Manuel "Tweedledum" Perez?
SRydzewski
Just the other day myself and our entourage
of silent comedy buffs had another great afternoon
at MoMA watching nothing but silent comedy shorts!
That day we watched our second comedy starring
Manuel "Tweedie" (or Tweedledum) Perez. He has
been the hit of two shows and I for one can't get
enough of his wild style of comedy!
I understand that he was born in Madrid in 1885
and educated in France and began his screen career
in Italy with Ambrosio in 1900. He next went to Pathe
for a couple of years; to Eclipse for three years; then
to Eclair for four years before coming to America and
joining The Eagle studio in Jacksonville, Florida.
The film we saw Thursday at MoMA (a beautiful
print) was clearly filmed in Jacksonville as seen by the
license plates, a corner bank, etc.
But what I want to know is what ever happened to
this funny little comic? Where did he go from his
films in Jacksonville? Richard, you probably know
all this so please help!
And are there any other Tweedledum shorts out
there??? Thank you!
Steve R (Phila)
Feuillade
> Hi Groupies,
> Just the other day myself and
> our entourage of silent comedy
> buffs had another great afternoon
> at MoMA watching nothing but
> silent comedy shorts!
(For those of you who are out-of-town, MOMA is currently being struck by its
workers, who would like to be paid more than $17,000 per year for the work they
do. I have not been inside MOMA since the strike began, and will not see
anything there until the strike is settled.)
Be aware that everytime you enter MOMA you are crossing a picket line.
Tom Moran
http://members.aol.com/Feuillade/TomMoran.index.html
My theater reviews can be read at:
http://www.eclipsemagazine.com
(Latest reviews: "The Wild Party" and "The Music Man"
Upcoming: "Uncle Vanya" and "Macbeth")
Richard M Roberts
>
> Hi Groupies,
> Just the other day myself and our entourage
> of silent comedy buffs had another great afternoon
> at MoMA watching nothing but silent comedy shorts!
> Manuel "Tweedie" (or Tweedledum) Perez. He has
> been the hit of two shows and I for one can't get
> enough of his wild style of comedy!
> I understand that he was born in Madrid in 1885
> and educated in France and began his screen career
> in Italy with Ambrosio in 1900. He next went to Pathe
> for a couple of years; to Eclipse for three years; then
> to Eclair for four years before coming to America and
> joining The Eagle studio in Jacksonville, Florida.
> The film we saw Thursday at MoMA (a beautiful
> print) was clearly filmed in Jacksonville as seen by the
> license plates, a corner bank, etc.
> But what I want to know is what ever happened to
> this funny little comic? Where did he go from his
> films in Jacksonville? Richard, you probably know
> all this so please help!
> And are there any other Tweedledum shorts out
> there??? Thank you!
>
> Steve R (Phila)
Manuel Fernandez Perez (also known as Fernandea Perez) was a reasonably
well-known European film comic who worked for Pathe and Eclair before
coming over to America at the start of WWI, working forst through the
American arm of Eclair, then joining Vim in Jacksonville,
Florida.Although he was known as "Tweedledum" in Europe, he changed his
name to "Bungles" at Vim, where he worked with Oliver Hardy and also
directed, although he spoke very little english at the time.He then
moved on to the Unity comedies, produced by the Eagle Film Co,this time
under his original moniker, which is the series the film you saw was
from.In late 1917, he moved on to Cliffside, New Jersey, where he made a
series of Jester comedies as "Twede-Dan". He finally moved out to
California where he made several independent series before becoming a
full-time director for Joe Rock in the mid-twenties.
I am extremely jealous that you got to see one of the Unity comedies,
and wish I could get out to Cole's shows at MOMA. I believe I may have
several of his european comedies in a batch of foreign films I've
received but have not yet viewed them. From the stills I've seen of his
films, he did have a very wacky and wild style of comedy.
RICHARD M ROBERTS
Hans J. Wollstein
directed, "The Better Man Wins," starring Pete Morrison, still exists.
Hans
Hudson10
Feuillade <feui...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000625214340...@ng-cc1.aol.com...
> srydz...@aol.com writes:
>
> > Hi Groupies,
> > Just the other day myself and
> > our entourage of silent comedy
> > buffs had another great afternoon
> > at MoMA watching nothing but
> > silent comedy shorts!
>
its
> workers, who would like to be paid more than $17,000 per year for the work
they
> do. I have not been inside MOMA since the strike began, and will not see
> anything there until the strike is settled.)
>
> Be aware that everytime you enter MOMA you are crossing a picket line.
