A Bizarre Silent Film made at Pathe' Studios in 1907

There is a brand new podcast of a short story by me, David Mathew (was reviewer for Interzone) called “The Red Spectre” on http://fearondemand.com/, edited by horror writer Sidney Williams. It is free to listen to and was inspired by a real silent film made in 1907 whose director to this day is Unknown. The film features a diabolical red/sepia-tinted, masked skeleton character who hops around a surreal set and pantomimes bizarrely. He madly makes chemical potions and concoctions and disappears on occasion only to reappear and makes others vanish in puffs of smoke as he gleefully looks on and continues to hop and jump around the hellish set.
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Here is the listing for this bizarre silent film at www.silentera.com:

[The Red Spectre]
AKA El Espectro Rojo in [?] Spain?; The Red Spectre in the USA
(1907) French
B&W : Short film
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
Compagnie Genérale des Établissements Pathé Frères Phonographes & Cinématographes production; distributed by Compagnie Genérale des Établissements Pathé Frères Phonographes & Cinématographes. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. Color-tinted by Pathécolor stenciling process. / Some scenes originally hand-tinted.
Trick film.

Survival Status: Print exists.

Keywords: Coffins - Devils - Fire
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Here is the IMDB database entry on the film. It states that they figured out who the directors really were.

Le Spectre Rouge (1907)

Segundo de Chomón (co-director)
Ferdinand Zecca (co-director)

Writer:
Segundo de Chomón (writer)
Release Date:
August 1907 (USA) more
Genre:
Short | Fantasy | Horror more
Plot:
A demonic magician attempts to perform his act in a strange grotto, but is confronted by a Good Spirit who opposes him. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Bottle | Skeleton | Cavern | Good Versus Evil | Devil
more
User Comments:
A fascinating, bizarre, and beautiful little film ____________________________________
In keeping with the History of New Orleans, before Hollywood as a movie factory came about, four cities were considered to be potential centers of filmmaking: New Orleans, Jacksonville Florida, a city somewhere in New Jersey, and of course, somewhere in California which turned out to be Hollywood. New Orleans failed as a possible center for this due to the weather factor: Lighting was critical and they realized that it rained a lot in New Orleans. The first film made in New Orleans was called "Mephisto and the Maiden".

MEPHISTO AND THE MAIDEN (1909/Selig Polyscope Co.) 15mins. BW. Silent. US.
A lustful friar trades his soul with Satan in exchange for two hours with a young woman.

The first silent Tarzan movie "Tarzan of the Apes" (1918) was filmed in the swamps of Abbeville, Louisiana in Vermilion Parish 150 miles west of New Orleans and below Lafayette. It starred Elmo Lincoln (born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt).

Speaking of Hollywood, Oscar Wilde went there in 1890 with the D'Oyly Dance Company when Hollywood was just a bunch of orange groves and before films were really ever made.

And now to change the subject entirely I thought I would submit this. Here are some little known "facts" about some Southern writers:

They say that when Truman Capote visited Willie Morris at Ole Miss that it was rumored that they practically dented every car while driving on campus and imbibing.

One day, William Faulkner was invited to take a drive (probably by his good friend Howard Hawks) with Clark Gable. Gable, trying to take a dig at Faulkner, asked him when he got in the car, “So, Mr. Faulkner, what do you do for a living?” to which Faulkner responded, “I am a writer. What do you do, Mr. Gable?”

When Faulkner lived in the French Quarter of New Orleans long ago, in a third floor apartment (not on the side street Pirate’s Alley where an old apartment of his is now a notable quaint bookstore), he and a lawyer friend of his used to imbibe spirits, and when that happens sometimes it can lead to rather dumb activity. One time they got a bb-gun and from Faulkner’s apartment window the future Nobel laureate and his drunk friend shot bb's at hapless and unfortunate older, genteel ladies on the backside as they innocently walked down the street in the French Quarter.

Consider checking out the Podcast of a short story by MF Korn and David Mathew, "The Red Spectre" at http://fearondemand.com/ .

www.mfkorn.com