Richard Smith (silent film director)
{{Short description|American scenarist, actor, and film director}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Richard Smith
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1886|09|17}}
| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio
United States
| death_date = 1937 (aged 50)
| death_place = Los Angeles, California
United States
| other_names = Dick Smith
| known_for =
| occupation = Film director, screenwriter, actor
| spouse = Alice Howell
}}
Richard Smith (September 17, 1886 – 1937), also known as Dick Smith, was a screenwriter, actor, and film director. Smith was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and became a comedian active in the vaudeville era. He met his wife Alice Howell in 1910 and the two performed together as Howell and Howell. After working under direction of Mack Sennett at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in New York City, Smith moved to Los Angeles, California. Smith and his wife starred in reels together produced by L-KO Kompany.
While Howell was contracted at Universal Studios, Smith directed her in films described in the book Clown Princes and Court Jesters as, "some of Universal's most memorable comedies of the twenties". With colleague Vin Moore, Smith directed actor Oliver Hardy in the 1920 film Distilled Love. Smith directed the Marx Brothers in 1921 in their first film, titled Humor Risk, which has since been lost. In 1925, Smith's directing work included films starring Bert Roach, Neely Edwards, and Charles Puffy. His contributions at Universal included a series of comedy films called "The Collegians".
Career
=Vaudeville=
Richard Smith was active in the field of comedy, and participated in the vaudeville scene.{{cite book|pages=75–80|title=Eccentrics of Comedy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UkkfEiXTb5gC&dq=smith&pg=PA75|first=Anthony|last=Slide|publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc|year=1998|isbn=0-8108-3534-7|access-date=February 17, 2011}} He met his wife Alice Howell when she was a member of a production by DeWolf Hopper, in 1910. The two utilized the title of a previously known vaudeville group, and performed together as Howell and Howell.{{cite book|last=Slide|first=Anthony|pages=[https://archive.org/details/biographicalauto00slid/page/135 135–137]|title=Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses|publisher=The University Press of Kentucky|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8131-2249-6|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalauto00slid/page/135}}{{cite book|last=Slide|first=Anthony|title=Aspects of American Film History Prior to 1920|url=https://archive.org/details/aspectsofamerica0000slid|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/aspectsofamerica0000slid/page/11 11–15]|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=1970|isbn=0-8108-1130-8}} The Howell and Howell duo performed together for three years.{{cite news|page=98|title=Questions and Answers|work=Photoplay Magazine|volume=13–14|year=1917|publisher=Photoplay Publishing Company|location=Chicago, Illinois|last=Quirk|first=James R.}}{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/chaplinencyclope00glen/page/136 136]|title=The Chaplin Encyclopedia|first=Glenn|last=Mitchell|publisher=B.T. Batsford|year=1997|isbn=0-7134-7938-8|url=https://archive.org/details/chaplinencyclope00glen/page/136}} Their performances included burlesque and vaudeville.{{cite news|url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/p334226|access-date=December 30, 2013|year=2013|work=Allmovie|title=Dick Smith|publisher=All Media Network, LLC}} Mack Sennett directed Smith at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in New York City. Sennett offered Smith a chance to go with him when he started the company Keystone Studios, but he declined the opportunity.
