George Beban – MRQE

The Loves of Ricardo

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Stage actor George Beban produced, wrote, and directed this sentimental melodrama about Ricardo Bitelli, a greengrocer who allows his young ward, Annetta (Soliga Lee), to marry a bounder, Steve Randall (Jack Singleton). But on her wedding night, Annetta realizes that she loves Ricardo and not Steve. The greengrocer, meanwhile, has invested in real estate in Florida and been kidnapped by some bootleggers. Discovering that Steve is a bigamist, Annetta leaves for Florida where she is reunited with Ricardo, who has managed to escape his captors. The Loves of Ricardo was presented in a unique way where the film was momentarily halted to give way for live interpretations by Beban, Amelia Milane as Annetta, and Monte Collins Jr. as Steve. Trimmed from eight to six reels and sans the live performances, the film was reissued in 1928.

The Alien

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Whenever producer Thomas H. Ince took directorial credit on one of his films, one always suspected that someone else really called the shots. As of this writing, however, we have no evidence suggesting that Ince was not the director of The Alien. Stage star George Beban, who’d previously played a downtrodden immigrant in The Italian, basically recreates that characterization herein. The film was based on the venerable vaudeville sketch +”The Sign of the Rose”, cowritten by Beban and C. T. Dazey; in fact, it was designed as the prologue for a live presentation of that sketch. Essentially, this is the story of a poverty-stricken Italian who comes to a fancy florist’s shop, hoping to obtain a few flowers for his daughter’s grave. Fifty years after The Alien, Danny Thomas poignantly recreated +”The Sign of the Rose” for one of his television specials.

The Italian

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

An immigrant leaves his sweetheart in Italy to find a better life across the sea in the grimy slums of New York.

The Greatest Love of All

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Joe (George Beban) is an immigrant ice maker and his girlfriend, Trina (Mary Skurkoy), is crushed when he tells her his “sweetheart” is arriving from the old country. She’s happy to discover that this sweetheart is his old mother (Marie di Benedetta). The simple, earthy old lady proceeds to inadvertently get herself in trouble with the law. She takes in laundry and when she finds a diamond bracelet in one of the baskets, she is arrested and convicted of theft. Joe is extremely upset by the situation and a gang of thugs plan to use him to get rid of the district attorney (J.W. Johnston). Joe foils their plan, saving both the D.A. and Trina from an explosives-filled golf ball and certain death. The innocence of Joe’s mother is established and he takes her — and Trina and her father — to live out in the country.

Pasquale

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Stage and screen favorite George Beban served up another of his famous ethnic characterizations in the Paramount five-reeler Pasquale. Arriving in America, middle-aged Italian peasant Pasquale (Beban) opens up a store in the tenement district. He scrimps and saves against the day that his much-younger ward Margarita (Helen Jerome Eddy) will consent to be his wife. Alas, Margarita chooses Charlie Larkin (Jack Nelson) as her husband, leaving Pasquale to shrug philosophically about the whims of fate. When Italy enters WWI, Pasquale is called back to his homeland to serve in the Army. He leaves his store in the hands of Margarita and Charlie, confident that they will keep the business humming. But during Pasquale’s absence, Charlie develops into a drunken wife-beater; even worse, he mistreats Pasquale’s beloved horse Colombo. Wounded in battle, Pasquale returns to New York in the company of his best friend and comrade-in-arms Martinelli (Nigel De Brulier), whereupon they discover that Mrs. Martinelli (Myrtle Steadman) has been unfaithful, and no-good Charlie has been blackmailing her. Upon the sudden and violent deaths of Charlie and Mrs. Martinelli’s lover, all is set aright: The Martinellis are reunited, and the widowed Margarita finally accepts Pasquale’s proposal.