Ella Cinders

Preceded by: Feed ‘Em And Weep

USA 1928, director: Fred Guiol, cast: Anita Garvin, Marion Byron, DCP, 18 minutes, English titles

A young girl from the provinces wants to be in the movies. Although her application photo fails terribly, Ella Cinders receives an invitation to Hollywood and can finally get rid of her nagging stepmother and her spiteful stepsisters. However, on the train journey, she has to deal with native Americans and later with a full-grown lion. The Cinderella character here is played by flapper icon Colleen Moore, who sparked a worldwide fashion revolution with her distinctive pageboy cut. Moore was the rare example of “a female clown”, a Berlin critic stated: “The grace of her parodistic-mimic talents is so great that it also allows her the courage to be ugly.” (Berliner Börsen-Courier, 29 Jan 1928).

In Feed ‘Em And Weep (1928), comedians Anita Garvin and Marion Byron cause considerable chaos as waitresses in a fast-food restaurant.

The program is accompanied by Maren Kessler (vocals, cello), Antonino Secchia (vibraphone, percussion) and David Schwarz (piano). Maren Kessler is a jazz singer, composer and theatre musician. Under her stage name Maren Montauk, she also works at the edge of pop music and avant-garde musical. The classically trained Italian drummer, percussionist and vibraphonist Antonino Secchia plays classical music in the orchestra and jazz in small ensembles, such as the quartet Note Azure. David Schwarz studied jazz piano in Munich, Weimar and Jerusalem and film music at Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. He is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger and composer.

Ella Cinders is introduced by Anjeana K. Hans, Associate Professor of German at Wellesley College (Massachusetts, USA). She is an expert on 1920s and 1930s cinema and author of the acclaimed book Gender and the Uncanny in Films of the Weimar Republic (Detroit: Wayne State University Press 2014).