Friday, September 28, 2012

Headin' Home

This week Rob Edelman filled in for John Thorn at the Our Game blog. Rob is a film historian and he provides two wonderful posts about early baseball films.  One of them, Headin' Home, has Babe Ruth in the featured role.  Rob talks about the film in the second post, Lost (and Found) Baseball, Part 2.  Go read about it now.  This entry will wait.

I decided it would be fun to see what the newspapers were saying about it.  The articles and ads span about a year and a half and go from New York to Hawaii.  From one of The Bemidji Daily Pioneer ads we see that it is indeed a six reel film.

I also find it interesting that the press marketed it towards youth (Baseball Bats Given Away at Each Matinee) and the ladies (With the speed of Douglas Fairbanks...).

I present my findings from the Library of Congress's Chronicling America site in chronological order.

New York Tribune - September 16, 1920

New York Tribune - September 16, 1920

The Evening World - September 17, 1920

New York Tribune - September 19, 1920

 
New York Tribune - September 20, 1920

Evening Public Ledger - April 18, 1921

The Washington Times - May 9, 1921

The Bemidji Daily Pioneer - August 22, 1921

The Bemidji Daily Pioneer - August 23, 1921

The Bemidji Daily Pioneer - August 24, 1921

The Bemidji Daily Pioneer - August 26, 1921

The Leavenworth Echo - December 9, 1921

The Evening Herald - February 5, 1922

The Garden Island - April 25, 1922

Some might wonder why I included two ads from the New York Tribune.  Variation.  Look close.  Those are two different drawings.

Saturday, September 15, 2012