Born on this day – Frank Borzage:

Frank Borzage

Actor

Director

April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962

Credits:

7th Heaven (1927); A Child of the Surf (1915); A Cracksman Santa Claus (1913); A Crook's Sweetheart (1914); A Dixie Mother (1913); A Farewell to Arms (1932); A Flash in the Dark (1914); A Flickering Light (1916); A Foreign Spy (1913); A Friend in Need (1915); A Hopi Legend (1913); A Mormon Maid (1917); A New England Idyl (1914); A Relic of Old Japan (1914); A Romance of Old Holland (1914); A Romance of the Sawdust Ring (1914); A Romance of the Sea (1914); A School for Husbands (1917); A Tragedy of the Orient (1914); A Woman's Stratagem (1913); After Tomorrow (1932); Alias James, Chauffeur (1915); Almost a Widow (1915); Aloha Oe (1915); An Honest Man (1918); Anita's Butterfly (1915); Back Pay (1922); Bad Girl (1931); Big City (1937); Billy Jim (1922); Billy the Kid (1941); Blood Will Tell (1912); Children of Dust (1923); China Doll (1958); Claim Number Three (1914); Cupid Beats Father (1915); Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1925); Days of '49 (1913); Dead Man's Shoes (1913); Desert Gold (1914); Desire (1936); Disputed Passage (1939); Doctors' Wives (1931); Dollars of Dross (1916); Early to Wed (1926); Enchantment (1916); Fear Not (1917); Flight Command (1940); Flirtation Walk (1934); Flying Colors (1917); Frank Borzage, Director (2009); Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford (1921); Granddad (1913); Green Light (1937); Hearts Divided (1936); Her Adopted Father (1915); Her Alibi (1915); His Butler's Sister (1943); His Mother's Portrait (1915); History Is Made at Night (1937); Hollywood Preview (1955–1956); Humoresque (1920); I Take This Woman (1940); Immediate Lee (1916); In the Land of the Otter (1915); In the Sage Brush Country (1914); In the Switch Tower (1915); In the Toils (1913); Innocent's Progress (1918); Intolerance (1916); I've Always Loved You (1946); Jack (1916); Jeanne Eagels (1957); Journey Beneath the Desert (1961); Knight of the Trail (1915); Land o' Lizards (1916); Lazybones (1925); Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn (2016); Life's Harmony (1916); Liliom (1930); Little Man, What Now? (1934); Living on Velvet (1935); Loaded Dice (1913); Love's Western Flight (1914); Lucky Star (1929); Magnificent Doll (1946); Making Over Father (1915); Mammy's Rose (1916); Mannequin (1937); Man's Castle (1933); Marriage License? (1926); Matchin' Jim (1916); Mixed Males (1915); Molly of the Mountains (1915); Moonrise (1948); Murnau, Borzage and Fox (2008); Nell Dale's Men Folks (1916); Nipped (1914); No Greater Glory (1934); Nobody's Home (1915); Nugget Jim's Pardner (1916); On Secret Service (1912); One to the Minute (1915); Parson Larkin's Wife (1914); Pride of Lonesome (1913); Prudence on Broadway (1919); Realization (1916); Retribution (1913); Samson (1914); Screen Directors Playhouse (1955–1956); Screen Snapshots, Series 1, No. 15 (1920); Screen Snapshots, Series 1, No. 23 (1921); Screen Snapshots, Series 28, No. 6: Frank Borzage Golf Tournament (1949); Secrets (1924-1933); Settled Out of Court (1916); Seven Sweethearts (1942); Shipmates Forever (1935); Silent Heroes (1913); Smilin' Through (1941); Society for Sale (1918); Song o' My Heart (1930); Stacked Cards (1914); Stage Door Canteen (1943); Stranded (1935); Strange Cargo (1940); Street Angel (1928); That Gal of Burke's (1916); That's Entertainment, Part II (1976); That's My Man (1947); The 1st Annual Academy Awards (1929); The 5th Annual Academy Awards (1932); The Age of Desire (1923); The Ambassador's Envoy (1914); The Atom (1918); The Awakening (1916); The Battle of Gettysburg (1913); The Big Fisherman (1959); The Cactus Blossom (1915); The Circle (1925); The Clean-Up (1915); The Code of Honor (1916); The Courtin' of Calliope Clew (1916); The Crimson Stain (1913); The Cup of Life (1915); The Curse of Iku (1918); The Demon of Fear (1916); The Desperado (1914); The Disillusionment of Jane (1915); The Dixie Merchant (1926); The Drummer of the 8th (1913); The Duke of Chimney Butte (1921); The Fakir (1915); The First Year (1926); The Forgotten Prayer (1916); The Geisha (1914); The Ghost Flower (1918); The Girl Who Might Have Been (1915); The Good Provider (1922); The Gratitude of Wanda (1913); The Gun Woman (1918); The Hammer (1915) (1915); The Lady (1925); The Mill by the Zuyder Zee (1915); The Mortal Storm (1940); The Mystery of Yellow Aster Mine (1913); The Nth Commandment (1923); The Panther (1914); The Pilgrim (1916); The Pitch o' Chance (1915); The Pride and the Man (1916); The Pride of Palomar (1922); The Pride of the South (1913); The Quicksands of Deceit (1916); The Right to Die (1914); The River (1928); The Scales of Justice (1915); The Secret of Lost River (1915); The Shining Hour (1938); The Shoes That Danced (1918); The Silent Messenger (1914); The Silken Spider (1916); The Spanish Main (1945); The Spark from the Embers (1915); The Tavern Keeper's Son (1915); The Typhoon (1914); The Valley of Silent Men (1922); The Vanishing Virginian (1942); The War Correspondent (1913); The Wheel of Life (1914); The Wrath of the Gods (1914); They Had to See Paris (1929); This Is Your Life (1954); Three Comrades (1938); Till We Meet Again (1944); Tools of Providence (1915); Toton (1919); Touring with Tillie (1915); Two Bits (1916); Two Hearts and a Thief (1915); Unlucky Luke (1916); Until They Get Me (1917); Wages for Wives (1925); Wee Lady Betty (1917); When Lee Surrenders (1912); When the Prince Arrived (1913); Who Is to Blame? (1918); Whom the Gods Would Destroy (1919); Young America (1932); Young as You Feel (1931).

