Edward Sloman
Encyclopedia
Edward Sloman was an English
silent film
director
, actor
, screenwriter
and radio
broadcaster. He directed over 100 films and starred in over 30 films as an actor between 1913
and 1938
.
's West End
but left home at age 19 to become an actor
. He spent several years in the British
theater and later became a director in both legitimate theater and vaudeville. After a quarrel with a powerful booking agent which resulted in his being effectively shut out of the British theatrical circuit, Sloman took an actress friend's advice and headed for Hollywood, emigrating in 1915.
Introduced to director Wilfred Lucas
at Universal Pictures
, Sloman was soon employed as an actor paid $7.50 a day. To make ends meet, he wrote scenarios, which he sold for $25 apiece. Sloman wrote a script for a war film which was acknowledged by Thomas H. Ince
, a major film director in Hollywood at the time, and on the basis of his work was hired by the Philadelphia-based Lubin Manufacturing Company to direct at Lubin's West Coast studio on Coronado Island near San Diego, beginning his first film in late-1915
.
Lubin closed its Coronado studio in 1916 due to the company's declining fortunes, which were intertwined with those of the collapsing Motion Picture Patents Company
. Sloman quit Lubin altogether and went to the American Film Company ("Flying A") studio in Santa Barbara
, where he assumed an important role in that company's expanding feature-length film output (especially in directing several films starring Mary Miles Minter
) and also directed other prestige projects such as the serial The Sequel to the Diamond from the Sky (1916
). American ceased production in early 1919, so Sloman went to independent producer Benjamin B. Hampton and was given the direction of a big-budget western of that year, The Westerners (1919
). The film was quite successful and led to Sloman securing steady employment with other independent producers.
Sloman was eventually hired by Universal Pictures
in late 1924. His fourth Universal release, His People
, 1925
, a sentimental yet powerful Jewish-American melodrama, was an enormous hit and secured Sloman's position within the studio, where he remained for five years.
Sloman's most successful film in 1927
, Surrender, starred Russian actor Ivan Mozzhukhin
in a story of a beautiful Jewish girl whose Russian village is invaded by Cossacks, and she is given a choice by the Cossack chieftain of either sleeping with him or seeing her village destroyed. Sloman's The Foreign Legion and We Americans (1928
) were also well received, but his last silent (actually a part-talkie with a music-and-effects track), the restrained and poetic The Girl on the Barge (1929
) garnered critical ridicule for its clumsily inserted talking sequences and was a financial disaster. Sloman then left Universal, made a few films for lesser companies such as the exploration thriller The Lost Zeppelin (1929
) for short-lived Tiffany-Stahl Productions and Hell's Island (1930
) for Columbia Pictures
, and went under contract to Paramount Pictures
. There he directed several important early talkies in less than two years, such as The Kibitzer (1930
, with Harry Green
playing the part originally written for Edward G. Robinson
on the stage), The Conquering Horde (1931
, with Richard Arlen
), the celebrated quasi-horror film Murder by the Clock
(1931
, with Lilyan Tashman
and Irving Pichel
), Gun Smoke
(1931
, also with Arlen), and His Woman
(1931
, with Gary Cooper
and Claudette Colbert
). His career declined rapidly thereafter, and he directed only four more feature films between 1932 and 1938.
and in 1939
left the film industry to enter radio broadcasting as a writer, producer and director.
Unfortunately the majority of Sloman's works have been lost.
He died in Woodland Hills, California in 1972
aged 86.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcaster. He directed over 100 films and starred in over 30 films as an actor between 1913
1913 in film
The year 1913 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* The Squaw Man, the first Hollywood feature film, is made.* December 29, Charlie Chaplin signs a contract with Mack Sennett to begin making films at Keystone Studios.* D. W...
and 1938
1938 in film
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
.
Career
Sloman grew up in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
but left home at age 19 to become an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He spent several years in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
theater and later became a director in both legitimate theater and vaudeville. After a quarrel with a powerful booking agent which resulted in his being effectively shut out of the British theatrical circuit, Sloman took an actress friend's advice and headed for Hollywood, emigrating in 1915.
Introduced to director Wilfred Lucas
Wilfred Lucas
Wilfred Lucas was a Canadian stage and film actor, film director, and screenwriter.-Career:A native of Ontario, Canada, Lucas headed to New York City to work in the theater, making his Broadway acting debut in 1904 at the Savoy Theater in the production of The Superstition of Sue...
at Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, Sloman was soon employed as an actor paid $7.50 a day. To make ends meet, he wrote scenarios, which he sold for $25 apiece. Sloman wrote a script for a war film which was acknowledged by Thomas H. Ince
Thomas H. Ince
Thomas Harper Ince was an American silent film actor, director, screenwriter and producer of more than 100 films and pioneering studio mogul. Known as the "Father of the Western", he invented many mechanisms of professional movie production, introducing early Hollywood to the "assembly line"...
, a major film director in Hollywood at the time, and on the basis of his work was hired by the Philadelphia-based Lubin Manufacturing Company to direct at Lubin's West Coast studio on Coronado Island near San Diego, beginning his first film in late-1915
1915 in film
The year 1915 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 8 : D.W Griffith's The Birth of a Nation premieres at Clune's Auditorium Los Angeles and breaks box office and film length records, running at a total length of 3 hrs 10 minutes.* June 18 : The Motion Picture Directors...
.
Lubin closed its Coronado studio in 1916 due to the company's declining fortunes, which were intertwined with those of the collapsing Motion Picture Patents Company
Motion Picture Patents Company
The Motion Picture Patents Company , founded in December 1908, was a trust of all the major American film companies , the leading film distributor and the biggest supplier of raw film stock, Eastman Kodak...
