J.P. McGowan, Australian Pioneer of Hollywood | Community
J.P. McGowan, Australian Pioneer of Hollywood
Reviews
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25.01.2022 Is this The Man actually directing? Wish could see jaw and ears more sharply! Those were the days of producing easily on location!
25.01.2022 Frame shot from Neath Western Skies, one of J.P. McGowan's prolific late silents (a torrent of them, really - this is one of the 24 films J.P. was associated with in the one year 1929). All that is held in Library of Congress is a fragment from one reel. That is J.P. in western shirt.
25.01.2022 Currently on offer from US is a massive 6-sheet poster from a McGowan serial of silent days. Colorful, exciting, with McGowan shown as director. We are looking for some authority that could make use of such a gem of Australiana in film.
25.01.2022 Frame shot from Neath Western Skies, one of J.P. McGowans prolific late silents (a torrent of them, really - this is one of the 24 films J.P. was associated with in the one year 1929). All that is held in Library of Congress is a fragment from one reel. That is J.P. in western shirt.
24.01.2022 Perfect afternoon show in The Fringe, repeat on 3 March as evening event - the first time since September 1914 that The Conductors Courtship will have been shown in Adelaide, and it is a GEM!
24.01.2022 Definite! Beautiful 35mm print quality! The Railroad Raiders (1917) on program for the Arc on 24 Feb in Canberra. Helen Holmes, queen of the railroad serials!
23.01.2022 Another vintage glass slide - now have over a dozen, going back to 1916.
22.01.2022 McGowan on film at Friday morning Seniors show at Mercury Cinema, Adelaide city, on 26 February 2016
22.01.2022 Hollywoods First Australian! Dynamic as actor, director and producer for his own Signal Studio in West Hollywood.
21.01.2022 The Picture Show at The Fringe is now three weeks away. Lots of these flyers now going out to Mercury and other film-related people. It is a reduction of the poster, now also at North Adelaide Institute. Eat Street in Gawler Place, etc.
20.01.2022 Does anyone know when Ctq will re-commence? Perhaps on 24 Feb, which is the birthday (Terowie SA) of J.P. McGowan, phenomenon of the Hollywood lowerdeck.
20.01.2022 Review out by Geoff Mayer of the new edition of the J.P. McGowan book in the online journal Senses of Cinema - wish I could give the link. Just google Senses + Review + McGowan anyway, there it is glowing for you.
19.01.2022 A little reel of 9.5mm of dicey origin was turned into a presentation of J.P. McGowan's 1914 rom-com (unusual for him), The Conductor's Courtship. Starred Helen Holmes but preceded their famed series Hazards of Helen. The film speaks of their relationship, silent as it may be. May talk and show at Cinema Reborn in May 2019. Here is an actual frame shot. Note the mid-strip slots.
18.01.2022 Hollywood's First Australian! Dynamic as actor, director and producer for his own Signal Studio in West Hollywood.
18.01.2022 Cinema Reborn in May in Sydney not proceeding, unfortunately. so we need another platform to present the recovered 1914 film THE CONDUCTORS COURTSHIP. It is a gem, seen only in Adelaide to date.
18.01.2022 A little reel of 9.5mm of dicey origin was turned into a presentation of J.P. McGowans 1914 rom-com (unusual for him), The Conductors Courtship. Starred Helen Holmes but preceded their famed series Hazards of Helen. The film speaks of their relationship, silent as it may be. May talk and show at Cinema Reborn in May 2019. Here is an actual frame shot. Note the mid-strip slots.
18.01.2022 Precious! The home-movie can of 9.5mm film that is the best extant material from the remarkable Holmes-McGowan 1914 film The Conductors Courtship. Presented at Adelaide Fringe, March 2018.
17.01.2022 Another vintage Glass Slide -- over a dozen now, going back to 1916.
16.01.2022 Terrific evening show on 3 March, topped with Richie Gun's piano for The Conductor's Courtship. Thanks to tech support from The Garage International too.
15.01.2022 Helen Holmes continues to excite interest. Search "Helen Holmes" or "Female Action" with "Daily Beast" for full article. Note image from Aywon re-releases of The Hazards of Helen.
15.01.2022 An episode from The Hazards of Helen was used to represent 1915 in the history of North Adelaide Institute hall, in a Lumiere 120 program going back to the Lumiere show there on 29-30 June 1897. "The Escape on the Fast Freight" crackled along in true J.P. McGowan style. The audience gasped at daring feats by Helen Holmes and just loved her stay-put big fur hat.
14.01.2022 Film that was used for McGowans Birthday at National Film and Sound Archive, The Railroad Raiders in a two-reel episode in 35mm. No wonder J.P. McGowan was known as the Railroad King of Hollywood.
14.01.2022 The wonderful accidents of photography: look at that final image.
14.01.2022 The Picture Show for Hollywoods First Australian in the Adelaide Fringe is just a week away. TWENTY SCREEN ITEMS: vintage stills, colorful glass Coming Attractions, three clips from 1930s westerns, three clips from The Hazards of Helen 1915, and the spiftoplicating 6 minutes of trailer for The Hurricane Express 1932. TICKETS through the Fringe website or on the day at The Meeting Hall (behind Adelaide Town Hall) Sat 24 Feb or North Adelaide Institute Sat 3 March.... Who is guy in the crumpled hat? That is our subject, the South Australian J.P. McGowan in his major role, also directed, Whispering Smith (1916).
