Weeping for the Silent Film Era

It started with my sister informing me that she was going to see a movie directed by her friend's older brother. She said the name of the film was Cannibal, and I did not join her for the screening because I have an aversion to cannibalism. Yes, most people also share this aversion, but some can possibly tolerate it better than others. I decided to look the movie up on the Internet Movie Database; I did not find it.

Instead IMDB took my brain on a little ride. It suggested the 1918 short documentary film An Ex-Cannibal Carnival as a possible option. I liked this title, and I soon found that director/producer C.L. Chester had a number of interesting titles in his filmography. Favorite titles include: There Is No Santa Clause (1920), Getting Gay with Neptune, (1919) Maid, Mermaids and More Maids (1919), and Up in the Air After Alligators (1919). Who was this C.L. Chester fellow*? The internet has offered me little information, except that his main claim to fame seems to have been a series of short films featuring a monkey named Snooky. I was unable to find even the monkey pictures, so I have little hope that I will ever get to see those reformed cannibals moving on with their lives via a carnival act. Is nothing sacred?

*When referring to a figure from the earlier part of last century, it seems hardly fitting to call him a guy.