orchard, SJC 05/01].
In 1901, Harry, then aged sixteen, was working as a house painter for his father and was still living at the family home at 11, Ivory Place, Brighton. However, in 1911 Harry has vanished from the census records. It is known that by 1912 Harry had established himself as ‘The world’s youngest Handcuff King’ (see below) an English version of Harry Houdini. It is also known that Harry was using the name Harry Herd, but he cannot be found under either spelling of his surname, any occupation including escapologist, magician, stuntman, variety artist etc. etc. or under any ‘Harry’ born in Brighton c1885, so it is possible that his absence from the records is due to travelling/performing his feats based on the work of Harry Houdini.
As a point of interest, Harry Houdini had been born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary, in 1874, the Weisz family emigrating to America in 1878 where he first performed in public as a trapeze artist five years later at the age of nine. His break came in 1899 when he met manager Martin Beck who suggested he concentrate on escapology. His act, initially involving escaping from handcuffs, soon rose in popularity in America and in 1900 he embarked on a tour of Europe that took in, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Russia, Houdini becoming known as ‘The Handcuff King’.
It is possible that Harry Heard was one of the 4,000-strong audience that watched Harry Houdini escape from a pair of handcuffs with a specially made lock in The Mirror newspaper challenge at the London Hippodrome in 1904. Failing a trip to London, Harry Heard also had the opportunity to see Harry Houdini in 1907 when he appeared at the Arcadia Theatre of Varieties (now the site of the Trades & Labour Club) in Park Crescent, Lewes Road, in Harry Heard’s home town of Brighton, or at the Brighton Hippodrome where he also known to have appeared. Family legend says that Harry Heard also appeared with Houdini but unfortunately this has not yet been collaborated, although his son confirms that Harry Heard did meet Harry Houdini and thought he was a very great man.
Whenever it was that Harry Heard saw and met Houdini it could be argued that this was a turning point in his life as within a few years Harry Heard was performing similar stunts to that of Houdini as Harry Herd. Harry must also have modelled himself on Houdini as early photographs show him bearing quite a strong resemblance to him. It is also true to say that Harry Herd’s life followed a similar path to that of Harry Houdini, having started their performing careers as escapologists they both entered the film industry as stunt performers, actors and producers, although it is fair to say that Harry Herd had a more successful film career than Harry Houdini. However, unlike Houdini who used the same name for both careers, Harry Herd chose to use yet another name for his film career adopting the name – Harry Lorraine.
Harry Lorraine – Movie Maker
At the point at which Harry Herd as Harry Lorraine entered the film industry, research uncovered the fact that there were potentially three ‘Harry Lorraines’ working in the entertainment world at the same time, the English Harry Lorraine, who is known to have worked on both sides of the Atlantic, and two American Harry Lorraines.
Harry Lorraine – American stage actor
One of the two American Harrys can be discounted fairly quickly as it would appear that he only worked within the theatre world. This Harry Lorraine was born Harry Wolff in about 1890 and may have been the Harry Lorraine who appeared in plays such as Nearly Married in May 1913 and Fair and Warmer in November 1915, both Broadway productions, along with the Miner’s Big Frolic, a burlesque company formed out of a combination of Miner’s Americans and Miner’s Bohemians that produced a two-act burlesque called Mixed Pickles, also in 1915. As yet it has not been possible to determine whether these performances should be credited to Harry Wolff, Harry Scroth the second of the two American Harry Lorraines (see below) or the English Harry Lorraine (see below).
In later life it would appear that Harry Wolff, one of the American Harry Lorraines, began working as a theatre booking agent, eventually running his own agency. This is confirmed in his obituary that appeared in the New York Times of the 22nd August 1934 stating:
Harry Wolff, known in the theatre business as Harry Lorraine, died suddenly at his home, 25-30 Thirtieth Road, Astoria, yesterday afternoon. He was born in Manhattan forty-four years ago. For thirteen years he was with Fally & Marcus as a booking agent for vaudeville entertainers, and since 1931 had his own agency at 1,560, Broadway, Manhattan.
Mr Wolff frequently supplied talent for police entertainments and for dinners of department associations.
He is survived by his widow, a brother, Samuel Wolff, and two sisters, Mrs Elizabeth Levy and Mrs LN Moss, all of Manhattan.
Harry Wolff was buried at the Bayside Cemetery in New York. It is the death of this ‘Harry Lorraine’ that is frequently attributed to both the remaining American and English Harry Lorraines, neither of which appear to have ever lived in Astoria, New York.
Harry Lorraine – American film actor
The second American Harry Lorraine was born Harry Scroth on 14th September 1873, one of at least four children including, younger brother Arthur and two sisters, Kate and Louise. It is with the help of his great, great niece and photographs and letters that he sent to one of his sisters in the mid 1910’s to late 1920’s, which detail the roles he was playing and the movies in which he was appearing, that have helped to unravel some of the films that should be credited to the American Harry Lorraine film actor.
From the various film archives and family memories 97 films have so far been identified that credit ‘Harry Lorraine’. Of these, 45 films were British made and can be fairly safely credited to the English Harry Lorraine as the American Harry makes no mention of filming anywhere other than in America. However, as it is known that the English Harry made several trips across the Atlantic some of the remaining 52 films, all made in America, could be attributed to either of the Harry Lorraine film actors. However, for 36 of these films there is over-whelming evidence to suggest they should be credited to the American Harry, based on photographs, letters, the genre of the films and the various production companies. That leaves 16 films that could be credited to either Harry, unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to give a definitive accreditation for any of these remaining films based on surviving film archives.
From a photograph stamped Lubin, in which the American Harry Lorraine appears standing next to a young Oliver Hardy, it is evident that he takes the credit for eighteen Lubin comedy films made between 1914 and 1916, including: Who’s Boss? (27th June 1914), The Wise Detectives (22nd September 1914), She Married for Love (27th October 1914), A Boomerang Swindle (3rd November 1914), Kidnapping the Kid (7th November 1914), Weary Willie’s Rags (15th December 1914), The Daddy of them All (21st November 1914), Cupid’s Target (1st January 1915), They Looked Alike (5th January 1915), Spaghetti and Lottery (16th January 1915), Shoddy the Tailor (23rd Janaury1915), Another Shade of Green (30th January 1915), Si and Sue, Acrobats (27th March 1915),Who Stole the Doggie? (11th May 1915), The Cannibal King (6th July 1915), The Careless Anarchist (21st September 1915), Wayville Slumber Party (28th September 1915) and It Happened in Pikesville (29th July 1916).
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was formed in 1902 and built a state of the art studio in Philadelphia in 1910, expanding to Jacksonville, Florida, Los Angeles and California by 1912. However, a disastrous fire in June 1914 destroyed the negatives for a number of unreleased new films that severely damaged the business, and when World War I broke out in Europe Lubin, like many other American film companies, lost a large source of income from foreign sales. After making more than a thousand films Lubin Manufacturing Company was forced into bankruptcy in 1916.
There are a number of photographs of the American Harry Lorraine with Lubin cast members that do not match any known film synopses which would suggest that these could be stills from films that did not survive the fire of 1914. If this is the case a complete filmography for the American Harry Lorraine’s Lubin years may never be fully known.
With the loss of Lubin it would appear that the American Harry Lorraine moved to Universal Film Manufacturing Company where he made a total of nine films including: Just Jim (16th August 1915), Tom’s Tramping Troupe (9th May 1917), Roped into Scandal (30th May 1917), Soapsuds and Sirens (24th September 1917), Vamping Reuben’s Millions (15th October 1917), Torpedo Pirates (19th January 1918), Ash-Can Alley (23rd January 1918), Her Whirlwind Wedding (4th September 1918), and Monkey Stuff (7th July 1919).
From 1919 the American Harry Lorraine appears to have begun work with several independent American film companies making The Hawk’s Trail (W H Productions Company, 13th December 1919). The Motion Picture Studio Directory of 1921 lists the following films credited to the American Harry Lorraine, The Slim Princess (Goldwyn, 4th July 1920), Kismet (Waldorf Film Corporation, 14th November 1920), Last of the Mohicans (Maurice Tourneur Productions, 21st November 1920), The Lure of Egypt (Pathé, 15th May 1921) and Man of the Forest (W W Hodkinson, June 1921). As a point of interest, there is a surviving photograph of the American Harry Lorraine dressed as Hawkeye, the character he played in The Last of the Mohicans. Another W W Hodkinson film was A Certain Rich Man (28th May 1921), although this does not appear in his filmography in the Picture Studio Directory of 1921. These films were followed by two Benjamin B Hampton Productions, Golden Dreams (4th June 1922) and Heart’s Haven (August 1922), again there is a surviving photograph of the American Harry Lorraine in Golden Dreams. As a point of interest, W W Hodkinson’s film interests went on to found Paramount Pictures in 1936.
The majority of the above credits for the American Harry Lorraine were for films of the comedy and romance genre, none obviously involving the dare-devil stunt work that became synonymous with the English Harry Lorraine (see below).
