In 1915, Michael Figliulo, who now lives in Streamwood, was hired to work as a motorcycle stuntman in Chicago for Mack Sennett, the legendary creator of the Keystone Kops movies. At that time Sennett’s studio was headquartered in Hollywood, but because the young western town could not duplicate Chicago’s urban backdrops, many of his action scenes were shot here. But Essanay Studios, which was located at 1345 W. Argyle, still claimed exclusive regional rights to Thomas Edison’s original movie camera patents.
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Still, 1914 to 1915 was Chicago’s golden age of silent film. The major studios had only just left New York, and most had not yet discovered Hollywood. “Essanay Studios was, of course, the biggest outfit going at that time,” Figliulo says. (The name and building survive as Essanay Studio Lighting.) “They had Chaplin working over there, and they made Gloria Swanson, Wallace Beery, and Ben Turpin into stars. They were all nothing at first. Swanson was a secretary, and I think Turpin and Beery started out as janitors at the studio.” Legend also has it that Beery and Swanson were married in an empty field in back of the studio, which is now part of the Essanay Lighting parking lot.
“The Motordome was like a 30-foot soup bowl,” says Figliulo. “You would ride straight up and down the sides–it was kind of like taking a pail of water and swinging it around your sides. Because you were doing it so quickly, no water falls out.
The slide started when Chaplin, who disliked the city’s cold weather–all filming was still done outdoors–left town in 1915 for the sunshine and higher pay of California. Other Essanay stars, such as Swanson and Beery, who were by then divorced, soon followed.
Figliulo is well known in Streamwood for his work on senior citizens’ causes, and was honored last year by the Blue Cross-Blue Shield company for that work. He also received a gold medallion from former president and Mrs. Jimmy Carter. “The silent era was a special time,” says Figliulo. “You didnt have sound or color, so it took some special acting to get the story across. The people were great, too. The women were true beauties. You didn’t have all these makeups and dyes like you do now. Guys like Ben Turpin were truly funny guys. And Wallace Beery, he was the kind of guy who would take in a stray dog or cat.”
