Willis Brown Explained
Office: | Salt Lake City Juvenile Court judge |
Term Start: | 1905 |
Term End: | 1907 |
Birth Date: | 31 July 1881 |
Birth Place: | Columbus, Indiana |
Death Place: | Columbus, Ohio |
Occupation: | Film producer |
Known For: | Founder of Boy City Film Company |
Willis Brown (July 31, 1881 – October 20, 1931) was a permanently removed Utah juvenile court judge, falsely-claimed lawyer, self-described humanitarian, and filmmaker.
Born James Willhenry Brown in Columbus, Indiana to James W. Brown and Lucetta Pierson.
Judge
In the decade of the 1900s Brown lectured[1] on the Chautauqua circuit as a judge of the Utah Juvenile Court and a progressive expert on boys' reformation.[2] [3] [4] [5]
He was appointed to the Juvenile Court in Salt Lake City in the spring of 1905, served two years, but had been permanently removed by the Utah Supreme Court.[6] In 1910, the Juvenile Court debunked Judge Brown's credentials.[7] Brown was, in fact, not even a lawyer, and had been misrepresenting himself.
Boy City Film Company
Building a national reputation, in the 1910s he started "Boy Cities" in Charlevoix, Michigan, and Gary, Indiana,[8] then relocated to Southern California. (The better-known Boys Town, Nebraska was founded in December 1917.)
By 1917 Brown founded the Boy City Film Company in Culver City, part film studio, part homeless shelter. He served as a film producer.
In film history, Brown is remarkable for giving director King Vidor his first directing job. Brown funded a series of twenty-two reelers, both moral lessons and promotional films. Brown appeared as himself in all but the first one; Vidor directed at least ten of them. These films have evidence of "fascinating social content" - the plot of the second entry, The Chocolate of the Gang, deals with a black child being denied membership in an all-white club, and employed black actors for the lead roles as opposed to the usual practice of white performers in blackface.[9]
Death
According to Variety, Brown was shot to death in Columbus, Ohio in 1931 by "a jealous widow".[10] [11]
Film series
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Judge Willis Brown :: Traveling Culture - Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century. digital.lib.uiowa.edu.
- Book: Hobey, Jack. Lost Boys: The Beulah Home Tragedy. 12 December 2017. Harbor House Publishers Inc. 9781582413730. Google Books.
- Book: Cohen, Ronald D.. Children of the Mill: Schooling and Society in Gary, Indiana, 1906-1960. 1 May 2014. Routledge. 9781136798085. Google Books.
- News: Brown . Willis . The Boy Problem: What the Grown-Ups Fail to Remember in Considering This Important Question . 23 August 2021 . Ottumwa Tri-Weekly Courier . 28 December 1915 . PDF.
- News: A. P. Warrington . From the National President: Criminals and Children . 23 August 2021 . The Messenger . December 1919 . 205.
- The Pacific reporter, Volume 88, Utah Supreme Court decision Mill v. Brown, January 17, 1907
- The Juvenile court record, Volumes 9-12 By Timothy David Hurley, February 1910 issue, page 5, "As to Judge Willis Brown")
- Book: Brownlow, Kevin. Behind the Mask of Innocence. 12 December 1990. Knopf. 9780394577470. Google Books.
- Book: King Vidor, American. registration. 24. Willis.. Raymond. Durgnat. Scott. Simmon. 12 December 1988. University of California Press. 9780520058156. Internet Archive.
- Silent film necrology, Eugene Michael Vazzana, page 66
- Book: Vazzana, Eugene Michael. Silent film necrology: births and deaths of over 9000 performers, directors, producers, and other filmmakers of the silent era, through 1993. 1 May 1995. McFarland. 9780786401321. Google Books.
- Book: Edwards, Paul M.. World War I on Film: English Language Releases through 2014. 31 March 2016. McFarland. 9781476620633. Google Books.
- Web site: The Boy City. 31 December 1910. www.imdb.com.
- Web site: Lyceumite & Talent. 12 December 2017. Lyceum Magazine. Google Books.
- Web site: Bud's Recruit (1918). www.filmpreservation.org.
- Web site: Bud's Recruit: A Judge Brown Story (1917) American B&W : Two reels / 1865 feet Directed by King W. Vidor. www.silentera.com.
- Web site: Chocolate of the Gang · (Early Cinema History Online). echo.commarts.wisc.edu.
- Web site: Dramatic Mirror of Motion Pictures and the Stage. 12 December 2017. Dramatic Mirror Company. Google Books.
- Web site: Thief or Angel? · (Early Cinema History Online). echo.commarts.wisc.edu.
- Web site: The Case Of Bennie - Fiche+technique - La base de connaissances française. savoiro.fr.