As a fan of early silent film, the loss of this Ann Pennington's film debut in Susie Snowflake is a heartbreaking one. Except for some surviving film stills of the delightful little Ziegfeld Follies star, all I can offer the reader is an original review of this film from the New York Times, June 26th, 1916;
Many of those who went to the Broadway yesterday for the first showing of Susie Snowflake will be inclined to endorse this particular nomination. Miss Pennington is obviously put forth as a diminutive star of the Marguerite Clark variety, a style enormously in vogue at the moment. She is little and cunning on Mr. Ziegfeld's stage and little and cunning on the screen. She has youth, a Mary Pickford like ha-rum-scar-um way with her and, except in the trying close-ups when her expression is somewhat adenoidal, she is pretty. Of course she dances. As her frisky little dance is her sole claim to fame at the moment, it could no more be omitted from her first scenario than the "pump and washing tubs" in Mr. Crummles's theater. So as a child of the music halls adapted into a staid, old New England community, Susie Snowflake disrupts a church sociable by doing her Follies dance there in her terse Follies costume.
The Moving Picture World, 1916;
Ann Pennington, the celebrated little Ziegfeld Follies star, made her motion picture debut in the Famous Players production, Susie Snowflake, at the Broadway theater. There is something irresistibly appealing about "Susie," and Miss Pennington has caught the charm of the little dancer who scandalizes her maiden aunts and sets a whole town agog when she brings her Broadway ideals into the community. But there is a lot of real character and unswerving loyalty in "Susie," as she proves when she is put to the test. The usual weekly news, colored scenics, educational studies, short comedies and cartoons round out the bill.
Directed by James Kirkwood and distributed by Famous Players Film Company, fans can only hope a copy of Susie Snowflake survives and resurfaces.
Many of those who went to the Broadway yesterday for the first showing of Susie Snowflake will be inclined to endorse this particular nomination. Miss Pennington is obviously put forth as a diminutive star of the Marguerite Clark variety, a style enormously in vogue at the moment. She is little and cunning on Mr. Ziegfeld's stage and little and cunning on the screen. She has youth, a Mary Pickford like ha-rum-scar-um way with her and, except in the trying close-ups when her expression is somewhat adenoidal, she is pretty. Of course she dances. As her frisky little dance is her sole claim to fame at the moment, it could no more be omitted from her first scenario than the "pump and washing tubs" in Mr. Crummles's theater. So as a child of the music halls adapted into a staid, old New England community, Susie Snowflake disrupts a church sociable by doing her Follies dance there in her terse Follies costume.
The Moving Picture World, 1916;
Ann Pennington, the celebrated little Ziegfeld Follies star, made her motion picture debut in the Famous Players production, Susie Snowflake, at the Broadway theater. There is something irresistibly appealing about "Susie," and Miss Pennington has caught the charm of the little dancer who scandalizes her maiden aunts and sets a whole town agog when she brings her Broadway ideals into the community. But there is a lot of real character and unswerving loyalty in "Susie," as she proves when she is put to the test. The usual weekly news, colored scenics, educational studies, short comedies and cartoons round out the bill.
Directed by James Kirkwood and distributed by Famous Players Film Company, fans can only hope a copy of Susie Snowflake survives and resurfaces.
