On April 5, 1925, Charles Ray's second movie for Pathé, Percy, was released. However, his producer in his prospective new series, Thomas Ince, had since passed away. This ended the brief revival in Ray's fortunes, as outlined in my Ince biography.
In Percy, Ray played a mollycoddle, who only knows how to play the violin, but his campaign manager offers to make a man of him when he runs for the Senate. The movie was retitled Mother's Boy in England (and is not to be confused with a similarly-titled 1917 Ince picture with Ray), and in fact was based on the 1921 novel The Desert Fiddler by William H. Hanby, which had been originally prepared in scenario form for Ray by Ince when they were previously under contract for Paramount.
Within weeks of Ince's death, Ray was negotiating with a group of Chicago men for a salary of $100,000 per movie, but a year later he was bankrupt, and the rights to income from his films (including the two for Ince) held by trustees. Ray tried to be the sophisticate in several later movies, rather than his traditional role, but audiences could not adjust to him in a tuxedo.
In Percy, Ray played a mollycoddle, who only knows how to play the violin, but his campaign manager offers to make a man of him when he runs for the Senate. The movie was retitled Mother's Boy in England (and is not to be confused with a similarly-titled 1917 Ince picture with Ray), and in fact was based on the 1921 novel The Desert Fiddler by William H. Hanby, which had been originally prepared in scenario form for Ray by Ince when they were previously under contract for Paramount.
Within weeks of Ince's death, Ray was negotiating with a group of Chicago men for a salary of $100,000 per movie, but a year later he was bankrupt, and the rights to income from his films (including the two for Ince) held by trustees. Ray tried to be the sophisticate in several later movies, rather than his traditional role, but audiences could not adjust to him in a tuxedo.