On this day in movie history - 7th Heaven (1927 movie & play):

7th Heaven

a.k.a. Seventh Heaven,

directed by Frank Borzage,

written by Benjamin Glazer, Katherine Hilliker, H.H. Caldwell and Bernard Vorhaus,

based on the play Seventh Heaven by Austin Strong,

was released in the United States on May 6, 1927.

Music by R.H. Bassett, Erno Rapee, William P. Perry.

Cast:

Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Albert Gran, David Butler, Marie Mosquini, Gladys Brockwell, Emile Chautard, Ben Bard, George E. Stone, Henry Armetta, Lewis Borzage Sr., Dolly Borzage, Mary Borzage, Sue Borzage, Italia Frandi, Venezia Frandi, Frankie Genardi, Lois Hardwick, Jessie Haslett, Brandon Hurst, Lily Tietelbaum, Lillian West.

Recommended reading:

Seventh Heaven

A Play in Three Acts

By Austin Strong.

Filmed as 7th Heaven a.k.a. Seventh Heaven (1927), directed by Frank Borzage.

Published by Samuel French.

First published 1922.

ASIN: B000EEXEJQ

Paperback.

Description:

Seventh Heaven was written by Austin Strong and produced by John Golden. It ran at the Booth Theatre from October 30, 1922, to July 1924 for a total of 704 performances.

Chico works in the sewers of Paris. He dreams of becoming a street sweeper and therefore lights candles in the church.

One day Chico saves the young prostitute Diane, who is suffering from her unscrupulous sister Nana. The police want to arrest the prostitute, who is innocent in spite of her job, but Chico saves her by pretending to be her husband. Now the two have to maintain the facade and act as spouses. So Chico allows Diane to move into his attic with him. In fact, the two find each other. But when the war breaks out, Chico is called up. Diane works in an ammunition factory. Complications arise before the play comes to its dramatic conclusion.

Two films have been made based on the original Broadway play. A 1927 silent film of the same title was written by Benjamin Glazer and directed by Frank Borzage. A 1937 remake was produced as a sound film starring Simone Simon, James Stewart, Jean Hersholt, and Gregory Ratoff, with Henry King directing.