3205) “Brief Assessment of Ravished Armenia Marquee Poster” by Amber Karlins

Notes and Queries Relevant to

“A Brief Assessment of the Ravished Armenia Marquee Poster” by Amber Karlins; published as a Research Note in the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies

19:1 (2010), pgs. 137-145: Filling in Some Gaps and a Call for Information

Armenian News Network / Groong, December 20, 2010
by Eugene L. Taylor and Abraham D. Krikorian,
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK

Abstract

Information on an advertisement for the screening of the film “Ravished Armenia” published as a full page black and white pictorial in The Saturday Evening Post January 18, 1919 confirms that the artist Dan Smith created the dramatic imagery of a brutish man brandishing a sword, gripping a struggling girl, and that he used as a model a work by the French sculptor and artist Emmanuel Fremiet of a gorilla carrying off a female. Dan Smith clearly states on this work “AFTER E. Fremiet.” Some recent reproductions of a color movie poster showcasing “Ravished Armenia” are not as easy to read, perhaps because of the color and size of reproduction constraints. Our research presented here supplements and broadens Amber Karlins’ “A Brief Assessment of the Ravished Armenia Marquee Poster” and at the same time . . raises a number of unanswered questions. Film historian and movie expert Anthony Slide has done much to expand our data base on “Ravished Armenia.” Even so, some matters of special interest to us have not been covered by him in very much detail. We have wondered who ‘really’ wrote the screenplay, or even whether there may have been two ‘screenplays’ or ‘scenarios’ written for the movie. The ‘original’ scenario credits Nora Waln, the publicity secretary of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, and for a period, the editor of its News Bulletin. (She later became an acclaimed author.) Frederic (sometimes spelled with a ck) Chapin was shortly after credited as screenwriter. Were both involved in writing/polishing the screenplay “scenario? All indications are that Miss Waln’s version was the first, and that Chapin was given/took credit for some modifications, embellishments (?) and/or variations. (Perhaps buying the movie rights by Gates prompted the ‘takeover’ of the screenplay?) We suggest as a working hypothesis that there were two (perhaps only slightly varying) versions of the scenario. We hope that film enthusiasts and scholars will be able to keep this possibility in mind as they pursue matters relating to “Ravished Armenia.” In the interest of broadening awareness of recent literature relevant to the “Ravished Armenia” movie poster, we also draw attention to the publications of two experts concerning very different elements portrayed in, or conveyed by the poster (both in the context, and out of the context of the Armenian genocide). Attention is also drawn to a 2009 volume by Armen Khandjian that presents enormous amounts of information, profusely illustrated, relevant to Aurora Mardiganian and “Ravished Armenia.” In the course of our research we have acquired a fair amount of information on “Ravished Armenia” especially through access to the several printings ‘editions’ and even translations of the book. It was only considerably after our paying special attention to printed materials that we learned of the ‘newly discovered’ film fragment and the movie poster. In the course of our “Ravished Armenia” work, and in true serendipitous fashion, we came across an essentially overlooked photograph showing an early stage of the “deportation” process as it unfolded or progressed in Kharpert. Interestingly, only the initial softcover edition of the “Ravished Armenia” book uses the photograph as a frontispiece. Serendipity made our convoluted journey well worth while. We also ask at several points in this communication some questions which someone ‘out there’ might hopefully be able to address.

“Serendipity :- Serendip, a former name for Sri Lanka + ity

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