December 4, 1924: Erich von Stroheim's “Greed” Premieres

Left to right: ZaSu Pitts, Gibson Gowland and Jean Hersholt

December 4, 1924: The film Greed premieres, based on the 1899 novel McTeague by Frank Norris. It was directed by Erich von Stroheim, who already had a reputation for playing villains in silent films, earning him the nickname "The Man You Love to Hate."

Certainly, the actors he directed weren't fond of him: He foreshadowed Stanley Kubrick by being painstaking in detail. He filmed 85 hours worth of footage for Greed, including shooting on location where the novel took place, in San Francisco and in Southern California's Death Valley.

Erich von Stroheim

He cut it down to 9 hours. The newly-formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio told him to cut it further, and it still set a record up to that point: 2 hours and 20 minutes. Even so, it is regarded as a masterpiece of silent films.

English actor Gibson Gowland played Dr. John McTeague, a greedy San Francisco dentist. ZaSu Pitts -- apparently, named for 2 of her father's sisters, Eliza and Susan -- played Trina Sieppe, whom McTeague marries, and is typical of Pitts' roles, a not very bright young lady who becomes a victim of circumstance. Danish actor Jean Hershoult played Marcus Schouler, Trina's cousin and previous love interest. The conflict between him and McTeague eventually surpasses their respective feelings for Trina.

Today, film buffs know von Stroheim for Greed, but causal movie fans know him mainly as Max, butler and ex-husband of Norma Desmond, the former silent film star played by Gloria Swanson, in the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. To illustrate Norma's former career, she shows Joe Gillis, played by William Holden, one of her films. Standing in for it is Queen Kelly, a 1929 film starring Swanson, and directed by von Stroheim.

Gowland lived until 1951, Hershoult until 1956, von Stroheim until 1957, Pitts until 1963.

*

December 4, 1924 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And no games were scheduled for the NHL. So there were no scores on this historic day.