Volume III: Biographies

GORDON, Harris *

Actor (1914-1917)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Harris Gordon was an actor with Thanhouser for part of 1914, all of 1915, and parts of 1916 and 1917.

Biographical Notes: Born on July 4, 1884 in Glenside, Pennsylvania, Harris Gordon was educated at Cheltenham Academy in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. He pursued a stage career for a number of years, one of his early appearances being in Miss Bob White. He worked with Louis Mann and Clara Lipman in Julie Bonbon, and with John Cort and Klaw & Erlanger in many productions. His screen career is believed to have begun with Reliance in 1912, where he spent a year and a half and worked under the direction of Edgar Lewis and, later, D.W. Griffith. Gordon supported such players as Henry Walthall, Blanche Sweet, Mae Marsh, and Robert Harron, who had moved with Griffith from Biograph.

Harris Gordon also worked with Eclair, Famous Players, Royal, for one year with Universal's Victor division, Solax, and Thanhouser. For Thanhouser he played numerous supporting roles. In an interview printed in The Milwaukee Journal, December 16, 1914, Gordon stated that it was his ambition to be on a payroll for "over three figures," or over $100 per week, and that he hoped eventually to achieve this with his position at Thanhouser. In 1915 and early 1916 he lived in New Rochelle at 127 Franklin Avenue. In a private ceremony at the Columbus Hotel, Port Chester, New York, November 21, 1915, Harris Gordon married Louise Emerald Bates, a Thanhouser actress. In early 1916 he was with many other Thanhouser players at the Jacksonville, Florida studio.

A 1915 Sketch: The New Rochelle Pioneer, February 13, 1915, carried the following sketch by John William Kellette: "Harris Gordon leaves for San Francisco today to act leads under the direction of Will Stevens, and this may be the last chance you'll have of looking at the handsome juvenile unless you see him in photoplays that are shown at theatres taking the Thanhouser-Mutual service. Gordon was born in Glenside, Penn., and from his family Bible we glean that it was in the early part of the 90's that he was ushered in, and it was upon this occasion that Harris admits making his first mistake - not in having been born in Glenside, Penn., but from his christening - he cried for milk when he knew there was beer in the house. He's glad, however, that he made the mistake, because he's been milk-fed ever since.

"As a youth he went to Cheltenham, a college of considerable importance, and while there theatricals seeped into his system. His first honest-to-goodness stage experience was with Miss Bob White. He didn't quail (no pun) at this experience, and later was taken into Louis Mann's company. He's been with John Cort and Klaw & Erlanger, too. His first picture experience was with Reliance. he has also appeared in Eclair, Famous Players, Royal, Victor, Solax and now Thanhouser productions, and his specialty is juvenile. To look upon Gordon's blue eyes, you'll know the boy is 'there.' His hair is light brown, he's 5' 11 1-2" and weighs 165. He likes New Rochelle, but Oh! you California! in the frigid season. Mr. Gordon, realizing the importance of a theatre that could be run by photoplayers, banded in with others of Thanhouser and became a stockholder in Thanhouser Theatre, and has made several appearances there. While in this city he's made many friends and has been a good mixer. He belongs to the Screen Club, New York, and is unmarried."

A Daredevil Actor: The following article, "Glimpse Into Life of Dare Devil Actor," appeared in The Florida Metropolis, published in Jacksonville, February 6, 1916: "Although Harris Gordon of the Thanhouser Company does not shut himself in his shell, he is sometimes hard to find unless when taking parts in pictures requiring real sure enough action. Passing the Villas Fiora in St. Augustine the other day I saw a movie camera set up in the garden and a figure clad in brown tweed perched up in the top of a tall palmetto. A call came from the director 'one, two, action' and the figure tumbled down on top of a man standing at the foot of the tree, crushing him to the ground.

"Upon inquiring I found that it was Director Moore of the Thanhouser Company taking a scene for The Oval Diamond and that the figure from the tree was Harris Gordon, star of that company, who had tumbled unceremoniously upon Arthur Bauer. I learned that Mr. Bauer was playing a deep-dyed villain, who had stolen the oval diamond, and that Harris Gordon as usual the hero in trying to recover it had been trapped in the house, in attempting to escape he had climbed from the balcony to the palmetto, where he was discovered by Bauer, who ordered him to descend.

