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Post by phantomparticle on Sept 16, 2020 10:39:03 GMT
 Successful vaudevillian who ran away from home at the age of 12 to join a medicine show. He joined the Mack Sennett Studio in 1923, made a series of short films, then moved to First National Pictures to star in Tramp, Tramp, Tramp where his naive man-child persona caught on with the public. Fledgling director Frank Capra adroitly guided Langdon through his next big hit, The Strong Man, which was so successful critics began comparing him to Chaplin. The egotistical Langdon took it to heart, broke with Capra and decided to direct himself. It was a disastrous decision and within a few years he was bankrupt. His voice did not register well in sound film and he spent the rest of his career doing bit parts for low budget studios and writing gags for other comedians like Laurel and Hardy. Once ranked as one of the four great comedians of the silent screen, he is mostly forgotten today and has become little more than a footnote in documentaries and books about the era. Langdon, the man who wanted to be greater than Chaplin, died of a cerebral hemorrhage shortly before Christmas 1944.
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Post by teleadm on Sept 17, 2020 17:32:56 GMT
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Post by phantomparticle on Sept 17, 2020 20:27:23 GMT
2 hours ago teleadm said:
I did a post on Langdon on the Old IMDB, mostly because he was seldom mentioned and I was interested in opinion of his fans.
As stated, Pee Wee Herman is probably the closest modern equivalent we have to Langdon, but with a more worldly, 1980's sensibility.
I've been able to track down Langdon's three major films and a couple of his talking two-reelers. Have to say, I'm not a fan and just don't find him funny. There is something (for want of a better word) unhealthy about the character.
Capra writes about him in his autobiography. Apparently, he was a terror to work with, demanding and throwing screaming tantrums. According to his IMDB bio, he mellowed out in his later years. I haven't read Capra's book in decades; will have to see if my local library has a copy.
Contrary to what is portrayed in Stan and Ollie (1918), Laurel did not have a quarrel with Hardy over Langdon's appearance in Zenobia. The movie was to have been a Laurel and Hardy comedy but Laurel's contract with Roach ran out while Hardy still under obligation to the producer. After Zenobia, Laurel and Hardy signed as a team, which gave them a better bargaining position with Roach.
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