. Sloman quit Lubin altogether and went to the American Film Company ("Flying A") studio in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, where he assumed an important role in that company's expanding feature-length film output (especially in directing several films starring Mary Miles Minter
Mary Miles Minter
Mary Miles Minter was an American film actress of the silent film era.-Early life and rise to stardom:Born Juliet Reilly in Shreveport, Louisiana, Minter was the daughter of Broadway actress Charlotte Shelby...
) and also directed other prestige projects such as the serial The Sequel to the Diamond from the Sky (1916
1916 in film
The year 1916 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 17 - release of A Daughter of the Gods, the first US production with a million dollar budget, with the first nude scene by a major star....
). American ceased production in early 1919, so Sloman went to independent producer Benjamin B. Hampton and was given the direction of a big-budget western of that year, The Westerners (1919
1919 in film
The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 5 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists...
). The film was quite successful and led to Sloman securing steady employment with other independent producers.
Sloman was eventually hired by Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
in late 1924. His fourth Universal release, His People
His People
His People is a 1925 silent film about a young, Jewish boxer growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan directed by Edward Sloman. According to film historian Lester Friedman, “Sloman’s compelling vision of the painful depths and joyous heights of immigrant life endow the film with an...
, 1925
1925 in film
-Events:*November 5: The Big Parade holds its Grand Premier*December 30: premier of Ben-Hur the most expensive silent film ever made costing 4-6 million dollars -Top grossing films :...
, a sentimental yet powerful Jewish-American melodrama, was an enormous hit and secured Sloman's position within the studio, where he remained for five years.
Sloman's most successful film in 1927
1927 in film
-Events:*January 10 - Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.*April 7 - Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premiers at the Paris Opéra and would demonstrate techniques and equipment that would not be used for years to...
, Surrender, starred Russian actor Ivan Mozzhukhin
Ivan Mozzhukhin
Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin (Russian: Иван Ильич Мозжухин was a Russian silent film actor.-Career in Russia:Mozzhukhin was born in Penza, Russia and studied law at Moscow State University. In 1910 he left academic life to join a troupe of traveling actors...
in a story of a beautiful Jewish girl whose Russian village is invaded by Cossacks, and she is given a choice by the Cossack chieftain of either sleeping with him or seeing her village destroyed. Sloman's The Foreign Legion and We Americans (1928
1928 in film
-Events:Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.* July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film...
) were also well received, but his last silent (actually a part-talkie with a music-and-effects track), the restrained and poetic The Girl on the Barge (1929
1929 in film
-Events:The days of the silent film are numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound is on.*January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona is released. The film is the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors....
) garnered critical ridicule for its clumsily inserted talking sequences and was a financial disaster. Sloman then left Universal, made a few films for lesser companies such as the exploration thriller The Lost Zeppelin (1929
1929 in film
-Events:The days of the silent film are numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound is on.*January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona is released. The film is the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors....
) for short-lived Tiffany-Stahl Productions and Hell's Island (1930
1930 in film
-Events:* November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm, and a very early form of 70mm film and was the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era costing over $2 million. The film was praised for its aesthetic quality and realism...
) for Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, and went under contract to Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. There he directed several important early talkies in less than two years, such as The Kibitzer (1930
1930 in film
-Events:* November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm, and a very early form of 70mm film and was the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era costing over $2 million. The film was praised for its aesthetic quality and realism...
, with Harry Green
Harry Green
Henry Harold "Harry" Green was a British long-distance runner. He gained recognition by winning the London Poly in 1911 and setting a world's best in the marathon on 12 May 1913 with a time of 2:38:16.2 in London...
playing the part originally written for Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
on the stage), The Conquering Horde (1931
1931 in film
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
, with Richard Arlen
Richard Arlen
-Biography:Born Sylvanus Richard Van Mattimore in St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. His first job after the war was with St. Paul's Athletic Club...
), the celebrated quasi-horror film Murder by the Clock
Murder by the Clock
Murder by the Clock is a murder mystery film starring William "Stage" Boyd and Lilyan Tashman. It is based on the novel of the same name by Rufus King and the play Dangerously Yours by Charles Beahan. After a wealthy woman dies, her heirs start to follow suit.-Cast:*William "Stage" Boyd as Lt...
(1931
1931 in film
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
, with Lilyan Tashman
Lilyan Tashman
Lilyan Tashman was a Brooklyn-born Jewish American vaudeville, Broadway, and film actress. Tashman was best known for her supporting roles as tongue-in-cheek villainesses and the bitchy 'other woman'...
and Irving Pichel
Irving Pichel
Irving Pichel was an American actor and film director. He married Violette Wilson, daughter of Jackson Stitt Wilson, a Methodist minister and Socialist mayor of Berkeley, California. Her sister was actress Viola Barry...
), Gun Smoke
Gun Smoke
Gun Smoke may refer to:* Gunsmoke, the radio and television drama* Gun.Smoke, the arcade game...
(1931
1931 in film
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
, also with Arlen), and His Woman
His Woman
His Woman is a 1931 romantic drama film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Edward Sloman, and written by Melville Baker and Adelaide Heilbron, based on novel by Dale Collins.-Plot:...
(1931
1931 in film
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
, with Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
and Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert was a French-born American-based actress of stage and film.Born in Paris, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...
). His career declined rapidly thereafter, and he directed only four more feature films between 1932 and 1938.
Post-cinema work
After directing over 100 films and starring in over 30, Sloman made his last film in 19381938 in film
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
and in 1939
1939 in film
The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
left the film industry to enter radio broadcasting as a writer, producer and director.
Unfortunately the majority of Sloman's works have been lost.
He died in Woodland Hills, California in 1972
1972 in film
The year 1972 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Avanti!, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet MillsB...
aged 86.