14.01.2022 Massive fan magazine Motion Picture Story of Sept 1912, just as Helen Holmes was joining Mabel Normand with Mack Sennett. J.P. McGowan was already a veteran of filming in Ireland and Palestine, before 1913 shift to California for Kalem.
13.01.2022 One hundred years ago, in the Prahran Telegraph
13.01.2022 Neatorama on Helen Holmes http://www.neatorama.com//Helen-Holmes-The-Girl-at-the-Sw/
12.01.2022 Interested audience at University of the Third Age. Adelaide, to talk on the setting of McGowans amazing career. Clips from five dvd came out well, thanks to the operator.
12.01.2022 The Adelaide Fringe; two shows of Hollywood's First Australian, The Picture Show by John J McGowan and David Donaldson with Richie Gun. See page 88 of the Fringe program book.
12.01.2022 Smart preview by Georgina Tselekidis of the McGowan show coming on Sunday 8 May (Bring Your Mother) - http://www.weekendnotes.com/guns-guitars-jp-mcgowan-hollyw/
12.01.2022 Heres the actual ad from August 1914, and frames from the actual film that was found in 2017 in UK. Nice!
12.01.2022 Talk on Hollywoods First Australian, with film clips, for U3A at the Box Factory in Adelaide City on 24 January 2017.
11.01.2022 The Adelaide Fringe; two shows of Hollywoods First Australian, The Picture Show by John J McGowan and David Donaldson with Richie Gun. See page 88 of the Fringe program book.
11.01.2022 Talk on Hollywood's First Australian, with film clips, for U3A at the Box Factory in Adelaide City on 24 January 2017.
11.01.2022 Two performances in The Fringe, went well, the big hit being veteran pianist Richie Gun, in this picture (by Keith Conlon) being introduced by biographer John J McGowan. Digital presentation, thanks to Copy-To-Discs Wayne Bertram, swam through perfectly. JP just loved being on the big screen again. Nice tech help from The Garages Mark Simpson on the night here at the old AdelaIde Institute Hall (NACC today).
10.01.2022 Better pic, on left, of J.P. McGowan as villain in Gene Autry singing cowboy epic from 1936. An original Lobby Card.
09.01.2022 Here's the actual ad from August 1914, and frames from the actual film that was found in 2017 in UK. Nice!
09.01.2022 Film that was used for McGowan's Birthday at National Film and Sound Archive, The Railroad Raiders in a two-reel episode in 35mm. No wonder J.P. McGowan was known as the Railroad King of Hollywood.
08.01.2022 Helen Holmes came over well at Mercury Cinema on 8 May as the gutsy girl telegrapher who proves the Superintendent wrong about what girls can do: The Wild Engine finishes with an apology fading out on a handshake - nice dvd work by Copy-To-Disc. That film is 101 years old, yet quite modern in style and content. See article http://www.neatorama.com//Helen-Holmes-The-Girl-at-the-Sw/
07.01.2022 Who would be interested to obtain on dvd the Stunt Love 2011 film that was premiered at Adelaide Film Festival?
06.01.2022 One hundred likes for old JP! Thanks, everyone. Hoping for new exposure in October 2017.
06.01.2022 Very special: A MATINEE MORNING at the impressive Arc Cinema in National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, Australia. Wednesday 24 February 2016 is the Birthday of J.P. McGowan, who was born in 1880 in Terowie, South Australia. Definite is the 1937 Gene Autry Guns and Guitars" where JP has a good role as the heavy. First up: the astonishing Trailer for Hurricane Express (1931) "A THRILLER of the ROARING RAILS In Twelve Crashing Episodes!" Furthermore, something very special from 1917 - stand by for news.
06.01.2022 Just found a beaut portrait of JP in Motion Picture Story magazine from ...1912! People sure were movie-crazy by then, the mag featuring a Gallery of Players.
05.01.2022 Interested audience at University of the Third Age. Adelaide, to talk on the setting of McGowan's amazing career. Clips from five dvd came out well, thanks to the operator.
03.01.2022 History Festival book comes out on 1 April. See Mercury Cinema event for Sunday 8 March. NOTE the start time is 2pm (some early promos said 4pm). John J. McGowan, Adelaide author, will have the new edition of his biography of J.P., with full added chapter of photographs going back to early JP career.
02.01.2022 The Picture Show for Hollywood's First Australian in the Adelaide Fringe is just a week away. TWENTY SCREEN ITEMS: vintage stills, colorful glass Coming Attractions, three clips from 1930s westerns, three clips from The Hazards of Helen 1915, and the spiftoplicating 6 minutes of trailer for The Hurricane Express 1932. TICKETS through the Fringe website or on the day at The Meeting Hall (behind Adelaide Town Hall) Sat 24 Feb or North Adelaide Institute Sat 3 March.... Who is guy in the crumpled hat? That is our subject, the South Australian J.P. McGowan in his major role, also directed, Whispering Smith (1916).
02.01.2022 Terrific evening show on 3 March, topped with Richie Guns piano for The Conductors Courtship. Thanks to tech support from The Garage International too.
02.01.2022 Third of the Hopalongs (1935) with J.P. Morgan giving a good account, with his strong baritone voice, of the semi-comic role of foreman Buck Peters.