However, there are sixteen other American made films that unfortunately it has not yet been possible to determine to which Harry Lorraine they should be credited. These films (in chronological order) include, Garments of Truth (Metro Pictures, 5th October 1921), The Hunch (Metro Pictures, 28th November 1921), Little Eva Ascends (Metro Pictures, 8th January 1922), I Can Explain (Metro Pictures, 20th March 1922), Don’t Write Letters (Metro Pictures, 16th May 1922), The Lavender Bath Lady (Universal Films, 13th November 1922), Tea: With a Kick! (Victor Halperin Productions, 16th August 1923), Slave to Desire (Goldwyn, 14th October 1923), The Shooting of Dan McGrew (Metro Pictures,31st March 1924), All’s Swell on the Ocean (Universal Films, 8th August 1924), Bring Him In (Universal Films, 1st September 1924), Siege (Universal Films, 27th September 1924), Ace of Spades (Universal Films, 19th October 1924), Steppin’ Out (Columbia Pictures Corporation, 15th October 1925), A Punch in the Nose (Pathé, 3rd January 1926), and The Vanishing West (Mascot Production Company, 15th October 1928). The likelihood is that most of the sixteen films should be attributed to the American Harry Lorraine but it is known that the English Harry also made films in America in the mid 1920’s and his established filmography has a gap between 1921 and 1928, therefore some of the afore mentioned sixteen films would help to fill the seven year gap in his filmography.
As for the American Harry Lorraine, the last five years of his life show a marked decline in film credits. In a letter dated September 1930, he talks about everyone being out of work, stating that he was getting little work and that he was doing some plays, but unfortunately he does not name any of the plays or films. Harry Lorraine, alias Harry Scroth, died aged sixty-two in 1935.
Harry Herd as the English film actor Harry Lorraine
After some years on stage, entertaining audiences as the ‘youngest Handcuff King’, Harry Herd turned towards the movies. He may have been inspired by the thriving film industry based in Brighton (GAS Films, Williamson Kinematograph and Brightonian Film Company being the most productive) that operated during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, although there are no Harry Herd credits in any of the short films made by any of the companies. However, in the spring of 1912 Harry Herd ventured into the film industry when he introduced himself to the British and Colonial Kinematograph Company in London.
An article that appeared in The Film Censor & Exhibitors Review, dated 19th March 1913, details the transition from Harry Herd to Harry Lorraine:
MR. HARRY LORRAINE
“THE HANDCUFF KING”
We have much pleasure in bringing before our readers …. one of the latest additions to the “photoplay” stage in the person of Mr. Harry Lorraine, known throughout the world as Harry Herd, the youngest “Handcuff King”. About twelve months ago Mr. Lorraine called at the offices of the British and Colonial Kinematograph Company, Limited, where he met Mr. Oceano Martinek. Mr. Martinek was at once impressed by the versatility of this, the youngest handcuff king in the world, and took him under his “wing”. From such able tuition, good results were bound to accrue, and we now find in Mr. Lorraine a leading cinema actor of the B. and C.
‘Mr Oceano Martinek’, as referred to in the article, was born in America in 1877 and had a background in the circus having performed with Barnum & Baileys in the early 1900’s before moving into acting and directing in the silent film industry in England some time around 1909. He has an extensive list of film credits, often appearing with his sister Ivy Martinek, and he also directed two films that Harry Lorraine appeared in, Signals in the Night and Stock is as Good as Money, both made in 1913.
The first film credit for Harry Herd as the English Harry Lorraine was in August 1912 when he appeared as Little John (alongside Brian Plant as Robin Hood and Ivy Martinek as Maid Marion), in Robin Hood Outlawed, a British and Colonial film directed by Charles Raymond. The brief storyline of the film is that Robert, Earl of Huntingdon, is outlawed by Prince John who has killed his parents and given his estates to the Abbot of Ramsey. Robert gathers together a band of trusted men and when the Abbott passes through Sherwood Forest, Robert (now as Robin Hood) ‘relieves’ him of his money. The Abbot complains to Sir Hubert de Boissy, and his Crusaders go in pursuit of Robin Hood and his men but are defeated. The defeated Crusaders then arrive at the castle belonging to Marion who sends a message to Robin Hood for help. Sir Hubert de Boissy declares his love for Marion who repels his advances and during a struggle he is shot by an arrow fired by Robin Hood who rescues Maid Marion ‘from his evil clutches’.
Harry Lorraine’s second venture into the film industry followed within two months when he replaced P G Norgate as Lt. Rose in Lieutenant Rose and the Train Wreckers that was made by the Clarendon Film Company and released in October 1912. The character of Lt. Rose, played by PG Norgate, had been first introduced in 1910 and Lieutenant Rose and the Train Wreckers was the thirteenth in a series of films that would eventually run to seventeen, all directed by Percy Stow[e] who was also one of the directors of the Clarendon Film Company. This was the first of two identified occasions that Harry Lorraine would play Lt. Rose (the second being in 1914, in Lieutenant Rose and the Sealed Orders), with a reversion to P G Norgate playing the character in 1913 in Lieutenant Rose and the Stolen Bullion and 1915 in How Lieutenant Rose RN Spiked the Enemy’s Guns.
A review of Harry Lorraine’s performance in Lieutenant Rose and the Train Wreckers can be found in the Kinematograph Monthly Film Record that states:
‘…The hero [Lt. Rose] is travelling by an express which has been turned, by the enemy reversing the points, to a siding leading to a pier head. While the train is rushing along, Lt. Rose climbs out of the carriage upon the footboard, and swings himself into position between two coaches and disconnects the couplings, thus sending on the bulk of the train to certain destruction while his carriage stands in safety.
This is a particularly thrilling sensation and shows considerable intrepidity on the part of the actor [Harry Lorraine], as the slightest slip would have meant certain death…’
From the surviving international film records Harry Lorraine is only credited with the above two films in 1912, but went on to be credited with ten films the following year. The first Harry Lorraine film of 1913 was The Favourite for the Jamaica Cup released on 4th May 1913, followed shortly after by Tom Cringle in Jamaica.
On 14th December 1912, members of British & Colonial had a farewell dinner at the Café Monico before departing from Liverpool on 17th December bound for Kingston, Jamaica, on board merchant ship the S. S. Pacuare. Cast members included, actresses Misses Gladys Barnett, Elsie Barone and Dorothy Foster, and actors Henry Bloomfield, John Farrell, John Glover, William Hulery, Harry Lorraine (travelling under his film name), John Melville, Percey Moran, William Phillips and Charles Raymond. Besides shooting The Favourite for the Jamaica Cup, four other British and Colonial films were shot on location in Jamaica before their return, which include; Lieutenant Daring and the Dancing Girl, The Planter’s Daughter, A Creole’s Love Story and Tom Cringle in Jamaica.
In The Favourite for the Jamaica Cup, which was classed as a thriller, Harry Lorraine took his first leading part as Headway playing opposite actors Dorothy Foster (Doris), Percey Moran (Doris’ brother), John Glover and John Melville. The synopsis for this film is that Doris overhears Lopez plotting with Headway to wreck the train in which her sweetheart’s race horse was travelling. Doris is kidnapped but manages to escape and rides with her brother to the railway points where Headway has overpowered the signalman. In a hand to hand struggle Headway falls from a high railway bridge into the river, Doris saves the train and her sweetheart’s horse wins the race. Writing about the exploits of Harry Lorraine in The Favourite for the Jamaica Cup, The Film Censor & Exhibitors Review, dated 13th March 1913, states: ‘…he [Harry Lorraine] had a most thrilling experience in fighting on the railway bridge. He was pushed between the sleepers and fell 30ft. into a raging torrent’.
In Tom Cringle in Jamaica, Harry Loraine again had the leading part playing Tom Cringle opposite John Melville (Lt. Splinter), Percey Moran (Spaniard), John Glover (Admiral), and Elsie Barone. The film was classed as an adventure film and was based on the novel Tom Cringle’s Log written by Michael Scott that had been published in 1836, but unfortunately there is no available synopsis.
It is evident from the reviews of Lieutenant Rose and the Train Wreckers, and The Favourite for the Jamaica Cup, that Harry Lorraine was building upon his former career as a dare devil stuntman, taking his daring and skill to a potentially larger audience in the silent movies. The Film Censor & Exhibitors Review of 13th March 1913 also stated: ‘…he [Harry Lorraine] has been taking several leads, both heavy and juvenile, and has accomplished some of the most daring feats imaginable and is one of the most venturesome of cinema artists’. Information supplied by Harry Lorraines’ son also includes that he had to dive into a pool of sharks whilst filming on location in Jamaica.
Following The Favourite for the Jamaica Cup and Tom Cringle in Jamaica, Harry Lorraine was to briefly appear in another series of films that had established the character of Lt. Daring in 1911, following the exploits of a British naval hero, which was played by Percey Moran until 1913. As a point of note, 1911 also saw the release of the Adventures of Lieutenant Daring RN in a South American Port, Lt. Daring played by Clifford Marle, but it has not yet been established whether this was released before or after Percey Moran’s first credited film of Lieutenant Daring RN and the Secret Service Agents.
Percey Moran (also known as Eddie Moran and Jack Daring) was a circus performer turned actor and went on to appear as Lt. Daring in the subsequent seven Lt. Daring films before Harry Lorraine took the role in Lieutenant Daring and the Mystery of Room 41 (also known as Lieutenant Daring and the International Jewel Thieves) in 1913. An article on the film appeared in the Film Censor & Exhibitor’s Review dated 3rd September 1913, stating:
“LIEUT. DARING”: A NEW
PERSONALITY
MR. HARRY LORRAINE THROWN
FROM WALTON BRIDGE
Mr. Harry Lorraine, the world’s youngest “handcuff king”, and the photoplay actor who has achieved such success in the British and Colonial Film Company’s production, informed a FILM CENSOR representative last week that he has taken Mr. Moran’s place as “Lieut. Daring”. The first of this new series was enacted at the Finchley studio and at Walton-on-Thames.
