I’ve been doing some research recently on films of Shakespeare’s plays in 1916, the tercentenary of his death, when there was great interest in his work, inevitably, and the film industry responded with a number of films of the plays.

However, while working on this I came across an intriguing story which is worth telling. To mark the tercentenary, the Hollywood Businessmen’s Club decided to put on a spectacular stage production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, with the co-operation of the nearby film industry, which had moved into the area only a few years earlier. The production was put on at Beachwood Canyon, in the Hollywood Hills, in a natural amphitheatre (not what would become the Hollywood Bowl, but not far from it), on Friday 19 May 1916. It featured a cast of 5,000, who performed before an audience of 40,000. Stage properties were provided by D.W. Griffith, Jesse Lasky, Thomas Ince, Mack Sennett and the universal Film Corporation, and the production featured gladiatorial combats, exotic dances, and a re-enactment of the Battle of Philippi which commenced half a mile down the canyon before working its way up to the stage.

But what is really eye-catching is the cast. Here they all are, with a few names that are still familiar (Fairbanks, Murray, Power), some that were once familiar (Hopper, Roberts, Farnum) and the remainder assorted Hollywood locals who were familiar only to their nearest and dearest:

Julius Caesar ………. Theodore Roberts
Marcus Brutus ………. Tyrone Power
Marc Antony ……….. Frank Keenan
Cassius ………. William Farnum
Casca ………. DeWolf Hopper
Young Cato ………. Douglas Fairbanks
Octavius Caesar ………. Charles Gunn
Cicero ………. Hal Wilson
Decius Brutus ………. H.B. Carpenter
Trebonius ………. Mark Fenton
Lucilius ………. Tully Marshall
Metellus Cimber ………. Cecil Lionel
Cinna ………. T.H. Gibson-Gowland
Flavius ………. Wilbur Higby
Marullus ………. Gilmore Hammond
Artemidorus ………. Harry W. Schumm
Soothsayer ………. Carl Stockdale
Calpurnia ………. Constance Crawley
Barbaric Dancer ………. Mae Murray
Cinna, a poet ………. Seymour Hastings
Titinius ……….. T.E. Duncan
Messala ………. T.D. Crittenden
Lucius ………. Capitola Holmes
Varro ………. N.A. Kessler
Pindarus ………. George Berengere
Publius ………. C.H. Geldert
Popilius Lena ………. Howard Foster
First Citizen ………. Arthur Maude
2nd Citizen ………. Ernest Shield
3rd Citizen ……….. Robert Anderson
4th Citizen ………. Clara Turner
5th Citizen ………. Samuel Searle
Slave to Caesar ………. Ralph Benzies
Slave to Antony ………. Robert Lawler
High Priest ………. M. Luiz
High Priestess ………. Florence Amy Donaldson
Portia ………. Sarah Truax
Cleopatra ………. Grace Lord

The director was Raymond Wells (presumably the film director of that name), and the assistant directors were Ernest Shield, Captain Louis R. Ball, Ralph Benzies, Mark Fenton, Nicolas Kessler, Robert Lawler, Mrs L.R. Ball, Miss Marjorie Riley, Miss Clara Turner, C.A. Bradshaw. These are some other credits that survive:

Scenic artists ………. A.J. Lapworth, W.H. Blackburn
Choreography ………. Marjorie Riley
Musical director ………. Wilbur W. Campbell (with musical selections from Delibes, Luigini, Tchaikovsky and others)

Students from Hollywood and Fairfax High Schools also featured in the crowd scenes. Assorted local figures were responsible for the organisational side of things. It was all done for the Actor’s Equity Association and made a net profit of $2,500. A follow-up indoor production then took place on 5 June 1916, at the Majestic Theatre, Los Angeles, supported financially by Griffith and Sennett.

What a show this must have been. Alas, I’ve not come across any photographs, and I’ve not yet gone looking for any reviews. It’s certainly a story worth pursuing for someone. Most of the above information I got from Ernest O. Palmer’s History of Hollywood (1938), plus an article by Catherine Parsons Smith in the journal American Music on the history of the Hollywood Bowl.

Just for the record, these are the Shakespeare films made in 1916:

THE REAL THING AT LAST (GB 1916 d. L.C. MacBean p.c. British Actors)
MACBETH (France 1916 p.c. Eclair)
MACBETH (USA 1916 d. John Emerson p.c. Triangle-Reliance)
MASTER SHAKESPEARE, STROLLING PLAYER (USA 1916 d. Frederic Sullivan p.c. Thanhouser)
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (GB 1916 d. Walter West p.c. Broadwest)
ROMEO AND JULIET (USA 1916 d. John W. Noble p.c. Metro)
ROMEO AND JULIET (USA 1916 d. J. Gordon Edwards p.c. Fox)
KING LEAR (USA 1916 d. Ernest Warde p.c. Thanhouser)
Also a 1913 MACBETH (GB/Germany d. Ludwig Landmann p.c. Film-Industrie) was re-issued in America in 1916.