=Film director=
Due to a medical condition, Smith decided to switch his residence from New York to Los Angeles, California, where his wife began to gain roles in the film industry under Sennett in 1914. The two starred together in reels including Dad's Dollars and Dirty Doings, a comedy by L-KO Kompany.{{cite news|title=Dad's Dollars and Dirty Doings|work=Newburgh Daily News|date=March 30, 1916|page=8|location=Newburgh, New York}} Under the production company Reelcraft Pictures, Smith wrote and directed several films which his wife starred in. In the book Clown Princes and Court Jesters, authors Kalton C. Lahue and Samuel Gill describe these films directed by Smith and starring Howell as "low-burlesque charades and as such were slanted toward the neighborhood and second-run houses, where they found receptive audiences."{{cite book|pages=185–189|first=Kalton C. |last=Lahue|author2=Samuel Gill |title=Clown Princes and Court Jesters|isbn=0-498-06949-4|year=1970}}
After his wife became an actress in features at Universal Studios in 1921, Smith directed her in multiple comedies. Lahue and Gill characterize these films as, "some of Universal's most memorable comedies of the twenties", and note, "Starting with the usual framework provided by the situation comedy format, directors William Watson and Richard Smith inserted a sufficient amount of subdued slapstick to flavor these single reels with laugh after laugh." Comedian Oliver Hardy acted under the direction of Smith and associate Vin Moore, in the 1920 film Distilled Love;{{cite video |people=Smith, Richard; Vin Moore |date=1920 |title=Distilled Love |medium=Silent film |publisher=Reelcraft Pictures |location=United States }} Smith also had an acting role in the film as an artist.{{cn|date=December 2024}} He served as director in 1921 of Humor Risk,{{cite book|pages=93, 192|first=Richard |last=Koszarski|title=Hollywood On the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1NzOhgPs80MC&q=Marx+Brothers|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-8135-4293-5|access-date=February 12, 2011|quote=the first film, Humor Risk, had been completed, directed by Dick Smith from a script by Jo Swerling}} the first film starring the Marx Brothers.{{cite news|newspaper=Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal|agency=Associated Press|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Zw4qAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BNMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4471,7993288&dq=Marx+Brothers|date=September 28, 1990|pages=1D, 2D|title=Groucho left a legacy of monkey business|first=Lee|last=Mitgang|access-date=February 12, 2011}}{{cite news|newspaper=The Calgary Daily Herald|agency=N.A.N.A. Inc.|date=April 30, 1932|title='Marxmania' Result of Fortunate Accidents: Odd Happenings On, Off Stage Developed Famous Marx Style|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OxlkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=F3sNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3590,6839224&dq=Marx+Brothers|first=Mollie|last=Merrick|page=11|access-date=February 12, 2011}} Smith directed actors including Bert Roach and Neely Edwards in the 1925 film A Nice Pickle, and Charles Puffy the same year in Muddled Up.{{cite book|pages=333, 345|title=The Universal Silents: A Filmography of the Universal Motion Picture Manufacturing Company, 1912–1929|first=Richard E.|last=Braff|publisher= McFarland & Company|year=1998|isbn=0-7864-0287-3}} After Howell retired from film in the 1926,{{cite book|title=Les Petits Maitres du Burlesque Americain, 1909–1929|publisher=CNRS|language=French|first=Jean-Jacques |last=Couderc|year=2000|isbn=2-271-05691-8|pages=481–485}} Smith kept up with his contracted work at Universal and wrote a set of comedy films called "The Collegians". Smith died in 1937 in Los Angeles, California, at fifty years old.
Filmography
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2020}}
| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%;" |
| style="text-align:center;"
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role |
| 1914
|Gussle, the Golfer |Actor: "Card Player" |
| 1914
|The Noise of Bombs |Actor |
| 1915
|A Bathhouse Tragedy |Actor |
| 1915
|A Stool Pigeon's Revenge |Actor |
| 1915
|Disguised But Discovered |Actor |
| 1915
|Actor |
| 1915
|From Beanery to Billions |Actor |
| 1915
|Poor But Dishonest |Actor |
| 1915
|Scandal in the Family |Actor |
| 1915
|Too Many Bachelors |Actor: "One of Peggy's Suitors" |
| 1915
|Under the Table |Actor |
| 1916
|A Rural Romance |Actor |
| 1916
|Dad's Dollars and Dirty Doings |Actor |