Referring to his first experience in the rôle of the gallant lieutenant, Mr. Lorraine spoke enthusiastically. “I was thrown, bound hand and foot, from Walton Bridge into the river thirty feet below” he said. “In another scene I was called upon to fight six ruffians single-handed. This is the result,” he said, pointing to a swollen jaw. “One of the ruffians, who was none other than the trainer of the famous boxer Packie Mahoney, picked me up bodily and threw me down on a table with such force that it was splintered”. This was quite an unrehearsed scene, but, nevertheless, added a thrill to the film.
Percey Moran also made two other Lt. Daring films in 1913 before Harry Lorraine again appeared as Lt. Daring in February 1914 in Lieutenant Daring, Aerial Scout and, in the same year, James Russell appeared as Lt. Daring in Lieutenant Daring and the Stolen Invention. A brief synopsis of Lieutenant Daring, Aerial Scout, appeared in The Bioscope dated 5th February 1914, which records ‘Lt. Daring is an inventor of a warplane which is pursued by spies of a foreign power. The machine is tampered with and Lt. Daring falls but escapes injury. After many adventures he escapes from his enemies and reaches the aerodrome in time to win the competition’. Ten years later in 1924, Percey Moran revived the character playing Lt. Daring in Lieutenant Daring RN and the Water Rats, which he also jointly directed with Edward Gordon.
Biographical information about Harry Lorraine from the 1930’s onwards state that he was a ‘leading man of the stage and silent screen’, and that he was a former stuntman and was ‘best remembered for having played Lt. Daring in the series of the same name in 1913 and 1914’, impressing upon the reader that he performed all his own stunts. Even his son recalls that he was Lt. Daring in ‘various “James Bond” type films’. It is interesting to note the comments about his role as Lt. Daring as to date Harry Lorraine is only credited with two of the twelve films in the series between 1911 and 1914. If this figure is correct, Harry Lorraine must have performed some very memorable stunts as Lt. Daring, or there are films from the series starring Harry Lorraine that are now lost.
To close out 1913, Harry Lorraine appeared in two more films, A Tragedy in the Alps, released in September and The Little Snow Waif released in December. In A Tragedy in the Alps, British and Colonial took their cast and crew to the snowy slopes of Switzerland. An article in The Bioscope dated 11th September 1913 stated:
Our indefatigable friend, the camera man, and his even more strenuous partner, the picture player, have some difficult tasks set them in order to please an ever-longing public, which sometimes “refuses to be drawn” unless by means of some weird and hair-raising sensation. In this respect, the British and Colonial Company, or “B. & C.”, as patrons know them, have of late, proved themselves particularly daring, and we now hear almost daily of one of them being nearly drowned, or hanging from a balloon, or risking his or her life over cliffs, and into the depths of a cold and uninviting river. The film we are about to mention is no exception to the rule of “B. and C.”, and here we have Misses Guillot and Marie Pickering, and Messrs. Batley, Lorraine and Foley, involved in a drama the primary details of which have been enacted upon the dizzy heights of the snow-covered Alps.
One slip would, in several instances, have meant certain death, and it speaks volumes for the intrepidity of the artistes that they, although not expert mountaineers, should have been ready and willing to perform such a feat as enacting of scenes at over 12,000 ft. above sea level, amidst surroundings the very sight of which is enough to give us “cold shivers”. Some glorious views lend an added interest, and we must congratulate the B. and C. Company on the securing of a most picturesque feature, and one that fully justifies the fact that the Old Country is making a bold bid for supremacy in dramatic productions….
Other films in which Harry Lorraine appeared in 1913 include; In Fate’s Grip, The Master Crook and Through the Clouds, all British & Colonial Films, directed by Charles Weston, although their chronological order of release has not yet been established.
As mentioned above, 1914 opened with the second and last of the Lt. Daring films that Harry Lorraine appeared in, Lieutenant Daring, Aerial Scout, released in February. It would appear that some time after this release from British & Colonial, Harry Lorraine moved to the Motograph Film Company appearing in three films (The Belle of Crystal Palace, Queenie of the Circus and The World at War), before the Motograph Film Company ceased trading in June 1914. Unfortunately there is no surviving synopsis for any of the three films, only limited information about fellow cast members and no indication of the order in which these three films were released. However, the directors are known, being James Youngdeer for The Belle of Crystal Palace and The World at War, and Charles Raymond for Queenie of the Circus, Harry Lorraine having previously worked with Charles Raymond on Robin Hood Outlawed (1912), The Favourite for the Jamaica Cup (1913), and Tom Cringle in Jamaica (1913) and would go on to work with him in the Sexton Blake series of films in The Counterfeiters, The Great Cheque Fraud, Stolen Heirlooms and The Thornton Jewel Thief, all released in 1915 (see below).
As a point of interest, James Young Deer was born in Dakota City, Nebraska, America (date unknown) and began acting, writing and directing in 1908. He appeared in sixteen known American films, many of which he also directed, wrote the screen play for three films including Lieutenant Daring RN and the Water Rats (1924) (see above), and directed nineteen films, both American and British. Film companies he worked for include Kalem, Lubin, Vitagraph and Biograph. He also worked at one of the first independent film companies, the New York Motion Picture Company, and eventually ran the West Coast studio company for the French-owned film company Pathé Frères. As for Charles Raymond, he was born in England (date unknown) and began acting, writing and directing in 1904. He appeared in six known British films including a very early Hamlet, wrote the screen play for one and directed at least thirty-five films including eight in which Harry Lorraine appeared.
Besides appearing in films, Harry Lorraine (listed as Harry Heard) became a company director, along with Edward Dixon and William John White, of the Daring Film Company Ltd., formed on 13th March 1914, and operating from 97, Shaftsbury Avenue, Westminster. To date only three films can be attributed to Daring Films, all released in 1914, – London’s Underworld, Mary the Fishergirl, and Detective Daring and the Thames Coiners, Harry Loraine appearing in all three films. The Company failed to make any returns to the registrar from 1915 onwards suggesting that World War I may have interrupted their film production and Daring Film Company Ltd. was finally wound up January 1918.
Of the three films made by the Daring Film Company Ltd., London’s Underworld was also Harry Lorraine’s first venture into directing, whereas Mary the Fishergirl and Detective Daring and the Thames Coiners were both directed by Sidney Northcote. As director, Harry Lorraine would have been the person who directed or controlled the making of the film. Unfortunately there is no further information available on either London’s Underworld or Mary the Fishergirl. However, several contemporary articles survive that refer to Detective Daring and the Thames Coiners, a crime based film that was produced by Harry Lorraine and released on 14th May 1914. As producer, Harry Lorraine would have had to find the financing of the film and was also responsible for the supervision of the making and presentation of the film.
The scenario of Detective Daring and the Thames Coiners was written by Harold Brett and featuring along side Harry Lorraine who played Det. Daring, was Arthur D Mavity (Barney), Bert Berry (Spider), Claude Winn (Flash Harry), Eileen Daybell (Eileen) and Will Discombe (Grandfather). Although no storyline survives there are several newspaper and magazine write-ups of the film. The Film Censor and Exhibitor’s Review dated 4th March 1914 writes:
“DETECTIVE DARING”
REMARKABLE CAREER OF FEAR-
LESS FILM ACTOR
Mr. Harry Lorraine (Lieut. Daring), director of Daring Film Company, is distinctly daring, in fact, one might call him the Rodman Law of British photoplays.
Although a comparatively young man, Mr.Lorrainehas had a wide experience both upon the stage and in the photoplay. He holds the proud position of the world’s youngest handcuff king, and has been featured in many an exciting adventure in both B. and C. and “Lion’s Head” films. He appeared with much success in many of the principal films produced by the B. and C. Company whilst in Jamaica. Speaking of his adventures recently to a Film Censor representative, Mr. Lorraine stated that he was never happier than when performing some dare-devil trick for the entertainment of the public.
The two dominating factors in Lieut. Daring’s dare-devil life are fearlessness and power of concentration, for when performing before the camera he has never been known to hesitate at taking risks which others might shrink from, bit over which the Lieutenant stands conqueror.
He will shortly be seen in “Detective Daring and the Thames Coiners” a trilling story produced on the banks of old Father Thames, and vividly portraying a study of the life lived by the lowest ofLondoncrooks.
It is interesting to note that after two years in the film industry Harry Lorraine was still being referred to as the ‘world’s youngest handcuff king’. Rodman Law referred to in the article was stuntman Frederick Rodman Law who was born in 1884 in Massachusetts, America. In 1912 he jumped off the Statue of Liberty with a parachute for a news reel film and as such he became the first movie stuntman. He too went into the film industry and appeared in four films between 1912 and 1914, but died of consumption in 1919 at the age of just thirty-four.
A second article to appear in The Film Censor and Exhibitor’s Review, dated 18th March 1914 writes:
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
The Cosmopolitan Film Co. Ltd., have pleasure in announcing that they have secured the Sole Agency for THE DARING FILMS featuring HARRY LORRAINE(late Lieut. Daring). The First Release is
“DETECTIVE DARING AND THE THAMES COINERS.”
A Great Detective Drama enacted in the heart ofLondon. Every scene crammed with sensation. A succession of thrills. Scenes of breathless excitement onWestminsterBridgeand the Thames Embankment.
