The film stars New York Giants player Mike Donlin and includes many residents of Winsted and surrounding towns, including Torrington. It was shot by Arrow Film Company, a small production group. But the five rolls of film for “Right Off the Bat” were never found.
While researching for the project, Torrington resident and history buff Ed Canatta came across a Winsted Citizen newspaper article, which described the town’s fun and activities during the making of the film.
“I was researching old cinemas in Torrington, looking at old trade magazines – Variety, Motion Picture Herald, Box Office, Moving Picture World, the Exhibitor; and I came across an article about this movie made in Winsted,” Cannata said.
“We were talking about 1915, and silent films really started to grow,” he said. “At the same time, baseball is becoming more and more popular. “Right Off the Bat” is the second film ever produced with a baseball script, as we have it today; ‘Bull Durham’, ‘The Natural’ and ‘Field of Dreams’. The first is ‘Little Sunset’ which was made about three months ago. »
In addition to the Winsted Citizen story, there are also many color photos of scenes from the film and photos posted by the actors.
“After two days of their layoffs, the Arrow players got very busy yesterday playing ‘Right Off the Bat’, Mike Donlin’s photo game, and, aided by ten hours of sunshine between dawn and dusk, dusk, the cameras clicked twelve scenes, The article reads .
The film tells the story of a young man, a factory worker, who falls in love with his employer’s daughter, is kidnapped just before the big factory game, and through the girl’s efforts, just gets to time to lead the team to victory, win the game and the girl”, according to an article in the magazine “Motography” of August 14, 1915.
Donlin is an outside player for the New York Giants. “They played under New York until the 1950s when they moved to San Francisco and became the San Francisco Giants,” Cannata said. “Mike Donlin played in the 1905 World Series against Philadelphia Athletics. Many people don’t know that Torrington-born Danny Hoffman previously joined the Athletics for the same game as opposed to Donlin. It was for a second or third World Series, never.”
Around 1908 or 1909, Donlin met a vaudeville star named Mabel Hite and became involved in the vaudeville scene, according to Cannata.
“He had a great story, and it turned out that someone decided to make a movie about his life,” she said. “Someone named Albert Levine wrote the script and the film company decided to tape it at Winsted. I don’t know what decided them about Winsted; there may be other links with the city. ”
The Arrow Film Company also employs many townspeople, as well as several local baseball teams.
“Winsted has a baseball team in the Connecticut State League, and they play against a team in Torrington,” Cannata said. “In this movie, the filmmakers asked Winsted’s team to set up a match, and they went up against Meriden. The newspaper article said that people from Torrington had come to see the game. »
About 100 people attended the match while it was being filmed for the movie.
“When it came to cheering and waving flags and attacking referees, people were there with both feet, that is, with both feet of all of its collective members,” according to the story of Winsted Citizen. “After it looked like the ref’s riot might have gotten too real, and kind-hearted Mike Donlin, who knew how futile it was to challenge the decision, went to the ref’s help just in time to save him from being hit by a pop. bottles donated by over-enthusiastic fans. ”
Cannata said the more she reads and delves into the archives of trade magazines, the more she discovers. “But when I tried to find the movie, unfortunately I had no luck,” he said.
Arrow Films had a national release for “Right Off the Bat” in October or November 1915, Cannata said.
“But it was a small business and the movie wasn’t a hit,” he said. “No one knows where the copy is; no one guards or guards it as far as I know. Film companies like Warner Brothers and MGM know how to record these reels, or are able to do so, but smaller companies like Arrow don’t. I contacted the Baseball Hall of Fame, but apparently no one had a copy.
“But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” he said. “There are restrictions for baseball right now so I want to contact the Major League Baseball Network or ESPN. They may be looking for human interest stories on this topic. This could be a good thing for Winsted. »
He also continues his research on the history of ancient cinema. “Torrington is a mirror image of what was happening in the film industry in the 1900s,” he said. “I love all theater.”
Cannata has also started posting some of the research and photos she found on her. la page Facebookmain street Torrington.
“People really like to read stories about old movie theaters,” he said.
