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The Silent Collection
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Francis X. Bushman in My Store or Francis X. Bushman on eBay |
| #2 Most Popular - 1917 |
Remember when movies were still called
photo-plays? Photo-play, literally meaning “play of light”, referred to what was
considered, at the turn of the last century, an amazing new phenomenon: of
cameras being able to capture, and then, with the help of a projector, transmit
light and shadow onto a screen. We take it all for granted now, but in the
early, heady days of cinema, audiences were shocked by the first worlds
constructed out of light and shadow alone. It was magic. Stars, of course, added
another magical element to the movies, and king among them was Francis X.
Bushman, known at the peak of his fame as … you guessed it, “The King of
Photo-play.”
He was also considered, in his heyday, as “the handsomest man in the world.” Not
a bad place to be situated! So who is this man and where did he come from?
As with many of his contemporaries, Francis started acting as a little boy. Born
on January 10, 1883 in Baltimore, Maryland, he graced the stage throughout his
childhood, and had been a popular theatre actor for some time when, in 1911, he
broke into the movies. It all started in Chicago, at Bronco Billy Anderson’s Essanay Studio, where he was noticed for his hefty, sculpted frame – fittingly,
he had done work as a sculptor’s model, and was well aware of the reaction
people had to his physique. Not that he was all about looks. Unlike his peers,
though – John Barrymore, for example – his stage and screen presence indicated
that Francis was very much attuned to how good looking he was, and he used this
as part of his charm.
It worked. Francis X. Bushman became the first true matinee idol, first on
stage, and then in the movies – Francis astutely knew it was time to make the
switch to the “photo-play”, which the budding star recognized as the future of
entertainment. He was right, and he was there from the start to cash in on the
potential for stardom and fame the movies provided. It wasn’t long before he was
in constant demand; he made one movie after another, as fast as the studio could
churn them out. His first role was in “His Friend’s Life” – unfortunately, many
of these early films have not survived to this day, so it’s difficult to convey
how prolific, and how charismatic this first King of the Photo-play really was.
Suffice it to say, he made 17 movies in 1911 alone.
He played lovers. He played princes. He played cupid. He played those who scorn
and those who are scorned. He played athletes of all
kinds. He played lords and
he played convicts. He played Mephisto in 1911’s “Bill Bumper’s Bargain”. He
essentially grew up with the movies as the industry was figuring out which
stories worked and which didn’t. Women adored him, and flocked to theatres in
droves, just to see him. And unlike today, when we have to wait months or years
to see our favorite stars onscreen, it seemed Francis was in a new film every
week! Lucky women. But there was something they didn’t know …
What they thought they knew was that Francis was a happily married man. In 1902,
when he was already a stage sensation, he married an 18-year-old seamstress,
Josephine Fladume. Seven years later, they had five children, and it would still
be another two years before he would become a movie star. By that time, the
public came to know him as a loving husband and father, a churchgoing man, a
U.S. patriot, a model citizen and an intellect worthy of the “Bushmanor” he
lived in.
You can imagine his fans’ surprise when they found out he had been deceiving
them – and his wife! – with another woman. She was Beverly Bayne, his costar in
numerous films (notably 1916’s “Romeo and Juliet”), and a big part of the reason
Francis was so successful. In those years, Francis and Beverly became
distinguished as the first must-see romantic duo, and they shared a memorable
screen life together. But in real life, their affair was just too much for
audiences and spin doctors to handle. A career-breaking scandal was born.
They were married in 1918, just three days after his divorce was finalized. But
their hot movie careers were over – for awhile. They took to the vaudeville
circuit as a team and never stopped performing, even making some films with
their own, newly-formed company, Bushman Pictures, through the early 1920s.
Oddly, it was Francis’ movie comeback that would signal the end of his steamy
marriage to Beverly. In 1925, he was offered the prestigious role of Messala in
“Ben-Hur”, the classic film by MGM Studio, then a new but already successful
company. Francis was reluctant to take the role, fearing Messala wasn’t an
appealing character, but changed his mind for the better. The laborious months
of production caused irreparable damage to his marriage, which ended that same
year.
In the end, Francis’s part was the scene-stealing one, but rosy days were not
ahead for this star. He had apparently snubbed studio head Louis B. Mayer during
production by refusing to have Mayer in his dressing room, and Mayer sought
revenge by blacklisting Francis at the end of production on the film. He got no
publicity for the part, and he found it difficult to find work again. Francis
knew he make a mistake in snubbing the great Louis B., but this unstoppable
performer stubbornly persisted. He made some sound films, and worked in radio
and television until his death, in California, in 1966.
Francis X. Bushman was a consummate actor and romantic lead who guided his own
career in astonishing directions. Scandals or no scandals, his career lasted as
long if not longer than the other silent greats, even if he did face hurdles
more than once along the way. Back then his marriage scandal was devastating to
everyone, including himself. Today, with hindsight, we can see that he had the
stuff – the looks, the charisma, the ambition and the talent – that legends are
made of.
#
Tammy Stone is a freelance writer and journalist based in Toronto. Watch for her
regular column on the greats of the Silent Screen here on
things-and-other-stuff.com.
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