See the TERRIFIC FALL from the great Crane and the Taxi-Cab incident.
The write up was illustrated by a picture of Det. Daring (Harry Lorraine) bound and dangling from the jib of a very tall crane as well as a picture of him being dragged along behind a Taxi Cab, with the caption ‘DRAGGED TOWARDS DEATH’. Even as far away as New Zealand an article appeared in the Grey River’s Argus, together with a photograph of Harry Lorraine being dragged by the taxi. However, this write up says:
FILM ACTOR HURT IN LONDON
Passers-by in Stamford St. Blackfriars, London, were amazed one afternoon to see a well dressed man being dragged along the road behind a taxi-cab. It was, of course, another incident in the adventurous life of a cinema operator, the story illustrated was the exploits of Detective Daring, in his chase after a gentleman crook, which is to be illustrated by the Crystal Film Co. shortly.
Detective Daring got on the back of a taxi in which the villain was making his escape, but was struck by the villain with a stick. As he fell his feet were caught and he was dragged along the streets on his back. Harry Lorraine, who took the part of Detective Daring, had his hands badly cut during the scene.
It is interesting to note the difference of perspective in the reporting between England and New Zealand of the incident of Harry Lorraine being dragged by the taxi. In England there is no mention of it being an accident in fact the write-up suggests that the sequence was retained in the film, whereas in New Zealand is was reported as an unintentional accident.
Three more British films from 1914 for which Harry Lorraine is credited include, Lieutenant Rose and the Sealed Orders (see above), The Great Spy Raid, and Huns of the North Sea, although they cannot be chronologically dated with certainty. The last two films were both directed by Sidney Morgan and were made by the Feature Supply Company, a film company that was only in operation between May 1913 and May 1915. It is possible that both the films were made around the outbreak of World War I, The Great Spy Raid before, and Huns of the North Sea shortly after the out break of war on 4th August 1914. The reasoning for this is that Huns of the North Sea is considered a turning point in British film making with regards to naming ‘the enemy’. Before this film ‘the enemy’ were never named, as in The Great Spy Raid, however, after the outbreak of World War I ‘the enemy’ were automatically given a German identity, as in ‘Huns’ of the North Sea.
Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to establish details about Harry Lorraine’s military activity during World War I. His son has a picture of him in a flying suit and goggles, but does not know if it was taken from a film or in military service. He also has a Croix de Guerre and a German Military Merit Cross (Mecklenburg-Schwerin) that belonged to his father.
The Croix de Guerre [Cross of War] is a military decoration of France and Belgium, first created in 1915, and was commonly awarded to foreign military forces allied to both countries. It can be bestowed as a unit award or to individuals who distinguish themselves by acts of heroism involving combat with the enemy forces. Harry Lorraine’s Croix de Guerre has the dates 1914 and 1916 on the back but no other inscription.
The Military Merit Cross (Mecklenburg-Schwerin), which is made of gilded gunmetal with the date 1914 at the bottom, FF in the centre and a crown at the top, was first created by Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (a duchy in northern Germany), in 1848, and was initially a military decoration for all ranks of Mecklenburgers, awarded for bravery and military merit. Harry Lorraine’s Military Merit Cross, was the eighth version of the medal and was re-authorised by Friedrich Franz IV, in February 1915, six months after the beginning of World War I. Unlike previous versions of the Military Merit Cross, the 1914 version was awarded not only to Mecklenburgers but also soldiers of other German states, as well as German allies. On the abdication of Friedrich Franz IV on 14th November 1918, the Military Merit Cross (Mecklenburg-Schwerin) became obsolete. It is not known how the medal came into the hands of Harry Lorraine but his son recalls that his father kept the Military Merit Cross ‘to remind him of a gallant enemy’.
Military service aside, it is known that Harry Lorraine was still making films throughout World War I, as well as being involved with Harma Photoplays, originally a renting company that expanded as a production company when it absorbed the Clarendon Film Company in 1917 (see below).
Between April and November 1915 Harry Lorraine appeared as the great detective Sexton Blake in Stolen Heirlooms, and The Counterfeiters, both released in April 1915, The Great Cheque Fraud released in July 1915 and The Thornton Jewel Thief released in November 1915, all four films forming part of the Sexton Blake series that had begun in 1909 with the film simply called Sexton Blake. By the time that Harry Lorraine appeared as Sexton Blake the character had already been played by C Douglas Carlile, Fred Evans and Philip Kay. The series of films had been directed by C Douglas Carlile, Joe and Fred Evans and Hugh Moss before Charles Raymond took over for the sixth film of the series in July 1914. At the same time as Charles Raymond took over as director, the film company I B Davidson became involved.
In the first of the Sexton Blake films that Harry Lorraine appeared in, Stolen Heirlooms, he was re-united with director Charles Raymond with whom he had worked with before in Robin Hood Outlawed (1912), The Favourite for the Jamaica Cup (1913), Tom Cringle in Jamaica (1913) and Queenie of the Circus (1914) (see above). Stolen Heirlooms, the ninth film of the series, had Sexton Blake drugged with poisoned flowers and tied to a saw-mill whilst attempting to save an ex-gambler who had been falsely charged with a jewels theft. This film was followed by The Counterfeiters in which Sexton Blake tracked a gang of counterfeiters to an old mill where he was captured and tied to the waterwheel, whilst his side-kick Tinker, played by Bert Rex, was tied to the lock gates. It is this film that was made at Hedgecourt watermill (see above).
In The Great Cheque Fraud, Sexton Blake had to save Tinker (his trusted side-kick) from a bank swindler after using an overhead cable to escape from a raging inferno. A contemporary write-up from The Bioscope dated 28th July 1915 states:
The fact that there is much in a name is considerably emphasised by this film, for it forms another adventure of that wonder-working hero, Sexton Blake, as presented in the form of stirring film drama and handled by the Walturdaw Company, Limited. We have no doubt that their prescience will, as in many other directions, be well rewarded in the possession of this particular exclusive for, despite there is abundance of rousing melodramatic incident, reminiscent of Adelphian days, well produced and calculated to please all lovers of such pungent fare. The ultra-critical may, perhaps, be inclined to wonder how Plummer [played by Douglas Payne] and that misguided youth, his accomplice Jack [actor not yet established], so cleverly jugged with tautly drawn phone wires, or how the final chase, after covering best part of Eastern London, ended by mutual consent in the Thames, but these matters are, after all, likely to be quite overlooked by the excited audience. The running down of criminal gangs has ever been a fruitful source of inspiration, and here the writer [unknown] and producer [Charles Raymond] have collaborated upon such a theme with really creditable results.
The photographic quality is excellent throughout, so that we have splendid views of the leading sensations, such as the horse versus motor chase “somewhere in Essex”, the perilous crossing of an overhead cable by the escaping gang, Blake’s utilising of the crane jib for one part of his scheme and a final big scene where he and his motor-cycle follow the criminals into the river. There are still more episodes, including a good fire scene, but the foregoing will afford some indication of their scope and the perils undergone by the brave ’tec [Detective] where the River Police come to his aid and enable him to add a hard worn triumph to the case.
The story reveals an ingenious robbery and a forged cheque as the central ideas and enables Blake to elicit that tapping the telephone wires has aided the swindle, also the deception of an anxious bank manager. With the help of faithful Pedro, the scent is followed across London, but both the detective and Tinker, his assistant, are trapped in a burning house. A dive through the windows into the river provides welcome relief, but Blake is compelled to save Tinker from drowning. The rest of the film summarises the various adventures of the detective during a highly dramatic chase and ends after quite a number of “thrills”, in the final rounding-up of the gang. There is, as proper to such a play, subservient love element which brings along a pleasing finale.
The last Sexton Blake film to be released before an enforced four-year gap due to World War I was The Thornton Jewel Mystery, released in November 1915. In this film a girl framed a drunkard for a jewel robbery and Harry Lorraine, as Sexton Blake, was rescued from the crook’s launch after Tinker performed a sixty-foot dive.
The only other film that Harry Lorraine made in 1915 was Wireless, which was produced by Famous British Players and released in November/December 1915. The film, topically about the war, uses the ‘Daring’ character, now promoted as Commander Daring and played by Harry Lorraine, who sinks a U-boat. The film featured Violet Graham as the spy, Jack Wayho as Commander Metz (presumably of the U-boat) and Bert Rex (who played Tinker in the Sexton Blake films) as Billy. The script for Wireless was also written by Harry Lorraine who also directed the film.
With World War I entering its third year in January 1916, compulsory conscription was introduced for all single men and childless widowers between the ages eighteen and forty-one. In January 1916, Harry Lorraine was still single and aged thirty and would therefore have had to go to war, unless he had already previously signed up. Film out-put was declining in Britain and is reflected in the quantity of films released that featured Harry Lorraine. To date only one film is known although the release date has not yet been established other than it was some time in 1916. The film was called Popular Song Favourites, and little information is known about the film other than it was a series of short sequences, produced by Henry Tress and is known to have featured at least twelve actors including, Dolly Tree who went on to become an internationally renowned costume designer for stage and screen, Violet Blyth[e] who went on to marry Henry William George Lupino, [also known as Lupino Lane] the British-born actor and theatre manager, Alfred Woods, [also known as Al Woods], who was still making films in the mid 1930’s, and Tatten Hall who was chosen by Jack Bancroft to become the manager of the new Embassy Theatre in Peterborough in 1933.
