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Health & Fitness

From the Archives: From Barrymore Way to Keystone Studio - All Roads on Main Street Lead to Fort Lee High School

Fort Lee Film history along Main Street, and North to Coytesville, lead to Fort Lee High School this weekend.

The Fort Lee Film Commission has been at work feverishly since last year on plans for this weekend’s production of the Jerry Herman musical "Mack & Mabel."

The musical is the “Keystone” of sorts in our centennial tribute to the founding of Keystone Studio in Fort Lee in 1912 by Mack Sennett with the aid of his leading lady, the lovely screen comedienne Miss Mabel Normand.

The first order of business was to meet with Drama Department teacher Jodi Etra and get her on board to direct. Ms. Etra agreed, and work commenced on the plan and structure of the play, as well as the funding.

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The Fort Lee Film Commission applied for grants and raised funds in excess of  $10,000 to take this idea from conception to reality.

Some of the key funding elements included on John Barrymore’s birthday on Feb. 15. So we began on a February evening at the corner of Main Street and John Barrymore Way near Central Road. Wreaths were placed at our commemorative street marker to honor America’s greatest thespian, John Barrymore, who in fact made his stage debut at that very spot on Main Street and Central road at the age of 18 in 1900 in a Fort Lee Company #2 Fire House fundraiser. 

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This fundraiser, held at the former Buckheister’s Hotel, which sat exactly where the parking lot is opposite Restaurant on Main Street, was organized by John Barrymore’s father, America’s then great Broadway star and Fort Lee resident, Maurice Barrymore. 

We carry on the tradition of raising funds in the Barrymore name, and this past Feb. 15, we raised more than $1,000 at the bar of In Napoli. And those funds were earmarked for the production of "Mack & Mabel" at Fort Lee High School.

Our next stop along the way was a fundraiser in April in the Fort Lee Municipal Courtroom at 309 Main Street. There, we engaged the Hudson Shakespeare Company to perform live the wonderful book by Miss Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird.

The raised more funds towards our "Mack & Mabel" production. Playbill ads and donations by local residents, as well as from the New Jersey Education Association and the Bergen County Division of Cultural & Heritage Affairs completed our fundraising efforts.

As we started this tale on one end of Main Street, we must continue on to the corner of Main Street and Linwood Avenue, where Keystone Triangle had a studio. Within the confines of these studio walls some of America’s greatest comedy magic was cast; the magicians were Mack Sennett’s Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Mabel Normand.

This Keystone centennial, so connected to Main Street geographically, takes a northern turn toward First Street in the Coytesville section of Fort Lee, as we were able to locate one of Mack Sennett’s first films for Keystone, A Grocery Clerk’s Romance.

This 1912 film shot entirely on First Street outside Rambo’s Saloon--the building stills stands and sits opposite the playground--was by film archivist Paul Gierucki. This film was scored and will be screened publicly for the first time during the live production of "Mack & Mabel." 

Though it only runs six minutes, its importance is immeasurable, and it stands as one of the most important surviving films produced in Fort Lee.

Our last movement requires a GPS to 3000 Lemoine Avenue (Fort Lee High School). 

The spirits of all these studios and comedians and producers--from Barrymore to Sennett, from Arbuckle to our Mabel--all of them will fill the high school auditorium on May 18 and 19, as our Fort Lee High School student actors breathe life into their story and, in a sense, bring them back to life to tell us how they wove their magic 100 years ago in the Borough of Fort Lee. 

And with your help and attendance, we can raise funds via ticket sales for our present day Fort Lee High School student actors who continue the traditions of Barrymore, Sennett, Arbuckle and Miss Mabel Normand.

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