1914 Silent film “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch” features a Circus in San Rafael
by Laurie Thompson
The second film made at the San Rafael studio of the California Motion Picture Corporation (CMPC), “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch,” was prominently advertised as “Made in San Rafael.”
Like their first film “Salomy Jane” most of the filming was done in the summer of 1914.
A circus formed part of the storyline of “Mrs. Wiggs,” so the film’s producers decided to bring a real circus to San Rafael and invite the locals to participate.
George Middleton, a director for the CMPC recounts:
“While ‘Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch’ was being photographed, a large circus with numerous sets was brought to San Rafael and tents were erected to secure the circus scenes contained in the play. The residents of the entire County were invited to be guests at the circus. The tents were jammed beyond capacity as over ten thousand people attended, many of whom could not gain admission.”
“Zabe Cane, the well-known band master of San Rafael acted as conductor of the large circus band and furnished music all afternoon during the performances within the tents.”
When the film opened on January 2, 1915 at the Lyric Theatre in San Rafael, it was packed with locals who came to see themselves or their friends on the silver screen.
Sadly, when an explosion and fire destroyed the CMPC’s San Rafael studio in 1931, “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch” and the rest of their films were lost.
We hope you will join us tomorrow or Sunday, Sept. 30, for a rare screening of “Salomy Jane” the only complete CMPC film extant, discovered in Australia in 1996. It’s showing tomorrow at 7:30 pm at the Niles Essanay Film Museum and will be screened at the Smith Rafael Film Center on Sunday, September 30 at 7 pm.
We will be showing the film from the original 6-reels, on loan to us from the Library of Congress.
Originally published at https://annetkent.kontribune.com.