As a point of interest, Henry Tress had been in the film industry since about 1911 with his production company called Tress Films. In 1914 he founded Tressograph and produced a series of propaganda war films incorporating live action and animation by Dudley Buxton who went on to become a major force in British animation after the end of the war.
In 1917 Harry Lorraine was only credited with two films, the first, If Thou Wert Blind, was released on 1st January 1917 by Clarendon Film Company. This was one of a series of films of romantic drama or melodramas usually based on books or plays, although If Thou Wert Blind was based on a song written by William Noel Johnson, with the screen play written by Kenelm Foss. The film was made as part of a charity appeal for St Dunstan’s hospital in their work of retraining soldiers who had been blinded during World War I. In If Thou Wert Blind Harry Lorraine played the character Eric Leslie, the ‘bad-boy’ brother of the heroin Christine Leslie (played by Evelyn Boucher), who, after a dream of being blinded, returns to her blind sculptor sweetheart Haydn Strong (played by Ben Webster). All is well in the end after Christine’s father pays for an operation that restores Haydn’s sight (for a full description see the BFI Film and TV Data Base).
It was shortly after the release of If Thou Wert Blind that the Clarendon Film Company was absorbed by the renting company Harma and Company, and under chief producer Martin Thornton, assisted by Harry Lorraine and AC Hunter, began to make films of greater consequence. With the absorption of the Clarendon Film Company, Harma obtained a studio of its own at Limes Road, Croydon, complete with staff and equipment. The Clarendon Film Company had been founded by Henry Vassar Lawley and Percy Stow[e] in 1904 (Lawley leaving the company in 1908), and the best known series of films to come from the company were the Lieutenant Rose series in which Harry Lorraine appeared in 1912 and 1914 (see above).
One of the first long-feature films to come from Harma was The Happy Warrior, the exact date of release has not yet established but it was around 1917/8. The film was based on the novel by the same name written by A M Hutchinson, and was about an orphan whose aunt’s hopes for him to claim his rightful title were not to be, as the boy (Foxy) was quite happy to earn his living as a prize fighter. Initially the part of Foxy was to be played by a boxer-actor but this idea was soon abandoned and from extracts from The History of British Film 1914-1918 ‘this engaging part was played by professional actor Harry Lorraine’. Leslie Howard, the actor, director and producer who appeared in numerous films including the 1939 version of Gone with the Wind, made his film debut in The Happy Warrior playing Rollo.
In July 1918 Harma Photoplays released the film called Big Money and although Harry Lorraine did not appear in it, he did direct the film that was based on a novel called A Run for his Money by May Wynne, with the screen play written by Reuben Gillmer. The storyline has not been established but it featured Rose Manners as Noreen O’Mara, James Knight as Tom Carlyn, Charles Rock as Father O’Mara, Edward O’Neill as Sir Hugh Marrimore and Lionel d’Aragon as Larry O’Callaghan.
One other film that was released in 1918 by Harma Photoplay was The Great Imposter, in which Harry Lorraine appeared. The Great Imposter was directed by F Martin Thornton and featured Harry Lorraine as Hixton, alongside Marie Blanche as Enid Linden, Bernard Dudley as Roger Garnett, Edward O’Neill as Lord Sellington and Lionel d’Aragon as Dolan. Other actors appearing were Rupert Stutfield, James Prior, Cecil Stokes and Gladys Foyle, although their characters and the storyline have not yet been established.
Within four months of the release of The Great Imposter, World War I had ended, on 11th November 1918, and by 1919 Harry Lorraine had joined the Atlantic Film Company. Currently there are only two film credits for Harry Lorraine for 1919, the first being The Lads of the Village, a comedy war drama that he directed, although the exact date of release has not yet been established. The scenario and screen play was written by Kenelm Foss and it was set in World War I about a soldier that won a Victory Cross by outwitting German spies to get a despatch through the Turkish lines to Iraq (for a full description see the BFI Film and TV Data Base).
The next film associated with Harry Lorraine was made in July 1919 and was released through Atlantic (Gaumont Films) in August 1919. This film sees Harry Lorraine (as director only), return to the popular Sexton Blake series of films that had been put on hold at the end of 1915 due to World War I. The film, called The Further Exploits of Sexton Blake: The Mystery of the S.S. Olympic, featured Douglas Payne in the role of Sexton Blake and Neil W[h]arrington as his side-kick Tinker. The story of the film was written especially by Robert Murray and a great deal of the action was shot on board the S.S. Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic. A review of the film appeared in The Bioscope dated 21st August 1919, which reports:
Sexton Blake solves a mid-Atlantic murder mystery – Douglas Payne in an effective English detective melodrama – Sensational stunts and fine scenes on board the “Olympic”.
Sexton Blake is summoned by Marconigram to investigate the mysterious death, on board the s.s. Olympic while crossing theAtlantic, of Howard, who was carrying a valuable industrial formula. Suspicion rests upon Hamilton, Howard’s manager, who is engaged to the latter’s daughter, Gwenda, but Blake associates the crime with an elderly passenger, Richard Dale, who is travelling with a Japanese valet. After innumerable adventures, in which Tinker is imprisoned by Dale to his English country house, to be rescued by Blake, Gwenda is abducted. Dale makes good his escape, but his hireling who carried off Gwenda is killed whilst the girl is ultimately restored to her fiancé, whom she marries. Meanwhile, the valuable formula has been recaptured and the matter of Howard’s death at the hands of the valet satisfactorily cleared up.
The latest addition to the endless adventures of that popular hero, Sexton Blake, and his traditional companion Tinker, deals with a mid-Atlantic murder mystery. Detail and logical plot construction is an important element in the success of a story of this kind, and although the architecture of the present film could be improved by some further toughening up, the plot is on the whole clearly and effectively developed. One feels, moreover, that the villain-in-chief should have been brought to justice, and not allowed to make his escape.
The main dramatic interest in the film, however, depends less upon the dexterity with which the plot is worked out than upon exciting incidents and daring stunts. Among these latter, a climb across telegraph wires over Villiers Street, Charing Cross, and a motorcycle ride through a sheet of plate-glass are notable examples.
The picture is capably acted on sound, straightforward conventional lines. Douglas Payne admirably realises the popular conception of Sexton Blake’s unimpressive personality whilst Neil Wharrington is excellent as the faithful Tinker who does most of the work and gets little of the credit. The clever character actor, Jeff Barlow, is good as the Moriarty of the story, whose immensely complex and expensive schemes to ensure comparatively trifling results are typical of the film villain. Marjorie Villis and Frank Dane make a pleasant pair of lovers and the small roles are both competently filled.
The photography of the film is on the whole satisfactory, whilst the staging is quite usually good for a picture which does not purport to be more than a popular sensational melodrama. Especially effective are the scenes made on board the s.s. Olympic, which magnificent vessel was actually “borrowed” for the purpose of the play.
As a point of interest, at the time that this film was being made the Olympic was still a troop ship and much of the panelling had been taken out at the beginning of World War I and stored. To enable Harry Lorraine to achieve accurate settings of the scenes, the owners of the Olympic allowed him to bring the actual panelling down to London to be set up in the studio in order to make a faithful replica of a cabin from the vessel.
It is known that on 2nd July 1919, Harry Lorraine (recorded as Harry Heard) was one of several First Class English passengers, described as working in the ‘film business’, that boarded the Olympic at Southampton bound for Halifax, Canada. Some of Harry Lorraine’s travelling companions were; Edwin Day, Henry G Hackett, Miss Eve Howlett (known as Eve Balfour in the film industry), G Austin Hayes MC, John Arthur Imeson (known as A B Imeson in the film industry), Lady Helene Leveson-Gower, George Pickett and his wife Dorothy. Unfortunately it has not yet been possible to establish the film names for six of the people in the party. The Olympic arrived at Halifax on 8th July 1919 and Harry Lorraine, together with Henry Hackett and Austin Hayes (all three citing their occupation as ‘film producer’), left the liner for a six-day visit, suggesting that their homeward journey would have commenced on 24th July 1919, returning to England around the 30th July 1919.
It is also known that on 1st August 1919, Harry Lorraine (recorded as Harry Heard) was one of several passengers with connections with the film industry that boarded the S. S. Lapland at Liverpool bound for New York. Harry Lorraine gave his occupation as film producer, and some of his travelling companions included, Edwin Day as cinematographer, and Eve Howlett (Balfour) as film actress. The return journey, bound for Southampton on the Lapland commenced on 4th September 1919, and the passenger list includes, Harry Lorraine (as Harry Heard), Eve Balfour (as Eve Howlett) and A B Imeson (John Imeson), occupations given respectively as producer, actress and actor. Interestingly, Harry Lorraine is recorded as married although he did not marry until 1932.
The first Atlantic crossing would have been in connection with the filming of The Further Exploits of Sexton Blake: The Mystery of the S.S. Olympic. The second Atlantic crossing, on board the Lapland, may have been in connection with the filming of The Woman and Officer 26, which is known to have been set in America. Harry Lorraine wrote the screen play for The Woman and Officer 26, appeared in it, produced it and, together with Bert Haldane, directed the film. The Woman and Officer 26 was released by the Atlantic Film Company in 1920, the exact date not yet established. Unfortunately it has not yet been possible to find a synopsis for the film other than it was a crime drama.
