Here it is at last…the project that has kept me occupied in between rehearsals of a play for the last month. It was two months prior to that when I actually began writing the script and creating the artwork for this short film.
This is a semi-silent short film composed of stills taken of hand-made miniatures and sets, stock photography, and actual video. The dialogue is relayed through title cards, but many of the sound effects, along with musical interludes, are on the soundtrack. You might, in essence, call it a multi-media movie. Its content is a homage to such silent classics as Nosferatu, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and especially the lost 1927 film London After Midnight, which starred Lon Chaney and upon whose incredible makeup the look for my title character is based. The story itself centers on an unnamed girl who finds herself pursued by the terrible Mr. Teeth during a peaceful picnic with her boyfriend, who has just asked her to marry him. The sinister adventure which follows helps the young lady to face her own untapped self-esteem issues and to conquer her fears, represented by the titular villain.
I am featured as Mr. Teeth himself, and the put-upon heroine is “played” by silent film star Laura LaPlante, best remembered as the put-upon heroine in the classic old-dark-house thriller, The Cat and the Canary. Short-lived silent star William Haines appears as the boyfriend. Haines was the first openly gay actor in Hollywood, a fact which ended his career in its prime. He later became a successful interior decorator, who included among his clients (and friends) Joan Crawford, who commented that Haines and his longtime partner, Jimmy Shields, had the best marriage in Hollywood.
Enjoy…and now, I am about to commence on the final major project in the two-year line-up of creative works that I developed when I started writing seriously in 2009…a play titled Closing Night. The irony.
I was born in Canton and have lived here or in the surrounding area all my life...I attended Malone College, which was once known as the Cleveland Bible Institute. That gives you a pretty good idea of the kind of school it was. I've since realized that I have masochistic tendencies; unfortunately, back in those days when I was choosing a college, I didn't know this--but they were at their height. I am at present commencing to hammer out a career as an author/illustrator. I already have several books self-published and I'll include a link to where those are available. I am single, as there are only about three-four other gay men in my area of Ohio, and I am always willing to consider possible matches. ;)
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 18th, 2011 at 11:44 pm and posted in In The Works, Published Works, Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
THE TERRIBLE MR. TEETH-A Trinket Production
Here it is at last…the project that has kept me occupied in between rehearsals of a play for the last month. It was two months prior to that when I actually began writing the script and creating the artwork for this short film.
This is a semi-silent short film composed of stills taken of hand-made miniatures and sets, stock photography, and actual video. The dialogue is relayed through title cards, but many of the sound effects, along with musical interludes, are on the soundtrack. You might, in essence, call it a multi-media movie. Its content is a homage to such silent classics as Nosferatu, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and especially the lost 1927 film London After Midnight, which starred Lon Chaney and upon whose incredible makeup the look for my title character is based. The story itself centers on an unnamed girl who finds herself pursued by the terrible Mr. Teeth during a peaceful picnic with her boyfriend, who has just asked her to marry him. The sinister adventure which follows helps the young lady to face her own untapped self-esteem issues and to conquer her fears, represented by the titular villain.
I am featured as Mr. Teeth himself, and the put-upon heroine is “played” by silent film star Laura LaPlante, best remembered as the put-upon heroine in the classic old-dark-house thriller, The Cat and the Canary. Short-lived silent star William Haines appears as the boyfriend. Haines was the first openly gay actor in Hollywood, a fact which ended his career in its prime. He later became a successful interior decorator, who included among his clients (and friends) Joan Crawford, who commented that Haines and his longtime partner, Jimmy Shields, had the best marriage in Hollywood.
Enjoy…and now, I am about to commence on the final major project in the two-year line-up of creative works that I developed when I started writing seriously in 2009…a play titled Closing Night. The irony.
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