>
>
> Tom Moran
>
Considering that MOMA workers have been for years the most outrageously
rude, nasty people one can encounter, even by NYC standards, I hope they get
locked out permanently.
Hudson10
delete letters after number for email address
Feuillade
> Feuillade <feui...@aol.com> wrote:
>> srydz...@aol.com writes:
>> Tom Moran
> Hudson10
Spoken like a true friend of labor.
You wouldn't know George Shelps, would you?
George Shelps
Feuillade wrote:
>Hudson10 wrote:
>>Considering that MOMA workers
>>have been for years the
>>most outrageously rude, nasty
>>people one can encounter, even
>>by NYC standards, I hope they
>>get locked out permanently.
>>Hudson10
>Spoken like a true friend of labor.
>You wouldn't know George Shelps,
>would you?
When have I ever taken a public position about any labor issue?
Once again, you aggressively politicize
a thread. Where did Hudson indicate
a political position? How can his opinion about a specific group of
workers be
ideologically generalized? He's not allowed to have a negative opinion
about the MOMA staff simply because they are
are "labor?"
Despite my supposed political penchant,
it is invariably ideologues of your stripe
who dangle the bait first.
---------------------------------
"You take Abyssinia and I'll take a hot butterscotch sundae on rye
bread."
----Capt. Jeffrey T. Spaulding
Tired of the Web? Try this link: http://home.att.net/~cecw/lastpage.htm
Hudson10
> "Hudson10" hudso...@corecomm.net writes:
>
> > Feuillade <feui...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> >> srydz...@aol.com writes:
>
> >>> Hi Groupies,
> >>> Just the other day myself and
> >>> our entourage of silent comedy
> >>> buffs had another great afternoon
> >>> at MoMA watching nothing but
> >>> silent comedy shorts!
>
> >> (For those of you who are
> >> out-of-town, MOMA is currently
> >> being struck by its workers, who
> >> would like to be paid more
> >> than $17,000 per year for the
> >> work they do. I have not been
> >> inside MOMA since the strike
> >> began, and will not see anything
> >> there until the strike is settled.)
>
> >> Be aware that everytime you
> >> enter MOMA you are crossing
> >> a picket line.
>
> >> Tom Moran
>
> > have been for years the
> > most outrageously rude, nasty
> > people one can encounter, even
> > by NYC standards, I hope they
> > get locked out permanently.
>
> > Hudson10
>
> Spoken like a true friend of labor.
>
> You wouldn't know George Shelps, would you?
>
>
>
Does being classified as "labor" entitle people to harass women who attempt
to use the ladies' room at the conclusion of film screenings?
Hudson10
jessica rosner
I sincerely doubt the people who were rude to you ae the same ones who are on
strike.
In the film department the strikers are mainly assistant curators as well as
people in the stills dept. The generally rude guards and the upper echelon
people who often know and care little about film are not on strike. The
strikers make ludicrously low wages and have no job security. MOMA is NOT an
institution that can claim poverty or hardship. They just want power and MORE
money. I doubt they will miss me at any screenings but have no intention of
crossing the picket line
jessica rosner
Feuillade
> Feuillade <feui...@aol.com> wrote:
>> "Hudson10" hudso...@corecomm.net writes:
>>> Feuillade <feui...@aol.com> wrote:
>>>> srydz...@aol.com writes:
>>>> Tom Moran
>>> Hudson10
> Does being classified as "labor"
> entitle people to harass women
> who attempt to use the ladies'
> room at the conclusion of
> film screenings?
And because of one incident involving one employee you're willing to consign
everyone who works there to slave wages, if not unemployment?
That's *real* mature...
Feuillade
Neither will I.
I don't care if they're showing a double feature of the uncut 42-reel "Greed"
with "London After Midnight." I'm out until they settle this thing.
And as you're walking down 53rd Street, make sure to give a high five to Ratty
the Rat, in a gesture of solidarity. :)
ChaneyFan
money.
Have they considered doing what most of us non-union people do in this
situation? Look for another job.
===============================
Jon Mirsalis
e-mail: Chan...@aol.com
Lon Chaney Home Page: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan
Jon's Film Sites: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan/jonfilm.htm
jessica rosner
With all due respect I don't think it is fair to expect someone like Mary
Corliss who has worked at MOMA for 20 years to rush out and get another
job. Sadly it is true that it seems unlikely that the management at MOMA
gives a rats ass about their workers but the LEAST I can do is not
support them in their efforts to screw these people
Jessica
Constance B. Kuriyama
jessica rosner wrote:
> I sincerely doubt the people who were rude to you ae the same ones who are on
> strike.