The third film of 1920 with which Harry Lorraine had connections was Pillars of Society, released by R W Syndicate, although the exact release date is not known. ‘R W’ stood for Rex Wilson, an eminent director with at least twenty films to his credit by 1920. Pillars of Society was based on a play written in 1877 by Norwegian playwright Henrick Ibsen, and adapted for the screen by Walter Courtenay Rowden, with some scenes shot on location in Norway. The storyline was about a wealthy and hypocritical businessman whose perilous course almost results in the death of his son. Cast members included, Charles Ashton as Dick Alward, Lydia Hayward as Lena Hessler, John Kelly as Parson Rogers, Joan Lockton as Dina Dorf, Norman McKinnel as John Halligan, Pamela Neville as Florence, Irene Rook as Martha Karsten, Mary Rorke as Mrs Halligan and Ellen Terry as Widow Bernick.
It is interesting to note that nearly all the cast members of Pillars of Society enjoyed a productive life, both on stage and screen, with some very well respected actors and actresses including; Charles Ashton who made over twenty-three films during his life and appeared with Harry Lorraine in Sweeney Todd in 1928 (see below); Irene Rooke who made over nineteen films during her life; Mary Rooke who was an established Shakespearean stage actress before making over twenty-three films, and last but by no means least, Dame Ellen Terry. Leading Shakespearean actress of the stage for over twenty years, wife of the artist George Frederick Watts, mother of two children with architect-designer Edward William Goodwin (subsequently grand-mother to Isadora Duncan’s first child), and leading lady of Henry Irving, making her first film in 1916, retiring from the stage in 1920 and from film in 1922.
By the mid 1920’s information becomes scarce on Harry Lorraine and his filmography. However, The Kinematograph Year Book of 1923 identifies three more films, all attributed to the Atlantic Film Company, although the exact dates of release have not yet been established. These three films were The Tiger’s Eye, The Unknown Quantity, and The Pluck of the Navy. As established above, Harry Lorraine had joined the Atlantic Film Company by 1919 and as The Kinematograph Year Book of 1923 records him as still working with Atlantic in 1923, this would suggest that the three films were made between 1919 and 1923. Unfortunately no information has been established for The Tiger’s Eye or The Pluck of the Navy, but there was a film called The Unknown Quantity, based on a story by O Henry and directed by Thomas R Mills, which was released by the Vitagraph Company of America in 1919. However, it would seem unlikely, but not impossible, that Harry Lorraine appeared in this film as he does not appear in the credits; although he did cross the Atlantic twice in 1919 (see above).
The next film that Harry Lorraine is credited with is Sweeney Todd, which was directed by Walter West and released in October 1928 through QTS Productions. Walter West began his career in the film industry as an actor in 1915, making two films before moving into directing and producing. During the course of his career he also owned several production companies including Broadwest films formed in 1914 and QTS Productions formed in 1927, the latter releasing just two films, Maria Marten [also known as Murder in the Red Barn] in 1927, and Sweeney Todd [also known as The Demon Barber of Fleet Street] in 1928. As a point of interest, the American company Warner Brothers made the first film with sound – The Jazz Singer, just a year earlier than Sweeney Todd in 1927. The Jazz Singer was a full-length musical production directed by Alan Crosland and featured Al Jolson. However, Sweeney Todd was still a silent film and it would be a further two years before the first British ‘talkie’ was released.
The original version of the tale of Sweeney Todd, called The String of Pearls, was set in London in 1785 and concerned the strange disappearance of a sailor called Lt. Thornhill who was last seen entering the barber shop of Sweeney Todd bearing a string of pearls as a gift for his girlfriend. Eventually Sweeney Todd’s activity of supplying ‘meat’ for Mrs Lovett’s pies is uncovered; he then poisoned her and is apprehended and hung.
The film version of Sweeney Todd of 1928 was based on the play written by George Dibdin-Pitt in 1847 but was brought up-to date by setting it in a typical 1920’s household where the wife, returning late from shopping, hurries to the kitchen to advise the maid on dinner whilst her husband settles down to read the newspaper. Taken by a headline about Sweeney Todd, the husband dreams that he himself is the murderer and the story of the Demon Barber unfolds until he is woken by his wife. In the film, Sweeney Todd was played by Marriott Moore with Harry Lorraine playing his maniac brother Nick Todd who was described as playing the character in a ‘full blood-and-thunder manner’.
In the 1928 version of Sweeney Todd, it is Nick Sweeney who devises the idea of a trap door connected to a concealed lever that swings the occupant of the barber’s chair into the stone cellar below. However, during the film he collapses with maniacal laughter into the chair and Sweeney Todd seizes the moment to pull the lever and exploit its gruesome benefits for himself. Christine Gledhill in her book Reframing British Cinema writes: ‘If Harry Lorraine’s barnstorming pastiche on villainy cushions disbelief and plays up to the audience, it also effectively reinforces the deadly seriousness of Marriott’s playing, his eloquent and shifting expressions and movements contrasting Todd’s chilling fratricidal calculation with Nick’s mere mania’.
After Sweeney Todd, the next film that Harry Lorraine is credited with is the last silent film he appeared in which was a romance film called Unto Each Other, released by Cinema Exclusives (Fox) on 1st January 1929. The film was directed by A E Coleby who had a long career in directing with over two hundred and twenty films to his credit beginning in 1908, and was produced by Frank Wheatcroft who also produced Over the Sticks in 1929 and Souls of Pawn in 1930.
Unfortunately it has not yet been possible to find a synopsis of the film but the cast members working with Harry Lorraine in Unto Each Other included, Frederick Catling, Josephine Earle who was an American actress with over twenty-eight films to her credit who moved to England in 1920, Frank Goldsmith, an American actor with over thirty-five films to his credit who also moved to England in 1920, Yvonne Thomas who’s first film was Constant Nymph released in 1928, and Marie Wright, the sister of Huntley Wright (the English stage and film actor), who had over thirty-one films to her credit. 1929 also saw the release of what is considered to be the first British ‘talkie’ – Blackmail. The film, a thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, began production as silent but was converted to sound during shooting with dialogue by Benn Levy.
Harry Lorraine’s appearance in Unto Each Other was followed by the film called Stanger than Fiction (still silent), released by Mrs C M Wright in February 1930. The Bioscope dated 5th February 1930 stated:
“Stanger Than Fiction”
Offered by: Universal. A British Quota production. Release date: Immediate. Length: 2,336 feet. Certificate: A. Type: Drama. Cast: George Foley, Harry Lorraine, Nell Emerald, Margaret Hope.
In Brief: Love, jealousy and murder at a farm proves ultimately to be a dream.
Suitability: Extremely limited appeal.
Setting Angles: The rural setting.
Plot: The farmer’s wife, in failing health, decides to engage a housekeeper. When she arrives the woman allows the son to make love to her, but with mercenary motives, encourages the farmer. The old lady shoots her. These events wake her up, and it proves to be nothing but a dream.
Comment: This story is presented on very commonplace lines and when it comes to a close the spectator has a sense of personal affront through being deceived.
Acting: The best performance is that of George Foley as the farmer.
Production: The action takes place in the fields, stable yard and at the farmhouse. A trial scene is introduced.
Harry Lorraine played Jack Denton, the son of Farmer Denton (played by George Foley) and Mrs Denton (played by Nell Emerald), with the housekeeper, Mrs Thrale (played by Margaret Hope). As a point of interest, George Foley had begun his film career in 1913 and is credited with fifty-six films. Foley had also appeared with Harry Lorraine in five previous films, including, Robin Hood Outlawed (1912), Lieutenant Daring and the Mystery of Room 41 (1913), Through the Clouds (1913), Tragedy in the Alps, A (1913) and The Woman and Officer 26 (1920). Nell Emerald had also begun her career in 1912 and is credited with twenty films, but Margaret Hope was a relative new-comer to the film industry and is only credited with three other films, Half a Truth in 1922, A Gamble with Hearts in 1923 and The Barnes Murder Case in 1930.
After making Stranger than Fiction in 1930 no further film credits for Harry Lorraine can be found in any film archive or database. However, from information supplied by his sons, Harry Lorraine would appear to have been in at least two more films, and been associated with a third film, as well as forming another production company.
The first of the un-credited films in which Harry Lorraine appeared was the comedy film called A Fire Has Been Arranged, released by Twickenham Film Studios Production in 1935. The film was produced by Julius Hagen, and directed by Leslie Hiscott, and the storyline was written by H Fowler Mear and Michael Barringer.
The synopsis of the film is that a pair of thieves, Ches and Bud (played by Chesney Allen and Bud Flanagan, one ofBritain’s best loved variety double-acts) raid a jewellery shop but manage to bury their stash in a country field before being arrested. After ten years in prison, the pair are released and race to recover their stash only to discover that a department store has been built on the site. They are caught acting suspiciously and taken to the manager, Mr Cutte (an early supporting role played by Alistair Sim). Whilst in his office, Mr Cutte reveals that the store is in financial difficulty, and a drastic solution is hatched that would solve both sets of problems – arson.
In 1935, whilst Harry Lorraine was at the Twickenham Film Studios, Julius Hagen set up Twickenham Film Distributors Ltd. Also in 1935 a disastrous fire destroyed the old Twickenham Film Studio building, along with the contents of the camera and sound departments. Undaunted, Julius Hagen acquired alternative space at Whitehall Studios at Elstree, but like many other film companies during the 1930’s, the Twickenham Film Studio Company finally went into liquidation in 1937. This date may be significant as the demise of the Twickenham Film Company coincides with information given by his sons that Harry Lorraine formed Castle Sounds Production Company in the late 1930’s. Unfortunately, no further information has yet surfaced with regards to this company and no films are currently credited to it. However, a photograph was taken that shows the new name board for Castle Sounds Production Company with Twickenham Film Studio in the background.