"Having little desire to face the receiver in the hands of the villain he decided to drop on top of him, which must have been uncomfortable for Mr. Bauer to say the least. I had read that it was customary for the picture star to be 'doubled' by an acrobat when daring stunts were called for but I learned from Mr. Gordon that he does not believe in this form of trickery and that in over one hundred and fifty photoplays in which he has appeared he has never permitted a 'stunt man' to impersonate him. [Gordon then related]: 'If the part had a stunt too difficult for me I would rather refuse the script than have another man take a chance on his life for which I would receive the credit. It is usually possible to so plan your action as to minimize the danger, but once in a while an accident occurs, either through the carelessness of the player or the technical department. In a recent Mutual Master picture, The Five Faults of Flo, which will be shown here soon, it was necessary for me to drive a racing car alongside a machine driven by an actor presumably under the influence of liquor and rescue Miss LaBadie from his car.

"'This was pulled off without a hitch but in the Milestones of Life the action of the play called for the destruction of a house by fire. An old house was purchased and saturated with gasoline. I was on the roof, having rescued Mignon Anderson from the burning house, when a wall of flame rose in front of me. There had been a can of gasoline left in the house by a careless stage hand. It exploded. I heard Mr. Moore's voice shout, 'For God's sake, jump Gordon.' That was 'bout all there was to do. I don't remember leaving the roof, but when I tried to get up from the ground I discovered that it must have been some jump for I had two badly sprained ankles. I still carry scars on my arms from the burns, for I had jumped through a solid wall of fire. But after all the results are worth the effort. My director appreciates it, the company occasionally shows their appreciation and I hope I do not bore the public,' said Mr. Gordon."

His Later Career: The New Rochelle Pioneer, June 3, 1916, announced that Gordon was among nearly two dozen important players, directors, and cameramen whose employment was terminated by the studio on Saturday morning, May 27, 1916, as part of an economy move. His next stop was Metro-Wolfe. In the autumn of 1916 he was working with G.M. Anderson Productions in Fort Lee, New Jersey. However, he was back at Thanhouser later and was seen in several additional Thanhouser releases.

The October 1916 Motion Picture News Studio Directory noted that he was 6' tall, weighed 170 pounds, and had light brown hair and blue eyes. For recreation he enjoyed aviation and car racing. By early summer 1918, Harris Gordon had joined Fox, after a long recuperation from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. In that year he was seen Select Pictures' The Honeymoon and the Fox release of Why America Will Win. Harris Gordon continued in films through the 1930s. He died of a heart attack on March 31, 1947 in Burbank, California. He was survived by his wife, Kathryn Clark Gordon, secretary to Walt Disney.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1914: A Messenger of Gladness (11-22-1914), The Amateur Detective (12-6-1914), The Reader of Minds (12-8-1914)

1915: Graft vs. Love (1-19-1915), Finger Prints of Fate (1-26-1915), A Man of Iron (2-16-1915), A Newspaper Nemesis (2-28-1915), On the Brink of the Abyss (3-2-1915), Do Unto Others (Princess 3-12-1915), Little Bobby (3-14-1915), The Stolen Jewels (3-21-1915), The Cycle of Hatred (4-6-1915), Monsieur Nikola Dupree (5-4-1915), God's Witness (5-20-1915), The Six-Cent Loaf (6-8-1915), The Picture of Dorian Gray (7-20-1915), Milestones of Life (7-29-1915), The Revenge of the Steeple-Jack (8-8-1915), Snapshots (8-24-1915), Reincarnation (8-31-1915), A Disciple of Nietzsche (9-25-1915), The Price of Her Silence (9-30-1915), The Mill on the Floss (12-16-1915), Uncle Jeremiah (scheduled for production in 1915 but apparently never made; listed under 12-31-1915 in the filmography section of the present work)

1916: The Bubbles in the Glass (1-4-1916), The Five Faults of Flo (1-20-1916), The Oval Diamond (2-24-1916), What Doris Did (3-1-1916), The Weakling (5-2-1916, Her Father's Gold (5-11-1916)

1917: The Image Maker (1-21-1917), Her Life and His (2-18-1917), When Love Was Blind (4-15-1917)

# # #