> In the film department the strikers are mainly assistant curators as well as
> people in the stills dept.
In my limited experience, I've found these people friendly and
extremely helpful. If some of them are being paid only $17,000
a year in NYC, they have something to strike about.
Connie K.
Dr. Giraud
feui...@aol.com (Feuillade) wrote:
> srydz...@aol.com writes:
>
> > Hi Groupies,
> > Just the other day myself and
> > our entourage of silent comedy
> > buffs had another great afternoon
> > at MoMA watching nothing but
> > silent comedy shorts!
>
> (For those of you who are out-of-town, MOMA is currently being struck
by its
> workers, who would like to be paid more than $17,000 per year for the
work they
> do. I have not been inside MOMA since the strike began, and will not
see
> anything there until the strike is settled.)
>
> Be aware that everytime you enter MOMA you are crossing a picket line.
>
> Tom Moran
>
>
at least their web site. MOMA has no films or film programs listed on
its site for today (1 July) or beyond.
Shawn Stone
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Feuillade
> feui...@aol.com (Feuillade) wrote:
>> (For those of you who are
>> out-of-town, MOMA is currently
>> being struck by its workers, who
>> would like to be paid more
>> than $17,000 per year for the
>> work they do. I have not been
>> inside MOMA since the strike
>> began, and will not see
>> anything there until the strike
>> is settled.)
>> Be aware that everytime you
>> enter MOMA you are crossing
>> a picket line.
> The strike might have finally caught
> up with their film programming. Or
> at least their web site. MOMA has
> no films or film programs listed
> on its site for today (1 July) or beyond.
I'd noticed that as well. It would be interesting to find out whether they're
not showing films or whether they just have no one around to update their
website (I suppose New Yorkers could check with the Voice or the Post).
For tourists who want to see classic films when they're in town, I would
suggest that they investigate the American Museum of the Moving Image,
Anthology Film Archives, or the Film Forum.
For the art lovers, there's always the Met.
Please stay away from MOMA until the strike is over and the workers get a
contract that pays them a living wage.
Hudson10
> "Hudson10" hudso...@corecomm.net writes:
>
> > Feuillade <feui...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> >> "Hudson10" hudso...@corecomm.net writes:
>
>
> >>>> srydz...@aol.com writes:
>
> >>>>> Hi Groupies,
> >>>>> Just the other day myself and
> >>>>> our entourage of silent comedy
> >>>>> buffs had another great afternoon
> >>>>> at MoMA watching nothing but
> >>>>> silent comedy shorts!
>
> >>>> out-of-town, MOMA is currently
> >>>> being struck by its workers, who
> >>>> would like to be paid more
> >>>> than $17,000 per year for the
> >>>> work they do. I have not been
> >>>> inside MOMA since the strike
> >>>> began, and will not see anything
> >>>> there until the strike is settled.)
>
> >>>> Be aware that everytime you
> >>>> enter MOMA you are crossing
> >>>> a picket line.
>
>
> >>> Considering that MOMA workers
> >>> have been for years the
> >>> most outrageously rude, nasty
> >>> people one can encounter, even
> >>> by NYC standards, I hope they
> >>> get locked out permanently.
>
> >>> Hudson10
>
> >> Spoken like a true friend of labor.
>
> >> You wouldn't know George
> >> Shelps, would you?
>
> > Does being classified as "labor"
> > entitle people to harass women
> > who attempt to use the ladies'
> > room at the conclusion of
> > film screenings?
>
> And because of one incident involving one employee you're willing to
consign
> everyone who works there to slave wages, if not unemployment?
>
> That's *real* mature...
>
>
> Tom Moran
>
This harrassment was directed at every woman who was there, and occured
after every single evening screening I attended the last few times I
attended, after which I decided never to return there. I went there for
years in order to see films and it was always an unpleasant experience
because of the outrageous behavior of the staff. Here are a few examples:
Often when I came to an evening screening the people behind the desk refused
to move two steps in order to give me a ticket to the film screening and I
then had to argue with the guard in order to attempt to get into the
theater. This is while I was a member. They are also in the habit of
trying to snatch tickets and ID out of your hand instead of asking for them.
As to the wonderful assistant curators, when I called the film department to
inquire whether a certain series would be scheduled the following month, the
person I spoke to lied and lied and refused to give me this information.
This is not a complete list.