| 1916
|Flirtation a la Carte |Actor |
| 1916
|Her Naughty Eyes |Actor |
| 1916
|How Stars Are Made |Actor |
| 1916
|Saving Susie from the Sea |Actor |
| 1916
|Shooting His 'Art Out |Actor |
| 1916
|The Bankruptcy of Boggs and Schultz |Actor |
| 1916
|The Double's Troubles |Actor |
| 1916
|The Great Smash |Actor |
| 1917
|Double Dukes |Director |
| 1917
|Fatty's Feature Fillum |Actor: "Desmond" |
| 1917
|Hearts and Flour |Director |
| 1917
|Little Bo-Peep |Director |
| 1917
|Street Cars and Carbuncles |Director |
| 1917
|That Dawgone Dog |Director |
| 1917
|The Sign of the Cucumber |Director |
| 1917
|Vamping Reuben's Millions |Director |
| 1918
|Ambrose and His Widow |Actor |
| 1918
|Ash-Can Alley |Director |
| 1918
|Scars and Bars |Actor |
| 1919
|Actor |
| 1919
|Cymbelles and Boneheads |Actor |
| 1919
|Actor |
| 1919
|Actor |
| 1919
|Actor: "Thief" |
| 1919
|Let Fido Do It |Actor |
| 1919
|Actor: "A Rival Artist" |
| 1919
|A Rag Time Romance |Actor |
| 1919
|Actor |
| 1919
|Actor |
| 1919
|Actor |
| 1919
|Actor: "The Father" |
| 1920
|Cinderella Cinders |Actor: "The Butler" |
| 1920
|Actor |
| 1920
|Director, Actor: "The Color Blind Artist" |
| 1920
|Lunatics in Politics |Director, Actor |
| 1920
|Squirrel Time |Director |
| 1921
|Director |
| 1923
|Chasing Wealth |Writer |
| 1923
|Little Miss Hollywood |Actor |
| 1923
|Taking Orders |Actor |
| 1924
|Feather Pushers |Writer |
| 1924
|Green Tees |Director |
| 1924
|Horse Play |Director |
| 1924
|Marry When Young |Writer |
| 1924
|Mind Your Doctor |Director, Writer |
| 1924
|Ship Ahoy! |Writer |
| 1924
|The Jail Bird |Writer |
| 1924
|The Mandarin |Writer |
| 1925
|A Nice Pickle |Director, Writer |
| 1925
|Black Gold Bricks |Director |
| 1925
|City Bound |Director |
| 1925
|Locked Out |Writer |
| 1925
|Muddled Up |Director, Writer |
| 1925
|Nearly Rich |Writer |
| 1925
|Nicely Rewarded |Writer |
| 1925
|Papa's Pet |Director |
| 1925
|Pleasure Bent |Writer |
| 1925
|Rolling Stones |Writer |
| 1925
|Director |
| 1925
|Speak Easy |Director, Writer |
| 1925
|Tenting Out |Director |
| 1925
|The Cat's Whiskers |Director, Writer |
| 1925
|The Greenhorn |Writer |
| 1925
|The Lost Cord |Director, Writer |
| 1925
|The Lucky Accident |Writer |
| 1925
|Director, Writer |
| 1925
|Under a Spell |Director |
| 1925
|Unwelcome |Director |
| 1926
|Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Wide Open Faces |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Babes in the Sawdust |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Do or Bust |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Find the Woman |Actor: "George Stevenson" |
| 1926
|Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Hook or Crook |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Horse Laugh |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|It's All Over Now |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Love's Labor Lost |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Nobody Loves Me |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|The College Yell |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|The Crowned Prince |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Director, Writer |
| 1926
|The Phoney Express |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|The Thirteenth Man |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|What Price Pleasure? |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Where's My Baby? |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Who's Next? |Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Director, Writer |
| 1926
|Wise or Otherwise |Director |
| 1926
|Wives and Women |Director |
| 1927
|A One Man Show |Director |
| 1927
|A Sleepy Time Pal |Director, Writer |
| 1927
|Ali Gazam |Director, Writer |
| 1927
|Actor |
| 1927
|High and Dizzy |Director, Writer |
| 1927
|Oh! What a Kick! |Director |
| 1927
|Red Suspenders |Director |
| 1927
|Surprised Honey |Writer |
| 1927
|Why Mules Leave Home |Director |
| 1929
|Watch Your Friends |Director |
| 1936
|Fibbing Fibbers |Writer |
See also
{{Portal|Film|Television}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book|title=The Braff Silent Short Film Working Papers|first=Richard E.|last=Braff|publisher=McFarland & Company|year=2002|isbn=0-7864-1031-0}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0807967|Richard Smith}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Richard}}
Category:Film directors from Ohio
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:English-language film directors
Category:American silent film directors
Category:Silent film screenwriters