Movie classics in distress; Shirley Jones to the rescue!

Bob Shemeligian

Monday, Nov. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

More than half of the film shorts and features made before 1950 are already gone.

Even more startling, three-quarters of the films from the silent era also have been lost.

Some of extinct classics are the 1926 D.W. Griffith silent film "The Royale Girl" with W.C. Fields; "The Rogue Song," a 1930 color film directed by Lionel Barrymore and featuring Laurel & Hardy; and the 1927 version of "Camille" starring Norma Talmadge.

Other films we'll never see again include "London After Midnight," a 1927 feature with Lon Chaney; "Remodeling Her Husband" (1920), the only film directed by Lillian Gish; and Theda Bara's 1917 portrayal of the Queen of the Nile in "Cleopatra."

The culprit who has destroyed most of these films is Father Time.

Until 1951, all films were made on nitrate stock, preferred because of the beautiful shimmering images it yielded.

But, over time, nitrate stock reacts chemically with air to produce nitric acid, which breaks down the film.

To help save as many films as possible, America Movie Classics (Prime Cable Channel 23) has enlisted Shirley Jones, one of Hollywood's most durable stars, to help preserve America's endangered film heritage.

"Our films represent the history of our culture," Jones said during a recent visit to Las Vegas. "How could you not want to preserve this valuable documentation of our culture? It's all part of our heritage."

Jones, 62, hosts AMC's Friday night "Film Preservation Classics," as well as the cable channel's yearly "Film Preservation Festival."

In the past four years, AMC viewers have pledged more than $1.4 million during these festivals.

"The most recent festival was a lot of fun," Jones said. "It was devoted to the great American musicals, and by showing these great films such as 'South Pacific' and 'Oklahoma!' we're raising money to preserve and restore these films."

In many ways, Jones, who starred in "Oklahoma!," is the perfect choice to convince Americans to help preserve the film industry's remaining stock.

After four decades in the business, Jones has never lost the girl-next-door qualities made her one of Hollywood's most endearing personalities.

When she talks about films, she speaks not only as a part of the business, but as a fan.

"There are so many marvelous films that are in danger of being lost," Jones said between sips of coffee in a casino lounge. "Do you realize that the negative for 'Dr. Strangelove' is gone? It no longer exists. We have only copies of the original film."

Next year, AMC plans to devote its summer film preservation festival to the great directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, John Huston and Richard Brooks, who directed Jones during the filming of "Elmer Gantry" in 1960.

Jones won a Best Actress Oscar for her potrayal of Lulu Bains, the congregation member who is seduced and led into a life of debauchery by lecherous evangelist Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster).

"Burt was a wonderful person," said Jones, who explained that Lancaster, after seeing Jones on a live television "Playhouse 90" episode, insisted on her for the part of Bains.

But Brooks, who thought Jones was a lightweight with a pretty smile and a sweet voice, was a terrible choice for the big-scale melodrama.

"He (Brooks) didn't say a word to me the first day of filming, and it was a powerful scene in which I have this big confrontation with Burt in a whorehouse, and I had to do it with little or no direction."

Jones said she went home in tears and didn't show up for work the next day.

But Brooks, after seeing Jones' performance on the daily rushes, telephoned her and said, "I want to apologize for the way I acted, and I predict you're going to win an Oscar."

Today, after a successful career in film and television, the former matriarchal head of the ABC-TV hit "The Patridge Family" spends as much time as she can with her family -- especially her 15-year-old granddaughter, Caitlin Ann Cassidy, daughter of her stepson David Cassidy, who is starring in "EFX" at the MGM Grand.

Jones said Caitlin is not unlike many teenagers in that she loves old movies -- especially the musicals.

"I mean, how many of those 'Rambo'-type films can you see?" Jones asked. "I think people want to see a film that makes them feel happy. They want a good story."

Jones is singing before live audiences at symphony halls throughout the nation and working on her next television-film project, "Dog's Best Friend," in which she and Richard Mulligan play a rural couple who teach their city-slicker grandson about life on a farm.

It will play on "The Family Channel," Jones said.

Like we couldn't have guessed.