The sort of outrageous behavior one encounters at MOMA is so pervasive that
it is clearly a part of its institutional culture, it is not limited to the
security guards, and I therefore have no sympathy for anyone associated with
it. However, not to worry. Since I have no intention of ever returning
there I won't be crossing the nasty creatures' picket line. And if they
dislike their treatment by management, apparently because management has the
same attitude towards them as they do towards other people, they are hardly
deserving of sympathy.
Hudson10
Feuillade
> The sort of outrageous behavior
> one encounters at MOMA is so
> pervasive that it is clearly a part
> of its institutional culture, [...]
Funny how you seem to be the only person complaining of it. :)
I've spent as much time at MOMA over the past few years as anyone (particularly
as I get in free), and I have never had any problems whatsoever with the staff.
I have, however, had plenty of problems with the rude, obnoxious geezers who
attend the silent film screenings. They make the staff seem like models of
civility by comparison.
Your posts, in fact, seem suspiciously like those people who post on the
classical music newsgroups complaining about the people who work at Tower
Records -- and for the record, I've never had any problems with them, either.
If you don't want to have problems with the staff at a given institution, I
would suggest that you start looking at your own behavior towards them.
It might explain a lot.
ChaneyFan
security guards, and I therefore have no sympathy for anyone associated with
it.
Many others could relate their own MOMA horror stories. Bill Everson loathed
MOMA and Karen Everson adamantly refused to let Bill's collection go to MOMA
when they offered to house it after he passed away. (It went to Eastman House
instead.)
My own MOMA story was from the 1979 Cinecon. They had us all in and ran a rare
Anita Garvin short in 35mm (Ed can provide the name...I forget). They had a
grand piano there and as the lights dimmed I realized they planned to run the
film silent. I asked Eileen Bowser if I should play for it and her response
was, "Our pianist wouldn't like it if anyone played his piano." I found this
odd since (a) I know Bill Perry wouldn't care and (b) the piano belonged to
MOMA not Bill Perry. In any case, we sat in dead silence for the short. This
is pretty typical of the attitude that has infused every dealing I have ever
had with MOMA.
EckHarDT50
I'm amazed by the extreme Jekyll/Hyde images of MOMA that have been presented
here.
I have personally never had any problems with anyone at MOMA. But then, I've
never gone there when the moon is full....
Joe Eckhardt
Mile Films
say that the striking workers are not only justified in their actions (right or
wrong, it's what you do when management is inflexible in its dealings and they
have been) but there are many, many fine people on the picket line whom I like
and respect. Also, leaving a job you've had your entire professional life is a
lot more daunting -- especially when it's something you love. (And might I had,
being a film nerd myself and having found the job I'm capable of doing well,
that there are few jobs out there for our kind.)
I personally will miss the Oskar Fischinger animation night next Wednesday.
Perhaps I'll mulch the garden instead...
Dennis Doros
Milestone Film & Video
email: Mile...@aol.com
George Shelps
jessica rosner wrote:
>With all due respect I don't think it is fair
>to expect someone like Mary Corliss who
>has worked at MOMA for 20 years to
>rush out and get another job. Sadly it is
>true that it seems unlikely that the
>management at MOMA gives a rats ass
>about their workers but the LEAST I can
>do is not support them in their efforts to
>screw these people
"Management" versus "workers?" Wake up, Ms Van Winkle, this is the 21st
century and your class-warfare rhetoric
and this nonsense about not crossing
a picket line at a major cultural institution
to show "solidarity" with labor may fly
at a Gore fund-raiser, but is laughable
when applied to an art museum.
I doubt that *anyone* in the nonprofit
sector believes they are getting paid
enough.
David Pierce
May 09, 2000 at 21:30:22 to
http://nyartsmagazine.com/bbs/messages/786.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please forward this letter to all those artists and art professionals to
which this may be of interest, and please support our cause by writing or
calling Glenn Lowry, Director of the Museum of Modern Art, or by joining
our picket lines, active from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm every day.
THE MoMA PICKET LINES:
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ART COMMUNITY FROM THE
PROFESSIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE
STAFF OF THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
May 3, 2000
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
As many of you might already know, the Professional and Administrative
Staff
Association of The Museum of Modern Art (PASTA-MoMA) is currently on
strike
after a substantial majority of its members voted to reject the Museum's
final contract offer. To clarify the reasons for our current actions we
would like to introduce some of the issues at stake.
We, the Museum's curators, librarians, archivists, registrars, educators,
editors, conservators, and administrative staff, are asking for a fair
contract. Negotiations began seven months ago and have now broken off,
and we feel that we have yet to see good-faith bargaining from the Museum.