From family information, the next film that Harry Lorraine was associated with was The Stars Look Down, released on 24th February 1940 by Grafton Film Company, although he does not appear in the credits. However, Harry Lorraine’s two sons both appear in the film, aged about four and five, and on this basis Harry Lorraine must have had some connection with the film. One theory is that perhaps he was a member of props team. The parts that Harry Lorraines’ sons appear in were shot at the Shepperton Studios and they also have a photograph of them climbing over Michael Redgrave who was sun-bathing at the time. As a point of interest, in December 1941, shortly after the release of The Stars Look Down, Grafton Film Company went into liquidation, having been in operation be nearly eleven years.
The Stars Look Down, which was based on a book by A J Cronin that was published in 1935, was produced by I Goldsmith, directed by Carol Reed, and was a drama set in a mining village. Filming took place on location at St Helens Siddick Colliery at Workington, Cumberia, for a week and at Twickenham Studios where an elaborate copy of the mine-head was built. After seven weeks of filming at Twickenham Studios the set was moved to Shepperton Studios for an additional week of shooting. The original set of the mine-head was the largest exterior set ever constructed for a British film at the time, and consisted of an exact replica of the Workington mine, including a pit-head complete with cage, ramp, outer buildings and rows of miner’s cottages. To ensure authenticity, pit ponies from the Cumberian mines were used and the miner’s costumes were clothes bought from colliery workers. Cast members for the film include, Michael Redgrave as David Fenwick and Margaret Lockwood as Jenny Sunley (for a full description and cast list see the BFI Film and TV Database).
Again from family information, by the outbreak of World War II, Harry Lorraine was working at Sound Film & Recording Studios at Shepperton, where he had joined the props department, supporting the theory of the connection between Harry Lorraine and the film called The Stars Look Down. The Sound Film & Recording Studios at Shepperton had been formed in 1931 by Norman Loudon, and produced short and feature length films. The company proved very successful and quickly expanded. However, filming at the Shepperton Studios was severely disrupted during World War II due to its proximity to the Vickers-Armstrong aircraft factory, the area being frequently bombed. Also, in 1941 the studio was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence, who, having over-looked the proximity of the Vickers-Armstrong factory, first used the studio for sugar storage and then acquired the creative workforce to build replicas of aircraft, tanks, munitions and landing strips that could be positioned as decoys for German bombers.
One of the films to come out of the studios during the war was Freedom Radio (also known as A Voice in the Night) released on 1st February 1941. The Two Cities Film, filmed at Sound City, Shepperton, was directed by Anthony Asquith. The synopsis of the film is that a Viennese throat specialist, Dr Karl Roder (played by Clive Brooks), accompanies his wife Irena Roder (played by Diana Wynyard) after she accepts a political post in Berlin. Whilst in Berlin Irena is flattered by the attentions of the Führer but gradually Dr Roder confirms that the Nazi regime isn’t as good as it pretends to be when his friends begin to ‘disappear’ into the camps. Dr Roder then teams up with Hans Glaser (played by Derek Farr), a young engineer, whose girlfriend has been imprisoned in a concentration camp, and together they set up their own broadcasting service called Freedom Radio to denounce the Nazi movement. The film makes use of original footage of Adolf Hitler and Harry Lorraine’s son recalls that his father appeared as Adolf Hitler for a brief shot, although he does not appear in the film credits. As far as can be established, Freedom Radio was the last film in which Harry Lorraine appeared.
Harry Lorraine outside of the movies
As established above, the last film that Harry Lorraine probably appeared in was Freedom Radio made in 1941, and though he was only credited with three films between 1930 and 1941, outside of the film industry he still continued his dare devil stunt work. In 1930 Pathé Pictorial filmed Harry Lorraine ‘stunt motorcyclist’ riding his motor bike through a pane of glass, and two years later in October 1932 he was still performing dare devil feats as another Pathé film clip entitled Crash, shows him running and crashing through a pane of glass into the Thames, aged forty-seven. It is interesting that when considering the number of obituaries found in the pages of the early movie magazines of the 1910’s and 20’s, which record the deaths of actors where stunts had gone wrong, Harry Lorraine must have lived a charmed life as he had a very lengthy career of daring stunts.
Contemporary biographical material from the 1930’s states that outside of the film industry Harry Lorraine’s interests included fishing, shooting and motor boat racing. His son also recalls that he used to fly from Brooklands Flying Club in Surrey, where he had attained his pilot’s licence and it was said that he was often to be found. The family also have a picture of Harry Lorraine driving a Sizaire Naudin racing car at Brooklands, although they are not sure if he was in a film or whether he was competing in a race.
In 1932 Harry Lorraine looked to settle down when he married Gladys Seals at Kingston Register Office in Surrey on 23rd February. The marriage certificate records Harry Lorraine’s name as Harry Heard, aged forty-five, and Gladys as twenty-four. At the time of their marriage Harry was living at 53, Cambridge Crescent, Teddington, his occupation given as film director, and Gladys was living at 34, Elmfield Avenue, Teddington, no occupation given. From information from one of their sons, Gladys had had some ‘bit parts’ in films in her early days, which is how his parents met. Apart from ‘bit parts’, She also did advertising work and was a Craven A girl, advertising the cigarette ‘made specially to prevent sore throats’, and was also known to have featured in advertisements for Horlicks.
Gladys (who hated her name and was known as Tonie) was born in New Houghton, a small mining village on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border on 25th December 1907, the daughter of George Seals and his wife Lilian Letitia née Kent, and died in the spring of 2002, aged ninety-four.
At the time of her marriage Tonie stated that her father was a ‘deceased bank manager’ but from census records he was actually a hewer at a coal mine (like his father John before him) and, as no death record for George Seals can be found prior to 1932, he was probably alive at the date of her marriage. George Seals had married Lilian Letitia (known as Letitia), in the spring of 1902 and, besides Tonie, they’d had thirteen other children including; Jessie born in 1902, Letitia born in 1903, Ivy born in 1905, Jane born about 1906, Edna L born in 1909, Elsie born in 1911, George born in 1913, Blanche born in 1914, Millicent A born in 1916, Edwin born in 1918, Robert born in 1919, Dennis I born in 1921 and John born in 1923.
Harry Lorraine and his wife Tonie had two children; their first son was born in 1935, followed by a second son a year later in 1936. Both children were born in Staines, and were registered as both Heard and Lorraine, adopting to use the surname Lorraine.
At the end of World War II the British film industry had been dealt a crushing blow and was virtually dead, so Harry Lorraine left the world of film and took over his father’s building business. Known as Lorraine Estates, the business was initially involved in bomb damage repairs to property in Battersea and various other sites in and around London. Harry Lorraine continued working in the building business almost until his death, and in the latter years of life, he and Tonie were living at 158, Carlton Road, Walton in Surrey.
After a long and very eventful life that began as a house painter, before moving into stunt work and the film industry and finally returning to the building industry, Harry Lorraine died at the age of eighty-five on 27th March 1970, the death certificate recording him as a ‘Film Director (retired)’.
