With an exploration of “Redeeming Messala,” Dr. Howard Miller, professor emeritus from the University of Texas at Austin, joined us for one more lecture in 2018. Ben-Hur Adaptations It’s possible that more adaptions of Ben-Hur have appeared in the past thirty years than in the previous eighty. And their variety […]
silent films
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Dr. Thomas Slater of Indiana University of Pennsylvania spoke last night about June Mathis and her involvement with the 1925 silent film of Ben-Hur. Dr. Slater discussed June Mathis’ life and glass-ceiling-breaking career in Hollywood. In addition, he focused on Mathis’ script for Ben-Hur, which ultimately was not used. Dr. Slater […]
The 1925 Ben-Hur cinematic adaptation marked the end of two eras. MGM’s colossal production epitomized and culminated the tradition of spectacular silent epics. Additionally, the film came at the end of almost six decades in which Wallace’s “Tale of the Christ” was never far from the center of American religious […]
The majesty of Lew Wallace’s Ben-Hur has been captured in music a number of times over the years. The 1899 stage production of Ben-Hur had music composed for it by Edgar Stillman Kelley. Born in 1857, Kelley was an American but received much of his training in Germany. He incorporated non-Western influences […]
Lew Wallace is widely remembered for the successful movie interpretations of his masterwork Ben-Hur in 1925 and 1959. These were not the only times the General’s name (and even the General) showed up in Hollywood movies. In 1914, Wallace’s book, The Prince of India, was adapted as a silent movie. […]
Among the extras who made early screen appearances in Ben-Hur were Gary Cooper and Clark Gable as uncredited Roman guards. Beyond these two men, the list of guards is noteworthy, but the list of uncredited slave girls is equally significant. The names of many of the girls who toiled, twirled […]
The play Ben-Hur opened on Broadway in 1899. Edward Morgan took the stage as Ben-Hur and William S. Hart portrayed Messala. Lew Wallace attended the opening night performance at the Broadway Theater and, like the rest of the audience, was pleased with the dramatic presentation of his work. An opening […]
At almost four million dollars, the 1925 silent film of Lew Wallace’s Ben-Hur is the most expensive silent movie ever made. Expenses for the movie began in 1919, with MGM’s initial negotiations with Henry Wallace. They also had to negotiate with Abraham Erlanger, producer of the successful stage play. Eventually, […]