The issues in contention are basic ones, including a modest pay increase
and
the security of our healthcare coverage.
The current starting salary for some 40 positions at the Museum is
$17,000 per year, and the median salary of all PASTA members is less than
$29,000. We have asked management to raise minimum salaries to $20,000,
but it
has refused to make any increase over $17,510. We have asked for a first
year 5% across-the-board increase with 4% for subsequent years, which was
also
refused. The salaries of nonmanagement MoMA staffers are sufficiently
low that each percentage point of pay increase for all 250 employees in
the
bargaining unit costs the Museum only $70,000, a sum it often earns in a
single day through the sale of admission tickets alone.
As for healthcare, the Museum has asked the union to forfeit its right
to negotiate with management over any changes to the healthcare package
that management may propose during the life of the contract--a right that
is
granted to unions by U.S. law. This proposal, if the union accepted it,
would effectively allow the Museum to cut back the staff's healthcare at
any time and to any degree without consulting PASTA as to what the
healthcare priorities of its members might be. The Museum has denied that
it
intends to reduce the healthcare package, but it has not made clear to us
why, in
that case, it wants the union to give up its healthcare negotiating
rights.
There are currently five other unions at MoMA, which represent functions
of the Museum including security, art handling, and housekeeping. Of all
the unions, PASTA has the lowest base pay, average pay, and median pay. We
are also the only union in which membership is purely optional, a weakness
that management has used to try to divide us. These facts merit the
attention
not only of the Museum's management and our Board of Trustees but of the
art
world at large--all the artists, teachers and professors of art and art
history, all the professionals and trustees of other museums and
not-for-profit organizations, all the writers and critics, and anyone
who believes that art is a vital part of society.
We ask you to consider the ethical questions at hand. We are not on the
picket lines outside MoMA merely to discourage people from entering the
building. In fact this is a position that many of us find extraordinarily
painful and one that runs counter to every impulse that brought us into
our profession in the first place. We feel that we are here to defend that
profession's integrity. We are asking the Museum to acknowledge our
commitment and our contributions with something other than words. Like
any other field that exacts dedication and rigor, museum work is a
profession, not an intellectual hobby.
In a recent memo to the Museum staff, Glenn D. Lowry, Director, stated:
"We are determined not to let the strike interfere with MoMA's mission."
However, every professional staff member on the picket line plays an
essential role in shaping and preserving that mission. The quality of
the exhibitions, the catalogues, and the education and membership programs
at the Museum depends on us from conception to realization. An exhibition
on the scale of Making Choices, which just opened, could not have been
mounted without the extraordinary contributions of union members working
hundreds of hours of overtime without compensation. The level of
achievement
at MoMA is disproportionate to the salaries and security offered to its
professional staff.
A principle is at stake. It is in the best interest of all who champion
art
to speak out and urge the Museum to address these issues now. We invite
you to join our picket line. We ask that you send a letter or fax to Mr.
Lowry
(212-708-9744) and to Agnes Gund, President (212-708-9415). Most
importantly, we appeal to you to help end this strike by encouraging
management to return to the table and negotiate in good faith and with
due respect for the Museum's professional staff.
Sincerely,
PASTA-MoMA/Local 2110
Among those who contributed to this letter are:
Darsie Alexander, Department of Photography
Sally Berger, Department of Film and Video
Julia Corcoran, Department of Writing Services
Jon Cordova, Office of the Registrar
Harris Dew, Department of Communications
Carina Evangelista, Department of Painting and Sculpture
Starr Figura, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books
David Frankel, Department of Publications
Judy Hecker, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books
Laura Hoptman, Department of Drawings
Cary Levine, Department of Painting and Sculpture
Matilda McQuaid, Department of Architecture and Design
Harper Montgomery, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books
Jasmine Moorhead, Department of Publications
Laura Morris, Department of Publications
Clay Stopek, International Program
Jennifer Tobias, Library
Michelle Yun, Department of Painting and Sculpture
PASTA-MoMA Negotiating Committee:
Stefanii Atkins, Office of the Registrar
Michael Cinquina, Office of the Book Buyer
Daniel Fermon, Library
John Greiner, Visitor Services
Joe Hannan, Department of Writing Services
Michael Regan, Visitor Services
Maida Rosenstein, Local 2110
Chantal Veraart, Library
Phil Wheeler, Northeast Regional UAW
Michael Yard, Department of Sales and Marketing