Bibliography
Documented memories of K Housman, FHA
Handout, Civil Parish of Felbridge, SJC 03/03, FHA
Handout, Felcot Farm, JIC/SJC 04/08, FHA
Documented memories of B Housman, FHA
Documented memories of B Christie, FHA
Handout, Warren Furnace, SJC 01/00, FHA
Handout, Wiremill SJC 03/06, FHA
Handout, Hedgecourt Mills and Mill Cottage, SJC 12/99, FHA
Hedgecourt Mill Cottages, SJC 07/04, FHA
IGI
Free BMD
Handout, Albert Chevalier & My Old Dutch, SJC 05/01, FHA
Ann’s Orchard, SJC 05/01, FHA
Census records, 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911
Documented memories of J Weller, FHA
Film databases www.ftvdb.bfi.org.uk, www.cpout.com, www.citwf.com, www.imdb.com, www.britmovie.com
History of the Cinema 1895-1940, BFIL
Biogram 1919-1923, BFINL
Bioscope Annual & Trade Directory 1912 & 1915, BFINL
Access to Archives
International Casting Directory, BFINL
The Picture Show, BFINL
Variety, 1912, BFINL
Motion Picture Magazine, BFINL
IBDB Internet Broadway Database
Fair and Warmer programme for the Harris Theatre, 1916, FHA
Columbia Theatre, NY Times, November 9th 1932, FHA
Miner’s Peoples’ Theatre, New York Times, November 30th 1932, FHA
Death of Harry Lorraine, New York Times, August 22nd 1932, FHA
Lubin Studios, www.wikipedia
Motion Picture Studio Directory, 1921, FHA
Paramount Pictures, www.wikipeadia
Motion Picture Trade Directory, 1928, BFINL
BID Online – Titles, www.mmsrv.bfi.org.uk
The Film Censor & Exhibitors Review, 14th August, 16th and October 1912, BFINL
Encyclopaedia of British Film by Brian McFarlane, BFINL
The Film Censor & Exhibitors Review, 19th March 1913, BFINL
Films made in the Brighton & Hove area, www.Brightonfilm.com
Clarendon Film Company, www.londonfilm.bbk.ac.uk
Kinematograph Monthly Film Review, 13th October 1912, BFINL
Favourite for the Jamaica Cup review, The Bioscope, April 24, 1913, BFINL
Lieutenant Daring and the Mystery of Room 41, the Film Censor & Exhibitor’s Review, 3rd September 1913, BFINL
Lieutenant Daring, Aerial Scout, The Bioscope, February 5, 1914, BFINL
A Tragedy in theAlps, The Bioscope, September 11, 1913, BFINL
Daring Film Company Ltd., www.londonfilm.bbk.ac.uk
James Young Deer, www.wikipedia
Charles Raymond, www.imdb.com
Frederick Rodman Law, www.imdb.com, www.citwf.com
The Film Censor and Exhibitor’s Review, 4th March 1914, BFINL
The Film Censor and Exhibitor’s Review, 18th March 1914, BFINL
Grey River’s Argus, 1914, www.paperspast.natlib.gov.nz
The History of British film 1906-1914, by Rachel Low, BFINL
Blakiana: Sexton Blake on the Films, www.sextonblake.co.uk
The Great Cheque Fraud, The Bioscope, July 28, 1915, BFINL
Clarendon Film Company., www.londonfilm.bbk.ac.uk
Harma and Company, www.londonfilm.bbk.ac.uk
History of British Film 1914-1918, by Rachel Low
Further Exploits of Sexton Blake, The Bioscope, August 21, 1919, BFINL
Ellen Terry, www.wikipeadia
Mary Rorke, www.shakespeare.moray@edu
Kinematograph Year Book, 1923 & 1924, BFINL
Reframing British Cinema 1918-1924 by Christine Gledhill, BFINL
A E Coleby, www.citwf.com
Josephine Earle, www.citwf.com
Frank Goldsmith, www.imdb.com
Marie Wright, www.imdb.com
George Foley, www.hollywood.premiere.com
Nell Emerald, www.hollywood.premierre.com
The Stars Look down, www.wikipeadia
The Stars Look Down, www.ftvdb.bfi.org.uk
Twickenham Studios, www.twickenhamstudios.com
Shepperton Studios. www.wikipeadia
Who’s Who in Filmland, 1929, BFINL
Stranger Than Fiction, The Bioscope, February 5, 1930, BFINL
British Film Actor’s Credits 1895-1987 by Scott Palmer, BFINL
The Seal family tree, www.Ancestry.co.uk
Grateful thanks are extended to Captain Irving A H Lorraine for his information on Harry Lorraine formerly Heard, Karen Rudolf for helping to un-ravel the Filmographies of her American and the English Harry Lorraine and Janice Healey of the BFINL.
Texts of all Handouts referred to in this document can be found on FHG website; www.felbridge.org.uk
SJC 11/09
Appendix 1
Harry Lorraine
British Filmography as actor, director and/or producer, screen play writer and props
Robin Hood Outlawed (September, 1912) - British & Colonial
Lieutenant Rose and the Train Wreckers (13th October 1912) - Clarendon
Signals in the Night (1st January 1913) - British & Colonial
Favourite for theJamaicaCup, The (March 1913) - British & Colonial
Tom Cringle in Jamaica (c. March 1913) - British & Colonial
Stock is as good as Money (May 1913) - British & Colonial
Lieutenant Daring and the Mystery of Room 41 (September 1913) - British & Colonial
Tragedy in the Alps, A (September 1913) - British & Colonial
Little Snow Waif, The (December 1913) - British & Colonial
In Fate’s Grip (1913) - British & Colonial
Master Crook, The (1913) - British & Colonial
Through the Clouds (1913) - British & Colonial
Lieutenant Daring, Aerial Scout (February 1914) - British & Colonial
Detective Daring and the Thames Coiners (14th May 1914) - Daring Films [own production company]
London’s Underworld (1914) - Daring Films [own production company]
Mary the Fishergirl (1914) - Daring Films [own production company]
Belle of Crystal Palace, The (prior to 24th June 1914) - Motograph
Queenie of the Circus (prior to 24th June 1914) - Motograph
World at War, The (prior to 24th June 1914) - Motograph
Great Spy Raid, The (c. July 1914) - P & M Films
Huns of the North Sea (c. August 1914) - P & M Films
Lieutenant Rose and the Sealed Orders (1914) - Clarendon
Counterfeiters, The (April 1915) - IB Davidson
Stolen Heirlooms (April 1915) - IB Davidson
Great Cheque Fraud, The (July 1915) - IB Davidson
ThorntonJewel Mystery, The (November 1915) - IB Davidson
Wireless (1915) - Famous British Players [Director]
Popular Song Favourites (1916) - Henry Tress
If Thou Wert Blind (1st January 1917) - Clarendon
Happy Warrior, The (1917) - Harma Photoplays [own production company]
Big Money (July 1918) - Harma Photoplays [Director and own production company]
Great Imposter The (1918) - Harma Photoplays [own production company]
Lads of the Village, The (1919) - Atlantic [Director but did not appear]
Further Exploits of Sexton Blake: The Mystery of the S.S. Olympic, The (16th August 1919) -Gaumont/Atlantic [Director and Producer but did not appear]
Woman and Officer 26, The (1920) -Atlantic[Director, Producer and wrote the screen play]
Tiger’s Eye, The (prior to 1923) - Atlantic
Unknown Quantity, The (prior to 1923) - Atlantic
Pluck of the Navy, The (prior to 1923) - Atlantic
Pillars of Society (1920) - RW Syndicate [Producer]
Sweeney Todd (October 1928) - QTS Productions
Unto Each Other (1st January 1929) - Fox
Stanger than Fiction (February 1930) - Mrs CM Wright
A Fire has Been Arranged (1935) - Twickenham Film Studios
The Stars Look Down (24th February1940) - Grand National Pictures [possibly in props/set department, he did not appear in it but his two sons did]
Freedom Radio [aka A Voice in the Night] (1st February 1941) - Two Cities/Sound City/Columbia
Note: Harry Lorraine appeared in all the above films unless stated
Appendix 2
American Harry Lorraine filmography
Boomerang Swindle, A (3rd November 1914) - Lubin
Daddy of them All, The (27th October 1914, [Rel. in UK 1st January 1916]) - Lubin
Who’s Boss? (27th June 1914) - Lubin
She Married for Love (27th October 1914) - Lubin
Kidnapping the Kid (7th November 1914) - Lubin
Weary Willie’s Rags (15th December 1914) - Lubin
Wise Detectives, The (22nd September 1914) - Lubin
Cupid’s Target (1st January 1915) - Lubin
They Looked Alike (5th January 1915) - Lubin
Spaghetti and Lottery (16th January 1915) - Lubin
Shoddy the Tailor (23rd January 1915) - Lubin
Another Shade of Green (30th January 1915) - Lubin
Si and Sue, Acrobats (27th March 1915) - Lubin
Who Stole the Doggie? (11th May 1915) - Lubin
Cannibal King, The (6th July 1915) - Lubin
Just Jim (16th August 1915) - Lubin
Careless Anarchist, The (21st September 1915) - Lubin
Wayville Slumber Party (28th September 1915 [Rel. in UK 10th February 1916]) - Lubin
It Happened in Pikesville (29th July 1916) - Lubin
Tom’s Tramping Troupe (9th May 1917) - Universal Films
Roped into Scandal (30th May 1917) - Universal Films
Soapsuds and Sirens (24th September 1917) - Universal Films
Vamping Reuben’s Millions (15th October 1917) - Universal Films
Torpedo Pirates (19th January 1918) - Universal Films
Ash-Can Alley (23rd January 1918) - Universal Films
Her Whirlwind Wedding (4th September 1918) - Universal Films
Monkey Stuff (7th July 1919) - Universal Films
Hawk’s Trail, The (13th December 1919) - W H Productions
Slim Princess, The (4th July 1920) - Goldwyn
Kismet (14th November 1920) - Waldorf Film Corp.
Last of the Mohicans (21st November 1920) - Maurice Tourneur Productions
Lure of Egypt (15th May 1921) - Pathé
Certain Rich Man, A (28th May 1921) - W W Hodkinson
Man of the Forest (June, 1921) - W W Hodkinson
Golden Dreams (4th June 1922) - Benjamin B Hampton Productions
Heart’s Haven (August 1922) - Benjamin B Hampton Productions
American made films featuring Harry Lorraine (although not yet possible to determine which Harry) Garments of Truth (5th October 1921) - Metro Pictures
Hunch, The (28th November 1921) - Metro Pictures
Little Eva Ascends (8th January 1922) - Metro Pictures
I Can Explain (20th March 1922) - Metro Pictures
Don’t Write Letters (16th May 1922) - Metro Pictures
Lavender Bath Lady, The (13th November 1922) - Universal Film
Tea: With a Kick! (26th August 1923) - Victor Halperin Productions
Slave to Desire (14th October 1923) - Goldwyn
Shooting of Dan McGrew, The (31st March 1924) - Metro Pictures
All’s Swell on the Ocean (18th August 1924) - Universal Film
Bring Him In (1st September 1924) - Universal Film
Siege (27th September 1925) - Universal Pictures
Steppin’ Out (15th October 1925) - Columbia
Ace of Spades (19th October 1925) - Universal Pictures
Punch in the Nose, A (3rd January 1926) - Pathé
Vanishing West, The (15th October 1928) - Mascot